the kiwi flies again

Shanghai - Day 3 - Sunday 22 June

2008-06-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today was largely a recovery day, mostly spent reading in my hotel room, and doing some work (and writing the previous blog posts). It happened to be a rainy day, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on too much by staying holed up.

By about 4.30pm I was feeling well enough to venture out, so got the metro to near the Shanghai Centre Theatre, with the intention of getting a ticket for tonight. It was closed, but the concierge at the posh hotel at the Shanghai Centre sold me a ticket. Then I went back to a little British style pub I'd spotted on the way - not feeling brave enough for Chinese food again yet. I had a very nice meal (vegetarian quesadilla and beer, followed by an espresso) sitting on a little verandah watching the rain pouring down.

Then I wandered back to the theatre. My seat was in the third row, so I had an excellent view. There was an announcement at the beginning that no photos were allowed. So I was a bit annoyed that the guy next to me kept on taking photos - it was distracting, and also annoying that he would have photos of the show and I wouldn't. The show was everything you would hope to see at a Chinese acrobatics show, and worth every yuan. There was jumping through hoops, the double-jointed girl balancing glasses on feet, hands and forehead, jugglers, plate-spinners, tight-rope walker, magician and much more. It was all beautifully choreographed and just stunning.

Then I got a taxi back to the hotel. Tomorrow is work, as is the rest of the week, so I don't expect to have anything blogworthy until next weekend. Before I leave Shanghai (next Sunday) I hope to visit Old Town, the markets and Pudong. I will keep you (literally) posted.

Shanghai - Day 2 - Saturday 21 June 2008

2008-06-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

My plan for the day was to explore the French Concession. I started at the Museum of Arts and Crafts, where I bought myself a dinky little lace parasol. Then I went to Lulu Massage, with blind masseuses. Excellent, and very cheap. Soon after however, and for the rest of day (possibly aided by the massage, but more likely something I ate) I had cause to become very familiar with the public squat toilets of Shanghai. Let’s just say that the most common digestive side effect of the iron tablets I’m taking is no longer an issue. I was also getting quite sore and tired from all the walking. So the rest of the day was not nearly as enjoyable as it should have been.

I checked out Taikang Rd Arts Centre – a little courtyard of boutiques and coffee shops – and had lunch at Kommune (the above-mentioned ailment hadn’t quite hit yet) and did a little souvenir shopping. Then I walked to Fuxing Park – originally French only allowed – and had a welcome rest while watching old men practicing tai chi, a couple of people playing badminton, and plenty of families – one child a piece – enjoying the park. All under the watchful gaze of Marx and Engels.

Fuxing Park

Then I had a quick look around Xintiandi (a touristy shikumen alley), and sat for quite a while with an iced tea, gaining the energy and strength for the trip back to the hotel on the metro. I had an early night with plans for taking it easy the next day.

Shanghai - Day 1 - Friday 20 June 2008

2008-06-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

I started the day with a Chinese breakfast at the hotel – dimsums, fried vegetables, noodles. Then I walked to the conference venue to check out how far it is from the hotel – only about 20 minutes. Then I found the closest metro station and was pleasantly surprised at how clean, efficient and cheap it is – and easy to use. I went to People's Square to go to the Shanghai Museum.

Shanghai museum, People's Square

As I left the metro two local girls starting chatting with me to practice their English. They were nice enough but I heeded the warning on the card in my hotel room – “Follow no strangers to the fun places” – and declined their invitation to go somewhere with them. I got increasingly fed up during the day with people wanting to talk to me and I told one particularly insistent guy that I’m from South America and only speak Spanish.

The museum was excellent and I spent almost 3 hours there. I was surprised to see everyone taking photos of everything. So I joined in.

Bronzework at Shanghai museum

Dog and duck bronzeworks

Then I walked down E Nanjing Rd – a pedestrian mall – to the Bund. Along the way, every second person wanted to know whether I required a watch, a bag, a t-shirt or maybe a dvd. I was getting a bit peckish, so I bought what looked like a Danish pastry, but it was savoury – I’m not sure what was in it.

E Nanjing Rd, looking towards the Bund

The Bund (embankment) is where all the international crowd hung out in the 1920s. A very nice promenade along the river (where I became a tourist attraction – I was just sitting down enjoying my fresh coconut and reading my guidebook when some Asian tourists sat either side of me and got photos taken), and lots of imposing European style buildings. The telescopes (for looking across the river) play “We wish you a merry Christmas” when in use. (The first music I was greeted with in China was a musak version of “Last Christmas” at customs.)

HSBC building on the Bund

I went to a little coffee shop inside the HSBC building that I wouldn’t have known existed except my guidebook told me about it. Then as I was further exploring the Bund, it started raining, so I decided a river tour was in order. I particularly enjoyed the warning sign on the side of the boat.

No striding (running ok)

Pudong on the other side of the river is very different to the Bund – it is a very new development. I had intended to go across and go up one of the towers for the view of the city, but it was too smoggy to be worth it. Maybe another day.

Pudong skyline

And then I made my way back to the hotel, which is quite a way from the centre of town (but close to where the conference is next week), so that took a while. I had dinner in the hotel – I forewent the goose foot in favour of tofu and wild mushrooms. A tiring but excellent day.

Shanghai - Prologue - Thursday 19 June 2008

2008-06-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

The cat took me hostage, obviously. Every time I try to use the computer, he attacks my hands.*

I am in Shanghai for a week and a half, and so away from the evil Loki, and can type without fear. Actually, this just seems like a good place for my travel diary and photos, so I thought I'd revive it temporarily.

So, I’m in Shanghai for a conference. I flew in from Australia on Thursday. I only just made the flight (due to a short a connection and a delayed flight from Albury to Sydney) but just made it onto the plane in time with lots of running – and then we sat at the gate for another half an hour waiting for the final passengers to arrive from domestic connections…

The flight was uneventful – I had been expecting it to be very eventful, what with the Heath Ledger retrospective on the movie-on-demand system – but the system was broken. So I had to do without Heath, and also without Lars and the Real Girl and The Kite Runner. I managed in the end only to see The Other Boleyn Girl, but the screen was really dark.

I arrived in Shanghai about 6.45pm local time, and two local university students met me and accompanied me to the hotel on the airport shuttle followed by a short taxi ride. They didn’t know where the hotel was, but luckily I had printed out the Chinese characters directing the taxi driver.

First impressions of Shanghai – humid, modern, crowded (20 million people – the population of Australia).

* Also, nothing much happens in Albury. And I was done with blogging.

Introducing...

2007-05-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

WARNING:To Stella and her ilk (i.e. if you're the kind of person who in response to: "Do you like cats?" replies: "Yes but I couldn't eat a whole one."

Here be cute fluffy kitten photos.

Continue reading at your own peril...

Yesterday I adopted an 8-week-old kitten. He's very useful at getting the cobwebs out from behind the fridge. He's also a VERY good climber, a very loud purrer, and as a preference sleeps on throats and heads. Which would be cuter if not for the incredibly loud purr in one's ear at the same time. He did give me a nice scalp massage last night though.

I'm still undecided on a name, so I can't get him a name tag yet, so I can't let him outside yet in case he wanders - although he is microchipped and also has a bell on his collar to give the birds plenty of warning.

I think he's probably Loki (Scandanavian trickster god), and I can also call him Loquito (little crazy one in Spanish). That could just be asking for trouble though.

So then I thought of Morpheus - to encourage him to be a sedate, sleepy cat - but I' m not sure it suits him.

A canine friend of mine is called Porter, because he's the same colour as the beer, so along the same lines I thought of Stout - which coincidentally means naughty in Dutch.

I've always liked the name Taliesin for a pet, but it seems a little unwieldy for such a small thing.

And then there's always Ron - purr in Spanish is ronronear.

Anyway, I think I've written enough now so that those who are averse to cute fluffy kitten photos won't have burned their eyes unless they scrolled down, and I did give you fair warning. So here are some photos.

What do you think his name should be? [note: Roadkill has already been suggested]

R (& kitten)

GPS transcript

2007-05-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

We (the Editter and I) drove down to Melbourne last weekend and a friend offered us the loan of his GPS navigator. Although I knew where we were going, it was actually very useful in telling me when to turn and all that. A built-in GPS is now one of three things I want in my next car that I don't currently have (the other two being cruise control and cup holders).

There is a new section of freeway going through my town, which the GPS doesn't know about yet. Its screen tells you that you're flying over rivers and paddocks. It panics. Every time you come close to where a road used to be, or still is but unaccessible because you're on the freeway, it tries to get you to turn onto it. Because you're going fast, it often doesn't have time to finish the sentence. The monologue goes something like this:

Turn around when possible.
Turn left in fort-
Turn le-
Turn right in twenty me-
Silence - because as far as it knows, I'm on the river
Tur
Turn around when
Turn left in forty metres
Turn next left
Sigh of relief as I'm back on a known road

The thing is, I felt guilty confusing it like that! I almost avoided the freeway so as not to confuse it! I found myself apologising to it.

What inanimate objects have you been known to apologise to?

R

artwork Wednesday

2007-04-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

I recently did a mosaics night class (according to my sister, I'm a night class junkie).

The first project was a stepping stone. One of my friends thinks it looks like one of those colour-blindness tests. I should also mention that if you think you can figure out where I live from the house number, you'd be mistaken - for some reason in this town even the shortest streets have numbers over 500 - something to do with distance from the post office, nothing to do with the length of the street.

The next project was a plant pot. I think it's obvious what it's supposed to be, despite various classmates guessing things like kitten and rabbit. To be fair, this was before I'd added wings and feelers. The feelers are made from pipe cleaners by the way.

There are three lots of flowers around the pot (cos I wasn't going to attempt another bee, lest it be mistaken for a wombat or something), this is my favourite. If you look closely you can just see the feelers poking over the opposite edge of the pot.

Next projects - mosaicking my hearth and my fishpond.

R

archeology

2007-04-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

During a recent archeological dig in my garden, I found the perfectly preserved fossilised remains of an ancient creature - subsequently identified as canis miniaturis lassiei. It was unearthed in a location previously covered with concrete, dating it to really quite a long time ago. Nearby a number of red bricks were also discovered, leading to conjecture of an ancient civilisation of miniature dogs living underground in red brick houses.

This does of course bring to mind the supposed communication between the Smithsonian Institute and a backyard archeologist, and I'm obviously just attempting a very poor imitation of it, so instead of rambling on, I'll reproduce here the alleged letter.

     Paleoanthropology Division
   Smithsonian Institute
   207 Pennsylvania Avenue
   Washington, DC 20078

   Dear Sir:

   Thank you for your latest submission to the Institute, labeled
   "211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull."
   We have given this specimen a careful and detailed examination, and
   regret to inform you that we disagree with your theory that it
   represents "conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in
   Charleston County two million years ago." Rather, it appears that
   what you have found is the head of a Barbie doll, of the variety
   one of our staff, who has small children, believes to be the
   "Malibu Barbie". It is evident that you have given a great deal of
   thought to the analysis of this specimen, and you may be quite
   certain that those of us who are familiar with your prior work in
   the field were loathe to come to contradiction with your findings.
   However, we do feel that there are a number of physical attributes
   of the specimen which might have tipped you off to its modern
   origin:

        1. The material is molded plastic. Ancient hominid remains are
   typically fossilized bone.

        2. The cranial capacity of the specimen is approximately 9
   cubic centimeters, well below the threshold of even the earliest
   identified proto-hominids.

        3. The dentition pattern evident on the "skull" is more
   consistent with the common domesticated dog than it is with the
   "ravenous man-eating Pliocene clams" you speculate roamed the
   wetlands during that time. This latter finding is certainly one of
   the most intriguing hypotheses you have submitted in your history
   with this institution, but the evidence seems to weigh rather
   heavily against it. Without going into too much detail, let us say
   that:

        A. The specimen looks like the head of a Barbie doll that a
   dog has chewed on.

        B. Clams don't have teeth.

   It is with feelings tinged with melancholy that we must deny your
   request to have the specimen carbon dated. This is partially due to
   the heavy load our lab must bear in its normal operation, and
   partly due to carbon dating's notorious inaccuracy in fossils of
   recent geologic record. To the best of our knowledge, no Barbie
   dolls were produced prior to 1956 AD, and carbon dating is likely
   to produce wildly inaccurate results. Sadly, we must also deny your
   request that we approach the National Science Foundation's
   Phylogeny Department with the concept of assigning your specimen
   the scientific name "Australopithecus spiff-arino." Speaking
   personally, I, for one, fought tenaciously for the acceptance of
   your proposed taxonomy, but was ultimately voted down because the
   species name you selected was hyphenated, and didn't really sound
   like it might be Latin.

   However, we gladly accept your generous donation of this
   fascinating specimen to the museum. While it is undoubtedly not a
   hominid fossil, it is, nonetheless, yet another riveting example of
   the great body of work you seem to accumulate here so effortlessly.
   You should know that our Director has reserved a special shelf in
   his own office for the display of the specimens you have previously
   submitted to the Institution, and the entire staff speculates daily
   on what you will happen upon next in your digs at the site you have
   discovered in your back yard. We eagerly anticipate your trip to
   our nation's capital that you proposed in your last letter, and
   several of us are pressing the Director to pay for it. We are
   particularly interested in hearing you expand on your theories
   surrounding the "trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in
   a structural matrix" that makes the excellent juvenile
   Tyrannosaurus rex femur you recently discovered take on the
   deceptive appearance of a rusty 9-mm Sears Craftsman automotive
   crescent wrench.

   Yours in Science,
   Harvey Rowe
   Curator, Antiquities

Have you ever found anything unexpected in your garden?

R

Away with the pixies

2007-04-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

On the weekend I went to Sydney to see the Pixies (not to be confused with the pictsies, aka Nac Mac Feegles or Wee Free Men) at the V-Festival. They were ace and well worth the 6 hour drive each way. And I got to catch up with (and unintentionally sponge off ever so slightly) a friend from the US (ex-housemate from Berkeley) who is now doing ever so well for himself. And incidentally is now gay, although he didn't appear to be when I left Berkeley.

On the way to the V-Festival at Centennial Park, we stopped at the Paddington Markets. I was carrying no bag, so really the only things I could even consider buying would be jewellery or food. I did indeed buy a round or two of beer at the Paddington Arms, and as a small token from the markets bought a big, heavy, gorgeous, blue porcelein bathroom basin. Luckily it is being shipped to me. I would post a photo but I still haven't figured out how to get photos off my phone...

Have you ever bought anything totally impractical on a whim?

R

on blog readership

2007-03-25T05:09:00.000-07:00

So here's something that happened lately*: we're having lunch at the pub, and it comes up in conversation that a friend outed her brother's blog to the parents and grandparents. This lead naturally to the topic of blogs and blog readership, and whether it's a good thing knowing that your family reads your blog.

Of course at some point in the conversation I uttered the words "my blog".

To which one of my colleagues said: "Well now that you mention it, I stumbled across your blog a while ago."

Now, I have no problem with people I know reading my blog. I'm just a little uncomfortable with people I know reading my blog, when I don't know that these people know. It's a little weird. Luckily this guy is a friend and I don't really mind. But still.

So tonight I went through all my blog posts and my profile and replaced the name of the town I live in (for that's how he stumbled across it) with "regional Australia" and "this town". Of all the perils of living in a small town, this is not one I'd considered.

Question: are you paranoid about anyone stumbling across your blog?

R

*Let's make a deal. I'll ignore the fact I haven't blogged in living memory if you will. If you comment I will visit your blog. Let's hope you still have me blogrolled.

Line rider

2006-12-21T03:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.linerider.org/play2.php

One of the things that kept me away from blogging for a while there. This is addictive. Once you've had a play, check out some of these movies: http://www.linerider.org/movies/

There, that's my Christmas present to everyone in blogland. Enjoy.

R.

Creature in the compost heap

2006-12-17T02:45:00.000-08:00

Last week a mysterious creature was sighted in the compost heap of a suburban back garden in Regional Australia. According to eye witness reports, it was definitely reptilian in nature. An artist's impression of the sighting is shown below.
As the cover of the compost heap was removed, the creature slithered away. It moved too fast to be able to ascertain whether it had legs.

"I thought it might be a snake", said Flying Kiwi. "It had stripes on its back, so I didn't think it was a brown snake. But there are plenty of other poisonous snakes in Australia". From her description, an artist was able to render a realistic impression of what said snake may have looked like.

As only a portion of the creature was visible, it was hypothesised that it may in fact have been much larger. Although there have been no prior reports of crocodiles so far south of the tropics, the drainage ditch abutting the property made this a very real possibility. Although the lack of water in the drainage ditch somewhat refuted this theory. Again, an artist's impression of the possible crocodile is shown below.

After consultation with local residents however, it was agreed that the creature was probably a harmless and kind of cute blue toungue lizard.

Flying Kiwi expressed relief at this turn of events. "Still", she added, "I can't believe how many poisonous things there are in this country. Who would choose to live here?"

R.

No, it's not fine

2006-12-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

We haven't had decent rain for quite some time now. Farmers are walking off their farms because the drought is so bad. The dam upriver is just about empty - less than 10%. Once that's gone, we have no more water, and neither does the Murray River.

I noticed last week that the weather report on local TV no longer says "fine" but "dry". Because it's not fine that there is no rain. Incidentally, this idea was first brought to the nation's attention on Triple J by none other than Harold from Neighbours.

As if heat and drought isn't bad enough, the bushfires have started (with no water to put them out...). . Saturday is forecast for 39C and there are worries that the fires will be worse than "Ash Wednesday" in 1983.

I don't think we're actually in any danger here. Except from smoke inhalation. There was so much bushfire smoke drifting in today that I had to have my foglights on at 4pm. The smoke alarms went off at work.

Please send water.

R

Hey hey ho ho IR laws have got to go!

2006-11-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

It's not the best rally cry in the world, but at least it rhymes.

This morning I participated in a nationwide union-organised protest against the government's industrial relations laws. I don't really have a point, except to point out that there was a protest march and I was there. The main gathering was at the MCG in Melbourne. I joined the march down the main street of my town.

I was trying to remember if I've ever been to other protests - I vaguely remember something at uni, probably a protest against increasing student fees.

Anyway, in case you're wondering, today's protest wasn't a particularly subversive one for me to join, given that everyone I know is opposed to the IR laws and my boss was standing next to me the whole time...

Question: have you ever been part of a protest? What was it for?

R

did you miss me?

2006-11-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

Apparently it takes three weeks to form a new habit.

It sure doesn't take long to break one.

I didn't intend to have a break from blogging. But it's been quite nice.

This is what I've been doing in the last wee while.

1. I bought a lawnmower, mowed down all the overgrowth in the back garden for the first time, and discovered a cactus!

2. I went to Dunedin, NZ and saw some yellow eyed penguins!

3. And some albatross!

4. I celebrated Thanksgiving! I even had a teeny tiny morsel of turkey. It was OK.

5. I went to an outdoor music festival called Groovin the Moo!

6. I narrowly lost Risk (the game of world domination). Twice!

7. I graded for my green tip belt (7th grade) in taekwondo!

8. I played (or pretended to play in the high fast bits) flute in our All Comers Ensemble end of term concert!

9. I planned to build my deck! (I've done the measurements)

You'd think there'd be more, wouldn't you. Then again, maybe there is, and I'm saving it all for future scintillating posts...

R.

Spot the difference

2006-10-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Before

After

The birds and the bees...

2006-10-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

...and the fish and the shopping trolley.

Nobody told me owning a house would involve all these things. Last Friday I came home to a dead baby parrot in my driveway. Now I am ornithophobic at the best of times. There is no way I could touch this thing. I decided my best plan of attack was to leave it and hope that a neighbourhood cat would deal with it for me.

I then went inside and discovered that some bees had decided to set up house in a hole in the wall next to the hot water unit, and were coming inside via a gap next to the window in the spare room. Again, I decided to leave it and hope they would go away.

I went out to an art exhibition (so chic, especially for regional Australia) and dinner, and when I came home the parrot was still there. So I made one of the people dropping me home remove it - he got a plastic bag out of the boot of his car and took the bird home with him! And then put it out in the rubbish.

The next morning I opened the door to the spare room. The bees were still there. I rang the first number under "bees and wasps" in the yellow pages, and half an hour later the bees were being sprayed. My vacuum cleaner is now full of dead bees. I feel a bit sorry for the bees.

That night (or to be precise, the following morning, 2am) I came home to find a shopping trolley in my driveway. I had to get out of my car and move it before I could drive into my driveway! I rang the supermarket and they said they'd send round their trolley boy to collect it, but it hasn't happened yet.

So those are the random things that have been happening chez moi.

In other news, I have a sizeable fish pond in my back garden, and I realised that without fish it will soon become a mozzie breeding ground. So I took myself off to the pet shop yesterday and bought three comets and two shubunkins. These fish are my first pets in Australia. Quite a commitment, I think you'll agree. The shubunkins I have named CD and BD (CD BD eyes...), but I need names for the comets. Any suggestions? If I can manage not to kill these fish then I will buy some koi (they're more expensive).

In other other news, I've been painting my kitchen red. It is gorgeous.

R

the effects of the coup in Bangkok on my family there

2006-09-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

nephew, upon hearing that the news channels were shut down, concerned that the Cartoon Network might be shut down
children get day off school
next door neighbour child thinks that it’s because “all the teachers have been shot”
sister and her husband forced to go to coffee shop down the road, because local coffee shop is shut
6 soldiers with M16s spotted at pool next to said coffee shop

I do know from my time in Colombia that it's not much fun seeing lots of gun-wielding soldiers on the streets, so let's hope it all settles down soon.

You what?

2006-09-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

It was brought to my attention*, that when some people, like Macromantics, say the word "can't", it sometimes sounds like that C word.

Which brings a whole new meaning to The Sound of Music when Mother Superior says: "Maria, what is it you can't face?".

R

* TripleJ again

Melbourne highlights and lowlights

2006-09-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Highlights:

breakfast on Acland St, St Kilda, served by a particularly gorgeous waiter
shopping on Acland St
coffee in Williamstown with a gorgeous view of the city
shopping on Chapel St
the atmosphere at the AFL game
the Picasso exhibition
the beautiful Yarra valley on the drive in
turning my travel companion into Juanes' biggest fan
seeing people other than white anglos

Lowlights:

being forced off the freeway at Benalla due to an accident and ending up driving into Melbourne via the Yarra valley, which meant about 100 traffic lights to get to the MCG via the eastern suburbs, turning a 3 1/2 hour trip into a 5 1/2 hour trip
getting rained on at the AFL
the ACCA (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art) exhibition - I like modern art, but this exhibition made no sense and was kinda boring
logging on to email when I got home, and discovering that the friends I thought were out of town were actually in Melbourne all weekend, waiting for my call

There are actually more highlights, but as they mostly involved shopping and coffee, I thought I'd omit them so as not to be too repetitive.

R

oh the excitement

2006-09-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Melbourne for the weekend. When you live in regional Australia, Melbourne is exceedingly exciting.

On the agenda:

Go to the AFL tonight (make of that what you will)
See the ocean
Go to the markets
See the movie Scared Sacred
Shopping
As many cafe stops as necessary

In other news, Ms Mac is right as always. I bought choc orange tim tams the other day on her recommendation, and they were (past tense) spectacular.

R.

why I love coming home

2006-09-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is what I come home to. I love my garden. I wonder how long it will stay beautiful and when I will actually have to start giving it some tlc.

My magnolia tree, last night. At least, I think it's magnolia. I blame my lack of plant knowledge on my parents moving us to a first floor apartment for most of my formative years. We had geraniums on the balcony, so I know that they look like at least.

One of my criteria when looking for a house was a verandah to hang my hammock. Bliss.

And here's the view from my hammock (if I'm lying in it the opposite way than I am in the photo, obviously). I have more or less the same view from my bedroom window, which is where I've put my desk.

The back garden is not quite as pretty, and is getting a bit overgrown. I probably need to do something about it soon. But on the other hand, there are all these pretty flowers popping up - not to mention mint - mojitos anyone?

And finally, my wonderful lemon tree. I've always wanted a lemon tree. I also have a kiwifruit vine and an orange tree. Notice how blue the sky is behind the lemon tree.

And that's my photoblog for today.

R.

reminder to eat your fruit and veges

2006-08-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

There were more photos in the email I got sent, but they made me blush. Let's just say I'll never quite look at an eggplant the same way again.

R

If I paint my walls these colours...

2006-08-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

Living room: cream and chocolate
Bedroom: olive and aubergine
Kitchen: lemon
Sunroom: tangerine
Other bedroom: avocado

... will I be hungry all the time?

R.

The little details

2006-08-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's the little details you don't notice about a house until you've moved in.

For example, on the back of my bedroom door (btw, Dad, do you fancy a plaque that says "Grandad's Room" for Father's Day?):

I don't know whether you can actually see in this photo, the three nails on the wall above the door, at three different heights - to me, this looks suspiciously like flying ducks are supposed to hang on those nails...

And how kind of the previous owners to leave this witty and appropriate plate hanging in the kitchen ("I am the master of this house. Whatever my wife says shall be done"). And it goes so well with the wallpaper. I am going to get such satisfaction from tearing down that wallpaper.

There are of course details that I love. Even though it's kind of 70s, I like the overhead display cabinets in the kitchen. Perfect for my Vietnamese laquer bowls (and those are Colombian earth bowls behind them). Of course it will look much better once I paint the walls. Any suggestions as to what colour I should do the kitchen?

And that's about as much of my house as I'm willing to show at the moment, cos I only just moved in so it's mostly still a big mess.

R.

House

2006-08-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I moved into my new* house. My very own house. I own a house. I am a home-owner (it's still sinking in). I also own a mortgage...

There will be photos and all that (of the house, not the mortgage, duh) in the near future.

The internet won't be on for a wee while yet. So I won't be able to blog. Just in case anyone notices I'm absent from the blogosphere.

R

*new to me. It's actually rather old - 80 years or so.

Feet

2006-08-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

Even though it feels like I never went away (I've been back two weeks), my feet still have tan marks from wearing sandals in the European summer, my toenails are still dark red from the pedicure session in Bangkok with my sister and niece, and my heels are still cracked from walking around Prague and everywhere else.

My feet have a longer memory than I do.

R

Old letters

2006-08-05T04:17:00.000-07:00

I decided I really should start packing today*, so I've started with my bookcase and have 4 boxes** packed so far, mostly books. I picked up a pile of papers, wondering why on earth I had stored these for so many years under a bed at my parents' house, and then brought them over to Australia. Two random letters fell out, and reminded me exactly why I keep these things. Memory lane.

The first letter was from the Editter, not dated, but around the time of "so you told them all about the secret fancying" in this post, but, if I'm not mistaken, just before the "and it turns out they knew all along". This was in the days before email, and it was one of those nice long gossippy letters ("And when they said bye she just... kissed him! Amazing eh?"). And it ended with: "On Sunday Nana said she's always regretted missing out on her true vocation in life. I asked what that was and she said 'Mushroom Picking' ".

The second letter was from a correspondant I had no idea I was still corresponding with in 1991, my first year at university in New Zealand and his year of army service in Germany. I had fancied him ever since high school in Belgium, but we never actually dated, although I do remember slow dancing with him when I was 16 or so to "Sign Your Name Across My Heart" by Terence Trent D'Arby... Anyway, it's a very sweet and funny letter (for example, and I know this is pointless unless my readers happen to know Dutch, "Hello my dear#" then at the bottom of the page "# Nederlandse vertaling = dag dier!"), and I'm so pleased I kept it. It seems we had plans to stay in touch and meet up again, but we never did. But it made me smile to read the letter.

Now I really want to go through the rest of the letters, but I've just packed them. So instead I might have a cup of tea and think about what else I can pack***.

R.

* Packing to move across town is just so NOT a big deal having packed to move hemispheres at least half a dozen times in as many years
** Admittedly, 1 of those 4 was one that never got unpacked in the first place
*** Without actually doing any of the packing, naturally

Wikipedia meme

2006-08-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

Because I've been so crap at blogging lately, I'm going to try and give the impression that I actually have something to say* by doing this Wikipedia meme, pinched from Stella a while back.

How to do it:

Go to Wikipedia
In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
List three events that happened on your birthday
List two important birthdays and one death
One holiday or observance (if any)

10 January.

Three events:
1810: The marriage of Napolean and Josephine is annulled
1863: The first section of the London Underground opens (mind the gap)
1929 Tintin (Belgian comic book character) makes his debut

Two important birthdays:
1949 - George Foreman (do you think if I email him and tell him we share a birthday, I'll get a free grill?)
1949 - Linda Lovelace - now there's a piece of trivia I'm going to try and work into conversation more often

One death:
1971 (on the day I was born) - Coco Chanel

One holiday or observance:
Margaret Thatcher Day in the Falklands Islands - what the???

R.

* I actually do have plenty to say, I just can't seem to get around to it. For example, there's the fact I just went to Europe for a month. And bought a house. Little things like that.

5 cities in photos

2006-07-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Bern, Switserland

The story goes that the founding fathers of Bern didn't know what to call their new town. They decided to go hunting, and name the town after whatever animal they successfully hunted. Things could have gone very differently if they'd come across chickens. In any case, the Swiss word for "bears" is close to "Bern". So the obvious thing is to chuck some bears in a bearpit in the centre of town (incidentally right next to my "local" in Bern, die Alte Tramdepot, where I sampled three different beers in the space of six days).

Salzburg, Austria

The castle in Salzburg. This is a proper castle, and looks like castles should. Way too many castles in Europe just look like churches.

Even in Austria, who didn't even play in the Football World Cup, the crowds turned out to watch on the big screen in the square. The Sound of Music was just on TV, and I'm pretty certain the Von Trapp family skipped past this fountain dressed in curtains. Salzburgers don't think much of The Sound of Music. Oh, and apparently at the end of the movie, when they flee over the mountains, they're heading straight for Hitler's summer house. Apparently.

Berlin, Germany

The Berlin wall at East Side. The dudes kissing are Honecker and Brezhnev. Below the painting it says, in German, "My God, help me survive this deadly love". Below you can see part of Checkpoint Charlie - a painting of it, that is. I didn't make it to the real one.

Brandenburg gate - formerly part of the Wall. Imagine my delight at walking down Unter Den Linden towards this iconic symbol of Berlin, only to be confronted by a giant football. Stupid World Cup.

And this is just a really cool sculpture on the Spree. I think in East Berlin, but could be West. It should be irrelevant now, but sadly the difference between former East and former West is still quite marked.

Potsdam, Germany

Potsdam is in the former East Germany. Its university is housed in the Sans Souci palace grounds. That's pretty cool. There's also lots of impressive gardens, statues, and this Chinese tea house.

This photo was taken as we were rowing down the river Spree in Potsdam. I like the reflections. Luckily I managed to keep out of shot the two naked guys who were sitting in the shallows of the river drinking beer, and who stood up as we rowed around the bend. Ewwww.

Prague, Czech Republic

Czech Republic was my new country this trip. I actually worked out that I had already been to 35 countries without counting Czech Republic, so now I'm one up on my age. That takes the pressure off, phew. I absolutely adored Prague, and took way too many photos to put on the blog (one of these days I'll get around to getting flicker). This is a view of the city and Vltava river from the castle (Hradcany).

And this is a cool random angel hanging from a tree - somewhere in the Old Town, I think.

Prague also has some awesome clocks, like the clock in the Jewish Quarter that goes anti-clockwise (huh?). This is an zodiac clock, pointing to Cancer.

Next installment: Rapperswil, Brighton and Vientiane (the only photos I took in Bangkok were of family...)

R.

Secret shopper review: Chateau Mac

2006-07-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

From the greeting at the train station to the personalised drop off at the airport, my stay at Chateau Mac gets a five star rating. The delightful Ms Mac is, as advertised, delightful. The charming Mr Mac is likewise charming and very well trained in refilling vodka and tonics. The children are cheeky / disarming / well-behaved / fairly well-trained (I guess Ms Mac has had more time to work on Mr Mac). Suspiciously, the middle child's absence was explained away vaguely as 'staying over at a friends'. I'm fairly certain Chateau Mac does not boast a dungeon.

Ms Mac very graciously dealt with my last minute announcement that I do not eat meat (making me instantly less popular with Mr Mac who had been looking forward to a dinner of sausages). The wine flowed and so did the conversation, touching on topics ranging from bloggers we have met, bloggers we haven't met, speculation on bloggers' lives, and so on. I believe we also talked about non-blog-related things, like the price of petrol, Harry Potter and open source programming (which got me back into Mr Mac's good books).

I was treated to the extra large mattress (there seemed to be some discussion amongst management on this) and was not forced to use the timer when showering. My stay at Chateau Mac included a personalised walking tour down to the village and a viewing of Big Brother UK complete with commentary.

The following day I took up the offer of a lunch tour to Rapperswil (renamed Slappersville by one witty blogger), incorporating such sights as the lake that Ms Mac swam across recently. The entertaining and relaxing stay was capped off with a delicious pizza for lunch, and then a quick coffee at the airport before my flight to London.

All in all I recommend Chateau Mac very highly. I had a fantastic time and am very pleased to add Ms and Mr Mac to my list of friends-who-live-in-cool-places-so-I'll-keep-in-touch-with-them-in-case-I-ever-go-there-again.

R.

Bohemian rhapsody

2006-07-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

Prague is seriously beautiful. And very Bohemain (cos it's in Bohemia, geddit?). I could live here, I reckon. As long as it's never winter. The language is musical (all those soft z's) and the architecture is stunning as is the history of the place - Good King Wenceslas, Dvorak, Mozart and Kafka all used to hang out here - although not together, I believe. In an hour I'm going on a four hour walking tour of Hradcany (the main castle), the Old Town, the Jewish quarter and the Lesser quarter.

I caught the train yesterday from Berlin to Prague. We passed through Dresden and I was trying to find some historical association in the recesses of my brain and all I could come up with was The Dresden Dolls. I had similar problems with Spandau - for some reason it made me think of ballet.

Now I'm going to go and find some lunch before starting this tour. Lunch will no doubt include a half litre glass of beer - it's standard. Czech Republic is of course the home of pilsner (Plzen is just to the west of Prague) and the original budweiser (Budvar) - which is reportedly miles better than US budweiser - but that wouldn't be hard to achieve.

As wonderful as Berlin and Prague are, of course the most exciting event of this trip is yet to come - tomorrow brings me to Chateau Mac! How excitement!

R.

Special report from Berlin

2006-07-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Views were divided yesterday as to whether the Colombian singer Juanes is sexier with short hair or long. Flying Kiwi thought he looked better with long hair, as he was when she saw him in Cali in September. Her friend thought he looked much better with the short haircut he sported at the Berlin concert of his Mi Sangre tour yesterday. Although Flying Kiwi disagreed, ¨I wouldn´t kick him out of bed¨, she said.

The concert was very enjoyable, and identical to the one in Cali at the beginning of the tour. Flying Kiwi maintains that she is not a groupie, but that it was pure coincidence that she was in Berlin on the same day as Juanes. She is also in Berlin the same day as the World Cup final, and yet somehow finds herself not really caring and instead blogging at the exact time the match is on.

In other local news, Potsdam is very nice and so is Berlin* and sources close to Flying Kiwi think she would enjoy living here. Flying Kiwi is skeptical of the enjoyment factor of winter in Berlin, but concedes that is pretty cool and has about a thousand times more culture than regional Australia.

R.

*photos have been taken and will be posted at some point

snippets

2006-07-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

The other night I was trying to find a friend who was at a restaurant 100m from where we were. My phone is Australian and his is Colombian, so I guess the signal went from Switzerland to Australia to Colombia back to Switzerland. International roaming is kind of cool.

I can tell I've been around German speakers too much when I start saying "sheeps" and "willage".*

I've just been for a walk in Gurten - the hills above Bern. The mountains were hiding unfortunately (they are shy because the mountains peak) in the haze. It's cool how lots of places here are named after cheese - Emmental, Gruyere, etc.

I don't have any more photos yet because I'm not really on holidays yet - I'll start being a tourist on Saturday.

R

* I am in no way making fun of their accents. Their English is way better than my German. It's just cute how they say "sheeps" and "willage".

Switzerland

2006-06-28T08:18:00.001-07:00

It's warm and sunny. I'm staying in a house in a village just outside of Bern and all I can see are hills and pine trees and chalets. When I was walking down to the train station before I could hear cow bells. It's all very Swiss.

There is a village just outside of Zurich called Wankdorf. Tee hee.

My niece asked me to send her photos of castles. Here is one that I saw in Kehrsatz.

The football is on at a reasonable time here (i.e. doesn't interrupt sleep), and in fact I got over my jetlag by staying awake long enough to watch both Australia and Switzerland lose. Then I slept for 10 hours and since then I've been on Swiss time.

I've discovered my German is better than I thought - of course most people speak English but the children in the house I'm staying in don't and they seem to understand me and seem to think I understand them (I mostly do). I'm learning to speak Swiss. I'm also speaking lots of Spanish because my Swiss colleague's Costa Rican fiancee and her mother are also here. Sometimes I speak Spanish to the children and German to the Costa Ricans, which confuses everyone.

And that's all I have to report for now.

R.

When the going gets crazy...

2006-06-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

...the crazy get going.

Today I bought a house.*

In ten hours I fly to Europe.**

R

* Contracts still need to be exchanged but it should all happen. I found out on Friday morning that my offer would be accepted so I had to rush to get all the inspections done and sign the paperwork before leaving the country for a month. It's a California-style red brick bungalow, worst house on the best street. I'm sure I'll blog about it extensively if it all goes through. It's my first house so very exciting and scary at the same time.

** Regional Australia - Sydney: 1 hour 20 minutes
Sydney airport: 3 hours 25 minutes
Sydney - Singapore: 7 hours 50 minutes
Singapore airport: 1 hour 20 minutes
Singapore - Frankfurt: 12 hours 40 minutes
Frankfurt airport: 3 hours 35 minutes
Frankfurt - Zurich: 55 minutes

= 31 hours and 5 minutes travel time, of which 22 hours and 45 minutes is in the air, and 8 hours and 20 minutes are in transit. Then I still have to get a train to Bern.

Conclusion: Australia is a hell of a long way from anywhere.

Footballoos

2006-06-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

It is 2.30am on Monday morning and I am up watching the soccer / football. I have no idea why. I'ts Australia vs Brazil. I am, of course, barracking for Brazil, because as a kiwi I am honour-bound to support any team that is playing against Australia. Aussies are horrified when they hear this, as they tend to support New Zealand, I'm told. Whatevs.

Although it would be kind of cool if the socceroos made it through the next round, just because it is so unexpected.

I think it was on somebody's blog here in blogland that said the socceroos should be called the footballoos. But then it sounds like it has the word 'lose' in it. Which is possibly appropriate.

I leave for Europe in one week. I might actually have something to blog about then.

R.

multiculturalism

2006-06-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

Multiculturalism. This is what is lacking in regional Australia. It's very monoculturual. There are a handful of people who are not white anglosaxon, but really not that many. There are people at work who speak other languages. But everyone's first language is English.

I think this is an aspect of this town that will eventually spell the end of our relationship. There are many things I like about this town. Certain aspects of its character I love. It's open and relaxed and easy and cheap (easiness and cheapness obviously being something everyone looks for in a relationship) and quite attractive in its own way.

I went down to Melbourne this weekend. In the markets I heard so many different languages being spoken. It was great.

There are things I now find annoying about the big city - I got lost both arriving and leaving, there's way too much traffic. It's too big and complicated. But complicated can be a good thing.

So unless this town can learn to be a bit more multicultural, I'm going to have to have to move on*. I've always known this. I just hope that this town understands.

R.

* It won't be for a while. The job's all good.

cycling by numbers

2006-06-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

78 - number of kilometres I cycled on Sunday

55 - number of kilometres I thought I was going to be cycling

20 - number of kilometres left when my knees started cramping

0 - number of times I've previously cycled that far in one go

0 - number of bike rides I will go on before buying padded cycle shorts

The excellent winery lunch made it all worth it though.

R.

rail or air?

2006-05-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of planning my trip to Europe. I leave in less than a month! Of course, the primary purpose of my trip is to visit Chateau Mac, all that conference and work stuff is just to make the trip seem more legit. Oh, and to get partial funding from my university.

I have my flights to Europe booked, but so far nothing booked between arriving in Zurich on 26 June and leaving Zurich on 13 July. In that time I plan to go to Bern (work), Salzburg (conference) and Berlin (visiting a friend).

Now, I could fly to Salzburg and Berlin (Bern is close to Zurich so that would probably be a train anyway), or for about the same price - probably cheaper - I could buy a 3 country Eurail pass. Of course there is a big difference in travel time - 9 hours to Berlin by train vs. less than 2 hours by air.

I'm leaning towards Eurail for the following reasons:
1. It seems like less hassle, even though it probably isn't
2. I feel like I could get work done while on the train, so it wouldn't be a waste of time
3. I would get to see Swiss and Austrian and German (in short, Germanic) countryside that I may or may not have seen before, but if I have, it was when I was a child, and I don't really remember
4. I have a romantic idea of travelling by train in Europe. It just seems like the thing to do.
5. Speaking of romantic, there's always the possibility that it will turn out like in Before Sunrise, and I'll meet a cute young man on the train who will convince me to get off in Vienna. Except my route doesn't take me through Vienna. Minor detail.

So, rail or air?

R.

randomness

2006-05-24T05:45:00.000-07:00

I'm trying this new thing. What I do is, when I get undressed, instead of just throwing my clothes on the floor, I either take them to the laundry or put them away. And with clean washing, instead of just piling it on my bed and then shoving it to one side when I go to bed, I'm putting it all away. I'm not sure how long this will last. But I think it's quite an innovative concept and wanted to share.

It's frigging cold here. Yesterday there was actual ice on my car windscreen. I know this is not unusual at the end of autumn in many places, but this is AUSTRALIA for crying out loud. Sheesh.

In 1934 my grandmother journeyed to the motherland (UK) by ship. She played a lot of deck quoits and bull board. I've done a google search on bull board, but as it is a common shorthand for bulletin board, it's been spectacularly unsuccessful.

So my question is: what is bull board?

R

Where the kiwi has flown - #6 Yosemite

2006-05-18T03:50:00.000-07:00

The other day I was cycling home from work just as it was getting dark and noticed how huge and orange the sun was. Then I noticed that the sun seemed to be setting in the East. And that there was quite a spectacular sunset over the hills to the West. And that in fact that enormous, bright orange ball was the full moon rising. And it made me think of other Full Moons on the Rise.

There was a memorable one on Easter Island. And there was also Yosemite.

There were 8 of us hiking in Yosemite, camping one night. We left the French contingent in charge of food, and they bought about 1 loaf of bread per person. And big bags of chippies. And other things that don't pack down into bear canisters very well. And you can't leave anything in your car, as bears have been known to break into cars for empty chocolate wrappers.

We got the necessary permits and headed up to Upper Yosemite Falls. At one point I came across two guys and the first thing they said was "Go the Dockers!". I was wearing my AFL Fremantle Dockers sunhat. They were from Perth. Small world.

We made it to the top and left our packs in a pile while we explored. In the ten minutes we were gone, birds broke in and stole some bread and cheese. But we had plenty of bread, so it was OK.

We pitched camp and made a campfire. All food had to go in the bear canisters, and also anything smelly. For some reason, the French contingent had brought shampoo, so that had to go in. So there wasn't room for all the bread. So we sat around the campfire throwing on whole loaves of bread. In hindsight, if there had been any bears around the smell of toast probably would have attracted them. We had a long discussion about my inability to differentiate my pronunciations of 'beer' and 'bear'. Oh how we laughed.

It was a warm night, so a couple of us decided to sleep outside under the stars. The sun eventually went down and it was dark for half an hour. Then the moon came up. It was beautiful. And huge. And very, very bright. It was like sleeping under searchlights. I tried putting my head in my sleeping bag to block out the light, but then I couldn't breathe. So after a while the moon wasn't so enchanting. Finally it went down. And the sun came up.

The next morning we hiked up to Eagle Peak, where we had amazing views of most of Yosemite Valley and across to the Dome. And then down for some swimming in the pools above the falls. And then back down to the valley, which wasn't so much fun for me because my knees have decided I am old and they hurt like hell by the time I got to the bottom.

But then we saw a baby black bear, adorably rooting through the rubbish at one of the campsites in the valley, so that made it all worth it.

And then we had pizza and drove home. The End.

R

-----------------------------
Where the kiwi has flown # 5 Cocora and Salento

Where the kiwi has flown # 4 USA '98

Where the kiwi has flown # 3 Lake Titicaca

Where the kiwi has flown # 2 A vignette of Cali

Where the kiwi has flown #1 Tsunami diving

Am I a hypocrite?

2006-05-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

The latest Australian budget, announced on Tuesday (but completely eclipsed in the news by the miners being freed on the same day), does nothing for the environment, education, women or health. It does a lot for the rich (tax cuts) and not so much for the poor. So I am against it in principle. But it seems I'll actually do quite well out of the tax cuts, not because I'm rich, but because the cut-offs are changing and so I slip into a lower tax bracket. And it's not like I can do anything about it, because I'm not allowed to vote in Australia. So is it hyprocritical of me to be happy about my personal tax cuts, even though given half the chance I would vote against the government who gave them to me?

R

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

2006-05-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

(an aside - the title reminds me of a book my parents have with plays on words (Upon My Word? - or was that a show the authors were on?) - the particular story I'm thinking of ended with "absinthe makes the fart go honda")

You may have picked up, either because you know me or because I have nothing to blog about regional Australia, that I'm not particularly enamoured of the town I'm living in. I love my job and where it's taking my career, and this town certainly isn't an awful place - there's plenty of good things about it. And I know I just need to meet a few people and that has nothing to do with this town, just with being in a new town.

And I'm at a point where I'm not going to move somewhere just because. There has to be a good reason, and that reason would have to be a bloody good research or university position.

One place I've always thought I would move back to is Wellington, NZ. I was there last week (apologies to any Wellingtonian friends reading this, I saw no-one except family) for my grandmother's funeral. The past few times I've been back the weather has been shocking, which has made me think twice, but this time it was sunny and warm and the ocean and the hills felt like where I should be. I haven't lived in Wellington since 1998.

I was away in NZ for 5 days, then I had one night at home and drove up to Bathurst for a colloquium for 3 days. I never realised I wanted to drive around Mt Panorama (famous Bathurst racing circuit), but then I drove around it and it was kind of cool. It was suggested I should move to Bathurst and work at the university there. This thought made me really appreciate where I live now.

Now I'm back home again, and it is home. I'm considering buying a house, because I can always rent it out or sell it if it I leave. I'm definitely here until the end of the year - I have a theatre ticket for October. And I'll probably be here longer, but I realise my ambivalence is stopping me from really putting down roots of any kind. I would like a cat - but what if I leave? There's a number of groups I've been meaning to join but somehow never got around to it - bushwalking group, orchestra, martial arts. Actually, I did finally start taekwondo almost 2 weeks ago, but only went to one class before taking off - they must think I hated it and was lying when I said I'd definitely be back. Taekwondo isn't nearly as good as hapkido, but it's the best I can do in this town. And today I took my flute in to get it fixed (one of the keys is loose, which means I can't play any notes between C and F, which is kind of limiting). So once I get that back I can join the orchestra.

I'm reading a book called 'Belonging' (Isabel Huggan), about living in different places and finding your spiritual home - a place where you instantly feel you belong, even if you've never been there before. I'm fairly certain this town isn't my spiritual home, but that doesn't mean I can't make it my home for a while.

I think San Francisco may be my spiritual home.

Where is your spiritual home?

R.

Where the kiwi has flown - #5 Cocora and Salento

2006-04-22T02:16:00.000-07:00

From my diary*, 30 March 2002

Note: I can't find photos of this trip on my computer, but I think they're on a CD somewhere. I will add them as soon as I find them.

Easter Thursday was a day of water. N and I left Cali around 10am, caught a bus to Armenia and caught a buseta from there to Salento - but got off too soon, in Circili, at which point it started raining and raining. We shared a taxi to Salento with two random girls and took shelter in the church for a while, then tried to find somewhere to stay. The only places with rooms free were holes, so we walked up the steps, past the stations of the cross, to a mirador (look-out) with a roof. We swept out the water and pitched our tent. Then we went back down to the town for a trout dinner. The rain finally stopped and we wandered around, looking in shops (lots of cool hippy craft stuff) and eating obleas with arequipe and cream. Then we bought a bottle of rum and went back to our campsite. We spent the evening drinking rum and talking to a young man who had pitched his tent up there also - the rain had stopped and the full moon came out (it's always full moon at Easter, of course) and millions of stars.

Friday was a day of air - very windy. We packed our tent up to save it from being blown over, and went down into town to find some coffee. We were planning on going to Cocora after the coffee, but discovered the Easter procession was about to start. There were a whole bunch of local youths dressed as guards, a statue of Jesus (for whom the priest did the voice), a Pontius Pilate and a Mary Magdalene and everything and they acted out the whole thing. Some of the guards had to read their lines from their hands. Then the whole crowd followed them through the streets of Salento, which were lined with branches.

Eventually we headed out to Cocora (famous for its wax palms - the national tree of Colombia) - had some trouble finding a jeep to take us, but finally made it and pitched our tent just before sunset. We made a campfire and cooked our pasta and tried to keep warm (it's cold up there!). The next morning we packed up and started up the trail up los Nevados (mountain). We only had time to get to a mirador part way up before heading back down again - unfortunately didn't make it up to the paramo where the frailejones grow. When we got back down, it rained just long enough to send us to the restaurant for coffee, so we stayed for another trout dinner.

The next day we headed back to Salento, had coffee at a groovy little place with an ancient coffee machine, trawled the shops again, had trout again, and then headed back to Cali.

R

*My diary was, of course, on the floor in the lounge** under my togs***, which have been there since I last went swimming when the weather was still hot****, about a month ago.

**loungeroom / living room

***bathers / swimmers / cossie / swimsuit / bathing suit

****it seems regional Australia only does extreme temperatures. We went very quickly from being way too hot to sleep to way too cold - 2C overnight (although still 25C during the day)

-----------------------------
Where the kiwi has flown # 4 USA '98

Where the kiwi has flown # 3 Lake Titicaca

Where the kiwi has flown # 2 A vignette of Cali

Where the kiwi has flown #1 Tsunami diving

Please tell me where my diary is

2006-04-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Not that long ago, a couple of weeks ago at the most, I was flicking through my diary and found an entry about the Easter I spent in Salerno and Cocora in Colombia. So tonight I thought it might make a good blog post. It being Easter and all. So off I went to get my diary from beside my bed.

Not there.

Then I remembered I actually wrote in it not that long ago. Which is kind of surprising, cos I hadn't written for ages. But then I did.

So I looked for it in the lounge. I looked in my bedroom. I looked under my bed. I looked under the pile of clothes on the floor. I looked in the kitchen. I looked in the spare oom. I looked in the bathroom of all places. I opened up the sofabed. I looked behind every piece of furniture in the house. I tidied the table that was covered in bills and junk mail. I looked in the most unlikely places. Thrice.

I did find some old diaries. 14 Feb 1993-17 July 1996 and 10 August 1996-3 December 2001. Fascinating stuff, for me. Rather annoyingly, I had a habit back then of writing about people but not actually mentioning names. So half of what I wrote I have no idea who it was about.

It's really really bugging where my current diary (which probably started January 2002) could be. My current theory is that someone obviously broke into my house, ignored my computer, digital camera, dvd player etc, and took off with my diary, and is now publishing its contents all over the internet. If you google 'Easter' and 'Cocora' you'll no doubt come across it. Let me know.

But going on the very slight possibility that it is still in my house, please leave your suggestions in the comment box as to where I should look for it.

Thank you. It's driving me mad.

R

All those years of study are worth it...

2006-04-11T03:40:00.000-07:00

... because when you work in research, you can justify a trip to Europe for a month on the basis of a half hour presentation at a one day conference.

The conference is in Salzburg (that's Austria) but I will also be taking in Switzerland, Germany, maybe France, maybe UK. And I'll be stopping in Thailand on the way back and I'm thinking of trying to wrangle a side trip to Laos.

Because I've already been to all the countries mentioned, and because I need another country this year to keep up with my age, I'm also thinking of a side trip to the Philippines.

Bring on July.

R.

Boobies

2006-04-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

So there I was at the gym, minding my own business, and this skinny chick, who I've no more than exchanged a hello with (and who is lifting like half the weight that I am, by the by), suddenly says:

"I wish I had your boobs"

I didn't really know what to say.

What's the strangest compliment (or in a strange situation) that you've been given?

R.

How to declutter your life

2006-03-31T19:16:00.000-08:00

1. Store a whole bunch of stuff at your parents' place for 5 years
2. On a visit home, go through all that stuff and wonder why you stored half of it. Get rid of that half. Box up the rest* of the stuff which is useful, gorgeous or brings back all kinds of memories, which is why you stored it in the first place.
3. Send the box to yourself at great expense.
4. When the box arrives, get very excited at the thought of unpacking all this useful, gorgeous, memory-provoking stuff.
5. Unpack box
6. Throw away everything that broke. Voila, decluttered.

Here's the ratio of broke / didn't break:
Wineglasses: 6/4
Cups: 1/5
Plates: 3/4
Bowls: 2/0
Shotglasses: 0/4

Things weren't just broken. They were crushed. I'm rather upset but I don't know who to be upset with. I had two gorgeous fish plates, both broken**. Beautiful wineglasses. I'm bummed.

I could have saved a lot of time and money and just smashed it all up 5 years ago.

But, it's just stuff, I guess.

R.

*OK, so there's still a couple of boxes at my parents' place. I'm getting there though.
**Also upsetting because I only own 2 dinner plates, so this would have doubled my dinner plate count and allowed me to think about having a small dinner party.

A meme

2006-03-29T03:59:00.000-08:00

Ms Mac said it was OK to pinch this, and I believe everything Ms Mac says.

1. How did you get the idea for your profile name? I'm a kiwi and I fly sometimes
2. What song are you playing now, or wish you were playing? For some reason, I have Quizas, quizas, quizas in my head. I only know some of the words, so I make them up as I go along (in Spanish).
3. Has the death of a celebrity ever made you cry? Not that I can recall.
4. What colour underwear are you wearing? I had to check. Black. Today my knickers and bra actually match.
5. Do you want a baby? I liked Ms Mac's response (baby panda or polar bear - but remember, a baby panda or polar bear is not just for Christmas). Yes.
6. What does your dad do for a living? Computer geek, croquet tournament planner and player, organist, competitive sudoku-ist (against my mum), teller of jokes and convoluted stories
7. What does your mum do for a living? Volunteer for all kinds of things, chorister, croquet player, competitive sudoku-ist (against my dad), laugher at jokes and convoluted stories
8. What is/are your pet's name(s)? Don't have a pet, but I'm thinking of getting a cat. Just as soon as I figure out whether I'm staying here for a while.
9. What colour are your bed sheets? Gold
10. What are the last 3 digits of your phone number? 511
11. What was the last concert you went to?

What's her name. Sings about a parking lot. Mia Dyson, that's it. Although Opera in the Alps (which was neither opera, nor in the alps) may have been after that. Oh, I tell I lie, I saw some jazz the other week, they were called The Wizard and Oz.

12. Who was with you? Friends from work.
13. What was the last film you watched? L'Appartement. It's the French film that Wicker Park was based on. I saw Wicker Park the other week and thought it was ok. But now I've watched L'Appartement I can confirm the Americans got it completely wrong with their adaptation (surprise, surprise). I wish I'd seen L'Appartement first. Way better.
14. Who do you dislike most at this moment? Can't really think of anyone. Lindsay Lohen's a bit annoying.
15. What food do you crave right now? To be honest, a glass of water. But that's only because I've already had my dinner and I'm going to bed soon.
16. Did you dream last night? Don't think so.
17. What was the last TV show you watched? The Glass House. Fantastic Australian standup comedy.
18. What is your fav piece of jewellery? I don't wear jewellery a lot. But I guess my favourite piece is my raw opal and silver bracelet that I made myself.
19. What is to the left of you? A blue thai silk handbag with gold elephants on it (not real elephants, you understand).
20. What was the last thing you ate?

Lindt Intense Orange Dark Chocolate
21. Who is your best friend of the opposite sex? Huh. Good question. There's a few contenders in various countries. But I think I'll go with nephew #2. Because he fights for his right to sit next to me in the car when I visit.
22. Who last MSN'd you? Chris in San Francisco
23. Where is your significant other right now? No idea. I'd like to think, just around the corner (metaphorically speaking - otherwise that's just creepy)

24. Do you have a crush? I have a few mini crushes
25. What is his/her name? Not saying.
26. When was the last time you had your hair cut? 3 hours ago.
27. Are you on any meds? Nope
28. Do you have a mental disease? Not that I'm aware of.
29. What shirt are you wearing? Orange stripey thing I've had for years.
30. Are you sexy? What kind of question is this? What kind of people say no? Yes, dammit.
31. What's your favourite store? Anything that's not a chain store. Markets. Independent music and book shops.
32. Are you thirsty? Yes. I think I'll go have that glass of water now.
33. Can you imagine yourself ever getting married?

Yes. I mean, there's still space for a photo on my mother's wall by the stairs...
34. Who's someone you haven't seen in a while and miss? Oh, so many people. I've seen the NZ contingent of my family relatively recently (i.e., this year), so, my niece and nephew in Bangkok.
35. Where do you work? At a university.

Isn't it annoying how you think a meme is a lazy blog entry, that it won't be much work, and then it ends up taking so long.

R

What's the time mister wolf?

2006-03-26T02:04:00.000-08:00

"Parliament has legislated to extend daylight saving in 2006 to coincide with the Commonwealth Games by one week to 2 April 2006."

Aside from being a poorly constructed sentence, it's just stupid. It means random computer systems will be out by an hour because they think daylight saving happened this morning. My computer seems to know the time, as does my cellphone. Outlook calendar, however, does not. On the plus side, maybe I can use this an excuse to be an hour late to all my meetings tomorrow. Which would be useful, cos I have a 9am one.

I only just realised that because NZ has just done the daylight savings thing, they're only one hour ahead for this week. I wish I'd known that when I thought about ringing my sister at 7.30pm my time but then thought, nah, it's probably too late there.

I'm confused.

R

Conversation with a student

2006-03-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

Student: "I wish you taught this other subject. The guy who teaches it makes us all fall asleep"

Me: feels rather smug about my teaching ability

Student: "Yeah, cos when you talk we stay awake waiting for you to say fish and chips or something in your funny accent"

R.

Bar the car

2006-03-21T03:19:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is "Bar the Car" day. I will be cycling 12km to work. I would find this prospect daunting, except for the fact that on Sunday I cycled 52km from Myrtleford to Porepunkah (tee hee, place names around here are so cute - have I mentioned Burrumbuttock?) and back. With stops at a nut shop (mmm, macadamias), a winery (mmm, shiraz viognier), a tavern for lunch (mmm, Indian curries) and a berry farm (mmm, raspberry sorbet). I don't think we have any of those on the way to work, so maybe it will be tougher than I anticipate. And then there's the bit where I have to cycle home again at the end of the day.

Part of the point of Bar the Car day is that climate change is a personal responsibility. So remember people: buy locally grown, organic food; reuse and recycle; plant trees; spend creative time, rather than spending money; increase quality of life, rather than standard of living; and a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.

R.

Where the kiwi has flown - #4 USA '98

2006-03-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

Eight years ago, in February 1998, I was working in the corporate world. I was part way through my part time Masters degree, and I was working with the lovely Violet. I had just celebrated my 27^th birthday with a 70s themed party. I was flatting with The Editter in Hot ‘n’ Spicy Kiwi’s house (Hot ‘n’ Spicy and hubby were living in Bangkok). And I had enough money, and enough leave, to take off to the USA for a month.

It wasn’t my first time in the States, but it was my first time on holiday there without my family. Oh, except for that holiday in New York in ’92. OK, so it wasn’t even my first time on holiday in the US without my family.

When kiwis leave their homeland, they tend to make the most of it. Unless you’re going to Australia, it costs so much and takes so long to get anywhere, that you may as well stay for a while. If you’re going to Australia, you may as well stay for a while too, because the pay is better, the beaches are sunnier and you can always go on the dole. But that’s beside the point.

My plan was to join Rosie Cheeks and some other friends at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Then I thought, what the heck, if I’m going all the way to New Orleans I may as well visit Rosie afterwards in DC. Then I thought, what the heck, if I’m going all the way to New Orleans and DC, I may as well visit a friend in San Francisco. And then I thought, what the heck, if I’m going all the way to New Orleans, DC and San Francisco, then I may as well go and visit my aunt and uncle in Anchorage. Then my travel agent said what the heck, if you’re going to all those places it’s actually cheaper to buy a return ticket to London which allows you four stops in the US.

First stop was San Francisco. You remember, of course, that ’98 was an El Niño year. It rained the whole week I was in SF. I experienced umbrella rage (a motorist threatening another motorist with his umbrella). I spent a lot of time indoors – I remember watching an eyeball dissection at the Exploratorium. But I also walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and rode the cable car and did other such touristy things. I adored SF. When I was offered my postdoc position in Berkeley a couple of years ago, I had no idea it was just across the bay from SF. It was rather exciting to discover this geographical serendipity (serendipitious geography?).

Next I flew up to Anchorage, with a stopover in Seattle. It also rained in Seattle, but I believe that is to be expected. Alaska was cold, it being February and all. And it being Alaska and all. I went cross country skiing with my aunt and saw a mother and baby moose and fell on my arse. The next day I attempted snowboarding, but my sore tailbone prevented me from making much progress. It’s a bit difficult to learn to snowboard when you’re paranoid about falling over. There was some kind of festival on while I was there – Rendezvous or something? – involving dog mushing and other Alaska-themed happenings. That week with my aunt and uncle was very special (they have both since died, sadly).

After a week I was plenty cold, so I flew to the relative warmth of New Orleans. There were 8 of us (including 4 kiwi friends who had flown over from London) staying in a guest house not far from the parade route. It was a little far from Bourbon St but we made the trek multiple times nonetheless. The week is a bit hazy, but I remember beads. Lots of beads. Some beads I got just for being from New Zealand (it’s that adorable accent, gets them every time). I also remember hurricanes (the alcoholic variety, not the Katrina variety), a Texan wearing a Waikato rugby jersey, a yard glass, getting crushed in the crowd, some old biddy snatching some beads off me that I had caught fair and square when they were thrown from a float, Jerry Springer on a float (I had no idea who he was at the time, if only I could have kept my innocence), and being cleared (along with everyone else) off Bourbon St by cops on horseback at the stroke of midnight on Mardi Gras itself (as Lent begins at midnight, apparently). We also did a swamp tour (complete with alligators and marshmallows - the latter for feeding to the former) and other touristy things. I would like to go back to New Orleans sometime when it’s not Mardi Gras. Although somehow that plan isn’t so appealing anymore…

My final week was in Washington D.C. I particularly enjoyed Georgetown and the plethora of squirrels. And the fact that there is a suburb called Foggy Bottom.

Then I flew to London for a weekend. I have no idea what I did in London that weekend.

And then I flew home and back to my corporate job which paid for all my gallivanting around the US.

The end.

R.

--------------

Where the kiwi has flown # 3 Lake Titicaca

Where the kiwi has flown # 2 A vignette of Cali

Where the kiwi has flown #1 Tsunami diving

This morning, outside my bedroom window*

2006-03-13T02:52:00.000-08:00

A jackhammer.

Bidididididi bidididididididididi bididididididiidididididididididiidididididi

An electric saw.

Nyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii nyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Workmen shouting over the ruckus of the jackhammer and the saw.

"Tjfieakejh!" "What? I can't hear you!!!"

A hammer.

Tonk tonk tonk tonk tonk tonk tonk tonk.

Ok, turns out that last one was my clock striking eight.

Practically every morning since I moved here in November, workmen have been arriving on the building site next door at the crack of dawn, to beat the heat of the day. The concrete mixer a few weeks back was bad enough, but that jackhammer. Grrrrr.

I can't wait until the house next door is finished. It will probably be the same day I decide to move.

R.

* Readers will, of course, recognise this as an oft-used post title in a world famous blog

The ideal female leader

2006-03-13T02:49:00.000-08:00

Germaine Greer said her 'ideal female leader was New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who had kept her country out of the Iraq conflict. She's done things that you would have thought for a little tiny nation hanging off the bottom of the Pacific you couldn't get away with," she said.'

- The Border Mail, Saturday March 11 2006

Although I'm not sure how I feel about her calling my homeland tiny and hanging off something's bottom.

R.

Regional Australia vs Wellington

2006-03-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

Cost of parking at the airport in Wellington for 4 hours: NZ$22

Cost of parking at the airport in this town for 4 days: $AU0

R

2 sleeps to go...

2006-02-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

... until my flying visit to New Zealand. I will be there for just 3 whole days - and that includes driving for 7 hours. So I will spend more time travelling than anything else - sigh. But I just couldn't take more time off work, what with it being only the second week of term.

The event is a dear friend's wedding, and the bonus is that I get to see two of my sisters and my parents (and my sister's bump, for the first time). And I get to drink as much as I like at the wedding, because the Editter can be the sober driver!

I think I'm organised:

wedding outfit - check
wedding present - check
present for friend's one-year-old - check
present for nephew who's turning 12 - check
present for niece who's turning 5 - check
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything to lend to my Dad - check
Bryan Sykes' The Seven Daughters of Eve to return to the Editter - check
wine made by my university - check
passport - check

Haven't done any of that packing malarky yet, that can wait until the last minute.

R

Brokeback Mountain

2006-02-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

Practically every review I've read of Brokeback Mountain says how much it haunts. People can't stop thinking about it days later.

Well, the movie finally made it to Australia and I went and saw it last night. OMG. And that's not just for Jake Gyllenhaal without his shirt on. We had to go for a coffee afterwards just to talk about the movie. When I got home I spent ages on IMDB and the Brokeback Mountain website.

Run, don't walk, to see this movie.

The only thing that bugged me was there was a little girl who had curly ringlets when she was about 3, then when she was 6 her hair was dead straight.

R.

It's raining!!!

2006-02-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

It hasn't rained for so long, this is a bit exciting. I just checked, and today we had a whole 6mm of rain! Woohoo.

It's particularly good because I keep on forgetting to water my lawn, and it's as dry as a very dry thing.

It also means the temperature has finally dropped, the high today was only 27.5C!

See, Regional Australia does get exciting sometimes.

R.

tick tock tick tock

2006-02-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

Remember those clock keys? They arrived today. How excitement.

Just unwrapping them was an adventure, he'd used that much tape.

I tried the first one in the clock. The first key was TOO BIG.

I tried the second one in the clock. The second key was too small.

Finally I tried the last one in the clock. The third key was just right!

So I wound, and I wound, and I wound, and I wound, and I wound. I set the time (it was 6.48pm). I set the pendulum going. The clock started ticking. And tocking. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Twelve minutes later I got a hell of a fright when the clock chimed seven times.

R

Is it inhumane if it's a cockroach?

2006-02-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

Most spiders and bugs I can co-exist with. I ignore them and they go away. I feel guilty when I accidently vacuum up a spider (although I haven't vacuumed in a while, so the spiders are safe for now).

Last night though, there was a cockroach in my kitchen. There was nowhere for it to hide. It kind of ran back and forward on the kitchen bench for a while. I reached over and flicked the on switch on the kettle. The kettle boiled. I poured boiling water on the cockroach and it ran away for about one millisecond and then rolled onto its back and curled up. I was pretty paranoid that it was just playing dead, cos you know these things (and Ding Dongs) will survive a nuclear war. But no, it seems to have worked.

Not quite as horrible as the time in Colombia when we tipped the toaster upside down and about seven dead cockroaches fell out...

R

This little piggie went to market

2006-02-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to checking out the Sunday Community Market this morning. It was pretty much just like the Ashby Weekend Market in Berkeley, but about 1/4 the size. And probably pretty much like weekend markets anywhere, I guess. Who buys all this crap? Who are these people who buy broken tools and paperbacks missing the cover and chipped crockery? Mercifully I didn't spot any stalls with handknitted toys and teapot cosies, which I was fully expecting. I bought some plums and capsicums and a watch.

In other weekend happenings, I canoed for 3 hours on the Murray River yesterday. Lots of fun, especially as it was someone else's canoe that got snagged and capsized - twice. In fact, the occupants of that canoe were so freaked out after the second time that they opted to wait on an island for a jetski to come and rescue them.

And totally unrelated to anything, I give you Bee Dogs.

R

Blogaversary

2006-02-15T03:14:00.000-08:00

The other day was my blog's birthday. It seems quite common that around this point in time, bloggers go "meh". And go out with a bang, or announce they're over it, but then come sneaking back, or fizzle out but then come back with a new blog.

I don't plan on doing any of that. It's just that most of what I can think of to say is work related, and I'm not going there on my blog. Except to mention that my last week of work has involved archery, falling out of a canoe, high ropes, earning geek-cred with my first years (that one involves Monty Python, Terry Pratchett, Red Dwarf, and not being a morning person) and a nerve-wracking but in the end quite successful seminar presentation.

R.

A Boy Named Sue

2006-02-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

I was a little disappointed that the song A Boy Named Sue didn't feature in Walk the Line. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Walk the Line. However, A Boy Named Sue is probably the only song I could have correctly identified as a Johnny Cash song before seeing the movie. I have strong associations with the song A Boy Named Sue.

First of all, we learned it at school. I think it was in English class. Bearing in mind that I studied English as a third language in Belgium. And yes, English actually is my first language. I thought it was a great song. The other songs I think I remember learning in English class, although they may be fake or implanted memories for all I know, are Thank God I'm a Country Boy, Russians and Good Night Saigon. Interesting taste in music, that teacher.

Then there was that time when I was a student and my boyfriend's band ThünderMönkey were playing their final gig. All the fans turned out to hear such classics as Hooters from Hell and Hot Knives on the Kitchen Stove. Instead they sang Johnny Cash covers, and Johnny Cash covers only. I'm pretty sure they must have sung A Boy Named Sue.

Finally there was that night, just last year actually, when I decided to ~~sing~~ shout A Boy Named Sue as my karaoke choice at a party. Twice. They loved it, honest.

R.

Look what I did!

2006-02-04T00:31:00.000-08:00

I made sushi for the first time ever. I'm quite impressed with myself. In hindsight I think the carrot was a mistake - should it have been cooked perhaps? - but the smoked salmon, cucumber and avocado were delicious. I would rather have used raw sushi fish - salmon or tuna - but raw sushi grade fish 3 1/2 hours from the ocean? I don't think so. I was a little disappointed with the pickled ginger I bought - far too sweet.

In other news, today I successfully bid on these on Ebay. I can't believe I got them for only $325.

Just kidding. $15. You see, I have this fanastic clock on the wall in my living room (third photo in my last post). I inherited it from my aunt and uncle, and we're pretty sure that there was a key with it when it left Oamaru, but since then it's been to Napier, Perth, Berkeley and Regional Australia, and this is the first time I've actually tried to get it working. Only to discover that it needs winding. And that I have no key.

I have no idea what size key it needs, but I think these are the right kind, so hopefully one of them will work. And the others I was thinking I can turn into rather interesting pendants for necklaces.

R.

Houses I have lived in #326

2006-02-01T03:29:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking I might buy a house here. Last night I flicked through The Australian Home Buyer's Guide (yep, the apostrophe really is there, it's a guide for one single buyer) and decided that unless I'm going to live here for at least 5 years it's probably not worth it. And I don't really plan on living here for that long, although you never know. Although it's very tempting to buy a house just to get the $7000 first home buyer's grant. And if I find an amazing little cottage with river views and swimming pool, within my price range, then I guess I would consider buying it...

In the meantime, the little house I'm renting is actually pretty cool. Really the only things wrong with it are that there is no off-street parking and no bathtub. And the lease agreement says no pets, but I might see if they'll let me have a cat anyway. Or maybe I'll just get one and then hide it when the next inspection happens.

Anyway, all this is leading up to some photos of my current abode. So without further ado:

This is the pathway to my house. It's a bit of a jungle. But at least it's nice and green when so much else around here is yellow and brown from lack of rain.

The front door is on the right of the living room.

Or on the left of the living room, depending on which way you are facing.

I love my kitchen. This is a good thing.

My bed is never made. I guess I just pulled up the cover for this photo. Although these days, with night time temperatures barely dipping below 30C, the cover is now lying on the floor at the foot of the bed. I really like the bed I bought, but it has given me quite a few bruises. I'm such a klutz that I keep on walking into / whacking body parts on the foot of the bedstand.

This is in the corner of my bedroom. It is the fuse box. But I've disguised it as montage of an eskimo kayaker hunting a giant rabbit.

And this the back of my house. You might be able to spot the tv antenna propped against the fence. This would explain why I have crappy tv reception.

There are other rooms in the house - a toilet room, a bathroom and a spare room - but they don't contain anything all that exciting.

If I'm going to stay then I should really do something about the garden. But if I'm going to move in a couple of months then why bother. Decisions, decisions.

R

It's my year

2006-01-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Year of the Dog, everyone.

To celebrate, I've been sitting inside my house all day, with the aircon on. It's way too hot to go outside (39C). I did that yesterday, anyway. Twice. Although I might go for a swim later.

Anyway, as it's too hot to think, I'll just do a meme which has been floating around, that I found on the Editter's blog. Even though I wasn't tagged for it. You know how it is.

First line of first post for each month of the last year:

Today I'm moving house across town and flying half way around the world, so it seems like a good day to start a blog. The rapture: When all believers in Jesus Christ, who have been born again, are taken up to heaven. I was meaning to make this map when Violet posted it, but then forgot about it. I was talking the other day with a friend about the implications of living internationally - being someone whose work allows them to work in all kinds of places around the globe. So I just got an email from a friend of mine. Every now and again someone asks me what 4th of July is like in my country - do we have fireworks etc. Anyone here in the US watch Six Feet Under on Sunday? Went to Cape Cod - wonderful. I just got back last night from a week in Cali, Colombia. I made it to Australia. Isn't it funny how people you've never met can influence you?

I quite like it. I think it gives a rather good synopsis of my 2005. You can tell I travelled a lot, I have friends, I like Six Feet Under. Let's just ignore the sentence about the rapture, shall we?

R.

2005 warmest year in a century

2006-01-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/2005_warmest.html

But the way 2006 is shaping up, I don't think that 2005 will be holding that record for more than a year. It's so hot here, I try to have a cold shower and hot water comes out. Just doing the dishes I sweat as if I've just run a marathon (although admittedly I've never run a marathon).

And if you need further evidence of the impact of global warming, the Onion reports on the sad plight of snowpeople in the US.

R.

Satisfaction vs. effort

2006-01-25T02:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was very much looking forward to trying out Short and Sweet's gnocchi recipe. I love gnocchi and I think it's adorable how it almost rhymes with nookie. I went and bought kumara and spinach and flour and ricotta and water to boil it in (ok, ok, I already had that). I also bought a whole heap of other things. On the way home it occurred to me it that it would take a bit of effort to peel and boil and kumara. And that it would be much quicker and easier to saute some of the scallops I'd just bought.

And I realised that in a tradeoff of satisfaction and effort, the scallops win hand down. I had them with Israeli couscous and salad. Did you know that Israeli couscous is not couscous? I always thought it was a grain. Turns out it's just a wheat pasta. Huh. So anyway, the meal I had scored about a 5, calculated as satisfaction/sqrt(effort). In this case satisfaction = 8 and effort = 2.5. Now, I realise it's quite sad that I've spent the time to work out this ratio, and even sadder is the fact that I've made up a wee graph in illustration. But I like to think it shows my level of dedication to my blog readers.

I anticipate that the gnocchi would have scored about 3.5 (s=7, e=4). The glass of wine I had with dinner scored 10 because it was already open and chilled, all I had to do was pour a glass. It's possible to go off the scale if effort is very low, for example if someone were to pop chocolate-covered raspberries into my mouth I imagine that would score, say, 4957.

Portuguesa Nova's quinoa loaf, despite the fact that I encourage her to make it and report back, scores a dismal 1.5 on my scale. Obviously the scale is scientifically proven and not at all subjective. So therefore I won't be making quinoa loaf anytime soon. Also, I think quinoa is a native American grain and unlikely to be in the supermarket in hicktown Australia.

R.

Where the kiwi has flown - #3 Lake Titicaca

2006-01-21T21:23:00.000-08:00

The Gay Maitre D' and I were standing patiently in line at Lima airport, waiting for our hand luggage to be scanned. We were cutting it a bit fine to get on the plane, but it seemed that most other people in line were going to Cuzco too, and being good little descendents of British colonials, we queued. Suddenly there was a commotion behind us: "Coming through, coming through!". A very loud American voice. "Oh my god! That's Rosie Cheeks!" said the Gay Maitre D'. We forgot our good manners and fell into a trot behind her, letting her elbow her way through. Within minutes we were seated on the plane, where we then waited half an hour for the remainder of the passengers to have their hand luggage scanned.

The Gay Maitre D' and I had spent the night in Cuzco airport, talking a lot, sleeping very little. I'd met up with him in Santiago airport - he'd come from New Zealand, and me on a plane from Colombia that went via Lima (apparently it was cheaper for me to fly all the way to Santiago and then back up to Lima, rather than just get off the plane in Lima, something to do with my round the world ticket). We'd then waited for Rosie to arrive from New York (the Gay Maitre D' holding a romantic "Will You Marry Me" sign - long story) only to have to give up when her plane was delayed arriving. But here we now were reunited on a plane to Cuzco.

We had two days to kill before the Editter and Hepzibah would arrive to do the Machu Picchu trek with us. As long as we stayed above 3000m (so as to acclimatize to altitude) we could go wherever we wanted. And so a couple of snap decisions later saw us ensconsed on the overnight bus to Puno. It was a cold, not very comfortable night. But, for me at least, totally worth it.

The next morning we joined a tourist boat on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. As we did the introductions, everyone booed the Americans and the Americans booed the French. Sigh. Nobody booed the kiwis.

Our first stop was the Uros islands, a group of tiny islands made from reeds. Everything on the islands is also made from reeds - the houses, the post office, the school. Reportedly the indigenous Uros people retreated from the Spanish and eventually were forced onto the lake in a bid to retain autonomy and maintain their traditional way of life. Which is now put on show to tourists. Still, at least they made a little bit of money off us.

The reeds grow in the lake and they gather them, dry them and use them to build up the top layer of the island as the underneath decays. They also eat them and build boats out of them.

We then continued on to Amantani island where we spent the night. It was quite a hike up to the village, where we stayed with local Quechuan-speaking families. We then hiked even higher, to about 4100m, to the top of Pachamama, the goddess-hill of the island (the god-hill is Pachatata). The Gay Maitre D' smoked his last cigarette (he didn't smoke again until we reached Lima, after Machu Piccu - a whole week later).

After dinner (consisting primarily of potatoes and yams) we got dressed up in traditional native costumes to join in a dance with the villagers - who I'm sure never get sick of doing this night after night for all the tourists. Unfortunately for me, it was at this point that the altitude sickness struck. Our host stuffed eucalyptus leaves in my headband and gave me plenty of indian mint tea to drink, but all I could do was sit miserably while the Gay Maitre D' and Rosie Cheeks were spun around in circles by the locals.

In contrast to Amantani and Uros, Taquile, which we visited the next day, was much more touched by tourism. Here there were shops with loads of handicrafts and a couple of restaurants.

On the way back to Puno, the boat crew challenged the tourists to have a swim in Lake Titicaca. The only ones mad enough, were, predicably, the kiwis - me and the Gay Maitre D'. As the lake was around 10C (50F), 'swimming' involved leaping in and then swimming madly back to the boat and getting out as quickly as possible.

That night we braved another overnight bus back to Cuzco, where the Editter and Hepzibah had meanwhile arrived, and an even bigger adventure awaited us: the 4 day Machu Picchu trail.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Where the kiwi has flown #1 Tsunami Diving
Where the kiwi has flown #2 A Vignette of Cali
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

R.

They speak weird here too

2006-01-17T22:51:00.000-08:00

I thought I would understand the locals here. Here's a conversation I had with a boy (aged 8 or so) who was cycling past me and stopped to ask me a question.

Boy: Is there a bubba around here?

Me: [looks blank]

Boy: Is there a bubbala around here?

Me: A what?

Boy: A bubla

Me: Huh?

Boy: You know, a bubbler!

Me: A bubble?

Boy: One of those things you drink out of!

Me: Oh! A water fountain! No! Haven't seen any!

Boy: [cycles off, confused as to how I appeared to understand and speak English quite well, except for the word bubbler]

R.

insanity

2006-01-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

In a moment of insanity, I sent an email out to a bunch of my colleagues on Thursday, inviting them over to my house for drinks and nibbles this afternoon. In three hours (at 4pm). It's my birthday week, and it's nice to have a housewarming. But right now, as I look around my house, I'm starting to freak just ever so slightly (not enough to leap off the computer and do something constructive, mind). The house is pretty much a mess, so I've got a fair bit of tidying up to do. And dishes. And making guacamole, garlic pita bread and ginger/cream cheese dip (damn, forgot to buy sesame seeds. The other ingredient is soy sauce). And having a shower and getting dressed. And watering the garden. And hiding the dead plants. And figuring out how to play my PMP (portable media player) through my tv speakers (no success so far).

At least yesterday I did the grocery shopping - including plastic cups, as I only own 4 glasses and 2 cups. Yesterday my main mission was to find a birthday present for my sister in Thailand. Everything I found was either pretty much rubbish, or made in Thailand. So I haven't bought anything yet. But I did buy myself some darts (for the Friday pub lunches - I feel like I belong now) and a beautiful new hybrid bike. And then I cycled all the way to Victoria and back (10km or so?).

Anyhoo, I have no idea how many people are going to show up - although there are a handful of definites, so I know I won't be sitting here all my own. I bet Australia is more punctual than Colombia. I'd better get a move on.

R.

Happy Birthday to Me

2006-01-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

The tally:

1 birthday card
1 e-card
1 phone message (including a rendition of "happy birthday to you" from my nephew which made my day)
2 birthday text messages
3 birthday emails
1 birthday voucher from my hairdresser ($10)

And I got some prezzies from the family when I was back in NZ last week.

I haven't been dropping hints this year that my birthday is coming up, I usually do. So it's quite good really that a number of people who aren't related to me remembered.

Now for the forecast for the coming year. First up what's in the stars.

The Border Mail (local rag) said something along the lines of: "Your Birthday Today: it will not be a spectacular year." Well phooey to them I say.
Ivillage however says that this is my year to shine (along with all other Capricorns, obviously). According to them, I'm due to meet someone (along with 1/12 of the population) in January or February. I'm going to assume they mean someone special, because if I went for all of January and February and only met one person, that would be pretty boring.
Of course the Chinese year of the Dog is about to begin (29 January, I believe), and I'm a Dog, so I'm assuming it's a good thing. But Chinese astrology is complicated - for example in my quick google search I've discovered that 2006 is a fire dog year, but I'm a metal dog, and dog is earth, so who knows what that means. Apparently I have to stay away from Sheep and Ox people this year.
A tarot reader in Berkeley told me that I'm going to have a good year, and succeed in my work, and meet someone between 5 and 11 weeks of arriving here. I've been here 9 1/2 weeks. Stay tuned.
Also, according to Rudolf Steiner, every cell in the body changes every seven years, which means I'm due for a change today. Ooh, apparently the association centres of the brain come to their peak efficiency at age 35. And after 35, one begins to feel a new restlessness. Considering how much travelling I've done in the last five years, I don't know if that's possible.

And what do I want for the year? Lots of things, some of them are:

To travel to at least one more country (got to keep up with the age, you know). Distinct possibilities are Sri Lanka, Rarotonga and / or the Maldives.
Have my hair long enough to tie in pigtails
Buy an iron. No, just kidding.

But I have only one real resolution for the coming year. And that is to live each day consciously - which is quite different from just being conscious every day, I've just about mastered that one.

R.

Priorities

2006-01-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

Approximate length of time between moving into my house and acquiring the following items:

corkscrew: 1 day
coffee grinder: 3 days
telephone: 4 days
house plants: 1 week
video shop membership: 1.5 weeks
mop: 2 weeks
blender: 3 weeks
library membership: 4 weeks
line trimmer: 5 weeks
table and chairs: 6 weeks
internet access: 7 weeks
vacuum cleaner: 8 weeks
iron: not in the forseeable future

What do my priorities say about me, I wonder.

R.

Is this what growing up is about?

2006-01-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

I used to quite fancy Andre Agassi when he had long hair. I remember feeling a little sad when he cut it off, and I didn't think he was fanciable anymore. Then I came across a photo of him in the Australian Women's Weekly (essential airplane reading, you know), very similar to this one.

OMG.

What was I thinking?

(at the time it was also asked: what was he thinking - marrying Steffi Graf, but that seems to have worked out for them, so).

Does the fact that I now thinks he looks vastly sexier mean that I've grown up? Or just that I've gotten over another teenage delusion?

In unrelated news there is a winged insect with a long pointy nose on my net curtain. I'm not quite sure what to do about it.

R.

That new-fangled technology

2006-01-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've been back a few days from a wonderful family holiday involving waterskiing (my first time - I managed to stay up for maybe 30 seconds), scalloping, sea-biscuiting, wine, food, presents, games.

I tried to connect my new broadband internet connection the day I got home. It connects, but drops every 5 seconds and reconnects - no good for downloading or chatting, obviously. Portuguesa Nova appears to have had the same problem, but she solved it just by unplugging her phone - and my phone was already unplugged at the time. In fact, when I try to have them both plugged in I don't get dial tone on the phone - kind of defeats part of the purpose of broadband. Sigh.

Happy New Year everyone.

R.

hasta la vista baby

2005-12-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

I'm about to go home and water the plants and then I'm getting on a plane to New Zealand. Where I will spend a week with family on the beach and a few days in Wellington and Nelson either side.

When I get back I expect:
a) to have an internet connection at home finally, so more blogging time and other quality internet-based pursuits
b) to find all my plants dying

Have a great summer Solstice / Hannukah / Christmas / winter Solstice / New Year / Kwanzaa / weekend / end of December / Festival of Sleep (3 Jan, apparently) / etc

R

Ned Kelly country

2005-12-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

I just discovered that I live in Ned Kelly country. Ned Kelly is of course famous for wearing a coal bucket on his head and some other stuff involving shoot outs and bank robbing.

Yesterday I drove the 40km down to Beechworth, because I had heard it's the place for pottery (I didn't find any Christmas presents, but I did buy myself a nice dinner plate and coffee cup - just one of each, I've decided I don't want everything to match, I'd rather have random beautiful things). And I discovered lots of vague Ned Kelly references. So I'm guessing he did something there at some point. The closest I got was the sign outside the old gold vault (Beechworth was a goldmining town in the 1800s) saying that Ned Kelly didn't rob it.

I was about to whinge about still not having internet connection at home, but that's boring. But annoying.

R.

0% Aussie Pride

2005-12-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

If you're in the southern hemisphere (or read BBC news) you've probably heard about the Sydney race riots which have been happening for the last two nights. From what I can gather, it started when an "ethnic gang" (reportedly second-generation Lebanese) attacked two (white) lifeguards. This resulted in "thousands of young white men" attacking "people of Arabic and Mediterranean background".

One of the photos on the BBC website is "100% Aussie Pride" scratched in the sand on Cronulla Beach. Because obviously real Aussies are white intolerant anglos and that's something to be proud of.

I know this kind of thing isn't just Australia, but it's still scary that it comes as new terrorism and sedition laws are passed.

What is this country I have moved to?

R.

How to tell you work in a country town

2005-12-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

You get invited to the pub for lunch by a colleague and it involves:

trekking through fields over grass
climbing through one electric fence
climbing over one gate
a pub where the there is a main "Baa", and the girls' toilets are labelled "Ewes" and the boys' toilets are labelled "Rams"
everyone owns their own darts

Cockney rhyming slang

2005-12-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

The other day I heard the phrase “Have a butcher’s at this”, which is, of course, Cockney rhyming slang. I tried to think of other examples that I actually use, and only came up with “Use your loaf”. So, in the spirit of research, and for my readers’ edification, I had a butcher’s at this site, and took note of the ones I use, or at least have heard used. Most of them I had no idea they were Cockney rhyming slang!

In case you don’t know what it is, Cockney rhyming slang works like this: you take the word you want to say (e.g. “head”), take a pair of words or phrase that rhymes with it (e.g. “loaf of bread”) and then use the first bit of that phrase instead of the original word.

Quite a few examples have trickled down over time from Cockney to British English to the "colonies" (e.g. New Zealand), although as far as I know not the US.

Anyway, here’s the list I made:
You do rabbit on, don’t you = rabbit and pork = talk
Have a butcher’s at this = butcher’s hook = look
Use your loaf = loaf of bread = head
I haven’t got a sausage = sausage and mash = cash
He’s a right berk = Berkshire Hunt = (you can figure that one out yourself)
My knee is giving me gyp = gypsy Nell = hell
Stop telling porkies = pork pies = lies
Got any bread? = bread and honey = money
Are you taking the mickey? = Mickey Bliss = piss*
They’re having a barney = barn owl = row (fight)
Let’s have some plonk = plink plonk = vin blanc = wine
What’s it like living with the Sepos?** = septic tank = Yank
It’s been donkeys = donkey’s ears = years

Can you think of any others that you use?

R.

* The Sepos loved this one. You can take it a step further: Are you extracting the Michael?
** I hadn’t heard this one until a friend in Perth used it.

thoughts

2005-12-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

Isn't it funny how people you've never met can influence you? The other day I bought pumpkin purely because Cesca had been going on about it. I roasted it with capsicum (red pepper), asparagus and fetta and served it on a bed of rocket (arugula) with plum tomatoes. Yum! And Wednesday night saw me photographing my shoes just because Anchored Nomad asked me to.

I arrived in Australia with practically nothing in the way of kitchen stuff - just a coffee plunger, some bowls and a chopping board and knife. I bought the obvious stuff (cutlery, plates, pots, toaster, kettle, coffee grinder, corkscrew) but it's amazing how many little kitchen gadgets there are. "I'll just grate that ginger", I think - oh, no grater. "Now, time to flip the omelette" - oh, no spatula. "Ooh, I'll cook the salmon in tinfoil with a dash of balsamic" - you guessed it, no tinfoil and no balsamic.

I still can't get over how many friends are having babies. I have three overdue baby presents to send this weekend (that's overdue presents, not overdue babies).

I was woken up by an amazing thunderstorm this morning. This town has some spectacular weather.

I'm wondering how much coverage Van Tuong Nguyen's execution is getting in the rest of the world, particularly the US. Have you guys even heard about it? Here it is understandably getting huge coverage (he's Vietnamese-born but lived in Melbourne), with plenty of protests and criticism of both the Singaporean government and the actions of the Australian government to attempt to intervene. Personally, I'm anti-death penalty - it's horrific and barbaric. But the point I want to make here is something I heard a commentator say on the radio, along the following lines. Australia (government, opposition and citizens) have had plenty to say about the death penalty in Singapore recently. But what about other countries where the death penalty is carried out? Would Australia ever challenge Bush or the US on this issue?

C'est tout.

R.

Where the kiwi has flown #2 - a vignette of Cali

2005-11-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

I wrote this over four years ago, when I first lived in Cali, Colombia.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A flash of light silhouettes Cerro de las Tres Cruces, the hill flanking the west of the city, topped with three huge crosses, a South American Golgotha. There it is again, another brilliant flash illuminating the cloud-strewn sky. But there is no thunder, no sound at all except for the low growl of the ubiquitous beaten up yellow taxis streaming by on the street below. I gaze up at the sky above my rooftop haven - the half moon and early stars are bright and clear. A fresh breeze cools my skin, still slightly sweat-sticky from the heat of the day. I scan the skyline of my adopted city, the endless houselights of the plains to the south, the skyscrapers closer by, the drug-money-funded apartment blocks dwarfing the decrepit colonial villa, now empty and easily corroborating the rumours of murder and cannibalism sometime in its hazy history. The Cristo Rey, a huge statue of Christ on a hill to the south-west, religiously lit up, stands with arms raised in beatification towards the three crosses. And the silent surreal Andean lightening storm continues capturing its snapshots of Santiago de Cali.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Where the kiwi has flown #1 - tsunami diving

American style education

2005-11-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

"[Australian] Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson wants specialised graduate school universities, with more public funding directed to regional and outer-suburban universities. The Opposition has accused the Government of trying to force universities down the path of an American-style, two-tier higher education system" (ABC news online).

Why does Australia always feel the need to copy the USA? Is the American system such a good thing? What happens to "regional and outer-suburban universities"? Would they, as Nelson seems to want, become undergraduate teaching only (public funding = teaching), with no research component? How could this possibly be good for regional Australia? What happens when all the academics who actually want to do research move to the cities or overseas?

I don't know, but my gut feeling is it's not a good thing. Maybe if I was at one of the sandstone universities, destined to become a specialised graduate school, I would feel differently. Maybe I need to move back to Berkeley.

R.

dog's arse

2005-11-22T18:54:00.000-08:00

Melbourne, Saturday.

Me: "Ooh that's funny, look, the dog is sitting down and dragging herself along by her front legs, how cute".

Random dude sitting at table: "That's not cute. She's got worms and is itching her arse on the carpet. That's disgusting".

Eeeeeeew.

R.

big city

2005-11-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

It's too late. I've already turned into a country bumpkin. 2am Friday night, me: "ooh, look how light the sky is, is that because of all the city lights?". My companion: "yes".

The first thing that struck me about Melbourne was how so many of the suburbs are named after AFL teams*. Also, the city is huge - it took me just over 3 hours to get to the outskirts from the town I live in, but almost another hour to get to where I was going - my sister's ex-boyfriend's house. I got there around 8pm, took my sister to the airport at 11pm, left there some time after midnight and got back to the city at 1am. [speaking of ex-boyfriends, totally unrelated, but you know how I have an ex-boyfriend who married one of my best friends, well I got the news on Friday that she had the baby... they didn't name it after me, but then it's a boy, so I guess that's OK].

I was staying with someone I've never met before (the fiancé of an Aussie friend I met in Berkeley), but I knew everything would be fine when he offered me a beer within 5 seconds of me walking in the door. We then went out dancing and I ended up going to bed at 5am. Crazy.

The next day I went to the Queen Victoria markets and bought random stuff - food, shoes, picture frames, soap and candles. Then late afternoon I went and met the very lovely Another Outspoken Female and we had a glass of wine or two, chatted away, and tried to figure out whose blog we'd found each other on. It's a slightly surreal experience meeting someone you've only known online - it's a bit like when they make a movie of a book, and the characters aren't quite as you'd imagined.

On Sunday I headed out to St Kilda (named after yet another AFL team) and after spending an hour finding a parking spot, walked along the beach and browsed the stalls and had a lovely roast pumpkin salad for lunch before driving back.

All in all it was a lovely first taste of Melbourne - and I'm planning on going back in a fortnight, which is exceedingly exciting.

R

* yes, yes, I know the history of AFL and why so many teams originated in Melbourne, but I suspect the majority of my readers don't really care, and if they do, they can go google it themselves

Melbourne

2005-11-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

Yay, I'm going to Melbourne tomorrow. I've only ever been in the airport and the airport hotel there, so it'll all be completely new! Things to do: buy a map book of Melbourne. I know where the motorway to Melbourne starts, and I figure I just follow that until I hit Melbourne (or the ocean, in which case I've gone too far). It's a 3-hour drive.

Hot 'n' Spicy Kiwi (my Bangkok-based sister) is in Melbourne on business. She flies back out just after midnight on Friday. She's catching up with old friends on Friday after work so I'll crash that party and then take her to the airport. And then I have Saturday and Sunday to explore Melbourne!

Any Melbourne readers - 1. what are the must do things and 2. email me if you want to meet up!

I'm missing my work Christmas party (tomorrow) so I'll miss out on a bit of socialising but a) who the hell has their Christmas party in the middle of November? and b) they're roasting a goat on a spit, and I'm not too keen on that - I know no one is going to force me to eat it, but I don't even particularly want to see it.

A bit of blog business: is it possible to delete just one comment after it's been posted? I had to remove all comments from my ozone hole post because someone posted my actual name, and I'm paranoid enough that I don't want my real name on my blog anywhere.

R.

5 flights

2005-11-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

1. 31 Oct: San Francisco to Los Angeles. Lowlights: checking in 4 bags, having to slightly rearrange the contents to stay within weight limits. Luckily I had a friend with me to help me get everything from the car to the check-in counter. I was only charged $80 excess baggage, so not too bad. Highlights: circling over San Francisco on a sunny afternoon - wonderful views from Golden Gate Park to Embarcadero and across the bay, including the bridges.

2. 31 Oct: Los Angeles to Auckland. Lowlights: long and boring wait in LAX. Customs confiscating my maracas in Auckland. Highlights: upgrade to Business class (on airpoints) - within five minutes of boarding I had a glass of champagne in my hand and the seat set to massage. The only downside was that I was so comfortable (Sky Bed!) that I actually slept really well and only got to watch one movie.

3. 2 Nov: Auckland to Wellington. Lowlights: being in economy after business class. Highlights: the Gay Maitre D' meeting me at Auckland international, walking with me to the domestic terminal, and buying me a coffee. And then the Editter and my cousin meeting me in Wellington.

4. 3 Nov: Wellington to Sydney. Lowlights: leaving Wellington so soon. Check in woman saying: "where on earth is this town you're flying to?" American tourgroup on the transfer bus in Sydney. Highlights: not being charged anything extra for overweight luggage. Customs in Sydney wanting to go through my bag but they couldn't really be bothered, and I was one of the last people in line, so they just let me through in the end. I was so relieved, as I was worried for my precious Colombian tolo (indigineous flute).

5. 3 Nov: Sydney to Regional Australia. Lowlights: customs officer saying "what's it like living in this town you're flying to?", implying it might not be somewhere one would choose to live. Qantas losing my sleeping bag. Highlights: being taken straight off the plane to a wine and cheese evening.

R.

ozone hole

2005-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different...

I heard on the Js (TripleJ that is) yesterday that the ozone hole this year was the size of three Australias. That's a pretty big hole. So I decided to look into it (it's a hole, after all).

From talking to my Northern Hemisphere friends, I discovered that many people don't even know the ozone hole exists, or what exactly it is. In fact, it's a thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica, occurring roughly between September and November each year (actually, I hadn't realised it's a seasonal occurrence...). It was first discovered in 1985. The 2005 ozone hole was one of the deepest and largest recorded.

The hole in the ozone layer is caused by CFCs in the atmosphere, produced largely in the USA and Europe (being the most populous countries). Thanks guys!

The ozone hole allows more UV-B to reach the surface of the earth. As a result, Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world (and I'm sure NZ isn't far behind). UV-B also affects phytoplankton (and therefore fish population), the DNA of marine bacteria, the larvae of starfish and urchins, and ocean chemistry.

Although emissions of CFCs has pretty ceased, the effects continue. This is just one example of humans killing ourselves and the environment in the name of progress. All our energy production and many other technologies come at a cost, mostly to the environment and often to ourselves too.

So next time you turn on the the airconditioning or the heater (depending on which hemisphere you're in), consider setting it a little less extreme. I like knowing there is a layer of ozone between the sun and me.

R.

Playing grown up

2005-11-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I:
1. Signed up for a flat (photos will of course be posted at some stage)
2. Bought a car (red 2001 Mitsubishi Mirage)
3. Bought a bed, mattress, tallboy, bedside tables, sofabed, bookcase and blanket box

This also means I signed up for thousands of dollars of debt.

Today I moved into the flat and took delivery of the furniture. I've been driving the car since Monday.

I still need to get a fridge, washing machine, phone, kitchen stuff and all the other miscellaneous stuff that one needs (like bedding). And then eventually I'll get a TV and more furniture. But in the meantime, I'm pretty much ready for visitors!

I'm really happy with my wee flat, it's in a cul-de-sac only a few blocks from town (snd no, that doesn't make it the outskirts of this town), I've been told it's just about the nicest part of this town. Two bedrooms, decent sized kitchen and living room, and a bit of garden with a clothesline! No bath, but that's the only downside I've noticed so far. The best thing is it's only AU$560 a month, which seems damn cheap to me considering my last place in the US cost US$800 a month for just a room in a house.

I'm really happy with my wee car too, it's red which means it goes fast.

And work is so far pretty awesome too. Nice people, beautiful campus. And I don't have to teach until February, although I do have a subject to write.

All in all I think I made the right decision in coming here. Sure, it's small town and it's hot (and gonna get hotter) and I'd forgotten how much I hate sticky Australian flies, but I think it will be just fine.

R

gah

2005-11-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

I made it to Regional Australia. I have nowhere to live and have no idea what I'm doing, but apart from that everything's great.

I'm still in culture shock, though, I think.

R.

on my way

2005-10-31T12:13:00.000-08:00

Off to have lunch now, then to the airport, with my 4 huge bags, one of which I think is over the weight limit, gah, I never want to have to move again so I really hope I like regional Australia. See you on the other side of the world!

R

Random thoughts

2005-10-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Because it would be far too much to expect me to have coherent thoughts at this stage.

1. Yesterday I shipped 200lb of stuff to Australia and my room is still full. I don't understand. Where did all this stuff come from?

2. The other day there were the cutest raccoons in a tree outside the Free Speech Movement Cafe. Four of them. Awwwww.

3. Yesterday was rainy and cold so that makes me look forward more to moving Down Under. Today however is sunny and warm.

4. On my list of things I am looking forward to about Australia, I forgot to put living by myself. There are a number of things my current housemate doesn't seem to understand, including: turning off lights, designated fridge space, doors, turning off the oven.

5. I met a nice Australian (I know! who would've thought those words could go together?) bloke* last night who told me the town I'm moving to is lovely place.

6. I am feeling more or less organised with this move. Which means that I must have forgotten something hideously important.

7. Yesterday I found my plane tickets. I was relieved to find I hadn't shipped them to Australia.

8. It's been a week of goodbyes and 'lasts' (e.g. last hapkido class) and there are more to come - I think I've changed my mind! I want to stay!

9. I have both a pumpkin carving party and a Night of the Living Dead party on Saturday. Somehow they feel like appropriate ways to farewell America.

10. That's all.

R.

* we were at The Alley, and I made him sing Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport with me.

Humbling

2005-10-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

This morning I took a bag of throwaway clothes and shoes to People's Park in Berkeley. It seemed much easier than trying to find a Goodwill or Salvation Army shop. I was a bit worried that I was essentially littering. But before I could even get back into the car (borrowed off a friend, bless), this young guy had ambled over and started going through it. The first thing he did was measure the shoes against his feet. The black, woman's shoes with heels. I just found that really sad, that it was just a matter of would they fit and keep his feet dry. Then as he kept on going through the bag he looked up and waved at me and looked so damn grateful.

I find it incomprehensible that there are so many homeless here in one of the richest nations in the world. So much for the American dream.

R.

Silver linings

2005-10-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am moving to Australia in just over a week. I am sad to be leaving Berkeley, as I've loved it here. But, the nature of a postdoc job is that it ends, and without that there is no visa and no particular reason to stay. And as much as I like it here, I don't like enough to, say, marry an American and get a job at Starbucks. I mean, it's still America, and there are plenty of other countries I'd be quite happy to live in, like, for example, Australia.

One of the things I am nervous about is that I'm moving to a small town. It's a university town, at least. It has a population of 70,000. Compare this to Ann Arbor, which according to Portuguesa Nova, and I can't be bothered looking for the post but this is the gist of it, is like choosing your favourite suburb in Chicago and then saying, that's it, you have only one suburb, there is nowhere else. Now, according to Wikipedia Ann Arbor boasts 114,024 inhabitants. That's almost twice the size of the town I'm moving to. Gulp. Yesterday I visited Santa Cruz, and decided that maybe small towns aren't so bad. Santa Cruz has a population of 54,593. But then again, it's by the ocean and close to major urban centres like San Jose.

The town I'm moving to is the biggest town for about 2 hours. That's when you hit Wagga Wagga, population 57,000. Arghhh!

For reference, here's a map from MapQuest.

I see in my near future many weekend trips to Melbourne.

Of course, there are silver linings. For a start, the secure, long-term lectureship position. Here's some things I am looking forward to about living in regional Australia:

Being able to afford to live in (and possibly buy!) a house with garden and off-street parking
Fish and chips
Having a cat again (I've been travelling too much for that to be practical for the last 5 years)
Tim Tams
Rush hour traffic only meaning I have to wait to cross the street on my walk home from work
Frequent trips to Melbourne and Sydney
Being closer to New Zealand and my family and friends there
Driving on the left
Having my birthday in summer again, as it should be

And despite the fact that there are many, many things I shall miss about Berkeley, there are some that I won't miss:

Driving and parking in Berkeley and San Francisco
Crazy people in downtown Berkeley (they're only entertaining for so long)
Stupid road rules
People laughing at my accent (although at least here they think it's adorable, in Australia they'll just laugh)
Crossing the Bay Bridge
Hideously expensive housing

I'm trying really hard to let these things bother me...

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

2005-10-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong (from craigslist best of)

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

R.

Wing

2005-10-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

New Zealand must indeed be very proud of Wing. I was first introduced to her by my friends in Auckland who played me "Beatles Classics by Wing" over and over. It is truly an experience. Words really cannot describe her music so I encourage you to go to her website. Her latest CD is "Wing sings AC/DC" - OMG I can't wait to hear it.

She was brought to my attention again as she was just in a Southpark episode. I didn't see it but I wish I had.

R.

Things that cannot be shipped to Australia

2005-10-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

Because I don't have that much stuff - my only furniture is a wallclock - I come way under the minimum for shipping companies to ship my stuff to Oz. I had heard that UPS doesn't ship personal effects, which left only USPS (United States Postal Service, in whom I do not have much faith) and excess baggage. But it turns out UPS does in fact allow personal effects to only a handful of countries, including Australia (but not NZ, go figure).

So I'm in the process of checking prices. Interestingly, there are a number of items which may not be shipped, some which make perfect sense, others not so much.

Things that cannot be shipped to Australia:

human remains, firearms, live animals, ivory - all fair enough
smoked salmon - huh?
knives and daggers - fair enough too, but I still think it's unfair that my nunchucks were confiscated off me last time I passed through Melbourne
shoes are allowed, but must be permanently marked stating country of origin and material
straw - strictly prohibited
any goods bearing the name "ANZAC"
counterfeit credit cards - duh
novelty erasers
used bedding
and the list goes on, obviously...

Hmm, after all that it seems that UPS only does air shipping, not sea shipping. So good old post office it is then. Who have taken two months to finally start forwarding my mail from my last address...

[edit: added "to" to the title, now the Editter's comment makes no sense, jiji]

Countdown to Oz

2005-10-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Last I checked, I had about a month and a half before I had to even worry about starting to think about moving all the way around the world (hang on, that would be half way around the world, otherwise I'd back where I started, right?). But then, as evidenced by my lack of bloggage, I've been extremely busy, what with popping down to Colombia for a week and then having a mad week of Gay Maitre D'-ness.

I am leaving in 3 weeks exactly. Gah!

R.