A week ago, the four of us headed off to Canberra airport, several large suitcases and a pram in tow, to move to the other side of the world. 36 hours and 3 planes later, we landed in Ottawa on a rainy Monday afternoon, immensely grateful for the two wonderful people from Hubby's work who had come to pick us, our luggage and hyperactive children up.
The flights had been ok. Not horrific. Not great. Just ok. The phernergan worked...for a while, but we still had times where The Youngest did the perfect kangaroo impression down the aisle, paws up, boinging quite loudly, loudly demanding Dora, or 'uuuuuppppp' or walking to the toilet. The Eldest coloured in for while in her books, before deciding to graffiti her cubicle, spilt numerous cups of water all over her seat and refused to eat anything other than chocolate teddy bear biscuits. Being in business class meant that I got to enjoy my fully reclining chair snuggled up with a rotating schedule my children had cleverly engineered as the perfect way of ensuring Mumma was rarely lonely. I managed to watch one movie in 6 sittings, eat most of my meals solo, and read one of the essential readings for my first Masters unit. On our last flight, The Youngest refused to sit in her seat until the attendant got cross with her, and then promptly hopped back out of her seat, stood in the aisle, extended her palm and said 'Stop! Milli want off plane NOW! '
But we survived. And now we are enjoying the roller coaster ride that is a toddler suffering from jet-lag. 2am renditions of wheels on the bus have reminded us why we don't willingly share a room with The Youngest on a usual basis. We were told a few days ago, that it takes a day for every hour of travel to get over the jet-lag. Which means another fortnight to go.
We are currently staying in the beautiful 2 bedroom apartment of the lovely girl that Hubby had just taken over from. The girls are coping pretty well, considering they have hardly any toys and have been either confined to the apartment, confined to the pram or confined to the car. We are staying in the Byward Market area - lots of shops but ultimately not little kid friendly. We have been looking around at some houses, and in what has been noted as some what of a record, we have already found a house in the area we really wanted - a house with a garage, which apparently is vital in winter - though I can't imagine why ;) Which means we can now find a school for The Eldest.
We have a car that we can't use until we get the registration and insurance sorted out. So a few days ago we ventured out to try our luck with the bus system, as I desperately needed to buy some new entertainment for the kids - a bag of barbies, surprisingly, is not enough to keep them entertained. Who would have thought...
We have also been quite social (for us) and went out on Friday night (sans children - piggy backed onto a babysitting option!) with people from the High Commission. I have met the Australian High Commissioner twice now. The first time was at the High Commission, where The Youngest spent the whole time picking her nose and The Eldest spent her time rolling on top of the coffee table. On Friday night, when I met the High Commissioner again, she asked if my children had calmed down yet (inward cringe). After getting over that hurdle, was the hurdle of the small talk, where she used big words like bio-data, that my jet-lagged, slightly inebriated brain couldn't cope with. Thankfully she was quickly whisked off to be given a tour of the penthouse, so I was rescued in a timely fashion from making a true idiot of myself.
Saturday saw us catching up with a friend from home, who parents live in Ottawa. She had organised a neighbourhood party - where the majority of the lovely guests were francophone - and we, the anglophone Aussies where the only mono-lingual people there. Still, we met lovely people, the kids had a great time and we left with a renewed vigour for trying to learn at least a little French while we are here.
Hubby has started work, I've been busy with assignments and entertaining the children, exploring supermarkets and drinking endless cups of tea. Still hard to believe we are not on holidays and that this is where we are living now. Hopefully the car will be sorted out soon, and we can get to doing the touristy things we have been looking forward to!
Au Revoir for now
Jenoir xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment