More of what we've been up to lately

I could not resist a few more beautiful nephew pics ...
He's walking now... and saying some words in Polish. He seems to understand quite a bit in both languages.
Here's something I did in November. A group of us ESL teachers got together and we took a group of grade 6 & 7 students from several schools into the city. It was a really good day out actually!They sketched the Town hall and the Story Bridge.
They even did work! They answered questions about every place we saw -- it was a lot of fun! We had some great conversations. Brilliant kids :)

Just about 1 and a half weeks of school left. Then I'll be home for a 5 week summer. December 15th and I'll be free! plenty of time on my hands... more work on the house and garden I hope. I'm keen to start painting all the doors! So give me a call or stop by sometime... happy summer ;)

Some After shots - long overdue

For those of you who haven't had a chance to see it yet, here's an idea. But you must forgive the pre-Christmas mess on the dining table. There's a LOT of work to be done this time of year...and it's so nice to have the space to spread it out on :)

Some may have said that we got into the spirit of Christmas just a tad early... I really wanted to remember some traditions around thanksgiving this year. So we decided to celebrate it in our own little family way. After a long day of work and report-card writing, we set up the tree and decorations on Thanksgiving Thursday night. while we listened to good old Christmas music and waited for just a half of a small turkey to roast. It took 3 hours. unbelievable. We didn't get to eat until nearly 9:00! But it was a fun and festive night nonetheless.

A shot of our lounge-room pre-Christmas decorations. Now there's a nice little bunch of fake poinsettas, but it wasn't really worth photo-ing.

My roses blooms are gone now. They were gorgeous all through October and a few days of November. Now I think they're just sadly lacking water. Don't know if I should spoil them with buckets of it though...don't know if they should get used to such a luxury item.

Another big event in October was nephew Sebastian's first birthday. It was Glorious baby-watching fun.

Turned out he wasn't quite sure what to make of his cake. He'd never had cake before. These cakes are gorgeous. I'd never seen this done before moving here, but it's a really simple kids' cake. It's basically just 2 thin cakes with whipped cream in between and on top. Then they top off the cake with fruit and jello (which here is known as jelly - don't get them confused. The stuff you put on toast is called jam. And it's acceptable on toast and pikelets - little pancakes- but not so common on sandwiches with peanutbutter cause who eats peanutbutter anyway?)

Well, that's about it for that lot. I'm afraid I haven't got many words at the moment, since so many of them are going into my reports. Just 2 more weeks of school...and it's that crazy year-end + Christmas crunch time. But I have got a few more photos to share in the next blog.

:)

Before and During

So here is what our house has looked like in the past month. Let's start in the kitchen. Yes, that was the kitchen & dining area before the house was officially ours - with the most lovely brown carpet you ever did see! That just had to go!

So we began the renovating process. Lots and lots of scraping and puttying... Dan and Uncle Terry were up at that ceiling for many hours of fun!

And then there was the painting. I reckon Pam had the most artistic touch of all -- she brough along her own special paintbrush! If you ever come to visit, be sure to notice the fine detail work on the bathroom ceiling!

And here we are - homeowners in our backyard. That was just after the work had begun...we were already a bit tired.

And Pam and Geoff enjoy a break under the mammoth Jacaranda tree.

There are more photos, but unfortunately, I can only choose 5 at a time to post. Computer's being real stubborn about that. So the AFTER shots will be forthcoming. :)

Our New Home

(Our Backyard garden & Gate)

Who knew moving in to your own home would be such exhausting, time-consuming work? And why didn't you tell us??!! We are stuffed! We need a holiday!

Ok, enough of the whinging. We are really loving living in this place!! Slowly by slowly, it's beginning to feel a bit more like home, and a bit less like this overwhelming-project-we-must -complete-by-a-certain-date. All the must-be-done's seem a bit more conquerable now... now that we have a kitchen -- the Lord-knows-why-it-was-there-in-the-first-place carpet in the kitchen is gone, the new faux-wood floors look and feel perfect, the kitchen stuff is unpacked. :) And in the study it's the same story, and we finally have a computer with working internet. Ah yes, relaxing can happen once again. And blogging :) (As the photos show, it's still a work-in-progress, still a very lived-in sort of place. not the kind of photos I'd want going to any home and Garden magazines just yet, but I wanted you to get a feel for where we live.)

It's still hard to believe it's actually ours. And that we won't be moving again for... years? Weird. Not moving. Having sheds and multiple rooms for storage. Having a guest room for people to visit from far away. I'm starting to feel like a real grown-up!

My garden is gorgeous! In the midst of all these must-be-dones, I find botanical surprise gifts -- literally in our own back yard. We have joyful pink-orange lillies, bunches of blue hydrangias, and my childhood favourites -- orange-yellow gladiolas in the front yard. It is the most beautiful welcome. Soon, I must learn how to take care of them!
Our Jacaranda tree is amazing. It began to bloom the very moment we and October arrived. Now its purple blossoms fall in much the same way as the leaves of Minnesota Maples in this month - sporadically and constantly, covering our yard with blankets of colour. I love it! (But our yard does desperately need a good rake and a lawn-mower!)

We really will have a house-warming bbq party at some point, but I have no idea when. When I feel our home is ready I guess. When somethings are on the walls and we have some sort of dining room table and a bbq and the lawn gets mowed...that would be a start. :) We'll let you know.
I've got to get to school. This is starting to be a really good term. I'm really enjoying it. Dan seems to be enjoying his new job as well. More responsibility, more projects and challenges...but he has to wear a tie every day now. More about work stuff later...if I can think of more to say :)
I'd love to hear from friends and family anytime... we think of you often, even in our busy-ness.
Lots of love :)

(I'm having a bit of trouble posting more photos here, so I'll post them seperately...coming soon!)

Pray For Rain

When I was in high school, Pray For Rain was one of my favourite bands. I was an onofficial but highly passionate and somewhat spindly groupie. It's still got a very nostolgic place in my heart.
I never thought it was something I'd actually do. :)

This weekend, a lot of people around Brisbane rallied to pray for rain. (In case you haven't heard, we're in the midst of a pretty serious drought.) Sunday morning -- yesterday morning -- a bunch of people prayed at the same time, probably a culminating event for what a lot of us have been doing randomly for awhile now.
And today it rained. Most of the afternoon it rained, and it's 10:40 at night and it's still drizzling. The forcast is for rain all the rest of this week. Now we wait and pray and hope that a lot of it falls in the cachement areas, and the dam levels can begin to rise again. Either way, it's really good to have the rain.

Today Danny and I entered into a contract to buy a house. A house much better than we thought we could afford, and one that we feared we wouldn't actually get because another contract was in place before us. That contract fell through. We got the official contract on the house today. I felt just a little bit blessed-beyond-deserving, and a little bit like the "yee of little faith."

Sometimes I pray, and nothing seems to happen. (Maybe I feel a bit more at peace, but I don't see what I'd like to call "results") And after this happens a few times, I don't really expect anything to happen. (Except a greater sense of peace and the ability to handle my prayers not being answered. And I think I'm usually ok with that.) And then, when we pray and something does happen, I am so unexpecting it that I'm almost unbeleiving.

How can I possibly predict what prayers will be answered and how? Who makes the crazy rules I sometimes find in my head? -- that I couldn't hear him for what felt like such a long time, he surely won't answer now. Or that he's been blessing us in so many ways, something's bound to go terribly wrong soon.
hmmm... I know who breaks those rules.

I wish my faith were stronger and more patient, and didn't expect him to play silly games with us. Maybe that should be my next prayer. I think in the weeks to come, we're going to need a lot of that peace and faith stuff... to face all the overwhelming and exciting.

May you be blessed with all the rain you need and don't expect.

Misadventures in waiting and water

Sometimes it doesn't feel very adventurous. Sometimes it just feels stressful and tiring. But then it's exciting and interesting again, and then I get a day like yesterday to stop being to busy, to rest and think and just be, and then it all feels manageable again. You know those times. That's the kind of weeks we're having.

Yes, we're house hunting to buy our first family home, and no, we haven't had any really good luck yet. We're learning heaps though. I've got all kinds of interesting new vocabulary words, like asbestos...retaining wall...fixed-rate or variable loan...and the list goes on, but it's not that exciting.

We're learning some very important lessons too -- like not to get too emotionally attached to a property before we have all the information. I've decided that finding a house is kind of like dating. A crazy crash dating where you have pushy real-estate salespeople along as chaperones, and you have to make big long-term decisions about whether or not to move in together after just 2 or 3 brief encounters. At least you don't have to say "til' death do us part."

We had a bit of a disappointment last week when we took a second inspection of a house we'd already fallen in love with. We found out there were some pretty major structural problems that we just aren't prepared to deal with ... if the rains ever do decide to come back to South East Queensland, the dodgy brick retaining wall holding back the yard would have collapsed. And we just really don't want to buy a worry that our front yard might fall into our downstairs rumpus room. So I had to move my imaginary family and home-y daydreams out of that house. (And I'm trying to convince them not to move into another one until we do, but there are no guarantees on that.)

I miss basements. I wonder if they eliminate a lot of the structural concerns, because if you're going to start a building with a basement, it's just got to be structurally sound. I never even looked into house buying in MN, so I know very little, and now I just imagine you guys up there must have it so easy! I imagine there are no real issues with houses falling down or settling into the ground and shifting...and then I even imagine there are no termites in Minnesota, and that the real-estate agents are all on your side and completely trustworthy, and that the grass is always greener there. Wait, hold on... there's water there… the grass is always greener!

In other news... Brisbane is nearly out of water. Seriously...they're now saying the dams could be dry a lot sooner than they'd thought - around the end of this year? we're not talking years anymore...we're talking months of water left. The rainfall has been so little and the migration has been so great in this area that, well, it's not a good combination. The great debate at the moment is whether or not to use re-cycled waste water as a replacement in our taps, as the dams are running out. Toowoomba -- a neighbouring town/tiny city -- just voted NO to the recycled water idea...but in reality they probably have no choice soon. They're going to be using water that's been recycled from toilets and treated 7 times, and so are we. Maybe we'll have some kind of system whereby that water isn't for drinking but is used for everything else? and we'll all have to have special taps just for the drinking water? Who knows. It's all a big controversy at the moment. I'm pretty confident they'll come up with some kind of workable solution soon, even if it's not perfect. But if they don't, we might just be moving back up North!

Also, this week I bought (drumroll please!!)..... 2 BANANAS!! If you live in Queensland, you know I probably had to take out a small loan for such a luxury item. For those of you who are wondering what's wrong with us crazy sun-affected Aussies, I'll fill you in: We're out of bananas too. They're a huge staple crop in Queensland, Australia doesn't need to import bananas because we produce so many of them. And most of them are grown in far north Queensland. A few months ago, this year's whole crop was destroyed by Cyclone Larry. Massive devistation... a lot like the New Orleans disaster. Probably didn't get as much worldwide press because there's a lot fewer people living up there, but those farming communities up there suffered in some pretty bad ways. And so did their bananas.
ANYWAY, one of the things that means for the rest of us -- bananas cost $15 a kilo. I don't know what that is in pounds, but the 2 small bananas we just had for our sunday morning breakfast smoothy cost $5. It's so much cheaper to buy strawberries... so they fill our fridge, and I'm happy with that :)

In other, happier news...
Wayne and Kate have just signed a contract on their first family home! CONGRATULATIONS...and good luck!
Ali is walking, happily and independently
CONGRATULATIONS!
And Nanna and Grandad Lynam are ONLINE! Very cool!

I had better get going... Danny and I go out to look at another house soon. This week we have friends from New Zealand coming to stay with us for a couple of days, and that should be alot of fun. So all is well down here today. We've got good friends, good family, eh...Who needs bananas or water? :)

Finally... some wedding photos

Hello friends and family! Hopefully these beautiful photos will help you forgive me for the entire month it's taken me to post anything at all! You would not believe how much trial and error and frustrated screaming-at-the-computer I went through to actually get these photos to post from my humble home in Australia...but I'll spare you the details. I finally got it to work, and here it is :)

Audra's wedding to Jay Miller was nearly a month ago now -- July 8, 2006. It was a beautiful day and an absolutely gorgeous wedding ceremony. It was intimate and fun and bright and there were plenty of tears everywhere! It was just what she wanted, and I'm so glad I got to be there!

A very happy Mrs Audra Miller! Welcome to the family, my new brother Jay.

The reception was a lot of fun too. Especially the cake! In great American tradition, the Bride and Groom attacked each-other's faces with cake :)

Some of my favourite people were there...

Brittany and Brad...

Kyle, Loren, and Noah....

And my brother Adam :)

It was a really good trip. I was exhausted by the end of it, but of course, it was completely worth it.

And now I'm home , and it's been ages since I've really updated anyone on our lives down here. It felt something like, I landed in Brisbane airport (exctatic to see my husband!), and for lack of any words but cliches...I hit the ground running. Haven't had a lot of time for reflection and writing stories yet. But today might just be a day to start doing some of that... hence the pictures :) And stay tuned... there may be a more uppdate-ish blog coming up soon.

Saturday

Big Alicia and Little Alicia, both healthy and happy...if just a bit sleepy :)

Michelle and Little Alicia, hanging out at the Children's Museum in St. Paul.

Story-time at the Children's museum. Toby started out running to the next activity room, and ended up pulling me by the hand to the floor and listening silently to all 4 stories.

Toby was looking at these photos with me later. He was telling me about what was in the photos. He had some very insightful comments,

"That's Toby. Toby have horns!"

-What are you doing there Toby? "I'm cooking the bubbles!"

The kids could perform on stage with "musical instruments," while music played, and they could watch themselves on the tv. Toby loves playing the guitar!

Back at the Fuller home, reading the dinosaur book. And after that came Curious George - the monkey. (the fat yellow book next to me) There's nothing like reading with a brilliant 2-year-old! It just made my day.

Mostly, it's just sooo good to have so much time to spend talking and being with such good friends. and with such good Family.

Today is the 4th of July-- a big family bbq in the park begins very soon, so I'm off to that now. The weather is perfect and the whole world smells like it's grilling. Happy summer!

A shower with sisters and a garden visit

I'm a bit behind with the photos and stories...I'm so very happily busy every day and night here at the moment! But on Wednesday, I got to visit an old friend from teaching -- one of my mentors. She taught me so much over the years and it was just lovely to catch up with her. She has a beautiful house with about 12 gorgeous gardens.




Then Friday night was Audra's Bridal shower. We had a relaxed evening picnic with sticky Chinese food, and had quite a few laughs at gifts... then we hung out and watched girly movies....It was a really nice night. I'll just share some photos, and I'll keep the rest as whispers between girls :)

So in between, there was a "coming out" party for little Alicia Grace on Wednesday night... but those photos I took with Michelle and Josh's camera, so you'll have to view those on the Fuller website if you're interested. It was a good night.

Thursday I had some great time with Mom -- we found the mother-of-the-bride dress. and then I spent some time with a group of old girlfriends. We spent about 3 hours getting proffesional photos taken...the majority of the time was spent just trying to choose our photos! so there's no candid pictures of that day, since we really didnt' want to see another camera after that! but we did have a completely satisfying dinner at the Olive Garden. Ahh... I've missed that restaurant!

Friday was a walk through the quaint, historical shopping mecca town of Stillwater. It was good to spend the day with Kim. And then there was the party for Audra, so now I think you're all caught up on the week.

Saturday was beautiful and long and busy....spent with small children and very good friends... but that's going to need many more photos and stories. So that will be in the next post.

to be continued....

The No-hat Noah game

"Hey, they put that hat on me again! I know this game. this is fun! I throw it on the table...
I toss it carelessly behind me...
I will NOT wear the hat! OFF it GOES!!!
Ha ha! I win! I wear no hat. I am so cheeky!
(Boy I'm lucky I'm not an Australian baby! At least I have a good thick ozone layer over my head.)

Ah yeah... another auntie. Man, I have a lot of those. They sure do like me!"

(Happily brought to you by the Minnesota Zoo, the playful Thurber family, and the letter N. and Auntie Alicia. and her camera.)

A beautiful day in Minnesota

Oh, it is lovely to be on holiday in this great green space :) Welcome to Minnesota!

We started out the trip with a visit to the MN zoo, with Loren, Mom & Dad, and of course 9month-old Noah. His favourite part of the day was undoubtably the water tank in Dicovery Bay. He must've spent about half an hour splashing us all with salwater. It was delightful!

The real shark in the aquarium was a bit scary, but not so the light-up rubbery one his Auntie Alicia gave him.

Grandma wanted to throw him in, but we convinced her not to do it ;)

Hmm... I reckon that's all for now. There is Heaps to do ! Today it's off to shopping with the mother of the Bride.

But there's definately more posts and photos to come...so keep watching.

Love to all those back in Australia. And those I haven't seen here yet. See you all soon!

The Excitement Builds!

So many exciting things going on in this lightly-rained-on land this weekend. Besides the Thank-you-God-we-finally-got-some rain feeling of cold but relief, and besides the fact that it's the last day of the school term and starting tomorrow the wound-up kiddies will be released on the world and anyone childless and over 22 will be evacuating the movie theatres...besides all that, there some other fantastic reasons to celebrate.

First off, the celebration of the end of too many hyphens in this particular blog post. And too long sentences. :) That's got to make you breathe easier!

Australia is stoked! The entire country. and all those who have once claimed any affiliation with the country, anywhere they are in the world. They were excited enough to be having street parties before 6AM this morning. I woke up to shouting around the neighborood and hulabaloos of the masses on my radio alarm , and I thought maybe an entire mob had won the lottery. The socceroos are on fire!
Ok, so to sum up for those of you who don't know -- Australia is in the world cup this year. We are hardly ever in any of the final games of the world cup. We have never in history made it as far as we made it this morning when we didn't lose to Croatia. I've never seen so much celebrating over a game that was only a tie. But it meant that They are out (hard luck, Croatia. Better luck next time mates!) and we are in. We get to go on and play Italy!
and yes, I am using "we" proudly. Why not? I'm still here. And We're doing so well!

And for those Aussies who don't get too excited about sport (there are a few of them out there) there is always the big celebrity gossip to get those tongues wagging today. This weekend in Sydney is the wedding of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Ahh Keith -- a favourite Country music star. And he grew up in a town just north of Brisbane. Takes us about 40 minutes to get there... Caboulture. If you want to hear any jokes about that town, just mention it to Danny and Wayne. I've heard them tell hours of jokes about it. But I won't pass along any of those at the moment -- I quite like Keith! and I hope it all goes well for them. :)

And of course, the other big excitment is the biggest for me and completely unimportant to most of the rest of the world. I leave in less than 3 days now...for a two week holiday in MN. VERY excited about that! I can hardly sit still.
:O
:)

see you soon!!

pilot humour :)

A sleepy and chilly good morning to you all. I blog this morning for no really good reason, but I'll make up a few that should pass for acceptable reasons anyway: 1- I've got flying to visit Minnesota on the brain at the moment, as I'll be doing that in just under a month now! (I'm so excited!) 2-I'll be flying with Qantas, which should make everybody happy, since they feed and entertain me quite adequately, and they are still the ONLY international airline to have never had a major accident; never lost a single person. and 3- It's always nice to start a day with a little chuckle if you can get one.

So Dan's grandparents (great people), they get this newsletter for the National Seniors Association, and this month they sent a copy of it to us because of what was on the back. This morning I finally read it all the way through and I really laughed out loud. My husband is going into a profession with such a fantastic sense of humour :)

I can't be bothered to learn to scan, so I type this, word for word, as fast as I can, before I rush off to work. ENJOY!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After every flight, Qantas' pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said tht ground crews lack a sense of humour. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' Pilots (marked with a P) and the Solutions Recorded (marked with an S) by Maintenance Engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to a more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious. (he he :)

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last!!! ....

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Every K over is a killer

I have pondered writing this post for some time now. It's just one of those cultural differences that I find fascinating. At the moment there isn't really anything new or terribly interesting to share about my own life, so I will expose to you one of the more widely visible practices of Aussie government.

Apparently you could make the stereotype that Australians like to drive. They spend a lot of time on long roads -- driving far, and driving fast. And the media spends a lot of time on the alarming increase in car crashes. And the government spends a lot of money on billboards, radio and tv commercials, to educate people (or scare or embarrass them, whatever works) into following road rules. These are some of the wittiest ads I have seen. They are everywhere, and they are sponsored by the governement.

Every K over is a killer -- (K = kilometre...meaning every kilometre over the speed limit, in case you weren't sure). This is the campaign's major slogan. It's been around at least 6 years, since I first came here, and it must've had some shock value at first. But I don't think anyone really even notices it anymore.


Drink drive - you're a loser -- (referring to losing points on your license. when you lose too many, you lose the license. )

High speed. Low IQ.

Has your car got a nut loose at the wheel?

I see these billboards every day. They make me smile :) I can only imagine the offended motorists who would rise up if these kinds of slogans were blared out in the US. It seems terribly politically incorrect there. Here, it's just another example of the Aussie value of being a bit cheeky to say what you want to say. And I say, good on 'em. (Unfortunately, even as the campaigns are growing, they don't seem to be doing anything to actually lessen the death tolls on the roads. I have no idea how it actually compares to other countries...presumably, it's fairly average? )

So there's my bit of Aussie trivia for you for the day. Sorry it's not too exciting, that's all I've got for the moment. :)

The Holidays, Part II

ANZAC Day
Tuesday, April 25 was a completely different kind of public holiday. The letters themselves stand for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. It was originally recognised as a day of remembrance for veterans of the 1st World War. (First celebrated in ...1916??? Don't quote me, I'm not sure.) It's grown into a memorial day of sorts now, giving recognition to all veterans, especially of the 2 World Wars, but it's taken much more seriously than any remembrance day I'd experienced before moving here.

To tell you the truth, I'm very hesitant to write this particular piece. I had every intention of writing about it last year -- I even took pictures of the ceremony held at Junction Park Primary School. But I could never get up the guts to do it, and I seem to have since deleted the pictures.
So this year I'm going to try, but I have to make this disclaimer first. Anzac day is a really important part of Australian history, tradition, and solidarity. I've only been here 2 years. I have heard stories of the origins of Anzac day told, I have been to services and ceremonies -- 3 of them to be exact. My Australian friends who may be reading this have been a part of this day all their lives. It's a day that everybody takes to retell part of the Australian story. That's why I'm hesitant to write about it -- this is not my story to tell. Many who read this would tell it much better than I. So I won't try to actually detail the story for you. If you've seen the movie "Gallipoli" with Mel Gibson, I think that gives a pretty good picture of what ANZAC day commemorates, and certainly the emotions that go along with it. I've also found some websites where Aussies tell the story, and they do it quite well.

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/anzac/

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/index.htm

What I will tell you are my own experiences and interpretations.

As a teacher, I have to be a part of a ceremony at school on the day before Anzac Day. And as a teacher of kids who are new to the country, I have to prepare the kids for what they're going to see and hear.
I tell them there will be some singing of some very serious songs, there will be some old people there who fought in a war a long time ago. They're wearing special badges that show us that they worked very hard in the war and they were very brave. There are going to be some long speeches, and we have to be quiet and respectful while the people talk. Since the kids I'm working with really don't understand long speeches in English very well, I summarise what the speeches will probably be about. They will talk a lot about mateship, I tell the kids. Mateship is very important in Australia. It's about looking out for your friends and being brave to help them even when it's hard.

When we walk outside and sit down to watch the ceremony, kids from each class line up to lay wreaths of flowers on the memorial at the front of the school, and at the end of the ceremony one of the older students plays the traditional tune on the trumpet: The Last post. Later in the day I talk with groups of my students again. They ask about the flowers and the "special rock" -- "Is dead people under there? Is people died at school?" I use all of my best ESL teaching skills to try to explain what a memorial is.

We talk about war and how many people die in wars and it's very sad. This concept, my African refugee students understand completely. They understand it better than I do. I tell them about how a long, long time ago, there was a war far away in other countries. It wasn't Australia's war, but they had to go anyway, to help England. A lot of boys went to fight -- boys who were only 17 or 18 or 19 years old. (This the kids understand too, they've known family members that age in wars). Some of those boys had to fight at one place where they didn't have a lot of help, and most of them got killed. They were loyal to their friends and tried to help their friends, even though they died. And ever since then, Australians have had this special day to remember their mates who had to fight, and to pray that there are no more big wars.

My students' response to this day is one of the things that has put a few tears in my eyes both years. They are so amazingly quiet and good all through the ceremony. They sing the songs without knowing any of the words, but seeming to understand what it means.

Here's a poem I just thought I'd share...it's read at all the dawn church services and state school services which I did attend…and probably lots of other things that I didn't attend.

For the Fallen
by Laurence Binyon
They shall grow not old, As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, And in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we Forget


And on a slightly lighter note...one ingredient in Anzac day that I can really get into...ANZAC Biscuits. or Bikkies. For those in the US, those are cookies, and they're fantastic! They're sort of a famous traditional food for ANZAC day, and of course they have a story related to World War 1 as well. The cookies are made with rolled oats and coconut and they're quite crunchy. They were made by the wives and friends and families of soldiers in WW1 and sent to the soldiers in Turkey. The bikkies didn't spoil over the long trip. There's a slightly more detailed version of the story here http://www.anzacday.org.au/miscellaneous/bikkies.html

And the recipe (for creative, cross-cultural chefs :) http://www.juncparkss.eq.edu.au/surfweb/anzac_biscuits.htm

So I can't help but think that a country who has not only marches and songs and ceremonies, but even a special cookie that they make every year just at this time to help tell this story, has some pretty strong emotional ties to this part of their history. I get the feeling that the Australians and New Zealanders who fought in both world wars were not always treated like other soldiers. It seems they were often given the hopeless campaigns, the ones that were expected to be lost, and where most of them were killed. In WW2, many whole companies of ANZACS were sent to battles, only to be left behind to become prisoners of war, where they suffered for many years of the war.

The overwhelming feelings expressed on this particular holiday are not those of pride in victory in battle or of fighting for freedom for our great country. They are feelings of pride in people who fought for their friends. They are feelings of mateship and respect and of remembering the great loss that comes of war -- that it might not happen again.

I can't guarantee that I've interpreted that all quite right, or that I've been able to keep from boring you. But maybe after 2 more years, I'll be able to sum it up a bit easier and with fewer words. Then again, maybe not.

Another Holiday
Tomorrow is Monday, and it's another public holiday! Another reason to respect and love this new country of mine. This one is Labour Day, and from what I can gather so far, it's a lot like the same holiday in the states. A day off work to honour all those who work, and the labour unions who fought for fair working conditions especially at the beginnings of our nations. One of those things, I think, that both countries have very much in common. Danny and I plan to enjoy the day off together immensely :)
Wow, this is way too long!

Lots of love to friends on both sides of the pond, and scattered wherever you are!

The Great Autumn Holidays, Part I

April is Autumn, yes, I still try to remember that. And Autumn is the season for a series of short work weeks. Ahh... cooler days (I can really wear jeans again, and sometimes even the odd sweater), and long weekends. It's a grand time of year!

The Chocolate Holiday

The holiday season Downunder starts with a goodie -- a 4-day weekend for Easter. You may remember this if you read my update email last year about this time, but I still can't quite get over it... Easter here is all about chocolate! Ok, not ALL about chocolate. It's very much about church and faith, about the resurrection and hope, about having a big noisy meal with lots of family (at least that's what it was to us and those I've always celebrated with, in both countries.)

But here, it's NOT about some of my childhood springtime memories...which made me just a bit sad & nostalgic this year (for a minute or 2). It's not about coloured Easter eggs -- Chicken eggs here are all brown. You don't colour them. Dan claims you can you can find white eggs and dye them, but I think they're rather hard to find. He did it once or twice as a kid, but I've yet to find any other Australian who shares those hard-boiled-dyed-Easter-egg-hunt childhood memories. And it's still weird to me to celebrate Easter without the aroma of Spring -- without daffodils and lilies and lots of rain and new green grass. Those things always seemed to support the idea of new life for me. Not here. You have to believe in new life without new grass or lilies.

But don't despair for the Aussie children! There's no lack of fun for them. The Easter bunny (or The Easter Bilby, if you're into saving native Australian wildlife, which many people are these days) brings Chocolate Easter Eggs. in every imaginable shape and flavour and brightly coloured wrapping. and chocolate bunnies. (and chocolate bilbies!) I made the mistake of going to the shopping centre on the Thursday before the big Easter weekend. Oh dear! Darrell Lea is a popular chocolate chain here -- it's one of those places that always smells delicious. The people in that shop overflowed down the hallway and they lined up for about 5 shops down. This is how people love their friends and family on Easter here -- they give chocolate. Lots of it! To lots of people!

MMMmmm... I like Easter!! And don't get me wrong...even though it's Autumn, it's not like there are no flowers around. just different ones. There are always flowering trees in Brisbane. :)

The Not-so-public Public Holiday

For our 2-year wedding anniversary we got a day off together! It was a much-needed day off, after the moving in and the start of Dan's full-on Saturday flying job. Our anniversary just happened to fall on Easter Monday this year, so we had all day to celebrate. It was a good good day...and we reminisced over a very good two years. :) Can't believe how quick it's gone...

Since it was the end of the school holidays at the time, the only movies at the theatres were pretty much kids movies. So we saw Ice Age 2. Fun little flick. Not as good as the first one actually, but we were just happy to be out at the movies together. Then we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. I thought about my parents who have recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary quite happily together. They went out to dinner too, and tried to remember all the places they'd lived in the 3o years, and tried to put them in order. How many homes has it been for you guys... 22? I wonder what we'll be remembering in 28 years from now.

Ok, there are more public holidays, but that's going to be the next post, otherwise this would get too long.
so....
to be continued!

Be it ever so humble...

...It finally feels like home! I've finished unpacking most things, arranging and cleaning and rearranging and managing to make frames stay on the walls. The phone and Internet are both up and working smoothly again. There are still heaps of little things to do, but there’s no huge hurry for those things. (Yep, the knob on the dresser's top drawer is missing... one of the casualties of moving. It's still to be recovered from somewhere.)

So this Easter 4-day weekend, I get to relax at home. But today is Saturday, and I have to enjoy the day without Danny. He's working. All day. Why is he working all day long on a Saturday? Well, that's the really good news :) Today Dan is beginning his first pilot job. He takes small groups of friendly but slightly crazy adrenaline junkies up to 10,000 feet, and then drops them out of the sky. Then he winds back around to land the Cessna 182 on the runway that's only about as wide as a sidewalk, to pick up some more jumpers and do it all again. He'll be doing this every Saturday now, out at a skydiving club called Drop Zone. It's in the middle of a sprawling field near a town called Gatton, and it's about an hour and a half drive from here. It's going to mean he works 6 days every week now, and it's going to mean extreme budgeting for fuel for the 3-4 hours of driving he'll have to do to get there and back...those are the downsides. But we're really excited.

Danny gets to be a pilot! He gets to build up hours and hours of flight time as a pilot. He gets to make connections with other pilots and experience working in the industry, all of which can lead to many opportunities in the future. And he can do all that while still making the money through the week at the insurance job, which means we get to stay in Brisbane for at least a few more years. Many beginning pilots have to move to pretty remote places to find jobs in Australia. We may still need to do that one day, when he has enough hours of experience and a bit more training to be able to look for a more serious, full-time flying job. But for now, we get to stay here in Brissy, where we both feel at home.

And since we're staying here, we get to face another really exciting and somewhat overwhelming adventure. We're beginning to look into buying our first home. We think that dream is somewhere between 6 and 12 months away from coming true...and we'll keep you posted on what finally happens with that.

In other smaller bits of good news... Tomorrow we celebrate Easter Sunday with the extended family, and Monday we celebrate our 2-year wedding anniversary all on our own :)

Tuesday I go back to work after a week of holiday, and this term I'm teaching full-time again. I've just been given another school to travel to, so I'll be working with students at 5 different schools in 5 days. Last term I worked with about 45 students in just 4 days, at 4 different schools, and the overwhelming majority of those students are refugees. I don't know much about this new school yet, but there is already one ESL teacher there, and she's getting a huge influx now of refugees in the school. So I get to go and support that school as well, and I'm really looking forward to it! (Yes, the ESL programming and funding here is a completely different world from the St. Paul school district. But I love what I do and I love the students, so I'll save the complaining about the politics of education for another time!)

Oh, and for Danny's birthday on Tuesday, I baked my first ever gluten-free cake, that turned out really nice if I do say so myself. Danny said so too :)

May you have a beautiful, peaceful, and very happy Easter weekend.