Cool Runnings

This week has been a bit warmer (low-mid 30s) and this morning unfortunately Seth and I got up a bit late and went running at 9:30. It is only 8 days past the summer solstice so the sun was sure blaring! Even though the UV is very high, it is comforting to know that from here on out the sun will gradually be decreasing in intensity.

Seth designed a "double hat" to help block the sun- he wears a wide brimmed straw hat over his running hat. It looks pretty kooky, but it does the trick!

Similar to when we are at Johns and run along Black Mtn, here in Woden I run a circuit around Mt Taylor with Seth then he carries on for another hour by himself. One of the nicest things about Canberra is that the city is full of nature reserves, so that no matter where you live you are never far from some good dirt trails. I can't wait to get back to Black Mtn, however. Mt Taylor has very little shade and the slopes are very long and gradual and always seem to be going up. I hate Mt Taylor.

On the Road

I got up a bit early this morning so I could drive to BoZo and head to the lake for some fieldwork. However, Stephen and Kim's car did not want to start! Somehow the battery was completely drained- which remains a mystery because none of the doors were cracked open so the dome light was not left on, the radio and headlights were off, and even stranger is that the car is brand new, less than a year old.

Luckily Kim is an NRMA member (not to be confused with mRNA) and we were able to have someone come out to help charge the battery. If that did not work, at least the dealership is less than 1k away and the car is still under warranty. However, since the battery was completely drained I am a bit worried that it will always remain a little weak and will cause additional problems in the future.

In the afternoon Seth and I took advantage of having a (working) car of our own and went out for a short trip. An American colleague of Seth's suggested visiting a small country town, Braidwood, about 100k from Canberra. It is historic by Australian standards (built in the mid 1800s) and known for its folk music festivals. Unfortunately there were no events going on today, but we had a good time exploring the little town.

Boxing Day?

Happy Boxing Day! I don't really know what the purpose of Boxing Day is, but it is a public holiday so lots of shops have reduced hours or are just not open at all. Takes the fun out of the Day-After-Christmas sales!

Being Summer it hardly feels like Christmas, though Seth and I are coping with it better than we did last year since we now know what to expect. Basically, it feels like celebrating the 4th of July, but with gifts. Though some Australians have roasts and English-inspired puddings for dessert, many have seafood and light summery Christmas lunches topped off with Champagne. For the past several weeks the idea that the Northern Hemisphere is currently a cold, snowy wonderland (with the exception of NC) made me feel ill, but starting on Christmas Eve we began listening to carols, burned our single Christmas-smelling candle, and drank holiday tea. It almost nearly felt like Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we went running around Mt Taylor (a substitute for Black Mtn since we are in Woden), did a bit of field work, visited the fruit and veggie market, then in the afternoon I zipped over to the Woden Shopping Centre (a very large mall just 8min walk from the house) and bought groceries (and Seth's gift) just as everything began closing. For once, I was the last-minute shopper everyone makes fun of!

For Christmas Eve dinner Seth and I decided to do something season-appropriate and we made garlic prawn pasta with a side of Tasmanian salmon. When it was time for the traditional Latin midnight mass at the Catholic Church in Garran, we were way too tired to go... It was a pity because we were both really interested in checking it out.

Yesterday for Christmas brunch we made honey crepes with grilled fruit, then opened gifts. We followed that with some fruit picking in Stephen's yard (the fruit from their apricot tree and peach tree is just about perfect!) then I spent the rest of the day cooking. It wouldn't have taken very long at all had the potatoes and butternut squash (aka 'pumpkin') not taken so long. Either way, we had surprisingly nice homemade Swedish meatballs for dinner with Russian Teacakes, bread pudding, rice pudding, fruit, and brandy custard (which is like egg nog) for dessert. I ate way too much!

We were supposed to have Christmas dinner with Oanh Collins and her family (the people we lived with when first arriving in Australia). I don't know what happened but she never got back to us. It was a little disappointing to not see them, but it was fun trying to cook a fancy holiday dinner on our own for the first time. Thankfully we are in a nice, well-equipped house because it would have been really depressing to be alone at Johns for Christmas!

I finally got a chance to sort through some pictures this morning:


Julian took this picture of me at Lake Ginninderra (as you can see, it is extremely 'rugged'!)



These are also taken by Julian during the same trip (masked lapwing and red-rumped parrot)


What punks (willie wagtails)


Monica's peewee is getting very big and mischievous. As you can see, he still doesn't go very far from his beer-box 'nest'


Ricky is helping me cook up a storm


There is a KrispyKreme at the mall just down the road!! Don't be fooled: as with the rest of Australia, the prices are very high (for example, a small coffee and original glazed doughnut are $4; a dozen glazed is $14!).


Stephen and Kim's Labrador, Ricky. I am usually not a dog person, but he is so well behaved and easy to take care of it is hard not to like him!


Ricky's Christmas present: a dinosaur bone


Seafood Christmas Eve dinner


Christmas brunch

Dog Days

The past few days have been really crazy, but since I am not going to the field and don't have to work at Dash today I can relax a little. I will probably spend most of the day with Ricky, working, and in the afternoon go to the gym at Uni then pilates at the Canberra Dance Theatre. *Somehow Seth and I ended up with a set of 10 extra classes at CDT, and since each class costs about $12 we won't complain!*

I can't believe how cool and rainy it has been! I think the lows have been below 10 degrees celcius and the highs only in the low 20s. Seth and I feel very fortunate that the weather has been so incredibly nice. Doing field work, biking, and running outside are very pleasant when there are clouds in the sky and the temps are low/moderate. This can all be attributed to the La Nina summer, and it is a reward for suffering through last year's extremely hot and dry El Nino conditions.

Despite the recent rain, most of the country is still experiencing severe water shortages caused by 10 years of extreme drought. Also, in contradition to the cool summer and winter, 2007 has been one of the top 10 hottest years on record.

I hope the current cool/wet conditions don't fool people into fogetting about climate change. Most of the Australians I have met are concerned about the state of the environment (I don't know if this is because I mostly associate with like-minded people or if the entire country feels this way, but I also hear about the growing concern via newsradio and newspapers). I wonder all the time what the general sentiment in the US is- when I left in August 2006 the idea of climate change still faced a large multitude of skeptics.

House sitting

This weekend Seth and I are going to start house-sitting for Seth's ethnomusicology friend, Stephen, and his partner, Kim. They will be gone for a little over two weeks and so we will be in charge of keeping their house in order and watching over their Labrador retriever, Ricky. We went over to their house last night so they could show us around, then they cooked a lamb shank dinner for us. We had dinner at their home on several occasions already, and Kim has not once failed in leaving us extremely impressed by his cooking!

The house-sitting could not come at a better time. Johns totally shuts down from December 20th through January 2nd, so it is great that we will have a place to stay during that time. The only problem will be in trying to figure out how to get from their house to Uni then to work every day. Even though they have a car we can use, the commute will likely be an issue...

Dinner with the Chaplain

This morning marked the end of our duty tutoring! Though I am still confused about why we had to be "on duty" when there is only one other student here, I am very grateful we have our freedom back. As annoying as the entire situation was, at least we found some ways around it- thanks to Raveen and Prateek, Seth and I were able to leave when we were both scheduled to work at Dash and Starbucks the same nights. Also, Fr. Laurie was wonderful in taking over twice a week when Seth and I would go running together.

We had been meaning to get together with Fr. Laurie for a while and so last night we finally got around to it and had him over for dinner. He is very well-read and has lots of insight and common sense, so it is always nice to have a chat with him. Plus, he has been at Johns for the past 8 years, so he filled us in on what the college was like the years after Seth left.

Getting quiet...

Raveen, the last Johns ressie, took off yesterday. The only people who are left at college are Pete (an undergrad who is staying to help with the maintenance), Father Laurie, Seth and me. It is pretty quiet around here!


Last night Seth and I went to a service in the chapel that was based on 9 readings related to Christmas. It was very nice- St. Caecelia's Choir (from another church) came in and sang traditional Christmas carols as well as sacred music from the 1500s. For a brief moment it nearly felt like Christmas, though it was still very different from the typical American Christmas church service. For example, out of the 100+ people who attended, not a single person wore red or dark green. They dressed in more season appropriate colours like pastel and tan.


Here are some pictures from the past week...



This was taken Friday, the day after the kitchen closed. The few of us remaining grabbed tonnes of leftovers the night before and ate lunch up in the Senior Common Room.

On Friday, my office-mate, Monica, brought in a baby peewee that fell from its nest. It just sat on her finger all morning, looking at her!

Seth playing guitar in the bedroom

It was Seth's turn to get bit by an ant today. He had three crawling around on his shirt, and after I smacked them off I managed to take a picture of one. It actually reared up on its back legs when it saw me! No wonder they are called Bull Ants.

On our way home from the field today we stopped by the fruit market in Belconnen. We did a week's worth of veggie shopping (filling the fridge) and only spent $25! Considering we mostly eat fruit and vegetables, it is pretty darn impressive. After we put everything in the fridge I noticed how it almost only contains produce- I feel like such a freak!

Ants

I got bit by a really nasty ant today, on my finger. I don't know what kind of ant it was but it hurt like crazy and made half my hand go tingly, and it still hurts now, over an hour later.

Just like flies, the ants here are something else. In some areas where we look for birds there are so many you really can't stand in one spot for longer than just a second or two before they climb up your shoes, get stuck in your socks then walk up your legs... and bite!

There are of course many different varieties of ants but besides bull ants (the ones that are about 2cm (1in) long and with long, visible teeth), it is hard to tell which ones will bite really bad. What a learning process...

Conference Mayhem

Yesterday the bulk of the Evangelical conference arrived, as well as a few people (11) attending a different conference in Canberra on wildlife management. My office-mate, Monica, is going to the wildlife conference so she may know some of the people who will be living at Johns the next few days. What a strange combination- Christians and wildlife management academics...

The guests are pretty nice and luckily the Evangelicals have a conference coordinator who has so far been taking care of all their check-ins and room lock-outs. Meals are a bit disturbing, however, since it is CRAZY with everyone queuing out the door and down the hall 10min before the meals. Breakfast was supposed to be 7-9am this morning but stupidly I went for a run and didn't get there until 8:30. When I went inside all the food was gone and I thought they already closed up. I asked Maria, the Greek kitchen lady, and she said "everyone came at 7am and now there is no food left." I guess they are used to feeding just a few people breakfast, considering during the year most Johns ressies are too drunk to make it to breakfast in the mornings.

So Much Coffee!

Yesterday Seth bought a plunger (French Press) and picked up his first weekly allotment of coffee from Starbucks. Even though we are both anti-big corporation (especially when it comes to coffee houses), we can't help but be amazed at how Starbucks really wants its employees to be familiar with their coffee. They even require everyone to take classes in how to make good espresso.

To aid in the coffee "learning process" Seth not only gets all the coffee and fancy blended drinks he wants while he is at work, but he also is given 500g (a little over a pound)of beans per week! Wow, lucky me... I mean Seth. :P

The Evangelicals are Coming!

On Monday Seth's friend, Shelden (an ex-Johns ressie), came over for a visit. He is the friend we stay with when we go to Sydney, so it was great to see him here in Canberra. He stayed with us in Johns Monday night- it was his first time back at the college since he left, about 10 years ago, so I imagine it was pretty weird for him.

Johns books itself out to conferences over the summer, and the first one begins this weekend. The first dozen or so conference organisers arrived this afternoon. The conference is for AFES- the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students!!! In total they are expecting over 1000 people at ANU and they completely booked out several other ressies. Johns will certainly be full, which means there will be nearly 300 Evangelicals here learning how to spread the "good word"... OH MY GOD! They have been holding the conference here the past several years and Seth and I were warned that they will probably try to convert us. They apparently even tried to convert Father Laurie! It will be tough being Duty Tutors the next week or so, especially since we will have to help check them in, show them around the building, etc...

Election Day!

Yesterday went pretty well. After waiting around all day to give my presentation (being the second to last), I felt pretty good about how I delivered it. Maybe that silly three-day long Science Communication workshop really did help! The conference was soon followed up by Quiz and Curry Night.

I originally did not want to go since Seth could not make it, being his first day at Starbucks (wooo!). I am not very social when it comes to departmental functions, but Seth got someone to fill in for us as Duty Tutor for the evening so I had no excuse not to go. Thanks to Mai, I even had a curry to bring! It was a good night, except that I really suck at trivia.

Today was Australia's federal elections; it is mandatory for all Australian's to vote, unless they want to pay a fine. Just a few minutes ago they announced the results- that the Labor Party (under Kevin Rudd) had reached the minimum number of seats required to win.

For the past few weeks I have only somewhat been keeping up with the Australian elections, however I never felt very impressed by either party. John Howard's Liberal Party (which is actually conservative and similar to the American Republican Party) could brag over bringing up a strong economy, however they seemed to be lacking in many other areas. Hopefully Rudd will be a good Prime Minister and be very environmentally proactive- which in my opinion is the most important issue.

This afternoon I finally got to organise my pictures from the past several weeks. Here are a few "highlights".


Fr. Laurie, our live-in Dominican Priest. A very well educated, quirky, and nice man, indeed! Last week he was quite a help by filling in as Duty Tutor for an hour when I went running with Seth. Hopefully he will be willing to step in a few more times!

My part-time field assistant, Julian. Inquisitive and an excellent photographer, he is a great asset. Notice the horrible flies on him- I hate flies, and Australia is notorious for them. They love to land on your face and are extremely persistent (they will travel with you for many kilometers and won't back down, no matter how much you swat at them). Sometimes if you breathe too fast they go up your nose!


"Mama Mai's Green Veggie Curry"


So many types of curry!

I think these things found attached to the tree are molts of cicadas. They are everywhere and are sooo gross!


Shaz's signature "Plane Flying Into a Building in New York". He is our Pakistani friend who loves calling me "American" and always asks "have you killed any Iraqis yet today?". You need to know him to understand his humour, and he will be missed. (The heart and smile were NOT drawn by him).

Ready for a big day at BoZo

Tomorrow will be the annual graduate student conference at BoZo, so everyone will have to give a 15min presentation on their research. I have been working on my presentation for about 2 weeks now and can't wait to get it over with so I can focus on other things again. It has been good to work on, however, since it really got me to focus on pounding out results, even though there really were none to get excited about.

After the conference (I am second to last, ugh), BoZo will hold its annual Quiz and Curry Night. Curry is very popular in Australia, and everyone seems to know how to cook one (perhaps a little like burritos in the US?). Since I had never made one before, I asked the Vietnamese chef at Johns, Mai, to help me out. She let me use the kitchen and supplied me with everything I needed, including lots of help! I still need to somehow steam the veggies tonight, so hopefully I won't ruin her very nice sauce!

College is pretty neat right now since it is so quiet and empty. Tonight at dinner everyone almost fit in one table. Two days ago I walked into the JCR (Junior Common Room)-- it was empty and the TV was turned off, probably for the first time this entire year. I then realised, that for the first time since February, I could actually watch anything I wanted! I also noticed the unused ping pong table, complete with two paddles and a ball! It was so wonderful, just like my own private entertainment room! I can't wait until after my presentation when I have time to try to find someone around to play ping pong with. I also want to sneak into the SCR (Senior Common Room) with Seth (since we have the master key) and make fancy tea and watch movies :o) Oh, if only there were lots of time!

Duty Tutoring

After Ken pulled a fast one on Seth and me (we got stiffed into working as "Duty Tutors" an extra 17 days), Seth met with him again yesterday to discuss some sort of compensation. We originally agreed to be Duty Tutors for only 10 days and move out by December 15th. From the 15th until the 31st we were to house-sit for friends of Seth's, then find new accommodation off campus.

For being "on duty" these extra days, Ken agreed to let us stay at Johns the month of January. What a relief! Not only will we be saving over $1,300 for 4 weeks of rent and food, plus reducing commuting time and cooking time, but we also won't have to worry about moving everything into Stephen's house then move everything out again on New Year's Eve.

The bad news is the inconvenience of Duty Tutoring. One of us must be at Johns and on call from 4pm-8am, daily, then 24hours over the weekend. Basically, we are "in charge" 16-24 hours a day when the administration goes home. The job itself is simple: carry a mobile phone and big set of keys everywhere we go, make rounds before bed, check in conference guests who come in after hours, let people back in their rooms if they get locked out, and be available in emergency situations/fire alarms.

The hard part is that Seth and I will obviously not be able to work the same nights (we each will work 2-3 nights a week), we can't go anywhere after dinner (like to the library, go for walks, etc), we won't be able to do anything out of college together on weekends, and most importantly it will be tough on my morning field work. Seth needs to go running before 7am or it will get way too hot. So, I can't go running with him or go to the gym at this time. I also (very unfortunately) can't do field work before 8am. It gets extremely hot very quickly (and lately it has also been a bit humid) and ideally would be out around 6:30am certain mornings (then come back and go to the gym).

It seems like for most people it would be pretty easy to not leave college before 8am (most people don't even wake up until much later), but it will be tough on us for the next three and a half weeks.

Last night out and first day back

Last night a bunch of us went out for coffee- the last night out of the year! It was a bit sad, but hopefully we can get together next semester. We will just have to visit Yahya (our injured NC friend from Yemen) when we return to Raleigh.

Early this morning Kaima and I drove out to Namadgi; it was my first time back in that park this year. Since it is Saturday, there was an available van to make it out there, but unfortunately I was not able to find any honeyeater nests, which was the purpose of the trip. It felt nice to be back in Namadgi, a fairly isolated and very beautiful place. It was also great to have Kaima's good company, particularly since I was pretty tired from last night and was worried about falling asleep at the wheel!

Graduation time

Today Seth (who has been helping me in the field) and I found our first white-plumed honeyeater nest in weeks. It was very exciting because I really need lots of honeyeater nests so that I can conduct egg-swap experiments to see if the birds can recognise the foreign eggs and reject them. The eggs look like they can hatch pretty soon so I thought about planning a trip to Namadgi National Park tomorrow to look for other nests to swap the honeyeater eggs with. However, the vehicle I need to take will be sent to the repair shop and will not be available. This completely ruins my experiment. Not only that, but Jim (who works in the BoZo workshop) told me that next week they are planning to sell that car! It is the only car I can drive for my research! How can I finish the final two months of my field season?? Argh!

I went in to work this afternoon and I saw two people I know, which was a big surprise because I almost never see anyone familiar. The first person was Mag (Hawk's sister), whom I had not seen since leaving Oanh's house in February. She is such a fun and nice person, and Seth and I are always thinking about her, so it made me sad to think that it has been nearly a year since we had last seen her and her family.

The second person who stopped by was Kevin, a friend from Johns. He had checked out of College for the summer and was about to hop on the bus to Sydney. This was also a little sad because I had worked three of the past four nights and have not had a chance to say good-bye to certain people. In fact, I already regret not spending more time with people this semester. Between being fairly busy, working at Dash, and having to wake up at 6am every morning, it is hard to go out and socialise.

Today definitely has that nostalgic end-of-the-year/graduation feel, where everyone goes their separate ways. What makes it weirder is that Seth and I will be at Johns (practically by ourselves) for another month, and when everyone is travelling and/or going home this summer, we will be here doing fieldwork. When they return in February, we will be living somewhere else off campus. I just hope we can meet up with everyone periodically when the year starts back up!

End of the year and no exams

"Ooh, you don't have exams? You're soy (so) lucky!"

I have heard this phrase nearly every day for over two weeks now. The ANU final exam period is almost a full month long and thankfully is winding down; lots of people moved out of Johns this weekend to go back home to enjoy their three month holiday. So yes, even though for the first time in many years I do not have to suffer through final exams, in return I will not have a holiday of any sort, much less one that is a quarter of a year long. Soy lucky indeed.

Up until now...

In the summer of 2006, after graduating with a BS in Biology from the UNC–Chapel Hill and spending the summer working as a research assistant, I moved to Canberra, Australia to study pallid cuckoos, a bird that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, leaving the “host” birds to rear its young. Seth stayed behind to finish writing his dissertation, and within two days in late November 2006 packed up his apartment, defended his dissertation, drove to his home in New York, and flew out to meet me in Canberra.

View of Parliament House from the top of Mt. Ainslie


National Museum of Australia on Lake Burley Griffin (Black Mtn. and the Telstra Tower in the background)


School of Botany and Zoology



Student Union at the Australian National University


One of my field sites, Campbell Park (about 5K from the ANU)

Until early February, the two of us gratefully lived with a high school friend of Mom’s, who just so happened to work at the ANU (where I’m studying). Being a Vietnamese woman with a tall white (Tasmanian) husband, it was eerily similar to living with my parents. We shared the house with an independent cat, Toby, an unruly yet friendly boxer, Jake, a few chickens, and several cockatiels, including a newly hatched chick Seth and I affectionately called Adolph. His name was unfortunately replaced with Tori.

Oanh (Mom's friend) and Hawk

Their home in Canberra

Tori (aka Adolph)

As an undergraduate, Seth spent a year at the ANU on exchange. When he arrived this second time he got in contact with the current Head of College (Ken) at the residence hall where he lived 10 years ago and managed to smooth talk his way into letting us live there for free. In exchange, Seth would work as the Director of Music and act as the Academic in Residence, and I would mentor in biology (oddly, there are very few biology students… instead they all seem to do “Arts/Law”).

Johns College

The courtyard at Johns


The Chapel


The residence halls and colleges at the ANU are the Australian version of dorms in the U.S., although they are very different from American dorms. They seem to take the place of fraternities and sororities, even involving an application process. Most halls and colleges are catered and have a dining hall, have some sort of tavern (the drinking age is 18), love to throw too many formal dinners and cocktails, plus compete with each other in sports and other events.

Our residence hall, John XXIII College, is located right on campus but is not run by the ANU—it is independently owned by the Dominican Order of Priests. (It is considered a “college” and not a residence hall because it is not affiliated with the university). It is equipped with its very own live-in priest (an interesting fellow) and also has a small, rarely attended Catholic chapel connected to it. For being a Christian college, it has the ironic, long-standing reputation for being the loudest, drunkest, sportiest, most law degree-wielding residence hall on campus. It has tamed down many orders of magnitude since Seth was last here, but its proud and twisted status still stands. A “Community of Scholars”, indeed.

The possum who lives above the bin

Seth and his good friend (an ex-ressie), Julien, in the Tavern. They have their photo hanging up behind them

Besides living and eating for free, not having to cook, clean, and grocery shop, and being in a convenient location (no need for a car!), there are also social perks to being at Johns. Never mind the “too cool for you” hard-drinking business-suit wearing 18 year olds; there are heaps of international students whom we have found to be open, interesting, and very welcoming. Most Internationals seem to come from India, Asia and the Middle East, with a handful from Europe and the Americas. At many meals we will find ourselves sitting at a 12-person table with folks representing 10 different countries. Associating with them really tugs at my urge to travel and check out new cultures and places!

A few buddies on my birthday

Since arriving in Australia Seth and I have been lucky enough to travel to Tasmania, Melbourne, Western Australia, nearby Sydney (a must), plus visit a few smaller towns around New South Wales. I started my second field season this past August and also picked up a part-time job working at Dash, a café in the Jolimont Bus Station in the heart of Canberra. Seth put the finishing touches on his dissertation, officially graduated with his PhD, and since then has been helping me as a very cheap research assistant—I will take what I can get ;o) He has also been putting up with Ken (his boss, the Head of College) and several days a week sits in on interesting music and literature classes. He recently gave a guest lecture at the School of Music, and is currently applying for jobs back in the U.S. as a professor of music.