OT: Ch ch ch ch changes

[Aussie Mark]

Well, it's now official, we'll be moving back to Australia at the end of November, now that I've beaten our Indonesian business into some kind of reasonable shape.

I'll be working in Sydney, where I was born and raised, but I haven't lived there for 22 years. My parents both live in Sydney, which means we'll have easy access to babysitters for Aussie Jay and his sibling that is due in March, so that benefit balances out the fact that house prices are double what they are in Adelaide, where we lived before our Jakarta posting.

The golf in Sydney won't be as good as Indonesia, but the music scene will be better, assuming an old fart with two babies under 14 months old can find time to hit some balls or play some gigs.

 

[RockinRayDuke]

You have to be stoked to be going home, right? Glad to see you getting out of Jakarta.

 

[Oldtoe]

+1, Ray.

 

[bdgotoh]

Congrats Mark! Grandparents are very good things to have close by.

 

[tplyons]

Glad to have your username make sense again.

 

[soniq]

I have family in Indonesia (Palembang) and Australia (NSW). I hope to visit both countries one of these days.

 

[Lazybite]

Im sure Sydney will seem like a ghost town after being in jakarta.

 

[Aussie Mark]

Thanks guys, I'm generably glad about moving to Sydney, despite the nasty housing prices there. In Sydney we'll have to pay twice as much as we would have done in Adelaide for a house that's not as good, in a less attractive area. Sydney is paradise if you can afford a $5 million house on the harbour, but if not, then you're just out in the 'burbs among the bricks, concrete and shopping malls like every other Joe Average.

The upside is that in Sydney I won't have a 2 hour commute, a full day in the bathroom once a month, people to bribe just to get simple daily tasks done, $10 bottles of wine selling for $50, household staff to micromanage, and poultry running wild in your backyard.

As strange as it might seem, I'll actually miss the 5 times-a-day call to prayer blaring over the loudspeakers of the mosques all over the place. Even on the golf course you're always within earshot of a mosque, and some of the chanting is quite musical to listen to. Some sound like ass as well.

 

[bdgotoh]

a full day in the bathroom once a month

I'm not entirely sure I want to know but what's that about? Some sort of dysentery?

 

[Aussie Mark]

I'm not entirely sure I want to know but what's that about? Some sort of dysentery?

Once a month is roughly the frequency of tummy bugs since I've been here. Lack of public sanitation infrastructure, overpopulation, poverty, and food preparation practices make it easy to pick up bugs no matter how scrupulous you are about personal hygiene or how careful you are about what you eat.

It's an inconvenience that goes with living in a developing country.

 

[Colin]

Lack of public sanitation infrastructure, overpopulation, poverty, and food preparation practices make it easy to pick up bugs no matter how scrupulous you are about personal hygiene or how careful you are about what you eat.

So what part of Sydney are you talking about here? Welcome home btw

 

[tiffles]

i thought he was refering to tassie...

 

[Aussie Mark]

Tiff, Tasmania is just like Toowoomba, only it rains more and the beer is better.

 

[Disquieter]

i would not mind moving to australia, i've always considered it should i find the opportunity for a upheaval of my entire life.

 

[jappy]

I'm a Sydneysider, and I still have a 1.5 hour trip to work each day!

 

[tiffles]

Tiff, Tasmania is just like Toowoomba, only it rains more and the beer is better.

ouch! theyre on level 5 water restrictions now. its still cool by its close-ish proximity to the coast. and BP has been there so ner

 

[maddog]

Congrats Mark. No transfer to Tejas for a particular weekend in Nov?

 

[strummer]

I'll actually miss the 5 times-a-day call to prayer blaring over the loudspeakers of the mosques.

Mark, I have just the thing for you... an alarm clock that looks like a mosque and calls to prayer
http://www.mosqueclock.com/

 

[Aussie Mark]

Mark, I have just the thing for you... an alarm clock that looks like a mosque and calls to prayer
http://www.mosqueclock.com/

I'm a step ahead of you - they sell those here in Indonesia, so it's on my shopping list.

 

[Aussie Mark]

I'm a Sydneysider, and I still have a 1.5 hour trip to work each day!

Oh yeah, I know that is fairly common in Sydney, especially for people who work in the CBD or who have to cross the harbour via bridge or tunnel.

Fortunately for me, our office is at Eastern Creek, so I'll be going against the peak hour traffic. We're looking to live in the Hills District, which means a 13 minute trip straight down the new M7 motorway to Eastern Creek.