Okay, before you read the rest of this blog, go revisit our trip to the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road back in February. Now, read this article from 4 July. Note: You may have to create an account to view this article, but it's free and they never send you anything.
Wild, isn't it? I meant to share that a few weeks ago, but life and things distracted me. It's been a few months, but it's kind of cool to know that we saw a rock formation that no one else will be able to see again.
All right, on with the blog. Life back in Sydney town gets sort of settled again, although we are well into our third week without broadband at home. We have, however, added a microwave to our list of purchases-that-seem- kind-of-silly-for- just-five-months and so now we can finally reheat all the leftovers we've been storing up for two weeks because "we'll get a microwave soon." And, since the freezer has had continuous power1 this week, D was finally able to spend her last gelato gift certificate that she got for her birthday four months ago. Turns out the very expensive, but very very good ice cream/gelato place that was so far away when Chad found it is now about a block and a half up the street. Hmmm, we'll have to restrain our gelato buying from there...2
D returned from Wagga Wagga on Thursday night, arriving about an hour after the London bombings. The five channels of Australian television that we have3 were all covering the bombings nonstop, and indeed that's been most of the news around here since then, with a number of feature stories with scary taglines like "Is Sydney next?" and "Attack on Sydney no longer 'if' but 'when'" and "Is our government doing enough to protect us?"4
After that, it was hard to stay focused, so D's productivity level fell sharply. Aided by the fact that he did not have to go to Wagga Wagga, Chad has been able to stay fairly productive, although he has noted that he is finally at that stage of his thesis where he has to think about how much work it will take to wrap it all up... and because he's never let himself think about that before, there's more to be done than he expected. But, all in good time.
This week and next, D is busy with the Department of Performance Studies annual rehearsal observation project in conjunction with the class she's helping to teach. This year the department has brought in a professional dance company instead of the normal theatre troupe, so it's proving very interesting to see how they work differently from the kinds of artists she's usually worked with. This morning, though, they invited all the observers to participate in their daily exercises, which thoroughly wiped her out.5
It is definitely the depths of winter here in Sydney, and as much as we Michiganders scoff at the utter lack of snow or freezing temperatures, we have to admit that our apartment is unbelievably cold, especially in the mornings. They don't believe in central heating here... actually, they don't believe in sealing their buildings, so the overnight chill from outside seeps in through the vents. Brrrrr. We need kitties to keep us warm, but alas, it is not to be.
D's parents are coming in two weeks!!!
;)
- D
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NOTES
1See last week's entry to be reminded of how our power was almost disconnected.
2At AUS$13.00 (US$10.00) for 750mL of ice cream, we could rack up the debts fairly quickly.
They almost make Ben & Jerry's look cheap!
3These are called the "free-to-air" channels because they are, well, free to the air. The
same five channels (ABC, SBS, 7, 9, and 10) are broadcast all across Australia, with nothing like our local affiliate
channels. We thought, after living with Foxtel and no free-to-air channels for five months, that this would be an
improvement. The novelty wore off after a few days.
4Of course, Sydney's feature stories on the city's preparedness for a terrorist attack in the
wake of one in London are not nearly as absurd as the feature story that a local news station ran in Champaign-Urbana,
Illinois in September of 1999 when Florida was blasted by a severe hurricane: "What would C-U do in a hurricane
emergency?"4a
4aI just feel the need to state here that I am not making up the story about C-U in the previous footnote. My
roommate and I had serious doubts about the television station across the street from our apartment, the one that ran this
feature story and another at the same time that was almost but not quite as absurd. The station went even further down in
our estimation when we drove by one of their reporters, alone, with a camera, in the station's parking lot, filming himself
against the brick wall. We can only presume that he was doing some very professional reporting on location.
5At least she doesn't have to feel like a total old fart, because it wiped out all the
twenty-one year old undergraduates, too.
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