Do you know how difficult it is to get your laundry dry when you rely on clotheslines and it's been raining during 90% of the daylight hours in the past week?
Sydney is rather like Florida in its "seasons": there is a cool(er) period of about six months ("winter") and a friggin' hot period of about six months ("summer") and about three days on either side of those that pass as "spring" and "fall." Chad's been miserable, I'm afraid, as the main difference between Florida's summer and Sydney's is the fact that Florida has sense enough to air-condition everything. Chad sits at his computer all day and sweats. He cooks dinner in the kitchen and sweats. He lays down to go to sleep at night and sweats. The air conditioned bookstore down the street is his only refuge, but they don't have internet. He still sweats.
They don't seem to celebrate Halloween here in Australia-- on the radio yesterday we woke up to some announcer talking about how the one thing most strongly associated with Halloween was the US.1 The very few Halloween displays in the mall seemed a bit out of place, out of context. Trick-or-treaters are virtually unheard of here. And they play a Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween special pretty much every Tuesday night, so it's not really strongly associated with Halloween in these parts.2
Much more exciting around here (and I am totally not kidding about this) is the "Melbourne Cup," which is run annually on the first Tuesday in November.3 Like the Kentucky Derby, the Melbourne Cup is a premiere horse race. Unlike the Kentucky Derby, the Melbourne Cup is one of the largest sports events in the country. In the state of Victoria, "Cup Day" is an official holiday, and it's unofficially observed everywhere else. It is affectionately called "the race that stops the nation." Indeed, for five minutes just after 3:00pm today, the country paused. The University of Sydney (otherwise unaffiliated with the event) broadcast it as a webstream. Elementary schools stop classes and some of them even encourage kids to bet in a "sweeps." "Sweeps," D learned today, is a popular style of betting on the Melbourne Cup, wherein the names of all the running horses are put in a hat, and each person pays to draw a name. Whoever draws the top three horses' names wins a share of the kitty. It's great fun-- D even lost her own $2 in a sweep today. The winner of today's race was a horse that everyone's been talking about for the last two weeks-- so much that even we knew the name "Makybe Diva." As of today, she became the only horse in the race's century-plus history to win the Melbourne Cup three times.4
Before today's excitement, though, we had plenty of more directly relevant excitement over the weekend. Classes ended at the Uni last Friday, and D gave a two-hour talk about her research, her experiences as a Fulbrighter, and all the places we've gone in Australia. To wrap things up, she decided to have a potluck after the talk-- as a good Midwestern girl, this seemed like an appropriate social event. Well, don't get me wrong-- as a social event, it was top-notch. As a potluck, though... well... it was pretty terrible. There was food-- but nobody cooked anything ahead of time (they bought things instead), and there were exactly zero casseroles. In the end, it was much more of an Aussie BBQ than anything remotely American... perhaps appropriate, but I still feel the need to show them how it's supposed to be done. Some other time, I guess.
Overall, though, it was a really nice way to find some closure on our time here, and it seems that people in the department appreciated it, too. A significant chunk of our scrapbook photos were done and on display, as were a number of Fulbright materials. Most importantly, it was a chance to interact with the postgrad students (and some of the undergrad students in the class that D helped teach) and the teaching staff in a more "social" atmosphere.
As part of D's talk, she offered them a list of "Chad & D's Recommendations" for things to do in Sydney.5 One of the things we recommended was a walk in the South Head area of Sydney Harbour National Park, which Chad had done but D hadn't. So, Saturday morning we took advantage of the six hours of rain-free sunlight and headed out to do it. South Head is out on the headland on the southern side of where Sydney Harbour meets the ocean. Along the shoreline is federal land with a walking path and gorgeous views of the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and Circular Quay.
After the walk, we rushed back across town to get changed and catch a cab another hour to the north side of the Harbour, where we had been invited to dinner at the home of an American expat and her Australian husband. Susan is a faculty member in the English department at Sydney Uni, and she chaired the 'What is the New Rhetoric?' conference in September. Also invited were the chair of the Department of Performance Studies, Ian, and his wife Vanessa and young daughter Mia. Susan, being a good Southern girl, made a fantastic sweet potato casserole6 which was new to the Aussies and the closest thing to traditional Thanksgiving fare that we Yanks are likely to get this year. Sigh.
November now-- we know it's getting time to leave because we got to "spring forward." Sydney was sixteen hours ahead of Michigan when we arrived last February, but most of the time we've been here it's only been fourteen hours ahead. Now we're back to sixteen... just when I'd gotten so good at calculating the time difference without thinking too hard. Only a few weeks of it, though... four to be exact!
;)
- D
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NOTES
1I'll admit that some aspects of the US (namely the current administration) are scary, but that really wasn't the answer I was expecting.
2I know, they never actually play the Treehouse of Horror episodes until the week after Halloween in the US, either.
3In other words, today.
4As of today, she's also been retired. Nothing like going out with a bang, eh?
5Eventually, this will be posted to the webpage, but that's on hold for right now.
6The rest of the food was fantastic, too, incidentally.
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