Saturday, August 20, 2005

Fridge Debacle : Redux

From the people (well, person) who brought you the washing machine debacle comes the exciting sequel of the fridge maelstrom. Upon picking up the second fridge (first one was free on the curb) we were confident that we had a winner. Inspecting this item the first time we thought, 'Wow, how can anyone live in such squalor... but still, good price on that fridge'. We should have trusted our instincts. Take note, if you buy a used item from a place that is generally a dump, it is going to make that specific item look comparatively better.

Please Note: If you are a bit squeamish and are coming to stay with us for a long period of time, might want to stop reading at this point. Just go on and browse to somewhere else. There. I warned you.

A little of a back story, the girl (another international student from Beijing) who was selling this fridge lived in what could be best described as a crack house in the states. An absolutely filthy place, the kitchen was a dimly lit open room (complete with a bare, flickering light bulb hanging by a cord from the ceiling) with three other fridges packed in it, due to the high population density in this two-story pad. Signs that said, 'Enter at Your Own Risk' were posted to the wall, referring to the entire room in general or perhaps the entire building.

As we were walking out yesterday, I said to Peggy, 'I'm surprised the Fire Marshall hasn't shut that place down'. Imagine the nastiest, most unkempt of fraternity houses you've ever been in, and relocate them to square in the middle of Chinatown. It was student housing at its' absolute worst.

Still, the cost of the fridge was essentially half-off and we were a bit desperate to execute, given our first failure. Now, its' not that we can't just go out and buy a fridge from a shop (which happens tomorrow), but it's that adrenalin rush that one gets from finding a good deal -- it's an addictive feeling. Wal-mart and Target offer small doses of it in a contained, sterile environment... but man, it's livin' life on the streets. Day-to-day, makin your way. Nonetheless, I digress.

So tonight we picked our fridge-to-be up, inspected it again to make sure that it was 'clean', notice the quotation marks on that last word, and put our baby into the back of the trusty Holden. No problems getting it into the wagon, except it was odd that the girl who sold it looked on in an amazed stupor. On the way home we thought, 'Gosh, that fridge sure smells like Chinese food (as it should)', but the Eastern nose is different than the Western nose, metaphorically speaking, and scents that we aren't used to don't necessarily mean a lack of cleanliness. Well, not in this case.

We got the fridge indoors, situated it in the kitchen and it all of the sudden it was like the Trojan Horse times ten. The back of this thing (...just had to get up from writing for a second to stomp something) was absolutely rife with cockroaches. I've never seen anything like this; we had the Dust Buster going overtime and were having quite a bit of trouble even catching up. Many, many, many toilet flushes, cups of bleach, rolls of toilet paper, boxes of Arm & Hammer, stomping of the feet and scrubs of the bristle pad later did we finally get a handle on this thing.

But alas, the damage was done. This fridge wasn't going to last another hour in our place with that kind of emotional baggage attached. With Peggy being a Doctor of Public Health and of sound state of mind, La Cucaracha Motel wasn't long for this town. So now there's two, count 'em two, full-size refrigerators outside our front door and we're still sans a place to chill our beer.

As for our little nuclear-resistant friends, we've taken every measure possible to prevent any unwelcome guests during your tenure here. Should a Cokkah (just made that up, but it sounds Aussie) rear its ugly head, just tell 'em that there is the bottom of a shoe coming his way real soon.

Good times, that's what we're having.

posted by ncawthon at 12:25 AM

Friday, August 19, 2005

We Saw Bronte; Bronte Saw Us

Last night, after a successful refrigerator reconnaissance mission, we remarked that our place is starting to actually feel like an apartment. Only a few more minor things left to buy and we should be good to go.

There's been quite the debacle with our $35 USD washing machine, it needs an exorcism. We turned that puppy on and it sounded like we'd just opened up a portal to the underworld. In a past life, this washing machine was a freight train. The laundry room is a cavernous concrete closet direct downstairs from the kitchen, so we get a good listen of what's going on down there. During the spin cycle, we had to intervene for the sake of both the neighbors and our own sanity. Never seen anything like it, but for $35 dollars it does get the job done, albeit in a mechanical tantrum.

Despite our previous glossing of the advantages of curbside consumerism, we've had a horrible record with the habadashery of obtained items. The bed frame was a non-standard size. Couch was just too damn ugly. The television had no vision. The fridge, didn't. But, like the cyclical Native American mentality, we giveth back to the earth from which we harvested.




















Shown here are some pictures of our place in Bronte, complete with a little housing tour movie from the good doctor - with sound! Will take a loooo-ong time to load for you dial-up users, being 13MB. No making fun of my outfit that day, we are (still) living in a laundry-challeged state. There's a sea water lap pool just a 9-iron away, which we will use in the mornings once we get the huevos to bear the cold temperatures at the moment. There's also this cute lil' model railroad that runs in circles on the park lawn. Word is that service might be affected by the upcoming metropolitan transit strike.



The surf break is a bit spotty during winter conditions, but has been acclaimed during the summer. This picture above is just across the street, the best part about it is that a majority of the people aren't even watching the Olympic road race -- waves were too good. Boogie boards and fins have been found at the local Salvos (Salvation Army) and word is that the world's oldest Surf and Lifesaving Club will have some used long boards for you wave-riders.



















We've got the Interwebs access via dial-up at home and broadband is forthcoming, providing my packages with modems / routers arrives after eight weeks of sea transport. Don't know what we were able to accomplish without it, but if you've got (or will get) a web-cam, we'd love to pantomime in vain attempts to communicate.

I'm thinking about my doorbell, when are you going to ring it?

posted by ncawthon at 11:20 AM

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Another Post from Peggy!

I’ve finally been nudged into posting again. So... here is a little recap of my week. On Sunday was the City to Surf run. I completed the 14-km trek from downtown to Bondi Beach with our friend Ellen, although we walked. I was anticipating a day of crazy drunk naked people (like the Bay to Breakers), but the most outlandish outfit was one guy wearing a women’s swimsuit. No naked people, no elaborate schemes for transporting several kegs across town, just a bunch of people out for a bit of exercise. The Aussies sure do take their sport seriously – confirmed by the fact that most of the race participants (not I) had paid $37 to register. And they didn’t even get a t-shirt for their money!





















Speaking of sport, I have decided to take up a new athletic endeavor. I figured Sydney is one of the few places in the world where one can play cricket, so I decided to try it out. I went to the second pre-season training session for the University Women’s Cricket team.


Amazingly enough, cricket is fun, at least to play. Watching a 5-day match is a little mind numbing, but practice is enjoyable. It turns out the field hockey skills translate very well to cricket, as you hold the bat in a similar way to a hockey stick. I’m planning on joining the team, and included in my dues are a cricketer’s outfit, which will double as a Halloween costume once we return to the states.

Tonight we’re off to buy a fridge. Wish us luck. It’s been three months since we’ve had a fridge to call our own. We ready to get settled now!

posted by Peggy C. at 3:57 PM