The Complaining Post

Happy to be here!

Sometimes I feel like our blog is very positive and happy and such...and that's not a bad thing.  But I don't want people to get the impression that everything is easy and perfect over here or that our lives are without problems of any sort.  In fact, there are definitely some struggles.  Since I don't want to whine about little things in lots of posts, I'm just going to do one big 'complaining about Australia' post and be done with it (at least until version two comes out!).  Don't go mistaking this as ungratefulness or wishing we weren't here or anything like that.  Sometimes we just need to vent.  Anyway, in no particular order, here are the things that have been bothering us lately:

1.  Our third anniversary was on Tuesday.  Zack had to work in Sydney from Monday through Wednesday this week, and I had gotten a cheap flight to go along with him.  We were going to celebrate out there, but then stupid Tiger Airways got grounded for safety issues.  I'll get a refund (eventually), and we're going out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate, but I'm still annoyed that my flight was cancelled.

2.  The landlord at our old furnished apartment is trying to charge us for all sorts of things, some of which we don't think we did.  He's keeping our security deposit and wanting more on top of that.  For example, there is apparently a small chip in the stone countertop.  Now we're going to get charged for it.  We've got e-mails going and back and forth with him, and it's not fun.

3.  I bought a mattress off of Gumtree last week (the Australian equivalent of Craigslist).  The girl listed it as queen-sized, and when I got there, I even asked her if it was a queen, because it looked a bit small to me.  She said it was, I believed her, and then of course I got it home and found it wouldn't fit in our bed frame.  It's a double size.  I've e-mailed her, she won't give me a refund or take it back, and she's moved. Ugh.  I could take the case to VCAT (a tribunal thing they have here for issues like this), but that would cost me $37 and take six to eight months.  Probably not worth it.  Also, the fridge I got from her was really dirty and took me over an hour to clean.  Nasty.

4.  It's cold and gray and rainy here, and everyone is posting pictures on Facebook of themselves in tank tops and complaining about the heat back in the United States.  I know this will be switched around come November or so, so I guess I'll be quiet about that one.

5.  The internet service (at home and on phones) is RIDICULOUSLY slow.  Think of your worst dial-up service you had about ten years ago.  That's kind of how it is here at times.  Sooooooooooo frustrating.  Zack says it's even slow at work; it's a country-wide problem.  

6.  Streets are not always labeled.  We go the wrong way more than half the time when we're trying to get somewhere.  Of course, we did that in Denver too, so maybe that's just our problem.

7.  Stuff is expensive.  We're slowly getting used to that, but it just has to be said.  For instance, a Groupon-type deal might offer dinner for two for $39 at a restaurant, and that is a GOOD deal!

8.  Lots more people smoke here than in the United States.  It's gross.  At near $20 a pack, it seems like an expensively stupid habit.

9.  Stores you can count on in the States to have exactly what you need don't exist here.  Oh how I would love a Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Or a Home Depot.  Or a good ol' Walmart!

10.  It's so much more difficult to find the information you want out here.  In the States, you can Google something and pretty much find the answer, know where to go or what to do, call somebody and quickly get something sorted out, etc.  Here you may search and search, call a bunch of places, go and ask various people in person, and you still might not get your answer.  For example, we still don't know what all the keys we were given for our new apartment do (and nobody seems to be able to tell us).

11.  Mail to and from the United States takes a really long time and is super expensive.

12.  Sometimes we can't understand people, especially when their accents are really thick and they talk quickly.  And sometimes people can't understand us.  For whatever reason, people really can't seem to understand Zack when we're at stores or restaurants.  Everyone thinks we're from Canada.  There are a lot more Canadians than Americans over here.

13.  We can't figure out how to get our gas stove to work.  We can't find the pilot light.  We've been lighting the burners by hand.  We're probably going to blow up our unit (or ourselves)!

14.  The footy field behind our place is kind of used as a dog park.  It makes us miss our dog Molly.  A lot.  We find ourselves watching the videos of her that Cindy and Justin post (thanks guys!) over and over.

15.  We can't find good pizza.  And we are pizza people!  We usually get it every Friday.  So far, the pizza we've had here has been pretty disappointing.  Bland, soggy, overpriced, etc.  It stinks.  We also haven't really found good Mexican food.

16.  Apartments or units don't come with dishwashers.  Sometimes, I'll admit, it's kind of relaxing to just wash dishes and look out at our nice view.  But other times, it's just annoying and I'd like to throw everything in the dishwasher and be done with it!

Okay, I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but that's all I've got for now.  Of course, we're in Australia, and overall, life's pretty good, so I really shouldn't complain.  I know-boo hoo-poor us in Australia, right?  But I thought it might be interesting to note some of the differences and struggles we've had to deal with in this country instead of yet another post about the cool things we get to see and do while we're over here.  Hopefully you found it at least somewhat entertaining.  And hey, feel free to leave comments, ask questions, suggest future blog topics, etc.  It would make me feel like someone (besides my mother!) is reading this thing.  Hi Mom!  :)  

Life's not too shabby!