Lost in Translation
diary (dy-ah-ree)
n. calendar, day-planner
"Check the diary to see when the dentist appointment is."

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
I can't express how relieved I've felt the last couple of days. I don't think it will REALLY hit until I get my bright shiny visa sticker in my passport, but for now the idea is good enough.

We celebrated a little tiny bit on Monday night. Hans caught a cab home instead of the train, so he surprised me by coming in a lot earlier than I expected. We had pizza delivered, and his mom brought over a bottle of wine.

Tuesday night, we spent the evening with his sister's family who were all excited that I'm here to stay (for now). His niece had her 7th grade Christmas program, and it was so cute.

Last night we were treated to dinner at the Sultan's by our friends. They just moved to Brisbane three months ago from DENVER. He grew up here and now works with Hans. She grew up in NASHVILLE and is trying to figure out where to buy the stuff she was used to having over there. (Oh, how I relate!) But they're great fun, and that was nice. She got her spouse visa years ago knowing they'd eventually end up here, so they wanted to celebrate my visa-getting with us.

And then when we got home last night, there was a present by the door. It was a Welcome to Australia present from Dan & Lisa... The Man from Snowy River on DVD. (JESSICAAAAAA!) It has sort of become an inside joke between the four of us, but Lisa has never seen it -- which seems criminal to me. It's a classic! (Little do they know that I'm going to make them take me to the Man from Snowy River Festival some year!)

Though as usual, with so much going on, we're both starting to get sick. Bleh.

You've Got Hail
Yesterday we had a little storm.


The local paper has some great photos. Hans and I had just walked out to get lunch when gigantic drops started to fall. We had marble-sized hail. Pretty spectacular overall.