A Makeshift Aussie Thanksgiving

I am completely aware that it is probably way too late to be doing a Thanksgiving re-cap post.  So please forgive me while I ignore Christmas and travel back in time a few weeks to Thanksgiving.  :-)

This year's Aussie Thanksgiving celebrations were very different from last year's...

Last year, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house with several of our expat friends.  We had a huge feast, and I cooked all day for basically two days straight.  It was a blast!  You can read about Thanksgiving 2012 HERE.  Last year, I was also extremely homesick around this time.  It was our first big holiday here, and it just felt extra far away that day. 

This year, Thanksgiving was nearly overlooked simply because it was only a week or two after we found out about our move, so things were just way too chaotic to really think much about Thanksgiving or homesickness.  We had been invited to a big expat Thanksgiving celebration, but we decided to pass.  We just felt like we needed a weekend to get things going for our move and just felt a little anti-social at the time I guess. 

But I surely couldn't let the holiday go completely unnoticed.  So on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, David and I had a small makeshift Thanksgiving meal for two.  I roasted a chicken and some vegetables and made two mini apple pies (my favorite Thanksgiving treat!).  We drank wine and just enjoyed a quiet evening.  It turned out really nice, and I think it was just the perfect way to celebrate given our situation at the time. 

This look burned... I promise it wasn't.

 

Our little Thanksgiving spread

 

Mini apple pies!

We will probably never have such a low-key Thanksgiving again.  But it was nice.  Different, but nice.  And it was fun to think that we will be back home for Thanksgiving next year! 

PS. The roasted chicken recipe is AMAZING.  I've made it several times, and it always turns out great.  I was intimidated to roast a chicken, but this is so simple!  The recipe is for two, but it's easy to just do one chicken.  I added carrots and onions to the veggies underneath the chicken. So good.  Try it the next time you want to make an easy meal that looks impressive :-)
http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2012/12/pimenton-roasted-chicken-and-potatoes/

A Birthday Weekend Getaway

I was a bad blogger/wife and didn't post on my lovely husband's birthday a few weeks ago- November 18, to be exact.  Fail.  So now I will attempt to redeem myself with a recap of the birthday weekend festivities. 

Even before we knew we were moving, I had planned to take David to a little beach town called 1770 for his birthday (about an hour and a half drive from here).  I had been there previously (you can read about that trip HERE) when my parents were here visiting, but David didn't get to come with us that time, and he had mentioned several times that he wanted to go at some point. 

I was a little bit worried about the weather, since it was looking like there was a good chance it might rain all weekend.  But we lucked out and the weather was nearly perfect! 

 




When we arrived, we had lunch and some birthday beers at a cute little restaurant right next to where we were staying called "The Tree."  This is basically the best restaurant "near" us.  And yes, again, this is an hour and a half drive from where we live.  The food here is one of the few things I will not miss about Gladstone. 

 

 

After lunch, we went on a little hike and checked out some gorgeous views over the water.  Unfortunately, it got a little bit overcast during our hike, so the water didn't look as bright blue/green as it does when it's a clear, sunny day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had booked a sunset canoe tour for that evening.  We got to the meet up place, had a mini kayaking lesson, got suited up, and paddled about 10 minutes out before our guide broke the news that we would have to turn back since it was just too windy. 

 

 

Clearly I was contributing a lot to this kayaking effort

Pelicans!





We were a bit disappointed, but we quickly made our own alternate sunset watching plans.  We grabbed a bottle of wine and some cheese (in the form of cheese crackers) and headed down to a bench at the water's edge to watch the sunset.  It was gorgeous, and so nice to just talk, relax, and enjoy the view.  This will probably be one of my favorite memories from our Australian travels.  There was an amazing sunset when I visited with my parents as well- which you can see photos of HERE. 

 

Wine and "cheese" at sunset

 

Going... going...



...going... GONE!






The next day we headed to the nearby beach at Agnes Water for... SURF LESSONS!  Truthfully, neither of us have ever really been all that interested in surfing, but it just felt like such a huge Australia bucket list item/must-do since Australia is known for some of the best surfing in the world. The class that day was HUGE, so I was a little worried that the lessons wouldn't be all that great.  But we were pleasantly surprised.  The instructors did a great job managing such a large group, and I felt like I got plenty of one on one instruction throughout the day.

 

 

  

 

 

Surfing is seriously hard, but a lot of fun!  The water was the perfect temperature that day, so it was nice to be in the ocean for several hours.  We both managed to stand up and catch a few waves on our boards... nothing too impressive though.  I felt like a pretty hard core surfer because I even had a surfing accident.  I fell off my board and when I came up out of the water, a wave pushed the board right into my nose.  There was blood everywhere, so of course I booked it out of the water to escape the shark that I was sure would immediately come after me and my bloody nose.  Once I settled down and stopped crying after the random German tourist passing by suggested that my nose might be broken (it wasn't), I got back out there for a few more waves.  I was pretty proud of myself after that! 
 

 

 

Catching "sun waves"

 

 

 

No idea what is possessing me to post a picture of me in a bathing suit.... PROOF that I stood up, I guess...

 

Surf School Graduates!

 

It was a quick little weekend trip away, but we had a really good time. David never really likes to have a party or anything big for his birthday, so I think this was the perfect way to celebrate. 

Change Of Plans...

In case you haven't noticed... things have been pretty quiet around these parts lately.  That seems to happen here every so often.  I get into blogging funks and just don't feel inspired to write.  Or it may just be a super busy time of year, and blogging just gets demoted down my priority list.  However, this time this little blogging hiatus has a different explanation. 

You see, literally less than a week after I published THIS post about how I was in a bit of an expat funk and was wishing time away to just get out of here for a while, we got some news that changed my tune in an instant. 

That news being: David will be moving to a new role with this project.  And that new role is a Houston-based role.  And they want him (us) to report there in January. 

So I guess my blogging silence was a combination of denial about this major wrench that was being thrown in our plans for the next few years and the fact that from the day we got that news, things shifted into high gear since we suddenly had less than two months to make another international move happen.  Probably mostly just denial though if I'm being honest. 

I wish I would have blogged during that time... so that I could better remember exactly the mix of emotions I was feeling and how I processed everything.  But I think I really just didn't believe it, and I felt like if I "put it on paper" it would make it more real than I was ready to acknowledge at the time.  But I guess now I'm finally ready (and finally have a spare moment) to document this event and some of my feelings surrounding it. 

I remember very clearly exactly when David told me the news.  I just leaving work on a Friday.  We had kind of known that this was a vague possibility for a few days, but I really hadn't thought anything of it, as I had kind of gotten used to these somewhat regular talks of assignment changes and then nothing ever coming of them.  But it just so happened that this time, something did come of it.  The moment I read that text saying that we would be heading back to Houston, my heart sank and tears filled my eyes.  I remember driving home and all of a sudden this place and everything I was driving by just seemed different- more special somehow.  My "this may be the last time I (fill in the blank) mindset started from that very moment I think.  It's funny how just days earlier I was just so ready to get out of this place.  I needed a break, and I wanted that break NOW.  And suddenly that all changed.  Now I wanted more time here, and I wanted the time I did have left here to pass by as slowly as possible.  I went from having my "Countdown 'Til Home" app front and center on my iPhone home screen, to deleting it entirely.  I couldn't stand a daily reminder that my days here were now numbered.  What was originally going to be our first trip back to the US in nearly a year and a half was now going to be our demobilization trip.  A one way ticket...

I was very sad.  I cried a little bit pretty much every day for that first week.  This change was very sudden and unexpected- especially since only back in September we had been told that we would likely be here until 2016.  So I had really only recently wrapped my head around that and then this news.  I sort of felt like someone pulled a rug out from under me.  But I guess it's just part of being in this industry- you go where they tell you and when.  We had to wait about a week before telling any of our family or friends while we waited for everything to be official.  Even then, I found myself hanging onto the chance that something might fall through.  It didn't. 

It is official.  We have one way tickets leaving Australia on December 24.  It's funny... I basically came to Gladstone kicking and screaming... and now I feel like I will leave the same way.  Who would've thought? 

Honestly?  If you would've told me this news only six or seven months ago?  I probably would've been thrilled.  It took me a long time to feel settled here, to find my niche, to make a solid group of friends (something I didn't really even have in Houston before we came here).  It's only been in the past 6 months or so that I had really been enjoying the life that we have here... and looking forward to what was ahead of us here (oh the amazing trips I had planned in my head!).  I guess I just feel like we weren't quite ready to leave quite yet.  Sure, 2016 was a little much for me to take, but I would've at least liked another year.  That's obviously not in the cards for us though. 

Things have been full on for the past few weeks- organizing everything we need to sell here, quitting my job, sorting out having packers come, while at the same time trying to make sure we aren't living on the streets in Houston since we sold most everything we had there, too.  It got real pretty fast.  It's amazing how quickly your brain kind of just automatically begins to slowly detach yourself from things, people, places upon big news like this.  I guess that's just the mind's way of beginning the process of letting go.  I hate that I'm doing it, but I catch myself checking out, pulling away... in order to prepare for this big change.  However, I am trying to soak up and enjoy as much of our last few weeks here as possible.  I'm going to do my best to try and get caught up from old trips I still have yet to post while at the same time trying to do a better job of documenting this whole moving process and experience in real time.  I know that this will be important in being able to process this change, and find closure on my time here in Australia. 

Two international moves in less than two years?  Wish us luck...

What Brought Us Here - The Work-Related Reason

What brought you to Australia?

That is a question we get quite frequently.  I wish we could say that we came just for the opportunity to travel and see the other side of the world.  While we have done a lot of that, that isn't why we are really here.  We came here on a job assignment with my husband's company.  My husband works for a large international construction company that does most of its work in the oil, gas, and chemicals industry.  One of their biggest contracts currently (we're talking billions and billions of dollars- something I can't even wrap my head around) is here in little old Gladstone, Australia.  Just off the coast of this small port town on Curtis Island, they are building three large LNG (liquid natural gas) plants.  So, that's why we're here.  David is working on one of those three LNG projects- along with close to 8,000 other employees (both international and Australian). 

For as little as I know about this type of thing, I've actually (surprisingly) found it really interesting to be so close to such a large-scale construction project.  Unfortunately, the island and the construction sites themselves have pretty heavy security, so you cannot normally access the sites unless you are an employee.  Luckily, I've had the opportunity to get pretty close to the constructions sites on two occasions. 

When my parents came to visit, we were able to go on an informational ferry cruise that cruised past the construction sites on Curtis Island.  It was pretty neat to be able to see how seriously massive these things are.  And also neat to see where my husband spends from 5AM to 6PM six days a week.

Our ferry for the "cruise"

This is a far-away view of just ONE of the THREE nearly identical plants they're constructing

The red/orange dome is one of the gas tanks

Another gas tank.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but these cranes were the most massive ones I've ever seen.

The coal ship in the photo below is not related to the projects at all, but it's an example of one of the many massive coal ships that are constantly in and out of the port here.  Gladstone is also a major coal exporter for the world (mostly China).  Those little "boxes" you see at the top on the crane?  Those are the huge containers that you usually see on semi trucks.  They look so tiny on this giant ship!

Then in early September, the company actually opened up the site for an employee family tour day.  We got to actually tour the island itself (by ferry and bus), which was really neat.  Unfortunately, with all the security, they were very strict about enforcing that no photography was allowed. 

 

Walking to get back on the ferry after the tour.  The only photo I was brave enough to sneak. 

So many cranes!  And tons of progress can be seen since the previous photos (2.5 months time)

 

Here's a short time-lapse video (it's only 30 seconds) that shows the roof on one of the tanks being lifted.  Kind of nerdy, but pretty cool, too! 

So, there you have it.  Not the most exciting story of what brought us here.  But this is it!  Really proud of my husband and his hard work here! 

Snail Mail Collective {October}

For the October Snail Mail Collective, I was paired with Charlie from Curious Charlie.  You can learn more about the Snail Mail Collective blogger mail exchange HERE.  I had fun getting to know Charlie through emails and her blog.  It was interesting to be paired with another American expat living in Australia.  Charlie is from San Francisco, and is lucky enough to live in one of my favorite cities in Australia- Melbourne. 

Charlie's gift was so generous and creative!  She even had each item individually wrapped, so that made it really fun to open.

 
I love everything she included, and I've even already used the nail polish :-) 

See that cute little owl card?  She made that!  And those pink and white paper stars in the glass container?  She made those, too!  Totally impressed! 

Thanks, Charlie!

Sewing Wannabe

It goes without saying that living abroad allows you to have many experiences you might never have had otherwise.  Most of the biggest new experiences I've had here revolve around travel and the incredible sights I've seen.  Oh, and koalas. 

However, I've also realized that there are quite a few other new experiences I've had that have nothing to do with travel.  While living here, I've had the chance to do things like: be a part of a book club, blogging, working in a completely different education setting than I'm used to, having a standing weekly Saturday coffee date with friends, etc.  These are things that for one reason or another, I never had the interest in or opportunity for before living here.  I think that living in a small town combined with the fact that there are plenty of other Americans here in a similar situation somehow created the perfect setting for some of these things to happen here. 

Another one of these new experiences that I've fallen into recently is sewing.  A few of the girls that I've become close friends with over the past few months had been going to a Monday night sewing class.  They'd been inviting me to come for weeks, and I kept turning them down.  Sewing wasn't something I ever really thought I was interested in taking up as a hobby.  Well, a few months ago, I finally went along with them.  And I actually enjoyed it. It's not so much a structured class, as it is a sort of sewing "study hall."  You can work on whatever you want while having access to a very helpful "instructor" and tons of sewing machines/supplies.  Most of the girls who go are making super fancy things like beautiful quilts and Christmas stockings.  I'm definitely the least skilled of the group. 

I started out by making a very simple pin cushion. 

From there, I decided to make a gift for a friend whose baby shower was coming up.  Growing up, my mom used to make these cute little hooded baby towel things.  I think I even "helped" her a few times.  I figured that would be a simple enough project for me to move on to next. 

I used this tutorial and tips from my mom as my guide:
http://prudentbaby.com/2009/10/baby-kid/diy-hooded-baby-towel/

My friend Alexa is having her second little girl, and she's not a super "pink" type of mom.  So I went with this coral fabric... although for some weird reason, it looks pretty orange in these pictures. 

This project ended up taking me a lot longer than I anticipated, but when it was finally finished, I was very happy with the end product!  It was fun to give someone a gift that I had made myself. 

And here's a photo of some of the girls I sew with at Alexa's baby "sprinkle." 

Nicole, Me, Jackie, Alexa (and baby Sawyer), Colleen, Katie, & sweet little Elise up front showing her belly to the camera :-)