Movin' on up . . .

Yes, in the style of the famous television family the Parkers, we are moving out and up to yet another apartment. This time we will be moving from the CBD (Central Business District) of Brisbane to an area of the city known as Kangaroo Point. (Matt, before you ask, I will describe Kangaroo Point just as you are imagining it -- a place where kangaroos run wild, providing for most of the local economy and easy transport to any Brissie who wants to "hop on.") This next place will be our final stop before settling into the home we will rent in a part of the city known as Bulimba beginning the 27th of April. (For those of you who are counting, this is our fourth physical move since January. Not to brag, but we are quite proficient by this point.)

To let you know, we will be out of touch for a few days in this great land down under as we wait for an Internet connection to be installed in the new apartment. Of greater worry to Drew, is the fact that there are absolutely no installation appointments available for cable for the entire length of our stay. This means we will not have cable until May. It is a hard life. :)

Now for fun and any other curious minds out there, I will share a question and answer session between our good friend and San Francisco dweller Matt Busche and Drew. (Although, because this will be a fairly family friendly blog I am, with regrets, censoring some of the conversation. Also, my apologies to you, Matt. A responsible journalist would have gotten your permission before publishing, but I am just a careless blogger.)

Matt: I'll try to include some news from the States, as it's probably difficult to keep up with events over there in such a distant foreign land. So here's a start... It's an election year! The presidential primaries are coming up soon. Right now, Rudy Giuliani is the front-runner on the Republican side. For the Democrats, the presumptive nominee is Hillary Clinton. There's also been some talk of some guy named Barat Osama. I don't know much about him, except that he's a Muslim. I'll keep you posted as events unfold . . . It just snowed a bunch in Ohio. Yikes!

Drew: Thanks for keeping us up to speed on American current events; we don't do much of that. Actually, all the radio stations play are Australian songs like the Kookaburra song, Waltzing Matilda, and Down Under by Men at Work.

Matt: By the way, what's it like living in a country where you don't speak the language?

Drew: Language hasn't been too much trouble because the universal language in Australia is beer, and they do say **** a lot!

Matt: Is it hard to get around?

Drew: They do have cars, but kangaroos and some really big koalas can be rented for a nice daily rate. However, you don't ever want to get on a 'roo after a night of tipping back . . .very dangerous!

Matt: Do you have electricity and hot water? I hope so.

Drew: We do have electricity and sometimes we have hot water, when we have water at all. There is a significant water shortage in Queensland . . . most of the locals don't smell too pleasant. We take plenty of cologne baths, although it tends to irritate lil’ Jman's skin.

Matt: Are there koala bears everywhere? Do they bite?

Drew: Koalas only bite when you approach them, get near them or look at them, otherwise they are very friendly little guys!

Matt: Do the drains go in the opposite direction or what?

Drew: Water restrictions . . . haven't found out yet!

Matt: And are the natives friendly? Do they bite?

Drew: The Abs as the locals call them are extremely friendly and are the main topic of conversation these days. The new Prime Minister is from the labor party and is trying to provide additional funding to help the Aboriginal people out. Very controversial! Apparently, they run great casinos though. I haven't run into to many Abs, but the ones I did run into didn't bite.

Matt: What year is it over there? (It's 2008 here.)

Drew: Come on Busche, everyone knows we are in the year 1993. “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” just won new album of the year, and Alive took home best new single. I hope that helps kill your curiosity!

Talk with you all soon.