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I went to Christchurch, New Zealand for a work conference and then stayed for a weekend of skiing with 11 of my work colleagues. The work conference was fun, and I was happy that my first big presentation to the group was over. Skiing was a blast. However, it snowed a lot on the second day so we had to cut our day short because it was hard to see. I didn't come back as good of a skier as I was hoping to be but that's OK.
While I was away, Klas worked hard to get us ready to move into an apartment that we found to rent. It's a 2-bedroom apartment (with a nice little sunroom) in Woollahra. For those of you who live in or have visited us in Sydney, we are halfway between Paddington/the city and Bondi Beach - it's about 10 minutes drive in either direction. We're 7 minutes walk from Bondi Junction train station (4 minutes at Klas's pace) and a little bit more to the big shopping centre. We are 5 minutes walk to Centennial Park, which is great for running, rollerblading and family picnics.
We moved in two weeks ago and we love it in this location...and we love the apartment except when Clonkers - our neighbour in the apartment above us - wears her high heals on the hardwood floor or has a loud talking friend over later at night.
We've been buying furniture and appliances because we have to start from scratch again. Well, not completely from scratch. We have all of the great cooking stuff that we bought and brought from America. Surprise, surprise to all of you that I've actually been cooking since we moved. Mum stocked our cupboards and fridge with food while Aunty Lisa cooked lasagne and pasta sauce for us to eat, which was yummy.
So far we have a bed frame and mattress (we bought king size so we sleep like babies now), fridge, washer and dryer. We've ordered a couch. We use our camping table and chairs at the moment. We've been given a couple of TVs by our family too. We still have lots to buy and arrange but we're enjoying it. I'll load some photos soon.
Klas spent two weeks scrubbing this apartment clean so now it sparkles. It's amazing how grotty the previous tenants were. He has been coaching and playing tennis competitions; floorball season is over at the moment.
There has been lots of good news from our family and friends recently. Since many of you know them I wanted to share their news with you:
- A good family friend, Danielle (Eunice's daughter), got married in Bali - unfortunately it wasn't feasible for us to go but Mum and Aunty Lisa went.
- Kylie, Jon and their dog Aura moved to New York and love it. Now Kylie gets to hang out with my good friend, Steph, so I'm jealous :-). See more about their move at www.bandelle.com/blog.
- My Dad and Klas's brother, Erik, had their birthdays - happy birthday!!!
- My cousin, Richard, proposed (about time Rich) to lovely Angela so we're all very excited about the new addition to our family.
- Our good friends, Angela and James (see previous posts), also just got engaged so that's exciting news too!
I had to share this photo with you. During a skiing lesson, this guy turned up with a plastic bag with his lunch in it. I still laugh even now when I look at this picture. He had sandwiches, tomatoes and carrots in there. At first he was holding it but then thought it would be easier to hang it off his belt. He didn't have gloves either. Clearly he had no idea but provided me with a lot of entertainment.
Our car was parked at the edge of the parking lot, which made me nervous because there was a cliff at the edge.
