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.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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
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
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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...
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...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, December 10, 2007
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
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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!
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.
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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!
Monday, December 3, 2007
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...
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...
Saturday, December 1, 2007
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.
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.
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