Thursday, February 25, 2010
Well "the doctor" is definitely not in today, it is 41C, which is 106F, although we are reminded it is a dry heat, and we should be thankful for that. And of course our a/c went out yesterday, it appears to be pretty much dead, so we are facing several days of predicted near 100 degrees temps with no air, makes it tough to sleep, as it's especially hot upstairs. Labor Day is Monday, so it's a 3-day holiday for everyone, even Bill, since his project due date is tomorrow. He plans to take a bunch of beer into the office, to celebrate the delivering of the report, and yes, management does bring beer into work for parties. Never heard of that happening in the US, and Bill won't bring it out until late afternoon, but still, I just can't believe they do that.
I went to a LAW event today with my American Women's group, and although it sounds impressive, LAW simply stands for lunch and wine. We met at a local winery for a little tasting, then had lunch, and we were a happy group. On the ride back, I learned something interesting about AU and the metric system: they actually used our American system of pounds, ounces, miles, inches, etc, until 1975, when they switched over to metric.
At these get-togethers, everyone talks about how expensive things are here, and one new lady said she almost started crying when she went shopping for the first time last week and could not find anything on sale. She was shocked to see most of the dresses were $700, and the biggest sale was only 10% off. In restaurants, portions are much smaller than in the US, which is no surprise, since portions there are typically over-sized. However, the coleslaw Bill recently got with his order was no more than a tablespoon, and fit easily into one of those over-sized spoons that Asian restaurants use for spicy mustard or plum sauce. Seemed kind of silly to even include it, and the fries fit into a regular sized coffee cup.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Got a notice in the mailbox yesterday that there will be two AC/DC concerts coming up soon at the Subi Oval, which is pretty close to our place. That's where the Aussie rules footy (football) games are played, and we arrived after the season ended last year, so we've no idea what the noise and traffic will be like. The notice for AC/DC was basically a warning that some streets will be closed and residents should expect some rowdy, drunken behavior from the fans, who must all have jobs since the cheap tickets are $300 and the good ones are $400.
We had dinner a while back with a lady that works for a magazine called "The Wingeing Pom." That's a term Aussies use to describe Brits that have moved here but complain about things not being like they are in England, and the magazine basically pokes fun at them. "Wingeing" is also commonly used in place of "complaining," and you'll hear parents telling their kids to stop wingeing. The origin of the word "Pom" seems to be uncertain, with some saying it stands for "Prisoner of Mother England", in which case it would have an e at the end, and others that say it means Prisoner of Her Majesty. Still another theory is that it is a shorted form of pomegranate, because Brits typically are fair skinned and burn very quickly in the Australian sun, turning their skin the color of a pomegranate.
Got a notice in the mailbox yesterday that there will be two AC/DC concerts coming up soon at the Subi Oval, which is pretty close to our place. That's where the Aussie rules footy (football) games are played, and we arrived after the season ended last year, so we've no idea what the noise and traffic will be like. The notice for AC/DC was basically a warning that some streets will be closed and residents should expect some rowdy, drunken behavior from the fans, who must all have jobs since the cheap tickets are $300 and the good ones are $400.
We had dinner a while back with a lady that works for a magazine called "The Wingeing Pom." That's a term Aussies use to describe Brits that have moved here but complain about things not being like they are in England, and the magazine basically pokes fun at them. "Wingeing" is also commonly used in place of "complaining," and you'll hear parents telling their kids to stop wingeing. The origin of the word "Pom" seems to be uncertain, with some saying it stands for "Prisoner of Mother England", in which case it would have an e at the end, and others that say it means Prisoner of Her Majesty. Still another theory is that it is a shorted form of pomegranate, because Brits typically are fair skinned and burn very quickly in the Australian sun, turning their skin the color of a pomegranate.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Today "the doctor is in" which is the term the locals use when the ocean breeze blows off Fremantle. It definitely cools things down, but it can disappear as quickly as it comes up. The temps have been down lately, just in the 80's, although we've been warned that there can still be lots of hot days ahead.
Here's the stage being erected at Kings Park for the Beach Boys, who played a couple of weeks ago. Chairs are set up on the grass in front of the water so none of the seats are very far from the stage. Bill and I are going to see the Pointer Sisters there next weekend, can't wait.
Went grocery shopping and bought something called "pikelets," they're like little pancakes and not very tasty. They were nothing to write home about but in fact, I guess that's just what I'm doing. Easter is coming soon and we've been told that "hot cross buns" will be in all the stores, they're very popular around Easter time. Labor Day is celebrated here on Monday, March 1, so that will be a long weekend, and everyone gets 4 days off for Easter.
Today "the doctor is in" which is the term the locals use when the ocean breeze blows off Fremantle. It definitely cools things down, but it can disappear as quickly as it comes up. The temps have been down lately, just in the 80's, although we've been warned that there can still be lots of hot days ahead.
Here's the stage being erected at Kings Park for the Beach Boys, who played a couple of weeks ago. Chairs are set up on the grass in front of the water so none of the seats are very far from the stage. Bill and I are going to see the Pointer Sisters there next weekend, can't wait.
Went grocery shopping and bought something called "pikelets," they're like little pancakes and not very tasty. They were nothing to write home about but in fact, I guess that's just what I'm doing. Easter is coming soon and we've been told that "hot cross buns" will be in all the stores, they're very popular around Easter time. Labor Day is celebrated here on Monday, March 1, so that will be a long weekend, and everyone gets 4 days off for Easter.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Bill went diving again on Saturday and had an interesting, first time experience - the boat came loose from its anchor and drifted away from him and his buddy - far, far away. When they surfaced they could just barely see the boat off in the distance, too far off to swim to. The people on the boat had not realized they'd been drifting, and had begun to wonder why the guys were staying down so long. Luckily Bill's buddy was wearing bright yellow fins and he managed to stick one onto the end of his spear fishing pole, then waved it around until he attracted the attention of the people on the boat. Not a great way to end a dive, finding your boat gone, but they didn't have to bob around too long before they were spotted.
Here's some of the underwater pics he took, this was out near Rottnest Island, close to Perth.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Well school started on Monday following the summer holiday, so everyone says now is a good time to go on vacation. The kids will be out again for two weeks in April, and it's a four day holiday for workers starting with Good Friday and ending with Easter Monday.
And the flies have been so much better - much, much fewer of them, starting about a month ago. The difference is amazing and being outside is so much more pleasant now. They really didn't last all that long, we had been told by someone that they'd be around until April, but thankfully that appears not to be the case.
Well now that we've had our cable T.V. for a while, it is interesting to say the least. Some of the shows are incredibly old, like Bonanza and Combat. I remember by dad watching that one when I was a little kid. Then there are many of the Gomer Pyle, The Wonder Years and The Roseanne Show vintage, and these are on lots of different channels, not just one like Nickolodean. And the shows start and end at odd times, like one might start at 6:04 and end at 6:25. Luckily we have the ability to easily tape shows and then just zoom through the commercials, although they do not have nearly as many as they do in the US. And I understand about reruns, but today Oprah was talking about the upcoming election, and I was wondering what she meant, when she said something about remembering to vote in the presidential election on November 4 - that was in 2008!
Well school started on Monday following the summer holiday, so everyone says now is a good time to go on vacation. The kids will be out again for two weeks in April, and it's a four day holiday for workers starting with Good Friday and ending with Easter Monday.
And the flies have been so much better - much, much fewer of them, starting about a month ago. The difference is amazing and being outside is so much more pleasant now. They really didn't last all that long, we had been told by someone that they'd be around until April, but thankfully that appears not to be the case.
Well now that we've had our cable T.V. for a while, it is interesting to say the least. Some of the shows are incredibly old, like Bonanza and Combat. I remember by dad watching that one when I was a little kid. Then there are many of the Gomer Pyle, The Wonder Years and The Roseanne Show vintage, and these are on lots of different channels, not just one like Nickolodean. And the shows start and end at odd times, like one might start at 6:04 and end at 6:25. Luckily we have the ability to easily tape shows and then just zoom through the commercials, although they do not have nearly as many as they do in the US. And I understand about reruns, but today Oprah was talking about the upcoming election, and I was wondering what she meant, when she said something about remembering to vote in the presidential election on November 4 - that was in 2008!
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