Bwah!

Hello hello!

Yes it has been an extremely long time. Wow, it has really been a long time. Ok, so here's how things have been - I hope you have a cup of coffee and a couple hours, I promise I'll be more interesting than People magazine girls. Because yes Melissa and I are just like you - we breathe oxygen, buy groceries, and have amazing looking babies...whoops, not really - just an amazing looking cat.

So, I went to Melbourne for a "6 week" training. Well, it ended up being two months of absolute draining work and relationship building. After almost completing the six weeks I was actually given a week off and then had to go back and finish off the month of October. This is a summary of what went down.

The first weekend I was in Melbourne I went down to the Great Ocean Road. My friend Brendon has a house in a small beach town and I went down to surf and get away. I had some fun waves and then my friend Adrian stopped by on Saturday since he was doing a little trek of the Great Ocean Road. This area of the coast is very similar to Big Sur. Amazing landscapes, quaint towns, beautiful beaches, and really just an amazing part of the world. Sunday I attempted a surf at Bells beach, but it was pretty crap. Melis came down the following weekend and spent some time with me. I didn't see Melis for three more weeks. Of course, I spent a month in Victoria and didn't have a single epic day. I had one or two fun sessions but c'mon, I was there for the whole month and nothing amazing! Victoria really has it against me!

I went back to Sydney and just spent some time with Melis. It was nice that Bell let me take that week. The next month was brutal! I went back to Sydney every weekend. I finished up my training on my actual Bday the 27th of November. The night before my coworkers and friends took me out to St. Kilda. It's a poppin suburb in Melbourne on the bay. It was a really fun night and send off. On Friday I flew back to Sydney and Melissa surprised me with sparklers, balloons, and a nice dinner.

From then I've been back in Sydney working my butt off. Kirsten and Jord came out the Thursday after I got back. They even brought us presents! Can you believe it, they were traveling around the world and still got us presents! They came in and we went camping down the coast to one of my favorite spots in the world. Of course Kirst got her board stolen! That's just the Amavisca way of life. Go on a trip and prepared to get screwed. After that Jordi started getting pretty sick. Even though he was quite a trooper. Whenever I get sick just send me away because I am absolutely useless until I'm thoroughly better. It was really fun having them as roommates. We would hang out in the afternoons and then we'd have dinners and watch movies and just hang out. I think that's the best way to enjoy company. Just enjoy daily life together, don't stress to do things or keep people entertained. Just hang out. It was very very sad to see them go, especially cause I didn't really get to say bye. Now they've left and guess what...Melissa is in MELBOURNE. We'll never move there, but I swear we're gonna live half our lives down there!!!!

It's nice to be back in Sydney and be in my home and around what I know. This time of year really is hard though. It's been a full year for Melissa and I to be away from all of you. We both miss friends and family. We're so excited to be coming back in March for a visit. I've basically accepted the fact that I won't be sleeping for 120 hours straight.

Ok, well that's a summary of the current events. I'll update on my life revelations shortly for those of you that care! Oh, C'mon USA in SOUTH AFRICA - can we put in some actual effort!!!!

Aaron