Frustrated in PNG

I try not to post anything negative on this blog, but January has been a frustrating month for us. I realize that we live a pretty interesting and exciting life, so no one wants to hear me whine and complain, but frustration is part of life as an ex-pat.

The shelves of the grocery stores have been empty since we returned from Australia, our internet connection is unreliable, and the garbage floating in the harbour is at an all-time high. The main source of our frustration though is our apartment. The swimming pool is falling apart and is unusable, the ditch in front of the building emits a foul odor, we have mold in growing in the vents, and our air conditioner died a couple of weeks ago and it took 6 days to get it repaired.

It may not sound like a hardship to those who are battling snow and freezing temperatures back home, but when you're living in a tropical climate during the rainy season, an air conditioner is an important feature. It was so unbearable, we moved into a hotel for a couple of nights. The solution was to pillage a unit from an empty apartment and it worked for awhile, but now the replacement A/C unit is starting to die a slow and painful death.

There is hope for us though, because we are moving into a new apartment and I mean a brand new apartment. A new building has just gone up in the same area and we are moving in as soon as possible. All the appliances, fixtures, and furnishings are brand new as well. Plus, everything is clean and works.

I'm not sure why this month has been more difficult for us than any other, but it has. It's been four years since we left Canada and it feels like we've been living like students for the entire time. Sleeping in uncomfortable beds, sitting on cheap furniture (we have outdoor patio furniture in our dining room), and washing clothes in crappy washing machines wears on you after a while. Fingers crossed the move will brighten my outlook on life here.

db

Christmas/New Year's

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. Lori and I spent ours on a multi-city tour of Australia. We started on the west coast of Australia in Perth. We met our friend Erin and her parents for lunch on Christmas Eve at a beautiful seafood restaurant on the beach just outside of Perth.

Erin's parents opened their home to us and we spent Christmas Day with them as well. Unlike Canada where turkey is the main attraction, prawns are the star in Australia at Christmas.

After a wonderful visit with Erin (which was far too short), we flew to Melbourne for a couple of days. Melbourne is another beautiful city on the southern shore of Australia.

There are lots of great restaurants in Melbourne and we had some fantastic meals. We met up for lunch with our friends Andy and Kerryn who live in Melbourne and our friends Melissa and Al from PNG, who were in Australia for Christmas as well.

The food was great, but we had one of the strangest Charcuterie Plates I've ever seen.

It was great to see Andy and Kerryn again. This was a quick visit to Melbourne for us, just long enough to know that we will definitely be back in the near future.

Then we were off to Sydney for New Year's. I'm sure everyone knows of Sydney and their spectacular fireworks display on New Year's Eve. Sydney actually has 2 displays on New Year's Eve, one at 9:00pm for families and of course the main display at midnight. They incorporate the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House into the display along with 6 barges floating in the harbour. We were impressed with the organization of the entire event. Access to all of the prime vantage points is controlled and closed once maximum capacity is reached. They even have a website where you can track the status of the various vantage points around the city. People started claiming their spots by 7:00am. Lori and I were not among those people. We did go down to the harbour to watch the early fireworks, but it was a little too crazy for us. Luckily, we were able to see most of the late show from our hotel room with a glass of champagne in our hand. It was a spectacular show. I only had my phone, so my pictures didn't turn out great. I did however manage to get a shot of the millions of people leaving after it was over.

Melissa and Al were in Sydney as well and they had the best seat in the house. They were on a harbour cruise and were floating underneath the entire thing. If we go back, that's what we will do.

On New Year's Day, Lori and I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a great way to start the New Year, even if we did have trouble walking the next day.

They have very strict safety rules in place. We weren't allowed to bring cameras or phones and we couldn't wear watches or jewellery of any kind. Everything we wore was issued by them and had to be attached to us, so nothing could fall on the passing traffic below and of course, we were attached to the bridge at all times. Here's the group we went with in our fashionable jump suits.

In some ways it was a very different holiday season for us because of the warm climate, but it many ways, it was the same as every year with good food and good friends.

db