Where were we?

--------The view from the cafe overlooking Coogee beach.   Stunning....  Brekkies included congee, eggs and bacon, croissants, pancakes, and fruit/muesli for me.  Oh, and a shit ton of coffee....

Coffee -

The coffee here, in a word, is awesome.  Everyone takes it seriously.  Every little crumpet cafe, deli, coffee house, and muffin shop.  Serious, heavy tampers, great coffee, fresh roasted, espresso you could stand a spoon up in, awesome awesome awesome.  They have a drink called a flat white, which is something like a cappuccino / latte, but with micro foam, rather than a dry foam.  They're just not fooling around with the coffee, and we are even in a bit of a suburb.   The food is awesome, also, as it's definitely a foodie culture, but the coffee is exceptional, and the cafes are outstanding and everywhere.

The Beaches - 

Let's see, we are south of Sydney, in the "Eastern Suburbs", and the beaches are spectacular.  Maroubra, Coogee, Clovelly, Bondi...  all a bit different, all spectacular.  The water is crisp and clean and clear.  There are cliff walls at some, sandy beaches at others, some have large parks nearby, I'm almost tired of looking at beautiful scenery...

Accommodations - 

This is *not* a cheap place to live.  We put an app in on a place ( holy crap, please cross your fingers... if you have a thought of coming to visit us, and may your deity damn you to hell if you don't, this place would be ideal to hang out with us in  ), and when the realtor saw the details on our house in Dallas and how much it cost, she was immediately thinking we must own a garden shed in the middle of a desert.  And compared to the place we are looking at renting, I'm inclined to agree.

The French School - 

For our DIS friends, this place would feel *very* familiar.  It's called Lycee Condorcet, and it's a little bigger than DIS, but essentially with less thinning at the upper levels.  They also offer IB at the upper levels.  It's seems a reverse of the DIS ratio of French to Americans, with a larger group of French, but about 1/3 of them are bi-national.  Seems like a great place, and if we can get everything filled out on time, the kids should start there next week.

Reality - 

Not set in.  Toni pointed out quite accurately that if we wake up tomorrow, and discover that this has all been a dream, it would not be at all a surprise.  Will have to check with my peers in Verdelais if they are feeling the same?

Ugh -

We are still exhausted.  We are crashing out a bit later every night, but still getting up around 3am.  Luckily we don't have much of a social life and so the impact is largely on our poor neighbors who have to hear the boys rattling around a tad on the early side ;)

more later.  tired.  must fill out custom forms....  Air freight has landed, Sea freight not until later in September...