January 19 - Settling In! :-)

We started off the day by having breakfast with very special people in our lives!!! Bradley replied to my text with a Google video call with him, Ainsley and Tran!!! We miss them sooo much! Ainsley started Vietnamese classes and she shared some of the new phrases she leaned. A few minutes later, we were lucky to get a Skype call from Janice and Bob. We had coffee with them. It was almost like being together. Minutes after we disconnected from Bob and Janice, we received a Skype video call from my amazing brother, Ramzi!!! We loved seeing everyone and we were able to show them around our home for 2014. We even took the phone outside show the strange vehicle and the neighbourhood. I love technology!!! It felt like we were really together, yet we were halfway around the world. Unbelievable!!
Norm woke up saying that should go to a market today. We looked up markets in  the area and the closest one was in Melbourne 40, minutes away. So we just decided to go explore the neighbouring town of Beaconsfield 5 minutes away. A lovely lady in a store in Berwick yesterday had recommended a nice restaurant to have breakfast or lunch in Beaconsfield. We arrived in time for Sunday brunch. What a lovely little town and the restaurant was full of patrons sitting enjoying coolish 23°  day on the patio. As we enjoyed breakfast and people watching, we noticed people walking towards a trail heading into a park and in distance, down road there were many cars parked. It was a market! It rivaled some of the markets we'd seen Canada and the States.
Those magical moments are when you find exactly what you need, when you need it..most the time, it finds you.. those are my favourite moments of travelling.
We spent an hour there, then retraced our steps back to the car and decided to see what Woolworths in Australia was like. It was a very expensive grocery store, except for , marinated chicken shish kebab skewers for a dollar each.
In the afternoon we watched an old Bob Hope and Lucille Ball movie called 'Critics Choice'. We get 6 channels for public broadcasting...the air mainly sports...cricket, tennis and cycling right now...Australian football will start in March and it's very big...it's HUGE in Melbourne. The staff and all the population of Melbourne have very strong opinions about their team choice and are intensely loyal. Watch out for Collingwood...if you love it, you are hated by all others. Even the receptionist at the doctor's office, whose company I really enjoyed while waiting for Normie, (it was a slow morning for her so she, too, was my personal, Berwick and Australia chamber of commerce) shared that Melbourne is a very passionate sports city!
After the movie, Norm rested and I went for a walk the neighbourhood. I enjoyed the wonderful weather,  the beautiful, homes, the lush landscape, thinking i was heaven, when I found  Eden Rise , a plaza with our the local grocery store, Kristy and Trissa had pointed out days ago.  I picked a things including a video 'The Heat' and came home to a lovely dinner that Norm had prepared..our first dinner in little place.
It feels ike we are settling in.