Winter Break in July, 11-7-04

Original email July 11, 2004

how are things in the lands of summer? here, i have just finished two weeks of winter holidays, and tommorow i go back to school. i'm just about ready to go back too. it's been such a good break for me!

Besides applying for jobs and finishing up all kinds of un-interesting errands, there were also fascinating things that filled my days off this time. keen to keep learning new things, last week i taught myself how to make sushimi -- the kind of sushi that's a kind of sticky rice and whatever else you like wrapped up very artisitically in a stiff seaweed wrap. there weren't many casualties...excepting the rice that stuck to EVERYthing in our kitchen! but it was so worth it--my husband was so impressed! and he even ate it and liked it!

Another new joy to these weeks off was getting to spend lots of time with friends. It was so nice to just take off with a girl-friend into the city and shop for clothes! she showed me where the Marshalls and TJmaxx type stores of brisbane are. OOhhh that was dangerous! even more so was the HUGE Borders bookstore she helped me find. The only one here that's anything like the big B&N's and Borders that we have in the twin cities. ahh, it was like being at home-- spending hours getting lost among so many books!
Probably the most interesting place we went was to the Art Gallery and museum. I'd never known anything about Australian artists, and i discovered a few that i really like.

At the museum, Lydia spent a lot of time teaching the newcomer (that's me) about all the different varieties of Australian wildlife and things that can kill you. There's even more than i thought -- forget the snakes and spiders, did you know that there's a SEASHELL here that will KILL PEOPLE?! oh my goodness, it was the scariest thought. So a tourist is walking along one of the North Coast's serene, magical beaches, and they pick up a pretty, smooth Cone Shell. They hold it up to look at it, maybe try to listen to it... and slowly this tube comes out of the mouth of the shell. out of it and into the tourist's bloodstream shoots a venom so nasty that the unsuspecting victim is still screaming in pain After they're dead. aaggh. sounds like something out of a horror movie! and you don't even want to hear about the blue-ringed octopus. one word of advice...if you do decide to swim in the ocean here and you see something small and beautiful that turns brighter blue and more beautiful as you draw near -- DON'T touch it! swim away.
crazy, intoxicating, scary, incredible place!

This weekend Danny & i hung out with a bunch of friends at a hockey game. it was a trip! some people in Australia are trying to promote this strange game you play on ice. tickets were only $13, the game was played at a figure skating rink-- one of two in town. there were about 300 spectators, and they were about as funny to watch as the players. I had a ball! Sydney vrs. Brisbane. Brisbane had one player who could skate backwards-- he's Canadian. he wasn't playing goalie unfortunately... actually i'm not even sure the goalie was playing goalie for us. i'm pretty sure Danny could have done a better job. Sydney's team was a little more together, they looked like they knew how to handle the puck at least, but really all of them looked like a bunch of very excited and passionate players, who worked really hard at it, but really hadn't been ice skating or playing hockey very long. we were right up close to the action though, and we were quite cold...danny told me later that i looked so happy and comfortable, like i didn't seem to mind the cold. i suppose he was right -- it's ice, it's supposed to be cold! we had such a good time!

the "fans" were funny too. they were obviously interested in this exotic, foreign game, but they didn't really seem to know what was going on. not that i even completely understand, but come on-- the score keeper accidentily gave the opposing team an extra point, and nobody seemed to care! they didn't make a fuss at all; the general attitude seemed to be, "well, they could've got a point for something. but we don't really understand, so who knows?" Later, someone must've whispered to the scorekeeper, cause they took the point away. we still lost 3 to 7. still, WE-- the tropical queenslanders,who have never even SEEN ice except in a freezer. i was just proud they put on their skates and remembered what to do. :) and there was a really beautiful fight-- as any good hockey game should have. but instead of getting five-for-fighting, the instigators were thrown out for the rest of the game! harsh!

but that's enough about hockey. I actually spent a lot of my break reading, organizing, cleaning, cooking and dating my husband. yesterday we went flying together again. i love seeing him so happy. he loves showing me the North coast-- all stretched out below us like a giant, detailed 3-D map.
Oh and if anyone is looking for a good set of books to read -- i just devoured a book called "The No. 1 Ladie's Detective agency." it's a gem of a story-- beautiful and suspensful and honest and heartwarming. and africa. It's the first in a whole series by Alexander McCall Smith. and that's my book recommendation for this edition.
Movie recommendation -- Spiderman 2. Danny & i went to see it, i enjoyed it even more than the first one. nothing really earthshattering, Just good old-fashioned comic book fantasy fun.

And so tomorrow morning I'll get in our car, drop Danny at the train station, and go to school. The kids don't come back tomorrow, so we have a day of planning and meetings before teaching again. i'll probably listen to the Christian radio station on the way there and home. it's so different from the kinds in the states. It'll play Jars of Clay, then some new Aussie christian song, then Intuition by Jewel, and maybe "Girls Just wanna have fun." anything positive without swearing in it, they'll play. big eclectic mix, you never know what you'll get, but you know it won't be dirty. and randomly they'll share a bible verse. makes me think about how differently people here do things sometimes. they have no problem playing songs about dancing and love on the christian radio station - even if those songs don't mention God. they'll play the latest pop artist and then the Beach Boys.

and today i'll leave this here and get ready to go grocery shopping. Danny has already started the laundry, so i really should get started on something.
thanks for so many emails -- it's always good to hear from you. :) hope you're having a great summer.