Christmas wishes

Well we thought we would get in in advance and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, I hope everyone enjoys there family time.

The white christmas arrived with a blizzard last night and with the heaviest snow fall we have had for a while with about 6 inches of snow falling in a few hours, Philadelphia got 22 inches overnight so we just narrowly missed the centre of the storm front.

We thought we would venture out to grab some goodies from Wegmans but our car couldn't make it up the hill so after a few driver changes and lots of forward and reversing action Shammy managed to get the car back into our complex, with lots of celebrating from us. We then decided to make the most of it and trek our way through the snow to Wegmans, chilly but refreshing :). Needless to say with temps hovering around -6 degrees our heating got its first workout of the season.
I finished my law exam last week so now I just have to wait for the results and if all goes to plan I will be registered soon, fingers and toes crossed. We had our work christmas parties last week which were great fun and I managed to try some very yummy martinis at the Medicap one. Shammy is currently on 2 weeks of nights which will finish on christmas night. We are planning to spend christmas at Ash and Krish's place with a few friends of ours which will be great.

Winter is here again

Well today is the first day of heavy snowfall in allentown so I guess winter is really here again. I have been busy lately studying for the pharmacy registration exams, one down, one more to go (law) on the 17th of December. I haven't got results back yet from the first one (clinical), it was pretty challenging and I didn't feel overly confident when I finished it but my friend Nina assured me thats how everyone feels when they finish it.

Shammy's wisdom tooth removal went well and he is now proudly pulling out the dissolvable stitches to show me when they dislodge while he is eating, yuk!

We spent thanksgiving with our friends, Ash and Krish and their children Om and Shiva. Om is a little buddha and I definitely felt his weight when I was carrying him around, he loves being bounced around but my arms can only take so much of that.

We are just awaiting the arrival of Shammy's visa from the Australian consulate and then we will organise flights to Australia and then India next February and March. It also involves a paperwork trail to sort out documentation and immigration forms before I go so that I can update my visa to America when I return to Australia.

We have just signed up with a few friends of ours to do a 4 mile midnight run in central park for New Years, should definitely be an experience! A bus leaves here with a group of runners and after the run they provide champagne and Hoagies (sandwiches in a long shaped bread roll, hmm come to think of it I hope they come in a vegetarian variety, if not I'll just have to rely on the champagne :) ). Shammy is working the next day so I'll be interested to see how he pulls up for that.

We have also registered for the hilly 10km race that we did last year in the snow, to see if we can improve on our times.

Happy Christmas and New Years to everyone and know we will be thinking of you all!!!!!!

x Sammy and Shammy

Birthday celebration!

I'm beginning to like the 2 day birthday which happens when I'm in US. I get a 48hr celebration with the time differences. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I made the most of having the day off work and had lunch with Nina then booked in for a much needed haircut, even the hairdresser pointed out that a colour was well overdue. Its back to having healthy hair again and all the same tone :).

As always I left my present opening til the evening, to Shammy's frustration, I was even thinking of leaving it til this morning (Oct 10th), but that didn't go down very well.

Shammy surprised me with an evening out at a classy restaurant in Bethlehem, called the Edge. The quality of food was superb and I ended up having green beans seared with coriander, pine nuts and cured tofu and grilled tuna (soooo goood!!). Shammy on the other hand went for the black truffle angus beef burger served with truffle parmesan fries and I didn't hear too much complaining from him :). On the way to dinner he had also stopped off at the itunes store and I'm now the owner of a new itouch which is great to store my pharmacy applications and lighter for running with.

I then had a birthday dessert of homemade cinnamon ice-cream on apple pastry which Shammy and I had a tug-o-war over, yum, yum!

Then home to a surprise present under my pillow (my favourite magazine and a card inside). This was particularly cool in that Shammy has never been a greeting card man.

I wish it was my birthday every day of the year. Back to the reality now of study. We are both in the hospital library this weekend as Shammy has an exam next weekend and I still have plenty of study to do for mine. I seem to be working more than the 2 days I planned on at the moment, seems like they need assistance at work still.

We will have to start looking at overseas flights to Australia and India soon and are trying to work out what our next competitive run will be. We have started doing Boot camp classes at the gym and it takes about 3 days afterwards to walk and sit normally again.

Fall has definitely arrived and the jumpers are coming out of the closet again.

Okay no more procrastinating, back to the study books :)

Happy Father's Day to my bros (minus James of course) and my Dad in Oz!

Shammy and I have been keeping abreast of whats going on with the blogs and pics that keep coming. I am now into my 4th last week of internship and I'm trying to get some study in at the end of the day to get things started. We house-sitted for a friend of a friend last weekend, we managed to get a swim in in their pool and use their hot tub and Shameer particularly liked their theatre room. We did however have to sleep on a wirey sofa bed downstairs which didn't give us a good night sleep and their dog luke has destroyed their carpet by peeing and pooing everywhere, I think the dog felt like it was missing out on the action.


We also paid another visit to the velodrome for the last meet of the season. It poured so after a rain break where we went and grabbed some dinner it started back up again. The Ozzie girl took out the female title.
Shammy and I have been getting into some tennis and mixed beach volleyball with some of the medical residents, I forgot how much fun it is!
We are also doing our final training runs before the relay marathon coming up on the 13th of September. One of the guys has pulled out as he can't get a replacement to work for him so Shammy is doing 2 legs (4.8miles and 3.9miles), the 3rd and the final leg. I am doing the 5.8mile and 4th leg and I'm hoping the day is cool but if its as warm and humid as it has been lately it could be interesting.
This weekend is a 3 day weekend as they have a labour day holiday on Monday so we are making the most of it.

Yesterday we went to Hawk mountain, a National park 30 minutes away from here. It was a spectacular vista from the top of the range and it is Hawk season so we spotted a few flying around, we weren't however paying as much attention as the avid bird watchers. We set out for a nice hike with our friend Raj. It was funny because the one trail we weren't going to do because it was supposed to be hazzardous with cliff drops and rock climbing we ended up unwittingly doing. This was because we thought the hazardous part was further along in the other direction away from the visitors centre so we headed off on the trail towards the visitor's centre, oh well it made for an adventurous hike.
The allentown fair was on last night so we thought we would drop in as the lehigh valley hospital staff got free entry. This of course was not supposed to include family, however I managed to get in free also. I don't think the volunteer at the gate was going to take on Shammy or thought it completely amusing when Shameer said "THIS IS MY WIFE", he probably thought yeah and pigs fly :) but good on ya mate for giving it a go. We tried our first funnel cake which is piped dough into hot oil and then sprinkled with icing sugar. It was quite tasty but definitely a once a year treat. The other thing Raj thought we should try is a fried Oreo, Shammy and I tasted that but one bite was definitely enough for us, too rich and I was thinking about the amount of saturated fat we would need to remove from our systems. That kind of food doesn't really mix with running or our stomachs :).
Well we are off now to drive over the course for next week, a 2 mile run followed by a hit of tennis, sounds good! The only thing missing is it would be good to have family here to share in our experiences.

A weekend of sport

Last week Shammy and I had our first game of tennis over here and it was so good to get out and about and run around the court again, even if the shots were a bit rusty. Friends of ours (Courtney and Sean) have a court in their complex so Shammy and I played them first which of course led to a convincing 6-1 win. I thought a girls versus guys match up would be slightly more equal and of course the girls rocked to Sean's annoyance :). Shammy also managed to get a game of Basketball during the week, and came back wet through from sweat, partly because it was humid and partly because one of the other guys managed to rub off his sweat on Shammy, hmmm nice. This was of course after a 6 mile tempo run that morning and we then went to Ash and Krish's for her b'day. Needless to say we both slept like logs that night.
A highlight for our weekend was the Velodrome on Friday night. I scored some free tickets when I mentioned I wanted to go to the velodrome to some ladies that work at Java joint (a coffee house), and one of the ladies there just happened to have some! I kept on thinking of the boys, what a fabulous night. There were 2 Nathan lookalikes, the curly hair and all, would you believe it they were both from NZ and I have to say their thunder thighs would have been at least double the size of Naths. All the pro sprinters had incredible butts and huge thighs. The longer distance lap cyclists were of course much slimmer. We sat right down at track level and on some of the races, they started right in front of us by hanging onto the wall for support, I was loving the view!
The Aussie lady took out the title for the night and is the current series leader, go ozzie, go!
The Aussie male was also up there, coming in second in the series.
There were some serious spills as well and they were not pretty, and the serious injury of the night looked like a broken collar bone, it doesn't take much to clip someones bike when they follow each other so closely. The highlight of the night for us was the corporate challenge where one guy(previous olympic sprinter) managed to pull back almost half a lap from the other team, his leg speed was insane to watch. By the end of the night Shammy was convinced that he could give the track a shot, we will definitely be back.
We got free tickets to the local baseball match on Saturday night as it was an evening out for the residents and it was a good social event. I didn't watch too much baseball, I find the game frustratingly slow but got updates from Shammy on what was going on. The local crowd itself was amusing enough and the crowd that hangs out near the food stalls, hmmm lets just say they enjoy their food, Shammy at one stage couldn't work out if a guy was wearing a dress to cover his stomach or a long shirt. Definitely a night for me to eat beforehand as vegetarian just doesn't feature on the menu.
At a surprise birthday party, I also managed to come across another HANA, she was sooo cute and reminded me a bit of our Hana. She is a bit older at 2 years of age and is asian, I put the photo up for you to see. She blows kisses and is quick to knock your glass for a cheers!
Tonight I'm being spoilt with a Shammy cooked dinner, so better finish up so I can go and enjoy.

Weekend of fun

It was nice to have the weekend together as Shammy has been doing on-calls and covers for at least a day or a night for the last few weekends. We made the most of the sunshine and went for a trip to the outskirts of Philadelphia in an area called Valley Forge on Saturday. Quite a wealthy area with a national park bordering it so it had lovely greenery and a lot of the houses had surrounding grounds of a decent size.
We visited some of Shammy's friend's there and had some yummy indian food for lunch and played with their kids. Our visit extended when other friends decided to join them so we finally left at about 4pm to check out the second largest shopping mall on the east coast called, King of Prussia. It didn't matter as King of Prussia was huge with lots of the latest fashion stores, designers and more but it was definitely just window shopping for us. We headed on to the nearby outlet stores instead to pick up some great deals. We were still going hardcore at 9pm when the stores closed but I could definitely spend another day as I didn't get to any of the women's clothes stores. Sooo much fun, I said to Shameer that Mum could easily get lost there for the day.
On Sunday we kept our friend, Krish company with her 2 children Om (4 months, but 29 weeks premi) and Shiva (2 years old and very active and a very cheeky in a very cute way). Her husband Ash had just started the cardiology fellowship and was on-call all weekend at the hospital, returning late in the evening if at all and totally exhausted. I kept thinking my turn will be next!
We also managed a hike at the local bear creek resort which is for skiing in winter and for hiking and mountain biking during winter. We then caught up with another friend in the evening. He has recently moved apartments and had a few friends over to celebrate. We love his 2 bedroom apartment and are considering moving there next year when he moves out, just have to work on the finances thats all.
Shammy is going well in his third year and I have now accrued 1000 intern hours only 500 to go, so I am starting to pull the study books out again. Nina, a friend who has recently done the board exam required to register as a pharmacist was telling me about the difficulty of some of the questions so this has definitely motivated me.
We have also been keeping up our relay marathon training with lots of runs along the parkway here, its a trail run that follows a stream, it makes running in the evening enjoyable.
There is a also a very popular velodrome which attract lots of overseas cyclists to Allentown. We are planning to go and watch the action next Friday with some free passes we picked up.

Shammy matches as Cardiology Fellow

We had great news last Wednesday, Shammy, after a lot of hardwork and dedication matched at the Lehigh Valley Hospital to start his Fellowship next July. Shammy was on nights so I checked his results out at work and then jumped around the pharmacy waiting for him to wake up and give me a call so we could celebrate together. Needless to say he didn't get much sleep that day and we have had our fair share of celebrating.
We are also back in training this week for our Lehigh valley Marathon relay run in September. We are getting plenty of rain and thunderstorms over here which the locals are finding unusual but it reminds me of Ozzie summers.
I also discovered last week that steam burns from the pressure cooker are pretty nasty and after some quick first aid by Shammy and with the benefit of being able to grab some burn cream from the compounding unit in the pharmacy it seems to be mending even if a few blisters have popped up today. I thought I'd put a piccie on the website to remind me of why I should always remove the whistle first. :)

Acadia National Park - the rain starts

We woke up to an overcast day but still headed out to hike the longest ridge climb along Sargeant Mountain. On the way up the mountain we had some stunning views before the weather came in. It was funny as during the last climb to the summit, I commented to Shammy "Lets hope it doesn't rain", so what does it do sleet instead. It was quite eerie on top of the mountain with the cloud cover coming in but also serene. On the return journey we both looked like drowned rats but there is still something beautiful about a damp forest, the smell and fresh air.
We have just been out to dinner at the Chart house on hull cove, overlooking the water. Nice cosy candle lit restaurant, it reminded me of some places I have been in England. We tried the local specialty Lobster which was nice and fresh followed by the apple crisp dessert and blueberry ice cream, yummy, yummy!

Back to nature - Acadia National Park

We spent a nice weekend mainly with Shammy's sister and Chintu in connecticut as Kareem and Shannu left Saturday for an overnight trip with there cousins. It was a nice relaxing start to our holiday Shama made us some yummy indian food, and Chintu kept us both entertained. Chintu has learnt the phrases A....ow and sorry and uses them at appropriate moments like when he kicked the basketball we gave him and a it hit a piece of furniture, this had me giggling. He also has worked out that to avoid carpet burn on his knees while he is playing with the train to crawl along using his feet. He is very focused and once his attention is on something even calling his name does not distract him until he has for example emptied every card out of its container, even if Uncle Shammy keeps putting them back in while he is trying to pull them out.
Speaking of focus Shammy displayed this on the drive up to Acadia National Park when he tried to remove the bird poo from the windscreen using the wipers to no avail except that it left me in hysterics.

The national park is actually situated on an island just off the east coast of Maine and formed from Granite rock after volcanic activity. It is beautiful with interesting rock formations on the mountains and surrounded by rugged coastline. As a result we have hiked some very interesting trails with plenty of scrambling and my quads and Shammy's calves are starting to feel the pinch. There have also been lots of fit and not so fit cyclists making the most of the hilly road climbs and every time I see them I think of my brothers and how much they would love this.
The seafood here is also fresh and their local specialty is lobster and crabs, right up your alley Dad. They are also famous for the wild blueberry so you can guarantee blueberries feature in every entree, main and dessert :). We usually make the most of our continental breakfast packing snacks for the rest of the day then treat ourselves at night time to a meal at one of the local restaurants.
Some highlights for me have been rock hopping back down the highest mountain, ( Mount Cadillac), a climb up to the Gorham mountain ridge trail which has views of the coast the entire way up. It also required a very nerve racking climb up iron rungs on the side of the cliff face, eek!
Also our drive and exploration of a remote lighthouse in Bass Harbor yesterday and the sunset from Cadillac mountain last night.

Oh what a feeling!

How to describe that feeling when you cross the finish line of a half marathon. It was a combination of relief that I ran the whole way, pain from legs that wanted to give up 3 miles ago and euphoria that I had accomplished what we set out to train for 6 months ago and in a time that I wasn't expecting.
There were 3093 participants! It was well organised as we all had chips attached to our shoes so that the time we actually crossed the starting line was when our race started. It took us about 3 minutes of watching the masses in front of us begin to move before we actually made it to the start line. They had live bands along the way to keep you motivated and well spaced out drink breaks and at a few stations they had power gel which is a milky liquid that is supposed to give you an energy kick. I stayed away from this as I thought anything going into my stomach was likely to make me feel ill.
I got into a nice rhythm once we had cleared the initial crowds and hung with the 2:05 ( 2 hrs, 5 min) pace group most of the way it helps to have people around you who keep a nice steady pace. At about the 11 mile mark after coming across a few hills I was really starting to feel the pinch and dropped off the pace group. Shammy meanwhile had been working his way up to me, trying to catch up after being caught behind the crowds at the beginning. He caught up to me around the 12 mile mark and needless to say by this stage we both looked pretty knackered. It was overcast all morning but it had begun raining more heavily around the 11 mile mark so we were both wet and Shammy having taken his hat off was now finding it difficult to see through his glasses. Just before we entered the stadium there was another hill and it was here where Shammy hit the wall, he wasn't running with his usual rhythm and his body was really low on energy and even though I tried to encourage him up the hill with me with 200 metres to go his legs just didn't want to move anymore. His effort to continually move through to the pace group I was with took its toll.
Luckily they had drinks and high energy food provided afterwards as Shammy we think was hypoglycaemic and only started to improve once he had a boost from some power gel and gatorade.
I am so proud of us both and we are both damn happy to not be running another half marathon anytime soon. I managed to cross the line in 2hrs 4mins and 56 seconds (position 1705) and Shammy in 2 hrs 5 mins and 41 seconds (position 1747). For the race results you can see them on this link: http://lehighvalleyhalfmarathon.com/results/09overallhm.txt

I have the luxury of a day off today to relax and get some movement back into my muscles which Shammy if he wasn't starting a new rotation would have joined me for. It is quite amusing to watch each other moan and groan our way around as when we sit for too long and our muscles seize up again. We will be heading off for a much needed spa at our gym this evening.

1st anniversary

All the memories came flooding back from a year ago on the 10th of April and funnily enough it was fine here in the morning and then proceeded to rain in the evening. Shammy had a surprise in store for me with a dinner at a Japanese restaurant I have been wanting to try for ages. Great ambience and fresh delicious food but we kept our order to a minimum as everything was on the pricey side. I was also happy with an itunes gift card and the latest Jeffrey Archer book. One of my favourite things about the day was that I finally received a card from Shammy which is I believe the first card he has wrote for me, having made the most of ecards prior to this.

It has been a pretty interesting year with lots of travel for me, visa paperwork and challenges on the job front but the best part is that I have been able to do this with Shammy's companionship. Work seems to be going well and I have a few things to look forward to starting with a spa day this weekend, one of the perks of Shammy's work. We have our half marathon the first weekend in May and late in May we have a weeks holiday planned for Maine (great hiking area apparently).

Themed parked out

Over the last 5 days we have been to the 4 disney theme parks and yesterday to Universal Orlando and we are definitely ready for a break from queues and crowded spaces. Don't get me wrong it was also great fun but we have hit our saturation point. Our favourite park was definitely Universal with great adult rides and interesting shows. Epcot (Disney) was like visiting Expo with lots of international areas and some feature rides. Here we experienced the G-Force of heading to Space which should definitely be done on an empty stomach, we kept on thinking that both our mothers would have bypassed this one. I found it interesting along with the experience of riding in a car around a test track, loved the speed.
Shammy couldn't pass up the double decker chocolate we found in the UK section and also tasted his first guiness.
The other disney theme parks were family orientated and didn't come anywhere near our universal experience. Shammy and I lucked out with the rides when we visited Magic Kingdom, as we lined up for 70 minutes for a buzz light year ride which was literally sitting in a cart and pointing a toy laser gun at targets, one to bypass! We also were in fits of laughter when we went on an orbital space ride which we realised must have been made for an adult and a child as we were so tightly packed in that the disney attendant told us not to worry about a seatbelt as there was no chance we would come out! We then proceeded to hover lower than any other capsule and bottomed out actually touching the base when they lowered the capsules again.

Universal orlando had some awesome rides and Shammy even managed to get me onto the one that shoots you into the air then drops you back down again, my favourite was the hulk rollercoaster, insane speed and loops but all at a high speed, it was a 60 minute wait but well worth it.

Today we are attending the cardiology conference and putting in an appearance so we can claim conference leave for Shammy. I'm able to write this blog now as I've just been told that as a family member I'm not allowed into any educational sessions, hmmm apparently we don't need to be educated :( . We will probably head back on our roadtrip tomorrow evening and sadly back in the direction of allentown.

Golf course living

I'm sitting this morning in the sunlight looking out over the golf course and the second hole, nothing like checking out everyones golfing style from your house. Shammy and I also got to do our 8 mile run around the course today not a bad view at all. We are being spoilt by Shammy's Auntie and I'm making the most of the authentic southern indian vegetarian food. Yesterday we took a picture of the most difficult hole on the golf course where if you are pro standard you can hit the ball all the way across the crater with the water in it. Apparently Tiger Woods has even come here to get some practice in. The membership to join is $100000 plus a $10000 annual fee a bit out of our league I'm afraid. I thought of my brothers and Dad though and new they would have enjoyed this experience. We will probably head off tomorrow and explore Florida a bit more.

Lecanto, Florida (Shammy's aunt and Uncle's house)

I already like the feel of Florida, it has a relaxed, beachy air to it and reminds me a bit of Australia if you take away the big cars. The drivers down here are mad and love the big utes (or trucks as they call them here). We have finally brought out our summer clothing, its nice not to be wearing layers of clothing for a change. Shammy's uncle and Aunt have an amazing house, with high ceilings, lots of light and a very decadent feel to it. I will try to get some pictures to give you an idea of the feeling. It is situated on a golf course so Shammy and I plan to go for a run this afternoon and hopefully avoid getting hit by a golf ball. We will relax here for the weekend before heading to Orlando and Disney next week.

Florida Roadtrip

Well today we finally crossed the border into Florida, after visiting friends in Washington, then on to Charlotte, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia last night and tonight we are in Jacksonville, Florida. Its been a great experience seeing the change in food and culture as we move south. The food has become a lot greasier and the southern drawl is in place. I have a new appreciation for living in the North of America where a salad and vegetables are at least more common.
Some highlights to our trip were staying in Augusta yesterday with Marcie (medical resident, friend of Shammy's). She took us to a local cafe where I managed to get a decent salad and we tried fried green tomato for the first time (really nice). They also had huge desserts which I had to get a photo of, we shared one slice of hummingbird cake between all of us we didn't want to ask whether the locals have a piece for themselves. A photo will follow to show the size of the cake slices.
In the evening we had a vegetable barbecue and I tried smores for the first time (so yummy!!!!!). We then visited Savannah, Georgia today which has beautiful colonial style housing and green foilage everywhere. A very authentic, traditional street facade with lots of lattice work and a relaxed feel. We were going to try out some traditional Southern fair at a well known restaurant until we were warned what this meant. The standard meal is 3 meat dishes plus 11 side dishes, hmm not so keen now but Shameer still wanted to take a look and when we arrived there was a line up of about 50 people outside waiting to get in, that finalised the decision for us.
We have kept the driving to a reasonable level each day and it has been a good way to get a feel for the country and to give our Mazda a work out.

Florida roadtrip

I have been working for 3 weeks now and would you believe it we are off for a 3 week vacation, Yey!
You will be happy to know that after the initial dilemna of getting my learner's permit, I passed the practical driving test this week so they have let me loose on the American roads. The test went well with no marks against my sheet, thanks to some reversal parallel parking practice with a surprisingly patient Shammy. I think its the most nervous I have been for a long time and I tried to make a joke with my test instructor about it but she must have missed my joke as she did not speak the whole time besides to say left, right etc. Luckily we had the seat right back on the passenger side as she barely squeezed in and the car sunk a few inches when she did. I'm not complaining though as I was so happy that all went smoothly and I aced the reversal parallel park.
Work is going great, Gloria and Pauline my co-workers are really sweet and are educating me on all the american experiences and food. In turn I am passing on my Australian terminology and have been catching them using some of my terms even if they do giggle while they are doing it.
They are both more excited about my trip to Disney than I am and have been giving me heaps of tips on what to do.
So tomorrow we head off on a three week roadtrip to Florida, visiting friends along the way and meeting Shammy's Uncle in Tampa, before heading to Disney in Orlando and then attending a cardiology conference before heading home.
Luckily we have a GPS so that will reduce some of the navigational arguments and we are both looking forward to giving our Mazda a work out.

Domestic bliss no longer

Well getting back into work again this week was a bit of a wake up call. It's definitely made my life a hell of a lot busier and I'm trying to work out a more rational schedule at the gym and home so that I actually have some energy left at the end of the day, only so much you can squeeze in :)

I'm gradually adjusting to the US pharmacy system and I have a steep learning curve when it comes to their brand names, health insurance and an antiquated DOS computer system. The owners have been great, so friendly and very flexible and have already increased my working hours daily and to include Saturday morning. I feel at home there already and I get plenty of compounding practise, a large part of their business. I made capsules for the first time this week along with suppositories, creams, ointments and external cream syringes.

We also got in some baby sitting this week for friend's of ours while they spent some time in NICU with their 29 week premi baby who seems to be doing well. We didn't mind the babysitting at all, Shiva was already in bed and we had access to TiVo, a comfy leather couch and wine and snacks if we wanted them. Now thats my kind of baby sitting!

Things are looking up with some extra money, even if small it all counts, some mental stimulation (so I don't jump on Shammy when he gets home) and Shammy has his interview for the cardiology fellowship this Friday. We are both keeping up the running but have had to move indoors again as snow is forecast for tonight for the 2 days with a 9 inch accumulation and lets hope thats the last of it for this winter.

Catch ya again soon
Sammy x o

Things are looking up

Yesterday I finally managed to get the paperwork together for the learner's permit in PA. It did involve another trip to Shammy's hospital to get an original document printed out from his employers rather than a scanned copy. So all up the process took 3 and a half hours of which it took me 10 minutes to complete the written test, although this time I was unperturbed ready for anything. So I'm away, and have already booked my practical exam for March. Eek, can't believe I'm taking another one of those, it was one thing I was grateful never to have to do again.

I was smiling big time yesterday as I have finally sorted out a PAID internship over here at a nice family run pharmacy. The money is not great, which is standard as a student again, but it will be good to have some extra latte money, [I can see Shammy frowning already reading this sentence :) ], and more importantly start to clock in some hours and some time out of the house. It will keep me out of mischief for the moment!

With the half marathon we are training for, the runs are starting to get longer with a 4, 6 and 8 miles this week, I'm trying not to think what they will have us running by the end. It is rewarding though seeing your fitness and times improve and we are also starting to think about organising our holiday to Florida in March.

I also found out today that when my visa expires in June I have to actually travel outside of the country to get a new one. So for the moment staying in US is fine, but if I want to travel anywhere else I'll also have to book an appointment at a US embassy so I can get back into the country again. That sounds like more fun and games to me, bring it on :)

The struggle of starting from scratch in America

I am finding the experience of moving to America rather challenging to say the least.

My frustration came to ahead this week when I thought its time to get a Pennsylvannian license and get into the mode of things over here. After staying up late studying the learner's book I headed off with Shammy to PENNDOT (as efficient and beuracratic as Qld transport). I thought I had all the documentation required after studying the website and ringing the department the day before. Just to set the scene, I waited outside in a queue, with a nasty wind so that we would be the first few in the door as Shammy was coming off a night shift and should really have already been asleep. He had to be with me though, as none of our utilities bills are in my name so he needed to confirm that yes I resided at our address.

To the counter we go to be greeted by a slightly rude, oversized American (I'm being nice :) ). "Are you a US citizen", "Whats your status!", the answers to those questions produced an A4 document with a complete list of different visas and the document requirements. Now why wasn't that page on the website, damn it. So we had everything except a letter from Shammy's employer's saying when they would be requiring him to work til. The annoying thing being that Shammy couldn't have got his license without that document and hence being a dependant on him logically my license should be granted for the same period as his. This was too logical for the department however and by this stage I was being as silent as possible otherwise I didn't know what I would say. I then asked whether Shammy could at least verify my residence status while he was there, rather than having to return again with me. The answer was a straight out "No", this was all a bit too much for me and the tears started coming. He then discovered that Shammy's license had his previous address on it rather than our current one, and even though there database was updated with the new address - as is a must over here otherwise your license is suspended - because his photo license didn't read that it wasn't good enough. So after paying to have a new license printed out a change suddenly came over our American friend, I'm thinking the tears may have started getting to him and off he went to check if Shammy could validate my residency and sign a document while he was there and what do you know after checking with the supervisor, he could!

So consequently Shammy then had the task of making me feel better which he managed to succeed at after an hour had passed plus a latte was added into the bargain. I think everything had just got to me, the endless documentation for everything and the work situation.



I may have an opening on the work front though as I managed to speak with a pharmacy owner I hadn't phoned before and after meeting her in person she seems keen to let me work some hours at her store. She just needed to consult her husband as it is a family run store and I think they have to work out if its financially viable for them, I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.



Besides all this, I can feel spring is on its way and Shammy and I are both enjoying training for the half-marathon in May and are still chuffed with our 10km run we just did. I am really enjoying spending quality time with Shammy and married life so far is going well so lets hope next time you here from me I have a learner's permit in hand :)