It's Christmas Eve here in Queanbeyan and I am feeling a bit pensive. Hmm, pensive? Not in a bad way.
First, let me add a couple things I also thought of about driving. It is illegal to talk on a cell phone or text while driving. And, all tickets in Australia are really expensive. Speeding tickets can be $300+, and that's for 30km/hr over I think. There are lots of random breath tests given. I haven't been tested yet, but I've seen three since I've been here and Mick's been through one too. It isn't just at night. These random roadblocks happen during the day as well, any day of the week. The drunk driving limit is 0.05, so it's lower than the US and they are really harsh on driving penalties.
Ok, so yesterday...whew! It was a very frustrating day in some ways. The grocery store was INSANELY busy. Seriously, I think every free person in Queanbeyan decided the store was THE place to be yesterday at 2pm. We had a couple things break yesterday- an ipod docking station of Em's and the car's passenger side mirror was slightly damaged. The docking station we couldn't fix, but the mirror we taped up and it's peachy keen jelly bean. :) The kids helped me make People Chow of course, as the pics from yesterday show. They were desperate to have some, and some of the fudge. But they were not listening well at all yesterday, which is unlike them. Maybe it was just Christmas approaching excitement. I'm not sure. So they didn't get to try the treats until last night, but they loved them.
We have neighbor kids who come over to play and they came by last night. Unfortunately, both are boys so Emily doesn't really want to play with them, and when she does, they are rough playing with her. A couple of weeks ago, the older boy, Reese, who is 12, opened a door not knowing Em was on the other side and she had a bruise on her cheek for a while. (And yes, I know there were far too many commas in that last sentence!) Mick told her just to tell everyone she got in a fight with a tiger and they should see the tiger! :) He is such a good dad. Anyway, Reese plays a bit rough and Em doesn't like him and Eddie fluctuates back and forth. Ed likes the 8 year old boy, Jay, better. I think the family is just a bit different and maybe the kids haven't been taught better. They were telling me last night that they know all their Christmas presents already. How sad is that? Christmas morning should be a good surprise! I think Reese and Jay's hearts are in the right place...like Reese especially tries to get both Em and Ed playing and having fun and does some thoughtful things like asking both me and Mick as well as Eddie if he could borrow a playstation game. Yet they do some thoughtless things too. For example, last night they came over just as I was helping Emily and Eddie make their homemade pizza (they put on the sauce and toppings) so they knew dinner would be soon. When I called Eddie up and told him the pizza was ready, instead of Reese and Jay leaving, they just waited downstairs. Mick and I didn't know they were still down there until Eddie said something. And they go into Emily's room without her permission. So, I am in charge of talking to them today if they stop by. Just interesting dynamics and I wish Emily had a girl to play with.
Because it's Christmas Eve here, I've of course been thinking a lot of what would be happening if I were in the US today. I got up early today and made peanut butter fudge which is cooling. I'll make sausage balls too. I'm not making Christmas dinner because Mick's dad and Lesley invited us tomorrow for lunch and I'm sure we'll have turkey or prawns or lamb. Something Aussie Christmas-y. Brian and Lesley are big on health food and organic food so I can't bring them any treats. Instead, we're bringing a bottle of wine.
Mick's been getting presents from people on his route. Aww, giving the postie a present! :) He says people love posties and are always asking him questions and talking to him. We didn't give our postie anything, but she only just delivered a letter to me, and Mick hasn't gotten one yet. My first letter, btw, was my Christmas card from Mandy. So thank you Mandy! :) It was really nice to get a Christmas card to put on our mantle this year. And nice to get a letter here. I always feel more like it's my home once I get that first letter to me, even if it's a bill or something. :)
It's cloudy today and rain is predicted for this weekend. lol, I wish I could record the noises I'm hearing. The kids are still asleep, but two Rosella parrots are arguing in the tree out front and on our roof and it's noisy. :)
Oh! Last night, just as the kids headed to bed, I went to our bedroom and turned the TV on to have a few minutes of downtown before sleep. Poor Eddie walks out into the hall, and I can see his room from the bed. He's crying and I thought he was upset because Mick had a stern talk with the kids about being good for me and listening and we'd also discussed the cost of expensive adult things like ipod docking stations and how they shouldn't be broken and should be looked after and that upset both kids too. No, Eddie wasn't upset about that. He'd seen a spider in his room on the wall. So I grabbed my shoe and told him to show me where it was and I'd kill it for him. Now, you all know I am NOT a spider fan. And yet, when Eddie asks me to kill a spider, I don't hesitate. Well, Mick heard Eddie crying and took over, so I didn't end up having to kill the spider, and good thing! Mick flips on the light and BAM! Huntsman spider, huge! Remember that pic I posted on facebook of the Hunstman spider? Yeah. Giant. No wonder Eddie was FREAKED! Mick killed the spider but poor Eddie was scared. So Emily loaned Eddie one of her teddies, a lion to protect him. We had a family talk about how Huntsmans aren't poisonous and he was just hanging out there eating the mozzies that were going to bite Ed. Eddie came and stayed with me in the bed for a while and we talked about spiders and decided instead of funnel web spiders, we would call them funny web spiders and they probably wrote jokes in their webs. :)
If I were in the US, I'd be in Memphis now, helping Mom bake and cook. My aunt and uncle are on their way to Memphis, or may even be there by now. I imagine Stu and Ashley might stop by. I wouldn't have gotten out of bed at 7:15am though. I can guarantee that! I wouldn't be making homemade Bisquik or marshmallow fluff. I would be having lots of discussions and chats with my parents, my aunt and uncle, brother and sis in law.
Here's it's just as good to watch the excitement on the kids faces and see them helping bake and merging Aussie and US Christmas traditions. The kids make me laugh lots. For example, right now they are sitting on the couch making faces at each other and saying over and over "Would you like to marry me?" And earlier we had a raspberry blowing contest. They keep life super exciting. :) And I remember last Christmas being without Mick and how that was super hard too. So it's a trade off isn't it? If I had a transporter I would be able to be both in the US and in AUS. But then I'd be running around like crazy and up at all times of the day and night. I guess the truth is that no matter where I am, I have to make some sacrifices and really, I'm lucky. 20 years ago, I wouldn't be able to Skype with my family on Christmas day. I wouldn't be able to text my friends. I wouldn't be able to have international connections no matter what country I was in. I wouldn't have been able to maintain my relationship with Mick or have met Emily or Eddie or Bruce or Claire. So thank you modern technology. :)
I do want you all to know that I miss you. I miss my friends, my family, my colleagues. I miss the US and the cold and Christmas traditions there. I'm so lucky you all still stay in contact with me, via facebook or email or skype or all of the above! I want nothing more than for each and every one of you reading to have a wonderful Christmas, filled with love and joy and family and friends and celebration. For those of you like me who are Christians, I hope that you treasure the celebration of the birth of Jesus and all that comes with that. :) And whether you are Christian or Jewish or Agnostic or Atheist, whether you will be with family or friends on Christmas, I want you all to know that there's a friend in Australia thinking of you and sending you love and happiness.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Driving on the left
Hi all! First, I'll say the movie excursion went super well. I laid the ground rules down that they would stay with me at all times while walking around and would listen and be kind to each other and other people. They agreed and off we went! :) Megamind was very cute and the kids loved it. Do you want to know what it costs for two kids and one adult to attend a matinee? $45. That includes 2 $1 lollipops and $4 parking. It seemed more expensive to me than it should be, but maybe I'm just out of touch. (LOL, I sound like an old woman- "when I went to matinees, they were $4! For adults!")
I'm posting pics of the moon the night of the lunar eclipse. We tried to see the lunar eclipse, but it was pretty impossible for us in our location. Still, they look cool!
And, for more pics...the kids helped me make Chrissy goodies today. ;) I made homemade marshmallow creme which let me make chocolate fudge. Chocolate fudge and people chow. The kids loooooved making people chow and they liked it even though they swore they didn't like peanut butter. Next up I'll be making homemade Bisquik so I can make homemade sausage balls. :) Oh, and peanut butter fudge, maybe...
So, today's topic is driving. This encompasses a lot of things...the layout of Canberra, being on the left side of the road (of course), spatial relations, all of that. Canberra is a planned city. Therefore, the land is all owned by the government and it is "leased" to homeowners for a dollar for 99 years. Just a way for them to control the ebbs and flows of land transfer and city planning. In the center of the city is, conveniently, the city centre. ;) This is where Parliament House is located (equivalent of the Capitol Bldg in Washington D.C.), and this is surrounded by Lake Burlygriffin, the embassies, the Prime Minister's house, and other posh neighborhoods. Tiny towns spread out on all sides. Each town has its own town centre which has shops and restaurants and grocery stores and gas stations. These centres are surrounded by houses and flats. You don't ever address a letter to Canberra, ACT. It's always addressed to the tiny towns- Bruce, Belconnen, Isabella Plains, Red Hill, Manuka (pronounced Monica), Calwell, Macquarie, Page, Kambah, Tuggernong, Narrabundah, etc.Each of these towns is connected by major roads that are the equivalent of highways. I live in one of the eastern towns, barely on the edge of Canberra, called Queanbeyan (pronounced Queen-bee-yann). The kids' school is near the city centre, as is the theatre we went to yesterday.
Here's how driving on the left works. It probably would be easier for some and harder for others. The biggest thing for me was confidence, and I still am not 100% confident but I do okay. The steering wheel is on the other side of the car, on the left if you are facing the car. The rear view mirror is of course then on my left when I am in the car, and this takes a lot of getting used to. It's hard to remember to use that mirror since I was so used to looking to my right to see what was behind me. It's a trippy experience because the majority of the car is now on my left instead of my right. The indicators are on the right side of the steering wheel and the windshield wipers are on the left. When I first started driving I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of turning on the indicator I wanted.
Mick took me to his old neighborhood of Royalla, which is outside of Canberra and out in the country. The houses are much further apart and there is no one on the road during the day. So after we bought the car, he drove me out there and I drove around Royalla to get the feel. It has a few roundabouts so I got to practice those. He also had me start trying to get the feel of the car spatially by driving over the bumps on the middle line and the side of the road. I focused solely on staying in the lane and didn't pay attention to my speed. At first, I was either going to fast or too slow. After my session at Royalla, I drove part of the way back to the city on the highway to try maintaining my speed and lane space.
Then, Mick had me drive to Bungendore, which is about 30 minutes east of Queanbeyan. We drove there, had a pie and cherry slice for lunch, and back to Queanbeyan. I hated going 100 km/hr. I felt like I didn't have control. Now I can do that without a problem. 100 km/hr is only about 60 mph so it's not like I wasn't doing that in the US. :) It was just the difference of being in unfamiliar territory and unfamiliar car. But I had a lot of practice.
Next we drove around the neighborhood where the kids go to school. Neighborhoods are trickier because people park along the street and the road gets narrower. Also, Canberra has this thing where they put medians to narrow the road further in an effort to slow people down. And speedbumps are crosswalks so they are very wide. I don't like driving through the neighborhood, needless to say. There's also lots of parallel parking, which I wasn't stellar at when I was in the US, much less here!
Finally, when Mick had a job, I would drive to the grocery store and drive the kids to school. I still don't feel awesomely confident about driving to new places, but I do have a map and I can try to navigate a bit. I've done pretty well I think. :) Haven't hit anything or anyone though I would scare Mick sometimes with how close I got to those stupid median things. The worst thing for me is trying to drive through parking lots that are really fully. Parking is still tough because of the space relations. And yesterday in the parking garage they have narrow lanes that are tough for me to maneuver through without hitting the sides with my tires (or, as Aussies would spell it, tyres).
There's no way to describe fully in words what driving on the left is like. It's taking my 17 years of driving experience and flipping it on its head. I have to post a separate post with the video, but stay tuned...
I'm posting pics of the moon the night of the lunar eclipse. We tried to see the lunar eclipse, but it was pretty impossible for us in our location. Still, they look cool!
And, for more pics...the kids helped me make Chrissy goodies today. ;) I made homemade marshmallow creme which let me make chocolate fudge. Chocolate fudge and people chow. The kids loooooved making people chow and they liked it even though they swore they didn't like peanut butter. Next up I'll be making homemade Bisquik so I can make homemade sausage balls. :) Oh, and peanut butter fudge, maybe...
So, today's topic is driving. This encompasses a lot of things...the layout of Canberra, being on the left side of the road (of course), spatial relations, all of that. Canberra is a planned city. Therefore, the land is all owned by the government and it is "leased" to homeowners for a dollar for 99 years. Just a way for them to control the ebbs and flows of land transfer and city planning. In the center of the city is, conveniently, the city centre. ;) This is where Parliament House is located (equivalent of the Capitol Bldg in Washington D.C.), and this is surrounded by Lake Burlygriffin, the embassies, the Prime Minister's house, and other posh neighborhoods. Tiny towns spread out on all sides. Each town has its own town centre which has shops and restaurants and grocery stores and gas stations. These centres are surrounded by houses and flats. You don't ever address a letter to Canberra, ACT. It's always addressed to the tiny towns- Bruce, Belconnen, Isabella Plains, Red Hill, Manuka (pronounced Monica), Calwell, Macquarie, Page, Kambah, Tuggernong, Narrabundah, etc.Each of these towns is connected by major roads that are the equivalent of highways. I live in one of the eastern towns, barely on the edge of Canberra, called Queanbeyan (pronounced Queen-bee-yann). The kids' school is near the city centre, as is the theatre we went to yesterday.
Here's how driving on the left works. It probably would be easier for some and harder for others. The biggest thing for me was confidence, and I still am not 100% confident but I do okay. The steering wheel is on the other side of the car, on the left if you are facing the car. The rear view mirror is of course then on my left when I am in the car, and this takes a lot of getting used to. It's hard to remember to use that mirror since I was so used to looking to my right to see what was behind me. It's a trippy experience because the majority of the car is now on my left instead of my right. The indicators are on the right side of the steering wheel and the windshield wipers are on the left. When I first started driving I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of turning on the indicator I wanted.
Mick took me to his old neighborhood of Royalla, which is outside of Canberra and out in the country. The houses are much further apart and there is no one on the road during the day. So after we bought the car, he drove me out there and I drove around Royalla to get the feel. It has a few roundabouts so I got to practice those. He also had me start trying to get the feel of the car spatially by driving over the bumps on the middle line and the side of the road. I focused solely on staying in the lane and didn't pay attention to my speed. At first, I was either going to fast or too slow. After my session at Royalla, I drove part of the way back to the city on the highway to try maintaining my speed and lane space.
Then, Mick had me drive to Bungendore, which is about 30 minutes east of Queanbeyan. We drove there, had a pie and cherry slice for lunch, and back to Queanbeyan. I hated going 100 km/hr. I felt like I didn't have control. Now I can do that without a problem. 100 km/hr is only about 60 mph so it's not like I wasn't doing that in the US. :) It was just the difference of being in unfamiliar territory and unfamiliar car. But I had a lot of practice.
Next we drove around the neighborhood where the kids go to school. Neighborhoods are trickier because people park along the street and the road gets narrower. Also, Canberra has this thing where they put medians to narrow the road further in an effort to slow people down. And speedbumps are crosswalks so they are very wide. I don't like driving through the neighborhood, needless to say. There's also lots of parallel parking, which I wasn't stellar at when I was in the US, much less here!
Finally, when Mick had a job, I would drive to the grocery store and drive the kids to school. I still don't feel awesomely confident about driving to new places, but I do have a map and I can try to navigate a bit. I've done pretty well I think. :) Haven't hit anything or anyone though I would scare Mick sometimes with how close I got to those stupid median things. The worst thing for me is trying to drive through parking lots that are really fully. Parking is still tough because of the space relations. And yesterday in the parking garage they have narrow lanes that are tough for me to maneuver through without hitting the sides with my tires (or, as Aussies would spell it, tyres).
There's no way to describe fully in words what driving on the left is like. It's taking my 17 years of driving experience and flipping it on its head. I have to post a separate post with the video, but stay tuned...
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas in Australia
It's been an experience getting ready for Christmas here in Canberra. I'm used to a different experience. I've had several people ask about traditions of Aussies for Christmas, and I was curious myself about the different experiences. So, the general and the personal....
General:
Here in my Canberran neighborhood, very few people decorate outside their homes. I don't see wreathes, or lights, or blown up decorations, or letterbox Christmas ribbons. If you were to drive through our neighborhood, you wouldn't know it was Christmas at all. City centres decorate, as towns and cities do in the US, with decorations on the light posts. Because it's not cold here, I don't see snowflakes or snow-type decorations in store windows. There are apparently houses that decorate outside, but it's definitely not the norm.
Turkey is popular for Christmas dinner. And cherries are normally a big deal. This year, because of all the flooding and rain, cherry crops were ruined and cherries are about $15 per kg. lol, I move to a country that celebrates cherries and the first year I'm here, the crop is ruined. It really sucks for the farmers who have lost a lot of revenue because of the floods. Pavlova is a fancy dessert here. It's a meringue with yummy cream and topped with fresh fruits (cherries, at Christmas). Lamb is another food common at Christmas.
Santa is called Santa or Father Christmas. Crackers, which are small poppers filled with different toys and items, are frequent favors. They usually have paper crowns inside which can be worn during the Christmas dinner or festivities. Santa likes cookies and milk and his reindeer like carrots, just like in the US. The Christmas carols aren't nearly as pervasive. Radio stations wait til mid November to early December to play Christmas songs. They have Christmas specials on TV and those are a bit different. I haven't seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas or the Charlie Brown special or Rudolph. They have different specials and Christmas classics. They do show It's A Wonderful Life and more recent Christmas movies like Elf and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and Fred Claus and the Santa Clause movies. The little towns that make up Canberra have their own carols celebrations, but Claire and I have made plans to go to three different ones and each time they get rained out. So this rainy season isn't helping.
Speaking of seasons, Aussies call this time of year the "silly season." I had to ask Mick why because I kept hearing it. He said it originated as a weather term in northern Australia. As the monsoon season approaches, it's always cloudy and very hot but it doesn't rain and it drives people crazy. He said the suicides increase drastically in November and early December as the monsoons approach. The term got broadened colloquially to represent the build up to Christmas.
Even though there isn't snow or cold, Aussies have the same Christmas carols. They sometimes twist them for fun to talk about beaches and sun, but the originals are the ones played and sung publicly.
Personally:
At the beginning of the year, I had great thoughts of putting up our tree, decorating with ornaments we bought and with the ornaments I've accumulated over the years. We had wreathes and snowglobes and music makers and all kinds of decorations. Obviously, with the move, that has changed.
It's a tough time right now because we're still trying to get settled in here at the house and get schedules and planning worked out. Mick has a job but I don't and there are costs associated with moving of course. So we're having as simple a Christmas as possible. And the most important things we have for free- I have Mick and the kids and get to spend every morning afternoon and night with them pretty much. For my relationship with Mick, this is heaven. After years of back and forth and living our lives in pockets of time when we are both awake, it's such an awesome blessing to be with each other. And getting to have the kids so much is a lot of work but so rewarding and fun too.
So we have a lovely tree and a mantle with four stockings on it. Mick has a Santa that sings and dances that he found and we have that on our fireplace. Emily and Eddie each got a Christmas card from one of their friends so we have those two cards displayed. That's the extent of our decorations this year. As I often do, I find myself wishing I had my things in the storage unit here. I'd love to be able to decorate our house. Maybe even tie some red bows on our balcony. Christmas doesn't seem to be quite the display that it is in the US though. :)
I also miss listening to carols around the house and the church music program. It's tough being so far away. I know a few people sent us cards and my parents sent us gifts, but none of those have arrived. I wrapped all the presents we have in one afternoon, and didn't have time to put on Christmas music while I did it. There are some really great things those...like the kids checking out their presents (ok, that was cool the first time but now they're forbidden to touch them because they keep accidentally ripping the paper), and the anticipation to see them open their gifts. I had a good time working with the kids yesterday on a surprise gift for Mick, and they love to help me cook and bake so we're going to do People Chow and fudge and sausage balls this week to give to Claire and Ashley and Bruce (and save some for us of course!).
This is the first year I won't see my family on Christmas, and I will greatly miss that. I will see them on Skype, on their Christmas Day, but I won't see them on mine. The good part is that I will get to spend time with Mick's family and his dad and Lesley have generously invited me to Christmas dinner with them, Ashley and Tom, and of course the kids! So I'll be with my Aussie family on Christmas and that will help.
General:
Here in my Canberran neighborhood, very few people decorate outside their homes. I don't see wreathes, or lights, or blown up decorations, or letterbox Christmas ribbons. If you were to drive through our neighborhood, you wouldn't know it was Christmas at all. City centres decorate, as towns and cities do in the US, with decorations on the light posts. Because it's not cold here, I don't see snowflakes or snow-type decorations in store windows. There are apparently houses that decorate outside, but it's definitely not the norm.
Turkey is popular for Christmas dinner. And cherries are normally a big deal. This year, because of all the flooding and rain, cherry crops were ruined and cherries are about $15 per kg. lol, I move to a country that celebrates cherries and the first year I'm here, the crop is ruined. It really sucks for the farmers who have lost a lot of revenue because of the floods. Pavlova is a fancy dessert here. It's a meringue with yummy cream and topped with fresh fruits (cherries, at Christmas). Lamb is another food common at Christmas.
Santa is called Santa or Father Christmas. Crackers, which are small poppers filled with different toys and items, are frequent favors. They usually have paper crowns inside which can be worn during the Christmas dinner or festivities. Santa likes cookies and milk and his reindeer like carrots, just like in the US. The Christmas carols aren't nearly as pervasive. Radio stations wait til mid November to early December to play Christmas songs. They have Christmas specials on TV and those are a bit different. I haven't seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas or the Charlie Brown special or Rudolph. They have different specials and Christmas classics. They do show It's A Wonderful Life and more recent Christmas movies like Elf and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and Fred Claus and the Santa Clause movies. The little towns that make up Canberra have their own carols celebrations, but Claire and I have made plans to go to three different ones and each time they get rained out. So this rainy season isn't helping.
Speaking of seasons, Aussies call this time of year the "silly season." I had to ask Mick why because I kept hearing it. He said it originated as a weather term in northern Australia. As the monsoon season approaches, it's always cloudy and very hot but it doesn't rain and it drives people crazy. He said the suicides increase drastically in November and early December as the monsoons approach. The term got broadened colloquially to represent the build up to Christmas.
Even though there isn't snow or cold, Aussies have the same Christmas carols. They sometimes twist them for fun to talk about beaches and sun, but the originals are the ones played and sung publicly.
Personally:
At the beginning of the year, I had great thoughts of putting up our tree, decorating with ornaments we bought and with the ornaments I've accumulated over the years. We had wreathes and snowglobes and music makers and all kinds of decorations. Obviously, with the move, that has changed.
It's a tough time right now because we're still trying to get settled in here at the house and get schedules and planning worked out. Mick has a job but I don't and there are costs associated with moving of course. So we're having as simple a Christmas as possible. And the most important things we have for free- I have Mick and the kids and get to spend every morning afternoon and night with them pretty much. For my relationship with Mick, this is heaven. After years of back and forth and living our lives in pockets of time when we are both awake, it's such an awesome blessing to be with each other. And getting to have the kids so much is a lot of work but so rewarding and fun too.
So we have a lovely tree and a mantle with four stockings on it. Mick has a Santa that sings and dances that he found and we have that on our fireplace. Emily and Eddie each got a Christmas card from one of their friends so we have those two cards displayed. That's the extent of our decorations this year. As I often do, I find myself wishing I had my things in the storage unit here. I'd love to be able to decorate our house. Maybe even tie some red bows on our balcony. Christmas doesn't seem to be quite the display that it is in the US though. :)
I also miss listening to carols around the house and the church music program. It's tough being so far away. I know a few people sent us cards and my parents sent us gifts, but none of those have arrived. I wrapped all the presents we have in one afternoon, and didn't have time to put on Christmas music while I did it. There are some really great things those...like the kids checking out their presents (ok, that was cool the first time but now they're forbidden to touch them because they keep accidentally ripping the paper), and the anticipation to see them open their gifts. I had a good time working with the kids yesterday on a surprise gift for Mick, and they love to help me cook and bake so we're going to do People Chow and fudge and sausage balls this week to give to Claire and Ashley and Bruce (and save some for us of course!).
This is the first year I won't see my family on Christmas, and I will greatly miss that. I will see them on Skype, on their Christmas Day, but I won't see them on mine. The good part is that I will get to spend time with Mick's family and his dad and Lesley have generously invited me to Christmas dinner with them, Ashley and Tom, and of course the kids! So I'll be with my Aussie family on Christmas and that will help.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Got the okay to post pictures!
I've been really careful not to share pictures of the kids and to keep mentioning their names to a minimum. Mick and I discussed this last night and he and the kids were fine with me posting a few pictures. So, though I didn't put them on facebook, I'm posting a few now!
These are from a couple of weeks ago when we decorated the tree. I'm also going to post a few of all of us racing the scalextric cars. And, to finish it all off, a few of Emily and Eddie before their hip hop concert. They've been taking lessons for weeks now and had a big performance this past weekend and they did so well! We were all really proud of them.
It's a strange place I find myself in...I've never given birth. I was the youngest in my family. I was rarely around kids younger than me. All the kids in my neighborhood were older than me. I wasn't comfortable around kids. I never babysat. Yet here I am, a marriage and family therapist who has spent hours doing therapy with kids and now I have two awesome kids in my life and I couldn't be happier. That doesn't mean I'm not learning. Ha! I'm learning lots and lots.
Things I learned from Love and Logic and MFT training come in really handy. ;) I understand that I have to be consistent, have to mean what I say and follow through so don't speak hastily, keep my cool and be calm in the face of strong emotion. There are things that I've learned or have become crystal clear to me in my time as stepmom...
EVERYTHING has to be even. EVERYTHING.
Giving choices is a great way to negotiate and win!
The best gifts are the ones they make for me.
Sponges! You have to lead by example.
Some of the funniest things and most clever have come from their mouths.
I detest spiders, but I will kill any spider for the kids.
Yikes! The amount of cleaning needed for dishes and laundry is phenomenal.
Bottomless pits, both of them.
They like to test me to see if Mick and Claire and I are on the same page.
I know there are lots more and I'll see if I can add to them...when I have time! lol The kids make sure there's never a dull moment here and they're with us all this week so busy busy busy! Enjoy the pics.
These are from a couple of weeks ago when we decorated the tree. I'm also going to post a few of all of us racing the scalextric cars. And, to finish it all off, a few of Emily and Eddie before their hip hop concert. They've been taking lessons for weeks now and had a big performance this past weekend and they did so well! We were all really proud of them.
It's a strange place I find myself in...I've never given birth. I was the youngest in my family. I was rarely around kids younger than me. All the kids in my neighborhood were older than me. I wasn't comfortable around kids. I never babysat. Yet here I am, a marriage and family therapist who has spent hours doing therapy with kids and now I have two awesome kids in my life and I couldn't be happier. That doesn't mean I'm not learning. Ha! I'm learning lots and lots.
Things I learned from Love and Logic and MFT training come in really handy. ;) I understand that I have to be consistent, have to mean what I say and follow through so don't speak hastily, keep my cool and be calm in the face of strong emotion. There are things that I've learned or have become crystal clear to me in my time as stepmom...
EVERYTHING has to be even. EVERYTHING.
Giving choices is a great way to negotiate and win!
The best gifts are the ones they make for me.
Sponges! You have to lead by example.
Some of the funniest things and most clever have come from their mouths.
I detest spiders, but I will kill any spider for the kids.
Yikes! The amount of cleaning needed for dishes and laundry is phenomenal.
Bottomless pits, both of them.
They like to test me to see if Mick and Claire and I are on the same page.
Friday, December 17, 2010
An overview of life in Australia
After I made my first post, I realized I really should have done a proper introduction. :)
I left the US at the beginning of November and flew to Australia to live in Canberra. Canberra is the capital of Australia, so all the embassies and the prime minister and all the "pollies" aka politicians are here. I arrived here on the 7th. It's been about 5 weeks now. We arrived in Sydney, rented a car, and drove to Canberra straight to the kids. Mick has two children, Emily (8) and Eddie (6). They are awesome. They were so so so happy to see him again. Mick's ex's name is Claire and she has been super nice to both of us since we got here.
We stayed at Claire's house for a couple of weeks while we found a rental house. The housing market here is on a bubble, they say. Houses are insanely expensive, nearing LA prices. Because it is so crazy mad expensive to own a house, the rental market is almost completely saturated. Houses get rented in days here. Our house, being on the lower rungs of the Canberra housing market, we got the day after it was listed and we had to beat out three other interested parties. It's a cutthroat market. Our landlord plans to tear this house down in a couple of months and has applied to the city to put apartments on the land. So, this has its ups and downs. The downs are that he doesn't care at all that it hadn't been remodeled or updated in 40 years. He also doesn't have much motivation to fix anything that goes wrong. The ups are that we can do pretty much anything we want to the house and yard. So we painted the lounge, the kitchen, and the master bedroom. We've covered the rest of the walls with framed pictures and pics we cut out of magazines. Ed's room has car wallpaper so we left that and added lots more pictures of cars and motorbikes and spaceships. Em's room has floral wallpaper that's not too offensive so she's added pictures of music artists and a few astronomy pictures. We have a nice yard for the kids to play, and a 2nd floor porch that's partially covered so we can sit outside and enjoy the weather. So the house has come along really well.
Mick has a job as an Australian Post worker. He rides his little motorbike around all day and delivers mail. He has a really big run, one of the biggest in his division, so he ends up working 10-14 hour days. He's especially busy right now since there are so many packages and Christmas cards. The mail works a bit differently here. Your letterbox can only receive mail. To mail letters, you have to find a mailbox at a shopping center or go to the post office. Packages sent through the Post are delivered to your local post office and you get a notice in your letterbox that you have a package waiting for you. So posties (postal workers) drive around on their motorbikes and try to find your letterbox. There are no standards for where your letterbox should be or how big or anything. For example, our letterbox is not on the sidewalk where it should be but is about a third of the way down our driveway. I'm sure our postie isn't a fan of its location. Also, government workers have strict health and safety regulations so the uniforms of all the gov't workers are day-glo colors. Mick's shirt is florescent yellow. He has a matching "cape" that attaches to his helmet and protects his neck from sunburn. Sun safety is another big thing in Australia, but I'll talk about that later.
I just heard back from the Australian Psychological Society and can now apply for a provisional registration as a psychologist. This means I will have supervision for 1 to 2 years, but can do therapy and assessments and after my supervision I can register as a psychologist. So that is great news for me! I'm working on my registration and then will start job hunting.
Mick and I have the kids 50% of the time and we've worked out a schedule with Claire and routinely revisit the schedule to make sure it works or adjust if needed. Today is the kids' last day of school so they'll get a few weeks vacation with me and Mick and also with Claire. They don't go back until February, so this is their summer vacation. The school and all things connected to it is something else I will do a post about. :)
See? I told you I had tons to talk about! That's a good overview of how things stand right now for me and for Mick. I'll try to do a topic or two a day, plus sprinkling in personal stories as well.
I left the US at the beginning of November and flew to Australia to live in Canberra. Canberra is the capital of Australia, so all the embassies and the prime minister and all the "pollies" aka politicians are here. I arrived here on the 7th. It's been about 5 weeks now. We arrived in Sydney, rented a car, and drove to Canberra straight to the kids. Mick has two children, Emily (8) and Eddie (6). They are awesome. They were so so so happy to see him again. Mick's ex's name is Claire and she has been super nice to both of us since we got here.
We stayed at Claire's house for a couple of weeks while we found a rental house. The housing market here is on a bubble, they say. Houses are insanely expensive, nearing LA prices. Because it is so crazy mad expensive to own a house, the rental market is almost completely saturated. Houses get rented in days here. Our house, being on the lower rungs of the Canberra housing market, we got the day after it was listed and we had to beat out three other interested parties. It's a cutthroat market. Our landlord plans to tear this house down in a couple of months and has applied to the city to put apartments on the land. So, this has its ups and downs. The downs are that he doesn't care at all that it hadn't been remodeled or updated in 40 years. He also doesn't have much motivation to fix anything that goes wrong. The ups are that we can do pretty much anything we want to the house and yard. So we painted the lounge, the kitchen, and the master bedroom. We've covered the rest of the walls with framed pictures and pics we cut out of magazines. Ed's room has car wallpaper so we left that and added lots more pictures of cars and motorbikes and spaceships. Em's room has floral wallpaper that's not too offensive so she's added pictures of music artists and a few astronomy pictures. We have a nice yard for the kids to play, and a 2nd floor porch that's partially covered so we can sit outside and enjoy the weather. So the house has come along really well.
Mick has a job as an Australian Post worker. He rides his little motorbike around all day and delivers mail. He has a really big run, one of the biggest in his division, so he ends up working 10-14 hour days. He's especially busy right now since there are so many packages and Christmas cards. The mail works a bit differently here. Your letterbox can only receive mail. To mail letters, you have to find a mailbox at a shopping center or go to the post office. Packages sent through the Post are delivered to your local post office and you get a notice in your letterbox that you have a package waiting for you. So posties (postal workers) drive around on their motorbikes and try to find your letterbox. There are no standards for where your letterbox should be or how big or anything. For example, our letterbox is not on the sidewalk where it should be but is about a third of the way down our driveway. I'm sure our postie isn't a fan of its location. Also, government workers have strict health and safety regulations so the uniforms of all the gov't workers are day-glo colors. Mick's shirt is florescent yellow. He has a matching "cape" that attaches to his helmet and protects his neck from sunburn. Sun safety is another big thing in Australia, but I'll talk about that later.
I just heard back from the Australian Psychological Society and can now apply for a provisional registration as a psychologist. This means I will have supervision for 1 to 2 years, but can do therapy and assessments and after my supervision I can register as a psychologist. So that is great news for me! I'm working on my registration and then will start job hunting.
Mick and I have the kids 50% of the time and we've worked out a schedule with Claire and routinely revisit the schedule to make sure it works or adjust if needed. Today is the kids' last day of school so they'll get a few weeks vacation with me and Mick and also with Claire. They don't go back until February, so this is their summer vacation. The school and all things connected to it is something else I will do a post about. :)
See? I told you I had tons to talk about! That's a good overview of how things stand right now for me and for Mick. I'll try to do a topic or two a day, plus sprinkling in personal stories as well.
A New Life
I've been thinking about starting this blog for a couple of weeks now. There are so many aspects of life here that I want to talk about and want to offer my point of view about. I finally bit the bullet and started this.
So...where to begin? I really have a million topics I could talk about, both personal and general. I have lots of ideas for topics like driving, language differences, the Aussie translator (my list of words that Australians use instead of what Americans might say), being a stepmom, weather, Christmas traditions, grocery stores, recycling, birds, and so so much more.
I think to start with, I should put up the Aussie translator list. Mick and I have gone through words used by Americans and Aussies and I've gotten his approval that these are equivalent. :) So, though Americans speak English and Aussies speak English, it's a whole new vocabulary!
For your perusing pleasure:
104) McDonalds Mackers
105) Rice Krispies Rice Bubbles
There are more I know. I keep thinking of them through the days and I add as I go along. I'll update you as I think of more. And a few of these are things that some Americans say too. There are also different spellings of words and different pronunciations that I'll do a separate post about. But, here's your initiation into the Aussie language. There are lots of nicknames and shortening of words to end in -y or -ie. As some of you know, Mick calls me Finchy and I call him Oakesy sometimes. At Em's school, one of the volunteers calls her Oakesy as well. It's almost like Aussies want to be a hockey team and give everyone and everything a nickname. It's something I love about the Australian people. I'll do a whole post about Aussie people too. :)
****Edit- Here are another couple...
106) Clothespin Peg
107) Tag Tips
So...where to begin? I really have a million topics I could talk about, both personal and general. I have lots of ideas for topics like driving, language differences, the Aussie translator (my list of words that Australians use instead of what Americans might say), being a stepmom, weather, Christmas traditions, grocery stores, recycling, birds, and so so much more.
I think to start with, I should put up the Aussie translator list. Mick and I have gone through words used by Americans and Aussies and I've gotten his approval that these are equivalent. :) So, though Americans speak English and Aussies speak English, it's a whole new vocabulary!
For your perusing pleasure:
What an American says: What an Aussie says:
1) Ketchup Tomato Sauce
2) Jumping Jacks Star Jumps
3) Sweatshirt Jumper
4) Sweatpants Trackies
5) Counter top Bench
6) Trash can Bin
7) Gift basket Hamper
8) Car trunk Boot
9) Car hood Bonnet
10) Gas Petrol
11) Cookie Biscuit
12) Biscuit Scone
13) Fries Chips
14) Chips Crisps
15) Burger King Hungry Jack’s
16) Friend/Buddy Mate
17) Sidewalk Foot path
18) Jump rope Skipping rope
19) Take a sick day Chuck a sickie
20) Mosquitoes Mozzies
21) Presents Prezzies
22) Howdy G’day
23) Thank you Ta (pronounced tah)
24) Vacation Holiday
25) Slacker Bludger
26) Poorly done Bodgy
27) Full Chockers
28) Bye See yas later
29) Field trip Excursion
30) Surprised/Shocked Look like a stunned mullet
31) Layaway Lay by
32) Ground beef Mince
33) Breakfast Brekkie
34) Vegetables Veg
35) Drunk Pissed
36) He was fired He was sacked
37) Real and true Fair dinkum
38) Pharmacy Chemist
39) Drunk driving Drink driving
40) Tomato Sauce Tomato Puree
41) Fair or Carnival Show
42) Movie Theater Cinema
43) Crust Base
44) Fast food Take away
45) Math Maths
46) Flip flops Thongs
47) Faucet Tap
48) Closet Robe
49) Trailer Caravan
50) Construction cone Witches’ hat
51) Appetizer Entrée
52) Truck Ute
53) Light bulb Light globe
54) Edger Whippersnipper
55) Zip code Post code
56) Drywall Gyprock
57) Cell phone Mobile phone
58) Mailbox Letterbox
59) Well Bore
60) The dump The tip
61) Garbage Rubbish
62) Z Zed
63) Mom Mum
64) Hurricane Cyclone
65) Aluminum Aluminium
66) Blow Fly Blowie
67) Elementary School Primary School
68) Country Bush
69) Master suite Ensuite
70) Speedos Budgie smugglers
71) Diapers Nappies
72) Pacifier Dummy
73) Throwing a tantrum Spitting the dummy
74) Toilet Dunny
75) Cooler Eskie
76) Small aluminum fishing boat Tinnie
77) Can of beer Tinnie
78) Bar-be-que Barbie
79) Sausage link Snag
80) Sausage patty Rissole
81) Glass bottle of beer Stubby
82) Parking lot Car park
83) Blinkers Indicators
84) Comforter Doona
85) Football Footy
86) Go to the store Go to the shops
87) Sweet! or Awesome! Bewdy!
88) Downtown City centre
89) Gay Man Poofter
90) Passionate Kiss Pash
91) Brights High beam
92) Popsicles Icy Poles
93) Cotton Candy Fairy Floss
94) Sprinkles 100s and 1000s
95) Baby stroller Pram
96) Chicken sandwich Chicken burger
97) Candy Lollies
98) Windshield Windscreen
99) Getting pregnant Falling pregnant
100) Flashlight Torch
101) Pound Key Hash Sign
102) Zip line Flying Fox
103) Guy/Man Bloke104) McDonalds Mackers
105) Rice Krispies Rice Bubbles
There are more I know. I keep thinking of them through the days and I add as I go along. I'll update you as I think of more. And a few of these are things that some Americans say too. There are also different spellings of words and different pronunciations that I'll do a separate post about. But, here's your initiation into the Aussie language. There are lots of nicknames and shortening of words to end in -y or -ie. As some of you know, Mick calls me Finchy and I call him Oakesy sometimes. At Em's school, one of the volunteers calls her Oakesy as well. It's almost like Aussies want to be a hockey team and give everyone and everything a nickname. It's something I love about the Australian people. I'll do a whole post about Aussie people too. :)
****Edit- Here are another couple...
106) Clothespin Peg
107) Tag Tips
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