In The Beginning...

I thought I would take some time to explain to everybody how our family of five started on this little adventure to Australia. Everybody keeps saying how exciting it is for us, I agree, but WOW who thought it would ever really happen! And here we are with only 4 weeks to go, which I am in total denial about so I won't talk about that.

A year and a half ago Steve went on a teachers golf excursion. In his golf foursome there was a fellow teacher who had recently come back from Australia with his family. They had been on an exchange. Steve came home full of excitement because this was something we had talked about years ago - BEFORE WE HAD 3 KIDS!!!!! I just nodded and said "wow, sounds like a great adventure! Lucky them". A few weeks later Steve arrived home with the "teacher newspaper" that had an ad in it for an organization that does teacher exchanges. The ad was highlighted, circled and generally you couldn't miss it. Oh Dear...

Eventually I got my nerve to actually ask my dear and loving (slightly crazy?) husband about the ad. We talked about it and decided to fill out and application and see what happens. Being the spontaneous person that I am(you can stop laughing now) I agreed to support Steve in this but he had to do all the paperwork. In my moment of delusion, I thought that the paper work alone would dissuade him. Knowing my husband, I even printed the application out to prove my point. I lost. We sent the application in, thinking that we had a better chance of winning the lottery than finding someone who would want to have a family of 5 living in their house for a year.

We waited for months, not telling family (WAY to many questions that way). I think that was the worst part. We even missed a big family trip to Hawaii in case we had to but tickets to Australia! Ouch - that hurt! Finally we got an e mail saying they had found someone who wanted to exchange. Oh dear- what have we done!? We decided to go ahead with it, mostly to see how it would all pan out. This brings me to where I am today.

We are going to live in a small village called Montrose. It is about 36 km outside Melbourne, Australia. It sounds like a nice place with a few basic necessities within walking distance. Sort of like where we are now in Poco. The girls will go to school at Montrose Primary School which is about 3 houses down the street (yay!). They will have to wear uniforms as that is the norm for public schools there. Kennedy would prefer to go to school elsewhere as the uniforms are a most questionable brown and gold/yellow. She would prefer to go to a school that has navy, green and white uniforms. Poor kid, hope she doesn't choose her university the same way!

Steve will be teaching at Maroondah Secondary C0llege in Croydon, about 15 minutes away. He will teaching their version of Social Studies. Australian history? Hmmm, the Brits sent the convicts to Van Diemens land and they are still there? Doesn't sound too difficult. He is really looking forward to it despite the prep needed.

I have a job in Maroondah Hospital. It is a fairly large hospital in Ringwood East. I had a phone interview back in September and they sound really nice. I will be working on a surgical floor so I won't be too far out of my comfort zone. I am so fortunate to have a career that is so portable!

Tom and Seona. That is the name of the people who have agreed to exchange with us. They seem like great people. They have no kids and are a little younger than us. *sigh* . Seona is the teacher and Tom is an electrican (who still needs a job, if anybody knows anybody who needs some wires connected...). They love the outdoors, so if you have a suggestion for a "can't miss" activity or place to visit let us know. It's when you are looking in your own backyard!

So that's it in a nut shell! I will try to post a few times before we leave. I can understand my friend Peanut now who always has future posts rambling around in her head. I will try to make them interesting and hopefully funny. And as soon as I have the know-how I will post some photos.

All I can say about this crazy adventure is "be careful what you wish for!"

my first time

OK, so this is the first blog I am posting. Just so you know I am really impressed that I figured it out! Unfortunately my love for all little gadgets and electronics is not on the same scale as my abilities. Love - 10/10 Abilities - 3/10.

I thought it would be fun to post a blog so that those of you that are interested in how life in Australia is for the Rud clan can follow our adventures. I promise to try to make it funny, interesting and hopefully something you will want to read.

As I write this, there are a million things I should be doing. Somewhere between now and when we leave on January 23 is this little holiday called Christmas. I still have to bake, do cards, clean the house, attend a party, send gifts to family, buy gifts for family, and all the other things of daily life. NOT having this done really goes against my normally very organized/OCD personality. I keep thinking Christmas will happen whether I am ready or not. Australia will NOT happen if I am not ready. Are you following my thinking? I have decided to put Australia on hold and focus on Christmas. I better get moving...

later