Yesterday, while doing my daily view of Facebook, I was attracted to an alarming headline a friend had posted: International Rockstar Legend Jon Bon Jovi dead again at 49 It’s not true. However, for the 3 minutes I thought it … Continue reading →

I was talking with my housemate about how much I’ve liked this year in music. A real mixture of my favourite blends – both new and old. I just downloaded the album Dark Country from James Justin & Co. A friend … Continue reading →

A sunny morning in Melbs  reading The Age in my garden. I’m first drawn to show “The Many Faces of Santa” from Andrew Weldon. Notthing to report on, although I’m interested in Santa’s supplier of “special cookies” and taking a … Continue reading →

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I spent the first night in our new house, in South Melbourne, alone. The only thing in the house was our new 40” TV. The movers were supposed to show up with Luke’s stuff, but they never did. I ended up making a bed out of a car cover, some blankets and more blankets. I had it all lay out in front of the TV and watched DVD’s in the kitchen, waiting for the movers to come.

The movers were here bright and early; loaded everything into the kitchen, because we have a carpet cleaner coming in a bit. Luke has a lot of stuff. Carpet guy is here...

Well, now we have semi clean carpets and I’m limited to the kitchen. So I’m out checking out Park Street and Clarendon. It’s amazing being in a big city. After the last two years in Neiafu, with essentially one main street, it’s a bit overwhelming. The housies return from Sydney this evening. Gonna go home and move some of Lukey’s stuff up to his room and make some space in the kitchen.

After a little over two years on with an island address, I’ve traded up for a bigger island and a new life down under. I arrived here on the 12th of November with my life packed into two bags. I’m ready for a new adventure and excited about living in Melbourne.

I surprised Liza by two weeks, it went better than expected. She had no idea and thanks to Emma and Nick, I was able to pull of the surprise perfectly. They planned to meet up with Liza at a restaurant called Houndstooth in Fitzroy. I hid out in the back and waited for Liza to arrive and when she did, strolled out like it was nothing and I didn’t get a double take, but a look of complete disbelief. We had a great dinner and many rounds of beer. At the end of the evening, Liza and I went looking for a place to stay for the night, but guess who else just got to Melbourne... Tiger Woods. If you can believe it; there wasn’t a single room hotel room available in all of the greater Melbourne area. So our first night together, after 6 weeks apart, was spent on a friend’s fold out couch.

It’s been two days since arrived and the city is large and exciting. I look forward to exploring my new home. We’re down in Mount Martha, at Liza’s folk’s home. It’s an absolutely beautiful house and property. We’ll stay here until we move up to the city. With no address and no job, a person might think I’m crazy... am I? Only time will tell how my new adventure unfolds. Follow my adventure, A Life Down Under.

What an out dated post... oh well!!! So, it was sometime in the middle of March. All was going well, I was watching a movie and couldn't get to sleep, because of what I thought was a little stomach ache. Well, the fear came on strong when several hours later, the little stomach ache changed to some of the worse pain I've experienced and it was certain I wasn't getting to sleep that night. My phone wasn't working and my friend and convenient neighbor, Steve, was staying out on Ika Lahi consulting for the Tonga Development Bank. Panic set in a bit realizing that I wasn't able to get a hold of anyone. I was nervous. Finally, around 7, A good friend here in Vava'u, Don, signed on to Skype and I was on asking him to call some folks to apprise them of my situation. The situation was that I had been reading the Internet all night and was fearing sudden death from my symptoms, but at the same time realizing I was probably just sleep deprived and making it out to be worse than it really was. Well, I can tell you, my tone must have scared Don, because within 30 minutes I had 3 different modes of transport to the hospital and the concerned phone calls started coming in. While my direct Peace Corps supervisor was on the main island of Tonga for business, other Peace Corps staff was here in Vava'u and on the case. However, it was my supervisor's sister that really earned my admiration. She was with me from beginning to end in Vava'u. She stayed with me as if I was her own family and the comfort it offered me can't be described in a blog post. I also had my best friends here in Vava'u on the wire to America, informing my folks of the situation. I hadn't wanted to worry them, thinking it might turn out to be nothing, but they are my family here in Vava'u and they did what family does, makes better decisions for you, when you're not making the right ones. I was in the hospital for three days here in Vava'u and the three days seemed like weeks. The staff was excellent, but the facilities are sparse and if you've ever seen 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' you can imagine where I was staying. I was hooked up to a drip and provided extra strength pain medicine (not just pain pills, as per usual), and amazingly the pain subsided. In fact by the time I was leaving the hospital for the main island to see if I was going to be leaving the country, I was convinced I was fine and had just had a bit of gas. The friends I talked about earlier, were not convinced and made it very clear to me that I was going to have this checked out, outside of Tonga. So, you're wondering what was all the fuss about??? Just maybe, an Appendicitis! I was flown down to Nuku'alofa and saw some more doctors and the Peace Corps medical staff. With no more pain from me and only my recount of what pain I had, had and some blood tests confirming that it was more than gas. It was decided that I was going to leave the country to have it all checked out. This being said, I nor the in country doctors were very concerned about it being anything serious, because the pain was completely gone. Peace Corps however, was very concerned and were taking it much more serious than I was. The doctor at the hospital in Nuku'alofa said I was fine to fly and so flights were being scheduled; Australia, New Zealand, or Fiji, which will it be? I was an advocate for Australia when it was between Oz and Fiji, but Peace Corps in Washington was concerned about the flight time to Australia and the possibility of me rupturing my Appendix. I wasn't concerned, because I was feeling healthy at this point. After my travel plans were booked and canceled, booked and canceled. It was decided finally, that Australia was the place, until it wasn't and New Zealand was now thrown in the mix. This is a fun part for me, because I gained complete confidence in my country director as my advocate. He got on the phone, telling me, "you might just want to leave the room James." He was going to squash the back and forth and make my plans concrete. Thanks Jeff! It was settled, again my destination was Australia, until a VOLCANO decided it would be a good time to form another island and the Air New Zealand flight couldn't come in because volcanic ash doesn't come up on radars and the flights come in at night. Damn volcanic ash. However, this was a minor issue, we left 10 hours later and I was on my way to Brisbane, Australia with our Peace Corps Medical Officer, Jacinta Tonga as my personal escort. Catch the Australian side of the story next post, I'm late for school...

My appendix had to be removed, I'm in Brisbane, Australia. I think that's a good excuse for not writing or uploading my new website...

J