We had a great weekend—–very relaxing and that was just what Chris needed. I picked him up at the airport on Friday night and we came home and had leftovers—the plan was to go out to eat but he was really tired and not in the mood so we came back to the house and chowed down on meatloaf and mashed taters! YUM! Sometimes I think the leftovers are better than the first go round.

I had a call on Friday that Austar was coming out AGAIN on Saturday so we waited around ALL day! About 5 I made Chris call (Yes–I made him!) and the conversation was pretty funny because the guy on the other end said that the tech had come out that day and he hadn’t. Then he said that it was hung up on landlord approval, which it wasn’t since he met with them on Tuesday and then finally he said he would call the installer…..after awnile he came back on and said that the installer had tried to call us but that Austar had given him an incorrect phone number. They had scheduled the appt because we are on this high priority list now (troublemakers that we are) and did not know that he was waiting on a part which had not come in. Typical miscommunication thing. So…..we are still waiting and supposedly someone is coming today but my guess is 1) it won’t be the installer that was here on Tuesday who figured out what needed to be done and had talked to the landlord, and 2) that they part won’t be in anyway to install it. So the story goes on and on and on…..I can’t fault any of these people but good grief—TALK TO EACH OTHER or write it down. I think our file must be very thick by now!!! One of my friends said that she did not think we would ever get it and I am inclined to agree but it makes for a good story!!! A long drawn out story maybe!!!

Sunday came and we had made arrangements to meet a couple for brunch at Cbar on The Strand. They were here from Perth checking Townsville out as he has interviewed for the CFO position at CSR. We had a nice long brunch with he and his partner. Oh yea–that is another thing that I have had to learn here. Marriage is treated a bit differently here than in North America. Traditional marriage still exists and probably most of the people we know here are married but many long relationships have never been blessed by the church or legal systme and so the term “partner” is used. From what I understand (and I could be wrong on this) some just never formalize the relationship with a ceremony because what they might feel that it is not any concern of the state or any religious organization. These people are referred to as “de facto” (de facto wife, de facto husband). In South Australia de factos who have been together for 3 years or have a child together have all the legal rights of a marriage if the relationship breaks up—such as child custody, support payments and the like. Just another small difference here!

Oh Yippee!! My favorite postie just came and gave me a pack of mail and my first official personal letter from a friend in the US came!!! (Thanks, Regina!) I am so excited!!! I had missed Jared–he was gone for 2 weeks (and he didn’t tell me he was going to be gone!!! LOL) and I am glad he is back because he is a nice guy. So now I am going to go fill up my coffee cup and read my letter!!! And you KNOW that I will keep you posted on the Austar saga…..