Life + Times of Fenton et al.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-23T07:37:00.001+11:00

Merry Christmas for 2011 and a Peaceful 2012.

Winding Down 2011

2011-12-15T00:13:00.000+11:00

Many things are drawing to a close at this time of year. For us, a lot has been happening, in part, simply due to the number in our family but also because of some significant milestones.

Most significantly, Joshua has successfully completed college. For those outside Canberra, this is essentially the final two years of high school. The system here is for high school up to Year 10 and then a separate school, called a college, that very much like half university and half high school. The dress code goes from uniforms to free style, the teachers prefer to go by first names and the hours of attendance are more relaxed. Out of all our children, Joshua and Mara -- mostly simply due to their ages -- have had the least settled formal education. Joshua has attended six and, by the time she finishes, Mara will have attended eight schools across three countries and educational systems. In any case, after a less than certain start while he readjusted to the Australian educational style, Joshua put in a good effort to finish the year strongly. He mostly enjoys the humanities with Spanish, sociology and history being his stronger subjects. He's already secured himself a full-time job and plans to work, pending the outcome of university entrance offers.

Joshua gets one last adjustment from his mother on the way to his college graduation.

Mara has concluded one and a half years of Year 10 -- half in the US and one here -- and is onto college next year. In graduating she received the Kylie Souter Gift which recognises team work and quality commitment in the Performing Arts. Obviously, dance is still a big part of her life.

Elijah, Ariana and Bryna all had good academic years too with Elijah set to graduate from college next year, Ariana getting one B grade and an award for physical education and Bryna just enjoying her studies.

For the past few years, 'end of year' for us has also meant ballet productions. This year, Bryna joined Mara on stage in their ballet school's production based on the Sound of Music. Bryna was in two numbers and Mara performed in six or seven, including one as a queen bee tending to some very cute baby bees. They were both very busy the past couple of months with rehearsals and the performance was superb. A couple of weeks after the performances and ballet was done for the year with a good two months off before resuming.

Bryna poses on the front lawn in her costume from the 'Favourite Things' number in a recent ballet school production. And dance and costumes really are a few of her favourite things.

For myself, a deadline at work, plans for the house and car repairs as well as the typical end of year goings on have taken up whatever spare time I had laying about. A couple of weeks off over Christmas, relaxing with family up in Brisbane, seems like just the tonic at the end of a fairly busy year.

End of a Rented Era

2011-11-30T13:08:00.001+11:00

Today marks the official end of our years spent renting houses to live in -- 10 places and just over 19 years in total. Settlement on the new place was completed late last week and today was the final inspection on the most recently rented property.

I'm also pleased that we've never lost a cent in bond/security deposit money. A few were close -- mostly due to the distance the landlord/lady/property manager was from Earth -- but the many hours spent scrubbing, cleaning and fixing someone else's house paid off. Of course, this wouldn't have been the case without our family and many good friends (in three countries) who helped us and were right there beside us scrubbing, cleaning and fixing. We are grateful.

So, now we've joined the Masses of the Mortgaged -- only 30 years to go baby!

3D Printing Ahead

2011-11-02T10:37:00.001+11:00

Elijah has been enjoying CAD at school and now, thanks to Fenton's colleague, he has entered the world of 3D printing.

Bryna's Got Talent

2011-10-28T17:38:00.000+11:00

While it's no surprise to us how talented all our children are, it's great to see some of the rest of the planet give them a little recognition. Bryna took up ballet while we were still in California and has continued to dance, along with Mara, since we got back. Her primary school (elementary/grundschule) recently ran a competition using the now seemingly ubiquitous " ... Got Talent" and she did well enough in the heats -- run on a weeknight at the school -- to be invited back to the finals that were held at the school fête a few weeks later. And she won! She performed a self-choreographed dance routine to the first few minutes of Ben Fold's Still Fightin' It. There were even prizes -- well done Bryna. :)

So ... We Bought a House

2011-10-26T00:21:00.003+11:00

After nineteen years of wedded bliss and six children, Gaynor and I feel it is time to settle down[1]. While we certainly aren't ruling out relocating to other countries in the future -- if it's a disease, Gaynor and I should probably both be formally diagnosed -- but for the time being putting down some stable-ish roots is our plan. We believe it is the right time for the children and, financially, it makes more sense for us too. Actually, this is probably our first real opportunity to buy a house. No-one would give me a loan as a student and once I finished my studies we fled the country almost straight away. That was always our plan and hope anyway. Although we came close to buying a house in California -- the market was certainly good for buyers and we were looking -- uncertainty in our longer-term plans made us hesitant.

So once we had decided to move back to Australia, and with the certainty of at least a few years of employment, we knew we wanted to buy a house as soon as possible. As much as we would have liked to, we didn't think we could stay in temporary accommodation until we purchased but we talked to a mortgage broker soon after settling in (and taking care of the very hectic stuff) and he helped us understand our financial reach. Then all we had to do was find something with that reach.

Unfortunately, what seemed to be within our reach was a small cupboard "far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of [Canberra]". Somewhat deflated, but nevertheless undeterred, Gaynor started scouring the web and newspapers but this time for real. Our plan was to try and find something that needed improvement, preferably with a larger block in case the house also needed extensions. We also thought that if we could put in most of the work ourselves we'd be getting ahead a little, or at least providing a little protection if the market were to take a downward slide.

Gaynor has had strong opinions about houses and their designs since she was young. I have lived in houses. So one of the challenges for Gaynor was not only to find a house within our budget, our preferred area and our improve-it-while-you-live-in-it plan but to negotiate with her husband and his quickly-formed opinions. Fortunately, I've learnt a lot about houses recently and, combined with a bit of travel, I'm now far more amenable to ideas outside my traditional purview. Still, I provide the occasional resistance, just to help me feel like I'm part of the action.

Despite all this, we did find a few houses that fit our criteria and they were all being offered via auctions. The first house was on a massive block but was riddled with termite damage. We estimated about $20,000 worth of materials alone to make it livable. In order to get the hang of auctions, I had attended one that I did not register to bid in. Interesting to see how quickly several thousand dollars can be added to a price. At the auction for the Termite Castle we were eventually outbid by a guy who almost certainly will sub-divide the block, knock down the Castle and put in a couple of new houses. Hard to compete with that kind of money.

At that auction was another real estate agent who approached us afterwards to inform us that there was another similar place, just around the corner, coming up for auction in a few weeks. After looking through it, it also needed a fair bit of work but not as much as the first place. The auction eventually rolled around and it turns out, we were the only bidders! My opening bid was, obviously, too low and so we negotiated with the seller afterwards. In the end, she had an over-inflated sense of what the house was worth and would not come down to something closer the reality. We'd always maintained the position that we had to be prepared to walk away if it didn't work and we wouldn't put ourselves into something we couldn't afford. And in this case, we walked.

Finally, we found a small place, better maintained than the first two but with a slightly smaller block and a little further out. From the outset there was very little interest in this property and when the auction arrived, we were the only registered bidders. I did feel a little awkward as the auctioneer asked repeatedly for an opening bid, knowing that I was the only one who could start. One might think that the previous auctions had helped me relax a little but I still find committing to that much money a bit stressful. My starting bid was naturally low and, as per auction regulations, the seller, via the auctioneer, can enter one bid. He did this but it was already beyond what we felt we could comfortably afford and more than I was prepared to commit without further consideration. The house was passed in unsold and then we started a tense 20 minutes of back and forth between us and the vendor and discussions between Gaynor and I. Eventually, we decided came to a price slightly lower than half way between his initial price and ours. I note that it was slightly lower because he wouldn't budge and we daren't go any higher and so, to make the sale, the estate agents knocked the last thousand off, out of their commission. We can live with that.

So now we have a place. Settlement is in a few more weeks with plenty of paperwork and financial decisions to worry about in the meantime. And, even though the challenges of renovations and, hopefully, extensions are still ahead of us and, even though it'll be smaller and older than we have become accustomed to in the past few years, Gaynor still seems pretty happy and it will be ours.

[1] I believe I have worked through my fear of commitment.

Micah Reads 'Big Little'

2011-10-07T14:38:00.000+11:00

Micah loves books and puzzles. Here he is with one of his favourite books that he can 'read' himself. The funny, sort of scrunched up face he pulls is his deliberate smiling face. :)

Celia Lashlie: The World of Boys and Men

2011-10-02T15:37:00.000+11:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to Celia Lashlie give a public lecture at ANU entitled The World of Boys and Men. Though I have lived in this world for a while, I thought it would be useful to get an outsider's point-of-view, to be reminded of how my own boys sometimes see things and pick up any insights she might have gained. Unfortunately, I don't have time to give a full account of the talk and so, instead, for those interested in helping to raise successful men, I offer below an unedited copy of my own notes taken.

'I get annoyed when ...' puts it on yourself rather than 'You should ...' which puts it on him.
Boys tend to ignore women's voices because they have heard many negative comments throughout their lives since there were small -- often from others who do not need to pass judgements -- that they aren't okay being who they are. a-la 2 year old misbeaving in public.
Once they are 12 -- 13 they turn off until ~24.
Note:
- women think and talk at the same time, thinking out loud
- men think and then talk -- note the gap -- and women prefer to fill the gap.
Often the thinking on the part of men in response to an 'uh oh' question[1] is to pick the words that get him out of trouble.[2]
Women consider externally and men consider internally. Wait for them to consider! In both cases!
Boys make 30 second decisions.
Men have intuition -- just use it differently.
Take in information from 2 years old -> 12 -- 13 and then process.
12 -- 13 slow down; the laziness is wanting to slow the world down and is aware of the end of adolescence, the world is changing.
Slow down means getting through with "Don't know" or "No" and will wait for a woman to answer her own question.
Boys know through observation how things are. Example!
Relationships -- the essence of life -- will keep boys safe.
In communicating, learn to wait for answers, don't fill the gap nor provide answers or options. Let them think and talk and don't let them off the hook by doing those earlier things. Look directly at them.
They already know right from wrong so need to prod their intuition -- simply need to remind them without your own emotional insecurities.
Parents (mothers?) have checklist of things to talk about during adolescence and avoid segueing to it.
Ask them by stating own views and giving them time to think abou it and then being prepared for their answers.
Nothing if not pragmatic!
Pragmatism drives many actions and communications
They must experience consequences to learn.
Set the line and let him find it.
Link action and consequences -- his pragmatic nature will drive the results.

[1] She explained that an 'uh oh' question is typically one of deeper significance that usually has the man mentally responding with an 'uh oh'.
[2] It reminded me of one of my favourite illustrative stories, The Difference Between Men and Women.

Control Room Envy

2011-09-26T21:13:00.001+10:00

I know it's something straight out of the 70s but Nuclear Physics Control Room seems so much cooler than the Heliac's.

In this house ...

2011-09-25T15:21:00.000+10:00

I'm not much one for interior design -- and the world is generally very grateful -- but when I see something like this I want to have it in my own house[1].

[1] And we'd like to have our own house.

Wedding, Pregnancy and Wait, What??

2011-08-19T10:34:00.001+10:00

Just what is the cosmic message this magazine rack is trying to get across?

The Status Quo: June 2011

2011-06-12T07:53:00.006+10:00

While there hasn't been anything major of note happening of late there are plenty of day-to-day events that make up our lives and I thought a post about some of them might be informative.

The children have largely resumed their activities, some as before and others trying new things. Joshua is still working on his creative side, making videos, learning guitar and writing jokes. Elijah is playing another season of rugby with his former club and Mara is, surprisingly, dancing ballet again. Ariana has taken up learning tennis on Saturday mornings and Bryna has continued on with her ballet lessons as well. And Micah, well, he is just enjoying himself and hanging out with his siblings who, needless to say, adore him.

We've slowly been reconnecting with old (I won't say former!) friends in Canberra. It's good to see them again and, in some cases, see how much they have grown in the time we have been away. Some, in the case of the children's friends, have grown up and some, in the case of Fenton's friends, have grown out. All of Gaynor's friends remain as fabulous as the day she met them. Since we now have a place and with our belongings having returned from their own adventures we are gradually inviting friends over to reacquaint them with Gaynor's cooking. And because she's picked up all sorts of new recipes and ideas from her travels, the meals are more superb than ever.

You'd think that a move back to your native country would mean that something like a driver's licence would be a simpler process, right? However, if you are Joshua, and have your licence from California, you are generally back in the Awkward Basket for a bureaucrat. So, despite having passed his California's driving test and driving there for a number of months with a few restrictions -- essentially equivalent to a Provisional Licence in Australia -- the Powers That Be decreed firstly, that he would need to start with a Learner's Permit but could count his start date from his Californian licence. Then after we organised that, with it's attendant classes and exams, they said he'd have to be on it for the full six months before he could take his driving test. We wrote a letter pointing out our case -- we were fine for him to do a driving exam since it is the other side of the road and he'd mostly driven automatic transmission equipped cars in the US -- but they stuck by their second assessment. (Why couldn't it have been the first one that we were happy with?) Of course, his case wasn't helped by the fact that the Californian DMV failed to issue anything other than a paper, temporary licence before we left the US. It did, after all, take them 18 months to renew Gaynor's. :\ Anyway, he's eligible to take the test in October.

Finally, as previously mentioned, housing prices in Canberra are even higher than other major cities in Australia. Despite this, Gaynor and I believe now is as good a time as any to take the plunge into home ownership. Mostly this means we would prefer to put our money into our own home and not someone else's pocket and this is the first opportunity that we've realistically been able to do that. We'll be looking for a house we can fit into -- though it may be a bit of a squeeze -- that will require some renovation work. A single income in Canberra doesn't make this an easy proposition but, then again, we've never really been big fans of 'easy' :) So even though we may end up with a dump, at least it will be our dump.

Mara Expresses Herself via Interpretive Planking

2011-05-26T21:26:00.002+10:00

Actually, not so much planking as it is a lay-in protest against having to clean the kitchen.

The 60s Kombi Van of Microwave Ovens

2011-05-09T07:47:00.001+10:00

Gaynor's children decorated her Mother's Day gift as a tribute to her hippie tendencies.

First Few Days Back in Australia

2011-02-25T15:33:00.001+11:00

It always feels like a major logistical exercise to get the whole family and carefully chosen belongings from one continent to the next but it is such a great feeling to finally arrive and be met by good friends and family. Even tired and in a new time zone the relief is noticeable. Though the flights from Los Angeles to Canberra are not the longest trip we have taken -- Brisbane to Singapore to Amsterdam to Jülich totalled 24 hours of actual travel time from airplane door to house door, not counting any layovers or stops -- they are long enough to give one that awake-and-functioning-at-3am feeling. As we've said before, the children really are excellent travellers, handling the trip very well and now some are older getting fifteen suitcases through the various airports wasn't as hard as it might have been.

Though (Because?) he is tired after the flight into Sydney, Micah insists on pulling his own bag through a busy terminal.

Unlike previous moves, we had actually already purchased a suitable van before we arrived -- many thanks to Gaynor's father for his excellent car hunting and repairing skills. Because of it's shape, family members had dubbed it the Fat Green Wombat. Consequently, we had an 8-seater to get us home from the airport, along with friends and families' cars, and by 'home' here we mean Tamara and Troy's recently completed lovely, new house. They had already generously agreed to a 160% increase in their household size while we found a place of our own. Considering the cousins had never really spent much time in each other's company and being thrown in such close quarters for extended periods, they all got along as if they were old friends.

Having the Fat Green Wombat also meant we were able to easily get out and about house hunting. We knew the rental market would be tough -- we even made an application to rent before we left the US -- but it still took us a solid month to have an application accepted[1]. Even though the house is the upper end of what we felt we could afford, it is in a pretty good location, easy walking distance to a good set of shops and bus stops, and is fairly large. At least it seemed large when we walked through it and didn't have much furniture to put in it. We'll see how long it feels that way :)

Our plan (and hard work) to pack up, leave the house in California and ship our things before Christmas paid off with most[2] of our stuff arriving about two weeks after we moved into the new place. Again, it is like Christmas all over again but you are opening the old and familiar, the known and loved. And because these objects have survived (most of them) moving, now literally, around the world you know they are things we really want to keep. That makes it even more enjoyable. :) So, once again, we have the essentials and will work on replacing a few more of the nicer, but less essential, items over the next several months. Oh, and double thumbs up to Tamara who did a great job of picking up or saving items like dining table and chairs, mattresses and beds, kitchen equipment and even a television to mean that we had many things from the start. Thanks also to some new friends who felt they could donate a no longer needed washing machine (front loader and large -- perfect!) and a single bed.

Finally, even though the Fat Green Wombat is great to get us all around, I decided another motorcycle would fit my daily commuting bill nicely. I mean, being the slave to financial rationalism that I am, it only makes economic sense![3]

Back on a bike -- a 1985 GSX 750 S Katana -- with a few minor things to do but she goes fine.

[1] Technically, we were accepted to rent a house that was not in an area we really wanted to live and wasn't available until March. We applied because we were feeling pressure to find something. In the end, Gaynor took a gamble that we would find something sooner and in our preferred area and she was right (though a bit more stressful at times).

[2] Unfortunately, at least two boxes and half our chairs didn't make it. The shipping company said we could fill out an insurance claim but the deductible is basically the replacement cost and the monetary value of some of the lost goods is much less than the sentimental value. Gaynor is not happy. Oh, and when I say 'half our chairs' I don't mean 'half the number of chair' I mean, since the chairs were disassembled for shipping, the back half of the dining chairs didn't make it. So now we have 8 seats and pairs of front legs. I guess I'll make them into a dining bench or some such thing.

[3] Yes, I already know how dangerous they are -- I have clocked over eleven years as a daily rider, a number of them on the gnarly southern Californian freeways -- but I do appreciate your concern. Seriously.

Last Few Days in California

2011-01-27T09:34:00.010+11:00

Having been officially homeless since a little before Christmas, we've relied on the generosity of family and friends to keep a roof over our heads. Though we discussed many possible exit strategies -- having to balance such things as the actual departure date, remaining commitments at work, when to ship household items, what shouldn't be shipped as it would be needed and when and how to sell four vehicles -- it always turns out a bit crazy in the end.

Since we had planned for some time to spend Christmas with family in Utah and, given that it would take two to three months for our household goods to be shipped to Australia, we thought it a good idea to move out before Christmas. And that's about when it became a bit busy. Gaynor and the children drove up a few days before the closing date for the house, leaving myself and a number of volunteering friends to ship, sell, give-away, donate or discard what remained of our possessions, as well as to clean and make minor repairs to the house. I never would have made the deadline were it not for those very good friends who pitched in when it was needed the most and to them I extend my gratitude once again.

After weeks of selling and giving away over half our worldy possessions, what remains is filed for future archeologists.

I flew up to Utah on Christmas Eve to join the family and had a wonderful time over that break, especially since I didn't have to get rid of anything else, enjoying time with Martin and his lovely family. Gaynor and the children, with the exception of Elijah, sojourned in sunny, snowy Utah for the month following while I returned to southern California in the New Year for the last few weeks of work. The children really got on very well with their cousins and Gaynor kept her sanity by crocheting and cooking. Stacie was pleased to have her own personal cook and highlights of the stay included ice skating with the Parkers, bowling with Erin and spending time again with Donovan. Meanwhile, Elijah had worked on convincing his parents that he desperately needed to spend more time with his friends in southern California before settling across the Pacific and, with plenty of good people willing to take him off our hands and some to drive him back down, we relented with a few specific instructions designed to ease the stay.

After what seemed like ages but at the same time passed very quickly, Gaynor and the children, with Joshua doing most of the driving, travelled back down to California for a few more days before flying out from Los Angeles. We're grateful to our close friends who not only provided places to stay for us and our belongings but also decided to throw us a farewell party. It was lovely to see good friends one more time, for what might be a while, and to receive and give well wishes. Of course, they may have also been looking forward to the even bigger party that was sure to be thrown just after we left. In these days of web logs, Facebook, email and Skype staying in touch is far, far easier that ever before -- so no excuses people! -- but we'll still greatly miss the times spent in the company of fine friends.

A final photo with our good friends who came along to make sure we left the country -- they even provided the required convoy of vehicles to the airport, just to be extra certain. Thanks!

Together for Gaynor's 40th

2011-01-25T08:46:00.001+11:00

After a time apart, we are reunited to celebrate Gaynor's birthday at one of our preferred restaurants in California.

So, Where Are You From?

2011-01-21T07:27:00.007+11:00

During our trip up to Vancouver, we visited the excellent Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. There most of us joined a tour run by a volunteer with a group of a dozen or so. To break the ice a little the tour guide introduced herself and then asked where people were from. A couple from the UK, some from the US and then she got to Ariana who just went, 'Errr ...' and looked up at me, a little lost. I said that we were Australian by way of California and that seemed sufficient. In discussing it with Ariana later, she confided that she thought about saying Australia, Germany and/or California -- and while in some sense we are from each of those places -- none of them were particularly accurate.

That got me to thinking a little about cultural identity and, well, what exactly is ours? At the time we were in Vancouver I posted this status update on Facebook: "Fenton thinks that a family from California who has lived longest in Canberra -- watching in their motel in Vancouver -- supporting Queensland beat NSW can't possibly be confused about their cultural identity."

I think that, for us, we are a little bit of each culture we have lived in and embraced, to the extent of those things we adopted. So, I know Gaynor[1] and I quite like lighting a candle on a Weihnachtskranz and singing a hymn each week in the four weeks leading up to Christmas. The children are fond of Halloween (though not quite as much as Karneval where the sweets come to you) and we all seem to enjoy Thanksgiving. I think these are traditions that we'll bring back to Australia with us and enjoy for years to come.

However, more subtle and powerful are the effects on our understanding, our world view and our character. I believe that the particular ways that different cultures perceive things alters your own point of view, however minutely, to the extent that you come to understand the people. Of course, not everything you find is worth picking up but just being exposed to an alternative is usually beneficial. Perhaps one of the main benefits for us has been an increase in tolerance for different ways of doing things. Having now lived in three education systems, three health care systems and three political systems, we occasionally remind the children that sometimes some ways are better, sometimes they are worse and sometimes they are just different.

Recognising that your own eyes have been opened to an alternative way is not always apparent -- can't see the forest for the trees, I expect -- but you can clearly see that recognition in someone else's reaction when you expose them to something new, something they hadn't previously known or considered. We've enjoyed doing that for people met in other cultures and I've enjoyed being on the receiving end, however difficult it might have been to adjust perceptions and thinking at the time.

In the end, our family's culture derives largely from the sum of our experiences -- just as for everyone -- though I guess our experiences have, perhaps, included exposure to more alternative ways of doing things than might otherwise have been the case if we had stayed put. I think we are better for it, even given some of the discomfort that came along with it. And to answer the original question, I think we are from a bit of lots of places now. Now the question, 'Where do you belong?', well ... that's a bit trickier.

[1] Gaynor has her own whole range of culinary traditions and experiences that she has embraced, including picking up her very own raclette grill in Germany.

Ballet Life

2011-01-19T11:02:00.005+11:00

Hey, this is Mara. Dad told me to write a blog to update all people on my dancing. First of all, for those of you who don't already know, I got my first pair of pointe shoes in February. Secondly, I was at the highest level at my ballet school in California. Also, that a month ago I was cast in BRAVA's Nutcracker.

Pointe shoes are a pretty simple concept. They are ballet shoes designed so you can stand, literally, on your toes. Or, in other words, alot of pain. When you first start dancing on pointe, all you really do is go up, and come down. As you advance the more complicated the steps on pointe become. After about four months in the beginning class, I moved to the next one. And a couple of months after that, I moved on to the last level. The ultimate goal of pointe work is to be able to do 32 fuete turns en pointe. (If you don't know what those are, google it.)

My ballet school had six levels, six being the most advanced. I started in level three and after two years, I was in level six. Mind, you that moving that quickly isn't very common. I spent the first six months in level three, relearning the basics. After that, I was in level four for about four months. Level five is where a lot of dancers at the studio stay, or they quit. After only four months in that class, I was promoted to level 5/6. This meant that I took both classes for five and classes for six. After about four months I dropped level five, and I was on top of the world. That is where I left off.

Nutcracker is a famous ballet with music composed by Tchaikovsky. 2010 was the second year I was in it, however, it was with a new company. And by new, I mean new. New costumes, dancers, stage, choreography, and director. I was cast as a Courtier Lady and as part of the corpse de ballet for Waltz of the Flowers. In the end I had very sore feet and I was very tired. I had a total of (I think) ten people come to see me dance. It all worked out great and I got to wear an amazing costume.

All in all, my dancing experience in California has been great. I would like to thanks my parents for all the time and effort they put in to get me there, back, and fed. And I would like for all of you to have the opportunity to see me dance, sometime.

Love Mara

Got to dance, even (especially!) around the house, though not always in full gear.

Go Further West!

2011-01-03T22:48:00.000+11:00

If you haven't heard already, we are planning on moving the family further west, back to Canberra. This will complete our first[1] round-the-world odyssey, begun in February 2005 with the move to Germany and continued in August 2007 with the shift to southern California. I've been offered a position within the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University, working on plasma diagnostics in the same lab in which I performed my thesis work.

In many ways it is a mixed bag of feelings. To be leaving the wonderful friends we have made here is, of course, difficult but we are excited to be moving closer to family and to renew old friendships. Naturally, we expect the culture to be very familiar but even if it hasn't changed much, we have. It should make for an interesting mix of old and new.

Sorting out the children's formal education, especially that of the oldest four, will also add interest to the move. Since we are shifting hemispheres -- and thus back to an academic year of February to December -- some children who went back six months in the move to the northern hemisphere should be going forward and vice versa. So, Joshua should be starting Year 12, even though he has just finished the first half of Year 11 here. To complicate matters, we'd like Elijah to start Year 11 (six months ahead of where he is now and a year ahead of where he would be if we'd stayed in Australia) and Mara has been doing Year 10, same as Elijah, after skipping Year 9 here. I guess we'll have her start Year 10 again and have Ariana start high school. I think this puts them both a year ahead of their same-aged Australian friends[2]. Of course, the actual schools they end up at largely depends on where we end up living exactly.

And that brings me to the cost of housing in Canberra. Either to rent[3] or to buy[4], I mean, what the?! Gaynor is keen to buy a place and I expect we'll look for something small and old to improve or some land to build our own. Of course, we'll see how it goes and, at the very least, we are moving to a place where we mostly know the infrastructure, have good friends and family and will be back in a culture we (hopefully, possibly) understand.

Essentially, it comes down to this: After eighteen years of marriage and six children we are feeling like settling down -- for a little while at least.

[1] Who knows if it will be our only?
[2] Ariana has a friend who has also gone ahead a year so she'll, at least, have someone familiar.
[3] As at the March quarter of 2009 the median rent in Canberra was $420 per week, the third highest in the country.
[4] The median house price in Canberra as of September 2009 was $511,820, lower than only Sydney among capital cities of more than 100,000 people.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T10:59:00.002+11:00

Though the card is a little late this year, here it is nevertheless, wishing you had an enjoyable Christmas and all the best for the coming year.

A rare, recent photo of us altogether, slouching it at Bryce Canyon in Utah.

Vancouver

2010-10-21T16:43:00.016+11:00

Even though the trip was a little while ago now, I still want to post about it, if nothing else to keep up the facade that we travel a lot. The trip up itself was fairly uneventful, stopping overnight in Redding, northern California before pressing on to visit, and stay overnight with, some friends outside of Seattle. Portland, Oregon became our least favourite city due to a horrendous traffic back-up through the city. We even ended up getting off the highway for a bite to eat just to let it die down a bit. We were going about as fast as the restaurant anyway.

The next day saw the border crossing into Canada -- relatively trouble free except for some errant apples. Gaynor seems to take it a little personally when she has offending food. To be fair, there wasn't much warning fruit would be a problem. The weather driving into Vancouver was lovely -- the city itself is set in a spectacular locale -- and would prove to be one of the few sunny spots of our stay. Since we only really had one shot at the interview at the consulate we went to check things beforehand.

Near the US Consulate and, despite being pressed for time, we still managed to stop and pretend we were in a movie.

The interview at the consulate went fairly well the next day, especially since I did not have a complete set of paperwork. I have to say, the US Department of State is one of the more efficient, helpful and reasonable vestiges of US bureaucracy. They gave me time to organise what couldn't be done before the trip, due to another less efficient US government department, with no need to schedule another appointment or to bring everyone back in. We hit the Vancouver Public Library so I could have some internet access back to my work to try and sort it out and everyone made the most of the unexpected delay.

Gaynor likes to keep her reading current.

Eventually, the paperwork was sorted and I returned the next day to finalise everything. One of the aspects to renewing a visa out of the country is that it must be approved before you can re-enter. So if you are on some kind of schedule, there is always a bit of angst over whether it will be approved and delivered in a timely fashion. In our case, the member of staff was very helpful even suggesting they could complete the visa in shorter time if needed. Indeed, the visas were ready for pick-up on time on the Friday.

So with the business of visas out of the way, we had time to spend relaxing in Vancouver. We took in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, a walk through gorgeous scenery, a ferry trip out to Bowen Island, a visit to the medal ceremony area for the Vancouver Winter Olympics and lunch in Stanley Park.

Of course, sometimes travelling coincides with birthdays -- Elijah's in this case -- and we do the best we can with what is at hand. He picked the restaurant and the birthday 'cake' and his ever-helpful sisters provided the finger candles. He's the kind of young man who patiently learns new things at museums so he can experience the sporting thrill of something like the Olympic staging area.

And then, with visas in hand, we headed south. The border crossing back into the US was more arduous with quite a long wait to be seen and then an hour of processing time. Seven people (Micah had a free pass), including fingerprinting of the older ones, just takes some time I guess. We stopped in central Oregon overnight and took the opportunity the next day to experience some of the famed Oregon outdoors with a hike to some natural hot springs. Incredibly scenic, wonderfully peaceful and deservedly relaxing.

Finally, we pressed on to visit our good friends in San Jose for a day or so, including Memorial Day. A trip to one of their favourite parks was a highlight for the younger children, especially the miniature steam train for Micah and the carousel for Bryna.

Micah had a great time waving good bye to people and hearing the train blow its whistle.

Bryna always seems to know where the camera is.

So we counted the trip as successful -- a long drive but some new things to seen and done. We can highly recommend Vancouver as a destination -- clean, interesting and a fabulous natural location -- even if you don't need to visit the US Consulate (which was at least one of those things).

You can check out all the photos of the trip on our Flickr page.

The Pitfalls of History

2010-09-20T15:09:00.002+10:00

Despite a broken arm from playing tag in World History class, Mara remains upbeatedly nonchalant.

Micah's Morning Ritual

2010-09-17T01:54:00.001+10:00

Like all civilized gentlemen Micah prefers to take the morning paper with his breakfast.

Micah Makes Two

2010-07-19T08:31:00.006+10:00

The call to arms (or at least cutlery).

This past weekend we celebrated, with a couple of friends, Micah's achievement on making it to the two year mark. Despite the fairly hot weather, a barbeque was in order with Gaynor once again directing the menu and doing most of the food preparation. Needless to say, the food was excellent. We also supplemented Gaynor's food with a 3 foot long burrito we picked up from a local restaurant. We were wondering how best to eat such a thing but it soon became obvious (disappointingly, we merely cut it up).

Micah -- despite cutting his back molars at the moment -- had a great time. Many of the children stayed to play a bit longer, helping to make up for his two big brothers who were unable to make it. I know he's missing them but they both seem to be having a great time where they are at the moment.

Leaving the Country ... a Bit

2010-05-04T22:07:00.001+10:00

Though the length of our stay here in the US is as yet unknown we don't want the children to lose touch with the other cultures they have been growing up in. So to that end, we are sending Elijah back to Canberra for his summer holidays and Joshua back to Germany for most of his. Elijah is specifically going back to play rugby with his old club since the coaching and opportunities here are lower and fewer[1]. Joshua is largely going because we are awesome parents.

Of course, for us it isn't as simple as ponying up a pile of cash for the airline tickets. Our entry visas to the US have expired and -- though our immigration status is perfectly legal -- must be renewed before the boys will be allowed to re-enter the US after departure. Somewhat inconveniently, one must leave the country and re-apply for the visas at a US Consulate. Even though Mexico is only a couple of hours away, we've decided to head the opposite direction and will visit the consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia. The decision is primarily for processing time -- Tijuana typically takes nine days and Vancouver two -- since one must stay out of the country until the visa is processed. Though we certainly would like to visit Mexico at some time in the future, it just doesn't work at this stage.

So we are treating the 4400km (2700 miles) round-trip -- roughly Port Macquarie to Cairns and back again[2] -- as this year's family summer holiday. If all goes to plan, we should have a few days in Vancouver with little to do but enjoy it. In addition, we'll also get to stop in and see a few friends on the way up and back.

Now all I have to do it make sure the van is up to the task ...

[1] I should know, having just finished as Head Coach of the boys' club.
[2] Or for our European friends, Amsterdam to Lisbon and back again.

Isn't It Ironic?

2010-04-22T00:02:00.007+10:00

We were recently asked to help a local club, in which the girls participate, with gaining sponsorship. While I certainly applaud Pepsi's philanthropy, the irony of a soft drink company sponsoring health initiatives -- like the 100 Mile Club Ariana and Bryna both run in -- seems to be ignoring the elephant in the room. Better to give than not I suppose.

By the way, Ari and Bryna have both managed to run well over 100 miles this academic year. Both were the first girls in their grades to reach that level and Bryna is the current overall leader in her year level. She does it by keeping up with Ariana.

The Most Expensive Part on a Southern Californian Car

2010-03-27T16:59:00.004+11:00

Riding a very busy southern Californian highway each day for roughly one and a half hours gives one ample opportunity to observe plenty of aberrant and abhorrent driving behaviours. Being on a motorcycle one feels a little more vulnerable than usual and so simple-minded absences on the part of other drivers can become a dangerous situation. Of course, that's part of the charm of riding. :) However, two behaviours that I have seen repeated so often have lead me to theorise on that part of a southern Californian car which surely must be so expensive as to put it's cost out of the financial reach of the average driver. Lest they damage it -- and their savings account -- beyond repair very few seem to place their hands near the turn signal (indicators in Australian parlance) control. Turn signals rarely come on -- I'm now convinced it is a privacy issue for these people -- and when they do, they rarely go off.

Christmas 2009

2010-03-09T04:11:00.004+11:00

I know it is a little late but here is a short photo essay from Christmas 2009. Since we were able to head to Utah to celebrate wit Stacie and Martin, Donovan kindly offered to let us come down to his place at Newport Beach and cook him a fabulous meal. He graciously provided the live lobsters -- fresh that morning -- and Gaynor did the rest.

Lobster, citrus-marinated chicken, honey-soy chicken, sausages, garden and ambrosia salads.

The company was pretty good too and with the sun out it was almost like back home.

Ariana made all the tie-dyed shirts for presents this year.

What is is about Elijah that invites a good laugh?

Christmas Plans 2009

2009-12-24T08:43:00.002+11:00

The original idea had been to go to Utah to spend it with Martin, Stacie and offspring but a heavy schedule at work means that it really isn't do-able in the current situation :( We invited them to come spend it with us but Martin is more or less in the same situation. :( Lousy US work-freak culture. News flash: World doesn't go to hell in a hand basket if you have more than 10 days holiday a year.

Anyway, at least I have a back-up brother nearby -- sorry Donovan, you know you are really further up my speed dial than Martin anyway. :) So we'll do our usual fried ham, pineapple and eggs breakfast with the Christmas story and present openings and then we'll head down to the beach where Donovan has his hangout. A barbecue and beach on Christmas Day should almost convince us we are back in Australia. And while the weather might not be quite the same, chances are it'll be closer than Utah. Stay warm Mart and Stacie and we'll see you in April!

On How We Connect Today

2009-12-24T07:47:00.003+11:00

If an average person on the subway turns to you, like an ancient mariner,
and starts telling you her tale, you turn away or nod and hope she stops,
not just because you fear she might be crazy. If she tells her tale on camera, you might listen. Watching strangers on television, even responding to them from a studio audience, we're disengaged -- voyeurs collaborating with exhibitionists in rituals of sham community. Never have so many known so much about people for whom they cared so little.
-- Wendy Kaminer commenting on testimonial television in I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional (1992).

Birthdays Abound

2009-11-16T10:17:00.008+11:00

It's that time of year when our main batch of birthdays are coming to a close. Mara's 13th (19th of last month), Bryna's 6th (30th), Joshua's 16th (9th of this month) and mine (19th of this month) always seem to come thick and fast every year. Bryna's and Joshua's have warranted parties this year but just small family gatherings for Mara and myself. The birthday person always gets to pick the menu for the family dinner and it gives Gaynor a chance to justify some good time in the kitchen. Of course, the results are never disappointing. Mara went with lasagna, Bryna had shepherd's pie, Joshua chose chili and this evening I'll be enjoying cannelloni -- one variety, walnut and ricotta cheese and the other, pork mince with Italian herbs -- followed by an orange-infused butter cake with chocolate ganache. Hey I didn't make the menu, I just have to live with the consequences :)

The whole family make it into the shot as Mara hits the teens.

The girls ham it up for the camera at Bryna's 6th birthday party.

The family (plus a ring-in, can you tell which one?) at Bryna's birthday dinner.

Joshua's party is this Saturday, with about a dozen friends coming to help celebrate with movies, games and tacos. There might be a blog post about it but more than likely one of the children will put something up on Facebook. Good times!

Wonderful Australia by Bryna Glass

2009-10-19T09:29:00.002+11:00

There are many wonderful things about Australia. I like Australia because it has kangaroos. I like kangaroos because it can jump fast and far. I like Australia because it has koalas. I like koalas because they sleep a long time like my sister[1]. I like going to the beach. I like going to the beach because I can get wet in the sea. All in all, I like Australia.

[1] Editor's Note: Mara is the sister in question.

Year of Four Schools

2009-08-23T07:46:00.000+10:00

In the past we've gone to some lengths to keep the children at the same school, mostly for stability while other things changed. However, circumstances change and now, with the children stretching across age group boundaries, we find ourselves with children going to four different schools this academic year.

Bryna and Ariana are in the first and fifth grades respectively at the local elementary (primary, Gründschule) school. Bryna's reading has come along in leaps and bounds over the summer and she is enthusiastically reading everything she can get her hands on. Ariana will continue to do well in all areas I'm sure as last year's report card was very good.

Mara has just begun her second, and final, year at the middle school, also called junior high school. She has virtually all the same teachers that Elijah had last year and Joshua had the year before that. Hopefully the teachers won't suffer from Glass burnout. One of her favourite subjects is Honors Choir. Given my Australian education history, I've always thought of choir as an extra-curricular activity rather than an actual subject but they have a different point of view here.

Elijah, meanwhile, will be going to high school proper. It's a big school (around 4000 students I believe) but seems to have decent teachers and a reasonable curriculum. He is looking forward to the sporting aspects and has intentions on trying out for the track team. I don't think he'll find the academic side too taxing, though he'll still need to put in a consistent effort.

Finally, Joshua will be attending another high school -- after his first (freshman) year at the high school Elijah will be attending -- that is much smaller (around 400-500 students) and is located on the same campus as a community college. This high school, known as a middle college high school, allows and, in fact, encourages the students to take college courses in place of high school subjects. The student then receives a double credit both towards their high school completion and towards actual college. For high school, because it is equivalent or above the high school subject requirement and for college because, well it actually is a college course. This way a student who applies themselves and takes a fair few college courses can complete a two-year Associate's degree, which can then transfer as the first two years of four year Bachelor's degree -- at least here in the US. We think the school and the academic challenges will suit Joshua well. The main motivation, however, for having Joshua attend there and take as many college courses as possible is to help his standing should we move back to Australia before he has completed high school. Essentially, we'd like him to be as close to an Australian or German standard as possible and that should keep his options open as to where he might attend university -- be that Australia, here in the US or even back in Germany.

So lots of running around, I expect, and keeping on top of the information that'll come from all the schools will require some diligence. But all over I believe it should be an interesting academic year.

Micah's First

2009-07-20T12:50:00.005+10:00

Amazingly, one year has passed since we welcomed Micah into the family. And while the year has appeared to fly by it's easy to see how long it really is by looking at the progress Micah has made. Apart from having his older brothers and sisters (usually) at his beck and call, he has also charmed quite a few friends of the family. Probably something about those blue eyes and easy grin ...

So we celebrated his successful completion of his first year on the planet with the usual gift-giving and a family dinner, the menu being a favourite of the celebratee. Gifts included a ride-on car -- he has very strong legs -- and a mini basketball. He loves to throw the ball and chase it. A fairly good arm too.
Micah is quite a fan of moving places fast -- so we thought he should have a new set of wheels.

The menu was chosen by Gaynor which she based on careful observation of the speed with which he wolfed down certain foods. Consequently, we enjoyed a lovely dinner of chicken drumsticks and corn on the cob. Of course, Gaynor's now-traditional, Year One Gateaux was a particular treat.
Too busy with a drumstick to blow out your own candles? You need Family Helpers(TM)!

Summer Holiday 2009

2009-07-16T16:41:00.007+10:00

One of the ironic exchanges made for us when moving to the US from Europe was the vast improvement in weather coupled with a vast reduction in work holidays in which to enjoy said weather. So it was with a fair bit of anticipation that we organised a couple of weeks away.

There had been an intention to make it all the way up the west coast to Vancouver and renew our entry visas. In the end, a lack of available appointments at the US Consulate in Vancouver meant that the focus of the trip shifted to relaxing with a bit of sightseeing. Northern California was still on the radar starting with a few days -- including the Fourth of July -- with some good friends in San Jose. During those days we made our second trip into San Francisco with Gaynor desperate to hunt down some `decent Chinese food'. Apart from the House of Nanking, sights included Coit Tower and rides on the cable car. The cable car was fun but seems mostly for tourists as the waits to get on were fairly lengthy.

The owners of some cute backsides look over San Francisco Bay from near Coit Tower

Gaynor gets some satisfaction.

We also enjoyed a little time down at Santa Cruz

So after the hospitality of San Jose we headed north-west to camp and relax. Basically days of doing nothing but eating, sleeping, reading, talking and running amok. We did rouse ourselves for a day trip into Sacramento -- nice but a return visit probably isn't necessary -- and another day in Yosemite National Park -- popular, spectacular and well worth going back!

The trip back through the San Joaquin Valley was a bit warm, especially without air conditioning in the van. I believe the high was 41C (106F) and the children coped with it very well using cooler packs and spray bottles to keep themselves from over-heating. Micah was a pretty fair traveller and we arrived home just on his first birthday.

Strolling through the gardens of the Capitol Building in Sacramento

Mara is speechless at the spectacular scenery.

Panorama of Yosemite Valley taken on our way out of the park.

More photos from this trip on Flickr.

Father's Day 2009

2009-06-27T06:05:00.002+10:00

Father's Day is quite the event in the US and the third date on which we have celebrated it[1]. It's almost as big as Mother's Day and very similar in many ways -- breakfast in bed, children shower you with presents and adoration and generally have a bit of a bludge. Ariana is usually the one who insists on providing the breakfast in bed and made me a couple of things with an Australian theme, Vegemite on toast and a glass of cold Milo[2]. The presents were a bit light on the further you went up the child tree but Micah, with the help of his mother, complemented the Australian breakfast with Nanny's favourite stand-by present, a packet of Iced Vo-Vos. And Bryna presented a lovely photo of herself, courtesy of her kindergarten teacher. Ariana and Mara also made a pair of thoughtful cards. Actually, they usually are a pair of cards those two but this time they constructed some as well.

The children gave me a bit of time-off to rest during the afternoon and by evening Gaynor had even managed to coax, not exactly adoration, but certainly a positive comment from Joshua.

[1] Australia: First Sunday in September.
Germany: Ascension Day. Actually, it slipped by, forgotten, one year and wasn't much of a deal the other years. Here's why.
USA: Third Sunday in June.

[2] Spoils of Gaynor's recent journey back to Oz.

Summer Holiday Plans 2009

2009-06-18T16:34:00.003+10:00

After saving up my holiday time from work we are thinking about a couple of weeks away. Specifically, a trip to Vancouver, BC, Canada to renew our US visas and a trip to a campground in northern California where we intend to do pretty much nothing for as long as we can get away with it. Perhaps somewhere near Yosemite or Lassen National Forest with a couple of day trips to see the sights. So, glaciers and geysers in one holiday. What's not to like? :)

Rugby 2009

2009-05-18T17:16:00.001+10:00

Being Australian we do enjoy a lot of sports and, having left the country, we often go to some lengths to ensure our children receive a good sporting education. This usually involves grabbing relevant sporting events -- Tri Nations, Super 14, State of Origin, AFL Grand Final -- from the internet since they don't receive a whole lot of coverage here. While the education is a whole family affair, the boys, in particular, also enjoy playing. So we felt relatively fortunate to have found a rugby club within half an hour of our place.

The club itself has only been going a couple of seasons, this season fielding both U16 and U19 sides for the first time. Rugby has an odd reputation here in the US, at least here in southern California. It is generally viewed as a brutal game without rules. Generally, American football high school coaches don't want their players playing it for fear of injury. So consequently, the first practice of the season -- which runs January to April -- was bit light on with only six boys. I chatted with the coach, who had supplied a couple of the boys, and appreciated that he was working hard to develop a club with a traditional rugby team culture. I was a little concerned before hand that even rugby might have been infected by the American competitive hype and drive in sports. There were a couple of teams that we played who seemed to have bought into that but, by and large, it was usually sane.

Elijah has always been the most keen to play but Joshua -- who revels in being a bit different from many of the other teenagers in some ways -- also joined in, preferring fly-half to Elijah's wing, centre or fullback. Unfortunately with only a U16 side available the boys were punching above their weight most of the season. The good news is that by the end of the season the club was sporting a roster of over fifty. Our boys did their part in spreading the word with a total of five friends training and playing for the season and a few more who came along to check it out. Too much running for some of those however. The ones who did stick it out loved virtually every minute of it, even when the team didn't perform so well. The fact that rugby allows most of the players to be involved most of the time (well, except for those glory wingers) makes it a fun game to play. I'm hoping they'll get involved again next season too. They'll only enjoy it more with a season under their belts. Oh and Elijah and Josh managed a try each during the season. :D

I also got involved in the administrative side of things. There were three coaches for the club and one of them was handling all the paperwork so it was the least I could do. Having never really played myself, I don't feel qualified to coach but administration I can usually do without too much trouble. We ended up with some great parents contributing to the club and we will only have a better season next year. I can't wait. In the meantime, we'll just have to get by barracking for the Reds and the Wallabies.

Joshua looks for the ball.

Elijah with the ball in hand.

One of the boys' friends (back left) who took up rugby after hearing the boys rave on about it.

More photos of the team.

Broken Boy Elijah

2009-04-21T16:02:00.003+10:00

The wrist was first (aggressive inline skating). The knee came after coming off a scooter he wasn't supposed to be on.

Movie Insufficient for Gaynor

2009-04-20T07:33:00.000+10:00

Even though we've lived and travelled across different parts of the globe now we still pine for the fjords of Australia.[1] Though it has only been just over four years, sometimes it feels like a different life. A couple of months ago we went along with my visiting brother Martin -- who has been out of Australia much longer than us -- and his wife to see Australia. We quite liked the film; fabulous cinematography, great story and what's not to like about Hugh Jackman? But it also didn't help Gaynor's missing-Australia itch, which she's had for a while now.

So when some relatively cheap tickets to Australia became available we had to make a decision. And the decision was that all children who had lived more than half their lives outside Australia were eligible for a return visit. Conveniently, this meant that the youngest (and therefore, cheapest) two would be heading back and Gaynor, obviously, would need to accompany a still-breast-fed Micah. So it was a win all round -- except for the older children, whom we considered already fortunate having lived more than half their lives in Australia. The next part of the conversation at the family meeting went something like this,

"Well, we would all very much like to go back to Australia but unfortunately that's not financially possible at this stage. So those children who are staying here, not only won't be able to go to Australia, but you'll also need to do extra work, picking up those jobs that your mother would normally do -- cooking, a lot of the cleaning, most of the washing etc. We realise that this is a tough ask, so what we'd like to do is shamelessly bribe you."

To this they all agreed and eventually -- after much negotiation, as is the norm in our house -- they decided on a new computer, primarily for the children. And so, yesterday we picked up a new Mac mini. This bribe also has the added benefit of getting the children out of my study.

Thus Gaynor is now set to fly back into Australia on the 4th of May and will be there for the entire remainder of the month. She'll spend most of that time in Brisbane with a week in Canberra. So while she may not be able to catch up with Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman, she will be spending a reasonable amount of time with family and close friends. And I believe that'll be sufficient for the time being.

[1] Though we do prefer kipping on our backs.

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T14:11:00.005+10:00

While Good Friday is currently sacrosanct as a holiday in Australia and Germany -- indeed in many other countries that we've never experienced it in -- that's not the case in the U.S. At least, not in California. I'm told some other states do have it as a holiday but, well we don't live there. So as such, Elijah, Mara, Ariana and Bryna all had school that day, while Joshua is currently on spring break. Well, not so much of a break as an exaggerated bend -- it's merely a week off. Unlike many other general populace workers though, it was a company holiday for me. Not sure why exactly but it's good just the same. :)

So we had to be on our toes in order to continue one of our Easter traditions -- freshly baked hot cross buns on Good Friday. When I say 'we' I really mean 'Gaynor'. She was up early and had the buns baked in time for us to enjoy a good couple before dropping Ariana and Mara at school. Usually they catch the bus but driving them myself gave us just that bit of extra time.

The Devourees - the hot cross buns all prepared to fulfill their Easterly duties.

The Devourers - the family gathers for our Good Friday tradition.

Of course, the traditional condiment to accompany these delectable delights is nothing less than slatherings of butter. There are some things we are glad we have taken the time to carry on. :)

A Recent Vote

2009-03-18T09:53:00.006+11:00

We've always done our best to include the children in family decisions. We believe it is good for them and good for the parents. Matters such as, where we'll go for holidays, where we'll eat and what we'll be watching. When there is no real common consensus, we'll usually take a vote. However that sometimes doesn't work out with the overall desires of the parents. A recent vote while travelling in the van helped the children keep some perspective. Fenton: "OK let's vote. Hands up who thinks this is a democracy?"

I was walking down the street ...

2009-03-05T00:23:00.005+11:00

... when suddenly my spectacles' prescription ran out. So said Steven Wright[1]. I always thought that was funny in an new-way-to-see-it kind of way but as with a number of things that reference US culture -- usually The Simpsons -- it's funnier (and in this case, sadder) when you have even more knowledge of the environment from which it comes. To wit, corrective lens prescriptions actually do run out in the US.

Glasses -- though I'm not sure about general reading spectacles -- are treated more or less as a drug. Contact lenses are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration and cannot be purchased without a current prescription, with lens prescriptions being valid for a year. This contrasts with my experience in Germany -- not exactly noted for its free-wheeling market approach -- where contact lenses were available off the rack in a supermarket. I assume they are regulated in some way, like many products, but their availability didn't appear to be hampered. This statement quite surprised my optometrist who obviously knew of all the untold dangers an incorrect prescription might foist upon an unsuspecting victim. He was just a little hard pressed to give them when I asked what they were.

My point to him was: if you put on someone else's glasses, immediately you know they are not right, even for subtly difference prescriptions. If you keep them on you merely get a headache, possibly a very big headache. If you persist even further and determinedly work through that migraine then -- and here is the dangerous part -- your brain simply adapts. This is quite a different danger to taking the wrong drug or dosage that might, say, cause your kidneys to fail or your stomach to start bleeding. If there are more severe consequences to purchasing contacts on an out-of-date prescription, please chime in. I'd hate to think my many German friends are needlessly and thoughtlessly exposing themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in having the correct prescription for your genetically (or otherwise) inferior eyes. When I made the jump to contacts a little while ago I had an eye examination and a couple of lessons on the fitting and care of them. I was pretty sure my prescription hadn't changed and, when it came time to resupply in the US, I had trouble finding lenses in the stores. I was told by an optician friend that I would need a prescription before purchasing. Bit strange, I thought but no problem, I'll get them online ... however they do require you to disclose your optometrist. Unfortunately, they didn't have a listing for that nice lady in Germany. Eventually, of course, I had to play the game, coughed up my money for, effectively, a lens subscription, but not without clear-sighted protestations. Oh, and my freshly-minted prescription is identical to my previous.

[1] Possibly.

Facebook following

2009-01-26T03:58:00.000+11:00

Those who have been a part of the social networking website phenomena would be aware that it can be a simple and effective way to stay relatively involved in the lives of good friends and loved ones. Indeed, half of our family now have profiles on one of the largest -- Facebook -- including myself, Gaynor, Joshua and Elijah.

While I've tried many times to get other members of the family to post to this blog, most have resisted the lure (with the occasional rare exception). Keeping their profiles, status[1] and other information up to date seems to be easier for them on Facebook. So, to keep a closer eye on some of us, we invite you to add those you wish as friends or, if you are not yet on Facebook, feel free to join and search us out. Please contact us directly if your search for our names brings up a confusing array of our alter egos (Heaven forbid there be many with our names!)

I still plan to continue this blog[2] in the same fashion as it's been going for the past few years -- I prefer its overall layout and functionality -- but I expect I'll really be the single contributor now as I've made the decision[3] to stop harassing the others. They now have something else they prefer to say their peace with.

[1] Here, in the plural, I've taken the British form -- rather than the American or even Australian ones.

[2] Don't forget it's easy to keep up with the blog by subscribing to the feed (see also "Subscribe to ... Posts" on the left-hand side of this page) using something like Google Reader online.

[3] I prefer this terminology to "given up". It helps me feel like I have some control over it. :)

No longer a toothless wonder

2009-01-03T10:00:00.003+11:00

To ring in the new year, Micah produced his first tooth -- his lower front left -- on the first day of the year and its companion showed up today. Those months of dribble are starting to pay off. He's only been bested in the Fastest to Teeth Stakes by Joshua who clocked in at 3.5 months (same as his father, according to those in the know). So happy new year and many new teeth to all!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-26T04:50:00.003+11:00

Since we went last year to Utah, it seemed only fair this year to invite the chosen frozen down for some slightly warmer Californian weather. Martin, Stacie, their three lovely girls and my youngest brother Donovan have all found time to join us. So for those who could not -- because they had a better weather offer south of the Equator, for instance -- we wish you all a joyous Christmas and a productive 2009.

Fire Safety II

2008-11-18T08:06:00.003+11:00

Just a short note to let people know that we haven't been affected by the most recent fires in southern Californian. Though they were much closer than last year the winds directed them away from our place.

Given their regular recurrence it is easy to be motivated to have emergency plans in place. We discuss them a few times a year with the children and have already organised many things that will be of great help if we are ever in a difficult situation.

ITIN, you TIN, no TIN

2008-11-09T13:57:00.009+11:00

As mentioned previously, one of the main aspects of moving internationally is becoming a part of, and learning new systems. Inevitably, one will encounter the tax system and figuring this one out can be a major achievement. Australian, Dutch and German tax systems were, for me, relatively straightforward. I have pretty simple financial affairs and have always completed and filed my own tax return. In the Netherlands, as in Australia, you can download a computer program (the Dutch have one for Linux, Mac and Windows) which asks you a series of questions, has you report certain numbers and then lets you submit it electronically, usually with a refund showing up in your bank account a few weeks to a month later. Even with my limited Dutch, I needed little help in completing it.

The US seem to have taken a different route, or not travelled there yet. When tax return time rolled around in April, and after looking through a bit of tax documentation, I determined that I needed professional help. I picked the name of a well-known tax agent organisation and gave them a call but because of my immigration status (non-immigrant alien) the average agent couldn't help me and so I was eventually passed onto someone who could prepare my particular tax return form (a 1040NR). Since only I have a US Social Security number and in order to claim Gaynor and the children as dependants, we had to apply for Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITIN, usually said 'I-TIN') for each of them.

1st application: Rejected due to uncertified proof-of-identity documentation. Needed to reply within 45 days.
* Certification of documentation not so straightforward since Californian public notaries cannot certify copies of documents. Eventually worked around this by having a public notary certify (and receive an oath) of my own affidavit that they are true copies. This appears to be acceptable to the IRS. I think they just care for the stamp. :)
* Before figuring out the workaround with the public notaries, I waited two hours in an IRS office in Laguna Niguel so that they could sight the documentation, thus circumventing the need for a public notary who could not certify document copies. Result: man at the counter told me he didn't know if I was even allowed to apply for ITINs and it was my responsibility to go find out.
* Spoke to the IRS who told me I couldn't get an extension to the 45 days but as long as it was postmarked within that time that it would be acceptable.
* Resubmitted with certified documentation, with letter sent certified mail and postmarked within the 45 day time limit (just).
* Received a letter shortly after stating that I had failed to respond within 45 days and that my return would be sent forward for processing.

2nd application: Spoke with IRS about the 45-day-limit rejection letter. They suggested that the postmark had been ignored and that I should resubmit:.
* I prepare a new submission -- knowing now how to get a public notary to 'certify' the documentation -- but before I send that in (it takes me a few weeks to get everything done) I receive another letter stating that the 1st application has been rejected due to an unknown visa type.
* Letter didn't actually state that it was an unknown visa type -- I found that out after calling the IRS to discuss the letter. Apparently the E3 visa isn't on their books. In all fairness, it has only been around for 3 years.
* IRS suggested that I resubmit the application but leave the visa information part of the form blank. The idea being that the visa information of Gaynor and the children was not needed to establish identity or eligibility to be in the country, only mine mattered.
* 2nd application aborted.

3rd application: Resubmitted all forms and 'certified' documentation for Gaynor and the children, leaving their visa information blank, as suggested. Essentially, this is a completely new application.
* A few weeks later, received rejection notices saying that the application was outside the 45 day time limit and that the tax return would be sent forward for processing.
* Spoke with the IRS who had no real better suggestion than to tell us to make a new application. Could not answer my simple question of "And why would it be treated any differently this time?"
* Thinking I could get to the root of the problem and speak to the IRS Unit who actually handled the applications, I was told by the representative that there was no phone number I could contact them on. And the representative could only guess at the reasons based on the limited information they had access to.
* One IRS representative -- who was the first one who had ever apologised for the difficulties -- asked to speak with Gaynor, who is actually one of the submitters. After explaining most of the above history, Gaynor was put through to the legal department to ascertain her eligibility to actually apply for the ITIN. After speaking with legal, who confirmed her eligibility, she was put through to a representative who was going to make a note on her record so that when we personally went to the IRS to apply we wouldn't be rejected based on the employee there not knowing so much. This final representative then informed Gaynor, when she finally got through, that she (the representative) had no way of knowing that Gaynor had just spoken with legal and could not make any such note.
* A week or so later I received a letter from the IRS stating that I owe them approximately $410 in taxes.

Current status: Have not paid the claimed taxes yet. I distrust the ability of the IRS to return it when the ITINs are finally assigned. Not even sure the IRS can sort out the ITINs :) In what we hope is the last resort, Gaynor and I are planning to visit an IRS office together and make the application personally. Hope springs eternal.

I used to think that Americans didn't like paying taxes and hated the IRS for that reason. Now I'm more of the opinion that they hate paying taxes and hate the IRS because they are incompetent. I used to think that Americans, like most people, decried an increase in taxes but, having personally lived in countries with higher tax rates, I just thought they didn't understand that generally one received more services for those tax dollars (or euros). Now I'm of the opinion that they don't want to hand over more tax dollars because their incompetent bureaucracies have wasted what they already have, so why would you give them more?

These may be harsh opinions -- and they may change as we live here longer -- but I actually feel like we had less difficulties with German bureaucracy (even when done via the Dutch system) than we have had here.

One Year Here Again

2008-10-25T12:35:00.001+11:00

Well it's that time again -- that's right, the one year anniversary[1] of shifting to another new country. The transition this time has been easier in many ways but it's never as plain sailing as one would wish for. Of course there is the fact that you are in a new culture -- and despite the US culture being generally well known abroad -- one must learn a new education system, a new health care system (our experience so far in the US means gives us a liberal interpretation of that last word), make new friends and mostly figure out how things work and where things are. In short, to settle in.

We used the anniversary for a couple of things. Firstly, we celebrated with lunch at BJ's Restaurant followed by a swim in the afternoon at San Onofre beach. BJ's is quickly becoming one of our favourite places. The food is really quite good, the pricing is pretty reasonable and the home-brewed root beer is sublime.

Secondly, we asked the children some of the things they currently like and dislike about where we've been for the past year. We gave each of the children a chance to voice their opinions -- except for Micah, who remained generally self-obsessed.

Joshua: Dislikes the politics, the average American IQ. Likes that there are plenty of church kids around.
Elijah: Dislikes the chocolate and no rugby. Likes the obsession with other sports and the climate.
Mara: Dislikes the chocolate and that the ballet schools have too many people in each class. Likes that school starts later (8:55 instead of the German 7:40) and that everyone likes her accent.
Ariana: Dislikes the patriotic hype -- 'the greatest country on Earth' is mentioned every morning along with the Pledge of Allegiance -- and missing some of the German bakery treats. Likes the warm climate and the doughnuts.
Bryna: Dislikes walking home from the bus stop (bit too hot some days). Likes kindergarten, doughnuts and the trampoline.
Gaynor: Dislikes the chocolate, health care and the sugar content in many foods. Likes the proximity of church, the climate and the cost of clothes.

For myself, there are number of irks about where we are at, some due to being new and others because of the culture and all that entails. I'll probably blog about some of these in the coming months, if nothing else than to get them out of my system a little. On the other hand, there are many great things to enjoy about living here. The general attitude is much more similar to what I am used to in Australia, the weather is a definite bonus (again, much more like Australia) and the availability of many things is a decided boon.

At this stage it is unclear how long we'll be here. Though we will probably stay until at least late 2010, beyond that there are no plans to stay and no plans to leave. We'll continue to make periodic assessments and just see how it goes.

[1] The anniversary was actually end of August but it has taken me this long to get the post finished.

More on Micah

2008-09-15T11:19:00.007+10:00

Micah is growing fast. In fact he is probably our largest baby at this stage. He's a good feeder, pretty decent sleep and is already wearing clothes for 3-6 month-olds at his 2 month mark. He's quite strong, doing a good job of supporting himself with his legs, and is also very smiley. He's been grinning back at faces (and sometimes miscellaneous objects) for about 3 weeks now. He's also responding to some kinds of tickling.

Friends and family gathered for Micah's naming and blessing.

Though nigh on 8 weeks old, Micah has already been smiling for a significant portion of his life, as captured in this photo by Ari.

Micah looks down on the lesser people.

Micah considers his future with this thoughtful pose.

Baseball with the Angels

2008-08-04T10:11:00.003+10:00

Recently a good friend invited Joshua, Elijah and I to join him at an Anaheim Angels baseball game. Now baseball isn't something I grew up playing with softball being the generally preferred option that is closest. In the past, I've tried to watch the US-based 'World' Series at least twice and found the games like watching paint dry. And considering I don't mind sitting down to watch cricket, saying baseball is boring appears to be an obvious contradiction.

However, I was prepared to give it another go and certainly in a live context. In general, I usually enjoy even mediocre live entertainment as much or more than very good or great 'canned' stuff. And baseball on television definitely comes across to me as canned. So we headed to Angel Stadium on a week night to take in the game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Both the boys prefer the Angels to the other team in LA, as evidenced by their ability to procure hats as needed. And so, true to my expectations, the game, atmosphere and traditions were a lot of fun and very enjoyable. We stumbled through the never-known words to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during an innings change-over and bantered with an ice-cream salesman who was plying his trade throughout the stands. I even predicted the home run by Vlad Guerrero in the fifth innings!

The boys and I at the game. Note the dopey looks on the faces of the confused Australians. What, no wickets??

Announcing the Sixth

2008-07-20T13:12:00.008+10:00

After almost 8 months of expectation we are very pleased to announce the arrival of our sixth child, Micah Frederick. After a couple of weak false starts, Gaynor went into labour proper Wednesday 16th of July around noon. True to predictability, Gaynor's parents -- who are visiting for a while to help out with the birth -- had left that morning for a few days in Las Vegas and were recalled for active duty after a pleasant lunch in Barstow. Gaynor had called me at work first, suggesting it was time for me to come home and also contacted her midwife. By mid to late afternoon Gaynor's attendants were pretty much assembled.

The birthing team had everything prepared.

Since it was a home birth we'd previously discussed with the children who would like to be there and who would rather not. Joshua and Mara had chosen to stay and both were very helpful during the labour and delivery. Gaynor's father had volunteered to look after the other children, including Elijah's friend visiting from Germany and took them off to a movie. By the end of the movie the boy had not yet shown up and so we arranged for Elijah and his friend to stay overnight with some friends of the family. Ariana and Bryna came home for a quick bite and then off to bed. They were both very excited to think that their new brother would be there by morning.

There was a bit of a wait while the labour progressed but by late evening it was down to business. He was born at 10:02pm but took a few minutes before expressing his displeasure at the world.

Gaynor cuddles her newborn.

Overall the water birth at home worked marvellously well. The midwives were wonderful, the attendees performed well and, above all, Gaynor did great. She got through it with lots of ice crunching, ginger beer and hand squeezing. Both her and Micah are doing very well. After his first feed, he weighed in at 3.876kg (8 pound, 8 and a half ounces) and measured 53cm.

He's currently being loved to death by all his siblings, friends of siblings, grandparents and parents.

Margaret admires the tired little fella.

Language Update

2008-07-14T10:29:00.017+10:00

Of course, one of the challenges of moving countries is the language barrier. The shift to Germany meant an obvious difficulty but the move to California has brought its own subtle problems. In Germany the challenge was to learn a whole new language, in California it's retention. Retention of both our Australian dialect and our German. The former is not such a large hill but the latter takes a lot more effort.

The retention of our Australian was mostly put on hold while we were in Germany, in favour of them spending more time leanring and speaking German. Besides, there wasn't much competition between the two, being so different. Living in a culture with a different dialect, on the other hand, is much more subtle. Most of the 'replacement words' -- 'vacation' for 'holiday', 'parking lot' for 'car park' -- are generally already known and very easy to understand even if they've never been heard before. Remembering to use them in context when speaking to an American is a bit harder. Americans are less likely to have heard the other version than we are to have heard theirs.

A couple of our children are picking up a few accented words. Bryna has a few and Elijah tends to adapt his accent to his audience. It's most obvious talking with him immediately after picking him following time with his friends. At first, we'd remind him but I'm pretty sure he's not doing it consciously, so now I just let it go.

Watching Australian television shows wasn't something we could do in Germany -- everything is overdubbed there -- but the children have a few they watch religiously here. H2O, The Saddle Club and even Bindi the Jungle Girl all get a regular airing. In addition, we take our sports education very seriously and enjoy many rugby games, Brisbane Broncos, Queensland Reds as well as internationals.

And so to German. To be honest, my German has never been that great. I figured out enough to hold a grammatically poor conversation for about 20 minutes. I can read a bit and know plenty of less used words that the rest of the family didn't need to know, like Rechtschutzversicherung (legal insurance) and Ölwannedichtung (oil sump gasket). Gaynor and the children on the other hand did wonderfully. Gaynor could teach a 45 minute lesson at church and each child was passing German as a subject at their school. In the case of Joshua, Elijah and Mara that was at the academic high school. Ariana spoke fluently and without an accent with all her friends and Bryna really only spoke German.

Gaynor and I have spoken a number of times about steps we'd take to help the children retain their fluency in German. Unfortunately for Bryna her only chance was for us to mostly speak German at home and that is something very hard to do when it's your non-native tongue. Bryna now only remembers a few German words and phrases and almost always speaks in English. Her transition was complete within the first six months of our arrival. The retention improves with the older children and Joshua, Elijah and Mara seem to recall virtually all of theirs with Ariana somewhere in between.

However, we are of the firm opinion that without constant practice and opportunities to use it they'd lose it. So to that end, we've tried to bring as many German books and DVDs with us as possible and we've recently had an influx of books and DVDs when one of Elijah's old school mates came to visit for a few weeks. We also have an incentive scheme for them to read and report on German books, we subscribe to a monthly church-related magazine in German, a friend in Germany sends us copies of one of the children's favourite television programs Die Pfefferkörner (English description) and every Wednesday is supposed to be 'Deutschsprechtag' -- 'German speaking day'. I say 'supposed to be' because not everyone remembers for all of the day but we are mostly making an effort! Hopefully these opportunities and ideas will be enough to help them retain the lion's share of their ability.

And finally, speaking of languages, we've set the children the challenge of being fluent in three languages by their eighteenth birthday. Some have picked French and others Spanish but we'll see how they go. By the way, we've been pleased to see that southern California, at least, is very bilingual. Of course there are many people who are native or fluent Spanish speakers but there are also many stores that have signs in both languages. Perhaps 'American' as a synonym for 'monolingual' is on the way out -- much to the chagrin of some US citizens I'm sure.

Ari and Fenton's Theme Park Trip

2008-06-09T15:00:00.005+10:00

One thing southern California doesn't have in short supply is theme parks. Apart the the big and well known ones -- Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm among them -- there are plenty of smaller ones scattered about the place and all seem pretty popular. Recently, Ariana earned herself a free pass, from a Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser, for Castle Park. She gave me plenty of warning (nagging) that the day was coming up and that I was expected to attend with her. So Memorial Day weekend just her and I headed off for an afternoon of thrill rides and follow-on headaches. Ari pretty much picked the rides she wanted to go on and we had a great time, just the two of us. Gaynor and I try hard to make sure the children get individual attention, making time (even scheduling it) so that they don't get lost in the crush.

What is less fun however is removing a china egg cup after it has done the rounds with an in-sink garbage disposal unit. A child, who shall remain nameless, forgot to check the contents of the washing-up sink before draining and then later in the evening the same child threw the switch for the disposal unit instead of the light. Nasty crunching sound and a jammed disposal unit later found myself and some children with slender hands coaxing the remains of the egg cup back to the surface.

Remains of the Egg Cup and some of its friends that helped bring it back from the brink, err sink.

Week 19, 2008

2008-05-12T14:52:00.004+10:00

Sorry, no catchy title for this post -- it is simply an update on recent goings on. Remember, you can always check out our published calendar of activities with the "comings and Goings" link on the left hand side of this (and every) page.

Firstly, Gaynor is hanging in there with the pregnancy. She has a little over two months to go and says that is tired and has had enough but the pregnancy is going well. No complications or health concerns and we sometimes wonder why we even bother with ante-natal care. (Yes we do know, so no need to email and remind us). He is kicking well -- vigourously and frequently -- and is already head down.

Mara was a a busy girl this week. She participated in two acts -- one a solo ballet dance and the other singing and dancing with two friends -- in her school talent show. She also spent last Saturday morning at the school district track meet where she ran in the 50 yard shuttle relay with her school placing second.

The boys have been busy preparing for a very large dance festival which will involve youth from the church from all over southern California. It's such a major event they only hold one every 20 years or so. More on that in July when it's finished.

Gaynor and the girls attended an open house at Mara and Ariana's school this past week. The girls were very proud to show off their neat work. Bryna was excited to visit the kindergarten classroom where she will be attending in the new school year, after the summer.

Finally, since Gaynor's interior design plans have outstripped our budget (actually they were never within) I have begun construction of a number of furniture pieces. First on the agenda is a pair of large bookcases -- our books are the last thing really waiting to be unpacked -- and a pair of low modular-type shelving. These will be followed, though the time frame isn't yet fixed, by bedside tables, another coffee table and bar stools. A work colleague with an extensive woodshop has kindly offered it and some advice for my use. So, more on them when I've got something to show.

More Room to Travel

2008-04-21T11:19:00.003+10:00

Since we are expecting a new family member our current conveyance -- a Honda Odyssey -- will not be sufficient to fit us all in. So rather than try and find an 8 seater vehicle (seemingly somewhat rare) we thought we'd go the whole hog and have bought an older 10-seater, and as the Americans say, "full-size" van. And when an American says "full size" you know they mean it. The idea was that though we all fit into an 8 seater, there would then be no room for a friend or grandparent or two. And a 10 was just as easy to find as an 8.

This van probably won't get used that much, even though it is the "economical" model at 17mpg (13.8l/100km) -- probably just when we need to go somewhere as a family. There are a number of things to fix on it but it's currently driveable and I do have a few months to get them done before we really need it. Elijah has already given his numerous (and expensive) ideas on how we can best pimp it out.

Elijah and Bryna modelling our recently acquired 10-seater van -- vehicular expansion for the incoming child.

Expecting the Sixth

2008-02-25T06:01:00.004+11:00

We are pleased to announce the expected arrival in mid-July of our sixth child. We are all quite excited, the children especially. Bryna, in particular, is thrilled to become a 'big sister' Gaynor traditionally has relatively easy pregnancies and this one is about as well as could be expected for the sixth.

It has been an introduction faster than we would have liked to the US medical system. Gaynor spent some time researching the procedures and attitudes of local hospitals and, unfortunately, found them not in-line with her own. Mostly, they take an 'I am in charge and you are merely the patient' approach, including insisting on monitors, drips and bed confinement. In addition, the two local hospitals only have a limited number of beds where they allow 'rooming in', where the baby stays with the mother. Hospitals further afield are more, in our view at least, enlightened but given the unpredictability of arrival time we'd rather not be attempting to get to one an hour away (and longer if the traffic is heavy). She's therefore engaged a local mid-wife, a profession seemingly not as widespread here in the US as in Australia or Europe. She'll be doing most of Gaynor's antenatal care as well as being there for the actual delivery, which we plan to be a home birth.

Given the results of a recent ultrasound examination, we have a much greater suspicion of the gender of this one than with any of the others -- the first definitive sign being at their birth. It's always been a deliberate choice on our part -- what can I say? We like to have some surprises in our life -- but this time Gaynor peeked and he wasn't being, shall we say, discreet.

Thanks Giving

2008-02-04T12:16:00.000+11:00

Ok... I know Thanksgiving was a while ago, but it was fun so I'm going to write about it.
So as you might or might not know we went to San Jose for Thanksgiving which is not far from San Fransisco (about 50 miles or 1 hr). So there is a reason we went there and the reason is a couple of friends we knew from Germany live there. So the drive up there was long about 6 hours. So we get there at 2 am, some might think that is a bit early but really we are morning people. So after waking up our friends and get inside we settle down for another good 5 hours sleep before Ari wakes us all up we had a nice cooked breakfast and it is now Thanksgiving day. We hanged around for a couple of hours before we got too hungry and set off for her sister (his sister in law). They had a semi manchen on a hill not too far away. As you could think their house was big and there were a lot of people visiting from all around the states. They conveniently had a lot of food. We waited around playing pool and other various games while the food finished being prepared. Eating the food was even better than watching it being prepared. The food was good, there was a traditional turkey and a lot more. We played a bit more and nibbled on some food while we waited for the dessert. Finally the desert came there were various desserts such as pecan pie and ice cream. After that we left before the washing up. The next day we went to San Fransisco with our friends and there we met more friends we knew from Australia. We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked around and found a nice place for lunch. After eating lunch we went to this famous street called : DUNNO We ended up not going all the way up because there was such a long line. After that we split up Dad and I went to the car show and the others wen t o see the fortune cookie factory. The car show was great lots of great cars. And really I don't know much about what went on at the factory. The ones that went to the cookie factory didn't take that long. So went home directly after that. Dad and I stayed at the auto show till about 8pm. We got some take-away on the way home and got home about 8.30. On Saturday we went to big basin Red Wood National Park.
It wasn't that far away. The trees there were really big and wide. We walked a trail there and went home to finish packing before we leave that evening. We ended up leaving at about 6 pm. And
so we drove and drove and drove, till we got home. And that was the trip to San Jose

Disneymania

2008-01-27T11:26:00.002+11:00

It's me again, Joshua. Now I'm here to tell you about a piece of plastic that will give us annual entry to one of California's most famous landmarks and theme parks Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. We were always hoping that Dad actually meant it when he said "We will probably get Disneyland passes because we will be moving right near it." After we got here Dad started to look into prices for annual passes. We forgot about it for a while until school holidays came around and dad started looking at buying some. But in the first week of the holidays Mara went to Knotts Berry Farm.Which as you can see is a very cool theme park with very intense rides. Mara thought that Disneyland was for little kids and would not have any cool rides. Dad then showed her the Disneyland website, Mara thought that it would still be boring. She then went about convincing mum and dad that we would find Knott's Berry Farm a lot more fun. Eventually Dad gets the e-tickets printed and we organize to go to Disneyland on the 8th of November after a 40 minute car ride we get to Disneyland we pay for parking and catch the tram to the front entrance we show the entrance clerk our e-tickets and to the bank of Disneyland to get our annual passes. We then found a Disneyland replica of a very old car that would take us up to the princess castle. Bryna who had just got her head cut open was breathless she was just pointing at the castle and saying "there lives Cindergrilla". WE walked through the castle and went on the merry-go-round (which Bryna thoroughly enjoyed) We then went to the all famous teacup ride yay w00t!! (it's over rated). We walked around for a while until we found a ride where there wasn't much of a cue. We decided on MATAHORN MOUNTAIN dadadada. which is very fun but you get of with a rather sore bottom and after the second time with a verry rather sore bottom. Mum decided to take us on the Disneyland Railroad so we could see the rest of Disneyland the railroad was pretty cool we went through Splash Mountain and the Grand Canyon. When we arrived back at the station it was time for Princess Story Reading which Bryna loved and listened to every word that Sleeping Beauty said. Ten it was time for lunch, so we went down to Toon Town to eat a bagels. They had cheese on them they were a bit tough, but we managed them. We next went on the Toon Town Roller Coaster, the GO COASTER, it went round and round. We went on several other rides in Toon Town. After some fun in Toon Town we went to California adventure park, Where we first went on the G.R.R. (Grizzly Rapid Run). Luckily we didn't get too wet, but we had some fun laughing at other who did. Next it was nime for the "BIG BOY RIDES". The first of the "BIG BOY RIDES" was the Golden Zeffer, a bunch of space ships flying in a circle (they were not really flying they were on poles). Then we had fun, I mean "FUN" on the Malholland Madness ( or what ever it is called). Sun wheel was kinda hot ..... bum bum bum. (if you know what I mean, there were two different gondolas, swinging or not swinging, Ari being Ari..........FREAKED OUT ....... Bryna of course being tough as she is went in the normal gondola and DIDN'T freak out. Next we wanted some fun, so while Bryna , Mum , and Ari went on the Merry-Go-Round, which Bryna throughly enjoyed, The BIG boys and girl, went on the ................ rollers coaster, CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN'. That was soooooooooooo cool ot had a loop dips hills and all at 90 kmh. (Mara said she had been on better).
That concludes our first visit to Disneyland.

Happy 60th Margaret

2008-01-14T10:38:00.000+11:00

Unfortunately, Gaynor was unable to make the big shindig of her mother's 60th birthday. In lieu of her personal appearance we made a video to be shown at the party. Since it features us prominently, I thought it might be nice to make it available to all. So congratulations again Margaret and all our love.

At YouTube

Persistent Goods Track Down Owners

2008-01-07T11:51:00.000+11:00

After failing to take the previous hint, our household goods have finally tracked us down all the way from Germany. In our initial plans they were to have joined us only a few weeks after we ourselves had arrived. However, famed German customer service, a missed boat and US Customs and importing procedures conspired to delay our reuniting. In total, 5 months and 11 days, beating their previous record by over a month.

It's good to have many more familiar items around us -- it's really been a second Christmas full of box openings and forgotten surprises. Now we just have to find somewhere to put them all.

Christmas Plans 2007

2007-12-25T04:39:00.000+11:00

Since the weather has been so good to us in southern California, we've decided to remind ourselves what a northern hemisphere winter should be and enjoy Christmas in Utah. Coincidentally, I have two brothers living there as well as and so it's a win-win situation -- though, not for them obviously. One minor drawback to this plan is that our household goods, including virtually all our winter clothing, we shipped from Germany in July will not be available through US Customs until after Christmas. It's a sad story of neglect and delays but the short of it is we've managed to borrow enough warm clothes for the week we'll be in Utah. Hopefully a post on the trip in a week or so.

In the meantime, we wish all our friends and family, near and far, a joyful Christmas.

Commutin' Scooter

2007-11-27T16:53:00.000+11:00

Having decided to rent a house a bit further away from my place of work than we'd ideally like, a second vehicle was on the cards. Given the high price of petrol (*snigger*) -- actually I mostly just believe in having sufficient for my needs -- I thought a scooter would be the ticket. Since the freeways I take have a tendency to clog quickly and often, having a smaller vehicle than can go slip through is a great boon. Though one must ride very defensively, lane sharing, as it's known here, is considered acceptable behaviour. In addition to lane sharing, motorcycles are also permitted to use the car pool lane and this helps reduce the danger to me and the time to ride.

I picked up the new bike for what I think was a very good price. The guy threw in a jacket, two helmets (one of them a child's), a bag for the seat, a pair of gloves and a service manual, confirming to me that he was in fact going 'cold turkey' on bike riding. The bike is a 1988 model and had only 9300 miles on it. Basically, it was owned consecutively by two older guys who rode it a couple of times a month and then brought it home to polish it. I've already let the bike know that she won't be getting that sort of treatment from me.

As one bike-course instructor told me, "A commute doesn't get much sweeter than a southern Californian highway on a motorcycle." I think I'm tending to agree.

Oh, and if you don't think this is a scooter, you should see the ones that ride past me!

Book Explosion

2007-11-12T17:14:00.000+11:00

Since we shifted to the new house which until very recently contained no television set, there has been a veritable explosion of reading by the children. Part of this has been the discovery of a very decent town library and not so much to distract them. Our children really do love to read, though sometimes television helps them forget it. So here is a list, supplied by each child, of what they have read recently.

Joshua

Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Scorpia and The Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
Series of Unfortunate Events, Nos 1-8 by Lemony Snicket
Black Duck
By the Monkey's Tail
Small Steps by Louis Sachaf

Elijah

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azskaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda

Mara

Into the Wild by Sara Beth Durst
By the Monkey's Tail by Kerrie O'Connor
Dexter the Tough
Series of Unfortunate Events, Nos 1-8 by Lemony Snicket
The Unseen, Spyhole Secrets and The Magic Nation Thing by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Junie B. Jones, First Grade (At Last)
Inky the Indigo Fairy
The Lake of Tears by Emily Rodda

Ariana

Inky the Indigo Fairy
The Lake of Tears by Emily Rodda
Junie B. Jones

Bryna

Clifford Saves the Day and various other Clifford books.
Barbar's Birthday
A couple of Clarice Beans
A couple of Charlie and Lolas

Fire Safety

2007-10-26T09:46:00.000+10:00

Thanks to all those who have called or emailed in the past few days to check on our family's welfare amid the recent southern Californian fires.

For those who didn't know (or care), we are all fine. There is no real imminent
threat to our home but we stay informed, just in case. However, my work was closed on Monday and Tuesday (22nd and 23rd Oct). It took me two hours on Monday to get there and then 45 minutes later they said we should go home! Only an hour to get home, riding into the fierce Santa Ana wind. By Tuesday afternoon the fire closest to work had made it to the car park of the building across the street. Fortunately, it was contained there with our car park now somewhat ash covered.

It is extremely dry around here so bush(brush/wild)fires are always a constant concern -- well, except immediately after the fire I guess. Being Australian, fires are nothing new to us. You learn to respect them and how to take precautions. On the other, we have little experience with earthquakes ...

We have a car !!! <(-_-)>

2007-09-10T12:23:00.000+10:00

We now have a car we bought it a couple of days ago it's not an American car no not even from Europe no it's from Japan we got a Honda. Yes you heard me right a honda. Why we didn't get a German car I don't know. I would have liked one. Well we got a Honda "Odisey" Well i think that's how you spell it. It was fairly well priced and it was big enough although it isn't that big but it will do!!! =) It's a nice car and in great condition. So the weather is great here. And there is a house in "Mission Viejo" that would suite us great. CYA
I'll write again soon at lest someone will
Elijah

First Few Days in California

2007-09-05T08:32:00.000+10:00

After all the preparations for the shift, matters have progressed relatively smoothly. Our visas came with plenty of time to spare, all our friends were as helpful as ever -- we spent some lovely times over the last few days with those whom we have grown close to -- and we even made the flight on time. The luggage allowance on flights to the US is very generous and we took full opportunity of it to bring our tent, blankets, sheets, extra clothing and a few special things we always inevitably forget to send with the shipped belongings. However unloading, carting all the luggage through the airports and reloading was a bit of a challenge.

The flight itself went quite well and my brother Donovan was there to meet us at the car rental agency. We had a whole airport-agency shuttle bus to ourselves due to the amount of luggage we were toting. Eventually we made it to the furnished apartment being provided by my company for a few weeks and clocked off for the (very long) day. Donovan was also great the next day, looking after the children, including a movie, while Gaynor and I did a bit of running around.

The next days included house hunting, a bit of shopping and some orientation. The weather has been wonderful and warm (actually, quite hot but still great!) and the apartment complex includes a pool. For the Labor Day holiday last Monday we enjoyed a few hours at the beach and playing in the sand and surf. The children are now coming to the end of their extended summer holidays and as soon as we can find a house we will enrol them in the relevant schools.

As for work, the new job is shaping to be very interesting and the company seems to be a great place to work. I'm looking forward to getting into it further.

So for now, we are looking hard for a house to rent and a car to buy. The rest will come in time. Many new things to learn and experiences to enjoy.

Last Few Days In Germany

2007-08-20T01:14:00.000+10:00

Well our time in Germany is quickly coming to a close. Here us a brief update on our recent activities and a couple of those coming up.

Recent
We finished up in our house, and I at work, at the end of July. The idea then was to go, as the Germans say, 'on tour' visiting friends, relatives and having a relaxing camping holiday until the time came to depart this country. That was the plan anyway and we managed it -- mostly. It was altered in large part due to an extremely unreasonable landlady and, in smaller part, the camping being less than relaxing for the whole family. I shan't go into details regarding the landlady but, concerning the camping, our imminent departure meant that we were reluctant to invest in much more reasonably essential camping equipment so soon before shifting continents. In the end we decided to cut the camping short and take up one of the many, very generous offers to stay at a friend's house. We have had a lovely time visiting with a number of the good friends we have made since we've been here and will miss them all terribly.

We had our interviews with the US Consulate in Frankfurt last week and they indicated all seemed OK and we should have the visas this week. :)

Upcoming
So this week we are staying at a friend's house while they are on their own holiday. We'll be doing a lot of organising for matters in the US and hopefully trying to get a bit of relaxation in (always hopeful!). We have plane tickets booked for a flight on the 27th of August and so having the visas arrive before then is a good thing. We have friends who'll help us to get to the airport and I'll also be trying to sell our car during the week. Couple of things left to do and then all we need to do is set up again in the US. :D

My Birthday (Ariana)

2007-08-06T16:29:00.000+10:00

2nd of August: My Birthday I woke up about eight o'clock, changed he calenders in the kitchen.Then went and woke up everyone else (a bit anoying realy for them), it was time for presents yeah... but no Dad had to go to work and sort out some stuff (how unfair I don't work or I could spoil his birthday too). And it got worse we didn't just wait we had to tidy no x box, no gameboy or computor :(. After a promise of 1 hour dad came back after 2 hours. And finaly i could open my presents. (it was a bit hard to open them since as they were all in bags). I got: A didle pen ( didle is big in germany look on their web site if you want.),didle necklace, an "A" necklace, some chocolate (kinder), some pencils and a didle diary. We had a borthday dinner in Frankfurt with our great aunt Shirly at a italiano restaurent. But Dad did not want to buy desert (5 euro each). So we went across the raod and got some icecream at a ice café and all got a ice cream and mara did some fake candles for me (which i blew out in one:))
By Ariana with help from Elijah

Go West!

2007-07-21T17:28:00.001+10:00

I've been job hunting for a number of months now and am pleased to say I have just received a formal offer from a private fusion research company based in Orange County, California. It seems pretty reasonable so we think we'll give it a go. I mean, it can't be any harder than shifting to Germany right? Don't worry though, we've put a bit more thought into it than the preceding sentences might allude to.

We still have to clear our entry/work visas and will have an interview middle of next month. Hopefully only a few days to process. We expect to be arriving around the 25-28th August, though that may delayed if something in the plan needs changing. The company has asked me to start early September.

We should have about a week between arriving and starting work and school and in that time hope to find a house, a car, schools, change drivers licences -- yes, another test :( -- take out insurances, cure cancer and solve global warming. Or as many as we can manage anyway.

Gaynor and I are both excited and the children also seem pretty happy about it. There are a number of advantages in moving to southern California not the least of which is the promise of continued income. There is a lot of work to do before then but I think we'll make it. We are planning to be relaxing on a camping holiday for most of August and so probably won't be making much internet contact during that time.

More to come from the other side of the pond!

London

2007-07-02T07:27:00.000+10:00

25/6/07 - 29/6/07
Unfortunately, due to time pressures this will just be a short report on our recent trip to London. Though Gaynor and the children all hold British passports they have not spent a lot of time there and we hoped to correct that in the event that we will move shortly from Europe[1]. We decided that rather than try to see a number of places in England in the course of a week, we'd concentrate on just London. Still, plenty to see.

We drove first thing Monday morning to Calais where we missed the ferry we had booked. Only by 10 minutes mind you but they put us on the next one with no trouble. All I'll say is that the traffic through Europe during peak hours can be very hard to predict. The ferry was a nice break from driving and a new experience for the children. The next new experience was driving a left-hand drive vehicle on the left-hand side of the road. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It helped having driven on that side before. :)

We stayed in Barking, on a direct half-hour-or-so train (the Underground actually) ride from the city centre. The children enjoyed catching up on some all-English television, comparing some of their regular shows to the German versions (voice over-dubbed).

The next few days reads like a list of a museum crawl including the British Museum (extremely impressive; highlights including the Rosetta Stone and a whole pile of other stuff the Brits have 'collected' over the years), Natural History and Science Museums (we split up to do these simultaneously), Imperial War Museum (not nearly enough time here) and the Ragged School Museum (we learnt there are poorer school systems than German).

Other highlights included visiting Westminster, a stroll along the Thames, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London (from the outside), climbing The Monument, a walk and a play in Hyde Park, changing guards at Buckingham Palace and Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Sorry that there isn't more time to pontificate over the trip but you can find a number of photos on our photo page. (Note the permanent link to the photo page, "Selected Images", located on the left of every blog page).

The drive home was reasonably eventful with an extra two hours to get out of London due to a jack-knifed truck blocking access to the only highway with a river crossing for many kilometers. Of course we then missed our ferry home and, with the one we did get leaving an hour later than scheduled, it was the wee small hours of Saturday before we rolled into the driveway.

All over though, an enjoyable and thoroughly worthwhile excursion.

[1] Please don't ask yet about exactly where we are going. We don't know yet and we'll make a post as soon as we do. :)

Update, 22 Aug: Creative Elijah has made a short movie of our trip!

The real "Oma und Opa Story"

2007-06-18T01:43:00.000+10:00

Well I guess you all herd about Elijahs sad attempt to write about the visit we had from our grandparents, so I shall fill you in on what really happened.
They arrived on the 24th of April 2007 at ca. 15:00 hours and I was sick from school when they arrived and was trying to cope with the noise pollution from Ari and Bryna.
The next few days were quite ordanairy with me home sick, Bryna late for kindergarten and Mama and Granddad getting used to our house and repairing some stuff Dad had not got round to yet.This went on till Friday when I went to school and Bryna was early for kindergarten. Then one weekend dad decided to take them to Aachen and show them around. A few weeks later they went to Trier and looked at all that stuff there is to see you know the porta nigra and the baths and the amphitheater. a few weeks later they went to Paris with mum for three days and saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. In between seeing Europe and all that jazz they helped us in the garden and getting our garden "correct" as our landlady says.
I'm sorry that I can't give more information but i didn't really pay attention.

Joshua Glass

Bryna Recites 'Die Mausfamilie'

2007-06-11T03:31:00.000+10:00

Bryna recently learnt a new poem at kindergarten about a mouse family. She even has some actions that go with it.

If your German (or at least your Bryna German) isn't up to scratch, the translation is roughly:

This is Sister Mouse
She has such big ears,
Such a big, pointy nose
And such a long tail

The verses repeat mentioning Brother, Father and Mother Mouse. The final verse, spoken in the tiny, soft voice is:

This is Baby Mouse
Has such little baby ears,
Has such a little pointy nose
And such a little tail
But then! *clapping* such a long tail!

Oma und Opa

2007-06-03T23:38:00.000+10:00

On the 24Th of April our grandparents arrived they were picked up at the Dusseldorf airport by Dad , Bryna and Ariana. By the time they got back Mum had afternoon tea finished. After we had finished all the cake we gave them a chance to have a sleep after their long trip over. But that's abit boring so lets have some action on Friday the 27Th I the Almighty Elijah broke my arm playing soccer at a friends. So off to the hospital OH and the doctor said no more monkeys jumping on the and that i had broken not just 1 bone but an amazing number of 2 bones. So i couldn't go to stake conference on Sunday because once I heard i had broken 2 bones it suddenly began to hurt. Well that doesn't have much to do with mama and grandad but I'm going to go on because it very interesting. So on Monday no school for me to much pain Tuesday pain easing off but no school it's a public holiday oho!!! Wednesday appointment at the hospital in Juelich they had no clue what they were doing so they sent me to the hospital in Eschweiler. They knew a bit more and said .... that ..... I ..... should ....... get operated tubule weed cricket cricket. So on Thursday I got operated but then the bad news came
I had to stay over night in the hospital :(. But as strange as it may sound it actually wasn't that bad. So on Friday I could go home we got home at about 1 pm. You might be wondering what they did when I got operated on well if you really want to know have fun finding out ............. OK I will tell you I got a pin right through my arm ow!!!!!!! :) So well to tell the truth I don't really know much about what my grandparents did so you will just have to wait till someone else writes a post about them. OK I can tell you one thing they worked a lot in the garden.:) But I think I will leave the topic at grandma and grandpa

Spain

2007-04-09T05:07:00.000+10:00

29/12/06 - 5/1/07
The original intent was to drive -- mostly because we are cheap -- but a lack of a valid licence on my part and a "absolutely no desire" on Gaynor's meant we ended up finding some last minute flights for slightly less than an exorbitant amount. Money aside (well money gone anyway) we decided to thoroughly enjoy our winter break and, though the initial circumstances were a struggle, Spain lived up to its end of the bargain in providing perfect weather and hospitality.

We couldn't get flights to Malaga together and so we flew me with the boys and Gaynor with the girls. Gaynor and the girls passed through Madrid while the men took the Barcelona route. The arrival times were all supposed to be close but with various delays it ended up a real mess. In particular, locating my brother Donovan who was flying in from the US turned out to be one long wait-fest. It wasn't that he wasn't in the airport, it was that we had arranged to meet at the car rental location and unbeknowst to either of us we were waiting at one each with no knowledge that the other location was there. Just as Gaynor and I were about to make a multi-run transit to the resort I eventually figured out the presence of the other car rental location (inside the 'secure area' of the airport), muscled my way back in (some guards are real softies when a grown man is crying) and retrieved said errant, unwitting brother.

We managed to rent the cars without an international incident and set off -- finally and gratefully -- the the resort, about half an hour away. Unfortunately, the signage and directions were a bit vague at best and since it was now dark, locating the resort took an extra half hour as we alternating overshot and bumbled about. We still managed to squeeze in some dinner before collapsing and calling it a day.

For the rest of the week -- apart from the glorious weather -- we enjoyed late morning starts, late evening talks, jacuzzi sitting (interspersed with cold-pool dipping), walks along the beach, a walk through downtown Marbella, Sunday church in English and a fabulous dinner at a restaurant right on the beach. At the restaurant, Gaynor and Donovan went on an all-out splurge for a lobster paella which Gaynor describes as 'delicious!'. We (well Donovan really) were feeling so flushed we even ordered dessert!

We also took a trip to Ronda -- dramatic, historic and Moorish, according to Gaynor. Her highlight was the museum in the Mondragon's Palace -- an old Moorish palace. The photo of Ariana and the orange tree was taken in the grounds of this this museum/palace. One of the highlights for the children was the visit to, and climbing over, the old city walls. They reminded Joshua of "Lord of the Rings", which, quite frankly, isn't that hard to do at the moment.

We also toured some archeological ruins around Marbella. These included the remains of a 3rd century Roman villa and baths. The baths were at a different location to the villa and had a great view of the ocean. In fact, beside the baths was an old Moorish military look-out tower. We also visited the ruins of a 6th century Paleo-christian church excavated in the 1960s. The baptismal font, in particular, was very interesting. See our photo page (follow "Selected Images" link top-left of this page) for a picture. Donovan has also posted some pictures from the trip on his own blog.

On New Years Eve, after Bryna had retired for the evening, we brought out some cheese, crackers and some fancy grape juice and had a session of "Three Questions". This is where everyone, after day-long consideration, brings their written answers to the questions:

What was the highlight of the past year?
What was the lowlight of the past year? and,
What do you want to accomplish in the coming year?

The written answers are passed to the next person who reads out the relevant answer as each question is discussed around the group. An encouraging way to bring in the New Year.

So overall the trip was wonderfully relaxing. As usual, we had a great time together and add yet another recommended destination to our list.

Ariana does Hagrid

2007-03-19T07:21:00.000+11:00

Not quite a Bad Hair Day(TM) but Ariana's coiffure had received a little attention from her sisters.

It did remind us of a character popular with the children ...

Next Please!

2007-03-05T10:50:00.000+11:00

For those that have been keeping score you'll be aware that the end of this July will see the completion of my current employment contract. Further work with my current employer is not possible, mostly due to policy, bureaucratic and administrative reasons (You didn't think keeping a Dutch-employed Australian in Germany was easy did you?). So, after a brief consideration of retirement, I've decided to press on in the workforce and am therefore currently engaged in seeking further work. I'd like to say I'm currently engaged in reviewing multiple offers but this hasn't eventuated just yet. There are many factors that go into an employment situation when you are a physicist; a prime consideration is "Who employs physicists anyway?'

The answer to that question is found all over the globe with realistic locations including the UK, the US, elsewhere in Europe and possibly even Australia. As a family we have decided to try to restrict the options to either German- or English-speaking countries. The transition for the children is probably the most demanding and to ask them to change schools, cultures and to leave friends behind is big enough -- let alone a new language where you have little to no idea about anything for the first six months. Most of the children, of course, opt for a return to Australia to once again enjoy a closer association with family, sunshine and brutal sports. In the near future though this doesn't seem all that likely. Ultimately of course it will depend on offered employment or a decided change in career.

One of the big drawbacks at this stage is that we are in a sort of limbo. It's more that we aren't sure where we are going rather than that we are moving. Gaynor has become almost masterful at dealing with this condition -- we've done it numerous times in the past -- but still it's not easy. Of course, this situation also means that those who were thinking of using a relatively cheap base for a tour of Europe should hurry up about it. :D

Contact!

2007-02-19T06:28:00.000+11:00

Well strictly contacts. My most commonly worn pair of glasses recently defied any further attempts to keep them in one piece. Thus, requiring a new pair, I decided that instead I would see how I went with contact lenses. I have a trial period of a month with some soft, disposable lenses and I must say, after a short adjustment period, they are really quite comfortable. I'm also getting better at controlling my reaction to essentially sticking my finger in my eye when putting them in or taking them out.

The peripheral vision is excellent but it's still taking a bit of getting used to seeing myself clearly without glasses on. The feeling of walking around without glasses is not as vulnerable as doing it with blurred vision but it's still somewhat 'naked'.

movies and books I have seen/read

2007-02-05T03:51:00.000+11:00

So, where to start? I'll start with books, the last book I read was a German book my class had to read, its called "Damals war es Friedrich" (pronounced Freedrish) by Hans Peter Richter (what a German name). It's about a German boy and his Jewish neighbor Friedrich who were born during WWII. Just before I read "Damals war es Friedrich" I read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy
which took me about 4 months to finish but it was worth it. I did it mainly to watch the movies by Peter Jackson, it was worth it. I am also writing a book called the Lord of the Rubbers. (three guesses for what it is a parody of) I have also seed some great comic flicks lately: Spidermantm1 and 2, X-men 1,2,3 and Superman & Superman returns. The latest on my list of movies is another Peter Jackson film King Kong. On my list is still Fantastic 4, DareDevil and Indy Jones. Oh and i've also read Jurassic Park.
Thats all for now
Josh

Hernia(s) Ahoy

2007-01-29T07:39:00.000+11:00

Ariana underwent day surgery at a nearby hospital after our family doctor verified a small hernia on her lower left-side abdomen. The whole process was very quick and (as an outsider tends to sometimes think of Germans) efficient. Her doctor's appointment was a Thursday afternoon, immediately after which the doctor called his surgical colleague at the hospital and set up an appointment for the next day. Gaynor took her along -- since her German is better and the surgeon's English wasn't so great -- and the operation was scheduled for the following Wednesday, very much to Gaynor's surprise.

The surgery went fine with Ari recovering quickly. Unfortunately the hospital was a little short on rooms and she spent some of her post-op period on a bed behind a screen in the hallway. She was ready to go home by 4pm, having arrived at 7am, and, naturally, was quiet tired and sore.

About an hour after returning home, and much to our surprise and chagrin, Ari noticed another tell-tale hernia bulge on her right-side lower abodomen! Talk about timing, total lack of. She has an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow to discuss options and while she hasn't complained about it, she is a little anxious and has asked that both parents be there for this one.

Licence Obtained

2007-01-18T22:00:00.000+11:00

While not quite the dynamic title of a James Bond book, I'm nevertheless pleased to have completed the final hurdle -- the practical exam. You may recall the earlier ones -- to receiving my German driver's licence. It was actually the second attempt having failed the first one on the last turn into the testing centre's car park a week before Christmas. To be sure it was cruel (and I felt in error) given that we were expecting to drive to Spain a week later. There is a minimum two week wait between tests.

We agonised over our options for a couple of days and in the end decided I was too poor of a passenger to make it. So it meant that in the end we flew to Spain, instead of the expected total of 6 days in the car. Though more expensive it was, of course, much faster however we are still undecided if it was less stressful. It also gave me an opportunity to use one of my more recently frequent phrases when discussing the (now obviously simple) solution to a problem: '... and all it took was a whole lot of money.' I'm still amazed at how many problems this almost trivial solution can be applied to.

So now I'm driving again, much to Gaynor's relief (bad passenger that I am) and for those alert readers who remember my commentary on the Australian driving learner caught doing 177 km/h, I managed 130 during the exam I passed, mostly due to the short amount of autobahn and the under-powered car I was in. :D

View from Europe

2007-01-04T09:42:00.000+11:00

I still follow quite closely the news and current events in Australia, using the ABC website almost exclusively for this. Two recent stories in a row made me think a little about what Europe currently means to an expatriated Aussie.

The bombing at Madrid Airport made me sit up and take notice since Gaynor and the girls were only there the day before. Even though the bombed terminal was two kilometres away from the one the girls were transiting through it certainly made me stop and think about what it means to live and travel in such a place. While we feel closer, in some sense, to the centre of the world that also means being closer to world events, even the ugly ones. Certainly Europe has seen (and caused) more than its fair share of wars over the centuries and, in part, I put it down to the large number of sharply varying cultures crammed into a relatively small area. I am still amazed as how quickly culture and language change as you travel, even within a single nation. However, on the whole I think Europe does a pretty fair job of keeping it all in check -- tolerance, building on common ground and the like -- but incidents such as this bombing make you realise it's not all roses yet.

A story about a 40 year old learner caught doing 177km/h -- according to the police (and look he probably was!) -- also caught my attention. Despite growing up in Australia with a fair amount of government and traffic authorities' propaganda, I've never believed that speed alone is dangerous. Since driving in Germany, especially on the autobahns (I'm missing them already!), I'm even more convinced of it. In my opinion the Germans, at least, take a much more balanced and reasonable approach. There are very strict rules governing traffic here and they view their driving much more as a social responsibility than as a personal right. The cost to obtain a licence alone is enough to make one value it.

There have been many reasons why the time we have spent here has been very good for us and getting a different view of the world and life is certainly one of the top three.

I Wish I Was A Daffodil

2007-01-01T01:18:00.002+11:00

I wish I was a daffodil
People would call me Billy.
I turn my face to the sun,
Now wouldn't that be silly.

a poem for english class

School Stuff

2007-01-01T01:18:00.001+11:00

This school year I have started some new subjects (Latin, geography & chemistry) and my classes have changed from last year. I've not done much study because I am too busy playing Runescape online. I have Latin with my old history teacher and he's as blind as a bat and he reads a book the same way archaeologists examine old papyrus rolls. (Really really closely). he was absent for the 1st week of school for an eye operation and now he can see a lot better but he still looks like an archaeologist examining something very carefully. My other new teachers are all the same boring lecture giving people as most teachers usually are.

Christmas Plans 2006

2006-12-22T11:26:00.000+11:00

Heading for our second Christmas north of the equator and it still has a movie-like feel about it. Having grown up with Christmas during the summer time -- and all the wonderful things that means -- a northern hemisphere Christmas seems a bit like living in a movie. You know, you've seen many things in movies and if you ever experience it -- say you get the opportunity to stay in a high-class hotel after having only ever seen them depicted in movies -- then so many things that you know about but have never experienced suddenly become more real. The full-on winter clothes, everything spiced with cinnamon, snow, Santa actually needing a fur-lined suit; these all make a little more sense now.

So having said that, we decided last year that we felt we'd like a break from the cold (mostly Gaynor) and are heading to Spain for a week just after Christmas. Thanks to a generous benefactor we'll be shacking up in warmer climes, along with my brother who is flying over from the US. Gaynor notes that with his arrival here all my siblings (barring Alistair) will have visited Europe.

So in light of the trip Gaynor has decided to "go easy" on the Christmas feasts. She listed the menu the other day and I'm not sure exactly what she means by the term but I'm looking forward to it! We are also going light on the presents -- something I personally prefer anyway -- due to the move at the end of July next year. More on that later perhaps. (No, we don't know where we are going yet).

So we wish you a happy and joyous Christmas time and of course, all the best for the New Year.

Blogger Hiccup

2006-12-10T09:04:00.000+11:00

Google have released an updated version of Blogger -- the site and software which power this blog. During the change over many articles were 're-published', so to speak, when we applied the new labelling system [1]. So if you subscribe to the blog via the Atom or FeedBlitz newsfeeds (see down the left-hand side of this page) then you will receive notification of all the 'new' articles. Feel free to ignore them or re-read them, as you wish. Just pay attention to the date at the top of each post so you know if you are getting something fresh or a history lesson!

[1] You'll see any applied labels at the bottom of each post. You can click on it to get all the articles so labelled.

Summer Holiday 2006

2006-11-27T06:14:00.000+11:00

OK, so we are a little behind in reporting some of our trips, including Bavaria, Paris and our summer holiday to Croatia -- in reverse chronological order. So first one first let's go through our haul over to Croatia.

The purpose of this holiday was different to last year's summer excursion. Last year it was all about getting to one of our most-wanted-to-visit places (Italy) and also get in a little bit of relaxation as well. This year the ideas were different.

The drive to Croatia was broken up with a stay overnight at Augsburg -- no sightseeing, only somewhere to stop, eat and sleep. We reached the campsite mid-afternoon the next day with enough time to set up tent, make some dinner and meet the neighbours. The people next to us were very friendly, greeting us in German (since they saw the car's plates) and then switching to English when I explained in German that my German wasn't so good. Turns out they were Slovak and were very kind and friendly to us our whole stay. Both the mother and father also spoke Croatian -- which turned out to be very useful later in our stay -- and the wife also spoke Hungarian! These Europeans!

Pretty much from the next day the name of the game was do as little or as much as you liked. Gaynor, of course, had a book or four she'd bought to read. "Holiday" is a synonym for "book reading" in Gaynor's language. Gaynor also enjoyed a swim in the bay first thing most mornings and considers it a great way to start the day. The children spent time in and out of the expansive pools of the campsite and various trips down to the bay shoreline for swimming as well. They had a great curly waterslide with water pumped out of the bay and this was an especial favourite of the children. Unfortunately not too many photos from around the camp as most of us were too busy with nothing to do but, to the right here, you can see an example of the sort of sunsets we had to put up with.

We did manage a trip or two into the town of Rovinj itself, working our way to the church and up the church tower. We seem to climb these whenever available with Gaynor staying at the bottom with Bryna and the other children coming up with me. Churches themselves don't cost to go in but the towers usually incur a charge. The attendant did warn that the stairs were a little worn in places. I passed this information on to the children along with instructions to step on the outside of the stair if it looked a bit dodgy. I knew Elijah was listening carefully since I had never seen him move so slow when awake! He placed his foot gingerly towards the outside of every step as though it contained some volatile explosive. In the end I had to hurry him along, even though the stairs were pretty worn.

The children do a Fab Four before the ascent.
The sunlight throught the stairs isn't just for laughs either.

The view from the church tower across the Adriatic was simply gorgeous.

As well as the seemingly obligatory visit to the church we also patronised a couple of restaurants, one of which -- Figarola, as seen in the picture -- is now our new favourite restaurant in Europe. We highly recommend it to you if you are ever in the area. Apart from the wonderful views, Gaynor was particularly impressed with the seafood risotto with all the of seafood sweet and tender, not overdone like so many other places. It was creamy and well seasoned with fresh herbs that rounded out the flavour to perfection. Other delicious servings included a pork schnitzel with a special seasoned crumbing (Fenton), grilled chicken breast in a creamy sauce (quite a departure for Mara from her standard spaghetti bolognese) and a pork and prawn kebab (Joshua).

The view across the Adriatic from our table at Figarola

We really enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing time only wishing it could have been longer. The drive home included a couple of multi-hour waits through the mountain tunnels of Austria and another overnight stop in Augsburg. This time though we took in the town centre and the cathedral, which is home to the world's largest and oldest stained-glass windows. We didn't stay too long but still another pleasant memory to add to the trip.

Recent Birthdays

2006-11-13T01:23:00.000+11:00

This time of year is always busy in our family with birthdays. Children recently on the receiving end were, in chronological order, Mara (the 19th of October), Bryna (the 30th of October) and Joshua (the 9th of November). They clocked 10, 3 and 13, respectively.

Mara wished to get her ears pierced. I offered but she claimed something about infection and had Gaynor take her into town to a slightly more reputable place. She's been asking for a couple of years for this particular kind of pain and, in principle, I didn't have a problem, happily agreeing to 25 as the correct age for this procedure. Gaynor pointed out that she herself had holes put in her ear lobes on her 7th birthday. She seems to have turned out alright and so I acquised. Here is a photo of Mara with a few of her friends who came for a sleepover party.

Next up was Bryna whose only real birthday wish was Nanna, Poppa and a birthday cake with candles on it. We knew this was her real wish since she repeated it many times over the course of about two months. We are glad to report we came through with the goods -- special thanks to Nanna and Poppa for doing their bit (travelling half the globe). You can see the cake that showed up in the photo.

Finally, Joshua made it relatively unscathed into his teens. He actually voiced few birthday wishes but when pressured finally came up with a couple of sporting goods and a DVD. Some happened, others didn't but he also had a sleepover party with a couple of friends -- staying up quite late (and then also getting up quite early) to watch movies and play video games. You can see a snapshot from this event below.

Of course Gaynor provided her usual scrumptious birthday dinners (menu by request) and wonderful cakes. Though they don't seem especially so now I'm sure the children will thank us in the future for the delicious food their mother generated and the genetics that allowed them to enjoy these delights repeatedly.

Paranimf-in'

2006-10-05T09:33:00.000+10:00

A little while ago two PhD students at work graduated from their respective Dutch universities. I had had a small hand in helping both of them with their theses -- mostly editing (thanks be to Brett), English and some thoughts on layout. I attended the graduation ceremonies of both and they are somewhat different to my own in Australia.

Firstly, the generic Australian version. Usually the protocol is to write the thesis, submit it to the univeristy who -- with the preparation of you and your supervisor who have invited them -- send it off to the examiners. There are rules about who can and cannot do this but in general it is three or four people who know enough about your work (hopefully) to say if it's rubbish or not. They prepare a report on the work and then recommend one of a few possible outcomes[1] This then goes to the University who generally follow through on the advice they have received and a bit later on you (optionally and usually a few months) head to the official graduation ceremony where you, along with a few hundred others (mostly undergraduates), are presented with your scroll of paper. At some universities they read out the thesis title of the graduand before handing over the parchment and other places -- like my own at ANU -- they just print it in the program.

The differences with the Dutch system include, for starters, it takes more the form of a formal thesis defence. The candidate having previously published and submitted his thesis to the examining committee, then comes before them in a formal ceremony and is grilled for a designated -- and strictly controlled -- time period. Work colleagues, friends and family typically attend the ceremony. To support the grillee -- though pretty much only in a moral sense -- two assistants are asked and they are known as the paranimfs. I don't think there is an strictly equivalent word in English. Anyway, I was recently invited to be a paranimf. This pretty much involved wearing a dark suit, walking in the processions, standing in the right place at the right time and sitting still during the Process-O-Grilling. I thought it might also entail coming quickly to one's feet and calling 'Objection!' or stopping the candidate running from the room but I appear to have been mistaken. Overall the ceremony went well.

At the end of the Grill Fest the examining committee retires for its deliberations and upon return (usually) grant the degree on the spot. Usually then the candidate's "promotor" (the academic who officially is putting him forward as a candidate) says a few words about the candidate (now Doctor) and their efforts. The ceremony is concluded and friends, family and colleagues adjourn to a reception room to partake in drinks, hors d'œuvre, congratulations and possibly even some gift giving. Then it's all over bar the posing.

The Man of the Moment with family members and flanked by his two Paranimfs.

[1] Generally and broadly they are: conferral of degree with no changes, conferral of degree with minor changes, rewrite and resubmission of thesis and denial of degree.

German Driver's Licence

2006-09-19T21:18:00.000+10:00

This post is part vent, part information. So, the time has come for me to obtain my German driver's licence[1] and there are a number of rules governing the use of foreign licences here. For starters the most infuriating part is the sheer bureaucratic and almost arbitrary nature of which licences are easily exchangeable. Once you have moved here the rule is all licences should be converted to a German licence within 6 months. Since I only 'moved' here at the beginning of May[2] I must change over by November. There is a list as to which countries can simply exchange their licences and those whose resident's must take theory and/or practical tests. The list is generated using the rule: "Whoever Germany has made a formal agreement with". And that seems to be the only rule as far as I can find out.[3]

That means that all countries in the EU are fine to just exchange, since Germany as an EU member has agreed to this. The list gets a little stranger the further away you go. So Japan is free to exchange as are South Korea and Canada however Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are not. The list gets, in my opinion, positively crazy when some states in the U.S. can simply exchange -- such as Utah and Virginia -- others must only perform a theory test -- such as Missouri and Oregon -- and still others, such as poor Texas, must do both a theory and practical test. Australia, NZ and South Africa also fall into this category of having to do both tests. If you hold a current licence the requirement for a certain number of instructor hours is waived.

In addition to the tests one must also present documentation for a first aid course, eye sight test as well as a translation of any current licence. Of course each of these cost money and money also goes to pay for the tests, the licence itself and the driving lessons (enough for the instructor to determine that you are competent enough to pass). All up for Gaynor the cost was around the 400€ mark and I expect it will be a little cheaper for me, though probably not much. To keep this in 'perspective' one should realise that a first-time licence getter will pay a minimum of 1500€, most of which goes in lesson time to meet the required number of hours standard.

The craziest part of the licence exchange (fühererscheinumschreibung in German) is that legally it's ok for you to get off a plane from Australia -- having driven your whole life in a right-hand drive vehicle and on the left hand side of the road -- and do 200km/h down the autobahn. And you can keep doing this for 6 months not having a clue about the road rules or being able to read German to know them. After that however, they really view you as a danger on the roads since you don't have a valid licence!

On the plus side you do end up with pretty decent driver training and they really do seem to take their social responisibilty to be a good driver very seriously. In addition, the German driver's licences are valid for life. You only have to do this once and they never need to be renewed. And -- and here is the part I like and will miss soon enough -- you can keep driving on the autobahns. :D

[1] Gaynor's time has already come and gone and she successfully completed the transfer last April. But since she hasn't blogged about it, I'll have a go.
[2] Actually didn't blog about that piece of minor news though it was alluded to in our post about our visit to Amsterdam.
[3] Bit more information on driving in Germany at How To Germany.

Sickness

2006-08-21T20:14:00.000+10:00

We have had two sick people in the last week me and Ariana. I'm still sick so I get to stay home from school. It realy hurts. At scool I've got three new subjects History,physik and French. French is cool.
Elijah

Back to School

2006-08-10T05:44:00.000+10:00

I remember in Australia the new school year was always a time of excitement and a little anxiety about whether the children would have the right teacher and the right friends in their class. Well this feeling is greatly exaggerated when the system and the language is unfamiliar (or barely familiar). To further compound this feeling, Mara started high school today and she is not yet 10. She seems so small to start high school though in other regards she is well equipped as she is fluent in German, is quite studious and very determined. Still, I don't like the idea of her travelling home alone a couple of days a week.

One off the joys of the system is that children finish at different times so lunch can last 2 hours. In addition the first child home will have finished all their homework, jobs and piano practice before the last child is home. This means they are asking for screen time before the others have even had lunch (for me this is a logistical nightmare).

A little whinge: The parents must supply all the equipment but unlike the book packs you can buy in Australia the primary school gives you a comprehensive list down to colours and sizes etc, that you normally can find everything by visiting 2 shops. The high school doesn't manage to form a list instead requests trickle home via the children over the next couple of weeks, but normally with the plea that I must have it tomorrow (fat chance) we don't know whether the urgency comes from the teacher or the children only telling us at the last minute. This is also difficult to budget for and by the end of the period I'm loathe to hand over any more money. End of whinge.

Joshua is in year 7 and will be learning Latin this year which he is very excited about. Elijah has the same teachers as last year which is a bit of a concern. His German teacher is antiquated and his English teacher said that nothing is more important than school work. Elijah replied that family, church and sport were more important than school (and we mostly agree with him -- which is not very German of us).

Ariana is in the 2nd grade and has the same teacher as last year who is very nice. Ari is really good at math but, we must help her with reading English and German. She sounds out everything but has no fluency or much comprehension yet. I think it will all come together soon.

Bryna started Kindergarten -- or as she calls it "garten schule" (garden school) -- this morning and she looked so little with her "princess" backpack on her back. When I asked her what made her backpack heavy she replied "Essens" (which is an English plural of the German for food. Good Denglish!). She didn't want me to stay (she doesn't need me any more :( -- pass the TimTams) and she was very quite when I picked her up. So I asked her how it was and she answered "spass gehabt" (had fun). This evening Mara said "I have maths tomorrow" and Bryna replied "I have garden maths tomorrow". I asked, "What do you do in garden maths?" and she answered "Count blatte" (leaves).

I hope the children have a good school year. I am looking forward with a little trepidation to mornings all alone, as this will be an experience I haven't had for 13 years. I have a list 1.6 km long of what I hope to achieve in my 3 hours a day. :D

Bryna's ready for her first day at kindergarten. Yaay!

Broadband Comes to Town

2006-08-04T10:10:00.000+10:00

Even though I knew the village we were shifting to was small I thought that broadband internet access was available everywhere in Germany. Unfortunately that wasn't true and even the largest company (Deutsche Telekom or T-Online, T-Mobile etc) had few options[1]. All I wanted was something that meant the phone could be used at the same time and had no time limit. All phone calls are timed in Germany and so there is no such thing (that I have come across) as a dial-up internet 'plan'[2].

Anyway I was all set to sign up for a UMTS internet account (UMTS is basically internet via 3G mobile telephony) when a flyer arrived in the mailbox announcing a small company who were offering a phone and DSL package to our village. Yaaay! I called them a few days later and, after a couple of questions, signed up. So we are now humming along with relatively fast access at home.

This all means that I think the world can now expect a bit more of a digital presence from Gaynor and the children (especially Elijah!) and possibly even some more frequent blog posts.

[1] Among them, ISDN (only a little faster than a dial-up modem) and Satellite 'DSL'( which receives via satellite and uploads via modem or ISDN).
[2] You just dial up a company, use a publicly available login & password and you pay from there with the requested payment coming with your T-Com bill.

Holiday Plans: Summer 06

2006-07-15T11:23:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately our time away this year will be a little less than we would like, due mostly to being book-ended between my experimental preparations at work and the children returning to school. Joshua also has a week-long excursion with the youth at church (see our online calendar for more 'when' details on these things). So not to make Donovan jealous but we are heading to Croatia -- specifically Rovinj -- to camp for a week or so.

We strongly considered Britain as an option but, in the end, decided we couldn't risk 'wasting' a summer there, given the definite possibility of rain (and we'd be camping). So we opted instead for a virtual guarantee of sunshine and warmth with a toss-up between the south of France and Croatia. Ah to have such options! In the end Croatia got the nod since the children wanted another country in their passports -- they also get Slovenia -- and it's supposedly cheaper.

Logistically it's about 1100-1200km away and while most of that is on the German autobahns our van typically sits only at about 120-125km/h. So we'll probably break the trip up with a stay overnight somewhere. While the weather here has been beautifully warm the last two or three weeks, we are definitely looking forward to extending that streak and complementing it with some fairly decent Do Nothing(TM).

Amsterdam

2006-07-06T02:54:00.000+10:00

13/4/06
We have previously posted a few reports about trips we have made as a family. Many of these give a glowing report and generally depict a happy time with enthralled visitors. So that our readers don't receive an unbalanced view of our travels we feel compelled to include our recent trip to Amsterdam.

The official reason for the trip was work related. My (Fenton's) Dutch residency paperwork was finally completed a couple of months ago and the next step to finally move (officially) to Germany was to get permission (a visa, stamp in passport) from the German embassy in the Netherlands. I called the embassy and arranged an appointment, 11am the next day. Gaynor had wanted another family trip and so it was decided to combine the two. Amsterdam is about 2.5 hours away and, after battling a little bit of traffic, we arrived just little late. (I mean, you really should not too surprised hmm?) A security screening and a short waiting room stint later, I was told by a quite apologetic embassy worker that, being Australian with promised employment, I did not need a visa to go to Germany. She apologised for not asking my nationality when I had called the day before. I wasn't too upset as it meant I didn't need to provide any money or copies of official documents -- including passport photos with biometric data, whatever that means exactly. So anyway, what it really meant was that the rest of the day was ours.

Gaynor promptly returned with the children in the car. They'd been circling since there wasn't really anywhere to park. We set off to find somewhere to park the car with the idea to catch a train or tram right into the city centre. Unfortunately, at this point the car's exhaust system had the idea that it was tired of holding together in the middle and promptly stopped doing that. I'd known for a number of weeks that there was a hole in system, still its departure was sudden. The dramatic increase in both exhaust sound and metal-dragging-on-the-ground sound was enough to convince us to quickly find a parking place. Assessing the damage led to confirming our initial fears. We firstly called the ADAC (the German equivalent of the NRMA, RACQ or AAA) to find out we didn't have on 'international' policy. They agreed to upgrade us for next time. They said they would notify the corresponding Dutch organisation, who would call shortly, however after a half hour wait of nothing I decided we weren't going to hear. Our pre-paid mobile phone had run out of credit (pay for incoming international calls I expect) and with no way to replace credit we were on our own. We are, meanwhile, feeding a nearby parking ticket machine (and they are very hungry in Amsterdam!) with the belief we may be leaving soon. After it becomes clear we are not, I take a walk to a hardware store and purchace some strong wire and cutters. A short while and a wiring up of the errant exhaust pipe later we decide to take lunch at a nearby pizzeria, determined to make the most of the time we have and press ahead with most of our plans anyway.

Though the weather up to this point hadn't been brilliant it had been holding out. Now, however, a light drizzle had started to set in. By the time our tram had made it into Central Station it was getting heavier. Nevertheless we pressed on, walking to the main city square, known as The Dam. The photo -- at the Dam in front of the old Royal Palace -- shows a wet, cold sorry lot barely holding position. Don't let the few faux smiles mustered for the photo fool you. Joshua couldn't even bring himself to be seen :) (Note Elijah's extra hat).

From there we headed to the Historic Museum, which had been a highlight of my trip here in 1999. Now our fortunes were about to improve. Not only would we be out of the rain but we wouldn't be charged the full admission price for the final hour they would be open. They had a fascinating and extensive exhibition concerning Anne Frank, including one of her diaries and a letter written to her father towards the end.

After they kicked us out we wandered to a few places of interest, including the South Church, and taking in the atmosphere of the place -- which given the chill and drizzle didn't come across with the greatest of impressions. Hey, it happens.

Eventually we decided we'd had enough 'atmosphere' and decided to call it a day. Tramming back to the wounded van, we loaded up and *cough* enjoyed a rather loud trip all the way home. We've thought about a return trip -- one with a non-self-dismantling car and in nicer weather -- but chances are Amsterdam has blown hers. Still we chalk it up to experience/character building/needing my residency sorted anyway and it was still nice to spend time together as a family. :D

Fire Targa

2006-06-20T20:14:00.000+10:00

Though I'm usually in favour of the separation of Church and State, if it comes at the cost of losing many of the religious public holidays we have recently enjoyed here I'm not so sure :). In reverse order, we have recently had days off for Fronleichnam[1], Pfingsten[2], Christi Himmelfahrt[3], Ostern and Karfreitag[5]. Another religious-type holiday later in the year is Allerheiligen[6] -- which I've always thought was much more (spiritually) justifiable than Halloween :) Of course Maifeiertag[7] is also a public holiday and on top of this, if a public holiday falls on a Thursday (Christi Himmelfahrt and Fronleichnam this year), the research centre has an agreed day off on the Friday. Rest assured, though, that despite this hectic schedule of free days my commitment to acheiving my usually small output of work has not wavered!

By the way, the title of this post, when read in English, is roughly how you pronounce 'Feiertage' -- German for 'holidays'.

[1] Corpus Christi Feast. Celebrated 15th June this year.
[2] Pentecost. Celebrated 4-5th June this year.
[3] Ascension. Celebrated 25th May this year.
[4] Easter. Celebrated 16-17th April this year.
[5] Good Friday. Celebrated 14th April this year.
[6] All Saints. Celebrated 1st November.
[7] May Day. Celebrated umm ... I forget.

Spring Sights

2006-04-29T00:28:00.000+10:00

As I mentioned last year, the switch to spring seems to be very fast here. True, we have had a bit of a lingering winter but on the whole I am only slightly less amazed this time round at how quickly the new leaves appear, flowers bloom, festivities kick-in and something approaching warmer weather arrives. Seeing the sun out and the hearing the birds twittering, I wandered our gardens for a few snapshots.

Ornamental Pond Flowers

Two twin bulbs

Magnolia Tree and Close-Up

Apologies to all those south of the equator who are heading into colder weather! Still hard to work up much sympathy for the Brisbanites though ...

One Year More

2006-04-18T20:20:00.000+10:00

My employer, Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), has offered me a contract extension of one year. Several difficulties have arisen in completing my project to the previous schedule (current contract was due to expire the end of July) and they have asked me to stay on to finish these experiments and to help out somewhat with others that are being developed. So we (the family and I) have agreed to the extension and will now be here until the end of July 2007. In many ways (financial & stability-wise, mostly) we feel this a good thing. A further extension is very unlikely and as to what is next, who knows? Feel free to post your outrageous suggestions or fervent wishes in the comments section and we'll consider including them in our pipe dreams. :D