Stress let down

Time still feels like its expanding and contracting in strange ways. This week marked one month in Australia, and one week in our new place. To me it feels like we have been here way longer than that. I have to keep reminding myself that we are still in very early days. Now that we have a place to relax into, we are getting some stress let down from those first few weeks. While shockingly neither one of us has been sick yet, I got a cold sore this week, and collectively it has been the lowest week we have had.

Not a lot of note happened this week. Mostly just regular, new place things. Justin installed our bidet, and got a bike. I have successfully unpacked about half my stuff (with a promise to Justin that it will be done by the end of the weekend). We found a small desk for cheap on facebook marketplace. My supervisor gave me a spare monitor he wasn't using, which was very nice. Overall not a lot happening. Which gave us some space to have our first good Australian cry.

We knew this was going to happen. We didn't make decisions about moving to the other side of the world quickly,. As part of our decision making, we talked about how hard it would be to be away from everyone we loved. How it would feel to not have a lot of resources or community around to help us out. Together we decided that the opportunity was worth both the risk and the hardship. Knowing that it was going to be hard doesn't really make it less hard in the moment. But maybe it prepares you for passing through the hard a little quicker than if you weren't expecting it..

This week it was hard because we haven't seen our friends in a month. Because we now have a space, and down time, but no one (expect each other) to share it with. And while thanks to the miracle of the internet we are both still feeling pretty connected to everyone at home, there is something about knowing how far away we are that makes it different. The week was hard because while I have an amazing PhD opportunity in front of me, the work is sometimes overwhelming and exhausting. And it was hard because Justin gave up so much for this, including his paramedic job. While we know it will all work out in time, and he will eventually be registered in Australia and able to practice again, it hasn't happened yet.

So that was this week. But we got through it. We talked, we cried, we accepted the hard. And then we started to move on. I'm under no illusions that this is going to be the end or even the worst of the hard stuff. But for now it has passed, and for that I'm grateful. Realistically, there was going to be hard stuff whether we moved to Australia or not. There always is. Sure, it feels a little more vivid when you are in a new place, doing a new thing. But we have each other. And while all of you readers are in North America, I also know you are all with us too.

Okay. Lets move on to some lighter stuff.

After our heavy week, we decided to head into the CBD on Saturday to check out the South Melbourne market. Its essentially a permanent outdoor market that has all kinds of fun stalls and boutiques. You can get vegetables, meat, seafood, baked goods, hats, clothes, bags - pretty much everything. Its not too far off from the Springvale market, except its in a much swankier part of town and is less bustle-y. We decided to visit this particular market for two reasons: 1) because its been around forever and is quite well known, and 2) because we are on the hunt for honey mustard and my American supervisor recommended a stall there that sells American imported foods.

The market was fantastic, it was busy, but not unbearable. We checked out a bunch of stalls and grabbed a coffee and some fantastic cannoli. Shockingly, despite what part of town we were in it was surprisingly affordable. I ended up getting a new sun hat, and made a bunch of mental notes for when I'm in the market for some new clothes. We successfully found the stall with the American imported foods, but they did not have honey mustard. Apparently Australians are not big mustard people. Given the British influence down here, I'm kind of surprised by that.

Small Aside about food: while overall the food here has been amazing, tasty and fresh, we have discovered their condiments kind of suck. We have been trying to find a brand of hummus we like, but so far they are all just okay. We got some ranch dressing, and it is weirdly sweet. We can find regular mustard, and even dijon in some places, but so far no honey mustard. We even checked on amazon. A 6 pack of French's honey mustard would cost us $70. We decided we aren't that desperate. Yet. And credit to Australia where credit is due - I put a bit of vegemite on my breakfast sandwich this morning and it was fantastic.

After the market, we walked over to the Shrine of Remembrance, an Australian war memorial. It was quite grand, with statues and a long entry way. There was even an eternal flame. There is a museum/crypt/large structure in the middle with a big balcony on the top floor that overlooks the city. If I'm being honest, after all the war tourism we did in our European travels, I have little time or interest in war museums anymore. But the views of the city were massively impressive. Definitely worth a quick trip.

After the shrine we headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens are massive and free to enter. There are paved paths through all sorts of different plants and areas. We saw ferns, succulents, bamboo, eucalyptus, and a million other things I don't know the names of. There were some truly massive trees in there. They make even the largest trees in the Halifax public gardens look small. The highlight for both of us was Guilfoyle's volcano - the section dedicated to succulents and cacti. I'm a very tactile person, so of course I went around and touched all the cacti. From the ultra sharp barrel cactuses to the strange ones that seemed to have hair all over them. We definitely didn't have the energy to see the entire botanical garden today, and are planning on visiting again. Especially because they run all kinds of events and happenings in the gardens.

I don't have a ton of other observations this week, so I thought I would talk to you all about Magpies.

The Australian magpie is a black & white bird with red eyes. They are everywhere, and just chock full of personality. They kind of remind me of the NS crows. They seem to be social, and not very afraid of people. We have also already been warned about swooping season. Apparently from about August to November (the spring breeding season), they can become very aggressive and start swooping at people. This has lead to multiple injuries and even deaths! I guess the Magpies are especially aggressive to people on bikes. No joke, to try to deter swooping, people attach strange things to their bike helmets. How is the rest of the world not talking about this? While I am both looking forward to and dreading swooping season, the Magpies have already made their presence in our neighbourhood known. Magpies are songbirds, with all kinds of wild and crazy vocalizations. Apparently their songs can be quite different from region to region. In our area, they sound like the Star Wars droid R2-D2. I'm not confident I can catch one on video, so I found a representative clip on youtube. Vocalizations start at the 55 second mark. This is what we are hearing at our place in the mornings and evenings. This place is wild.