Thursday, November 19

Haven't blogged in a while, been busy trying to get things to work, like the new phone, cable, internet, etc. The technology here on the West coast is a bit behind the times, somewhere back in the 80's I'd say, and everything takes a very long time to get delivered or fixed. You just have to learn to be patient, and we are trying, but most nights we spend at least an hour or two on the phone, talking to tech support.

Last night we signed up for a Camarillo phone number, so friends and family can call us at the same cost as before we moved over 9000 miles away. Very cool, spent all morning talking with family, until my voice finally gave out, but there's always tomorrow!

Bill has been invited to race on a friend's sailboat Saturday, and he was told he has to wear dark blue pants and a white shirt. A uniform! Since he doesn't even own a white shirt, we will have to go shopping tonight, but luckily it's a Thursday so the stores should be open until 9:00.

Well we've had our cable T.V. for a couple of days now, and it is nice to see so many American programs, although some are very old reruns. Also the times are all goofy, like the late night talk shows are on in the early afternoon and Ellen and Oprah are on in the mornings. And I was dismayed to find that the Sham-Wow! man has followed us here, I was hoping to not have to be subjected to any more of his infomercials, but he is here.

Been picking up some more Aussie lingo - some of the trees have interesting names, like woolley butt and black boys. Attorneys have multiple names including barristers, solicitors and just plain lawyers. Rip tides are rips, a cooler is called an esky, and instead of saying spoiled they say spoilt and learnt instead of learned. Mom or mother is always mum instead.

At dinner last week with some of Bill's coworkers, we were discussing the different meanings both countries have for various words, and one lady recalled a trip she made to the US when she was a teenager. She said she was shocked speechless when a boy told her she had a really nice fanny, and she felt like slapping him. As I was listening to her story, I was somewhat surprised that she would find that to be so incredibly upsetting, but then she explained that in Oz, the fanny is the front of that part of the female anatomy, not the back. I guess they probably don't sell fanny packs in Aussie stores.