EXPAT LIFE: Unless you were in a coma, you couldn’t fail to notice that the biggest sales day of the year, called Black Friday (Friday after Thanksgiving) has just passed. If you missed this major retail event, it’s tempting to feel like you just missed the last train home for the night. Do not despair! […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE: Shopping in America has always meant for me as an Australian, going to ‘the mall’. Outside these iconic centers of convenient high fashion and merchandise, I knew there were other big-store retailers like Walmart, Costco and Toys’R’Us but didn’t think much beyond these. Well it turns out that these big-box (large) retailers are so numerous in America that it […] Continue reading → 
LIFE IN NEW JERSEY: It’s acorn time again. ‘Ouch’ is a common part of my speech at this time of the year (mid-September) as acorns start raining down with regularity, during the early phase of Fall. As I rubbed my forehead this morning, it struck me that this is just one of many repeating seasonal […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE: The first hint that my Australian accent might not be ‘easy’ to understand for Americans, came on our second day here. We were in a CVS chain pharmacy, and I was searching for a cheap mobile phone. As there was nothing I could see instore, I asked a shop assistant where I could […] Continue reading → 
RELOCATION: Although some expats will end up buying a property when they relocate to New Jersey most will end up renting, at least to begin with. When you rent a house or apartment here, you will usually be asked to sign a rental lease agreement. Rental leases are usually setup to run for a minimum of one year, […] Continue reading → 
LIFE IN NEW JERSEY: Hurricanes and snowstorms are two weather extremes I would not have expected to experience in the same location. But then again, that’s one of New Jersey’s peculiar little charms. In our four years here so far, our family has experienced two years out of four with a major hurricane/tropical storm. Admittedly […] Continue reading → 
LIFE IN NEW JERSEY: With consistently hot and humid weather throughout June, July and August, summer storms in NJ are a pretty frequent event. They can be anything from heavy rainstorms to thunderstorms with wind, rain, thunder and lightning or they can be much more severe. Rain and Thunderstorms Rain and thunderstorms seem to occur regularly in the Garden […] Continue reading → 
LIFE IN NEW JERSEY: If you haven’t read any of my other blog posts on the DMV or the NJ MVC yet, then you may be forgiven for thinking getting your NJ driver license is a shoe-in. Not to disillusion you too soon but there are many expats who could disagree. They, like myself, know from […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE: I got a huge surprise when she told me. “Mum, I’m going to be in the Spelling Bee final.” “Congratulations! That’s fabulous!” I exclaimed with pride. Although I was thrilled for her, when I looked in her eyes, I could see she didn’t think it was fabulous at all. My daughter had a […] Continue reading → 
LIFE IN NEW JERSEY: Before we left for the USA, we sold off or gave away nearly all our Australian appliances. It was a strangely discomforting feeling, ridding ourselves of all this consumer materialism; like we were taking up some weird middle age vow of poverty. Once we arrived in New Jersey though, we were […] Continue reading →