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.