I'm A Good Driver. Definitely. Good Driver.

Well, it is now Sunday night. I am waiting for the last load of laundry to finish up in the washing machine, and I thought I would take some time now to update my post for the weekend.

Friday night was a lot of fun. As I mentioned before, it was the big end-of-year celebration for the office. My teammates were a lot of fun, and there were some cool people at the event who I got to meet. Now don't ask me to remember names, but hopefully I will recognize faces! The managing partners for the Sydney and Melbourne offices were there, so I got to chat with them a little bit. I also made buddies with the head of business development for Australia. He was a really nice guy, and kept insisting that I need to come to Melbourne. He promised me a spot in a box at one of the rugby matches if I manage to show up there. I might have to surprise him in late September or early October when I get some time to tour around the country!

But back to my story... So bowling in Australia is a little different from the US. I mean, it's the same game, but the atmosphere is quite different. There is a huge bar there where people are ordering mixed drinks and wine (and beer, of course). I don't know if it was because we had such a large group, or if it is the norm, but there were actually servers who brought out food at the bowling alley. And I'm talking nice looking servers, wearing nice outfits, carrying fancy plates. These guys looked like they were working for PF Chang's. And the food was things like shrimp plates, egg rolls, sushi... Nothing like the grilled cheese and cheese fries you get at the bowling alleys back home! And Amy, Stephanie, Kim, and Tara, I want to throw a story in to make you guys smile: Towards the end of the evening at the bowling alley, we were all standing around the bar area, trying to figure out where else we should go. Suddenly, I heard what song was playing as it came to the chorus. And most of the people standing in the bar with me started singing out: Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer" was blasting, and everyone was singing along. It was pretty funny to hear all the Aussies get into the song!

After bowling, we headed out to another bar, and I get to spend some more time with some of my new co-workers. It was a fun night. The people I spent the evening with were fun, and had questions about life in the US. They gave me some tips about life in Sydney, and, all in all, it was a fun night.

I got in really late Friday night/Saturday morning, so I slept in late Saturday and pretty much spent the day in my apartment, starting the weekly laundry run, catching up on some reading and TV-watching. Nothing too special about the day, but not a bad day overall.

Sunday was a different story. I got up, got going, and headed into town. I went to pick up the rental car that I will be using for the next few weeks. I managed to find the place, and the guy who helped me with the reservation was pretty entertaining. He kept asking me questions about the US. Then he found out that I am an auditor, and he asked me a bunch of questions about that, too. He was pretty funny, and pretty helpful. So I walk over to the garage where the car was located, and I manage to find it, use the map to figure out where I was going, and I was off!

Yep, I have officially driven over here on the wrong side of the road, in the wrong side of the car. It was not as difficult as I had thought it would be. I mean, Hertz is nice enough to put a sticker right above the driver's head that says "Drive Left." It makes it a little easier to remember, anyway! But I have to say... There are some little things that are tough to get used to. Like buckling my seat belt the other way when I get in, putting the car in gear with my left hand, adjusting the radio backwards (the volume dial is on the left side, not the right). But the thing I have had the most trouble with is the stupid turn signal. I am used to turning it on with my left hand, and that side is the windshield wipers. So every time I got to put the turn signal on, the wipers start going. Hopefully I will get it down soon, but it is already starting to drive me nuts!

But I managed to drive home just fine, no turns the wrong way and no incidents with other drivers. The worst part was getting used to being on the opposite side of the car. I hung on to the curbs a little tight when parallel parking by the apartment. But if that's the worst thing that happens, I will be doing just fine.

Tonight I went to my new favorite local pub, Hotel Mosman, for dinner. I only mention it because I promised to find out for Sally what was going on with the "no hats" rule. Once again, the sign was out in the front of the bar: "Due to security reasons, no baseball hats are allowed to be worn in the bar." It got a little busy, so I didn't get a chance to ask anyone about it. I am going to assume something happened a while back, and the hat blocked the view. So I don't have an explanation, yet, but I did look around and notice that there were a lot of security cameras in the bar, all attached to the ceiling. So my guess is that hats block the person's face from the camera, and they actually do some heavy-duty security scans there. Weird, but nice to know that my pub is so safe!

So I am quite proud to see that one of my favorite movies will be featured next week on Australian TV: Joe Dirt. I can't believe that movie is one that got picked up over here! I mean, I like it, but I have a warped sense of humor. Plus it has Christopher Walken in it. What more do you need? So of all the things American out there, you guys can see what kinds of things are popular over here! Kind of scary, huh?

Okay, I have to go finish up my chores for the week. Hopefully I will have some better stories for you guys next week. I hope all of you had a great holiday weekend, and I hope to hear from several of you via email this week...