Dear All,
For those of you who aren't already aware of it, I'm now living in Sydney. My wife and son moved here in January so he could start school here. As usual I was a bit behind schedule. I only moved to Sydney in mid-May. I'm still getting settled in, and still looking for the "perfect" job. Well, not sure if I'm waiting for the perfect job or not; I'm getting bored sitting around home, so I'm not as picky as I was. People always think it would be great not to have to "go to the office" every day; but the question is what do you do at home every day. I don't enjoy cooking that much, and I'm not too big on housecleaning either, so I've been watching more TV than I have in the past 10 years in Hong Kong! That said, you can only watch so much TV before it gets boring.
My wife, son and I are living in Gordon; one of the Northern suburbs. Our apartment is a 3-bedroom apartment, but much bigger than a 3 BDRM flat in Hong Kong. I guess that is because they have the space here in Australia. Our Master bedroom is much bigger than the one we had in Sai Kung, and the other 2 bedrooms are also big; you still have room after you have a double bed, a desk and bookcase and other assorted odds and ends in there. Plus, all 3 bedrooms have built in wardrobes! I know, it is probably standard for Sydney, but after living in Hong Kong for 15 years I'm quite impressed with the built-in wardrobes and the space. Guess it doesn't take much to make me happy.
It's COLD here in Sydney. Several people told me that it was cold in Australia, but I laughed at them; because I used to live in Iowa, where it was below 0 degrees in the winter and we had several feet of snow. However, I guess I've been in Hong Kong for too long, I'm not used to the cold weather anymore. During the day it is usually from 14-18 degrees C but when the sun goes down it cools off very quickly. Last week was the coldest weather we've had since I've been here, each night it got down to 3-4 degrees; too cold for me, had to turn on the furnace a couple nights! But, when the sun comes out, it warms up in a hurry. Of course, this is the Winter "down under", so I guess I'll have to put up with the cold weather for a few more months. Then, when you guys are having cold weather I'll be at the beach working on my tan!
One funny thing I should tell you about my driving skills (or lack thereof). I had to take the written and Driving test to get my Australian Driving license here, because they don't recognize the HK Driving license as up to their standards. But, as I haven't had my HK license renewed for at least 3 years, I ended up with a P license (P for "provisional", meaning that I haven't had enough experience yet to get a "full" license). My son thought it was quite funny, that I've been driving for over 25 years, but still don't have a "real" license here in Sydney! Oh well, I should have kept my US license up-to-date, as Australia does recognize a US Drivers license. Oh well, that's the way it goes.
A bit more about the driving here in Sydney. People actually use their blinkers when they change lanes here; plus, they also wait for pedestrians to cross the road in front of them! Not like in Hong Kong where most drivers assume that the traffic laws apply to everybody else, not me. I remember that in Hong Kong if you waited to let somebody else into traffic, ahead of you, you may end up waiting for 10 minutes to keep going. Plus, everybody behind you would be honking their horn to get you to move.
Birds, they're all over! Maybe in Hong Kong it was too noisy you never heard the birds too much; well, you didn't see too many either unless you were out in the County Park. We live in a suburb here in Sydney; in a 2 story apartment building with lots of trees and gardens around our building. So we see, and hear, a lot of birds every day. And they aren't just sparrows and pigeons, but a lot of colourful birds as well. Every morning on our balcony I can see Parrots, several kinds of Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Turtle Doves, Crested Pigeons, etc, etc. It is really neat to sit on the balcony enjoying a cup of coffee and see all the beautiful birds flying by. They say they have quite a few foxes roaming around, but I haven't seen any of them. Not too many squirrels either, but instead they have a lot of ring-tailed possums climbing the trees. Fact is, there is one that comes up almost every evening to our balcony to eat the vegetables that my wife is "trying" to grow in our "garden". Not having too much luck, though; as soon as they get 6-8 inches high the possums come up and chew them down to nothing!
I also wanted to take this opportunity to let you all know how much I've enjoyed being a member of the HK Toastmaster's Club. Even though I never did get very far in my Toastmaster's journey, I really enjoyed all the people I've met in Toastmasters. As they say "Reaching your destination is good, but it's the things that happen/people you meet along the way that makes it great!". In Toastmasters that has really been the case. Whether I'm now an accomplished Speaker is questionable, I've certainly learned from all of the other Members that I've met; and I hoped that you've been able to learn something from me (I hope you haven't just picked up my bad habits; Ha Ha).
You can contact me via this e-mail address, or my HK number (9515 8682), or my Australian mobile phone (04 2442 6624) if you'd like to keep in touch. Of course, if any of you are visiting Sydney let me know, so we can meet up if our schedules allow. Of course, right now I'm "between jobs" so I have plenty of time; ha ha.
Cheers,
Gary
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