Australian showers and other mysteries

Well, thanks to Stuart, we now know more about metric paper than any human being should. :o) (Stuart being my fabulous bother...er...brother-in-law who works for Apple.) He will be glad to know, though, that the other day as Mike and I were headed to the lobby with our Power Book in our hands, we were stopped by a lovely British gentleman. "It's good to see another Mac user!" he said. "It's a sign of higher evolution." We think so, too!

We've settled nicely into our new hotel. We both got at least 10 hours of sleep last night...The beds are SO SOFT! I have to say bedS because although it's advertised as a queen sized bed, it's definitely two twins pushed together. Maybe this is the metric bedding system. We're on the 12th floor, so have a great view, and even did our laundry last night on the 45th floor. The only problem with the room is the shower. Alas, we cannot figure out Australian showers. The hot is really hot and the cold is really cold. It's impossible to find the right balance, so you're constantly running in and out of the stream of water screaming in scalded agony or squealing in frigidity. There are only shower curtains, and the lip on the floor around the shower itself is less than an inch. Which means that with all this dodging in and out, much water is splashed all over the floor. That might explain the extra drain on the floor near the trashcan.......

Other oddities that we've noticed in our apartment hunting is the decided lack of closet space! Apparently no one has a clean streak in them or they just enjoying showing everything. We'd like to find a place to hide our ridiculously sized suitcases, but they may end up becoming defacto coffee tables. Oh yes--kitchens almost never come with fridges, and only if you're lucky do you get a stove/oven. These all have to be rented.

Despite these odd quirks, we did have a housing breakthrough yesterday. We talked to a leasing agent that told us exactly what was necessary for us to do as overseas applicants, and then gave us the secret heads up: after we see a place in a mass viewing/cattle call, we should rush over to the leasing office. If we can give them one week's worth of rent, they will process our application first and hold the apartment for us until our application clears. !!!!!!!!!! It sounds little better than a bribe, but if that's what it takes to get us our own temperaturly-challenged shower, then so be it!
~Ruth Ann