Our house in Melbourne, part one

OK, so I'm still at home sick, and getting pretty bored too. I wanna go out and play! But based on how I felt this morning when I got up, I realized pretty quick there was no point in me leaving the house. It's mid-afternoon now and I'm feeeling moderately better, so here's hoping this is the last day I have to stay home for a while!

I decided it was high time to take you all on a tour of the house where Jen and I are living, so here goes:

This is our house, 6 Balmer St., Brunswick, VIC, 3056, Australia (yep, that's the mailing address. Feel free to send us mail. We love mail.)

This house is quite modern compared to the others on our street - and when I'm feeling better, I will go on a photo tour of the neighbourhood to share some of the cool architecture that surrounds me. In the meantime, though, this is home. Like most houses in Melbourne, ours doesn't have a front yard. Instead we have a paved courtyard in front of the house. Some of my housemates have cars and one has a motorbike, so it's nice to have lots of parking space. That, and Australia has been in severe drought for many years, so people aren't really encouraged to have lawns. They use up too much water.

12 people live here, including me and Jen.
When you open the front door of our house, you're greeted by - that's right - the gym! Complete with treadmills, exercycles, weight machines, and a nice plasma TV so you can keep yourself amused while you sweat. On the other side of the hall there are yoga balls and mats and the steps used for step aerobics.
This is our kitchen. It's HUGE. I think it's kinda funny - they took the time to put in three giant fridges/freezers, but there's only one stove. Each of us has an assigned shelf in one of the fridges and one of the freezers, and also an assigned food cupboard. There's lots of dishes, pots, pans, and pretty much everything you'd need. Most people cook on their own, but folks like Jen and I who share rooms tend to cook together.
And this is our main common room. Again with the flat-screen TV! I've never had one before, and there are three in this house! This is right off the kitchen and so is the logical place for people to congregate, eat, socialize etc. There is a second, smaller common room upstairs right beside Jen's and my room, with only two couches and a smaller TV. We like it better 'cause (a) it's warmer and (b) very few people use it. So it's kinda like we have our own living room just outside our bedroom!