Missing Canberra

With Chaos & Nyx at the back yard in Canberra

I still can’t believe I’m in the States. It’s just another day, I’m sitting on the couch with my laptop, the dogs are sleeping in the same room… but I’m not in Canberra, I’m in Denver. I have to admit that I miss Canberra. On our second last day in Canberra, I spent some time with the dogs on our green lawn of the backyard. It was a lovely warm day.

I miss the familiarity. It took me a very long time to know Canberra, to be comfortable with it. It took me so long to be independent. I grew up in a small town where everything was a walk away, where every neighbourhood was easy to navigate in, where I know knew every shop. As a result I always had issues with travelling on my own to new places. My navigation skills are poor and I have a phobia of getting lost. My experiences of actually getting lost probably didn’t help. Coming to Canberra, a very spread town and much larger than the town I grew up in, was a real challenge for me. In Canberra you pretty much have to have a car to go places and after a very frustrating a year and a half of catching a bus I had to buy a car. It wasn’t easy, I pretty much had to learn to drive again, this time on a different side of the road with slightly different rules. Then I had to battle my own fears and slowly gain the confidence to drive on my own. I guess for most people it’s not an issue but for me it was a huge challenge, and yes, I am proud of myself as I came a long way.

And now I’m in Denver, a city so much larger than Canberra, but with public transport just as bad. So again I have to have a car and again I have to learn to drive on the other side of the road with very different roads and road rules and again I need to fight my fear of driving to new places. I hope that this time it will be easier…

I also miss all the friends I made in Canberra! It took me a long while to make friends and then it was time to go. Keeping in touch was made easy with emails, Skype and Facebook but it's nothing like catching up, especially if you used to see each other regularly. I also miss the Bowens, my Canberra family. You're the best! 

I hope it won’t take me forever to settle down in Denver, mainly in terms of getting around and making friends.

*** 

I started writing a post about all the great things in the States but it will have to wait for a sunny day. The gloomy sky outside the window does no good to my mood.

Cheers,

Irena

Let off steam

Some things in the States annoy me an awful lot and I feel like I need to let off some steam. Please don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it here and the overall experience is very positive. There are just these little things that drive me nuts and frustrate me at times. Writing this down is my way to acceptance.

Not in any particular order.

• People not returning their shopping trolleys. How hard can it be??? It's usually a few steps away from the car! Every car park near a store with trolleys will have a few deserted trolleys while the favourite spot to leave a trolley is in the car park spot itself so no one can park in that spot after his majesty the lazy arse left.  

• People don't follow road rules. Americans probably aren't as bad as Israelis and will try not to kill anybody but they still do whatever the hell they want on the road. You need to be a psychic and predict what they are going to do next. How about using indicators and not going across 2 lanes and one continuous line 'cause you suddenly realised you need to turn at this very intersection?

• The disappearing lane. It might be just a Colorado thing, I don't know, but it's rather dangerous and very annoying. You can drive in the right lane and then suddenly it becomes a right turn only lane, or it merges with the lane near it without any warning, or it just disappears! How about putting some signs around so I don't have to use my psychic skills every time I drive? 

• Non stop phone spam. The Bank of America calls me with a recorded message 1-3 times every day. Some political organisation or whatever says that I was "carefully selected" to participate in their survey. This is a bloody service apartment! Then someone keeps calling Belinda although I keep telling them that it's the wrong number. And these are only the regulars. Then there are the messages and calls to my cell phone which annoy me even more as in the States you have to pay for incoming calls and SMS. I don't want to pay for spam. JUST GIVE ME A BREAK!

• People not picking up after their dogs. We're staying at a service apartment which is dog friendly and there are a fair few people with dogs. The problem is that some of them aren't picking their dogs' poo and the lawns are Poo Fields. I can't let Chaos & Nyx run of the grass as these is poo everywhere! Unfortunately the situation at the neighbourhoods doesn't seem to be much better. There are free poo bags and bins around, just use them!

• Bureaucracy. Everything has to be done by the book and if there is no rule, well, tough luck. There is no common sense or even "I'll ask my supervisor and try to find a solution for you".  Unfortunately, foreigners usually don't fall under many rules and have a hard time settling in. Don't forget that you also have to have a Social Security Number for everything. Well, good luck with that...     

• Limit choice of cell phones in the telecommunications providers. There seems to be a monopoly of telecom providers over certain cell phone models which I just don't get. So if you want a certain model you have to go to the telecom provider that has the monopoly over it. For example, AT&T sell Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0" and Tab 8.9" but they don't sell Tab 7.7" or Tab 10.1" so if you want these you have to go to Verizon or T-Mobile. Even if you want an unlocked model you have to get out of your way and spend lots of money buying in online. Where is exactly that famous USA freedom?

***

I found this online photography magazine 100Eyes, which showcases contemporary photography. Have a look at their issue on the topic of American Dream. Some of the photos are shocking but the thought behind all of the projects is deep and the results are worth looking at. It shows the USA in a few different lights, cynical but hopeful at the same time.

Brand loyalty when going overseas

This time I want to talk about an issue that might help people moving countries or even just going for a long trip overseas. It's a small issue but can be very annoying.

Which brands are you loyal to? And don't tell me you have none. 

We all have our favourite and much loved brands and products. It can be something as cheap as shampoo or something as expensive as a car. But even if a product is cheap and the financial risk or switching brands is low, the emotional risk can be really high. 

Well, maybe you're not truly loyal to any brand or product, but admit it, switching from a product that works well for you now and looking for the next best thing is just tiresome. Well, you might have to.

You might not find all your favourite brands and/or products in the new place and for highly brand loyal people it can be stressful. For the less loyal of us it can be just annoying. You might think that nowadays, with international brands and online stores, it's not a real problem but that's not necessarily true especially with disposable and everyday products like food and toiletries.

Before I moved to Australia, I had been living in Israel for almost 15 years so you can't really blame me for being attached to a fair few products. I was (and still am actually) a huge fan of Milky, Krembo and Cervelat salami (made of beef). Milky and Krembo are unique to Israel and Cervelat elsewhere in the world is make of pork, which I don't eat. I was also happy with my toiletries and was annoyed at the idea of looking for alternatives. Also let me tell you something girls (guys, just skip to the next paragraph), all the women hygiene stuff in Australia sucks big time! 

Coming to the USA from Australia wan't such an issue for me in regards to brand loyalty. I was aware of the availability of almost anything here and was actually eager to try new brands and products, especially those I heard about but couldn't get in Aus. 

So here are some tips to those going overseas to live or to travel for a while: 

- Research. Think of the brands and products you are attached to and see if they are available in the country of destination.

- If you find out that the products are available in the other country, great, just make sure they are affordable and accessible for you. Driving 3 hours to buy your favourite bread doesn't count.

- If the products aren't available, first of all be open minded. Try something else, you might end up liking it better. 

- For products you can't find a substitute to and you need to buy only like once a year, order them online. 

- Watch ads. It can be frustrating to walk into your new local store and find long shelves of unfamiliar brands. By watching ads on TV and other media you'll get an idea of what are the brands available and what they stand for.

- And finally, you might find that your favourite products at the new country just aren't the same or don't suite you anymore. You probably don't image it so don't be stubborn and try something else. 

Hope it helps to at least some of my blog readers. Also, I'd love to hear about your experiences with brand loyalty in a different country.

Cheers. 

The big face plant

So lets see what happened this week...

On Thursday it snowed again, this time heaps more than the last time and it kept snowing during the day. It was one of hubby's first days at work and he was rather puzzled as to how he was meant to drive to work and whether he should drive at all our 2 wheel drive hire Chrysler. Luckily the snow wasn't too deep and it worked out all right in the end.

In the afternoon we took the dogs to have some fun in the snow and it was funny watching them. Some of the time they were hopping like rabbits in the deep (for them) snow and Nyx face planted a few time. I even have the photographic evidence. You can also see that it was still snowing.

When we got home we had to give them a warm bath as they had ice/snow balls on their fur, mainly tummy and back legs. They quite enjoy the baths so no issues there.

Click on the image for the GIF to play

This week we also kept looking for houses and cars. It is rather time consuming. Yesterday we finally bought a car, or a mini-tank, as I call. It's a 2002 Chevy Blazer. The buying process was easy and very similar to buying a car in Australia. Unfortunately the process required after buying a car is much more complex and tiresome, at least according to every Aussie who lived here. The waiting lines and the bureaucracy apparently caused even some tough men to burst into tears. So yeah, I'm not looking forward to it and need to make sure I bring enough water and snacks for the day, and download a new book to the Kindle, before we head to sort it all out. 

The house hunting is going OK, though with a few hiccups along the way. We applied for a couple of houses, the first really large and nice one in Aurora and the second one is small but amazingly well designed in Denver. I like both although they are really different and will be happy to live in either of these two. The one in Aurora is pretty much the house of my dreams with maybe one bedroom too many. The one closer to down town Denver is at a better location and as I said, really well designed. The problem is that the agents for the second house are stupid bureaucrats doing everything except working in the interest of their client and since we are bloody foreigners with no social security numbers, no rent history and no pay slips from the states, our chances of getting it are slim. Not to mention that although we offered to pay a few hundred dollars more than the advertised price each month, they check the application on a first in first served basis. Oh well, at least these are not our agents, renting our house and missing such an opportunity. Also, to be fair, we didn't have issues with any of the other agents in the houses we saw.

On a different note, I was a bit worried about the food in the States but it has been good so far. We went to Sprouts for vegies and organic meat and it was great! All tastes good and lasts long in the fridge. My restaurant and take away experiences were also positive with dinner at Red Lobster topping it. My only real negative experience so far (aside from the terrible food on the internal flight) was the bread. It was meant to be Italian bread from the supermarket bakery and it was a fail! Today we got some different bread from a different bakery. Fingers crossed.

Have a great week everyone!

First snow in Denver (for us anyway)

Woke up this morning to some fresh snow! It was clean, nice and soft. So once I managed to drag myself out of bed, we took the boys for a walk and I took the camera, of course. At first they weren't very keen on the snow but when they realised they had no choice but go on it to do their business, they got to like it. So we took them to the back of the apartment blocks, where there is lots of space, and they got to run around, chase each other and have fun! By the afternoon all the fresh snow melted so it was good we got to enjoy it in the morning.

Chaos the fawn big boy & Nyx the black & tan puppy

Sniffing around...

One of those chase games...

Have a great week!

Hello Denver!

view from the apartment balcony

I'm finally in Denver! Got here yesterday afternoon, went to bed at 9pm and slept till 9am, which didn't stop me from being tired all day. So if any of the sentences don't make sense, I have an excuse - I'm jet legged.

I had the best long flight ever. It started at the Qantas Business Lounge in Canberra with comfy seats, free breakfast and free wifi, continued at Business Lounge in Sydney (even better than the one in Canberra) and topped with the flight from Sydney to LA in business class on an Airbus a380. There is so much room and the food is actually good, not just bearable. I could do it again...

The domestic flight with American Airlines was average and their definition of First Class is Qantas' economy. Their definition of a sandwich is also quite fascinating (in a very disturbing way)... shame I didn't take a photo. Oh well, at least there was personal entertainment in the form of a flight attendant who sounded like a 12 year old girl and spoke to us like we were in kinder garden... "Make sure your cellular phones are on the off mode. Not silent, not flight mode. Off. O-F-F." 

At Denver airport I was distressed to see "Tornado Shelter" signs. I am more scared of tornadoes than of spiders and that tells you something, doesn't it? 

When we finally arrived at the apartment where we are going to stay for the next month. This place is nice and cozy although we got the third and last floor which isn't highly appreciated by the dogs or the hubby who had to take the heavy suitcases up the stairs. 

Today my lovely dogs arrived and I spent the whole day in the apartment giving them attention. So as you can see I haven't seen much of Denver but here are a few things I saw so far. Snow and rabbits. I'm not quite sure when it last snowed here but there is still a fair but of snow on the ground. The dogs don't like it and try to find snow-free-grass to do their business. It's gonna be a struggle when the snow covers everything... There are also a fair few rabbits around and they don't seem to be scared of people. I heard that there are many prairie dogs in Denver (which I haven't seen yet) but didn't expect to find any rabbits. Not that I'm complaining, rabbits are really cute too.

That's all from me for today.

Irena :-) 

will Americans understand me & less than 3 wks to go

It's less than 3 weeks to go till our flight to Denver and I'm both excited and nervous. A lot of the stuff has been sorted out but there is still a lot to be done. So my main goal for the next 6 months is to stay positive and not freak out. Some days can be really hard and stressful but at least at the moment we are in Australia, a familiar place. USA is going to be a real challenge as everything is going to be strange and different.

Putting the American bureaucracy aside, a basic thing called “English” can be an obstacle. While reading about the common experiences of Australians is the USA I noticed that many Aussies stated that American struggle to understand them.

Firstly, the accent is totally different. Aussies are lazy in their speech and don’t pronounce a fair few letters. While going through a list comparing how Aussies vs Americans pronounce words, I realised how Australian I must sound! I’m especially bad with pronouncing my R’s and I definitely should practice my pronunciation if I want Americans to understand me.

The second reason Americans struggle to understand Aussies is the actual words we use. As little dissimilarity as pushbike vs bicycle can make the whole difference. And while Australians are familiar with a lot of the American words through American television and movies, Americans don’t have the privilege of being exposed to another English. I also discovered that saying “toilet” (instead of bathroom or restroom) can make Americans go red and that the Australians national footwear – the thong (flip flop) means a completely different thing over there…

So, speech being an important way of communication and my English being potentially hard to understand, you can see while I’m a bit stressed. Who knows, Spanish might come in handy…