The Christmas movies I'll miss this year

Majority of the DVDs I own at home are xmas films. Not that I have a very large collection, but I'm going to be missing these this year:( I don't know what will actually be on the tele this year (other than the queen's speech), but if it's anything like the daily line-up of documentaries, nature shows, and reality tv, it's gonna suck. I will shore be packing these to take to Australia (poor Steve will have to get used to cartoons at the holidays)...

• Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer / Santa Claus Is Coming To Town / Frosty The Snowman
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• How The Grinch Stole Christmas
• It's A Wonderful Life (typical American propaganda, this is, but I still like it on xmas eve)
• Scrooge

And my all-time favorite....

• A Christmas Story

You'll shoot your eye out kid!!

How to prepare for a move to a new country

When contemplating a move to a new country, it's easy to just think of basic, practical things. When taking into consideration the basics, which range from looking for a good mobile plan, setting up a bank account, finding somewhere to live, getting the proper documentation/visa, finding a doctor/sorting prescriptions, looking for work and places that might provide work ahead of time, working on your CV (no longer called a resume), finding inexpensive phone plans for those at home to call you and vice versa, and all importantly, saving up enough funds to support yourself until you find work, there is the social side to consider. Once you leave behind the friends, activities, hobbies etc you enjoyed at home, where do you find your identity. Best to plan ahead of time on those as well. My boyfriend thinks I'm very organised, but little does he know this is a necessity for survival once we arrive, and will benefit him almost as much as me;) So far, I've found a great literary journal which I'd eventually like to subscribe to, called the Australian Book Review. I found this through a literary blog, which I found through a personal blog, which I found through a list of blogs on Adelaide or by people from Adelaide, which I found on page 10 or 12 of a google search for Adelaide. This made me think to look for some book groups/clubs, of which I found two through yahoo groups...one based in Adelaide which is mainly a book exchange and another that is simply Australian. Both seem very friendly and sociable, so there is one need met, hopefully. I'll be sorting out a place to go for yoga (er, which I did for England as well, both Leeds and London, yet have never been). I've been networking on on-line groups for Americans in Australia, just to get info, as well as to potentially find some people in Adelaide to go have a coffee or pint with. I've got ridiculous amounts of web sites bookmarked, on things from general info on Australia, to what to see and do in Adelaide, where to buy books online since amazon.com does not have an Australian component, to Australian recipe sites....

Something to balance off the vent

We had a great turkey day meal yesterday, minus the turkey;) Turkey was sold out at the grocery store, so we bought a pre-seasoned chicken in a bag for £2.99 (you actually cook it in the bag and it turned out perfect, tender and juicy). Made green been casserole for the first time, which I loved. Couldn't make any pie, as I don't do my own crusts and both fellas I asked at the grocery store looked at me like I had two heads when I asked where pie crusts were (they literally didn't understand what I meant). Don't know if they have this in the States, but we got a bottle of Bailey's with mint...yum...had a nice Bailey's (instant) coffee with the package lemon meringue pie we bought in place of the oatmeal pie I was going to bake, which was surprisingly tasty.

Unrelated, but here is an interesting article I found on New Zealand.

Is this a new workplace trend or just England?

qWarning, this is a vent. I quite detest working in London, especially on a Monday, and particularly going back to admin work, which is inevitable at this point due to the shortness of my time here. I'm tired of being someone's bitch all the time, and I think Londoners, when commuting or out in public in general, are some of the rudest people on the planet. Last weekend, a woman purposely hit me and Steve both, separately, with her pram while we were walking along the sidewalk! This morning I got off the tube and the one woman waiting to get on just stood in front of the doors. They all do this...never moving aside to actually make space for people to get off first!

Perhaps I'm just an unfriendly witch, but I hate this open plan work space thing. I like my walls and whereas before I would look at a row of cubicles with a certain amount of distain, I quite miss them here. All of our desks are fitted together in a bit of a rectangular shape and I actually have to face other people while working, which means I can't eat my lunch without comments about what it is and being told it smells good. ('Oooh, smells like din dins---what have you got!')

Laser hair removal and Tasmania

Last night I went to get laser hair removal on my underarms in an effort to become less of an Amazon;) Spent 10 minutes going..."Ouch, ow, stop, it hurts!! Next time please tell me you offer Lidocaine ahead of time!"

Upon receiving an email back which stated: "Yes, we have received your Step 2 documents for your Australian work holiday visa and on Friday, we will be sending them to Tasmania." I busted out laughing. Visions of cartoon characters danced through my head, but yes, it is a real place.

Factoid: Almost twice as many people in the US will be traveling over this Thanksgiving weekend as live in Australia;)

Only 6 weeks left!

Less than 6 weeks until we arrive back in Chicago. I think I might actually miss the UK, and will definitely miss Europe, as the somewhat frequent trips I've been able to take here over the past few years are at an end for now. On the other hand, I won't miss the rainy English winters, and summer for that matter, and am actually looking forward the cold, (sometimes) sunny, snowy Chicago winter days. My Australian work holiday visa is in progress, and the New Zealand visa paperwork waiting to be sent off. New adventures to look forward to;)

How being an expat changes you

Been reading this fantastic book of short stories/memoirs of expat experiences. A recurrent theme is how being an expat changes you in that your perception of your home country changes. You move to get away from it, then find yourself becoming defensive of it (moreso for Americans perhaps as no one likes us!), seeing movies you wouldn't step foot in the cinema for previously, and craving products you didn't necessarily have a huge taste for beforehand. I was so excited to see Grape Nuts in the nearby Tesco this past weekend that I bought a box. Upon pouring myself a bowl this morning and taking a big spoonful, I remebered two things: 1) Grape Nuts aren't actually all that tasty and 2) They take fucking forever to chew!

Norway, Iceland, Australia said best places to live

Seems I'm moving to the right place;)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061109/ts_nm/un_development_index_dc

Becoming Australian-ized

You belong in Australia

Ace! Sunny, upbeat, and cute

You make the perfect surf bum

Now stop hogging the vegemite!

(courtesy of Blogthings: What English Speaking Country are You)

...or should I say -ised. Either way, crap. I'm reading something my grandpa had written and in the bit about his 1st wife, he says: "Further discord followed my mate's conversion to catholicism." I'm sitting here wondering why he's suddenly begun to talk about his friends...doh;)

Tonight...

I'm going to see a movie alone for the 2nd time. It's called Ten Canoes, and is an Australian film that is part of the London Film Festival this year, so only showing tonight. If you'd like to know more about the film, click here.