Move in day

After a week of scrambling to find an apartment for the time I am here, I moved into a place in the West End on Sunday and love it. It is probably way fancier than anywhere i will ever live again, and the neighborhood seems really interesting too, sort of the Ballard of Brisbane if you are familiar with Seattle or the Jamaica Plain of Brisbane if you are more familiar with Boston. Sort of sketchy but with a hefty dose of yuppie mixed in. I can't really walk to work (walking anywhere more than two blocks here results in profuse sweating), but each day this week I've chosen a different mode of transport. Monday I took the bus, which is very easy, Tuesday I biked which would be easy if it weren't so hot (luckily there's a shower at work), and today I walked the mile to the subway station and took that. They all take the same amount of time so I think biking will be my default.

I've also tried to be good about exercise by getting up early to run. Since there is no daylight savings in Queensland it's completely daylight by 5am, and it only took one day to learn that you can get plenty sunburned running at 6:30 in the morning.

But the big news is that I went to the cricket match on Sunday, Australia vs. West Indies. I made a friend at work from Bangladesh and he and his girlfriend took me and spent hours explaining. International matches last about eight hours and it took me five of those to understand what was going on. I'd put it on par with football in terms of interest. I'd watch it if other people are but only on tv from now on because it lasts too long and you can see better from your couch.

Here is a good website that shows what I am working on, and here is a map of the project.