Winter in July

Well hello. I know it's been a while. Somebody recently said to me, "You should have a blog!" and I responded, "I do!"
And so here I am, updating.

My main impetus for this post is to pimp out the lovelies at CircaNICA - who I've been volunteering for since January. I didn't have any real background in circus when I walked in the door, but they jumped at my talent agency experience. I've been primarily helping with the website, which finally went live in April, I think. CircaNICA is a branch of NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts), which is Australia's only Bachelor of Circus Arts program. And I thought a Bachelor of Fine Arts was useless! Haha, no actually these kids are insanely talented. Jack and I went to see the final year students show, "Lucy and the Lost Boy" and it was incredible. And haven't we all wanted to run away and join the circus at some point? Anyway, I'm working on getting CircaNICA on the social media, so once it's up and running you'd better like it on Facebook and follow the twitter feed!

In other news, it's now fully the middle of winter in Melbourne. I forgot how upsetting that can be. But the last couple of days have been sunny and mild, which is a nice break from gray and cold. My living circumstances have also been greatly improved by the $30 space heater I bought for my room!

Jack and I are working on our application for a de facto visa, which would grant me 2 years temporary residency, and then after a review, permanent residency. So we're gathering photos and other "evidence" of our relationship to show the government we are legit. It's kind of a crazy process (and expensive!) but we both feel it will be worth it in the end. I know a few people who have gone through the process, and have been reading up on some internet forums, and everybody has such different experiences, so it's hard to know what to expect. We're just gonna be as prepared and organised as possible, and hopefully the people at immigration will see that we are a genuine couple, and like us, and let me stay here and get a job!

In May, we went up to Brisbane to see Jack's parents before they trotted off to France for an 11-week holiday. They went to great lengths to show us a good time around the city. We had dinner at a great restaurant in Brisbane's south bank:



Other than that, it's been pretty routine around here. Jack's birthday is this week (23!), and we'll be celebrating this weekend at The Local, a St Kilda tap house that is a long time favorite. I've got some present-shopping to do this week!

That's the update for now. More as it happens!

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