Summary for the past month or so

Hello family and friends. Several people wanted me to update the blog. I apologize for being lazy about it. Will put more effort in the future. The official reason being new and trying to settle in (doing everything ourselves, starting a new job, exploring and experimenting) but I have to admit I would rather catch up on my recorded world cup games ( I love foxtel IQ - besttt.. boleh record the whole series semua, lagi best kalau dapat upgrade to HD - $200 jeeee kan sayang). Still trying to win the furniture vs. foxtel priority merit. Talking about furniture... we still need a few more but at least we are not lying on the cold floor that much.

So what have we done so far?? better start the Iphoto (our way of recording events via pics) to get a timeline/storyline.

Here's a few highlights in no particular order:

• Soaking up the culture . Knowingly we are going to stay here a while we had to learn to adapt. So we are slowly following traditions and fascinations they have. Zareef soaked in the red nose day well.
• overbilling/over-system. I'm starting to hate the charges they make u pay cause it's so expensive and we still don't know what's right and wrong in the billings/system. Hate the complexing of simple things. Bureaucracy is a different level than what i'm used to. But the golden rule still apply - bugger them until u get what u want.
  
• the prime minister changed. Macam takde impact je. Semua buat dunno je. Kitorang lagilah dunno. pasal apa thailand tak buat macam ni. Negara kita jgn cakap lah, lepas najib i bet it will be hishamudin. so predictable and change resistance.
  

• zareefs birthday. Not our traditional big celebration but he was happy with his devastator besar. Costs a bomb and have always wanted to buy it for him. Every week we went to gymbo bangsar he would insist to stop by at toys r us to play with devastator. So i promised when I get a good job here i'll buy him one. Now his going on about a bicycle. Kids nowadays dont know when to stop asking.

• exploring. Went to several great beaches. Brighton and st. Kilda was beautiful but cold so just played at the playgrounds and walking. Took pics with the iphone.. camera tertinggal lah selalu cause impromptu visits (about 5-10 minutes drive) and prime lens yg diidamkan tak terbeli lagi. The kids frust tak main air. Mandi sejuk sikit complain tapi nak terjun icy water. Ingat port dickson ke ?
• sale. Stocktake sale end of the financial year sale. A lot of things went cheaper. Unfortunately gaji takde so berangan je lah. Surprisingly after the sales gone i reckon prices went higher than the original. Lesson learned don't wait when u see a good deal.

• Daycare. Zareefs fine apart from a few fights and one accident poop (had to come back from work to handle that). He really loves it but the sad thing Zara can't go to the same daycare cause limited spots. So Zara is going alone to another daycare. She hates ittttt!!! Phobia giler. She won't stop crying kalau tahu nak pegi. Breaks our hearts to see her like that. It gets worst when we come to pick her up we can hear her crying from the parking. She gets upset when other kids start going home. Hang in there baby girl.
  
• jobs. I love the locations of our offices. Right in the Cbd. We are only 5 minute walk away across the river from each other. Boleh lunch sama2. It's the scenic part of the city beside the river bank. Aquarium and casino right across the street for me. Main train station 3 minute walk for wifey and 7 for me.

• started playing football. Only one game but enough to make me happy for the week cause I scored a screamer. Ala forlan. So slowly starting to make friends (Ppl are nicer here than it was in NY). Unfortunately the majority of melbournians are more into footie although they have this big jom-bo-yani ball right across from the office.

• had friends over. Since the pinggan mangkuk cukup baru booleh Ajak. will invite more when they can spare the time. Masak je lah problem. Nak masak western tak pandai sangat.. nak masak mesian tak terror. Order pizza jelah. Pizza flavored satay, tandoori, sushi semua ada.
  

• Enjoying the weather - Although its winter it isnt as cold as we expected. Tak macam kat NY that snowed 5 months of the year. Kids are ok with it and sometimes u get really nice weather in the betweens and would just like to stay outside. We are trying to persuade Zareef to do his painting on the balcony when its nice outside.. kononnya cari ilham but actually tak nak bagi dia buat sepah.

• dishwasher terbakar/smoking. Tak pandai load dishwasher sampai jatuh senduk plastic kena the heating filamen. Being lazy and overloading it might be the reason. Sian the family had to wait outside in the cold before the smoke/smell cleared. It still smells burnt after use now cause i tried to rub the plastic off but it wont completely come off. Just a small reminder that anything can happen.

So thats about it. Boring kan? On a tight budget so duduk diam2 lah tengok bola and minum teh panas. Next time the plan is to go snowboarding (11 ppl or so) and travel to some islands here. Hope to get that nice camera lens before we do. Tak jauh by Aussie standard but still at least a couple of hundred kms. Hope the car can pull through especially on top of the snowy mountains.

Talk to you later matesss!!!