I'm Going to Use a Rubber

Monday, March 17th, 2014

I'm back!! I realize it's been over two months since I've posted a blog post. I have so much to share!  We enjoyed our time in Melbourne. My parents came to visit. The kids started year one (first grade) in February. (I'm still in shock over this fact!)  Over my next several posts, I will post pictures about these big events.  I have so much to catch you up on! 


Part of the reason I haven't posted in a while is that I'm having trouble uploading pictures from my computer. It has to do with the version of Internet Explorer that I'm using.  So, I decided to use my iphone app to add pictures and the computer website to add text.  This is not working out so well since the spacing is off.  Please bear with me as I get it taken care of!




Today was St. Patrick's Day! The kids were allowed to wear some green with their uniforms.

For my birthday on March 7th, Erich woke up early and blew up 60+ balloons. He had more to blow up but he ended up rubbing a blister on his finger tying the balloons. Now that is true love! That night, we put the balloons in the trampoline for the kids to play with.  They had a great time!

This is a size Medium drink at McDonald's. This is a child's size in the U.S. Sometimes I'll order a small drink by mistake remembering my days in the U.S.  A small is like three swallows.

Chaney shows off her strength!

Chaney drew an Easter picture for her teacher.

Chaney's Easter Picture.  Do you see the Easter Bunny on the left, right beside Jesus on the cross?

Charlie has on his sunscreen and his sunnies (sunglasses) and he is ready to play outside!

This picture is First Day of First Grade!! Where did the summer go? This is the first year the twins are in separate classes. They are loving school!! After I dropped the kids at school, I went home to watch the Super Bowl. At ten o'clock in the morning. With no fun advertisements. While drinking coffee.

First day of Year One! The kids are in  separate classes this year.

Chaney on her scooter on the bike path near our house.

Charlie on his bike! Riding on the left like every other good Aussie!

Eggs come with feathers! No extra charge!

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• People use the word "heaps" a lot. For example:  I have heaps of chips.  (and that could mean potato chips or French fries.  You never know. They use both.) There are heaps of choices.  I love you heaps.  When I asked Chaney to use the word heaps in a sentence, she said, "I have heaps of games on my Kindle."  When I asked Charlie to use the word in a sentence he said, "I have heaps of buttons."  I miss you all heaps.
• Right now the kids love the Katie Perry song "Roar."
• Charlie just said, "I need one more go."  He was saying he needed one more chance.  In Australia, you "give it a go." I am now raising little Aussies. 
• It is common for hotels not to have a 24 hour front desk.  The last hotel we stayed at had reception from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.  And I think I've mentioned before that the hotels don't have ice machines. No ice! Ever! (I didn't know how much I missed ice until I go to a hotel and can't get it or I'm served luke warm water at a restaurant.)  And they don't have soda or snack machines either. But they always have wine glasses in the room.   They don't have the mini coffee makers.  But they have an electric kettle so you can make the instant coffee or brew the tea bags they provide.  
• At some restaurants, the food arrives when the kitchen is finished with each individual plate.  That means that each person's food arrives at different times.  Me not like.
• I guess I live in my own little world because I am occasionally still surprised when I talk to someone and when they reply to me they have an Australian accent.  It's been over 7 months since we arrived.  You would think that I would be over it by now.
• Charlie ordered a cheese and vegemite sandwich at a café recently. I'm speechless.
• We have noticed that calamari is almost always on a restaurant menu. 
• In Australia, it's not a flashlight.  It's a torch.
• In Australia, it's not crown molding.  It's architraves.
• In Australia, you don't get pregnant.  You fall pregnant.
• In the United States, someone would say this sentence, "I live on Main Street."  In Australia, someone would say, "I live in Main Street."
• Did you know that the world's largest camel population is in Australia? Yep!
• You know you aren't in the United States any more when you are listening to the radio and you hear the DJ ask how to pronounce the name Ricardo.
• A quote from Charlie:   "Chaney, you are my BFF."  (My sweet boy!)
• A quote from Chaney:  "I'm going to use a rubber."
  (In Australia, a rubber is an eraser. I know this and I still want to die each time one of my kids says it.)

Don't Put Under Sunshine

Saturday, January 4th, 2014

Happy New Year!!

Our friends, an American family, live in an apartment on Lake Burley Griffin, the lake the city is centered around. On New Year's Eve, Canberra puts on a 9:00 pm "kids" fireworks show and then another show at midnight over the lake.  We went to our friends' apartment for dinner and to watch the early show.  The kids also did sparklers on their roof terrace.  We had a great time!  We left around 10:30 to get the kids home to bed.  Midnight is still a bit late for them.  On the way home we got pulled over for a RBT (Random Breath Test). The Aussies do these frequently and at all hours of the day and night.  This is Erich's second RBT in a month.  They have a section of the road where they flag down and pull over random vehicles.  They then ask you to loudly count to ten towards a machine they are holding near your mouth.  You don't have to blow into anything. The first time Erich was given the RBT was on his way home from work in the afternoon.  Of course Erich passed with flying colors both times.  I really wish I had snapped a picture! When we got home we put the kids to bed and stayed up to midnight and rang in the new year watching the Sydney fireworks on TV.

Charlie and Chaney watching the fireworks.
Chaney is in the red jacket and Charlie is on the far right.

On New Years Day we went to another American family's house for some traditional southern new years day food and to watch the Texas A&M vs Duke football bowl game. Among other things, we had black eyed peas, cabbage, pulled pork, and pecan pie.  At the end of the game when we were getting ready to leave, the tv was turned to watch the NYC ball drop live. The best way I can describe it was like an out of body experience. I know that we are like a ton of hours ahead of you guys.  I get that.  But seeing the ball drop was surreal since it felt like we had done that such a long time before. 

Erich got our new grill up and running.  We have used it twice.  We really enjoy our flat-top-griddle-free grill!

The Grill Master in action.

Yummy!

So today we left Canberra and drove 7 hours to Melbourne.  I am currently hanging out in our hotel room.  The kids are asleep so we are having to be quiet. 

Driving to Melbourne!

(the driver's eyes were not removed from the
 highway during the taking of this photo.)

My Random Thoughts & Observations...

• For Australian addresses, their postal (zip) codes have four numbers.  Ours is 2617. In the U.S. the zip codes have five numbers. But I guess you already knew that...  The Aussie state abbreviations are three letters.  Ours is ACT. (Australian Capital Territory) I don't need to tell you how many letters are in the U.S. state abbreviations... 
• Driving to Melbourne, the highway crossed over several creeks.  There was always a sign to tell us the name of the creek.  There was "Craphole Creek."  (I kid you not.)  There was also 7 mile creek, 11 mile creek, 15 mile creek, and about 3 other "________ Mile Creek."  We were curious as to why the creeks are called 11 Mile Creek instead of using the word Kilometer.  They don't use miles over here, they use kilometers.  So why?  Maybe "11 Mile Creek" is easier to say than "17.702784 Kilometer Creek."  But it does have a ring to it, doesn't it?
• The Aussies don't call it a highway they call it a motorway.  And when I hear this word, it's like cueing the music in my head, "Get your motor runnin. Head out on the highway."  (I am perfectly aware that I am a freak.  I've accepted it.  So should you.) (Did you know cueing could be spelled cuing or cueing? I looked it up and now I'm passing my knowledge on to you.  Interesting stuff you learn on this blog, right?) 
 
• The toilet in our hotel bathroom has a warning sticker on the inside of the lid.  Check it.  I really don't know what to think...

Here you can see the warning sticker on the raised toilet lid.





Ummm.....   (cricket)
Yep.  I bet you are speechless too.
Still scratching my head on this one.
But one thing is clear.
Whatever you do, never, ever
put your toilet under sunshine.
Ever.

 



 

Toilets and Toilet Paper

Sunday, December 29th, 2013

My Random Thoughts and Observations... (Hang on to your pants.  I've got a lot of randomness to share today.)

• They put butter on most sandwiches.  They use it instead of mayo. (But they do have mayonnaise but it is typically whole egg mayo. Yuck.)   At work, Erich likes to get a cream cheese with capers, smoked salmon, and rocket (lettuce) sandwich.  They put butter on it too.  Even with the cream cheese on the sandwich, they need to add more spreadable fat. We try to order without it...if we remember...
• Here in Australia everyone has a barbie (grill) in their backyard.  We left our grill in storage in the U.S. because we didn't think it would pass the Australian customs quarantine inspection.  So Erich has been shopping for a new grill for us so we can "throw some shrimp on the barbie."  He has discovered that all grills sold down under have half the grill space replaced with a griddle hotplate. (see example below)  Apparently the griddle is there so you can do your breakfast eggs and pancakes on the barbie. I know what you are thinking right now.  You are thinking that that is what you've been missing out of in America.  In the U.S. we haven't been using our grill to cook up some eggs over easy and blueberry pancakes in the morning. I know you are thinking that you wish you could run out and buy a griddle/grill combo. Don't be jealous.   We weren't interested in this at all and ended up having to spend a lot more money to get a grill large enough to grill 8 hamburgers at once.
  
• They call yellow mustard "yellow mustard" or "American mustard."  Boo-ya.
• They don't have elbow macaroni here. 
• There isn't much internet shopping here.  Most big businesses have websites, but not all of them sell their things.  Erich and I were both noticing that a lot of websites are difficult to maneuver and clunky.  It is so interesting.  After being a hard core internet shopper for the past 6 years, I find this so interesting.  How can it be?
• We call the hair that frames your face "bangs."  They call it "fringe."
• When we play the game, we say, "rock, paper, scissors."  They say "scissors, paper, rock."
• Lawn bowling is big here.  There are lawn bowling places all around.  For Erich's office Christmas party, the office took off an afternoon and they went lawn bowling.  Below you will find a picture of Erich lawn bowling.  Yes, he is barefoot. (on the bowling green they have to wear flat shoes or go barefoot.)  And yes, he is sporting an Aussie hat. 
  
• If someone is having you over for drinks and "nibblies", they are having you over for drinks and snacks. 
• Australian tradies (short for tradesman) wear bright neon colored shirts. 
• Charlie and Chaney will be split for year one (first grade) next year.  They seem to be fine with this.  It is breaking my heart a little bit.  I really can't explain it and maybe you could only really understand if you have twins.  They have always been together.  Always.  So, while I know separating them is the right thing to do so they can shine individually, it makes me a little sad.
• It has started.  The children are learning new words and pronouncing them the Australian way.  Since they are attending an Australian school (there are no DOD schools here) they are surrounded all day by the Australian accent.  When they learn a new word at school, they learn it the Aussie way.  I believe I told you that they learned the color word maroon since arriving.  They pronounce it "ma-rone" with a long O.  Next year Chaney will have Mrs. Stewart for year one. Since they have only heard her name at school, they are saying it the way they hear the Aussies say it.  "Stew-it."  Erich and I have had the discussion before with other Australians that we should pronounce someone's name the way we would say it in the U.S.  That is what having an "American accent" means. 
• In the past 5 months of living in Australia, I've seen ONE public toilet with an automatic flush. And not only are the toilets not automatic, you can't use your foot to flush.  The public toilets flush with a button on top of the back tank that pushes down into the tank.  I'd like to see someone flush that with their foot.  That would be pure talent.
  
• On our drive from the coast back to Canberra, a car passed us.  It had an Obama election sticker. Ummmm...  What??
• When you say "thank you" to an Australian, you will not get the typical "you're welcome" response you would get in the U.S.  The Australians reply "that's okay" or "no worries."
• A pick-up truck in Australia is called a "ute."  (Which I believe is just shortened from the word utility.) Utes are not like the big, badass pick up trucks you see in the U.S.  Most are small.  And a lot of the ones we have seen are half car, half truck.  Our neighbor, a tradie who installs fences, has one.  Check it.  And speaking of small vehicles, I know I mentioned this in one of my early posts but its worth mentioning again.  The large majority of vehicles you see on the street are compact cars.  You rarely see a "people mover" (minivan) or what we would call a SUV.  Imagine going to drop your kids off at school and only seeing 3 or 4 minivans.  And the ones that do have minivans have three or more children. 

  

  Car in the front.  Truck in the back.

• It might be 95 degrees outside, but it is the Christmas season.  So Chaney still wants to have hot chocolate.  Charlie stuck with cold chocolate milk. I guess its not Christmas without hot chocolate.
  
• Do you remember the Toyota slogan in the 1970's? "Oh what a feeling! Toyota!" (Followed by the Toyota jump.)  They are using that slogan here in Australia... Forty years later...
• Have you ever seen bananas this big??  That, my friends, is a 12 inch ruler next to the bunch.  Wow. Wow.
  
• I noticed that I didn't see anyone do any "holiday baking."  No Christmas cookies, fudge, pies, etc.  I'm not sure if this is because it's summer and they don't want to heat up the kitchen.  Or if they are just healthier here.  Who knows.  We stuck with our American roots and made brownies with peppermint frosting.  Yummy!

  

• Our Elf on the Shelf has been busy.

  

  Overnight, Louie decorated our tree with a roll of toilet paper. Sneaky fella!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Happy (Belated) Christmas!

Sunday, December 29th, 2013

Well, this is my 50th blog post! I know I haven't been doing posts as frequently lately.  Things have just been busy!  Maybe in the new year I can post more often.

Santa at the Embassy Christmas party. 
In case you couldn't tell, Chaney wasn't into Santa AT ALL. 
You will see Santa is holding Charlie's list. 
He couldn't go because he was sick. This is in the
Ambassador's residence on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy.

Our Elf Louie continues to hide each day.  He usually sticks around until mid January. Here he decorated a picture grouping on the wall.  As a side note, we can't put holes in the walls so everything (except the iron scroll) is hanging with the 3M Command strips. I've used them everywhere.  The iron scroll is attached to a hook that we did not install.  It had been done by the previous renters.

Last Day of Kindergarten!  (*tear*)  After school we had a "School's Out" party.  We had fun snacks, lemonade (Sprite), and turned the sprinkler on under the trampoline.  Lots of fun!  I now have first graders living in our house.  Or as the Aussies would say, I now have kids in year one living in our house. 

 

Santa at the Mall

We took the kids to the mall to meet Santa.  Charlie walked right up to Santa and went over his list.  Chaney hung in the back.  After a while Chaney made her way over to be in a picture.  But she didn't want to talk to him and she never got too close.  But we got a picture!

I was really caught off guard when Santa had an Australian accent.  I shouldn't have been surprised.  I mean DUH!  But I was. 


Charlie shares his extensive list with Santa. He is pointing out how stickers mark his top favorite toys.

Australian Love

We've been lucky enough to meet some great people since we've been here.  Three different Australian families invited us into their homes this holiday.  Christmas Eve we went to a neighbors.  Christmas Day we went to another neighbors.  And on Boxing Day we went to a house of a girl from the kids' kindergarten class. 

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed our Christmas Eve evening at our friend's house.  They live around the corner and down the street.  Our other good friends and neighbors, the Flemings, were also there.  And in true Aussie style, we had sausages and chicken skewers from the barbie for dinner. 

Striking a pose while grazing at the food table.

Chaney and her friend, H. (I'm not going to use her whole name.)

We left cookies for Santa.  We of course left Aussie hundreds and thousands cookies
(cookies with sprinkles), Timtams, and oreo truffle balls. 



Our tree on Christmas Eve night. 

 On Christmas Eve I also got my Christmas gift.  I got a new lens for my camera.  For those of you that know about cameras, I got the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens.  Bottom line is that this is the lens that will stay on my camera most of the time.  It allows me to take pictures without flash in lower light. I love it!

 Christmas Day

Let the madness begin!

Gifts from Santa.  Chaney received a FurReal Friend.  Its a cat named Daisy that meows and snuggles, etc.  Ever since we lived in the hotel apartment when we first arrived, Charlie has wanted a safe like the one the hotel room had.  It was important that the safe have a punch keypad.  But Santa was also smart and made sure it could also could be opened with the "mommy back-up key."  That Santa sure is a smart one.

We continued our tradition of having pancakes after we open our gifts.

Later on Christmas Day, we went over to our neighbor's house and joined their extended family for a traditional cold meat Christmas meal.  It's too hot to cook inside.  So in Australia they have cold cuts or something from the barbie on Christmas day.


Chaney and H enjoying dessert.  Jelly (Jell-O) and ice cream.   Yes,  Jell-O and ice cream. The Aussies couldn't believe that we hadn't heard or tried this before.  Go scoop you up some ice cream and put some Jell-O on the side.  Let me know how you like it.  (And H isn't unhappy, she is chewing her Jell-O and ice cream.)



Our neighbor's visiting relative gave tips to Charlie on the game of cricket
and how to hold the bat.  This is a good thing since we are clueless
about the game and can't help him one little bit.

Our neighbors skyping with their sister-in-law who is visiting in the U.S.
(You might notice the destroyed gingerbread house on the
 table.  Renee let the kids destroy and nibble on the gingerbread
house they put together.)

 Boxing Day

For those of you that don't know, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas.  In Australia, Boxing Day is a day of big sales. Similar, but in no way comparable, is Black Friday in the U.S.   I think the U.S. needs another holiday!!

Doesn't this look delicious!  It was!  This is Pavlova, a traditional
Aussie dessert.  Our friends who we spent Boxing Day with
made this.  We also had traditional lamb and sausages from
the barbie.  (My autocorrect keeps
wanting to capitalize the word barbie.)

Holiday

 In Australia, they use the word holiday like we use the word vacation or break.  For example, someone in the U.S. might ask you, "What are your plans over the holiday break?"  In Australia they would ask, "What are your plans over holiday?"   Now, in this great land I live in, the whole entire country takes holiday at the same time.  The same time.  The holiday over the Christmas and New Year's season is the same for everyone.  Schools all over the continent break at the same time (give or take a week or two) for the summer.   I'm still figuring this out, but from what I figure, most service providers take holiday and completely shut down for two to three weeks.  So, for example, the kids speech therapy clinic closed down the week before Christmas and won't open again until the second week of January. Same goes for my hair dresser, the car repair place, and any tradie (the Aussie word for tradesman).  Hope you don't need to get a leaky toilet fixed over the next three weeks!  Everyone is on vacation at the same time.  (Grocery stores and malls are still open.) This is totally natural and expected.  I find it a bit unsettling that if I had a hair emergency, I couldn't ring and get a booking to get it taken care of.  (Like how I used the Aussie words "ring" and "booking"?  I'm starting to get the hang of this!)   

In Canberra, the only big city not located near the coast, Canberrans are known for heading to "The Coast." This specifically refers to the coast in New South Wales, the state that the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) is located in. If you want to go to "The Coast" you need to make a booking 6-8 months ahead of time.  Everything fills up at crazy prices with week long minimum stays. 

And by the way, they say "Happy Christmas" here.  It sounds off to me.  Go ahead and try to say it.  It's kinda like saying "Merry New Year."  Also, they frequently call Santa "Father Christmas."  Okey dokey. 

 A final note...

Wow.  This has been one long blog post!  We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday.  I miss everyone, friends and family, very much.  I am not going to proof read or reread my blog post tonight.  I always do that!  But it is 1:30 in the morning and this has taken me much longer than I thought it would.  So forgive any typos, etc. 
So, Merry (belated) Christmas to all, and to all a good night!