A month later...

Not sure if anybody checks our blog anymore, but just in case I thought I'd give a quick update on our lives in the US.

We've been back a little over a month (it was exactly a month on Sunday, but who's counting) and are just now starting to get settled in. We stuck around in Billings for a few weeks for my class reunion, Mary's 50th birthday, and my cousin's wedding. Then we drove to Tacoma, stopping in Missoula to see Michael's house (my little brother has a way bigger house than I do and it's in a great spot) and spend a night with Saggy, Rachel, Garrett, and the rest of the Cleveland clan. When we got to Tacoma, we drove straight to our house, but then decided to visit the neighbors before even going in. Usually I'm against the drop-in thing, but I figure'd they wouldn't mind and I was right (we really couldn't ask for better neighbors). They were just throwing some food on the grill, so they invited us to stay for dinner. We had a great meal, played with the kids a bit (boy are they cute and getting big), and then went to Cara and Nick's. We spent three nights with Cara and Nick, which was great. It gave us a chance to take care of stuff during the day, and then return to an established house for the evening. Plus, we got to catch up with our best friends!

Anyway, Mark was chomping at the bit to stay at our house, sit on our couch, and sleep in our bed (who can blame him after a month with everybody else's stuff), so we spent Friday night at our house before heading out of town Saturday morning. It was a bit hectic leaving so soon after arriving, but it was well worth it. We met up with Saggy, Rachel, and Garrett in Spokane, walked through Riverfront Park, and then checked into a hotel for an evening of food, wine, and good company. Sunday morning I rode to Missoula with the Clevelands, while Mark backtracked to Yakima for a conference. My dad, Renee, Michael, Matthew, and his girlfriend, Brooke, picked me up at Saggy and Rachel's and then we drove to Columbia Falls to spend the week at the timeshare in Meadow Lake (Mark drove up after his conference). After a week of golf (and a fair bit of relaxing), Mark and I drove back to Tacoma to finish what we had started.

We've been back four nights and are finally starting to feel at home again. We've unpacked most of our boxes (at least the one's that are going to get unpacked), made most of our big purchases (I hope so anyways), hung quite a few pictures, and hooked up cable and the internet. Our goal is to be pretty much settled in by the end of the week so that we can spend next week getting ready for school. At this point I'm still teaching 8th grade math at Lakeridge Middle School, though I do have an interview at the high school tomorrow morning for a math position. Although it's tough not knowing for sure where I'll be and what I'll be teaching, I guess it's kind of the nature of our lives right now :)

PS- To say a little about our experience in Australia, well right now it seems like it was so long ago or even a dream, which is pretty sad. However, there are moments when I'm reminded that we just spent a year there. For example, we've unpacked all sorts of things that now seem oversized or unnecessary (most of which we either repacked or set aside to be taken to Goodwill). We also did our first major grocery trip and didn't even come close to filling the cart (remember we didn't have any food, spices, or things like sandwich bags and saran wrap). Needless to say we still don't have a lot of those things and we need to go grocery shopping again tonight if we want to eat dinner. I also stopped by the produce stand that I used to go to from time to time and, well, it's not nearly as good as I remember (after a year of the Queen Vic market though, my standards are pretty high).

From there to here...

As my dad pointed out, we didn't update our blog or leave any closing remarks before we left, so for those of you who want closure, here it is. We spent the last few days in town cleaning, packing, selling off the remainder of our stuff (most of it to a grateful American just beginning her year and a half adventure in Oz- who knows how grateful she is now after realizing all of the crap we unloaded on her- good news is we did tour her around a bit before we left), and visiting our favorite spots for the last time. The whole experience was pretty surreal and hard to put into words. I took a lot of pictures of everything, which I think was my way of trying to hold on to things. Mark, on the other hand, accepted and even embraced the idea of moving on, though I don't think it really hit him until we set our keys on the counter and closed the door of our apartment for the last time. We flew out at 6 am, so we decided to just spend the night at the airport rather than try to catch the bus from our apartment at 3 am or pay 120 AUD for a hotel room nearby. We left our apartment around 9-10 pm Wednesday night, dropped off our rental van, arrived at the airport around 11 pm, stacked our luggage on one of those push carts (all 110 kilos/220 lbs of it), and then passed the time reading, playing games, showering, etc. At 3:30 am we wheeled our luggage to the ticket counter and prayed that we wouldn't have to pay an arm and leg to get it home. Fortunately because of when we booked our tickets, we had a greater baggage allowance. Luckily, we pushed the limits of that allowance without going over! After a brief sleep, we boarded our plane and headed to Brisbane. We had a short layover in Brisbane and then took off to LA. When we got to LA we found a place for breakfast/lunch, which anybody who has spent any time in LAX knows is quite a task, and then I took a nap until we left for Seattle. I have no idea what Mark did while I napped because I was pretty much dead to the world for a couple of hours. I do know at one point he grabbed his passport and boarding pass from the Qantas pouch hanging around my neck and I didn't even budge. From LA we flew to Seattle where our friend Karl picked us up and took us back to his place for dinner. I can't even begin to explain how nice it was to leave the airport and step outside in the fresh air. Then it was back to the airport for our final leg to Billings. We arrived in Billings at 11:30 pm, after what we calculated to be 43 hours of travel- needless to say we were exhausted!!! Fortunately we had a really good night of sleep in a comfortable bed on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to make up for all of the sleep we lost. I have to admit that I was pretty stupid on Friday- those who know me well know that I don't function well on little sleep. It started in the morning when I basically tore apart all of our luggage looking for some of my toiletries that I later remembered throwing away in Melbourne. Then I really struggled reading the menu at lunch, it was just a bunch of words and none of it was making sense (though in my defense, the Staggering Ox menu really is a bunch of words that probably don't make much sense). A little while later I nearly left my favorite water bottle at City Brew (an afternoon caffeine boost was necessary if I was to make it through the day) and then even accused the guy behind the counter of hiding it from me only to find it hanging from my finger. I could go on and on, but I think I've succeeded in getting my point across. The good news is that I got a little more sleep last night and was feeling much better (and smarter) today. The bad news is that my mind was clear enough to start thinking about all of the stuff that we have to do in the next few weeks to resettle into our US lives- a bit overwhelming, but sure to be yet another adventure!

A litle more detail

Nichole is a bare facts kind of gal. I, on the other hand like to go on and on. This is why her posts are a paragraph and mine blather on and on. I am a bit bored so I thought I'd elaborate on her last post. As she said we are trying to take care of the last few things we want to see in Melbourne. She is digging it. We go for walks and you can see in her eyes that she is really going to miss it. Me, I figure this is the same path I walk to the grocery store 3 times a week for the last year. Yeah, I'm gonna miss the place, but sauntering down the sidewalk isn't what does it for me, I need a destination. The good news is, we balance each other well and no one totally wins. So, we have been pretty touristy in our town. Like Nikki mentioned before we stopped in to a Aboriginal culture center, followed by the immigration museum. Both were interesting. The immigration museum was like a scaled down version of Ellis Island. They had very cool displays on how people got to Australia just a short time ago. As much as an 18 hour plane ride sucks, it sure beats a boat that sailed along the coast of Antarctica where 1/3 of the people died, or a steamship that took months and went through the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Southeast Asia... well actually that would've been a cool trip.
As for the Dali exhibit, like Nikki said, this was some cool art and a weird dude. I learned more than I ever thought I would want to know about Salvador Dali. On Friday night we went to Circus Oz. This was distinctly Aussie. After the show they invite you to hang out after be proclaiming: "see yuh fo' a be-ah!" Speaking of the glorious amber concoction we did the tour of Carlton Brewery where we learned VB is Australian for beer... not Fosters. Actually we already knew that but it was a clever way of saying it in the blog. We also learned that Foster's was actually created by a couple American brothers, it was huge in Australia until about the '70's and now VB (Victoria Bitter) is the suds of choice.
As for the home life, the apartment is pretty bare. We sold all seating within the first day of posting it (a week ago) and now sit on the floor. For Nikki, this is good reason to get out and about and for me it was a good reason to move the TV into the bedroom. As for the packing... suspense builds as we find out whether all of our crap will fit into 4 suitcases.

Wow, only a week to go...

The countdown has officially begun- we have exactly one week left in Melbourne. It's strange that even though we're sitting in a relatively empty apartment and saying goodbye to quite a few of our friends, it hasn't really sunk in that we're leaving for good. Maybe it's because we've left Melbourne so many times throughout the year that I feel like we're just leaving for another holiday. The reality of it is very different though and we've tried to acknowledge that by taking advantage of the many things that Melbourne has to offer. In the last week we've done a fair bit of walking around the city, made quite a few trips to the Queen Vic Market, eaten out a couple of times, visited an Aboriginal culture center, gone to the Immigration Museum, checked out the special Dali exhibit at the National Gallery of Art (amazing art, pretty weird guy though), experienced Circus Oz (probably not recommended for young children), and toured the Carlton Brewery. In between all that, we've been packing and cleaning. Plus, I attended the Australasian Association of Philosophy annual conference for a day and have been trying to rework my thesis into a publishable article. That's all for now, we'll try for a more interesting post later :)

It's all good

I have loved just about every minute of this year. All those other than the ones spent on that couch, and maybe the hour and a half a week spent at the evil place that need not be mentioned. I have made some friends that I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life. This week has been particularly reminiscent of the great times spent in Melbourne.
First off, we spent Tuesday evening touring the lane way bars of the Melbourne CBD (downtown). Amazing how much you walk by every day and don't even notice when you live in a city of 4 million.
On Thursday evening we hit the wine tasting down at Fed Square. Fantastic to have my carefree, wild, good timing chick back (I know that isn't the typical image most people have of her, but you ain't seen her at wine tasting!). The last few months for her were hectic to say the least. You could almost see the physical weight lifted off her shoulders when she pressed send to turn in her last paper, and it was just in time for our wine tasting. And she came out in full colors.
On Friday afternoon, I went down to the evil place to meet up with my old co-workers from the Jewish school. As much as most of those students were horrible little creatures, the staff were amazing. I don't regret working there even for a minute. The people I met there were among the finest I have ever met on the planet. There was John Wright, my Aussie version of my hero Uncle Hoz. A super cool old Aussie bloke that is phenomenal teacher and a better athlete than most people my age. Then there is Robert Field, a cantankerous Kiwi Jew that will speak exactly what is on his mind. He reminded me of Les Bennett from Fife. He has an absolute heart of gold that seemed pissed off a lot of the time. He is a big reason why I didn't develop a poor opinion of Jews. Speaking of, Ben Oliver was also the biggest stop gap from developing antisemitism. Another Jew that I worked with that was just an absolute sweetheart. Everyone that knows Ben loves him. He is very unassuming and gracious that can hold a great conversation. You can sit down with Ben an chit-chat for hours and feel like you've been best mates with him your whole life. Then there is Vince Curatore, the principal that runs the show. What a job he holds! He is essentially the liaison between the whack-jobs and the secular teachers and he amazingly holds the peace very well. But probably the closest friend I have made in this country is my mate Stuey. When I met him, he didn't really like Americans. He thought we were loud, obnoxious, insular a-holes. Which amazingly enough I changed this opinion. I have met a handful of people in my life (outside of family) that I know would do anything for me. Saggy, Nick, Cap'n Zito, Karl are a few that I would count as near brothers. I didn't figure in 1 year I would develop another here. But it kills me to think I won't be hitting the footy with this silly little Brit. Or drinking beers and watching the fire and listening to Brian play the guitar in his backyard. But the joy of the internet is that staying connected is not a difficult task in today's world. And Stuey has already decided he is willing to invest some money in the American economy to come see Montana.

Last night for the fourth we went to an American diner and had dinner with our American expat club. Just a few more people we'll miss. As much as we wanted to avoid making American friends over here (we didn't move to the other side of the planet to hang with people from around the corner), we just couldn't help hanging out with Marc and Alana and Angie and Kane. Their wit and sarcasm is just too entertaining to avoid, and Marc is a Kiwi so that helps justify it.
This is the reality of this adventure to me. Nikki said it best in her last post when she said: "We've learned that even though life goes on for our friends back home, it doesn't mean that they aren't in our thoughts and we aren't in theirs". It sucks to be away from friends and family, but I could never trade away the experiences and friends made here. And, along those lines, as much as it sucks to be leaving this place and all the great times had here, I can't wait to see my favorite Chicago Bears fan club; nephews Tyler and Wyatt, and niece Abby. As much as it sucks to not have a fire over at Stuey's, I can't wait to have a poker night with Whalen, McClure, and Shane Hosley, and all the other guys. As much as it sucks to not listen to Robert bitch in the staff room and John spout his words of wisdom in the staff room, I can't wait to discuss obscene topics in the lunchroom with Teresa, Nixon, and Karl. As much as I'll miss going to the footy with Stu, I can't wait to go to the a Seahawks game with Nick. As much as I'll miss fancy pants dinners with Tim and Carol, I can't wait to whoop Nick and Cara and Jeff and Dawn at some silly board game. As much as I'll miss gallivanting to some exotic Aussie locale, I can't wait to spend a school break going to Montana and building something in the shop with my Dad or building or fixing something for my Mom. Such is life, as one chapter closes another opens. If we focus on the the sad part of things we're losing we'd miss the great things unfolding in front of us.
So, to answer the question that is always asked: "what did you like best about Australia?" The easy answer is... the people. The sights were amazing, but people made it a home for us.

Two steps forward, one step back...

When we started getting closer to wrapping up this adventure, I was feeling like we were going to take a step back in life. You know- returning to the same house (minus a bed and some other furniture), same jobs (except I'm now teaching 8th grade math- probably not a lot of bioethics to incorporate into that), basically the same life with a lot less stuff (including money). But now I'm realizing, that despite all that, we have so much more. It's amazing everything we've gained from this experience- including weight :)

*We've learned how to establish ourselves in a foreign country and to live in 400 sq. ft., in the middle of a large city, without a car

*We've made friends with a Brit, a handful of Ozzies (including one of the Kiwi-sort), and even some Americans

*Plus- we've learned that even though life goes on for our friends back home, it doesn't mean that they aren't in our thoughts and we aren't in theirs

*We've learned to appreciate our jobs as teachers

*We've experienced nightlife in the middle of the week (and it wasn't even summertime or spring break)

*We've mastered the skills of both press and instant coffee and have an appreciation for them both

*Plus- I can now confidently explain the difference between a long black, short black, flat white, latte, cappuccino, long machiato, short machiato, mocha, etc.

*We've cooked with fresh, locally grown food from the Queen Vic Market and even created meals that we used to get from a jar, box, or frozen food section

*I'm getting pretty good at telling the difference between merlot, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and even distinguishing between the regions of South Australia, Victoria, and New South Whales

*Mark has figured out how to limit his downloads (though I'm sure he can't wait to get back to the US so he doesn't have to do this anymore)

*Plus- I've found an Aussie series to follow (that in itself is an accomplishment given the shows on tv here)

*We no longer think that the Australian, New Zealander, and English accent sound the same

I'm sure that there's so much more that I'm forgetting and even more that I won't realize until I get home. The bottom line is that I no longer feel like I'm returning with less than I started with- and that's a good feeling!

Cheers!

Way the heck Out Back!

After spending a few days in the bush, we moved on to the outback. In case you haven’t heard, Aussies consider anything not in the city to be the bush, and then as soon as any hint of civilization fades away and pure desolation appears you have reached the outback. Friday morning we moved from that last piece of normal human existence into the great beyond. Coming from the beautiful big sky of Montana, I know what a beautiful sky is, and the outback is certainly that. Nichole was about to shove the camera up my backside as I told her again and again to take picture of everything. It started on Friday morning when we drove through the last bits of eucalyptus forests and the fog was all around. It felt a bit like Ichabod Crane was about to come riding out of the shadows. Then the sun came out and burnt off the fog and this amazing desert came alive. The colors were absolutely indescribable. We drove on through the day to Broken Hill dodging kangaroos, emus, sheep, and goats along the highway. Who knew the outback was so full of goats and sheep? After skating into Broken Hill as the sun just snuck away, we put our tired eyes to sleep. They worked hard after discerning real roos from busharoos (bushes we thought looked like kangaroos), stumparoos (tree stumps we thought looked like kangaroos), and manglaroos (dead roos along the highway).
Saturday morning we went for a hike in a place called “the Living Desert”. It was so cool! There were kangaroos all over the place. At the top of the hill were some sculptures. In addition to being a gateway to outback, Broken Hill is also supposed to be a real art hub. The sculptures at the top were very cool and the views were mesmerizing. After that stop we went down the road to Silverton. This is where a ridiculous amount of movies have been filmed, including Mad Max 2 and 3 and Razorback. They even had a replica of the Mad Max car out front. This isn’t as big of deal until you see the place and that there is nothing there but a bar and some abandoned buildings. Why they would choose this place is beyond me. Just beyond the town was a lookout that the views of the desert were so flat you could see the curvature of the Earth. It is so empty there, there aren’t even power lines, just desert for as far as you can see.
We then decided to dodge to roos again and roll on down to a place called White Cliffs. This is a town so far out that they just got power in the 90’s. It is so far out in the desert that they live in caves! We actually stayed in a hotel that was underground in a cave. They mine opals here and then use the mines from the opal digging to hole out a house. It was something to see. The town even had a golf course, but there isn’t any grass out there so they play on the dirt. The greens were just fine silt. And, because it is so hot out there, they only play at night with glow in the dark balls. This makes any town in Eastern Montana look like an absolute metropolis.
On Sunday, we drove all the way back to Melbourne. It was a long drive back, but worth every last kilometer. All said and done we put about 3000 kms on the rental car. I’d say we definitely got our money’s worth out of that thing.

http://www.whereis.com/?id=844F728C85165F

The bush on the way to the Outback

There are some crazy things way out here. The first stop on our grand adventure was a castle. We were cruising out in the general direction of the desert and saw a sign for a tourist destination called Kryal Castle. Nikki, Tom, and Tina all wanted to swing in. I did not. Australia isn't exactly a castle kind of place, so I figured a total tourist trap. I didn't count on this wack-job place.
The lobby was the typical tackiness you would figure; some dude in old medieval clothes and some silly throne looking things. From that point is where it got real creepy. First of all, there was no one there but us, and there was a strange music playing in the background, it was straight out of some slasher flick. They had some applicable things like a wax museum dedicated to torture, which I can understand being, you
know, medieval and all but that is where this place went off the deep end. There was a gun collection, and medical supply collection (complete with wax display of a gyno exam). Then we walk on to find some real strange puppet machines that just shook strangely and played bizarre music.

Around the corner from that was a taxidermy display. The final kook was walking up this tower and finding a demented version of sleeping beauty that had its eyes all burned out. This was the strangest place I have ever been in my life. The cheesiness just oozed out of the joint. After laughing ourselves nearly to death we rolled on down the road.
Next stop was Sovereign hill. This was another cheeseball tourist trap, but this one was cool. It is an Aussie version of an old west miner's camp. What made it cool is that they not only had all the old machinery but it was in use. The huge mining equipment was built in the 1800's and they were still cranking away. Some dude was showing how they melted gold down to form the bars and he did a little show about it. there was another guy that made hard candy like the old days, that was also pretty cool. And because this place was actually a mining camp it was realistic.. unlike the crazy castle. A bit overpriced but definitely worth the look.

Confession time...

Okay, so I've got a little secret, that I wasn't going to share out of sheer embarrassment, but now I will because it turns out not to be as bad as I thought. Here goes- I like instant coffee. I can almost hear the gasps from my friends back home. I know, how can somebody who has spent the last 10 years in the coffee capital and who now works at a coffee shop like instant coffee. Well, the truth is, they drink a lot of the stuff around here. Initially, Mark and I scoffed at the idea of drinking instant coffee. But then we started traveling and realized that if you stay in a hotel and want a cuppa (as they would say around here) in the morning, it's gonna be instant because that's all there is. So, we started drinking the stuff and realized that it's not so bad. Then, a few weeks ago we ran out of coffee grounds at home and decided that instead of buying more and making plunger coffee (French press) in the mornings, we'd just- gasp- buy instant coffee. Now I can almost feel noses being turned up- I know it's bad enough that we drink the stuff, but to buy it too- but remember that we're cheap and instant coffee is cheaper than the grounds.

Anyway- just as I'm developing a taste for instant coffee and starting to think that I might even buy the stuff back home (of course I'd have to go to a very remote store and probably dress in costume and then hide it in the back of our kitchen cupboard)- my mom and Tom show up with Tully's coffee grounds. The taste of freshly brewed Tully's coffee that first morning reminded me of what I'm missing out on in drinking instant coffee. I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop of coffee that morning (actually- I think it was too early to be classified as morning- read Mark's posts if you're not sure what I'm talking about) and turned down a flat white at work because I didn't want to ruin the taste in my mouth.

So- the good news is that I haven't lost my taste for good coffee, I've just developed a taste for sub-par coffee. And let me assure all of you, that when you visit us back home, you can still expect freshly roasted, ground, and brewed coffee, not the instant stuff.

PS- I suppose I should also say that Tully's coffee isn't the only thing that I've enjoyed and sleep isn't the only thing that I've missed out on with my mom and Tom here. It's been a ton of fun taking them around the city, though I think they were a little disappointed at first that I didn't know the name and function of every building. It's also been fun hearing about their adventures on their day trips- in fact they're at Phillip Island waiting for the penguins as I write this. Tomorrow we're heading off to the outback- at least I hope so. We're renting a car and have a tentative idea of where we're headed, but nothing is set in stone, so we're just going to go with the flow. Hopefully we'll have some internet access along the way so we can post some updates.

Cheers!

Busy Weekend

We are getting closer and closer to 8 am wake up time. Tina has figured out how to make it to the kitchen and fire up a pot of coffee without waking me up. Nikki and I have, in turn, learned how to ignore the noises of her moving around us to make coffee in the morning. I’m thinking we may even be able to make it to 8 am by the end of the week!
As for activities, we have been some busy folk. Both Tom and Tina dig Melbourne. I know I mentioned that before, but I can’t stress it enough. Out of all the visitors, they really appreciate the city. We may be on some corner anywhere in the city and Tina will ask “what is the name of that building?” We have been in Melbourne for 11 months... as you could guess; I do not know every building in the area. There are other times Tom may ask a question, such as: “what part of town are we in?” Then wish to God he had not asked the question because I will lay about 30 minutes of drivel on him. He just may kill me by the end of their stay!
On Saturday we hired a car and cruised on over to the Yarra Valley for some wine tasting. Nikki certainly deserved it after finishing her thesis. I drove and the three of them drank... all three had a pretty good buzz going before lunch. At lunch Tom and Tina finally sampled the delectable, delicious, delicacy that is the meat pie. They approved so no one sleeps on the balcony. After lunch, we sampled a few more wineries and cheeseries. As we were driving out of the valley we happened across a helicopter flight and Tom and I had to have a go (Tina was scared and Nikki was too cheap). What a cool ten minutes that was! The poor helicopter pilot couldn’t get a word over the little headphone thing, because I dominated the airwaves with my school girl giggling! It was incredible!
On Sunday, we went to two different art markets. Melbourne has several of them and Nikki loves them. Anyone that has gone shopping with Nikki and her mom should know the pain and fear I was experiencing as the day approached. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that bad. The girls rolled through fairly fast. And to reward them we all gorged ourselves on piles of dessert at the cake shops in St. Kilda, and then followed that up with a lovely pizza dinner on Lygon st. with Tim and Carol. As if there wasn’t enough sugar floating around in everyone’s veins, we had some gelato after dinner and discussed the difference between tipping in Australia (only for exceptional service) and tipping in America (for EVERYTHING!).

Tom and tina on the Tour rotation.

Ok, so far we have worked while Tom and Tina are on the tour bus rotation. They did a city sights tour of Melbourne on Thursday, then came back and proceeded to tell us all sorts of nuggets that we didn't know about Melbourne. They now know way more than we do about this town. Yesterday, they cruised the Great Ocean Road, and found about 8 little towns that they determined they were willing to move to.

Meanwhile, Nikki has been putting the finishing touches on her thesis, being the nerd that she is, she just couldn't let anything by. It had to be perfectly perfect. It came right down to the wire and the only reason it was in on time was my amazing charm to the officeworks gal that had to bind it up. I schmoozed her into moving it ahead of the list and getting it done just in time for me to catch the train out to Nikki's school, and I delivered it with 16 minutes to spare.

Although Nikki and I have worked a bit with these guys in town, we have spent plenty of time together in the morning. tina has been very early to rise. She is very quiet until we roll over or move in any way, then she says: "good, you guys are up!" this is 5 in the morning! Oh well, quality time knows no time zones right?

Teaching again

First off, I must be just a touch off, I quit a job where I spent 3 hours a week in class that paid the rent and then some (Jewish school), and another that pretty much was covered in the simple instructions of "don't talk too loud" and "if anyone comes by act like your working" (substitute teaching)
I gave these up to spend twice as much time with kids, develop lesson plans, order materials, grade work, and maintain a full woodworking shop. The thing to keep in mind on this was that the 3 hours a week was spent with the absolute seeds of the devil, and the other job a monkey could do. Yes, I got a real job for the last month of our Aussie life. When I quit the evil place, I was offered a full time gig at a real school. One where learning takes place and the students don't loathe your very existence. At first, I thought it was silly to take on responsibility like that in the last month, but I was longing to actually teach something and not just roll out a ball blow a whistle and listen to them argue. I am lovin' it! There is something that just can't be explained by watching a kid figure out what you've just explained to him. To physically watch learning take place is really something special. It reminds me why I became a teacher in the first place. Plus, it is good warm-up to going back to a real job.
In other news, Tom and Tina arrived today. I can already tell they are gonna love it. This is the first time they've left the country, and here they are... on the complete other side of the world. I only spent a few hours with them tonight and so far they dig Melbourne. We hit a local pub and had the traditional Melbourne meal of a parma and a pot. For the uninitiated, a parma is an Australiazed version of Chicken Parmesan and a pot is a glass of beer. After the meal I had them try some burger rings, and Tom wasn't a fan. They haven't tried a meat pie yet (I know they've been here 12 hours what's the hold up right?) but I told Tom that if he didn't like those he'd be sleeping on the balcony. Tomorrow they will take a Melbourne city sights tour while we are at work and then Nikki Marie will take them over to the Queen Vic Market. I'm hoping they bring home some steaks!

One down, two to go- or is it two down, one to go...

Just a quick update (that's about all I ever have time for these days)- I finished my thesis, though I'm waiting to submit it until I hear back from my supervisor, but I still have a take home exam and another essay before I'm completely finished with school. The exam is due next Wednesday and the essay a couple weeks later. We also have our third and final set of visitors coming next week. My mom and Tom get in next Wednesday and are here for almost two weeks. After having Cara and Nick and Saggy and Rachel here, we've become somewhat of expert tour guides (at least we like to think so). While we've done the typical Melbourne scene with all of them, we've also done something different with each. With Cara and Nick we went to Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef, with Saggy and Rachel it was Sydney and the Sydney Opera House, and with my mom and Tom it'll be the outback. I'm definitely looking forward to their visit, though I'm a little worried about my essay since I haven't even started it and it's due the day after they leave. Thank goodness for day tours I guess :)

From Mountains to Ocean to Island

So, like I said in the last post, we sent Nikki on her way back to Melbourne so she could have a day to get some work on her thesis done. Let me start by pointing out that I would much prefer hiking with Saggy and Rachel than Cara and Nick. I still love Cara and Nick but the Cleveland fitness level is a lot closer to the Beddes's. We woke up early on Tuesday morning and headed out for a hike down Wentworth Falls. What an incredible hike! You literally walked along the edge of a cliff, while every now and again you'd emerge to walk across or under this huge waterfall. Then they went on the skyrail/rail that Nikki and I did a few months ago. Saggy just loved the steep train rail. That evening we were catching a late flight back to Melbourne and we had a bit of time before the rental car had to be back so I came up with the genius idea to go check out Bondi beach, which is supposed to be a very famous beach. Now, everyone I have ever talked to about Sydney told me not to drive in that town. When I typed it into the GPS it said it wasn't much farther than the airport. Naturally I figured we would just skirt the city center. Turns out the best way is right through the absolute heart of downtown, and of course, it was about 5 o'clock. After some white knuckle driving and fair bit of swearing we made it through to the beach. I don't know if it was worth it but it makes for a good story.



That night when we got back to Melbourne Saggy and Rachel stayed in Geelong so they'd be outside the city when they got their rental car to drive the Great Ocean Road. Turns out Saggy was a bit intimidated by the famous Melbourne hook turn. Judging by Saggy about to pee himself as he told me about all the kangaroos and koalas he saw I think he liked the drive. Rachel was just glad to be alive. Her description of the drive was: "only 2 near death experiences and the blinkers used correctly once". For those who have never driven on the wrong side of the road/car. The hardest thing to get used to is the blinkers. It is something that is so automatic that when it is on the wrong side it totally screws you up. Nick did the same thing when he was here. Nikki loves to say: "You can always tell when Mark is turning because the wipers come on." Now she'll have to expand that to:"You can always tell when Mark/Saggy/Nick is turning because the wipers come on."


For the last day we decided on Phillip Island which is supposed to be a very popular wildlife area. The first stop out there was at a Koala Conservation center. Which roughly translated from tourist talk is: Let's put up some boardwalks and charge people ten bucks to see the Koalas that already lived there. It was worth it, but all of Phillip Island seemed to be a bit touristy and overpriced. When we found out the Penguin parade was $30 all four of our cheapskate butts clinched right up. But, we thought that was what we went out there for and what Phillip Island is famous for so what the heck. It was well worth it! When the sun went down a few penguins starting popping up out of the ocean and looking around. Then almost like they went in and told the rest it was okay, hundreds of the little buggers came strolling on in. They just walked past on their way to burrows. The park ranger said they actually don't even sleep or hunt while on land, just mate and play. That was exactly what they looked like they were headed to do. They would get to running and stumble a bit. It was so ridiculously cute. This lasted about an hour and then the rangers turned the lights out and we walked back along the boardwalk and the penguins were all over around us. We came across two of that looked like they were fighting or dancing, then one (I assume the boy) hopped on the back of another (I assume the girl) gave a little wiggle, laid there for a minute, then kind of stepped backward and gave awkward glances to each other and these funny humans that just watched them. We were laughing so hard it hurt!

These guys were so fun to hang out with. They like food and wine, are great conversationalists, and have absolutely no problem being mesmerized by the simplest things and not being embarrassed when acting like an excited little kid. Rachel was worried early on Saggy and I would kill each other by the end of the visit but Sag and I assured her as we did Saggy's mom, Mary, many many years ago; that is just how we talk to each other.

Representing the Griz in Sydney

What I should be doing right now is going to get the Cleveland's a new air mattress (our other one went flat(turns out Wal-Mart sucks just as bad in Australia)). But my mind was fresh and I have a few minutes so I'll preserve my thoughts for posterity instead. Besides all our children would rather read this 10 years from now than Uncle Sag and Aunty Rachel sleeping comfortably tonight.

On Saturday morning we headed out to Sydney. That evening we strolled around the beautiful city. We started by meeting up with an associate biology nerd that Saggy knew at the only good brewery in mainland Australia. Poor Rachel and I were outnumbered, but we survived. Me because the beer was great and Rachel because she is a gentle soul. Speaking of the beer, Saggy has survived only because I have guided his way through the most acceptable forms they produce here. After some exciting conversations on the ills of suburbanization and the death of habitats, we strolled on down to the Opera house. The first time I saw the Opera house it was cool, but mostly because of it's iconic status, as a building I was unimpressed. This totally changed this time. When we first spotted it we were coming from under the Harbour bridge, the sun was down, it was all lit up. It was absolutely breathtaking. And you would certainly know it by the 127 pictures we took of it between the four of us.

The next day we went to a play at the Sydney Opera House. I know grammatically it was unnecessary to include that full statement... I just like the way it sounds. Side note to all class of 1997 graduates of Shepherd High School: We have not turned gay, but it was fabulous. The play was a full reading of "The Great Gatsby" they just acted as one dude read it out. I know it sounds weird but it was genius. And after the show Rachel knew the stage manager so got a back stage tour. No kidding, we walked all around through the inner workings pof the Sydney Opera House. And after the tour we had a few drinks with the actors at the next table.

Monday we took a cruise through the harbor and toured all around the city. The cruise was an all you can eat buffet lunch. These guys would definitely be ideal cruise partners. We all gorged ourselves on the food. That evening we ditched Nikki Marie at the airport as the rest of us headed out to Katoomba in the Blue mountains.

I'll cover that in the next post because the Clevelands are now home at they won't shut up long enough for me to continue my thought process.

Sophisticates

Thursday morning Saggy, Rachel, and I hit the market and selected an expanse of fine cheeses, then we picked up the rental car, picked up Nichole from work and hit the road. In a further expanse of the Cleveland/Beddes level of sophistication we spent Thursday roaming the Yarra Valley sampling the wines of this lovely region. Nichole started the day quite concerned about blowing off her thesis and drinking wine all day, but this slowly dissipated glass by glass. That evening we had planned to do a tour of Melbourne’s bars, but we were in Vino and cheese mode and decided to continue that back at the flat.

Friday morning we strolled through the entire market so the Cleveland duo could find some souvenirs and check out the Queen Victoria Market. Being the astute observer I am, I didn’t even notice them picking up the massive pie for my birthday. Nichole being the person that knows me like no other nailed my birthday. Of course, she had a high standard to live up to after her perfect birthday two months ago. When she got home from work, Saggy came out with a Moose Drool (Nectar of the Gods for the uninitiated) and Nikki came out with the monster meat pie with “Happy 30th” written in Ketchup! How friggin’ cool is that? Then the ideal gift… a personalized beer brewing. This place called Barley corn brewers let’s you go in and make your own beer then pick it up two weeks later when it is done. Now, I have been suffering through overmalted Aussie beer for 10 months and then I get a 6 pack of the greatest beer ever created followed by my own creation. That is a pretty good gift.
And to finish off a very good birthday, we met up with Angie, Kane, Alana, and Marc for a footy game. And what a game of footy it was. It came down to the very last kick. Bad news was the Doggies came up 2 points short. Oh well, it was close to a perfect day, and in stark contrast to the previous few days it affirmed we still had balls.