Yaaay- all of our trip to Canberra and Melbourne is now up on the web! (It's only taken two months...) Check it out if you haven't already: part one, or, if you've been following along the last few weeks, go straight to the new one, part six.
Other updates: the nice people at D's department loaned us a fan, so we're sleeping at night again. And D had a potential subletter to take her place for the last three months of her lease back in Ann Arbor, but he turned out to be a scammer-- the old "I'll send you a cashier's check and you can wire back to me the extra amount" scam. Needless to say, as soon as that offer was made, she cut him off,1 but unfortunately she's still looking for a subletter. Sigh. Chad is learning to cook seafood, with good success. The weeks slide by here and we hardly notice since the routine is sort of sticking. The cats who live here grow exponentially2 and bring fleas into our room, but we've consulted the vet about how to avoid bringing them back with us to our cats back home. Work progresses, often in fits and starts. Such is life.
Yesterday was a public holiday in Australia, ANZAC Day. April 25th of every year, they commemorate all the Australians who have served in the military and those who have died at war... AND they also celebrate the ANZAC spirit of Australia.3 Essentially, we Americans have decided that it's Memorial Day, only in the fall, and with more emphasis on the pubs. We'll confess (being good international goodwill ambassadors, we have to confess) that we didn't actually participate in many of the traditional celebrations of ANZAC day.4 The festivities began with a dawn service (and by "dawn," they meant 4:30am) that was evidently attended by over 25,000 people.5 Then, at 9:00am or so, all the military veterans from ever march down the city streets in a parade.6 After that, well, it seems that after that everyone goes to the pubs (at like, 10:30am, keep in mind) for the rest of the day and plays a betting game called "two-up," which is only legal on ANZAC Day. Three coins, a chalk circle, call it in the air, and whichever side gets "two coins up" wins... you get the idea.
What else this week? D desperately needed a CSI fix, so she rented all of season two on DVD from the local Blockbuster video. Twelve episodes in fie days... feeling much better now!7
We're twelve weeks in now, so I think I can indulge in a little maudlin list-making here:
Trying not to go too overboard with this. Next week, stay tuned for my list of things I'll miss when I finally have to leave Australia!
;)
- D
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NOTES
1Okay, to be honest, we were suspicious from the beginning, but as long as he acted like an honest subletter, we gave him the benefit of the doubt.
2Well, Slinky does. She fit into the palm of one hand at first. She doesn't now.
3To find out what we mean when we say "the ANZAC spirit," go read about our visit to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
4And by "many," we actually mean "any." That's right, we stayed at home all day.
5We were not, needless to say, among them. Because, by "4:30am" we mean "middle of the freakin' night."
6We did not attend this, either, but not for lack of respect or even interest.
7Sadly, we suspect that Blockbuster does not actually have the DVDs of any other season, so that may be it for us and CSI until we get home.
Back to the GAA page!