Merry Christmas

Hello All,

How are you? Just wishing you each a Merry Christmas.
It has been a crazy year for us- we started out the year with the 1st anniversary of our second wedding (the one in Perth), then a trip to the US in May and June. While in the US we travelled to Yellowstone National Park and spent some time travelling around Texas. We celebrated my brother's birthday and my best friend's birthday in May as well as our 2nd anniversary on June 17. July saw us in Indonesia. Heather stayed in Indo until September, when she returned to Australia and started teaching Pre-Primary at Dale Christian School. David returned from Indonesia in December, and after school ended we went away for a while. In January, we will be moving to Exmouth as Dave begins work at a marine fish farm. We will be living in a caravan until the house the business is providing is finished (around March).

We are looking forward for settling in Exmouth for a few years- getting some experience managing a fish farm under David's belt. Heather will be (relief) teaching at the local school, or looking for other part-time work.


Love, David and Heather

from Heather

My first week as a Pre-Primary teacher has passed reasonably uneventfully. I am still learning all the "rules"- the little things that have been happening or not happening in thelast 3 terms but aren't written down anywhere!

We went to the Perth Zoo on Friday, and had a Bush Party where the children dressed up like native animals and found out more about them. After that, we had lunch and split up into smaller groups to explore. My group, of course, arrived at the elephants just in time to see one (rear end towards the kids) have a MASSIVE poo and buckets of wee. Do the kids remember much else from the zoo? No, just the elephant...

I've been riding David's push bike to work. It is a very manly, rugged mountain bike- I put a fuzzy seat cover on it. One of the students saw me putting on athe blue helmet and said, "That's a boy's helmet!" I replied with "Its okay, I ride a mountain bike." And he totally accepted that answer as reasonable. Does that mean I have the logic of a 5 year old?

:) Heather

Permanent Residency

Today I (Heather) went into Perth and got the sticker that shows I am now a Permanent Resident. Then the Immigration Officer spilled her coffee on my passport.


After that I wandered up to the Citizenship office to discuss my case with an officer. He said that I will be eligible to apply for Citizenship after February 2010, if I don't do any more travelling. Travelling outside of the country would extend the time I have to wait to apply. The US turns a blind eye to dual citizenship, their policy is not to promote it but they do not prevent it.


This afternoon I have a second Doctor's appointment to determine what it is that I am sick with. It has the 'classic' malaria symptoms (though the doc doesn't think malaria is a problem in Indonesia...) with a sore throat and chesty cough thrown in. He was leaning towards Dengue fever (though I have no rash and no other symptom), I am hoping for the flu.


When I visited the doc on Tuesday I had my blood drawn- the nurse (or whatever her title may be) couldn't get it out of the first arm- poke, poke, poke- so she drew blood from my other arm. It probably didn't help that I was having chills and coughs and just generally miserable!





Here's a picture of a cow patty on the beach near where Dave is, in Indonesia. Someone decorated it with flowers...

Heather's back in Australia

Hello All,

I (Heather) am back in Australia. Currently I am living with David's parents, but hope to move in with a friend soon. I have work at the private school associated with the church we've been attending while in Australia, as a term 4 relief teacher in pre-primary.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

My brother, Kenneth, had an emergency appendectomy the morning we flew out! He is feeling better, recovering well.

We arrived in Perth at 5:40 am on Tuesday morning- actually quite well rested, thanks to some sleeping pills (like night-time cold tablets) shared by a lady on the plane. We've spent our time in Perth at the dentist, at the Indonesian embassy, and at the Immigration Department in Perth. We have our visas for Indonesia, and we've submitted my Permanent Residency application.

We are finishing up all the last-minute details (like the blog!) and packing (important) for our 5pm flight. It still seems surreal!