May I Speak With John Bishop...

...This is John.

...Hi John, this is Nigel with Australian Immigration. You basically have two choices. You can leave the country so we can finalize your student visa or you can pay the 5 or 600 more dollars and lodge a new one from within Australia. Good luck with flights by the way. As you know, its spring break, so your tickets will cost you two legs and an arm.

I tell you this much. I am not going to give them the satisfaction of buying ANOTHER student visa. I had planned for research this week on my dissertation, but it looks like I will be spending a bit of time in Auckland instead. Although it would have been nice to get to Indonesia or one of the islands in the pacific, there are worse ways to spend a forced vacation than being in Auckland. So I head out tomorrow (Monday morning) and return on Thursday. Since I was in a hurry that last two times I was there, I am looking forward to not having a single thing on my agenda other than fulfilling the requirement of being in another country while my visa gets approved.

It will be fun. Through some people that I have met in Sydney, I will have at least a couch to sleep on and wheatbix to eat for the next couple of days. I will bring my camera and upload some pictures.

Moving In...Moving Out

So I moved into my new place last weekend. It is quite a place. 130 years old and pre-federation with tons of character. Although is may be the worst house on the block you can just imagine its potential. It is on a great street with lost of foot traffic which allows for great conversation with passersby.

The landlord however, it is a bit of a nut job. Several years ago, he cut down the back wall of the house and put in a whole another living quarter to allow for rental income. Apart from completely destroying the integrity of the house, he does not even keep the second half of the house occupied. In fact, he called my room mate recently and asked if she had seen the renters to the place. She had to tell him that they moved out almost two months ago. And this a place where rent is paid on a weekly basis!!!

So its cute and it needs work but none of that matters. We were informed a couple of days ago that one of the other landlords died (there were 2 of them-brothers) and that they were selling the place. So...just as I start to settle in at a decent place, next to school....I am back in the market. No big deal though, I at least have a few weeks.




Does anyone know how I can rotate pictures. On my computer its correct. Weird.