So on to last weekend. I started my job at ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency) last Thursday. It's an entry level position but so far it's good. I deal with the negative results that we get, entering them into the database and filing them away, in the new year I will be doing some work with the legal team as well when I'm not busy. Right now I'm busy back filing to try and clear stuff out before we break for Christmas.
Last weekend we finished up our Christmas shopping and made an attempt at getting a Christmas tree, a whole lot harder than I would have though. We only found one this past Thursday and let me say, it doesn't look like a regular Christmas tree at all, it's just weird.
Sunday Andrew went with me to a Swedish Christmas service, sadly it was in Swedish so neither Andrew nor I could follow along, but it was still really neat, and really cool to hear traditional Christmas songs in Swedish. After the service we met up with Anna, a Swedish girl in my jazzercise class, and her husband Jason to follow the others from the service over to the Swedish embassy. There we had coffee, pepercorker and swedish christmas buns while sitting outside on the patio chatting. Finally they had the Santa Lucia processional through the ambassadors house. It was very sweet to see all the little children dressed up, the one picture I took isn't so good but I didn't want to block anyones view.
As I said, work is going well so far. I get to enjoy flex time, working 9-5 with a half hour lunch and a great Christmas break. We get done this coming Thursday on Christmas Eve, probably around noontime, and we don't go back until the 4th of January, and we get paid for it! Andrew is off during the same time, he actually took a few days leave so he's on holiday now which makes him quite pleased.
Thursday night I met Andrew and some of his workmates at O'Malley's for goodbye drinks for one of the guys. After a drink there we went to a place called Phoenix bar for another quick one while we waited for a table to be made ready for us at Hogg's Breathe Cafe. I really like the Phoenix bar, it was a dark, dirty hole in the wall with a great feel to it. We had a great time at dinner before heading home to crash out.
Friday we made an attempt at getting the Christmas tree inside the house. We got it in with lights on it, all the ornaments up. It looked funny but it was standing. About an hour later I hear Andrew yelling from upstairs and I saw the tree on the floor. All the ornaments had been knocked clear of the tree so we were luck only one was damaged. We arranged it on the floor for the night and my mission the next day was to find a stand. I spent all morning on Saturday calling around trying to find anyone with a tree stand, apparently they don't really use those down here because no one had any. We settled for a large tub and 50L (2 giant bags) of mulch. It managed to work and the tree is still standing.
Saturday afternoon we decided we were in need of a swim so we rode our bikes about 15 minutes down the road to a nature reserve called Pine Island where we settled by the river with some drinks and enjoyed the nice weather before swimming around in the water a bit. A very relaxing way to spend the afternoon.
After Christmas craziness I can tell of our weird aussie celebrations.
June is Ethan Time
9 years ago
No comments:
Post a Comment