It’s so hot out I bust a window.

Summer came early to Melbourne this year.  Up until this week, I was convinced that Mike and I had unwittingly moved to the Seattle of the southern hemisphere.  It had been gray and rainy and a tepid 60 degrees for the first four months we’d been here.  A friend in my office, a native Melbournian, said that when the warm weather comes, it comes all at once, and boy was he right.  It’s been 30 degrees Celsius or above the past four days – it’s the first time it’s been that hot here for that many days in 80 years.  More accurately, it hits 30 C (86 degrees Fahrenheit) by 9am, then gets up to 35 (95 F) by 11:30 am, and stays that way until, say, 10 at night.

Last night, however, we had a reprieve:  by about 8:30, it felt cooler out than it had in a long while.  So, we opened the windows to air out our apartment for the first time in a week.  (Note on architecture here:  apparently when it gets hot like this, you’re supposed to shut all the windows and blinds, because that’s the only way to keep any cool air in the building.  It works surprisingly well – though it’s definitely warm in our apartment, it hasn’t been uncomfortable by any means…yet.)  Since our building was built in 1925, most of the windows are in rough shape – the sashes, which are made of frayed rope, are mostly broken, including the ones on our kitchen window.  When I went to shut the window before we went to bed last night, the thing came down so hard that it shattered all over me.  I was none the worse for wear, but now we have some unwelcome ventilation action going on. 

We let Geoffrey know about my incident, and he was nice about it and said that he would get us a new window.  But then he started listing off all the other windows that are broken in the building, which leads me to believe they’ve been broken for some time.  We emphasized that we’re dealing with more than a crack in the pane – there’s a big hole in the window – so maybe that will convince him to fix it more quickly than he did the stove.  We shall see.

In the meantime, I’m off to the Salvo to find a big pitcher to make iced tea in. The heat’s not expected to break anytime soon.

BROKEN

Well, for those of you that have been asking us about Koalas: here they are!  We took a road trip down to Phillip Island, south-east of Melbourne, last weekend for a quick Halloween getaway.  On the way, we stopped at a Koala sanctuary and finally saw some of the little guys in their natural habitat.  Unfortunately, they don’t let you hold them, as they smell terrible and bite.  Other than that, they sleep in trees for 20 hours a day, and generally don’t do much.

We also saw penguins on Phillip Island at the Penguin Parade.  The island is home to the world’s smallest species of penguin which nests in the dunes on the south side of the Island.  Every night at exactly sunset, hordes of the little guys come in from the ocean, parade up the beach in groups (hence the Penguin Parade) and return home to feed their chicks.  Unbeknownst to us, this is a major tourist attraction, and the beach gets up to 3000 visitors per night to watch.  The area is owned by a nature conservatory which has set up raised walkways and a big amphitheater on the beach, but they don’t allow pictures because it spooks the penguins.  Here’s a picture off the internet to give you some idea:

Here are the rest of the pictures from our trip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40458422@N02/sets/72157622723093736/

Shortly after returning from our trip to Canberra, I left for the Gold Coast to attend the Australian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC)/Bushfire CRC annual conference.  I had been looking forward to this trip for weeks, both because the conference sounded pretty neat, and because the Gold Coast has a reputation for being something like Florida (e.g. warm and sunny, which appeals to Melbournians about this time of year).

I have to say, the trip ended up being one of those where everything that could go wrong did, but the trip was still great anyway.  Things started off easily enough.  I successfully navigated public transportation to the airport (which is easy – it’s a straight shot from downtown) and we arrived at Coolangatta airport right on time.  I then caught another bus to Broadbeach, which is where my hotel and the conference were.  Then came the first hitch.  The hotel had no clue who I was.  Since I hadn’t handled the reservations myself (the Bushfire CRC kindly took care of all the travel arrangements for me), I was temporarily at a loss.  As it turned out, they had changed my reservation at the last minute, so I was booked at another hotel three blocks away.  No big deal.

So, I walked to the new hotel and checked in, feeling a little antsy because I knew I had already missed the opening ceremonies for the conference, and was due at a student dinner shortly thereafter.  Fortunately, while checking into my room my friend Briony showed up in the lobby and told me what the plan was and where to meet her.  So, I ran upstairs to change real quick, but as I was running out the door my damn shoe broke.  Not a huge setback, I recovered and was only moderately late to the dinner, which was great.  I got to meet all of the students the CRC is supporting in their doctoral research, and they were all very friendly.

Once I got back to my hotel, though, I wasn’t feeling so hot.  I’d been feeling like I might be getting a cold back in Melbourne, and the following morning, my suspicion was confirmed.  I was definitely sick.  But, I showered and made it to the conference with a roll of toilet paper hidden in my bag to take care of my runny nose.  I was keeping it together pretty well through the sessions, which were all interesting.

Then, as we filed out of the conference rooms for morning tea, we looked out the windows and everything was reddish-brown.  You could barely make out the buildings across the street.  Apparently, one of the largest dust storms in the past 70 years had just hit.  It originated in central Australia, and swept across New South Wales and Queensland the following day.  All of the flights into and out of the area were canceled, and everything had an eerie look to it.  As far as I could tell, the storm didn’t affect the conference proceedings at all, though on my short walk back to the hotel the dust made my already aggravated body even angrier.  By the time 7pm rolled around, I was in bad shape, which was unfortunate because there was a gala dinner that night.

My cold (or what was starting to feel more like the flu) be damned, I went to the dinner, which was pretty amazing.  Having just gone through planning a wedding, I have a whole new appreciation for what catering and decorating an event like that takes, and the conference sponsors held nothing back.  The food was excellent, and the entertainment, which included a band, a couple of aerial gymnasts and a comedian were all great…well, actually the comedian wasn’t so good.  Actually he was terrible.  But the other two were very good.

Amazingly, the storm had completely blown over by the next morning, and it was a perfect day outside.  After the conference ended, I took a walk down the beach before catching the shuttle back to the airport.  No matter how crappy I may have felt by then, it was impossible not to appreciate how beautiful the scenery was.

A couple weeks ago, Mike and I made the short trip to Canberra, Australia’s national capitol, for a Fulbright “enrichment” event.  The trip was organized by the Fulbright commission to bring all the current American Fulbrighters in Australia together to meet and greet, plus answer any questions we have about the program.

My first impression of Canberra was that it seemed awfully remote for a capitol city.  Though it is Australia’s largest inland city with a population of around 350,000, it is hard to find a place in town that feels particularly busy.  Canberra was chosen as the site for the Australian capitol in 1908, as no compromise could be reached between Sydney and Melbourne’s claim for the capitol; consequently, the city is located midway between the two larger cities.  (For more information on the city’s history, see Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra)

The first night we were there, the Fulbright commission hosted an informal dinner for the Fulbrights to get together and say hello.  There are about 19 2009 scholars in total, plus a few 2008 scholars who are still working on their projects.  The group was far more diverse career-wise than I was expecting.  Our experience ranges from people who just graduated from college in June to the Senior Scholars, who are experienced professors at universities across the United States.  I felt like a somewhat unique case, in that the vast majority of people there are currently enrolled in a Master’s or PhD program, or are just finishing up.

Anyway, the following day we had information sessions with the Fulbright staff in the morning, followed by a tour of Parliament in the afternoon, which family and friends could come to as well.  We also got to view the day’s question and answer session, which was something else.  It was essentially like watching the Presidential debates, only Congress gets to come and everyone gets to yell exactly what they think of each other.

That night, we had an award dinner at the Old Parliament House, which included Fulbright alumni and U.S. Embassy representatives as well.  All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.  Mike and I both got to talk to a lot of interesting people, a few of whom spent some time in Seattle as Fulbright scholars in the U.S.  Pictures from the event are attached:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassycanberra/

The following day, we had further information sessions, followed by a trip to the National Museum of Australia, and, finally, afternoon tea at the U.S. Embassy.  I have to say, being an ambassador (or working for one) sounds like a pretty sweet gig.  You get to live in a really nice house and meet all kinds of interesting people.  I’m sure there’s a downside, though it didn’t come up.  The new ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, was just nominated during our trip, so we got to meet the Charge d’Affaires, Dan Clune.  Everyone seemed to be excited about the nominee, who apparently knows Obama fairly well.

Anyhow, it was a great trip all in all, though I doubt we’ll make another trip to Canberra anytime soon.

As the United States debates what to do about health care, it’s been interesting to be in a country with a public health plan.  Through the Fulbright, I am eligible to enroll for Australian Medicare.  Being no stranger to government programs, I prepared myself for what I figured could be a long, frustrating ordeal…something akin to the hot plate/internet/phone experience.

Enrolling for and using Medicare has been, by far, one of the easiest things I’ve done here.  To enroll, I simply showed up at one of the local Medicare administrative offices (of which there are many), took a number, and was out the door with an insurance card within 15 minutes.  A couple weeks later, I got an ear infection.  I put off making an appointment for a few days, again assuming it was going to be a hassle.  But it wasn’t.  I called a doctor’s office near our apartment, and was shocked to receive an appointment for the very next day.  I showed up for the appointment about 20 minutes early, as is standard practice for first time visits in the U.S. (all that paperwork to fill out!), but there was no need – all I had to do was show them my proof of medicare enrollment, and that was it.  No copay, nothing.  I saw the doctor within a few minutes – no initial consultation with a nurse or anything –  and he was very friendly and professional.  He checked out my ear, gave me a prescription for ear drops, and sent me on my way – I was in an out of the office within 10 minutes.

Interestingly, the few Australians I’ve talked to about the public health system have not been incredibly impressed with it.  There is a lot of debate about the quality of care provided at public versus private hospitals (public hospitals being those covered by medicare, and private hospitals being those that do not accept medicare’s billing caps), though one friend mentioned that her sister chose to have her baby at a public hospital, and was very happy with the quality of care.

Anyway, it’s been interesting to experience a public health system.

One of Kate’s co-workers from Portland has a cousin here in Melbourne who we’ve been corresponding with since we got here.  She and her husband, Carol and John, invited us to go with them to a footy game last night.  Coincidentally, one of the teams playing was Collingwood, the local team for our neighborhood.  For those of you not familiar, footy is short for Australian Rules Football, a unique game played only here in Australia.  Its like a combination of Rugby and Soccer, and totally fun to watch.  Here’s a pretty good description of the game.

Footy was invented here in Melbourne, so while there are 16 teams nationally, 8 of them are located here or in the inner suburbs.  Here, Footy is the preeminent sport in a city in love with sports, so invariably any casual conversation turns to the latest team standings or the last round of games.

The game was played at Etihad Stadium, the second largest stadium here in Melbourne.  We met them for dinner in the Arena and had a great time, even though Collingwood lost to the Western Bulldogs.  It was the last regular game of the season, and as both teams were already assured of spots in the finals, the game was played pretty defensively.  But, having been to a game in person now, its clear why people enjoy it so much – its fast paced and heavy hitting, and as most games have around 50,000 people attending, the energy is great.

Carol got great seats right behind one of the goals, which you can see in the pictures below.  We were right next to the Bulldogs cheer section, which I got a couple of pictures of too.  The last are of our walk home and pit-stop at a great Indian place we know for dinner.  All-in-all a great way to spend a Sunday Evening.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40458422@N02/sets/72157622067077897/

I think we’ve mentioned this in a couple of other posts, but it’s worth reiterating.  One of the hardest things to get used to here has been the slow customer service.  Its pretty common, whether in line for food or trying to get necessities like a hot plate fixed, to wait about three times longer than expected.  It took about 3.5 weeks to get internet hooked up (finally!) and 2 weeks to get our hot plate repaired.  Go to dinner and expect it to be a 2 hour affair whether you want it to or not.  Ironically, the fastest service we’ve had has been at the Government Medicare office – Kate had to get her medicare card and it took all of 20 minutes.  We’ve met a couple of other Americans here who confirmed that this wasn’t just our experience – I guess its the downside of the ‘laid back’ Australian way of life…

I remember when I started middle school, my mom told me that whatever I encountered in life, I just had to wait three weeks before it started to feel natural – even something as awkward as junior high.  Luckily, adjusting to Melbourne has been in no way, shape or form comparable to struggling through sixth grade, though her advice still applies.  Three weeks in, we’re starting to feel at home in our new surroundings.  In fact, I was looking through pictures of when we first arrived today, and realized just how far away the experience of hauling our baggage through the Melbourne International Airport feels.

Adjusting to life in Australia has not been culture shock per se, but rather a process of sorting out the subtle differences from the similarities; like possums instead of squirrels, lemon instead of lime served with pho, or people greeting you with “how’re you going” instead of “how’s it going.”  They are all minor differences, but somehow taken together have a larger impact that has taken some getting used to.

Perhaps the largest shift has come in how we perceive time here.  The past three years, I think both of us always felt like time was working against us, in that there was always one more thing to get done before going to bed, or one reason or another to set the alarm 30 minutes earlier each morning.  Since arriving in Melbourne, time has felt more like an ally.  Both of us are operating on our own schedules here, which for me at least has been an awkward transition.  It’s taken me the better part of these three weeks to calm down and not worry that I’m falling behind schedule in one way or another.

Another difference in life here is that we’ve been able to take the time to actually notice our surroundings.  About 90 percent of our time in Seattle was either spent commuting to an office, sitting in an office or commuting home from an office.  Though I loved the other 10 percent of my time there, and still miss our old neighborhood, it’s been nice to be able to explore Melbourne for what it has to offer, rather than for the sake of finding a shortcut to beat traffic.

Of course it’s too early to say exactly what we’ll take away from this year, but I am hopeful that at least part of these new perceptions of time and space will stick.

One of the first things we noticed in the Gardens here is that almost every tree has a green band of sheet metal, about 3 feet wide, wrapped around the trunk.  For a couple of days we were totally stumped as to what was going on, then we saw a sign explaining it all.

Apparently Melbourne is overrun with possums.  Because of a lack of any natural predators in the cities, there is a booming possum population that has become so extensive it is damaging trees.  When we read this, we laughed and shook our heads at the crazy Australians; looking around there clearly weren’t any possums.  ‘Well, they must have solved that problem’, we said to ourselves.

Then, a couple of nights ago we were taking a walk through Fitzroy Gardens and noticed a shape in the distance.  A cat, we asked ourselves?  A squirrel?  A raccoon?  No, it was a possum.  Oh right!  They’re nocturnal!

As with everything here in Australia, they have evolved into a niche (well quite a few actually) that is familiar in a very unfamiliar way.  Their closest equivalent would be squirrels in the States, but imagine a cat sized squirrel that only comes out at night and is quite friendly.  They eat seeds, leaves and the occasional insect.  Walking through a park at night, one can see dozens of the little guys running around.  They are quite tame and friendly, but its a little disconcerting to have one come up to you looking for food and threatening to crawl up your leg.   We took lots of pictures of the possums on our walk tonight for you all.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40458422@N02/sets/72157622082706990/

Although neither of us were particularly egg-crazy folks back in the U.S., we’ve noticed that eggs here are different from what we’re used to.  Eggs are not necessarily kept refrigerated in the grocery store, and the yolks are more orange than yellow.  Also, Sarah passed along an article a few days ago that Woolworth’s (or “Woolie’s”, the major grocery store here) is phasing out its cage eggs – by the end of the year, they plan to only sell 11 brands of cage eggs versus the 20 they currently sell.  They are hoping that by reacting to consumer demand for barn-laid eggs, they will push the market further in that direction, ultimately dropping the price of cage-free eggs.

Anyway, we shoot for Sunny Queen Farm eggs while we’re here, seeing as they’re cage free and cute: