le follow-up.

yep, my hunch was right. creepy french guy got lunch.  after an agonising hour of him chewing (with mouth open mind you), he is now picking at his teeth with his tongue, his fingers, his pen, and now the corner of an envelope. gross. i’m trying to give him a taste of his own medicine.  my hayfever just went into overload so i’m sneezing, sniffing and blowing my nose with all my might.

Je suis de retour!

the super loud chewing french guy who is a dead-ringer for that creepy looking “children of the corn” kid is back and sitting across from yours truly.  i haven’t seen him for a the past hour though— maybe he left for the day… or better yet,  maybe he’s getting lunch to bring back. oh joy.

language barrier.

seriously,  i’m having that language diffuculty thing again this morning.  a colleague had to repeat the punchline of a joke for me to understand what he was saying. by the third time, it just wasn’t funny anymore to either of us.  and of couse by the third time there was accompanying hand gestures and motions like we were playing charades for retards.   there should be no problems because they do speak english in australia.  i had less of a problem in france, spain, even flippin japan!  I understood every word in “lock, stock and two smoking barrels.” what is it about this place? maybe aussies speak a lot faster than i’m used to…combined with their accent  and shortened form of everything that’s more than two syllables.

the most important day of the year. moths. penguins.

my birthday is coming up and for the past couple of years i stopped celebrating it or telling people about it. i was depressed about getting older.  turning 30 was an especially hard year for me. but now i’ve fully embraced being in my 30’s and i’m all about letting everyone know my birthday is coming up.  well, “everyone” being the husband.  he’s got something up his sleeve for the 31st (my bday is the 1st, sunday) and i tried to weasle it out of him last night (ahhh, memories of christmas brattiness).  i have to give the Brit credit.  i was pretty bratty and he didn’t give in.  my whining was cut short by a moth sighting in our room and i squealed and ducked under the covers until the Brit disposed of it.  once that was done, i was tired and fell asleep.

so… i know i’m getting my Tiffany diamond necklace that i’ve been hinting about for the past wee while.  i know because i sent the Brit a link to it this morning.  i’m hoping i can get it before my birthday. i’m trying to decide what to get myself.  i always feel guilty when i spend loads of money on myself and i end up buying something for the husband to alleviate my bad feelings. not quite sure where that comes from.  maybe from my sister and i being brats growing up – everything had to be equal.  if she got something, i had to get something of equal value.  christ, we were brats (i still am).

the picture of the little penguin that we adopted arrived in the post yesterday along with an official certificate of adoption and newsletter.  it made my day! i put his picture on our fridge…right in the centre on top of the picture of my niece and nephew (sorry guys!).  so cool.

in the newsletter they show the different cycles of the penguins’ life during the year.  in march, which is when we’ll be visiting, they are molting and here is the accompanying drawing:

man, the penguins are going to be looking funny when we’re there.