Oh yeah baby, we're in North America, sipping on instant coffee with non-dairy creamer (two things that would be very hard to find in Sydney) in a hotel room in NYC.
We arrived in NYC last night, only to find out that after 21 hours of travel, the last leg of our flight (from NYC to Montreal) was cancelled. And when the airline rep started to give us our options, which involved waiting 24hours for the next available flight to Montreal or flying to Cincinatti, staying overnight and connecting to Montreal in the afternoon, I had a total breakdown that went something like: I can't (sob) take (sob) this ("this" being the thought of one extra minute more in a plane or an airport), and Vic had to take over the negotiations. After researching car rentals, buses, and other airlines, we ended up with a slightly better flight that gets us in Montreal later this afternoon.
So we're now enjoying the luxuries of hotel living, the highlights of which involve cartoon channel and sugary cereal at the breakfast buffet for Gus, relaxing with a book for Vic, and a long hot shower and free wireless for me.
We're almost there and can hardly wait to see our siblings, parents, grandparents and friends. See you soon!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A Year in Sydney
The day we left for Canada, coincidentally, also marks my one year expat-iversary (credit to Florida Girl for coining that term!). We've all three of us made major adjustments in our lives, and I like to think we're the better for it. For my part, I've had to adjust to the fact that I'm no longer an equally (financially) contributing member of the household. Something I'm still a little sensitive about, and I realized just how sensitive when Vic recently wondered out loud if I could be considered his dependent for tax purposes. This statement was not taken well, in fact he's pretty lucky there was nothing within reach that could be easily thrown across a room.
Related to that last item, is the fact that we're definitely not as flush with money as we used to be, and we're living in one seriously expensive city. Of course I knew going into this that it would be a lifestyle change, but I was kind of looking forward to living more simply. Back to basics, as they say. The reality is that I don't think any of the three of us have actually pined for things that we weren't able to buy in the past year. And surprisingly for me, the hardest part has been worrying about other people's perceptions of us, living in our tiny little apartment with our Ikea furniture. I think there may still be some learning on my part when it comes to that aspect of my life!
But here's one thing I'll definitely be taking away from this experience: Being new to Sydney, we've had to rely on the generosity of people we barely know (but are getting to know). These people have invited us over for a meal, shared child care, celebrated birthdays with us...and it's meant the world to us. So now I know, something as small as an invite for coffee can be a huge gesture, and I'm hoping that I will remember that next time I meet someone who is not on familiar ground.
So I know this post is getting rather long, but I can't let a one-year expativersary go without making a couple of lists. Here goes, with Things I Love about our New Life in Sydney:
Related to that last item, is the fact that we're definitely not as flush with money as we used to be, and we're living in one seriously expensive city. Of course I knew going into this that it would be a lifestyle change, but I was kind of looking forward to living more simply. Back to basics, as they say. The reality is that I don't think any of the three of us have actually pined for things that we weren't able to buy in the past year. And surprisingly for me, the hardest part has been worrying about other people's perceptions of us, living in our tiny little apartment with our Ikea furniture. I think there may still be some learning on my part when it comes to that aspect of my life!
But here's one thing I'll definitely be taking away from this experience: Being new to Sydney, we've had to rely on the generosity of people we barely know (but are getting to know). These people have invited us over for a meal, shared child care, celebrated birthdays with us...and it's meant the world to us. So now I know, something as small as an invite for coffee can be a huge gesture, and I'm hoping that I will remember that next time I meet someone who is not on familiar ground.
So I know this post is getting rather long, but I can't let a one-year expativersary go without making a couple of lists. Here goes, with Things I Love about our New Life in Sydney:
- Cappucinos, lattes, flat whites.
- Living a short walk away from the beach.
- Waking up to the laugh of a kookaburra.
- My new flexible 'work' arrangement.
- Being in school again, learning new things and honing my research skills.
- Sydney's natural beauty (beaches, rocky cliffs, palm trees... need I say more?)
- No snow and no need for mittens, tuques, big down coats or long johns.
- Fresh local fruits and vegies 365 days a year.
- Gus' new school, which is small and quirky (e.g., the kids sing ABBA songs at their weekly assembly), and where the teachers are fantastic.
- Bugs that are way too big and insist on coming into our apartment (i.e. massive cockroaches and huge huntsman spiders)
- Aggressive Sydney drivers who hate cyclists.
- No screens on the windows combined with the lady who insists on watering the native plants around our apartment building every day, twice a day equals mosquitoes in our apartment (note to lady: they're native plants, meaning they can survive the hot sun!).
- Cold winter nights.
- Missing everyone, family and friends, tremendously.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Mystery Illness
We're a healthy bunch, our little family of three. It's actually something we take great pride in, as if it's something we've achieved through our lifestyle choices (which is highly unlikely and much more likely the result of good genes and a whole lotta good luck).
We've been especially lucky with Gus. He skipped all of those ear infections, various strains of flus and other random illnesses that raged through his day care and schools. In fact, before last week we've only ever had to take Gus to the doctor once (aside from the usual routine check-ups and immunizations) when he was just an infant. It was because of a mystery red patch that appeared on one cheek. Our family doctor was confounded by it, as was the other doctor in her practice who checked Gus out to see if he could figure it out. We were prescribed the usual course of antibiotics, and the patch mysteriously went away, came back a second time and went away again, always remaining one of those mystery illnesses that most kids experience at some point.
And just to make sure we don't gloat too much about our good health, , we are now going through mystery illness #2. About two weeks ago, Gus developed a red bump on one of his toes. Vic thought it might be a bug bite, I was thinking that it might be a wart or a blister. When Gus complained about it, I told him to throw a band-aid on it (band-aids having fixed so many minor Gus-injuries in the past). This time though, the band-aid solution didn't work. The red spot got bigger and became more tender until it covered a good portion of the front of his toe and we decided it was time to find out what that spot was. Vic took him to a nearby walk-in clinic, the doctor declared it to be a staph infection, we were prescribed a course of antibiotics and told to keep an eye on the red spot. If it grew bigger or failed to get better, we were instructed to take him to the children's hospital.
Yeesh - maybe because we're so not used to illness of any kind, we were checking Gus' toe on the hour and while it didn't get worse, it also didn't get better. Saturday morning, we went into the children's hospital with Gus to get it checked out a second time. Luckily (for us), we were one of the only ones not suffering from swine or some other flu, so they shuttled us out of the waiting room quick and we were seen by this great nurse practitioner. She first ruled out a few non-bacterial possibilities (extensive history and x-rays to make sure it wasn't a foreign body or some kind of fracture), swabbed the red spot and made sure it would get plated up right away, and then went on to prescribe a more aggressive antibiotic. We're to follow-up with a doctor this Tuesday and in the meantime keep an eye on the toe to make sure it doesn't get worse.
We're back to checking the toe on the hour (which Gus is getting a little tired of) and I've even thought about taking pictures of it so that I could better tell whether it's getting worse or better. Next illness, I'm hoping for some good old fashioned chicken pox.
We've been especially lucky with Gus. He skipped all of those ear infections, various strains of flus and other random illnesses that raged through his day care and schools. In fact, before last week we've only ever had to take Gus to the doctor once (aside from the usual routine check-ups and immunizations) when he was just an infant. It was because of a mystery red patch that appeared on one cheek. Our family doctor was confounded by it, as was the other doctor in her practice who checked Gus out to see if he could figure it out. We were prescribed the usual course of antibiotics, and the patch mysteriously went away, came back a second time and went away again, always remaining one of those mystery illnesses that most kids experience at some point.
And just to make sure we don't gloat too much about our good health, , we are now going through mystery illness #2. About two weeks ago, Gus developed a red bump on one of his toes. Vic thought it might be a bug bite, I was thinking that it might be a wart or a blister. When Gus complained about it, I told him to throw a band-aid on it (band-aids having fixed so many minor Gus-injuries in the past). This time though, the band-aid solution didn't work. The red spot got bigger and became more tender until it covered a good portion of the front of his toe and we decided it was time to find out what that spot was. Vic took him to a nearby walk-in clinic, the doctor declared it to be a staph infection, we were prescribed a course of antibiotics and told to keep an eye on the red spot. If it grew bigger or failed to get better, we were instructed to take him to the children's hospital.
Yeesh - maybe because we're so not used to illness of any kind, we were checking Gus' toe on the hour and while it didn't get worse, it also didn't get better. Saturday morning, we went into the children's hospital with Gus to get it checked out a second time. Luckily (for us), we were one of the only ones not suffering from swine or some other flu, so they shuttled us out of the waiting room quick and we were seen by this great nurse practitioner. She first ruled out a few non-bacterial possibilities (extensive history and x-rays to make sure it wasn't a foreign body or some kind of fracture), swabbed the red spot and made sure it would get plated up right away, and then went on to prescribe a more aggressive antibiotic. We're to follow-up with a doctor this Tuesday and in the meantime keep an eye on the toe to make sure it doesn't get worse.
We're back to checking the toe on the hour (which Gus is getting a little tired of) and I've even thought about taking pictures of it so that I could better tell whether it's getting worse or better. Next illness, I'm hoping for some good old fashioned chicken pox.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Boomerang, anyone?
A couple of weekends ago, we spent a Sunday afternoon celebrating Canada Day with the Canadian-Australian club on a floating restaurant at Darling Harbour. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and as always, it was so comforting to hear the sounds of Canadian accents. At our table was a woman who had been in Sydney for 24 years. She had this very romantic story of meeting an Italian guy and sailing from Italy to Australia where they ended up staying and raising a family. At one point in the conversation, I told her about how we're heading back to Canada soon for a visit and asked her if she had any tips for Australian souvenirs to bring back for our friends and family. Without hesitation, she told us that on the first visit back, you must bring back all the Australian kitsch that you can stuff in a suitcase.
Heeding her words, yesterday we went to Paddy's markets to load up on boomerangs, cane toad wallets and kangeroo furs. We were totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff, and ended up with gifts for only a fraction of the friends and family we're planning to visit. We're thinking about going back for a second run, so all you Canadians out there, here's your chance: if you're at all interested in a koala backpack or kangeroo claw backscratcher (we saw one, and it's just as gross as you would imagine), now's your chance to let us know.
Here's some pics of Gus being a goofball for the grandparents, taken on the floating restaurant where we celebrated Canada Day.
Heeding her words, yesterday we went to Paddy's markets to load up on boomerangs, cane toad wallets and kangeroo furs. We were totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff, and ended up with gifts for only a fraction of the friends and family we're planning to visit. We're thinking about going back for a second run, so all you Canadians out there, here's your chance: if you're at all interested in a koala backpack or kangeroo claw backscratcher (we saw one, and it's just as gross as you would imagine), now's your chance to let us know.
Here's some pics of Gus being a goofball for the grandparents, taken on the floating restaurant where we celebrated Canada Day.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
All together now
One of the things I'm really enjoying about Australian TV right now is MasterChef. Love it! And I love that it's on almost every night of the week, so that you're almost forced to watch it. This also means that just about everyone else in Australia is watching it at the same time too, and everyone's talking about it. I'm not sure I have the right words to describe it, but it's like it's building community through a TV show, which I know sounds pathetic, but I think it's nice.
For those of you not in Australia, Masterchef is a reality TV show involving everyday Joes with a passion for cooking who are battling for the title of Masterchef. But the difference is that it's actually quite nice to watch, probably because there's none of the bitchiness of most other reality TV shows, and everyone is quite decent and supportive towards one another. The other great part is that it's all about good food. Every once in a while, they'll give lessons on some of the basics, and last Sunday, they made scones. mmmmmm, scones. There's lots of scones in Sydney, and they are freakin delicious. I tried out their recipe for date (they love dates in this country) and lemon scones last night and they were as easy to make as in the show and they came out perfectly. Do it! Make them! When they're done, enjoy them with jam, cream and a cuppa and you'll feel just like you're in Sydney (if you're not already in Sydney).
For those of you not in Australia, Masterchef is a reality TV show involving everyday Joes with a passion for cooking who are battling for the title of Masterchef. But the difference is that it's actually quite nice to watch, probably because there's none of the bitchiness of most other reality TV shows, and everyone is quite decent and supportive towards one another. The other great part is that it's all about good food. Every once in a while, they'll give lessons on some of the basics, and last Sunday, they made scones. mmmmmm, scones. There's lots of scones in Sydney, and they are freakin delicious. I tried out their recipe for date (they love dates in this country) and lemon scones last night and they were as easy to make as in the show and they came out perfectly. Do it! Make them! When they're done, enjoy them with jam, cream and a cuppa and you'll feel just like you're in Sydney (if you're not already in Sydney).
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