I think I see rain

It's been the driest November since 1914, but I think I see some drops on the veranda now.


Yesterday, we awoke to find a pile of bug wings just inside our door, a few dead bugs a bit further in, and a renegade live one on the Love Sac. This lead to a full day of vacuuming, mopping and scrubbing every corner of the apartment. No bugs lurking anywhere, although I did find a moldy loaf of bread. Then I stepped out onto the veranda and it was covered in the same dead bugs. (I've looked them up on the internet and I can't identify them, but they look like something between a fly and an ant. They look harmless, but we're in Australia so not taking any chances. We're against bug infestation either way.)


So, I sent an email to the landlord to ask if there had been any fumigating in the building because I thought that would explain it. This is his reply:

I noticed the bugs on some of the balconies myself yesterday for the first time.

Sometimes these things happen like this here - On a different breeze these insects fly in their hoards. Thankfully Insect screens are installed. 

Yes, thankfully. You mean if there weren't screens on the doors hoards of insects would fly into the apartment? The pool area was also a site of mass suicide, and there were plenty of them floating in the pool. I'm going to try not to get hung up on the "first time" bit. For now.

It was Middle School Award's Night at the school last night. The 9th graders who opened the evening began by acknowledging the Aborigines as the original owners and custodians of the land on which the school is built. It is quite common to open seminars this way, and an acknowledgment is also often made in the form of a plaque on the building or on a performance program, but it is more poignant coming from a 14-year-old. It was also the first time I have heard the Australian national anthem live, played by the school orchestra. Quite touching. The standard of art, music and dance was outstanding at the award's night, and lots of medallions were handed out for academic, cultural, athletic and service achievements. It is a very big school compared to what we were used to in Norway, and it is on nights like this that you really get a sense of that. Only the kids receiving awards (not mine) or performing (you can guess who) during the ceremony were invited. They couldn't possibly have fit all of the kids in middle school as well as parents in the auditorium. Graduation today takes place during school time, and parents are not invited. Or so I am told by my graduating son. I have the day off, though, so I may just wander by at about the right time and see what happens...

There's a little Christmas party for 6th grade tomorrow, so we are baking pepperkaker. We will also have to buy Advent calendars today. I can't believe it is December first tomorrow! We missed lighting the first Advent candle on Sunday. It didn't even dawn on me that Advent started so soon! I read it in the Norwegian paper the next day. The only other true sign of Christmas so far is the husband's hunt for marzipan, which began yesterday. He is out of luck. So, unless someone wants to pack up some julemarsipan (HINT, HINT) and send it our way, we will be buying yet another nut grinder and making that from scratch as well! I am already having trouble coping with owning yet another rolling pin. Cookie cutters are next.

Happy holiday preparation in colder climes.

Thanksgiving

It doesn't quite seem right roasting the turkey with the air conditioning on. The traditional Thanksgiving vegetables are not in season now (instead of parsnips and pumpkin the shelves are full of nectarines and strawberries). All the same, it's a great tradition. The cashier at Woolies said she wished they had something like Thanksgiving in Australia and went on to explain that Anzac Day is sad and Australia Day is fun, but there's nothing just pleasant and positive like Thanksgiving. I toyed with the idea of doing the turkey on the barbecue (as so many Australians do for Christmas) but was too overwhelmed by the technical debates on cooking sites to attempt it. So, the oven is on and we are all sweating.

I haven't been home to the US for Thanksgiving in 16 years. It was always my favorite holiday, spent all day at my uncle and aunt's house, first with lunch and then with an evening buffet. The time in between was filled with board games, a walk to the park and football in the background. No Christmas present pressure, and no stress for my parents either.

I always miss family and the US most on this day, and I do contemplate what I am grateful for. I am very grateful for having grown up there, gotten a good education and had opportunities like figure skating, high school prom and a driver's licence at 16. I always felt I could do whatever I wanted to do, I grew up competitive and I also grew up with a spirit of volunteerism. I still see these as characteristics of US society. Most of all, I am perhaps grateful that, having grown up in the US, I also had the freedom to leave. I mean this in the best possible way. This separates me from many of my friends, who grew up in countries with no opportunity for movement, either for political reasons or economic ones. Their lives have been so much more difficult than mine.

I am perhaps a bit self-centered because I always thought that since I was an immigrant, and my parents had actually chosen the US instead of just being born there, that out of all of my classmates growing up, I was the one who had the most reason to celebrate Thanksgiving.

So, even though it is 30 degrees outside (Celsius, that it), that turkey will be roasted. And since pumpkin is commonly used as a fresh vegetable here and apparently not sold in cans unless it is a soup, that pumpkin pie has been made from scratch. Really from scratch.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family in the US and wherever else you are in the world. I'm thinking of you.

November

It's getting very hot here in Brisbane, and it just doesn't seem right to see the shops stocked with Christmas puddings, mince pies and candy canes. Christmas lights and gigantic balls hang from the outdoor pubs and cafes in the city, but we're sitting around in sundresses and flip-flops instead of wool coats and boots. I have to admit dreaming about snow, but I'm not sick of the heat yet. The pool is coming in very handy now. It went from being ice cold to bath water temperature in the course of two weeks.

We've booked our journey for Christmas, but the paranoid husband does preclude me from revealing the route on a blog. Suffice it to say we will be having Christmas lunch served to us on the beach and there is the remote possibility of seeing us on TV when the New Year hits this part of the world.

It's time for a little introduction to 'Strine (Australian). I assume you are all familiar with G'day, No worries, Cheers and Mate but if you were in doubt I can assure you that these are not just the expressions of Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin. You hear these expressions a lot, and I was thrilled to be in on a conference call to the US with my colleague. He opened with, "Oh. G'day. I'm (name protected for same reason as husband, these people are both Linux guys with security issues)...from The University of Queensland" and then much to my great pleasure, closed with "No worries." Not premeditated, I assure you.

Here are some of my favorite new expressions. (You'll have to excuse me (and correct me) if any of these have actually floated into the American language without my realizing it. I've been away for a long time.)

iconic - used to refer to any man-made structure more than 60 years old, especially if Sydney had one first, also used for natural wonders (sometimes justifiably, but you can never be sure).
hot desking - we don't  have enough space in the office for you, but we will hire you anyway. You can just float around to a vacant desk when someone is sick.
flick - get rid of an email (meaning, get rid of work) - as in "I'll just flick that email over to you, and now I've done my bit. It's your problem now."
appropriate - mostly referring to the speech and clothes tolerated at school, a very short list
inappropriate - mostly referring to speech, behaviour and clothes not tolerated at school, a very long list
consequences - what there will be after school if anything inappropriate goes on
luxury fittings - the taps go on and off (sometimes)
stubbie - bottle of beer
schooner - glass of beer
long black - black coffee, no milk, no sugar - you can also have a small long black which just doesn't seem right
short black - espresso - I don't think you can have a large short black
flat white - not sure, but it must have milk in it so I'm not drinking it
we should have coffee - let's not have coffee (unless said by a foreigner, in which case, "let's have coffee right now")
cossie - swimsuit
thongs - flip-flops (can get confusing - my daughter wrote in a poem that she felt happy right down to her thongs)
Mackers - McDonald's (they NEVER call in McDonald's)
Hungry Jack's - Burger King (for some reason the brand name is Hungry Jacks, but I'm pretty sure it's owned by Burger King because the logo is exactly the same. They serve beets on their signature burger.

I must be in a bit of a negative spin here. I can't seem to come up with too many positive expressions. Maybe the frequency of G'day, No worries, Cheers and Mate more than make up for the above, because generally the conversation is very jovial and the Australians very friendly. I'll add to the list as I think of more.

Australia's friendliest bus driver

OK, it's no secret I love bus drivers (my father-in-law is one), but the guy on bus 109 to UQ made everyone's day today. As each person boarded the bus, he gave them a warm, "Good morning," "Hi ya," "Greetings," or "Great to see you," called out the stops with a bit of color: "Mater Hill Hospital. If you're pregnant, this might be a good place to get off" and bid each person farewell with a "Have a fantastic day" or "Smile at a stranger, it may be the only smile he gets."

There was a lot more smiling, chatting and laughing on that bus than normal, and I'm sure the driver's day went much faster for him as well.

It also reminded me of a story that I think occurred in the vacuum between Facebook and blogging in Norway. I got on a bus from work to get to the new ice rink at Idda, not sure how far it would take me. When we got close to the main bus station, I asked the driver if I could get any closer to Idda or if  I needed to change buses. He said, "Why don't you just stay on the bus and I'll see if I can get you a little closer." So I moved up to the front of the bus and we had a great conversation which began with, "Ah, you must be an old figure skater from the States going to test out the new ice" and developed into "I remember when we got proper winters and everyone used to skate on Jegers" which led inevitably to, "Oh, yeah, of course I know your father-in-law. We grew up together." He was at the end of his shift, so he drove me straight to the rink even though he had really finished at the bus stop in the center of town.

We are nicely set up here for public transportation, and I am all for it and always have been, especially since I am a bad driver. I have to say I do appreciate one main difference between public transport here and in Norway: the weather. Here, you walk to and wait for buses in the sunshine surrounded by tropical plants. There, you walk to and wait for buses in the rain and snow, often standing in puddles or getting sprayed on by cars driving through puddles. Critical difference, so expect me to buy a car again when we return to Norway.

I have started work since the last blog. I have two temporary positions at the University of Queensland, one at the School of Education working with postgraduate research students and one establishing the newly approved Research Computing Centre (a user centre for researches using high performance computing). I feel very lucky to have gotten this job, definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time. I am learning a lot, meeting a lot of interesting people and gaining a new perspective on Norway and UiA. (Wait a minute, it sounds like I am on student exchange.) Well, I feel like I am on student exchange, and this has really re-affirmed my faith in going abroad and learning different ways of doing things.

The most obvious thing I have learned so far is: Norway is not bureaucratic at all. Tells you a lot about Australia. Right now, our printer is out of toner and I can't order any more toner because I can't print the form I need to have signed in order to buy the toner. Since the guys I work with refuse to get onto the UQ net which uses Windows (they probably only hired me because I can work on Linux), I can't send it to print anywhere else on campus either. So, I am sending the form to myself to print at home. Alternately, I could order the toner through the electronic system, but I can't have access to that until I have completed a course, which isn't given until Oct. 6. I am not being quite fair here, though. Before I started, I filled out 5 forms and submitted all of my qualifications, passport, visa, etc. etc. and when I got to work on the first day I had a user name, password, email account and key within an hour. I got paid on the first regular pay day after I started. The IT guy came to me, instead of me having to go to him. I thought that was all pretty impressive.

We're going out to eat now, but be warned. We have finally bought a really nice camera. I will have to revisit everywhere I've been so far and post some decent photos.

Got a job!

After weeks of writing cover letters and responses to selection criteria, I have finally got a short-term, part-time assignment at the School of Education of the University of Queensland. It will be a great opportunity to work at a prestigious institution. I'm starting on Tuesday and am really looking forward to it.

We ventured into Boondall yesterday to watch the Queensland State Cheerleading Championships. My daughter's team will be competing with Brisbane All Star Cheerleading at Australian Nationals in November, and we thought it would be fun to check out the level and also cheer for the Brisbane All Star Cheerleading teams at States. You'll be happy to know I refrained from putting on a little skirt and carrying pom poms. Also, the competition was being held close to Ice World, which I have been wanting to check out since we arrived. It was a bit of a foray without a car, and I hadn't checked the schedule until after my morning coffee. In order to actually get there in time to see the Brisbane teams, we had to run to the train in the rain (30 minutes), and then sit, sweaty and rained on, for another half hour. The first thing that hit us was the music in the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, which was way too loud, but the cheerleading was a lot of fun to watch. Some of the stunts were spectacular, and I don't care what you say, it is entertaining watch enthusiastic 7-year-olds doing splits and throwing pom poms up in the air. Still, there were a couple of nasty falls, so I am glad that her coach is a big guy who always spots the teams in stunts.

We took a break to find the ice arena. The rain was still coming down hard. The entertainment centre is huge, my Google map print-out was bad, and to make a very long trip into a very short story: It should have taken 33 minutes to walk, it took 1 hour plus 11 bucks with a taxi, and I have discovered that my daughter has become a very patient little trooper. When we arrived at Ice World, we were wet again. Luckily, they sold socks, and we had been so intent on skating that, against my better judgement, we skated anyway. When I am in an ice rink, I get that feeling of coming home. The blades under my feet. It feels so comfortable, whether it is in Copenhagen, Slovakia, Norway, Delaware or now Australia. It all fits, and I feel good. Ice World has disco lights, a DJ, races, and a plaque of that Australian speed skater that unexpectedly ran away with the Olympic gold in speed skating.

When we left the rink, we saw there was a train just 300 meters away, one stop further along the train line from the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. So now we know for next time. And that is what traveling with me is often about.





Today we all played mini-golf at the golf course next door. It's the nicest course I've ever been on. My son started off with two holes in one. I got one. A good time was had by all.









On the way to the course we saw this critter:

I think he is a skink, more specifically a blue-tongued skink, but we did not see his tongue, and thank God for that. There are lots of varieties of skinks in Brisbane, according to my wildlife book. I nearly jumped a meter into the air. I thought it was a huge snake that had lost half its tail. Completely harmless, according to the book.

International Women's Group

I've just come back from my first meeting of the International Women's Group at QUT, a support system for spouses and partners of international students. I am both inspired and, unexpectedly, saddened.

The meeting itself was very pleasant - a bit of yoga, a nice lunch and a chance to chat with other new arrivals. The director of the program rightly welcomed us by saying that she understood many of us had left careers in our home country while our husbands studied, and that this can be quite an adjustment. The yoga teacher rightly pointed out that things that were subconscious before required conscious thought now (like trying to find sugar in a new grocery store or crossing the street with traffic on the opposite side), and that this can be exhausting and stressful.

There were three engineers, two university professors, a doctor and a beautiful woman from Iran who had just completed her master's degree and was desperate to improve her English in order to get a job. She, especially, impressed me - a radiant woman, enthusiastic about the move, and convinced that it would be good to stay permanently in Australia after only being here two weeks. Her husband walked in toward the end of the meeting, and I immediately pictured a traditional Iranian wedding and the two of them surrounded by family, and I wondered if she had realized what she had left behind yet.

Once again, I found myself the least qualified of everyone in the room (with the possible exception of the Australian leader of the group), surrounded by women with engineering degrees and their own PhDs. It brought me right back to my first day at Global Future in Norway, the only big difference being that there I was the least qualified in a group of both women and men. It was quite humbling, especially as I am looking for work at the moment. The only employed woman in the group was a production engineer who was working as a nanny.  Of course, it has to be said that the meeting was from 10 to 1, so any spouses who had found jobs would most likely not have been at the meeting.

We chatted and there was an energy in the room that I have become very used to any time people of different cultures gather. Then, when I left, I was suddenly struck by sadness. In fact, I almost found myself crying in the middle of town. Yes, these women have all willingly moved with their husbands, they are all relatively happy, but they are young and their careers are mostly on pause for three years. It is a shame for their host country that their talents are not being put to use. I thought back to Global Future again, approval of foreign qualifications, and language expectations. I was surprised to find so many of the same issues in Australia as in Norway. There seem to be many places in the world where an average couple can have an engineer raise their children if they are just willing to hire a foreigner. It just seems like a bit of a waste of talent to me. I am still not sure why the sudden sadness really hit me like that.

Well, those are my thoughts for today. I think they sounded more coherent in my head.

Ekka

There hasn't been much time for blogging as I have been knee-deep in Drupal trying to get Noket AS's website up and running. Drupal makes EZ Publish actually look easy, and I never thought I would say that about EZ Publish. Anyway, it's just about there now, and I hope to have a link ready this week. Noket is our little company, and the website needs to be ready in the event that I do not get a job soon. I have applied for several jobs at the universities in Brisbane and one job in a mining company. It's been a while since I've been in job-hunter mode, and I can safely say that the fun has worn off.

On to the Ekka. Ekka is billed as the week the country comes to the city. It's a ten day event, and it turns out the kids have two days off for the occasion.So, it seems to be a really big deal in Brisbane and we thought we'd better check it out. The main purpose is to highlight all of the good produce offered by rural Queensland, and this we of course support. Unfortunately, most of the food on offer was standard carnival fair like cotton candy and corndogs. There were lots of demonstrations and free samples of local produce, but you had to battle the crowds to get a bite-sized taste.

Ekka itself, unfortunately, is a nightmare. Turns out my favorite thing about the country is the lack of crowds. Tough to pull off when the country comes to the city. Same with the country quiet and the country tempo. The most notable characteristic of the people in this crowd was the lack of belts. I don't think I've ever seen so many plumber's cracks in one place. This at an expo that actually offers genuine leather belts customized while you wait! (This seems to be a genuine problem in Australia at the moment, not just at the Ekka.)

A large part of Ekka centers around animal pageants. I'd never seen one of these up close, so I was curious. I was a little shocked to see a pavilion full of dogs in cages, but more than a little shocked to see their owners sitting with them, in only slightly larger cages. Seriously, the animal owners are caged in along with the animals, numbered and waiting for their turn. OK, the more I think about that, the more fair it seems from the dog's perspective, but it amazes me that people want the prize enough to do this.

I was also looking forward to the sheep shearing exhibit, but the razor broke about two minutes into the demonstration, so that was that.

The highlight was definitely the horses. I'm not really a horse fan, but the horses at the Ekka were stunning. There were breeds I had never seen before, and the animals were in amazing condition. They were beautiful.

But, OK, there are two days off school coming up and we definitely do not have to go back to the Ekka. I just hope everyone else does so that we can be all alone on some quiet beach, no plumber's cracks in sight.

Food

We are loving the food. There is no shortage of local, organic produce or free range chickens and eggs. Fish can be bought fresh off the boat every week at the market. The shrimps are huge. I am spoiled because in addition to excellent Australian food, all of my favorite US and UK brands are here. WOOHOO. Yes, I can get a Cadbury Flake and a bag of Doritos at the same store which I can see from my apartment. It's quite dangerous.

You've got to watch out in restaurants. They will sneak beets and/or pumpkin onto or into a lot of things. I like beets and pumpkin, but I wouldn't want them on my burger.

We went to a regional flavors festival today at the South Bank and sampled lots of the local specialties. Bought some lime and ruby grapefruit cordial (squash or saft) made locally. There were live chickens and a pig there as well, and an experimental farmer who spoke about his garden where he grows enough food for one adult to feed himself all year on 100 square meters of land. Here's a glimpse of the festival:

There are farmer's and crafts markets at South Bank most weekends, and with the artificial lagoon at Streets Beach I think we'll be spending a lot of time here:

Critters

Even though we are a quick walk from the city, it sounds like a tropical rain forest in the morning. I am useless at identifying bird calls, but they are loud and they are plentiful. I am also useless at taking photos of the critters. They move quite quickly. So, I'm linking to the most common animals we see around here:
Australian white ibis - they are not shy at all and I fear for my noodles when I picnic in the park.
Australian Brush-turkey - looks like a turkey because it is a turkey.
Cormorant
There are also lots of different kinds of herons, and our favorites: the lorikeets. A couple of days ago, two of these perched on the railing of our veranda! We are trying to figure out how we can attract them without attracting any of these:
Flying foxes (aka BATS) - we have seen a few at night, but I think bats are cool, so for now it's all OK. However, they are struggling with a virus that the bats spreading to horses and so far one dog in another suburb of Brisbane. Seems smart to avoid areas with too many of them!
Geckos - we had one visit us on our verandah, and yes I do understand that they are helpful critters but I still don't want one in my house, at least not for now. Also, ours was just light brown, not colorful like this one.
Possums - these guys are cute and playful, but they're fairly noisy and I suspect they can play havoc with a bag of garbage. We spotted one walking absolutely in sync with the kids, on a tin roof covering the walkway where they were walking completely unaware of his presence.

We have only seen one proper spider, but the people here talk about spiders and snakes incessantly. Not a single one of them has been bitten by either.

The Queensland Museum has an excellent overview of all the dangerous critters in the state. I was a bit worried to see these:

 and much more disconcerted to read about a cockroach that weighs more than 2 mice!

I also took a trip to the University of Queensland, which has a beautiful campus. There were quite a few critters there as well (mostly ducks), but I also found these trees:

Just to give you a nice close-up of those trunks (any caption suggestions?):

Shooting in Oslo

We are sitting here in shock. I woke up today with three emails linking to the attacks in Oslo. It is completely unreal, and I feel for the parents of those poor children. They were most likely some of the best that Norway had to offer. An attack like this attempts to destroy everything good in society, but I believe that Norway has a solid enough foundation in freedom that it will not be undermined. I hope they have the right guy and I hope they change the law in order to punish him appropriately.

From here, I have found the New York Times to be the best source so far, although the Australian news agency is not doing a bad job either:
http://www.news.com.au/world/twin-attacks-gunman-opens-fire-on-youth-camp-car-bomb-explodes-at-pms-office/story-e6frfkz9-1226100157179

Orientation at QUT

I was lucky enough to be able to tag along for exchange student orientation at QUT yesterday. It's actually the first time I've been to another university's orientation, and it was great to see things from a different perspective. The Norwegian contingent was by far the largest, with 55 students who were obviously happy to be in Brisbane.

The ones waving their hands in the air are Norwegian. They were also shouting WOOHOO :).

The police made sure they all knew what a breathalizer was.

Everyone with a birthday got a cupcake. I thought that was a nice touch. The cupcakes were  WICKED tasty.

The highlight was definitely the performance by the police who demonstrated their various torture instruments (gun, tazer, baton) and got the point across that students should do as the police said or invariably experience pain. Not sure that would work as well in Norway where the point would be they should do as the police said or they may risk a night in a single bedroom with shower and two free meals. Tonight I am even luckier and get to take a river cruise with the QUT International staff and all of the new students.

Spent most of today so far trying to update the address on my CV on my new Windows computer which will not let me download Open Office, use my scanner or print to .pdf. WordPad has screwed up the alignment and formatting...and it keeps beeping at me. (This is the type of blogging the husband approves of, by the way.) I absolutely refuse to pay for Word when I could have Office for free. I am soon giving up on Windows and installing Linux, and then I will be on track again.

I forgot to mention that the water in this building smells like pool, so having been spoiled by the Norwegian water for 15 years, we have been buying water in bottles and lugging them back from the shop. This all changed Monday when we invested in a Brita water purifier. I can highly recommend them. The water tastes great now (which is to say it doesn't taste at all, least of all like pool).

One of my big concerns about living here without a car was grocery shopping, but as we observed the day we did rent a car, the car parks are so big and our supermarket so close that it is actually further to walk from the shop to the parking spot in most shopping centres than from our shop to our apartment. But, if we did get a car it would definitely have to be one like this:

I believe they call it a "ute" as in utility vehicle.

The liquor store is also dangerously close and open all kinds of hours that a Delawarean living in Norway is not used to, but so far we have been very good. Just buying wine on a Sunday for the novelty of it all. Also, there is a cool little DVD vending machine where you can pay by credit card and get at DVD at any time of day or night. You can return it to any similar vending maching 24 hours later. Now, why do we not have these in Norway? It's all Soegne would need since the video store shut down.

Well, those are some little thoughts from me for today which I cannot see have infringed significantly on anyone's privacy (well, maybe except for the ute owner's and the birthday girl). I will now have to Google "smart casual" to choose an appropriate outfit for the river cruise.

We're here

It's our tenth day in Brisbane, and I'm seeing the limits of the blogging due to some imposed restrictions due to privacy issues in this household...I've got plenty of photos out on Picasa, and if you haven't received them but would like to please send me an email.

I am able to give you a little taste of Australia with some koala and kangaroo photos. (They seem not to have privacy issues.)

This one here is a wombat, and I just love the word wombat.

All is well here. We are settling in nicely. We're dining al fresco (largely due to a lack of indoor furniture, but also because we enjoy it). It's cool in the mornings and evenings, but nice and hot midday. similar to a Norwegian summer. The Australians are as friendly as everyone says they are, and the kids are getting along well making friends at school. The apartment looks just like it did on the web.

We've briefly checked out Surfer's Paradise (aptly named), the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (above), the Royal Botanical Gardens, both campuses of QUT, and the neighborhood (which will remain unnamed here because of blog stalkers, of course). It's quieter than we expected and very student-oriented, both pleasant surprises. The cool little cafe just across the street got a nice write-up in the paper this weekend. They had an Irish band playing live music last week. The big city is just a half hour walk away, or 5 minutes by bus. It is strange to think that we are half-way around the world. It really doesn't feel that way yet!

Moving out

The moving out weekend is soon upon us, and it is strange to think that our last meal as a family in the house in which we have lived for 10 years was some soy "chicken" pieces in a jar of Santa Maria korma sauce. I hadn't quite meant it to be that way.

It has been a beautiful evening here - a good one to remember Søgne by. 

Some of my students also came in to say goodbye today. I love my job, and love my colleagues, but I still don't like saying goodbye to the students when they leave. The make it a bit easier when they arrive with this, though:

They have learned how to identify animals out in the Norwegian wilderness by analyzing what they leave behind. So, do you know what you are looking at? Molded out of Plasticine by the students themselves, this is a

(big box of multicultural shit) which they were going to present to the teacher who taught them all about reindeer poop. I could go on and on about having had a shitty day, but I won't. Tomorrow is the last day before I take a one year leave of absence, and I just hope that I can tie up most of the loose ends. I'll miss the job, and the people. But it will be great to take a little break.

School, check.

The last brick has fallen into place in Brisbane. The kids have an interview at our first choice of school, a school they can both attend, just a 12 minute walk from our apartment. (I'm thinking the interview is more of a placement than a job interview. They said we could buy uniforms first, so that's a good sign, right? Or are they just trying to get rid of uniforms? We'll see.) The apartment should be finalized tomorrow. Not gonna jinx it by putting out a photo of it yet.

We have been boxing up stuff all weekend, but managed to take a couple of breaks to enjoy a little bit of the fantastic weather this weekend. If Norway could just stay like this a few more months a year, we wouldn't be moving.

The new template is for Lise so it's easier to read. Hopefully I will soon have the time to make it look a bit nicer. Patience, please.

Pre-packing

We're soon on the way. I've deleted my Facebook profile and driven most of the garbage to the dump.

Husband's enrolment, check. Visas, check. Tickets, check. Passports, check. House sold, check. Car sold, one. Anything else worth selling can be found on Finn.no. Apartment in Brisbane to be finalized tomorrow, with a bit of luck.

Just two weeks to go until we leave Norway, visit the US, and then begin our great adventure in Australia.

Mum, this is for you!