What Goes On

I have some catching up today, so I probably won't write too much. Just want to share some pics from assorted recent activities.
   In late November, Andy took Alanna and Aliya and a friend to a motorcycle show. He'd done this back home every December, so he was pretty excited to find a show here in Melb. The girls made it their mission to collect posters and  cards from every booth in the show. The also posed with some biker dudes...

...and watched some crazy stunts. You can see Aliya and her friend right at the fence if you look closely.

December in Australia means summer. One hot day after school I took the girls to the local community pool. One of the best things about it is that there's usually other kids from school there.

Alanna and friends

 Another cool thing is the diving boards, especially the three meter (metre?) one. 

The next weekend, we went to a BBQ with two other families who have daughters in the same grades as ours. 

Two of the Year 2 Girls

The Year 5 Girls

Both girls love playing basketball. The season runs for two terms, with a break for summer. Alanna has a clear height advantage, you can see she's the tallest on her team. If you look closely, the next tallest is standing on her tiptoes.

 Here's a quick clip from Aliya's game, she scores a basket at the end.

The second weekend in December we went camping with a bunch of other families with Year 2 kids. As you can see from the picture, it certainly wasn't a Leo Carrillo-type campground. And unlike Leo Carrillo activities, here we played cricket!

 Near the campground was Ocean Grove beach, so we headed there for some surfing and swimming. Amazingly enough, I actually went completely in the water. Probably had something to do with the fact it was 40 degrees (close to 100 F.)

Aliya and friend strike a pose

 Unfortunately, the weekend was cut short. Saturday we got a call from our friend that Alanna was sick. Alanna stayed with them for the weekend because she didn't want to miss birthday parties for two of her closest friends. Aliya was distraught when she heard we had to drive back, but happily several families agreed that Aliya could stay with them at the campground.  She'd slept in a friend's tent the night before anyway, so it was no big deal. We headed back to Melbourne, about a two-hour drive, and of course, Alanna started getting better. Better safe than sorry though. 
   The next weekend, Andy's company held a Christmas party for the kids of the employees. Can you believe someone got the ages and genders of each child, and picked out a gift for each one? Santa handed out over 30 presents at the party.
   

The next night, we shipped the kids off took the kids to friends for a sleepover and headed to St. Kilda for a 40th Birthday Party. Shelly always jokes about hanging out with giants, and you can see why.

Next up, Pap and Gram arrive!!! To be continued....

It Was Two Years Ago Today ..

...that we arrived in Oz with way too many boxes and suitcases. We were tired and weary, and also excited and nervous about what the future would hold. The first year was a challenge as we adapted to new jobs, new schools, new foods, new friends, new house, and driving on the other side of the road. By the time the second year rolled around, we really started to enjoy it, and now we feel as if we've settled in.
   I read a lot of other expat blogs, and many do amazing posts on their "expat-versaries." This isn't one of them unfortunately. I am tired from a long hot day wandering around Melbourne's amazing Royal Botanic Gardens and Shrine of Remembrance. [Quick Shrine story: We'd only expected to walk around the shrine, and were a bit suprised to find lot of displays and a visitors center underneath. A volunteer in the center handed the kids a Children's Tour activity book, with questions about the wars and the shrine. Once completed, they handed in a form to get their show bags. The Anzac biscuits (oatmeal cookies that were traditionally sent overseas to soldiers in WWI due to their long shelf-life) were appreciated. The calendar with rather disturbing wartime pictures...not so much. But I digress...]
   For the most part, we've adapted to the food. Some things we still get as Costco (Skippy peanut butter, ranch dressing, Mexican-style grated cheese) and a few things we get at the USA Food store (plain Cheerios, canned pumpkin, peach Snapple) and a few things we just do without (spicy turkey sausage comes to mind.) We haven't acquired the taste for lamb or Vegemite. We rarely eat out, because it's crazy expensive, and we certainly miss Rubios and Haus of Pizza, but, when all is said and done, it's just food.
   Our lifestyle has definitely changed, the pace seems a bit slower. A lot of that is due to the fact that I don't "work" anymore. That means I am always  there for the kids before and after school and when they are sick, and they don't have to go to aftercare. It also means (in theory at least) I have time to clean the house and do all the errands and provide fabulous healthy meals each night for my family. Hmm. Well. All I can say is I try.
   One of my favourite things about our life here is that the girls and I ride bikes to school together almost every day. Feels so environmentally-friendly, healthy, and it's fun! I've also been able to volunteer a lot at the school, attend excursions (field trips) with the girls' classes, and watch all their activities during the school day, such as special assemblies and Alanna's sporting events. I hit the gym regularly after taking the girls to school, and I love that it's just a few blocks from our house. Andy's new job is much less stressful, more rewarding, and requires almost no travel, which means he's happier, which means we're happier. Who wouldn't like a job where they drink beers while working their last hour on Fridays?
   The kids have settled in as well. They are used to the routines of Aussie life, knowing they always need sunscreen, sunnies (sunglasses) and hats in the summer. They are comfortable using public transportation. They use Aussie lingo although only Aliya has much of an Aussie accent. We've found good programs for basketball, swimming, and piano, which have become part of our weekly routine.
   We've all made new friends. The girls regularly have playdates with their classmates. Andy has monthly poker nights with other dads and twice-weekly rows with his eight-man crew. I mostly chat with all the moms at school, but we also manage to get together every other week for coffee, and occasional mom's night outs for dinner or a movie. I've hosted a few successful Bunco nights, and hope to do another one next week while my mom is here.
   One thing never gets easier, and that's being away from our friends and family back home. The tears are less frequent, but the sadness remains, especially for Aliya. Skype and Facetime are great, but it's just not the same as being there. I also greatly miss my job and the people I worked with for 15 years. One of my resolutions for this year is to try and do more freelance work for the company.
   Our kids have definitely grown, both literally (Alanna is 5'4") and figuratively, so much in these past two years. They've been exposed to other cultures and religions. We've traveled: New Zealand, Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Ballart, Echuca, Shepparton, Mornington Peninsula,  and the Great Ocean Road in this year alone.
   So how to summarize the adventures of the last two years? Difficult, sometimes painful, but we wouldn't give up this once-in-a-lifetime experience for anything. Suffice to say we aren't so big on the weather or the high cost of living, but the quality of life and the most excellent coffee help make up for it.
   Happy New Years to all our friends and family out there. Thanks for reading this blog, and a special thanks to those that sent us Christmas cards. We've taped them up on our kitchen door so we can see your beautiful smiling faces often. For the last few weeks we've been blessed with the beautiful smiling faces of my parents in person, so I hope to blog about their visit and our first Christmas in Oz shortly. Watch this space. Cheers!

Alexi's Restaurant (Thanksgiving)

   Of course, it wasn't a restaurant, but I did host Thanksgiving dinner, with a little help from my friends. Our friend's sister-in-law is American, but because they keep kosher, it would have been nearly impossible to do it at their house. I volunteered, warning them that I'd never actually cooked a turkey before. That's what Grandmas, Moms, and Mothers-in-law are for, right? And the Thanksgiving before me moved, we took advantage of one of those "Complete Thanksgiving Dinners in a Box" from the grocery store. Nevertheless, I agreed to try, especially when Melanie promised to come over and help me get it into the often. 
   Turkeys aren't as popular here, at least not until Christmas. Some specialty butchers offer them at exorbitant prices. Good ol' Costco saved the day, having stocked the fresh turkeys specifically for "American Thanksgiving." It was actually kind of fun hanging out at the cooler where they were located, as everyone there was an American. And they were only $7/kg. My $50 bird was clean and ready to go, a bargain compared to what some of my expat friends paid. There was some concern it wouldn't fit in the oven (many Aussie ovens are a lot smaller than US ones) but it did. And it came out beautifully, if do say so myself:

   Melanie has asked her husband to purchase lots of decorations on his last trip to the US, so with Andy's help, the dining room looked quite festive.

 We divided up the food duties. Melanie's husband made a fabulous butternut squash soup, and she made pumpkin and pecan pies, as well as the stuffing and corn bread. Our Aussie friends brought a salad and smashed potatoes. I did the turkey, sweet potato casserole (no mini marshmallows on top since I couldn't find them and figured the Aussies would be very scared of that!) green beans, glazed carrots, rolls, cranberry sauce, cherry pie, and fudge. It was a little painful to pay $14 for the frozen cranberries, but I was lucky to even find them (thank goodness for the shared knowledge of other American expats.) You can't have thanksgiving without cranberry sauce, right? 

Lots of food, lots of leftovers

Sparkling shiraz was the wine of choice on a warm evening

   While we greatly miss our friends and family back home, we feel very thankful to have wonderful friends to share this special meal with. Our Aussie friends have introduced us to new traditions and customs, it was nice to be able to do the same for them. Unlike the issues with Halloween, it's hard to find fault with a non-commercial holiday that celebrates friends, family, and everything that you're thankful for.

Kumbaya (Gumbuya Park)

Several months ago we bought a Groupon/Scoupon/Ouffer/Local Deal type voucher for a family pass to Gumbaya Park, which claims to be "Victoria's original nature and family fun park." On the Sunday before Melbourne Cup day, we (along with most of Melbourne it seems) headed out to the park.

 Our vouchers included all-you-can-ride wristbands, so our only limiting factor was the long lines for most of the rides. By far the coolest was the Toboggan Ride.

A view of the concrete tracks. After reaching the bottom, you also
got to ride back up with the cart, though that wasn't nearly as fun!

Next, Andy and the girls went on the water slides while I waited in line for the another ride.

They got back just in time to get on the Mini Cars.

 Then Alanna and I went off to play Mini Golf, on perhaps the sorriest mini golf course ever. While the course itself was sub-par, ha ha, it was at least covered to offer sun protection, and it was surrounded by native Australian animals. So that was pretty cool. The game ended in a draw, and Alanna and I rushed back to catch up with Andy and Aliya waiting for the Twister Karts. We found them like this:

 Needless to say, they adjusted their hair protector nets properly before putting on their helmets. In the pic below, Alanna is in the front kart, and Aliya is driving Andy in the one behind her.

   Alanna did pretty well driving, watch her go around the curve.

Now it's Aliya's turn, let's call it taking a shortcut.

Just another day in the life for our poor, deprived children who never get to have any fun!

Rock and Roll Music (piano concerts, art fest, sports)

   Okay, it wasn't rock and roll music, but it was some nice music nonetheless. Here are clips from the girls piano recital last month. It was held in a bar with a grand piano. I have to say, piano recitals are even more fun when you can enjoy a nice glass of red wine at the same time!
   First up was Aliya, "all they way from America." (Listen closely to how Aliya says 'where')

Then a duet from two girls who give their teacher "a hard time":

Finally, Alanna's solo:

   The girls are progressing quite nicely in piano this year. That's a huge relief because last year they wanted to quit, mainly due to boredom. I found a new teacher, with a completely different but ingenious method called MusicLogic.       Instead of learning which note is a "D", which note is an "F", etc, you simply focus on where a note is relative to the "C" notes. It makes learning new songs and reading music so much easier and faster. The girls like it, and their teacher is good at mixing up the type of music she gives them. Classes are group classes of 2 or 3 students. It can get a bit frustrating at times, especially for Andy, because she's not always as logical and methodically as he would like. Still, they're happy to go to lessons, and even occasionally practice.
   We discovered that Aliya especially likes songs she can sing along to, like "I'm a Believer." She played it at her Junior Assembly at school recently, although she was too nervous to sing it this time.

   On the day of the recital, we also had ArtsFest at their school. Most schools call them "Fetes" and they are big fundraisers. There are rides, activities, crafts, stalls selling food, and much much more. Ours was art-themed, hence the name, and featured a talent show. Aliya did a comedy show with two friends. Unfortunately the sound didn't work well and it's hard to understand what they are saying, so I won't post that video, just a pic of the girls.

Alanna did a dance with some of her friends. The song was "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray.

One of the activities was playing with small bricks. Does this remind anyone of our wedding?

  As part of the ArtsFest they auctioned off artwork created as class projects. I wasn't able to win the cute picture Aliya's class created, but I did manage to outbid another mom to snag Alanna's class artwork. It depicts lots of different Melbourne landmarks, so it will make a wonderful souvenir.
  I'm so behind in blogging, I am just going to keep going and post miscellaneous things that we've been doing in the last month or so.
   One of the neat things our school does is camps for grades 3-6. In preparation for that, the Preps (kindergartners) have a breakfast at school, the Year Ones have a dinner, and the Year Twos have a sleepover at school. Aliya was quite excited about this, especially since she got to bring Fuzzy Bear.

   The school was pretty smart about the agenda. After feeding the kids pizza, they bussed them to an indoor sports place, presumably to tire them out a bit. Aliya said they were still up talking at midnight, so it must not have worked that well! There were quite a few tired kids and teachers when we arrived at 7:30 to pick them up.
   In addition to swimming and basketball, Alanna's been busy with sports at school. She represented her school at Districts in high jump and shotput, and by winning in the high jump event, she moved on to Divisionals. Unable to find a real place to practice over the term break, she had to make do with what we had at home:

   On the day of the competition, she met her match--most of the other girls were regular competitors in athletics, and clearly had experience doing high jump. She made the first jump though, and I love the look on her face in the very last frame of this short video:

   She also participates in school sports with the rest of the Year 5 and 6 students. They have weekly games against nearby schools. For the winter season, she chose VolleyStars, a bit like volleyball. For summer, she chose softball, a game many Aussies aren't familiar with. I've found myself explaining rules to other parents, and even occasionally a teacher from the other team. (In fairness, I haven't the slightest clue about cricket!) Speaking of which, the boys especially tend to swing the bat like a cricket bat, so I am always tempted to tell them "knees bent, elbows up". All in all though, they're having a lot of fun playing, and I'm sure Alanna's softball coaches would be glad to see this pic. She's ready to get the ball! She does great at shortstop, actually, as she's got a very accurate and strong throw. 

Below is a team pic after a few games of round-robin play. One of the dads bought all the kids icy poles.

   Alanna's really been enjoying playing softball again, and often wants to go in the backyard to play catch. The team talked about playing together next year, but she's thinking she should try netball (similar to basketball, but no dribbling, only passing) or cricket. These are sports she'll only be able to play in Oz, and she's decided she really wants to take advantage of every opportunity she has in her last year in Australia.
   Meanwhile, Andy's been busy with rowing, something he started up his first week in Melbourne. He's in an eight that practices twice a week on the Yarra River, and they race whenever they can. The girls and I took the tram into the city to watch his race on the 17th.

After the race, the girls raced Andy on the ergs at the boathouse.

Then we walked into the city to see the famous Christmas window displays at Myer's Department store. We also snapped a pic with "Santa."

Feeling a bit "peckish" (hungry!) we hopped on the free circle city tram and headed to the Docklands, where Costco is located. Can't beat their food court for a cheap lunch! We took the free tram back to Flinders Station, then caught another tram that would take us home. Love the public transport in this city!
   Andy did another race the following weekend, an 8.6 km race. I didn't take the girls this time as I was busy cooking my first ever Thanksgiving turkey. However, one of the rowers had a camera on his head, so if you are interested in seeing the race from the perspective of a rower, or if you just want a nice shot of Andy's back, you can check it out here:

   Some of the highlights are at 00:30 seconds, where they got passed immediately, at 13:00, where they jousted and clashed oars with another crew, and at 33:40, where they passed two crews that had run aground. It was a hot day, and Andy was completely wiped out afterwards. Fortunately he was able to come home to a huge Thanskgiving feast, which should be the topic of my next blog.
   If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Cheers!

My Sweet Lord (Aliya's First Communion)

   After almost two years of classes, Aliya celebrated her First Holy Communion on 10/11/12. Keep in mind that Aussies use a day/month/year format. We chose a Saturday evening mass, as Sunday mornings are reserved for basketball these days.

   Aliya was able to (barely!) fit into the dress Alanna wore for her First Communion. The hard part was finding basic white flat shoes for her to wear. We search two malls without much success. We found some sandals that she liked, but I wasn't willing to spend $50 for a pair that didn't fit properly. Her toes stuck over the edge, and a bigger size was too wide. My kingdom for a US Payless store, where I am sure I could have found a perfect pair for $15. I talked to several clerks  didn't know why they were so hard to find. Apparently I wasn't the only one searching for those type of shoes. In desperation (given that mass was in a couple of hours!) we went with a pair from Target that had shiny black on the back, but was all white in the front. I guess I shouldn't have worried too much. The other girl at the ceremony was wearing black shoes.

    It was a gorgeous spring evening. The church faces west, so the sunlight shone in, providing a beautiful glow. They limit each Mass to just five children receiving communion, so that they can participate in the Mass. At our Mass, the boys carried the candles and the Gospel up to the alter, and Aliya and the other girl carried the bread and the wine. Someone from the church made each child a beautiful, personalized stole with their names and dates of their Baptism and First Communion. A very special keepsake indeed. 

    The service was very nice. Aliya was quite eager to try the communion wine but in the end, decided she definitely didn't like it. Afterwards, we took a few photos outside, then headed home.

 On Sunday afternoon, we hosted a luncheon for about 20 people to celebrate. It was a little sad not having family or godparents to share this special occasion, but it definitely helped to have some of our new friends join us.
   A very homemade cake, to be sure. Aliya decided she wanted to blow out candles, so we put some in the cake, lit it, and sang "Happy First Communion to You." I don't recall doing that before!

   While Andy and I were getting the food ready for the party, the girls went through the house finding items they wanted to get rid of. They decided to hold a raffle during the party, so they created raffle tickets for each guest. Alanna even had a whole spiel to greet the guest with, including: "Step right up, get your free raffle ticket, where the prizes are suprises..." 

   After lunch, they drew tickets until pretty much everyone had one a prize. Then it was outside to throw some water balloons...

"Remember Lawrence, you'll always be a winner"

Savoy Truffle (Halloween)

They didn't get any savoy truffles, or any other kind of truffle, while Trick or Treating this year. But they didn't care. Halloween is about dressing up, running around with your friends, collecting and sorting candy, and the girls got to do all of that.
   We'd been warned before we moved to Melbourne that Halloween isn't really celebrated in Oz. While that was true a few years ago, it grows more popular every year. Aussies are starting to embrace it, especially once they experience how much fun it is for the kids. 
   It's still very divisive. For a few days before and after Halloween, there are letters to the editors about this awful, imported holiday. The most common Aussie complaint is that Halloween is just another example of "American cultural imperialism." Others just bemoan the "rampant consumerism."
   One of my Aussie friends posted on Facebook: "Ok, so my annual rant has started a little earlier this year. But I am already feeling frustrated and embarrassed about how blindly we, as a nation accept this irrelevant American holiday. Every year it gets worse and worse. There is a huge 

dedicated Halloween section in my local Woolies which I am sure wasn't there last year. Come on everyone. Take a stand! Don't buy into this unnecessary consumerism that retailers are so desperate for you to embrace."

   Of course, I had to share my side of the story, but she dismissed it as something I grew up with. One mom even posted "Actually vik, get a load of this!!! A certain primary school CHANGED the date of the junior concert because of parental pressure, claiming the concert clashed with hallo-friggen-ween!!!! Can you believe it!!!!!:

   My friend's husband, playing devils advocate, linked to this article. Along the same vein Deborah Brown's article, Halloween Really Isn't That Scary, in The Age. Since I don't know how long that link will work, I want to excerpt a few paragraphs. Not because I need to convince my readers (pretty much all Americans) that Halloween is not evil, but because it's interesting to get an Aussie's viewpoint.

   "Somehow this harmless event polarises communities into those for and those against. Those against rant about American cultural imperialism and the irrelevance of the adoption of a tradition which has no resonance in the sunburnt country. They decry the rampant commercialism evident when supermarkets start selling jack-o-lanterns next to butternut pumpkins, and Dracula teeth in the toothpaste aisle: for harried parents it is yet another pester-power gauntlet to run on the way to the checkout.

   To those belittlers of Halloween I won't point out the obvious positive influences contributed to society by American culture (oh, OK then: Mustangs, Steinbeck, Mad Men). Nine-year-olds don't know about the encroachment of American popular culture on the rest of the world. They are global citizens without even knowing what that means.

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   To the Halloween denigrators I won't point out the Scottish origins of the festival or the equally repugnant commercialisation of Mother's Day, Father's Day and that most unromantic celebration of price gouging, Valentine's Day.

   What I will point out is that celebrating Halloween is FUN. What other time of year can a decision about whether to dress as a punk or a pirate be solved by dressing as a punk pirate? Or a zombie Cinderella? It's an opportunity to pass on some traditional skills to our children: making costumes out of sheets (ghosts), the many uses of toilet paper (mummies), and recycling laddered stockings by stuffing them with crumpled Herald pages (spider's legs).

   Children love Halloween. They love dressing up. They love using mum's eyeliner to draw scars on their faces. They love gathering in roaming gangs (under watchful parental eyes) on a school night. Yes, they also love the edible booty that comes with the territory, but that intake can be managed and rationed (and pilfered from).

So rather than lament that Halloween embodies all that is evil about the Americanisation of our children, open your front door on October 31 and see the children smiling underneath their ghastly face paint.That's not such a scary idea, is it?"

  Fortunately, plenty of our friends wanted to participate. On Halloween, we started at a friend's house for bowls of spag bol, hoping to fill the kids up with something healthy first. Then we headed off to a "Haunted House" nearby. While it wouldn't warrant much attention in the US, it was pretty good by Aussie standards, as the whole garage was decorated. There were 7 or 8 different bowls with treats, and kids were allowed to take one from each bowl.

   Then we headed off to another street where we met up with some of our friends. It was a great street for Trick or Treating, really long with no streets to cross. Because Daylight Savings is in effect, even though it was 6:30 it was still really light out. Consequently, the kids had to knock on every door...you couldn't use the house lights as any indicator as to whether people were home or not. A large percentage of the houses did give out candy, although some ran out. One person offered the kids a choice of a tin of baked beans or packet of crackers! 

 

    Then we drove to another area to meet up with more school friends. This area was a bit more organized. Flyers were handed out in advance with information, and houses that wanted to participate put balloons or a ribbon or a note on their fences to indicate that they had candy. It really simplified things, and they didn't have to waste time or hassle occupants who didn't want to be bothered.

   We returned home around 8, with two very exhausted kids. I have a feeling they ate too much candy. How do I know? When we got inside, they asked if they could have "something healthy, like a banana or an apple or a hard-boiled egg."
   It was a nice evening, and thankfully the weather co-operated. But Aussies have a few things to learn about Halloween. First and foremost, lollies should be wrapped!

   True, it wasn't quite as good as home. We didn't have a Halloween party (hmm, maybe next year), the kids didn't run around in the dark with glow sticks, the grown-ups didn't walk around with cups of wine or margaritas, and there were no Milk Duds or Reese's Peanut Butter cups anywhere. Still, I am so happy that my kids didn't have to miss out on one of the highlights of childhood.
   Now, we just need to get the Aussies to celebrate Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July....