Resurfacing

Whew! It's been busy over here. After Vic's parents visited earlier this year, my parents came for six weeks followed by a quick visit from some friends (who managed to see more of Sydney in four days than we've seen over the course of a year). Last week, I also finished wrapping up my thesis study, which at times, was surprisingly draining. So we're all just figuring out how to get back into our old routines, just the three of us, and me back to my old flexible schedule (Yeehaw for that!).

March 1st marked the first day of Fall here (isn't it odd how seasons are based on the solstice in Canada but not here...who decides these things?), and it's been a beautiful Fall. Warm, sunny days and cool nights. We've been enjoying swims at the beach every chance we get, knowing that our swimming days are numbered. Although the water stays warm for a while, once winter hits with its shivery Southerly winds, the air is way too cold for a swim.

And Easter is coming up, which is actually alot of fun here. Holidays don't seem to be much of a big deal in this part of the world. Halloween is practically non-existent, and lights strung up outside a house at Christmas are an unusual sight. Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day went by without much of a fuss at all. But Easter, well Easter is something special. For months in advance, hot cross buns are sold everywhere (have I mentioned I like baked things, especially baked sweet things?). And not just plain ones, there are fruity ones, choc chip and mocha varieties. Delish. And, there are Easter hat parades, which are really, really funny. We'll miss our local community parade because we're planning a little road trip down the coast, but Gus is hard at work on getting his hat ready for his school's Easter hat parade.

Meanwhile, the Australian news is keeping us entertained, as usual. Local cricket and NRL players and their wives/girlfriends seem to be contractually obliged to generate newsworthy scandals on a regular basis Most recently, is poor Lara who got dumped for not behaving like a proper cricketer's girlfriend. Even more entertaining though, is the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, who is photographed daily in budgie smugglers. And according to the some articles, Tony's just following in a long tradition of Liberal leaders who like to hang out in their speedos. It's no wonder that I've slowed down my consumption of Canadian news bits on cbc.ca, in comparison to the news here downunder, it's just plain boring.

Gus' hat from last year's Easter hat parade:

Time to lay off the Tim Tams

On our walk to school:

Gus: Look at our shadows, we look like those old fashioned ladies with the dresses that make their bums look big.

(Gus was carrying a huge bottom-heavy backpack. .....I was not)

Namaste

Last weekend, we visited the Nan Tien Temple, about an hour and a half south of us in Wollongong. This temple is the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere and worth the drive down the Princes Highway. Despite it being a sticky hot day and probably better suited to a trip to the beach, it was a good day. Here are some pics:

Exercising baby Buddhas:

The three of us, exercising with the Buddhas (and my mom hiding behind a tree):

The pagoda and the main temple:

More statues, this time of angry men?! These statues are a big part of what kept Gus entertained throughout our trip. They were everywhere on the grounds of the temple.

Happy March Break everyone back in Ontario!

Addiction

About a year ago, Vic introduced Gus to a computer game called Spore, and since then Gus has become more and more obsessed with this game. In the past couple of months, he would wake up in the morning and go straight over to the computer to start playing. He would rush through meals to get back to his game, and get upset when we tried to tear him away from it for things like school, meals and sleep. In other words, it was turning into quite the addiction. It was also a connundrum for Vic and I, who both spend a substantial amount of time on our own laptops (so we felt a little hypocritical for making him off the computer, mostly so that we could get on it). And, ignoring Gus' obsession with Spore also meant that we could indulge in our nightly ritual of watching the Colbert Report at 7:30 without interruption.

Well, it finally got to the point where we couldn't ignore it anymore and as of Monday we've imposed a 1 hour max of Spore on weeknights. And last night all of us watched the Colbert Report together, where Stephen reported on Vegas' first legal male prostitute, which was definitely not kid-appropriate. So I'm thinking all three of us are going to need to re-adjust our habits to the new restrictions on Spore.

Right now, my parents are visiting, which has been really great for us. I'm not sure what we'll do when they're gone as we're developing a bit of a dependency on my mom's cooking and on their incredible helpfulness in looking after Gus after school and when we've gone out for a couple of fun nights on our own. They're here for a few more weeks and this week we'll be going to check out the Nan Tien Buddhist temple in nearby Wollongong...can't wait as it should make for a good little road trip.

They've been most especially helpful while I finish up data collection for my thesis study (btw: n=230, with a target of n=260; in the home stretch now!)

Running out of underwear

It's quite rare in Sydney to own a clothes dryer. Just about every house and apartment building I've seen has been equipped with some kind of clothes line in the backyard. Usually, not having a clothes dryer doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, I'm quite fond of hanging my clothes to dry, and used to do it in Ottawa in the summer months and love being able to do it here year round....except this past week, when it rained almost every day for the past week, and we are quickly running out of clean clothes. Luckily, today the sun finally burst through the clouds and tomorrow is looking like a good rain-free day to do some laundry...just. in. time.

They grow 'em big around here

We're smack in the middle of summer here, and the fruits and veg in our weekly organic basket are unbelievable, steroid-sized and delish. Definitely not the typical produce we were used to seeing in our local Ottawa grocery store.

Since we're planning to be here for a limited time (3yrs - the length of my scholarship), I have to admit that I spend too much time thinking in terms of "I'm not going to miss this one bit" (usually referring to the cost of living in Sydney, or the fact that my name seems to be unpronounceable to most aussies) or "How am I going to live without this when we go back home?". Being able to eat these amazing, fresh and delicious fruits and veggies year-round definitely falls in the category of something I'm going to really miss.

The lettuce in our basket this week:

Our fridge, after we've packed it full of this week's delivery....and yes we do eat more than just green stuff, yogurt and diet coke.

Snow Day

No, of course we're not having a snow day, but today the temperature topped out at 35+, and although our ocean-side apartment usually keeps cool if we open the windows and patio doors wide to let the sea breezes in, today is the exception to the rule. It's like being inside a dryer outside, the wind is hot and strong. So, just like having a snow day in Canada, today we're hiding out in our apartment, leaving only for an occasional run to the beach to cool off.

Last week, Vic's parents headed back home and we're no longer spoiled by having family around. We had a great visit, and of course there's always the side benefit of having free babysitters! Gus is on summer holidays right now (school's starts again next Thursday...and I'm counting down the days!). So, since they left I've been splitting my time between dragging him around on study-related tasks and dropping him off at various parents' houses (with promises to provide child care for their kids on other as-yet unspecified days in the future) so that I can run downtown to survey people who inject drugs for my thesis. After making my own schedule for the past year and a half, being tied down to a more rigid schedule is making me crazy! It's also gotten me a little worried about having to go back to a 9 to 5 job at the end of all this. It will be a difficult transition, that's for sure.

Luckily my parents are coming in a week from now, so we'll once again have family around, plus there's also that free babysitter thing. We've already lined up one night out, where we're going to see Carus Thompson at the Vanguard. Can't wait!

Very exciting for us is that most recently, our little suburb was in the paper, this time for a good reason (usually it's mentioned because of an arrest of one or more members of an infamous surfie gang in our 'hood). The article was about how our suburb is being gentrified, and is becoming all about the lattes and organic veggies, but also about how many of the locals are nervous about the changes and are worried it will turn into a Coogee or Bondi (two of the more popular and very busy beachside suburbs in the area), and how they enjoy the feel of it, just as it is. One local described it as "a bit bohemian and a bit ghetto", which is an apt descriptor and I'm happy to be a part of it while we're here in Sydney.