Well we are back from Greece and San Francisco, we’ve been back a week but STILL getting over the jet lag, it seems it’s always worse coming back, I slept to 11am today! Still I’ve stopped feeling like I have the worlds worse hangover so that’s a relief. We had a fantastic time in both countries, but boy completely different! Highlights of Greece were meeting Jims extended family, particularly his 96yr old grandfather and the beaches of Halkidiki. Highlights of San Francisco were the food (not that the food wasn’t superb in Greece), the incredibly friendly people, the beauty and the atmosphere. We also struck it lucky with the weather in San Francisco, summer can be a bit dicey as they have that weird weather pattern where out of nowhere the city just gets blanketed in fog, but we got clear skys everyday. We were up at the crack everyday, 5 or 6am, going for a jog and out for breakfast before Jim started work, despite having a lovely hotel there is no way you wanted to waste a second not being out and about in what I would say, and many agree, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I think this explains why EVERYONE was just soooo nice, why wouldn’t you be when you live in San Francisco. Well ok maybe if you were one of the many homeless people, but you’ll have to excuse me while I put my head back in the sand.

As I said we’ve been back a week but have still managed a visit to another country, well it was just for the day and only 3hrs away. We went to Cologne, one of the stadium cities for the World Cup, to watch the Australia Brazil match. We had planned to go to Stuttgart for a long weekend to stay with friends but Jim is under the hammer at work so we had to cancel. It was still great to be able to watch the game in Germany and partake in the amazing atmosphere there, there is interest here in France but as Les bleus arent doing that well its all a bit subdued. Aussies were a bit thin on the ground in Cologne compared to Brazilians and their supporters, I had to drum up support from our parents the Poms, they were keen enough. I could not believe how many Brazilian supporters there were, Cologne must have Brazilian dance classes because we were surrounded by post menopausal hausfraus trying on their best Shakira impersonations. I wouldn’t mind Brazilians rubbing our noses in it when we won, but I felt like screaming at these women you arent even Brazilian, you couldn’t look less Brazilian, no matter how many feather earrings you wear and you just knew they were wearing thongs. But hey they were having a ball and all the dancing and drumming sure was fun. And those of us with our flag worn as a cape and kept proudly on received lots congratulations after the game, it was Brazil after all and our Boys did good! Jim cant believe his luck that I am so into The World Cup, especially as he knows I am less than keen on AFL. I cant promise I’ll maintain my interest after the Cup, but anytime there is our green and gold and the promise of a goal Im there. Jim also said I was a great little supporter and feels all I need to brush up on is the off side rule, Im a bit slow to identify that. I could also do with being a little less gutless, for both those Brazilian goals I hid under our Aussie flag and Jim had to force me to come out to watch the replay. So this Thursday night (your early Friday morning) we wont be in Germany but we’ll be at the local pub called The Australian Bar, where a couple of the bartenders are Aussies so we wont be lone supporters.

In other news Jims job hunt is still in progress, he got offered a job in Canada and also in Manchester and when it came to the crunch it made us realise how very much we want to settle back in Melbourne. Luckily at the conference a few possibilities presented themselves to Jim to make it seem possible that it is achievable. So though a position is not final yet we are making concrete plans to be back in Melbourne at the end of September. They are so concrete that we have taken a huge step in acquiring a PUPPY! She is presently 4weeks old and will be 4months when we arrive home. How she came to be our little girl is through Lyn, a friend of mums. Lyn is a close friend of mums and she knew what a loss Lola was to mum and when Lyns neighbours dog had a litter she thought it may just be a blessing to mum, which it is. Mum meet the puppies as well as the parents and feel instantly in love, you can tell a lot about a pup from its parents and mum said both parents were both just gorgeous. The puppies are poodle crosses which is exactly the kind of dog I thought would be perfect for us. Jim knew I very much wanted a dog and I knew we would have to choose very carefully considering Jim was unfamiliar with having a dog. Jim did not want a big dog nor was he keen on dog hair getting everywhere and we both wanted a good natured dog that was friendly, placid yet fun loving. Poodles and poodle crosses don’t malt hair and mum said both parents had lovely personalities. Despite Jim and I thinking the puppies sounded just perfect for us I thought it was a lot to ask mum to take home her puppy plus ours to raise until we got home. Then mum rang me and said all she could think about since she meet the pups was coming up with a good enough reason to take home both little girls and when I told her what we were thinking she readily agreed. Anyway we will be living with mum when we return until we can sort out a home of our own so it all fits in perfectly, Maggie(that’s her name) can slowly get used to us, but in familiar surroundings, while we take over her care. And as well she will always have mum in her life, the wonder woman who will toilet train her (that’s the part Jim is most impressed with) and her sibling Sadie. So our Maggie and mums Sadie are the two jet black ones in the front, we think!