Missing America

The Fourth of July went by without much fanfare over here in Australia.  We did go to an expat potluck BBQ thing, where we met a fun couple from Chicago.  We wore some red, white, and blue and ate hot dogs and apple pie.  Lately, Zack's been missing America.  We had heard that the first few months would be easy, like a "honeymoon period."  Then there is often a period of homesickness for a few months before you get settled and are happy again.  It's probably because work is super stressful, he doesn't get much sleep, and he travels between Sydney and Melbourne so much.  The homesickness hasn't really hit me yet.  Oh sure, I miss Molly and teaching and little things about the United States, but I'm still enjoying myself here.  That's probably because I don't have to work!    

The thing I always really liked about Independence Day is the fireworks.  The Docklands area of Melbourne put on short fireworks shows every Friday night during July.  I guess they wanted to attract people to the area during the winter months or something.  For a few Fridays, I could see the fireworks from our balcony in St. Kilda.  So we finally went there last Friday, and it was actually a pretty good show for only being ten minutes long.  It was set to music and all.  Then we went out for Indian food.  Go figure!

We've been getting our "American" fix by having dinner with various couples from the United States over the past few weeks.  Emily and Adam had us over to their place for dinner earlier this month,  we went to an American-style diner with Alena and Todd (the couple from Chicago), and we met up for some Italian food with Laura and Ryan (a couple from Iowa we met through our blog).  And our Australian friends Heath and Isabelle introduced us to some good pizza at a place called Mr. Wolf (though it was of course expensive!).  We hear we also need to try I Carusi (thanks Megan)!

Yet another balcony shot of the beautiful sunset!

So as the sun sets on another night in Australia, we may be missing America a little bit, but we are excited about the adventures we're yet to have in this country.  We're actually both in Sydney right now, so tomorrow's entry will be about some of the fun I've been having here.