What's taking so long:(

We submitted my spousal visa six weeks ago tomorrow. Most people get their request to go for medicals within the first month, but I haven't heard anything yet. I'm hoping it's simply because it's close to Christmas, but boy is it a hard thing to wait on!

A weekend in Wellington

Another city with no Christmas decorations...boy I hope Adelaide does better than this! Anyhoo, Steve has been away for work on and off for the past three weeks, so I hopped down to Wellington last weekend to see him.

Happy un-Christmas

I bet you will find this same whinge on the blog of any North American who is spending their first Xmas Down Under. It's warm and sticky here in Auckland, with lots of rain and fog, but temps in the high 60s, and the occasional hot and sunny day, few and far in between. People here have mostly fake xmas trees, many of them being...white and pink!! That is when you actually see a tree, or outside lights on a house. And there certainly aren't any in the downtown...they don't even have a tree up! I am so making up for all this once Steve and I are back in our house in Adelaide.

Post happy Wednesday

Ok, 3rd post in one day. Has anyone watched, or even heard of, The Sarah Silverman Show? It's so crap it's hysterical. That's probably why New Zealand has imported it...it must be cheap. They seriously have some of the worst American television on their FIVE channels;) Anyhoo, despite it being crap, she did have a useful epiphany this episode, and developed a new word...Memosexual. After deciding she was a lesbian, then failing at it (just as she says she failed at being a heterosexual), she decided she needed to be a memosexual first. How true.

Now for something completely different, I totally did a stupid white person thing the other day, or perhaps just a stupid white American thing. I went out for Mexican food. Nah, that's not the stupid white person thing. There's a fairly decent Mexican take away near work, so I've been three times in the past week:) The first day I went there was this black guy behind the counter taking orders, and when I heard him talk, I was like..."Oh wow, a black African-American!" Now, this was simply because I've been living in what I feel is mega non-diverse land for over 9 months and although there are tons of Asians here, I miss the diversity of being back home. I miss black people, and I miss Mexican people, and Adelaide especially, where I'm going to end up, feels super white and like it's lacking something. But back to the Mexican restaurant...I think the "oh wow, a black African-American!" showed on my face because although the guy smiled when he asked me what I wanted, as soon as I spoke...he turned me over to someone else and stopped smiling:/ I could be totally over-reacting out of my white person guilt or whatever, but I felt like a total schmuck.

Another reason not to vote Hillary

Is she serious?

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/12/hillary-as-kind.html

"It's one thing in politics to cite an opponent's record when criticizing him.
But it’s quite another to cite his Permanent Record—the legendary, indelible and largely mythical account of all that we do as schoolchildren.Yet that’s just what the campaign of Democratic presidential contender Sen. Hillary Clinton did Sunday, issuing a spitball of a news release that alluded scornfully to an essay that primary opponent Sen. Barack Obama wrote when he was in kindergarten.Referring to an old Associated Press story that quoted Obama’s former teacher, the release informed us that, “In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled ‘I Want to Become President.’"

By the way, I'm reading Barak's book, Dreams from My Father, which I'd highly recommend.

5 months in a hostel

Well, we've been living in a hostel now for about five months. It comes with it perks and drawbacks, but you can never call it uninteresting. There are always people around to chat with, have a drink with, etc, and they're from all over the globe. And there is always someone to wake you up in the middle of the night at least once a week, making tea or a phone call in the hallway at 2am. My biggest pet peeve is that for some reason, it is obviously not a universal assumption that bathroom door shut means bathroom occupied. Thank god I've learned how to properly do the lock. Last night I had an amusing incident while sitting on the porch, which reminded me how much fun hostelling can be, if only for the diverse persons aspect. It was a nice night, and we have a gorgeous view as the hostel is at the top of a hill, so I was sitting on the porch when I heard what sounded like a rustling noise. I thought perhaps someone was having a joke. It went on for a little longer then out of the darkness came an old man with a big ole walking stick and a small plastic bag of groceries, approaching the hostel very very slowly. When he eventually got to the front door, he said in a breathless voice: "That walk up the driveway is a killer, especially at night. It's kind of spooky in the dark." What's spooky? Just an example...it takes all types and you'd be amazed who stays in hostels.

Home Alone & Sexism Down Under

My sexy husband is away for work on and off for about three weeks. So far I have accidentally turned off my alarm clock and ended up over an hour late for work, discovered that steak pies taste cook spread on salt and vinegar potato chips...and been totally bored off my friekin arse. Perhaps it would be different if I wasn't living in a hostel, but I think I've forgotten how to live on my own;)

The Christmas season is gearing up here, and while someone mentioned to me yesterday that the day is in fact about three weeks away, I'm not feelin it. It's getting warmer here and the days are longer so I'm home well before dark and don't even notice any Christmas lights. Then again, I've had no sense of what time of year it is for about 9 months now. My workplace does now how to celebrate, and we had our Christmas party on a yacht last week! And...we can call it a Christmas party and put up trees in the office (I forgot about how everything changed from 'Christmas' to 'Holiday' in the US a few years ago). The one thing which the workplace is doing for the season I don't agree with. We all got an email last week with the subject "Ladies Christmas Shopping" saying something to the effect of:

"We're again giving all the ladies in the office half a day off to do their Christmas shopping. Please advise your manager when you will be taking your half day."

WTF?! I was told this is due to the fact that most of the 'ladies' are in lower level positions and the men get taken out for golf etc by their clients. Hmmm, how about re-working the hiring processes instead of a 'throw the dog a bone' half day off. And why do they think I need half a day to do my Christmas shopping, as opposed to something a bit more worthwhile??