Digging in....and Floriade

Digging in...

First it was the two-year lease deal we signed for our car.  More recently, it was the two-year cell phone contract we entered into for...dare I say it...Mika??  It feels like the web of life is slowly but surely tying us down as actual and bona fide residents of Australia.  I am not saying that our time here will be dictated by the length of our technology contracts...but every time we sign on the dotted line, we do so with an intake of breath.

So...why does our darling daughter need a cell phone, you ask?  (This would be called "burying the lead" by my editor friend Laura Larson.)  Dan has recently joined the ranks of the duly and gainfully employed!  I will allow him to expound at his blog-writing leisure upon the details of the job, but suffice it to say that it is full-time, in the IT field, and allows him some outside intellectual stimulation as well as augmenting our travel budget something fierce!!  On the other hand, however, this development has exponentially increased the family's logistical challenges as we try to juggle three schedules while remaining--for the moment anyway--a one-car family.  Mika was buoyed to no end by the twin lures of her own cell phone AND the chance to be a latch-key kid.  So off we went to yonder mall to spend a horrifying four hours attempting to decode the incomprehensible code that is the average cell phone plan and actually sign on the dreaded contractual dotted line.  She has been good at texting us upon her arrival home--the texting lingo she has already managed to acquire is staggering, may I add.

For now, Dan and I carpool to our respective work sites and we're all getting a taste of the actually-pretty-good public bus system.  Mika's school term break is fast approaching, however, without a plan in sight...I may be putting her to work for the good of the AIS.

...and Floriade

....which looks like Florida misspelled by a second grader, but in Canberra, nuthin says "Spring!!" like Floriade.  My apologies in advance to those readers who may know more about this event, but my research into the origins and duration of this Canberra spring institution is sketchy at best.  It was going on last year during the time we were in Canberra for my interview, which puts a weird deja vu spin on things, even though we didn't make the time last year to take in the glories of Floriade.  So we decided this year to see what all the fuss was about, since all we knew was that involved a LOT of flowers.

We took advantage of a colder blustery Sunday in hopes it would aid in parking and tamp down on fellow Floriad-ians.  Little did we know, the event was even free!!

 Of course, no garden show is complete without the requisite garden gnome displays.

And nothing says "spring" quite like a presentation from Questacon (cool Canberra kid's museum) on the science of taste.  Kirsten volunteered to have her tastebuds counted to see if she was a "super taster" which unbeknownst to her beforehand meant having blue dye sprayed onto her tongue!!  Mika thought this was the best part of the day.

Be still, oh hearts of my gentle readers...I realize the stress on your systems with not one but two entries in a single month.  Will try to keep up the pace, but no promises.  But with a term break trip to the aptly named coastal town of Eden in the offing, hopefully there will be more news to report soon!!

Spring is coming!!

Hi from Down Under...I won't even try to explain the gap between entries but suffice it to say that life sometimes gets in the way of even the best of intentions.

Winter in Canberra contained much more whingeing (complaining) about the weather than actual weather in my humble opinion.  Australians love the sun and surf in a manner akin to religion and since Canberra contains neither, people approach living here with an audible girding of loins.  Particularly in the winter.  Ach, the winters, they are so cold, sometimes it gets to zero (Celcius).

When we are out and about in Australia (recent trips to Melbourne or Sydney), here's a typical conversation:

"So!  You're an American!! Where are you living?"   "Canberra!"  [pause]   Politely:  "So...how's that going for you?"

In actuality, the winter was incredibly mild by Colorado standards.  We had no snow and the coldest it got was just under freezing.  I will acknowledge that part of the problem people have with cold here has to do with the lack of insulation in homes.  Our house literally had holes cut out of our windows to allow for air in and out of the three bathroom rooms we have (one room each for toilet, shower, and sink).  We effected some amateur fixes using duct tape and foam insulation, to the detriment of air flow...but winced  nevertheless when we received our winter heating bill.

Mika has been playing soccer throughout the winter.  Her season will end in a couple weeks and I can't imagine what we will do with our Saturday afternoons!!  It has been a great season with nice coaches and not much travel.  Mika has really enjoyed her teammates and has had a good season to boot.  She is also taking lessons in judo which have been a nice complement to the team sport aspect of soccer.

Mika, much to her surprise and our delight, excelled at her school's cross country meet, and ended up doing well enough in the following regional meet to qualify for the all ACT competition. Kirsten was of course dreaming of a future running partner, but it turns out that Mika's enthusiasm went only as far as it meant that she got to miss school to compete.   But it was fun to dream!!

One weekend, we journeyed to local bird sanctuary where Dan and Mika enjoyed the local feathered wildlife.  Kirsten stayed behind the camera, disliking the feel of claws in her hair (unlike Mika).

On yet another weekend seeking some diversion, we ended up walking along the foreshore of Lake Burley-Griffen only to come upon a Segue rental shop.  Mika was game, but we hade to load up her backpack with 20 pounds to offer sufficient counter-balance to the weight of the Segue.  Only $15,000 and this, too, could be yours!!  Since then the ACT has outlawed the use of this vehicle, but the shop is counter suing...stay tuned.

More recently, Kirsten spent two weeks in Shanghai, China with the Australian national women's water polo team at their World Championships.  Shanghai weather was quite the contrast to brisk Canberra, like a warm, wet blanket smothering you as you walked outside.  The hotel we stayed in, on the other hand, was palatial.  I had no complaints!!

Here's an example of the always funny way in which English sometimes gets translated into Chinese (this was in the bathroom of one of our training venues).  And I quote, "Water conservation all praise to start the tree from my example."

This is but one example of the wacky, futuristic buildings in Shanghai.  Affectionately known as the "bottle opener."

It was a good trip in a sport psychology sense, working with the team and coaches in a high pressure situation, getting to know everyone better, and feeling like I fit in and could make a difference.  That is, until our final game at Worlds, which happened to be against the USA for 5th place.  My former colleague from the USOC, Peter, was the sport psychologist for the US team so there was a bit of banter pre-game.  The weirdest moment for me was when the national anthems for each team played.  I found myself really wondering what the etiquette in this situation was...could I without seeming to betray the Australians, put my hand over my heart and sing along with the anthem like I would have at any other point?  I certainly could not sing along with the Australian version--I still didn't know the words.  I compromised with the hand on heart, but no singing.  Aside from that moment, it wasn't as hard to be "against" the US team as I would have thought.  I realized that it was, as usual, about the people.

Australia beat the USA 10 - 5, the first time AUS has beaten the US in a major competition since 2000.   A bittersweet victory from my perspective...with some mixed feelings, for sure.

Here is the team doing wall sits in the hotel aerobics studio:

Other Shanghai touring photos include: a temple built right on the underlying vocanic rock:

And the famous 10 cornered bridge:

There's more to write...as I type, it's September 11 (on this side of the world, anyway) and I am impressed at the amount of airspace the local news agencies are devoting to this topic.  It is, as I imagine for most Americans, causing us to reflect on the horrific events themselves and where we each were ten years ago, and hope that the world is a better place since then.  The US Embassy here is hosting some events that we may join in on.

TTFN...ta ta for now.  Hope the next message won't be so long in coming.