Something triggered in me today...I was watching tv (ha!) and a woman was lamenting that she feels the world identifies her as a mother. Maybe not a big deal seeing as she is a mother, but she felt this title of Mother was all that she was anymore, that it is all-encompassing and the world sees none of the other things she might have to offer....I can't relate to that, of course but it made me wonder about what my "Identity" might be. What does the world identify me as? I don't know. I don't know if I am anything anymore...I was a student for so long and it was easy to fall into that roll of high school student or college student. Now I am a wife, but would anyone think "There is Melissa, she is a wife." as their overall impression of me? Do I have a title? I feel a little lost thinking about these kinds of things. I wonder what aspect of my life overpowers all else to the extent it is my identity to the outside world...I think there has to be something. Maybe. But, maybe not. Maybe I am just me. Maybe I get to be "There is Melissa, she is herself." Maybe? Hmm.
I had a bit of an interesting morning. An older couple, Bill and Stella, have stepped in as interim leaders of our church. Neither of them are pastors as it turns out there aren't many people studying in the Uniting Church to be ministers anymore...it's rather sad how many congregations are having to close their doors forever. It feels like the church is dying. :( I don't identify as a follower of the Uniting Church's doctrine and, in fact, I disagree with a lot of things on that front...but how unfair that even this congregation here in Moranbah is fighting every day not only to find a minister who is willing to come to this rural area but to keep people interested and filling seats on Sunday mornings. For now, we are existing and have a lot of big plans for this place. Between the time our last pastor left and Bill and Stella arrived, Chris and I did a lot of encouraging and ramping up with the remaining members. We commited to pumping up the worship and having those who are musically gifted in some respect to give their talents so that we might have consistent leadership in worship which will inevitably lead to the congregation not having to worry about trying to figure out the melody of a song or the specific lyrics but to just give all they have to give in the worship.....
Bill likes hymns. He also likes songs written in the 60s and 70s in the style of hymns. He says that the modern songs are too hard for the congregation to follow and that we need to keep things simple or else they won't participate. ...... .............. Okay. In short, modern music is hard for Bill to follow and makes it hard for him to participate. I tried to explain to him as politely as possible that many members of the congregation have been expressing their wish for us to sing some more up-beat and modern songs. So I really pushed for that in a meeting with Bill today and he's handed over the charge of music to me. Great. :) So I've chosen a balance of contemporary worship songs and upbeat hymns in hopes this will please him. We plan on having a musos rehearsal on Wednesday evenings starting next month and at that point, whether Bill agrees or not, we will all be choosing the music amongst ourselves. I hate to say it, but Bill may or may not be here in 6 weeks and we ALL will be, so I think it's fair that we continue with our worship as we'd originally planned....and hopefully I haven't stepped on any toes. I felt kind of tense there for a minute when I was trying to explain to him why we don't sing as many hymns and why young people find it difficult to make the connection between the words and their lives...it was difficult to explain because he was completely and entirely baffled that a person could exist who wouldn't easily have an emotional connection to every hymn. I did the best I could. I'm really looking forward to when Beebs gets home in a few minutes and I can talk to him about what I said and whether I should add or take away anything next time...... streeesssss....
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Babies and Sarina
I don't know why I didn't realize it before, but the whole idea of us moving to the city and settling down to have kids is pretty stupid. The majority of our support system is up here, why would I move someplace where I barely know anybody to have babies??? In addition to that, Mackay is on the rise. There is construction and development absolutely everywhere you look! They're even opening a Myer next year (kind of like a Macy's) which, when you consider the highest profile department store currently operating in town is Target, is actually a really really big deal. I fully expect that by Myer putting its stamp of approval on Mackay, many other higher profile stores will follow. Not bad!
That said, Chris and I were really enamored by our last visit to Sarina. The view:
This view is actually from 30 minutes south of Sarina. It's as close as I could get and looks so similar it should give y'all a good idea of what I'm talking about. :)
Sarina is a small town about 40 minutes outside Mackay (which, I promise you, is extremely close by Queensland standards.) We're going to start looking into buying a block of land there. We're not experts, but we expect property values there to rocket up within 5 years as it becomes more developed and, since we know that is where we'd definitely want to live if we stayed in this region, it makes sense to go ahead and secure a plot now. We wouldn't develop the land until much later, as origionally planned, but we don't want to miss out because we waited too long! Suffice to say that the development in Mackay is going to leave some people feeling crowded and lead them to move to Sarina which has developed into quite the little town itself. 7 day trading, breath-taking views, 15 minutes from the beach, only a short drive into town and cheaper property than Mackay. If we want to visit Brisbane, it's only a 90 minute flight from mackay and, if you plan enough ahead, can be as cheap as $100 round trip.
It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to have a few acres, a nice country home and room for some horses. I don't know if I'll ever be able to have the horses (I don't know anything about them anyway. ha!), but I think this would be a beautiful place to settle down and get as close to that dream as possible. The real shocker? You can get a 5 acre plot in Sarina for about the price you'd pay for a 715m² plot here in Moranbah. You gotta LOL at that! Anyways, it's just something that we're talking about at the moment. We wanted to pay in cash when we built a home and haven't actually saved much yet, but I think it would be worth it to secure a block at a low price and borrow the money than to pay out of pocket and have to settle for a house in the city or in a housing division.
Just for fun, while I'm "playing house," this is the floor-plan I've always really loved:
That said, Chris and I were really enamored by our last visit to Sarina. The view:
This view is actually from 30 minutes south of Sarina. It's as close as I could get and looks so similar it should give y'all a good idea of what I'm talking about. :)Sarina is a small town about 40 minutes outside Mackay (which, I promise you, is extremely close by Queensland standards.) We're going to start looking into buying a block of land there. We're not experts, but we expect property values there to rocket up within 5 years as it becomes more developed and, since we know that is where we'd definitely want to live if we stayed in this region, it makes sense to go ahead and secure a plot now. We wouldn't develop the land until much later, as origionally planned, but we don't want to miss out because we waited too long! Suffice to say that the development in Mackay is going to leave some people feeling crowded and lead them to move to Sarina which has developed into quite the little town itself. 7 day trading, breath-taking views, 15 minutes from the beach, only a short drive into town and cheaper property than Mackay. If we want to visit Brisbane, it's only a 90 minute flight from mackay and, if you plan enough ahead, can be as cheap as $100 round trip.
It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to have a few acres, a nice country home and room for some horses. I don't know if I'll ever be able to have the horses (I don't know anything about them anyway. ha!), but I think this would be a beautiful place to settle down and get as close to that dream as possible. The real shocker? You can get a 5 acre plot in Sarina for about the price you'd pay for a 715m² plot here in Moranbah. You gotta LOL at that! Anyways, it's just something that we're talking about at the moment. We wanted to pay in cash when we built a home and haven't actually saved much yet, but I think it would be worth it to secure a block at a low price and borrow the money than to pay out of pocket and have to settle for a house in the city or in a housing division.
Just for fun, while I'm "playing house," this is the floor-plan I've always really loved:
I think this is the perfect sized home for 2 child family. I LOVE the alfresco dining area and Chris loves the theater room, but we could also make the theater room a play-room for the kids if we wanted to. There's a study downstairs that Chris could use as his studio and an extra bedroom for guests. The master bed/bath is huge with a walk-in closet and we'd even have our own little balcony off our room. :) I also like that the kids would be downstairs together so they'd have their own space when their friends came over or, when we have company, the kids can all hang out downstairs while the adults are upstairs. The only downside is that, while I think the modernness of this house's facade is really cool, it's not really my taste. I like more country type homes with big verandahs...so I don't think we'd ever live in this exact house. I def think this floor-plan will be the basis of any home we do build in the future though!
That's all just for fun and just some things we've been talking about lately. :) We're still REALLY excited about our new split-system a/c the rental agency is installing, that really was the highlight of our week. We also are talking about planning a trip to Fiji at the end of May to see Chris's cousin get married (and to go to Fiji!) They have a special all-inclusive package with reduced rates for their wedding guests, we just have to evaluate costs and whether it's something we can do right now. I think that if we get a cheap dishwasher instead of the flashy one I want we could easily afford the trip, but we still have to sit down and look over the packet once Chris's mom gives it to us and see what hidden costs there are because, at this point, it all sounds too good to be true!! I'll keep y'all posted. ;)
That's all just for fun and just some things we've been talking about lately. :) We're still REALLY excited about our new split-system a/c the rental agency is installing, that really was the highlight of our week. We also are talking about planning a trip to Fiji at the end of May to see Chris's cousin get married (and to go to Fiji!) They have a special all-inclusive package with reduced rates for their wedding guests, we just have to evaluate costs and whether it's something we can do right now. I think that if we get a cheap dishwasher instead of the flashy one I want we could easily afford the trip, but we still have to sit down and look over the packet once Chris's mom gives it to us and see what hidden costs there are because, at this point, it all sounds too good to be true!! I'll keep y'all posted. ;)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Home again!
WOW what a week! I had such an amazing birthday, thanks to every one who sent me birthday wishes and an extra special thanks to Aunt Pam and Uncle Karl who went through the trouble to send me a beautiful silicone bundt pan!!! Pinapple upside down cake anyone??
___________________
Land of red dust plains and summer rains..
We spent a couple days at the beach house but didn't actually get to do much beaching. The first day the beach was closed due to jellyfish and the second day it was only POURING rain all day! We did get to catch up with Turtle and Ash and little baby Ezra though which was tons of fun. :) Every time we drive out to Sarina I am just blown away by the beauty of Queensland. I feel especially blessed and privledged to have so much beauty from the rolling green hills dotted with squares of sugar cane paddocks and lychee bush fields to the purple mountains lining the horizon there's just so much to take your breath away. And then you stroll down to Sarina Beach where it's deserted (exept for maybe 1 other person about 300 yards away) and there is just ocean as far as you can see...it's quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been to and I get to live here. :) Part of me feels sorry for the Australians who never get to be a part of this Australia, where their world is full of sky scraping buildings and you can't move two feet on the beach without toppling over someone it makes me wonder if they'd ever bother to take a trip up here to appreciate their country's natural beauty? Yeah, it's inconvenient out here and you don't have access to every shop and privledge like you do in the capital cities...but I wonder if they could even appreciate a place like this for what it is. I wonder if the people who grew up here can even appreciate this place... That's just something I've been chewing on. :)
_________________
BIRTHDAY!
Chris booked us into a suite at the Mercure, where we had our wedding night, for my birthday! I had a pampering pedicure that afternoon and was treated to some new makeup before he took me out to a nice dinner at a place called The Church on Palmer. I was really impressed that a place like that exists in Mackay, you can tell they've really made an effort there to turn this old church into a nice restaurant and, while the decor was a little rough around the edges, the food was top notch. The only complaint I have is that my prawns came out with their head and legs still attatched even after I asked if they were peeled specifically because it REALLY FREAKS ME OUT when my food still looks like a bug......and so I subsequently (and embarrassingly) froze up when the waitress told me I'd have to cut their heads off. REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!????!!!!! These things still had eyeballs. I couldn't look at them and in the end Chris pulled their heads off for me...i don't understand why the chef couldn't have done that before they brought out the food. Next time I know not to ask if the shrimp is peeled but to ask if it is headless and legless. Yeah, I may sound like an idiot but I just can't do heads and legs on my plate. Sorry! Other than the leggy debacle, the meal was amazing. :)
The next day, my American birthday and official date of birth, we spent the day browsing the mall, taking naps, eating food and then went out to Satchmos at the marina for tapas. YUM! Much more my speed than the french food the night before and there were even churros for dessert. woot!
________________________________
IMMMIGRATION!
The immigration peeps emailed me and my application is processing! I just need to submit a background check to them since I've spent more than 12 months of the last decade in Australia (cool!) and then my application should be complete...I think. That's all they asked for. They didn't mention for us to schedule an interview or for me to get a health check or anything like that so hopefully we don't get a separate email later on asking for those things. It'd be pretty annoying for them to not just let us know off the cuff... but whatev. I'm just glad everything's under way! It can take up to 6 months for this thing to process which is, pretty much, a beating. But the last one processed in less than 8 weeks with an avg. processing time of 6 months so hopefully it won't be too long.
______________________________
The Future!
Okay so if you haven't been updated recently, I've decided against doing a hairdresser apprenticeship. I would LOVE to cut hair, but 3 years of learning is just too big of a commitment to one place before I even find a job cutting hair full time. That said, we aren't sure where we're going to be 5 years from now. It could be in Mackay or Sarina, it could be in Brisbane or Sydney, it could even be back in Fort Worth, we just don't know. So I'm going to play it safe and cover all my bases... what does that mean? Well, in Australia people don't really need university degrees to be successful in life. I've always said that the only jobs worth having out here are the ones in the mines and I've also said that all I really want is a job that will let me work when Chris is working and be home on nights and weekends. Just some normalcy...so I've decided to apply for the administration traineeship again this year. I was short-listed in 2008 which was a big deal but, because of my visa, I had to head back to the USA in the middle of the interview process and had to forfeit my chances. I'm going to go for it again this year! Applications come out in September and you start work in January or February of next year. After only doing a year of training, I could apply as a full time admin. assistant at any one of the mine sites around here and have a chance at making a good 6 times what I would working full time in retail here and I wouldn't have to work weekends or nights AND I'm guranteed 5 weeks paid leave a year when I find full time work as well as sick-leave. I might even get to work at the same mine site as Chris which would be more than cool. :) So that would pretty much set me up for doing admin. work anywhere we might move in Australia. To cover my bases if we move back to the USA, I need a degree. SO I'm planning on getting a bach. degree in communications from Open Universities Australia. Yay!
With me working full time, we could easily have more than $250k saved towards our house in 5 years time. Then we can buy/build a home, have a baby and live happily ever after. WOOT!
I'm sorry this update is so long, I just actually had something to update on for once. ha! If you made it this far, you are a true friend. xoxo
___________________
Land of red dust plains and summer rains..
We spent a couple days at the beach house but didn't actually get to do much beaching. The first day the beach was closed due to jellyfish and the second day it was only POURING rain all day! We did get to catch up with Turtle and Ash and little baby Ezra though which was tons of fun. :) Every time we drive out to Sarina I am just blown away by the beauty of Queensland. I feel especially blessed and privledged to have so much beauty from the rolling green hills dotted with squares of sugar cane paddocks and lychee bush fields to the purple mountains lining the horizon there's just so much to take your breath away. And then you stroll down to Sarina Beach where it's deserted (exept for maybe 1 other person about 300 yards away) and there is just ocean as far as you can see...it's quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been to and I get to live here. :) Part of me feels sorry for the Australians who never get to be a part of this Australia, where their world is full of sky scraping buildings and you can't move two feet on the beach without toppling over someone it makes me wonder if they'd ever bother to take a trip up here to appreciate their country's natural beauty? Yeah, it's inconvenient out here and you don't have access to every shop and privledge like you do in the capital cities...but I wonder if they could even appreciate a place like this for what it is. I wonder if the people who grew up here can even appreciate this place... That's just something I've been chewing on. :)
_________________
BIRTHDAY!
Chris booked us into a suite at the Mercure, where we had our wedding night, for my birthday! I had a pampering pedicure that afternoon and was treated to some new makeup before he took me out to a nice dinner at a place called The Church on Palmer. I was really impressed that a place like that exists in Mackay, you can tell they've really made an effort there to turn this old church into a nice restaurant and, while the decor was a little rough around the edges, the food was top notch. The only complaint I have is that my prawns came out with their head and legs still attatched even after I asked if they were peeled specifically because it REALLY FREAKS ME OUT when my food still looks like a bug......and so I subsequently (and embarrassingly) froze up when the waitress told me I'd have to cut their heads off. REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!????!!!!! These things still had eyeballs. I couldn't look at them and in the end Chris pulled their heads off for me...i don't understand why the chef couldn't have done that before they brought out the food. Next time I know not to ask if the shrimp is peeled but to ask if it is headless and legless. Yeah, I may sound like an idiot but I just can't do heads and legs on my plate. Sorry! Other than the leggy debacle, the meal was amazing. :)
The next day, my American birthday and official date of birth, we spent the day browsing the mall, taking naps, eating food and then went out to Satchmos at the marina for tapas. YUM! Much more my speed than the french food the night before and there were even churros for dessert. woot!
________________________________
IMMMIGRATION!
The immigration peeps emailed me and my application is processing! I just need to submit a background check to them since I've spent more than 12 months of the last decade in Australia (cool!) and then my application should be complete...I think. That's all they asked for. They didn't mention for us to schedule an interview or for me to get a health check or anything like that so hopefully we don't get a separate email later on asking for those things. It'd be pretty annoying for them to not just let us know off the cuff... but whatev. I'm just glad everything's under way! It can take up to 6 months for this thing to process which is, pretty much, a beating. But the last one processed in less than 8 weeks with an avg. processing time of 6 months so hopefully it won't be too long.
______________________________
The Future!
Okay so if you haven't been updated recently, I've decided against doing a hairdresser apprenticeship. I would LOVE to cut hair, but 3 years of learning is just too big of a commitment to one place before I even find a job cutting hair full time. That said, we aren't sure where we're going to be 5 years from now. It could be in Mackay or Sarina, it could be in Brisbane or Sydney, it could even be back in Fort Worth, we just don't know. So I'm going to play it safe and cover all my bases... what does that mean? Well, in Australia people don't really need university degrees to be successful in life. I've always said that the only jobs worth having out here are the ones in the mines and I've also said that all I really want is a job that will let me work when Chris is working and be home on nights and weekends. Just some normalcy...so I've decided to apply for the administration traineeship again this year. I was short-listed in 2008 which was a big deal but, because of my visa, I had to head back to the USA in the middle of the interview process and had to forfeit my chances. I'm going to go for it again this year! Applications come out in September and you start work in January or February of next year. After only doing a year of training, I could apply as a full time admin. assistant at any one of the mine sites around here and have a chance at making a good 6 times what I would working full time in retail here and I wouldn't have to work weekends or nights AND I'm guranteed 5 weeks paid leave a year when I find full time work as well as sick-leave. I might even get to work at the same mine site as Chris which would be more than cool. :) So that would pretty much set me up for doing admin. work anywhere we might move in Australia. To cover my bases if we move back to the USA, I need a degree. SO I'm planning on getting a bach. degree in communications from Open Universities Australia. Yay!
With me working full time, we could easily have more than $250k saved towards our house in 5 years time. Then we can buy/build a home, have a baby and live happily ever after. WOOT!
I'm sorry this update is so long, I just actually had something to update on for once. ha! If you made it this far, you are a true friend. xoxo
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Going awaaay
No big updates yet. I'm still getting back into the habit of blogging and haven't really thought of anything major to update on....Let's see...
Our garden is dying. :( That's pretty major isn't it? I think we're getting some fungus in the soil from all the rain. All of our petunias are dead but our Marigolds are doing almost TOO well and have pretty much taken over the garden. The Dianthus are struggling but have still pulled through. All the violets died which is a shame... It's been raining just about every afternoon which is GREAT for the yard, our grass looks awesome. I'm watching the news at the moment about all the snow expected in D.C. and mom talks about the ice Texas has had in the past weeks...It's funny. I was ready to get into the warmth by the time I left Texas and now that I've been in the heat for a couple weeks I'm just SO over it already and would like to be back in the snow. lol It would be so nice to curl up in front of the fire with a good book at the moment but we're just trying to pump some cold air from the back of the house ( there's only a/c in the bedrooms at the back of the house so we've got a fan trying to pump it into the front.) According to the thermometer in Chris's phone it is currently 86 degrees INSIDE the house. And it actually feels relatively cool compared to before we tried to pump some cold up here. bleh.
Chris is stealing me away. He has some kind of birthday plans for me but they are under wraps at the moment. All I kno is that we are going to the beach/Mackay until Thursday which means that I will only be able to check Facebook from my phone and, even then, will probably not be able to respond to messages and whatnot very easily considering I don't have one of those newfangled "smart phones" or iphones or any of it! So don't get mad. I won't be ignoring anyone, I just won't be home. xoxo ;)
I found out that Cairns is only a 9 hour drive from Mackay. I know, that's not close, but it's not like it's 18 hrs away or anything like I'd originally thought. It's definitely a distance we could cover in a day without much exhaustion...That's like DFW to South Padre, right? So, next on my travel list is going to be Cairns. I don't know when we'll actually make it out there but I really want to go! I want to see the rainforest there...I don't know. I just want to see it, just to go somewhere different. :)
That's all for now! Just a bit of randomness!
Our garden is dying. :( That's pretty major isn't it? I think we're getting some fungus in the soil from all the rain. All of our petunias are dead but our Marigolds are doing almost TOO well and have pretty much taken over the garden. The Dianthus are struggling but have still pulled through. All the violets died which is a shame... It's been raining just about every afternoon which is GREAT for the yard, our grass looks awesome. I'm watching the news at the moment about all the snow expected in D.C. and mom talks about the ice Texas has had in the past weeks...It's funny. I was ready to get into the warmth by the time I left Texas and now that I've been in the heat for a couple weeks I'm just SO over it already and would like to be back in the snow. lol It would be so nice to curl up in front of the fire with a good book at the moment but we're just trying to pump some cold air from the back of the house ( there's only a/c in the bedrooms at the back of the house so we've got a fan trying to pump it into the front.) According to the thermometer in Chris's phone it is currently 86 degrees INSIDE the house. And it actually feels relatively cool compared to before we tried to pump some cold up here. bleh.
Chris is stealing me away. He has some kind of birthday plans for me but they are under wraps at the moment. All I kno is that we are going to the beach/Mackay until Thursday which means that I will only be able to check Facebook from my phone and, even then, will probably not be able to respond to messages and whatnot very easily considering I don't have one of those newfangled "smart phones" or iphones or any of it! So don't get mad. I won't be ignoring anyone, I just won't be home. xoxo ;)
I found out that Cairns is only a 9 hour drive from Mackay. I know, that's not close, but it's not like it's 18 hrs away or anything like I'd originally thought. It's definitely a distance we could cover in a day without much exhaustion...That's like DFW to South Padre, right? So, next on my travel list is going to be Cairns. I don't know when we'll actually make it out there but I really want to go! I want to see the rainforest there...I don't know. I just want to see it, just to go somewhere different. :)
That's all for now! Just a bit of randomness!
Monday, February 1, 2010
I'm here!
I'm here! I'm alive!
Okay, so I know a lot of people are annoyed at me for not updating straight away but, if I'm being perfectly honest, I just didn't feel like it. I'm sorry! I've been really busy organizing the second stage of the visa process and settling in. Before I knew it, a week had passed! I called mom on Saturday after my visa application was totally collected and in the mail, so hopefully she's updated a lot of people. If not, I'll update you!
I won't assume you know what a visa is, so let me explain. It's a document that allows you to live in the country lawfully without being a citizen or resident. It also allows you to work! My last visa was only for 9 months and expires at the end of this week. Being in the country without the visa is very very illegal and can come with big consequences hence why we were falling on top of ourselves to get the application out asap. I know, I know, it's all very last minute and I have lots of excuses but none of them are good. The good news is that our account was charged the processing fee yesterday which means that they have recieved the application and begun processing it. The only way they would have gotten the bank details is if they went through the application. Hurray! The fact that I had another visa processing prior to my current visa's expiry is pretty much my immunity to getting into trouble...I think. I won't get into it too much but I'm 89% sure that I'm good to go. Just in case I emailed an immigration lawyer ($25 a question!!!) to make sure. :)
Other than that, I don't have much of consequence to update on. I hung some new curtains (the Ikea Stockholm Blad ones in green) and they've instantaneously made a HUGE difference to our lounge room in a very good way. I've been watching the first 3 seasons of medium on dvd since I missed them....Chris has next week off from work but we're not sure what we're doing since we can't see Taylor Swift anymore :(. Today it is officially a week from my bday and I'm not sure what we're doing for that either.
In the mean time, embracing a more vegetarian lifestyle has been great! We do eat meat maybe once a week or every two weeks or if we visit someone for dinner and they've cooked meat (I mean, it's already dead and cooked, what difference does it make if it's in my tummy or in the garbage can, right?) But we haven't bought steak or chicken breasts or anything. I've learned that tofu tastes just like chicken and is amazingly versatile and that if you eat an entire stalk of broccoli in one sitting you get very stinky burps. LOL Overall we feel really good about the difference we've made in our lives and the small difference we might make in our world. By lowering our meat consumption to less than %5 of our overall diet we've significantly lowered our carbon footprint, lowered our risk for diseases, and have stopped contributing to the death of so many animals. Do I think that Farmer Joe is going to stop producing meat because I stopped buying it? No, but at least I can say with clear conscious that I played very little part in whatever it is he does on his farm and that is definitely good for my spirit. :)
That's all for today!
Okay, so I know a lot of people are annoyed at me for not updating straight away but, if I'm being perfectly honest, I just didn't feel like it. I'm sorry! I've been really busy organizing the second stage of the visa process and settling in. Before I knew it, a week had passed! I called mom on Saturday after my visa application was totally collected and in the mail, so hopefully she's updated a lot of people. If not, I'll update you!
I won't assume you know what a visa is, so let me explain. It's a document that allows you to live in the country lawfully without being a citizen or resident. It also allows you to work! My last visa was only for 9 months and expires at the end of this week. Being in the country without the visa is very very illegal and can come with big consequences hence why we were falling on top of ourselves to get the application out asap. I know, I know, it's all very last minute and I have lots of excuses but none of them are good. The good news is that our account was charged the processing fee yesterday which means that they have recieved the application and begun processing it. The only way they would have gotten the bank details is if they went through the application. Hurray! The fact that I had another visa processing prior to my current visa's expiry is pretty much my immunity to getting into trouble...I think. I won't get into it too much but I'm 89% sure that I'm good to go. Just in case I emailed an immigration lawyer ($25 a question!!!) to make sure. :)
Other than that, I don't have much of consequence to update on. I hung some new curtains (the Ikea Stockholm Blad ones in green) and they've instantaneously made a HUGE difference to our lounge room in a very good way. I've been watching the first 3 seasons of medium on dvd since I missed them....Chris has next week off from work but we're not sure what we're doing since we can't see Taylor Swift anymore :(. Today it is officially a week from my bday and I'm not sure what we're doing for that either.
In the mean time, embracing a more vegetarian lifestyle has been great! We do eat meat maybe once a week or every two weeks or if we visit someone for dinner and they've cooked meat (I mean, it's already dead and cooked, what difference does it make if it's in my tummy or in the garbage can, right?) But we haven't bought steak or chicken breasts or anything. I've learned that tofu tastes just like chicken and is amazingly versatile and that if you eat an entire stalk of broccoli in one sitting you get very stinky burps. LOL Overall we feel really good about the difference we've made in our lives and the small difference we might make in our world. By lowering our meat consumption to less than %5 of our overall diet we've significantly lowered our carbon footprint, lowered our risk for diseases, and have stopped contributing to the death of so many animals. Do I think that Farmer Joe is going to stop producing meat because I stopped buying it? No, but at least I can say with clear conscious that I played very little part in whatever it is he does on his farm and that is definitely good for my spirit. :)
That's all for today!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Vegetarian
I've decided to explore vegetarianism.
http://www.veg-soc.org/cms/html/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=121
I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It all started when I walked into Chipotle and there were signs everywhere touting "food with integrity" and I know they source most of their meet from free range farms when possible and, where not possible, farms that have humane conditions for the animals in both death and life. I saw Avatar and thought about what it would be like if I had to hunt my meals myself in order to live and it really touched me how they prayed for the animals they had to kill for food, gave them almost a last rites of sorts...similar to the native Americans I suppose. I think that, if I had to, hunting would be like that for me. There would be no thrill of the hunt, no joy in the kill and an immense amount of respect for the animal who had to die so that I could live. It's the circle of life.... How horrible is it then that, just because I didn't have to kill it myself, I go out an eat hoards and hoards of meat every day with NO respect for the animals who died to feed me or thought to the conditions of their life and death that lead to the meal on my plate. I kind of disgust myself.
I know that there are some farms that do respect the lives of their animals and who do end their lives in a humane way and I honestly don't feel angry at those farms at all. I know that the people here in the city have access to all of that meat....but I'm not so sure I would have access to anything like that in Moranbah. I just don't know. Right now I don't know much about the processes at all, I'm still exploring so, for now, I'm going to be meat free until I have more education. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'd ever be that person who spouts off self-righteous statements like "I could never eat anything with a face" or "meat is murder" and so on....but I think it's just and right for me to respect every living thing and stop taking their lives for granted just because it's convenient for me.
I've always had a problem with food that still looks like a carcass. Whole chickens for example, unpeeled shrimp, bone-in steaks. I get REALLY grossed out eating chicken wings and I can feel a vein stuck between my teeth. It makes me want to vomit and cry at the same time. It's always been an out of sight out of mind kind of thing for me. Like, if I pretend it was never alive and it doesn't look like any distinguishable living thing then maybe I can just believe that it always was dead. Like this veal on my plate was never a precious doe-eyed calf with lashes a mile long and beating heart. But it was...
For me this choice is more about being conscious of what I'm eating and respecting the lives of the animals rather than eating meat at every meal because it's easy to come by. I don't think I could even call myself a vegetarian...for instance, if a friend of ours didn't know about our life choice and slaved over a beautiful meal I would never refuse to eat it just because of the meat! I think the aussie BBQ tradition is going to make things a bit more difficult...but hopefully people won't mind if I bring a veggie dish to share and opt out of the steak and sausage. Regardless of what I come across in social settings, I'll definitely be skipping the meat at home and at restaurants unless I know absolutely where it came from. I know the RSPCA has a Seal of Approval program so that should make things easier on eggs and dairy byproducts. I just want my impact on other living things to be as humane as possible. There's so many other readily available sources of food it seems almost crazy to turn to the meat every time.
Those are my thoughts. :)
http://www.veg-soc.org/cms/html/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=121
I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It all started when I walked into Chipotle and there were signs everywhere touting "food with integrity" and I know they source most of their meet from free range farms when possible and, where not possible, farms that have humane conditions for the animals in both death and life. I saw Avatar and thought about what it would be like if I had to hunt my meals myself in order to live and it really touched me how they prayed for the animals they had to kill for food, gave them almost a last rites of sorts...similar to the native Americans I suppose. I think that, if I had to, hunting would be like that for me. There would be no thrill of the hunt, no joy in the kill and an immense amount of respect for the animal who had to die so that I could live. It's the circle of life.... How horrible is it then that, just because I didn't have to kill it myself, I go out an eat hoards and hoards of meat every day with NO respect for the animals who died to feed me or thought to the conditions of their life and death that lead to the meal on my plate. I kind of disgust myself.
I know that there are some farms that do respect the lives of their animals and who do end their lives in a humane way and I honestly don't feel angry at those farms at all. I know that the people here in the city have access to all of that meat....but I'm not so sure I would have access to anything like that in Moranbah. I just don't know. Right now I don't know much about the processes at all, I'm still exploring so, for now, I'm going to be meat free until I have more education. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'd ever be that person who spouts off self-righteous statements like "I could never eat anything with a face" or "meat is murder" and so on....but I think it's just and right for me to respect every living thing and stop taking their lives for granted just because it's convenient for me.
I've always had a problem with food that still looks like a carcass. Whole chickens for example, unpeeled shrimp, bone-in steaks. I get REALLY grossed out eating chicken wings and I can feel a vein stuck between my teeth. It makes me want to vomit and cry at the same time. It's always been an out of sight out of mind kind of thing for me. Like, if I pretend it was never alive and it doesn't look like any distinguishable living thing then maybe I can just believe that it always was dead. Like this veal on my plate was never a precious doe-eyed calf with lashes a mile long and beating heart. But it was...
For me this choice is more about being conscious of what I'm eating and respecting the lives of the animals rather than eating meat at every meal because it's easy to come by. I don't think I could even call myself a vegetarian...for instance, if a friend of ours didn't know about our life choice and slaved over a beautiful meal I would never refuse to eat it just because of the meat! I think the aussie BBQ tradition is going to make things a bit more difficult...but hopefully people won't mind if I bring a veggie dish to share and opt out of the steak and sausage. Regardless of what I come across in social settings, I'll definitely be skipping the meat at home and at restaurants unless I know absolutely where it came from. I know the RSPCA has a Seal of Approval program so that should make things easier on eggs and dairy byproducts. I just want my impact on other living things to be as humane as possible. There's so many other readily available sources of food it seems almost crazy to turn to the meat every time.
Those are my thoughts. :)
Sunday, January 3, 2010
An update!
I woke up at 4am (now 7am) and couldn't sleep and, when I'm anxious I journal just to get everything out on paper (or on the net as it were) so, here I am.
I miss Beebs! I know it sounds crazy, but this last 8 months is the longest we've ever been together without at least a 6 week period apart thrown in there somewhere....and it feels really weird to be alone again. Mom put a queen bed in my sister's old room for us when he was here, but I moved to the twin bed because it just felt cold and empty all by myself in the queen. I know, I know, I'm a sook. It's only 2.5 weeks (17 days to be exact. ;) ) and we've done far far worse...but it feels different this time. The fact that we still miss each other hopelessly after only a few hours is a good sign I think. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we can't spend a night apart without getting all rediculous, it's just there's a big diff between a night apart when you see each other the next day (or even in a couple days) and the first night apart of weeks of nights apart.
People always ask me if it gets easier, to be apart I mean. And, you know, I don't think anything in my life could ever be as hard as that first goodbye... so yes, in that sense it has gotten easier. But beyond that...it doesn't really. I always cry even when I promise myself I won't. I did pretty well this time. I made it all the way to the final hug at the airport before soaking his shoulder. Yay! Props to me! I do find myself asking why we do this to each other. Many couples wouldn't even consider being apart, if he could only get 2 weeks off work then the trip would only be 2 weeks and we'd leave together....but my family here and my friends here, they're important too! That's the crappy thing about having two homes; you're always crying over someone.
I have experienced an obstacle that I didn't consider until today: I don't have a car here. I mean, I don't have a car in Moranbah either but, usually, I'm on my parent's car insurance. They've removed me for obvious reasons and, after I returned the rental car last evening, I realized that I'm kind of trapped here. At least here I have friends who will come and visit me and drive me around places and so on...but I'm going to miss that freedom of being able to leave whenever I want. I REALLY wanted to be able to just go out and be by myself last night and I felt a bit like the teenager again, trapped in my parents house. It's a little bit frustrating and has put a bit of a damper on the initial euphoria of being home amongst all I know and love best.
I should talk about that for a moment actually, the initial euphoria I mean. We finally arrived at the DFW airport and picked up the rental car and, after some initial disorientation of right vs. left, my instinct took me home. It was like a miracle that, after all that time, I didn't even have to think about the exit to take or the direction to drive....I just took us home! And, as I walked through the front door to the scratching and clicking of Scarlett's excited paws on the hardwood and big hugs from my parents, my heart felt truly full for the first time in a long long time. Mom had lit a candle or something that smelled like Christmas (you know, all cinnamon and nutmeg and allspice) and the tree was sparkling in the corner of the living room where it always did. The floor felt intriguingly solid under my feet and I recognized the absence of the familiar thud and echo of the high and low-set homes of Queensland. I looked around in renewed awe of the home I'd spent 20 years of my life in; the ceilings seemed so high and the air was so warm and inviting in contrast to the brisk winter outside. I'd grown up feeling like my parents 1980's 3 bed/2 bath house was inferior to the brand new 4/5 bed 2 story homes of my friends...but now as I saw it through new eyes I recognized it for what it was; BEAUTIFUL. Solid floors, central a/c and heat, HUGE rooms, high ceilings, 2 full bathrooms and walk-in closets. Even a garage! I felt really proud of my parents for the home they'd built together in this house and I realized that I could be perfectly and endlessly happy in nothing more than a 3 bed/2 bath 1980's home for the rest of my life! It's amazing what you learn to appreciate when you've done without....
It's surreal to be able to buy a coffee at Starbucks at 9:30 pm if I want or buy a burger at 3 am. I still haven't quite wrapped my head around it.... I spent FOUR HOURS just in Marshall's and Ross today....and there's 15 more of them in a 10 mile radius if I should get bored and want to have another go....It might sound bad, but I feel a bit like Tom Hanks in that movie Castaway after he's been stranded for 3 years on a remote island and they throw him that party when he comes home....he stands in awe of the lighter's instant fire and the bowls of crab legs and lobster tails just ready to eat that he didn't have to kill himself. Not that Moranbah is a desert island or anything....but I am admittedly in awe of huge bowls of pico you can buy from Sams for 5 bucks...that I didn't have to make myself. I'm in awe of that I could go to any one of 15 some-odd starbucks within a 15 miles of my parents house when I'd have to fly 1000 miles just to find ONE in Queensland. It's surreal. So, if we hadn't before now, I think we can confirm that I'm definitely not a country girl.
I miss Beebs! I know it sounds crazy, but this last 8 months is the longest we've ever been together without at least a 6 week period apart thrown in there somewhere....and it feels really weird to be alone again. Mom put a queen bed in my sister's old room for us when he was here, but I moved to the twin bed because it just felt cold and empty all by myself in the queen. I know, I know, I'm a sook. It's only 2.5 weeks (17 days to be exact. ;) ) and we've done far far worse...but it feels different this time. The fact that we still miss each other hopelessly after only a few hours is a good sign I think. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we can't spend a night apart without getting all rediculous, it's just there's a big diff between a night apart when you see each other the next day (or even in a couple days) and the first night apart of weeks of nights apart.
People always ask me if it gets easier, to be apart I mean. And, you know, I don't think anything in my life could ever be as hard as that first goodbye... so yes, in that sense it has gotten easier. But beyond that...it doesn't really. I always cry even when I promise myself I won't. I did pretty well this time. I made it all the way to the final hug at the airport before soaking his shoulder. Yay! Props to me! I do find myself asking why we do this to each other. Many couples wouldn't even consider being apart, if he could only get 2 weeks off work then the trip would only be 2 weeks and we'd leave together....but my family here and my friends here, they're important too! That's the crappy thing about having two homes; you're always crying over someone.
I have experienced an obstacle that I didn't consider until today: I don't have a car here. I mean, I don't have a car in Moranbah either but, usually, I'm on my parent's car insurance. They've removed me for obvious reasons and, after I returned the rental car last evening, I realized that I'm kind of trapped here. At least here I have friends who will come and visit me and drive me around places and so on...but I'm going to miss that freedom of being able to leave whenever I want. I REALLY wanted to be able to just go out and be by myself last night and I felt a bit like the teenager again, trapped in my parents house. It's a little bit frustrating and has put a bit of a damper on the initial euphoria of being home amongst all I know and love best.
I should talk about that for a moment actually, the initial euphoria I mean. We finally arrived at the DFW airport and picked up the rental car and, after some initial disorientation of right vs. left, my instinct took me home. It was like a miracle that, after all that time, I didn't even have to think about the exit to take or the direction to drive....I just took us home! And, as I walked through the front door to the scratching and clicking of Scarlett's excited paws on the hardwood and big hugs from my parents, my heart felt truly full for the first time in a long long time. Mom had lit a candle or something that smelled like Christmas (you know, all cinnamon and nutmeg and allspice) and the tree was sparkling in the corner of the living room where it always did. The floor felt intriguingly solid under my feet and I recognized the absence of the familiar thud and echo of the high and low-set homes of Queensland. I looked around in renewed awe of the home I'd spent 20 years of my life in; the ceilings seemed so high and the air was so warm and inviting in contrast to the brisk winter outside. I'd grown up feeling like my parents 1980's 3 bed/2 bath house was inferior to the brand new 4/5 bed 2 story homes of my friends...but now as I saw it through new eyes I recognized it for what it was; BEAUTIFUL. Solid floors, central a/c and heat, HUGE rooms, high ceilings, 2 full bathrooms and walk-in closets. Even a garage! I felt really proud of my parents for the home they'd built together in this house and I realized that I could be perfectly and endlessly happy in nothing more than a 3 bed/2 bath 1980's home for the rest of my life! It's amazing what you learn to appreciate when you've done without....
It's surreal to be able to buy a coffee at Starbucks at 9:30 pm if I want or buy a burger at 3 am. I still haven't quite wrapped my head around it.... I spent FOUR HOURS just in Marshall's and Ross today....and there's 15 more of them in a 10 mile radius if I should get bored and want to have another go....It might sound bad, but I feel a bit like Tom Hanks in that movie Castaway after he's been stranded for 3 years on a remote island and they throw him that party when he comes home....he stands in awe of the lighter's instant fire and the bowls of crab legs and lobster tails just ready to eat that he didn't have to kill himself. Not that Moranbah is a desert island or anything....but I am admittedly in awe of huge bowls of pico you can buy from Sams for 5 bucks...that I didn't have to make myself. I'm in awe of that I could go to any one of 15 some-odd starbucks within a 15 miles of my parents house when I'd have to fly 1000 miles just to find ONE in Queensland. It's surreal. So, if we hadn't before now, I think we can confirm that I'm definitely not a country girl.
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