Nothing like a bum back to slow you down a bit...

Oy. I've spent the last 3 days doing pretty much nothing at all, trying to be easy on my back. Seriously - this move to the other hemisphere has done a number on me. No-one told me I needed to do hard-core training to get ready for such a move. I wish they had... this is pretty sucky. (I have a sneaking suspicion it's stress, in physical manifestation - although I don't know if that makes it easier to deal with.) I woke up Wednesday morning and basically couldn't move, my back was so stiff. I made it to work and they sent me home, so I went to a physio... the nice thing here - physios are primary caregivers, so I was in the capable hands of a physio by 2:30 that afternoon, rather than having to wade through initial apts in the Kaiser system to eventually get referred to someone who would likely have given me drugs rather than actually massage and work on the area in need. I was sent home for lots of rest and reminders to STRETCH, STRETCH, and oh yeah - STRETCH. Apparently my knee stuff is directly related to the amount of stretching I'm doing for my quads and my IT band... because I haven't been stretching, my patellar tendons are in fact being pulled away from their insertion point at the tibia by the quad muscles. (Or maybe it's inversely related - more stretching = less pain). In any event - I feel a bit like a dunce, and having to move slowly doesn't help the feeling.

I say again, oy. I've watched 6 movies in the last couple of days - from really good (Match Point, Goal) to torturous (Elizabethtown - so much potential - I don't know what went wrong) to much needed brain candy (Just My Luck and The Perfect Man). Went over to Jen's house tonight to watch The Notebook - broke down in tears at the end. I just can't even imagine the toll senile dementia can take on a relationship.

I think all this time sitting around has been good... gives me a chance to think over things. But if I think too hard I realize what I've left behind and how difficult it is to start OVER afresh. But then I'm reminded that it's exciting to start over, and there's so much just waiting for me. If I could get to the door without whinging. :)

A smile from the past

I was in a bookstore over the weekend, browsing with some new friends before going to see Word Play (see next paragraph). As I was walking through the store I saw a copy of the KLUTZ Face Painting Book! I ran over (okay, walked quickly, it was a bookstore after all), flipped it open and showed my cousin Robert to them. It was quite amazing to be standing in a bookstore in Canberra, Australia, in 2006, showing 2 new people a picture of my cousin from 10 years (or more?) ago, taken in Palo Alto, CA. It was so great to see your smiling face Robert!

The movie Word Play is just amazing! I don't know if it's still playing at home, but go see it!

http://www.wordplaythemovie.com/

I absolutely adored this movie and seeing Jon Stewart attack the Sunday crossword with a sharpie just increases my crush even more!

Brownies in the oven

Another sign that I'm getting settled - I'm baking brownies tonight. Afternoon tea is a common thing at work and I felt that after 6 weeks I needed to contribute to the festivities. BTW - I'm a huge fan of afternoon tea... it's quite civilized - everyone stops work and gathers around some baked goods, tea or coffee, or, if it's Friday afternoon - wine. Yep, in the office. It's a great way to goss with co-workers and take a break. It's a good thing I'm walking everywhere now here - afternoon tea plus morning tea more than a couple of days a week and I won't fit into my chair anymore. AND - there's a Krispy Kreme at the Woden shopping centre - which is about a 5 minute walk from the office. Again - not good for the hips.

It looks like I"m head up to Newcastle on Thursday for my first Aussie outbreak! There's a Salmonella outbreak and my boss is sending me in to 'assist' - I hope I can do more good than harm! I'll be working over the weekend, but I'll get the days back, and I get to be on the coast for a few days. Newcastle is a small town north of Sydney, home of he Hunter New England Health Department - the birthplace of OzFoodNet. I'm supposed to get back to Canberra on Monday and then I'll be heading to Melbourne for an overnight face to face meeting with the Victoria State Health Dept. I'm stoked for this because there will be CDC folks there - they're in town for an E. coli conference. My good friend L will be at the conference, and she and her husband are coming to Canberra the weekend after next to hang out. I'm very excited to see people from home. Although, I'm not under any illusion that it won't be difficult to be so clearly reminded of Atlanta and all my people there. I expect there to be a fair amount of tears, but it'll be good. I'm hoping L, who rode her bike across the country last summer (on a relay team that KICKED ASS), will help me pick out a bike that will get me around Canberra and maybe through a triathalon or something.

I'm taking a yoga class on Tuesday nights and tonight I had to wait 30 minutes in the dark for the bus to take me home. Kind of takes the edge off the relaxing hour and a half of yoga. I need a bike.

So, making the brownies tonight was another conversion puzzle - how many grams in four ounces? If I have a 250 gram baking chocolate bar, how many of the 40 squares do I need to make 4 ounces? How many grams are in a pound so I can get 1/4 lb butter? And what's 350 degrees F converted to C???? Never fear - I figured it all out - the internet is just SO great. Especially when its at your fingertips. Amazing, this 21st century way of life. :)

Speaking of being an ex-pat in the 21st century - thank god I moved to another hemisphere in the early 21st century. Seriously - I CANNOT imagine how tough this journey would have been without internet, phones, air mail. In some respect I feel like there are some people I've actually talked to MORE now that I'm here than I did in Atlanta. And globalization has made things pretty easy too. It's comforting to know that I can go down to the store and get microwave popcorn and rent a DiCaprio movie if I need to. I can also get almost every food I miss from home - Mexican is a struggle, but I'm learning to make do with tasty cheese instead of cheddar, and Old El Paso (somewhere, someone in Mexico/California/Texas is groaning) instead of my Herdez Salsa Casera. And I haven't been able to find dryer sheets! What's with that? They must be hidden somewhere, although I think the truth is that folks here don't use the dryer that often - they air-dry things. Which makes sense and is certainly more economical, but some things I gotta dry in a dryer. That' just me. So I've ben staticky for a while while I wait for a shipment of dryer sheets.

It's pretty dry in Canberra - I liken the climate to the desert. It is an arid country after all - with limited water. There is a sever drought right now, and it's all over the news. Farmers are having a tough time, and that's putting it mildly I think. But back to the weather - it's cold in the mornings and the evenings, but it's getting hotter during the day... about 24 celsius today.. that's mid 70s. And the sun is INTENSE. But you can step into the shade and be cooler. In that sense it's more like CA and AZ than Atlanta. Humidity does a number to you, I swear. I never thought I'd miss the humidity, but today at lunch a cloud went over the sun and it got windy and I was cold for a second in my skirt and top, missing the heat of Atlanta that just surrounds you. But then I got over that real quick, remembering the 15 minute walk to work in the middle of summer that left you sweating like a race horse.

Speaking of race horses... the Melbourne Cup is fast approaching. Or so I'm told. This is a big deal here, although I'm not sure when it actually is, but I'm sure I'll not miss it - I'm told it's close to a public holiday for the whole country. And there are a lot of TV ads running advertising race dress - fancy dresses and hats for the ladies and suits for the guys. Fancy Schmancy.

A bit of trivia I learned last night while watching a show called 'What A Year'... last night was 1969, a monumental year in our hemisphere and pretty monumental here too. Apparently one of the scandals of that year was around the Melbourne Cup - the favorite horse, Phar Lap (I think), was fed a laxative before the race that took him weeks (!) to recover from, so he wasn't able to race. It was a BIG deal and the accused jockey, who was acquitted, apparently only fessed up on his death bed years later.

Photos! Well, almost...

I have my new computer and internet at home now... so I can do so much!

But - I can only do so much in one evening. My task for tonight was to figure out how to get flickr.com linked to my blog. Check. But - those of you who are dying for phots will have to wait a while longer... right now my flickr account only has some photos from my trip to Yosemite in August 2005. No Aussie photos yet. That's on my task list for the next couple of weeks. So, you'll just have to be patient.

Cowboy hats in Canberra?

Last night I went to dinner and a pub with my new friend Jen. She and I met at the inspection for my apartment - luckily she didn't apply for it, so I got the apartment, thus we were able to become friends. We've started doing a yoga class together on Tuesday nights. Last night we went to dinner in Dickson, a neighborhood in Canberra I hadn't been to yet. It's a younger crowd than the crowd in Kingston and Manuka, the two neighborhoods I've been hanging out in. Dickson is where all the Asian restaurants are - and I can't wait to try them all!

We went to a woodfired pizza place, though, as Jen's favorite noodle shop was packed. We had an 'Americana' pizza - tomato sauce, cheese, salami, oregano, and we added pineapple. Yum. We then went to the Old Canberra Inn, to see her co-worker's son play in one of his bands - The Re-Mains (http://www.croxtonrecords.com/remainspage.html) - they played really good country rock 'n' roll, and I counted no less than 7 cowboy hats in attendance. I haven't even seen anything resembling country here yet, so I was quite pleased to find this. There is a radio station that I ran across the other night that, at the time, was playing early 90s country by women - Reba, Tammy, LeeAnn, etc.. a bit sappy for me.

But I digress... The Old Canberra Inn (http://www.oldcanberrainn.com.au/) is a 'dodgy pub' as Jen put it, but I felt like I was in the Saloon in Nashville. (I think that's the name of the place, on Broadway - ah the memories... E and C!! apologies again to E - the best wingmate a girl could have!) It was great to listen to some live music with a good country feel to it. There was a keyboard and a banjo and a couple of guitars - it was a good sound.

Netball

Over lunch today I played my first ever game of Netball. I've never even watched a game of netball, let only played. But I've joined a sports team at work that plays 10 different sports over 10 weeks against other teams from the Department. I figured it'd be a good way to meet people. But who wants to meet the American (who sounds Canadian) who doesn't have the first clue about this game?

I was put in the position of goalkeeper, a defensive position without a lot of running, as my knees are still really hurting. Netball is basically basketball with no dribbling, soccer with no feet, and a little bit of dodge ball. At least that's what it felt like to me. I'm sure Australian Netball (http://www.netball.asn.au/) would describe it differently. The first quarter (4 10 minute quarters) I pretty much stood there, slightly dumbfounded. In the second and third quarters I played a little, even knocked the ball away from my opponent a couple of times. In the fourth quarter I started to run a little more and realized it would be helpful to know what ll the lines on the court meant - I was offsides more than once, and had no idea where I was supposed to line up for 'kiskoff', or whatever the restart after a point is scored is called. Oh well. People seemed okay with my bobbling attempt at their game and I enjoyed myself.

Warm risotto and a familiar song

This afternoon I took myself to lunch at my new favorite lunch place, Well-Being. Today I had a slow-roasted pumpkin and spinach risotto with parmesan and pinenuts, with a Well-Immunity juice (orange, lemon, pineapple, and ginger). I ate lunch in the cafe and while I was eating "Walking with A Ghost' by Tegan and Sara came on. It reminded me of seeing them live in Atlanta with S - fond memories.

What a ride....

Okay - this emotional roller coaster may require a seatbelt. If not for me than for you on the receiving end!

Up, down, up, down. It's fun I tell you to be at the whim of emotions. And even more so than I usually am. I do wear my heart on my sleeve, and sometimes that sleeve is a bit more see-through and tattered than other days.

Thanks for the love and support...

What am I doing here?

This is a question that comes up on a regular basis in the back of my head, especially lately. Now that I've got an apartment that feels a bit like home, and a job that I'm starting to understand and feel like I'm contributing to, my brain is free to tackle the more mundane things like "What am I doing here?"

There are a couple of ways to answer this question.

There's the rote answer... it was a great career opportunity, a great life experience, who wouldn't want to go, etc., etc. All true. But very general.

There's the practical answer... I'm living life. I'm waking up each morning, getting dressed, walking to the bus, getting on the bus, going to work, sitting at my desk, walking back to the bus, going home. I'm cooking meals in an oven where I have to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit so I don't burn (or undercook) my chicken. I'm doing laundry in my new front-loader washing machine. I'm watching Australian TV, slowly but surely getting addicted to Australian Idol. I'm taking morning walks by the lake each morning. Why not runs you ask? I was running, but have recently developed the worst case of patellar tendonitis in both my knees that even walking seems a bit painful. I'm not a fan of getting older. Like my grandma says, "Getting old is not for sissies". To be honest, I think it's all the walking I've been doing, combined with the running that has hurt my knees - I haven't walked this much ever in my life. It's nice to not have a car, although I will be getting a bike soon - there's only so much you can do with a bus pass and your own two feet.

But back to the point at hand....

The real answer to this question is one I'm still trying to figure out. I'm starting to only see this move as my running away. But running away from what??

All I know is that in these 2 years over here I want to find me. That's what I want. I want to stop living for other people, stop dreaming about someone who doesn't exist, and live my life the way I want. This is the best opportunity I could have ever been given to do this - a new place, a new country, a clean slate. The only remnant is me. So I feel like I'm going to go into hiding from the rest of the world for a while, because the Katie that you all know doesn't always feel like the real me. I'm more complex than I could put into words here, and I feel like I pigeon-holed myself in Atlanta into a definition of myself that was only a small part of who I really am. And that's not very satisfying. I want to be me in all aspects of my life, in every dealing with every person. I don't want to worry about other people and their opinions, their judgments. This life is mine and I get to do what I want. Now I just have to figure out what that is.

Sydney in 24 hours

On Monday morning this week I got on a bus to Sydney, with three goals in mind for my 24 hour trip. 1. See the Dixie Chicks. 2. Go on a harbour cruise. 3. Go to IKEA!!!

I'm happy to report that all 3 things were satisfactorily completed. The Dixie Chicks concert was great. I ended up going alone to the concert and as a result it was a very emotional concert for me - their songs, especially from the latest album, hold so much truth for me right now - it was a powerful experience. Songs like 'Stepping Out', 'Not Ready to Make Nice', 'Taking the Long Way', as well as some older ones, 'Landslide' and 'Wide Open Spaces' just hit me in the heart. It was a moving concert and made me feel more like myself than I've felt since moving here.

On Tuesday morning I went on a harbour cruise. It was grey and overcast, but I love Being on the water in almost any condition, so it was great. Before the cruise left, I walked around Circular Quay a little. My first view of the Opera House was from behind, and I have to confess, I was a bit underwhelmed by it from that angle. The shells look pretty strange up close, and it's just sort of sitting there on the point, next to the Botanic Gardens and hotels and souvenir shops. But - once on the water - that's a pretty impressive building! It was definitely designed to be appreciated from the water and it did not disappoint, even in grey weather. Wow. As we got farther away from the harbor, there was the most iconic view in all of Australia (besides Uluru of course) - the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Even though I was there and experiencing it all, it still felt really surreal to realize that I'm not just visiting this place, it's home now and the Sydney harbour is a 3 hour bus ride or 1 hour car ride away. CRAZY.

After the harbour cruise, which introduced me to great parts of the harbour that I can't wait to explore more on my next couple of trips, I set off for the IKEA. This for me was sort of like my Target run on my first weekend in Canberra. I needed to get there to get some familiar things for my house. After a couple of false starts I finally ended up at the IKEA in Rhodes Shopping Center. BTW, the City Rail system in Sydney is really good and got me everywhere I needed to go, with train station attendants that were more than happy to help me. And IKEA was everything I remembered. I seriously could have been in Atlanta or Oakland when inside that store. Which is a good thing but also sort of a weird thing too. But I know have the same set of knives here that I did in Atlanta. I drew the line at buying the same curtains though.. that'd be too much of home here. So, after a successful shopping trip I loaded my 3 bags onto the Murray's bus and enjoyed the bus ride home. To my new apt, in my new home-town. And it made me happy.

Tacos!

Last night I made my first meal in my new home. Those of you that know me will not be at all surprised to learn that is was tacos. :) And they weren't too bad, despite not having Herdez salsa for the meat and the cheese not being bright yellow. All the cheddar cheese here is the color of a post-it note, none of those dyes that they use at home. But there's something comforting about bright yellow cheddar cheese - especially when contrasted with red tomoates and green lettuce. Yum.

My friend H joined me for this first dinner, ceremonially eaten on the floor, as I have no living room or dining room furniture. He brought over an old television of his that he hooked up for me and we were able to watch my new set of favorite shows...Wenesday night is the best...First is the show 'Thank God You're Here', an hour long improv show where the actors are put into unknown situations (K - you'd LOVE this show and it makes me think of you every time I watch). It's hilarious. Then there's 'Spicks and Specks' on ABC (the PBS of Australia). This is a music trivia show that has 2 teams of three competing against each other. There is a lot of cross-over between the actors on TGYH and Spicks and Specks, so it's really fun too. And I like to think I'm learning something about Australian music in the process. Last night the lead singer from Flying Heidi was on, so now I've heard of that group. And one of my new friends here, J, is the show's host's cousin. (say that three times fast). Then is a show called 'The IT crowd', which is British I think, sort of like the Office, but focued on 3 IT support people. It's pretty hilarious. Then is 'The GlassHouse', which is like the Daily Show, but with an Australia focus. Which makes sense, since I live in Australia now. (that still sounds TOTALLY weird when I say it.)

I've moved into my permanent office space at work now, into an open cubicle set-up that is really quite nice. I was in a window, private office for the first 4 weeks, but that wasn't permanent, and I'm happier to be out with everyone I'm working with. So I've unpacked my books, put up the picture of my work peeps from the EIS conference and it feels like my office again. I love that I have one picture with all the people I love and miss from Atlanta in one place. I still don't have my pictures from home yet (I was waiting on my moving into my apt before having it sent over) so it's good to remember who's toiling away at Clifton without me. :)

I don't have any pictures of Oliver up yet at work - it's still too mcuh for me to see pictures of him. I miss him so much, but in sort of an abstract way... I can feel the lack of him when I go to sleep sometimes, but I can't really remember his purr or his little cat kisses. So, I just don't think about him too much. I know he's being loved and is probably more than content with his new mom in North Carolina... being spoiled as a true southern cat should be!

Now that my home and work are starting to settle down, I have more time to reflect on this journey I've made across the world. Moving to another country certainly brings up a lot! And that's an understatement. But I'm grateful for the people in my life who are supporting me through all these tribulations, both here in Oz and back home. I feel very blessed to have caring people around me.

And making tacos is a sure sign that I'm starting to settle in for sure! :)

Swans/cignets, Ducks/ducklings, and tree sperm

I moved into my apartment yesterday and it was quite a day. I had thought that 'white goods' (microwave, fridge, washer) were included in the apt, but when I got there I discovered that they weren't, so I have to buy them! Oy. I called a friend that took me down to Fyshwick (sort of like Jimmy Carter Blvd with all the furniture stores) and I found a fridge at a scratch and dent place. My other friend with a trailer picked it up and delivered it to the apt, so that initial crisis was taken care of in one morning. Thank goodness! You can't really move into a place if you can't keep food there. At least I can't.

I bought a bed and mattress last week from a woman at work and right now that's the only furniture I have. But I slept so well last night on new sheets in my new apt. It was pretty great. I sort of like the minimalist approach... maybe I won't get any furniture at all. Eh - I don't think I could actually do that. I require some minimum of material comfort, and that includes a sofa and a TV. And maybe a futon for all the guests I know I"ll have! (hint, hint, hint...)

So, to sum up the last week - I went on a 4 day road trip last weekend with my friend Z, who is traveling around. We met in Adelaide and drove to Melbourne, via the Grampions National Park and the Great Ocean Road. It was a great drive and a good chance to see the countryside. We split the drive into 2 parts, stying at a fancy bed/breakfast place in the Grampions the first night. It would have been good to do a hike or something while we were there, but we had a pretty tight itinerary (ie, lots of miles to cover in a limited amount of time. We drove about 600-700 km each day. We stopped in Port Campbell on Saturday to watch the AFL grandfinal (quickly having realized that it was going to be near impossible to make it to Melbourne to watch the match). Port Campbell is a cute little surf town on the Great Ocean Road. It was a beautiful day and the Eagles won a GREAT game by 1 point. It was an amazing game to watch. After the grandfinal was over, we headed on to Melbourne. We watched the sunset at the Twelve Apostles (a part of the Great Ocean Road), which are actually only Eleven now, since one of them collapsed last year. Beautiful.

We got to Melbourne late Saturday night. We explored the city a bit on Sunday. We had brekky in St. Kilda, where we were staying, and then walked down to the St. Kilda beach. Then we went to the Queen Victoria Central Market up by the University of Melbourne, and then we headed to Federation Square, where we had a late lunch by the Yarra River. Then we walked through the parks there, near the Royal Botanic Gardens. We had dinner in Richmond, the suburb where Little Saigon is, at a great little Vietnamese restaurant. All in all it was a satisfying day, even though we didn't really see anything touristy - we just pretended we were locals for a day. (At least that's how we thought of it!)

On Monday we drove to Canberra. There's no good way to get to Canberra from Melbourne - the shortest route we found was 9 hours door to door, with few stops along the way. I got to do some driving though, and I got ok with being on the wrong side of the road. The toughest part is the turn signal, which is on the other side of the steering wheel. We were keeping count of the number of times we accidentally turned on the wind shield wipers when we meant to flip on the turn signal!

So - back in Canberra...

As I said, spring has sprung. I went for a run this morning by the lake and saw ducklings and cignets. However, it was a bit difficult to make them out, through all the flying tree sperm. What's tree sperm you ask. It looks like duckling fuzz, and it is literally EVERYWHERE. The grass down my the lake looks like it's been snowed on. And it's so windy that there are bits of it just flying around. I had many close encounters with the fuzz on my run this morning. And I wasn't even propositioned beforehand. Oh well. What's a girl to do? Apparently the arrival of tree sperm signifies the end of term for uni (university). I was talking to a native Canberran this morning, and she said that when she was a student, the arrival of tree sperm struck fear into everyone, since it meant tests were around the corner and if you weren't ready by the time the tree sperm emerged, you were screwed. (no pun intended. oh wait, it's me. pun was actually intended.)

I met up with my friend H this afternoon at an environmental rally - 'Clean Energy for Eternity'. They were making a human sign, and I got there too late to join in one of the letters (H was in the A of Clean), but I got to watch them do all sorts of tricks for the helicopter that was hired to take overhead shots. Basically the trick (singular) was to lift up pieces of yellow paper all on cue, drop them all on cue, and lift them up again (all on cue). Even though I couldn't read the words from my vantage point on the ground, it was a pretty cool sight. I can't wait to see the pictures. They were hoping for international coverage - so keep your eyes open. It was staged on Reconciliation Plaza, a big green lawn area outside the Old Parliament House (sort of like the Great Mall in DC. Is that what that big green area's called? Maybe it's the Great Lawn. Anyway, I'm sure you know what I am talking about.)

Tomorrow I'm headed into Sydney to see the Dixie Chicks. I'm taking the bus tomorrow morning and am also planning to go to the IKEA (!!!!!) to get some household goods. I'm also planning on taking a harbor cruise. I'm looking forward to seeing Sydney, even though I'll only be there for 18 hours or so.. it'll be a good first taste.

Terms for the Aussie glossary:
chuffed: delighted [As in: I'm chuffed with this new haircut I got!]
bedsitter: studio
dog's breakfast: a mess [As in: This study is going to be a dog's breakfast to conduct.]
Liberal Party: CONSERVATIVES! (Ok - now this one, I have to argue with. Why call the conservative Party the Liberal Party. Liberal has such a clear connotation - it's dang confusing to use it in the complete opposite sense. I guess that's what happens when you're upside down for too long.)

What a difference a week makes

I finally have an apartment! I move in tomorrow morning. Me, 3 suitcases, a secondhand bed and I'm all set! I'm actually really looking forward to buying stuff for the place. So begins the nesting process! Yay!