Aussie TV, Internet, Bugs, and other things no one told us

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE where we live. I am in heaven spending my days meters (yes, they use the metric system here) from the ocean with my baby. However, there are some things that take some getting used to. First we were in for a rude awakening when we realized we could not get cable or internet (except for a WiFi hotspot) from our apartment. My husband and I have been reading a lot though instead. We've also started watching a few of the Aussie reality shows I'm afraid. They love their reality TV here. Master Chef Junior is great as is X-Factor. I'm always concerned the kids on Master Chef will cut their fingers off though! They're all about 11-14yo - so young but they make some amazing things. Of course you have to get used to all the crying when things don't go well, but it's great TV. The internet was really hard to get used to in the beginning but now it's not so bad. It's amazing what you think you can't live without until you really do, and then you just learn to live with less. That's something we've learned here about a lot of things. People have been so kind to loan us their toys and things for Avery, and that's pretty common here I think because everything is so darn expensive! If we lived in the states, I know we would be buying new things all the time from Babies R Us without batting an eyelash.

On the other thing, the bugs are not as easy to get used to. Roaches are something I have never dealt with. It's so strange but most people don't have screens on doors and windows and on hot days (it can get in the 100s), everyone just leaves everything open and the bugs all make themselves at home. Jeff and I are struggling to adapt. There are some really large spiders here too. It's rare to see a deadly one in your house, but they are around. Apparently the Funnel Web Spider (scary and deadly) has been indigenous to Sydney but has since made it's way to other parts of Oz. We learned about what to do in our baby First Aid class here luckily so I will be able to save all of our lives in that situation as well as if a deadly snake bites one of us.


Ok and last random thought is - I can't believe the holidays are around the corner. It's so strange for it to be 85 outside and November. It makes it easy to forget that I need to start doing some Christmas shopping.