Friday, December 18

Well I just got a very nice, unexpected surprise, someone from Bill's office delivered a big gift basket from his boss- addressed to me, not Bill, and it's full of bath salts and lotions and all kinds of nice things. This same boss took 6 of the managers and their partners (they typically use the term partners instead of spouses or wives) out for a really nice dinner this week, and they all seem like really nice people. Aussie's for the most part seem to have a really good sense of humor, and they love to laugh, joke and drink. Afterwards I told Bill I was able to understand everyone fairly well, except for one guy whose Aussie accent was really strong. Bill said "Don't worry about it, everyone at work has trouble understanding him, and they're from Australia."

This particular restaurant had something we'd not seen before, a short list of "premium meals" on the first page for only $135 per dinner. No one ordered from that menu, and the regular menu was along the lines of many of the restaurants here, at about $75-$85 per person, not including drinks.