Bringing you up to speed

The flight from LA to Melbourne is long. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It wasn’t as terrible as it could have been, however. It went like this: Get on the plane, take off, watch Chronicles of Narnia, eat dinner, sleep. Watch Mrs. Henderson Presents, sleep. Watch Capote, eat breakfast, I SEE LAND! Wait. Wait. I see the opera house! Wait. Wait. Arrive in Melbourne.

Bags came off fine, customs was easy, I double checked with the passport stamper that I did have the correct visa and I would not get into trouble this time, and got a taxi to the office. You sit up front in the taxis here. They drive fast, but that is true everywhere.

I got to the office fine and was determined to stay up as long as possible to make the time change, even though I only got about 4 hours sleep on the plane. I made it until 1 PM and I was starting to see double. I got a ride to the California Hotel (NOT the Hotel California) and checked in, watched Oprah, and was asleep by 3:30. I slept for 12 hours and by then couldn’t convince myself to stay in bed any longer. Turns out they show yesterday’s Today show in the wee hours of the morning.

Today at work has been your typical new office work day. Bits of chargeable things interrupted by administrative things and trying to follow my boss around the office during the tour, which resembled that cartoon with the bulldog and the little dog that chases after him- he walks really fast. He’s not even that much taller than me, but dang! I tried to go to the “chicken shop” for lunch but they only take cash and I haven’t found a bank yet. So, off to the grocery store for a frozen lunch. Twelve different types of curry. Jeez. The only thing I don’t like and you can eat it for a week.

This afternoon was my first driving adventure. We did the basics and boy, it’s tougher than you think! You sit on the wrong side. You shift with the wrong hand. Your turn signal is on the wrong side, your mirrors are in the wrong places, and PEOPLE ARE COMING RIGHT AT YOU until you get back to the left where you belong. I won’t be driving to the work site anytime soon.

This evening I am planning a trip to the grocery store and some quality time with Australian TV, though only about 25% of it is Australian. Mostly it’s really bad American TV and some BBC stuff. Well, OK, I don’t know that for sure, because I’ve only watched about 2 hours of it, but it sure looks that way!

Photos tomorrow, I promise.