Eating the Frog and Toad

It was November of 2015 when we officially started "Hitting the Frog and Toad!"  So, we have lived in Australia for nearly a year and a half, and we've gotten pretty good at it, I think. My blog posts now have much fewer "oh crap" moments and way fewer stories of hilarious inappropriate conversions to kilograms, meters and celsius that get me into trouble.  We learned the culture (drink more, drive on the left when not drinking, and just be direct in your statements). We've mostly even navigated the health system here, as both Nate and I battled a nasty GI bug across the last two weeks.  We've gotten very comfortable in our day to day routine here at this point. And anyone who knows us well knows this is when Nate and I get a little bored of routine and itch for a new experience...

This time, however,  we did not seek out a new experience.  This time, it fell in our laps and made us dry heave a little from nerves and the sheer magnitude of the change. Let me back up to a Monday morning last month:

As I was getting Isla dressed, I saw I had a missed call from Nate at 8am.  He never calls, so I quickly rang him back, fearing he crashed his bike on the way to work.  He quickly answered and said, "Two things. One - I left my laptop on the counter. Could you please bring it to me at lunchtime? And two - let's go to lunch when you come and I need to know if you want to move to Hong Kong."  Aaaahh!  Fast forward about 4 hours and Nate had his laptop and we were moving to Hong Kong!

We'll be moving around August.  This is an incredible career step for Nate and I'm pretty stoked to explore more of the world (Hong Kong and surrounding countries) with our little lady.  I always envision myself cruising into some remote and exotic Asian port looking quite fashionable like James Bond would. However, in reality, I think I generally end up rolling into new locations half asleep looking like a disaster with no make up, struggling to carry Isla's toy bag and her while her hand is pulling down my shirt to put her toy koala in "mama's pocket" (aka - my cleavage).  So, I'll keep working on actualizing this James Bond image in the coming months. It's good to have goals.

We have very little figured out about the move at this point, but as an ex-pat friend assured me, "Once you make all the mistakes in your first international move, you'll be totally on the ball for the next one."  Who knows, I might even remember to pack sheets and towels in our air shipment this time!  I'm sure the blog posts will only get better as we try to navigate another language, very different housing and exotic foods (hence, the unofficial new blog name, "Eating the Frog and Toad!")

So, if you've ever wanted to visit us in Melbourne, book your tickets fast! Guests are very welcome!!  More updates to come soon on our Asian adventures!