My own personal version of Settlers

Well, as you can imagine, it has been a full-on week. On Friday we moved everything up to Berri. Ivan and I got here about 10am to meet the Real Estate Agent to get my keys for the new place, then we went to buy me a fridge and arrange delivery. My parents weren't coming until about 5pm, but thankfully they managed to squeeze everything into the truck and we got a lot of things unpacked on the Friday night, despite exhaustion towards the end.

On Saturday Ivan left pretty early and then mum, dad and I went shopping for a few things we'd forgotten about the day before. We continued to move things in and then they left mid afternoon, leaving me all alone for the first time. I unpacked a few more things and then was bored out of my mind for the remainder of the weekend. Monday was probably the better day because I went for a long walk and sat by the river for a while, then went to a Cafe for lunch and generally just had a great day.

I started work on Tuesday and am loving it. Although there have been a few hiccups, like not being able to access the licencing system yet, etc, the people I work with are fantastic and really friendly, and we're all going to the pub for lunch today :)

Now that work has started life has gotten into a normal routine again, and my days no longer drag on. I walk to and from work because it's so close, and then by the time I get home, have dinner and do the dishes, I either watch tv, talk on the phone or read and before I know it it's time for bed. The days are now flying and I'm a lot happier. I do miss Ivan a lot though, particularly the little things, just having him around to share a joke with or to chat to while I cooked dinner, stuff like that I miss.

But tonight I'll be leaving work a little early and driving back to Adelaide. Tomorrow is Nick's birthday so we have that to go to, and hopefully the rest of the weekend will be a nice rest. We still have no real internet connection in Adelaide so I rely on checking my email and stuff at work, so thought I'd better update now before I left for the city.

Hope everyone is well, miss chatting to you all.

Stuff and nonsense

I don't have much to write but seeing as I won't be back at work until Tuesday after today and I don't know if I'll be logging on this weekend yet, I thought I'd better update. Tomorrow I leave for Berri and my stomach is just in knots thinking about it. Like I said last entry, I'm really excited but also kinda sad, so it's all a bit wierd for me. Ivan, Mum and Dad are staying over on Friday night and then I'll have 3 days to myself before I start in the new office.

In the last few days I've caught up with a couple of people before I leave, like Michelle and Misch which has been nice. I already have plans for most weekends coming up so I'll be back quite often at first. I have a birthday, a Hen's night, Valentine's Day and a wedding to come all within the next 4 weeks, so things will be a bit hectic, but at least it'll give me excuses to keep coming home and curbing my homesickness.

I've actually been able to relax the last few days, getting home from work and either having people over or just relaxing in front of the TV, so life is starting to get back to normal. Tonight all I have to do is pack a few saucepans and load up the car so that in the morning we can take off bright and early.

So, maybe this blog can start to be more about my thoughts and feelings soon like it used to be, rather than telling people mundane daily things. Sorry, but I've barely had time to think lately so haven't had exciting things to write about.

I get time to think on the train though, and I quite like the train because you get to observe people. Mostly every day I see new faces, but there's this one man who gets on every day with a little girl of about 2 years old in a pram, and I love watching them because they make my heart smile. I think he takes his girl to childcare and then goes to work because he's always on the peak-hour train. I just love the way he talks to her and plays with her, and when she laughs everyone around them smiles. I guess he reminds me of my dad, and that's why I like it so much, I don't know. Soppy girl stuff I guess.

One down...

Well, I'm sure glad the weekend is gone, it was just non-stop until yesterday afternoon. Friday Ivan and Darren moved most of the furniture but there were still lots of little things to go and collect, so straight after work I started on that. Then, ofcourse, you can't move everything into the new place all at once because when it's so small you need to put things away, so it was just crazy.

Saturday was the clean-up day. Mum and Maria helped me clean while Dad packed things into his car that I'll be taking to Berri with me. I was there from 7am and didn't make it home until about 4:30pm, crazy. How can one small place get so dirty?! The problem is they want you to do things you wouldn't normally do, like wiping out cupboards and cleaning windows - what sane person does this things on a regular cleaning cycle? It's just abnormal. And because we've been burned by landlords badly in the past we wanted everything to look great so they couldn't possibly argue with us about anything. Fingers crossed we get our bond back without all the hassle we had last time.

Sunday was just the last few things picked up and a final quick mop around the place and it wasn't too bad a day, although we did have a lot of things at the new place to sort out. So that's one move down, one to go. I just hope all my things fit in the truck to Berri and into our cars, it would suck if they didn't and I had to do a couple of trips. I've officially gotten Friday off work so I'll be leaving bright and early in the morning.

The rest of this week will be spent catching up with a few people before I leave and packing things for myself in the meantime. I look forward to finally being settled in and really starting my new job, but now that it's getting closer I'm also getting really sad. I'm gonna miss Ivan heaps :(

Anywho, will keep updating from work when I get the chance. Thanks for the cool SMS's and phone calls over the weekend, they helped to break the dullness of moving :)

No idea what to call this

Moving day here in Adelaide today, although we started last night after we picked up the keys. You know things are crazy when you have dinner at 10pm! Our house is sort of half empty at the moment, this morning there was no tv to watch and very little room to sit down on, but we have so many things it's not funny. I've thrown so many things away, it's amazing how much crap a person can accumulate in a short space of time. So tonight, we'll hopefully finish off the moving and set up the bedroom and kitchen at least, and tomorrow will be the cleanup day of the old place. Ugh. I mentioned before how I hate packing, but I hate cleaning even more.

So that'll be our exciting weekend! Next Friday is my moving day to Berri (work has been kind enough to give me a day off). I've already arranged for my phone and electricity connection, so shouldn't have anything much to worry about as the day draws closer. I already have my new phone number, good old Telstra :) So maybe, in about two weeks I'll feel settled again. I'm a little nervous about starting in the Berri office and starting to meet new people again. Everyone here in the Adelaide office have been really great, and now I gotta start again. At least I'll have my own desk to decorate :)

Had better go and start work, hope everyone is well!

Congratulations

Just a quick note to say congrats to Sammo on landing a full-time job to tide him over until uni goes back, well done matey! I knew 2004 would be a better year for you :)

On a side note, I think I've found a place in Berri too. The family and I went up to Berri for a day trip on Saturday and I spotted a place I totally love, so sent off my application for it yesterday. Unless I get a really bad reference from someone, I think it's pretty much mine, as no one else was going for it and it's just sitting there empty. So if all goes well, I'll be moving to Berri in just under 2 weeks. I'll be relieved when all this moving is over and done with. I despise packing and poor Ivan has had to do almost all of it, I really should get my arse into gear.

Work is still going great. The training is over now and this week I'm actually doing real work so it's much more fun this week.

Also just a heads-up that because we're moving house here in Adelaide this weekend, Ivan and I will be offline for approximately a week until our ADSL gets connected again. I can still be contacted through email, and will update this site from work when I can, but you won't see me on MSN for a while (not that you've seen me on MSN much lately anyway).

Anywho, end of announcements. Hope I worded everything well in this blog, seems I have a blog Nazi :P

History

I was thinking recently of all the historical things a person sees in their lifetime. I mean, recently there haven't been any World Wars, we here have been really lucky that those things that have happened haven't effected us directly, but we've still seen some major historical events recently. My Grandma often tells me stories of what happened to them back in Yugoslavia during World War II, and although I've never lived through anything so drastic, it's kinda cool to have things to tell your own grandchildren about.

The main event that springs to mind is ofcourse the attack on the World Trade Centre, and I think we all remember where we were when we first heard about that. Stemming from that we've now seen the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, which is a huge thing when you think about all the years he's been in power.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives we forget to stop and see what's happening around us. But we should all take note and remember these things, so if nothing else we'll have our own cool stories to tell.

Busy Times

Things have been really crazy here and that's why I haven't had a chance to update this blog, so will just run down what I've been doing in a nutshell.

New Year's Eve wasn't bad, just had a few people over and while the boys played computer games Christine and I watched movies and had some drinks. Poor thing though, she'd had to work two jobs that day and had been up since 6am, so she kept dozing off and so it wasn't an overly exciting night for me, but it still wasn't bad.

After New Year's, Ivan and I knuckled down in finding a new place here in Adelaide, while I kept searching for places in Berri. Our spare time was spent looking up places, chasing up real estate agents, and filling out applications. We just signed the papers on a place not far from here on Wednesday night so we move in next Friday, so our time now is being spent packing things up, although I have to admit I'm a lot more slack in doing that. I despise packing.

I've started my new job, training here in Adelaide, and I'm absolutely loving it. Have already spent a day in the field, met lots of great people and I've learnt an incredible amount of things. It's funny, my friend Jun is very anti-government employees and now I am the enemy. Makes me laugh when I think of that. Greg has helped me to find a place in Berri and this weekend I'm gonna go fill out the application, so it looks like I'll be moving there in a couple of weeks. I still have to apply for the place, but I think it's pretty much mine if I want it.

That's about it in a nutshell. I had better go and start some work.