D's parents are coming! Tomorrow! In eight hours!1
And, after long waiting and many annoying interactions with a phone pool that passes for "technical support," we finally have broadband internet. Wireless, even. Encrypted. As of this afternoon. Never mind that we are temporarily without a landline (sigh) since the geniuses who designed the router didn't think to build in a simple splitter/filter for a voice line to pass through.
We have lots of fun things planned for our first first-time visitors to Australia2-- like the zoo, and the markets, and renting a car to drive to the Blue Mountains and maybe as far as Brisbane. The weather seems to be unseasonably cooperative, as highs have been in the low 20s all this week.3 The warm spell, of course, arrived just two days after we borrowed a heater to help us survive the frigid, unheated nights. Still, we're trying not to be grumpy about the beautiful weather!
Without internet this past week, it was difficult to be overly productive. D spent most of the week observing the BodyWeather company for the departmental project she began last week. In addition to the student observers and the performers themselves, the company had a couple of "interns," individuals interested in learning about the techniques and the practices that the company uses. One of them who arrived this week was an American PhD student, in the Performance Studies program at UC-Davis. Mary was working with some professors that D knew from conferences, and she was interested in possibly applying for a Fulbright to work with the department here in Sydney-- so they had lots to talk about.
The fact that Mary was staying (essentially alone) in a local hostel evoked much sympathy from D, who has been in that position, so we had Mary over for dinner Thursday evening and then met up with her again on Sunday.4 Mary (poor girl) was the first American we've met in a long while who had not been here as long as we had, so anytime she asked us a question about Australian history, culture, or practices, she got a long, elaborate answer. It was kind of striking for us to realize just how much we've learned about Australia since we've been here, since we haven't had much opportunity to repackage it for others.
Good practice for D's parents visit... tomorrow!
;)
- D
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NOTES
1Which means, for those of you who are keeping track,
that at this moment they have seven hours of their fourteen-hour flight from LA behind
them, and seven hours in front of them. I figure an hour at least (give or take)
before they make it through Australian immigration and quarantine.
2D's sister came to visit in March, but she had already
been to Australia before (with D in 2003). And, we met up with friends Cara Gabriel
and Adrian, but they weren't really "our" visitors.
3High sixties, for those of you who speak Fahrenheit.
4After being in Sydney for a week, she still had not
made it downtown to see the Opera House and the Bridge at all, so busy was the
BodyWeather company keeping her.
Back to the GAA page!