Christmas

Oh – it was Christmas?!? So this year was our non-Christmas. There was no family, no Christmas decorations in our house, no presents, no Christmas music, no snow (although the weather did get cool and drizzly on Christmas day in an attempt to make it feel more like a northern hemisphere Christmas). But our Christmas present to ourselves was finishing with the flies a bit early! So we went home and ate our fancy dinner of bangers-‘n-mac (Kraft macaroni and cheese and sausages – but they were nice lamb and rosemary sausages!) and lounged around on the couch watching bad Christmas specials on TV and enjoyed relaxing together.

Ani did get 1 present – we threw some wrapping on a bag of kangaroo jerky that we had gotten for her a while ago. Then we gave it to her to let her unwrap it, and promptly zoned out again. So she was through the paper, into the bag, and finished with 3/4 of the jerky before we remembered her (what good parents…). So that was her extra special present.

Merry Christmas!! Hope you were able to spend it with someone you love, even if it wasn’t as exciting as our Christmas. :)

A day in the life: Fly boy (and girl)

So if you’ve ever lain awake at night wondering how the food you eat might affect how soon you die, then Ben is your man. Well, if you’re a fly. He’s in the middle of a big experiment right now with hundreds of flies that each get one of 18 different diets (high protein, high sugar, high calorie, low calorie, etc.).

And since I am currently unemployed and un-thesis-ed, he’s recruited me to be his assistant. So the two of us have spent the majority of the last several weeks together in a small, hot, humid room feeding flies and counting eggs. And we still like each other!!

AND, enough of the flies have died that Ben said I might get a day off soon! So I blame the lack of blogging lately on my slave master. And the unfortunate fact that our camera met an untimely end, so I can’t employ my normal blog approach of throwing up a few pictures and then adding a few lines of text.

‘Tis the season

Christmas is really in the air! Christmas music playing in the mall, Christmas parties filling up the calendar, long sunny days, ice cream, picnics, lots of fruit coming into season – you know, all the classic indicators of Christmas.

Truth is, we really can’t get used to this whole tropical Christmas thing. We’ve been to 3 Christmas parties (one with barbeque and slip-n-slide), attended Carols in the Park (accompanied by ice cream and fireworks), reaped our treasures from Christmas crackers, but it just doesn’t feel like Christmas – especially with family far away. And we’ve discovered that most Aussies don’t know ‘Grandma got run over by a reindeer,’ so we’ve enlightened them (… and shocked them with our morbid sense of humor – although they really can’t talk).


Our friend Maria (originally from Peru) recently said something about how it feels like Christmas. I guess it all depends on what you grow up with, because for us, Christmas is snow and fireplaces and family crowded in a warm kitchen and Christmas lights lighting up the dark evenings.

A day in the life: Elephant doula

OK, not quite, but I’ve gotten 4 calls this weekend in regards to monitoring an elephant pregnancy (related to the trip I made to Melbourne Zoo a few weeks ago). There was a bit of a false alarm this weekend and their head vet is away, so essentially I got this call saying “What do you think – is she starting to go?!?” We checked over the hormone assay results and ran a few more tests, and it turns out she’s not going, yet. My guess right now is that she’ll give birth on New Year’s Day. We’ll see!

Mud Run

Time for another fun race! Last year we had our mountainous, unexpectedly snowy, windy eco-challenge down in ACT. This year we decided to go for a mud run just north of Sydney.
We kept our tradition of not sleeping before races. Last year it was due to being cold and the wind blowing our tent in and Ben's race starting insanely early. This year it was because Kerry's last day in Dubbo and the vet-block Christmas party were the day before. There was a 6hr drive between the Christmas party (which we stayed at until 8pm) and the race (which started at 9:30am), so the thing that was sacrificed was sleep.
But the race was awesome - Ben did the 12K race and Kerry did the 6K race. All of the obstacles involved making your way through mud (some of it rather stinky) and water (which was fairly brackish).

And in between obstacles, it was a pretty nice run through a forested valley. Ben said he saw someone worried about stepping in a little cow dung along the trail (before the first obstacle) and he thought "If you're worried about that, just wait!" And as you cross the finish line, you're greeted with a cold beer! So excellent race and a really fun way to get a little exercise - nothin' like getting dirty to make you smile!

Before:

After:

Zoo Grooves

Basically, this is a day to hang out at the zoo and listen to music – not a bad event! And the day was perfect. Little warm at first, but then a nice breeze picked up and temps dropped and families scattered themselves across the lawn and kids ran around with their ice cream and flashy new face-paint and some people danced and lots of people laughed – just a good happy day.

Most of the bands were local, and often included people associated with the zoo. So here's the line-up:

Mumble Pants – which is comprised of our head vet and his wife, one of our keepers, one keeper’s ex-husband, and another guy, who undoubtedly has a connection to the zoo. This year they all dressed up as athletes, so we have (L -> R): a race-car driver, a tennis player (ex-husband – can’t blame her if he wears shorts like that!), a golfer (Jodie, the vet’s wife), a lawn bowler (Benn, the vet), and a roller-skater (Addie, a keeper).

At the Bar – which featured our accountant’s husband as the drummer

Maggie someone – this 13 year-old girl who (in my old fogie opinion) was dressed way too old for her age, but had quite a set of lungs on her.

The Nevilles – a cover band from Sydney

Fruit of the Day: Strawberries

Bet you’re glad you have this blog to introduce you to this crazy exotic fruit! OK, so this isn’t a crazy new fruit that we’ve discovered, but Kristie has planted strawberries in her backyard, and they’re just amazing! They’ve been going for months and months, now, and the strawberries are an impressive size. And the flavour is great. So every morning I head outside, say good morning to the joeys, and then grab a couple of strawberries to take for morning tea. Nothin' like fresh fruit! I blame Mom and my first birthday cake for getting me hooked on berries at an early age.

Our Anniversary :)

We’re EIGHT years old!!! Which means we’ve known each other for about 13 years. Man – we must be old! And we’ve loved every minute of it. Well, maybe not the minutes apart from each other.

So to celebrate this year, we decided to see a performance in one of the main Opera House theatres. We’ve seen three performances in the Opera House, but so far, they’ve all been in the small side theatres. So we got tickets to Concord – a performance by the Sydney Ballet Company – up in the Opera Theatre. And since we only spent ~$50 on the tickets (for both of us) we figured that meant we had extra money to spend on dinner! So we went to Aria – a restaurant that is right on the harbour, with a nice view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, and which has been made famous by the chef’s guest appearances on Masterchef Australia.

First they brought out a complimentary amuse-bouche of tomato bisque with olive foam on top - it was just amazing! Didn't think to take a pic until after we had mostly finished, but nice backdrop, huh?

For our entrees (aka appetizers) we ordered:
SCALLOPS - roasted spiced scallops with prawn crisps, shaved fennel and a tamarind and date dressing

RABBIT - ballotine of rabbit, foie gras and capocollo with ginger bread, pumpkin and a pomegranite dressing


For our mains, we ordered:
LAMB - roasted lamb fillet with red capsicum, baby artichokes and a green olive and lavender sauce

SNAPPER - steamed pink snapper fillet, beetroot puree, kohlrabi, green apple with crème fraîche


We didn't have time for dessert, but after we paid the check, they brought out a plate of complimentary little dessert things, for which I'm sure there is a fancy name, but I can't think of it right now. There was raspberry jelly, chocolate coconut truffle, and cinnamon cake.

Dinner was a fun extravagance, and the ballet was very impressive. It consisted of three parts, each by a different choreographer - one from Russia, one from Spain, and one from England. I think Ben said it best when he said that you kind of forget that gravity still applies to them, until every now and then you hear a foot hit the floor a little hard. And then I had to leave Ben the next day :( … but only for 10 more days.

New Neighbours

Sad news – our neighbours are gone. No more giggling kids on the trampoline, no more evening chats over the fence, no more bi-polar Joe (the youngest kid, who could instantly switch from the most contagious laugh to the worst screams), no more spontaneous dinners together, no more kids running over to get toys that got lobbed over the fence into our yard, no more playing mediator as Rob and Ann sort out issues through water fights, no more jokes where Rob asks if we think we’ll be able to make it home OK after a few glasses of wine. It’s been depressingly quiet.

Our new neighbors just moved in – a couple that’s probably about our age. We don’t know what they do; we just know they can afford a three-quarter million dollar house and nice cars. We’re sure they won’t replace the Harveys, but we’ll see how they are.

Happy birthday to Ben!!

Another year older, but at least we were able to celebrate together! The three of us headed to the beach. The weather’s been pretty hot lately, so the water felt great… at least to 2 of us. While Ben and I were body surfing and playing in the waves, Ani headed back to our pile of stuff and played life-guard.

We just can’t convince her that water is fun, and all of our attempts just seem to make her like it less.
For lunch, we headed over to the shops (bare-foot, in true Aussie style) and got a great meal of oysters, prawns and calamari.

Of course, this had to be chased down with some ice cream, which we got for ~1/2 price thanks to the blackout that hit town just before lunch. Nothing like a good discount to make your birthday happy! And then a storm rolled in just as we got back to our stuff, so we watched the beach clear out and the awesome lightning come in before we skedaddled.
We decided to keep the seafood theme going for dinner, and tried our hand at making our own sushi.

In various combinations, these were the ingredients we used: salmon, prawns, avocado, asparagus, red bell pepper, snow peas, cucumber, cream cheese, and spicy mayo. And I must admit, we were rather impressed with ourselves!

So we ended the day with some nice white wine, homemade sushi, and Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix.

And Ben opened all his cards during the commercials, so in some very abstract way, our family even got to be part of the celebration. (The skype calls the next day were a better way to connect with family.)

Business trip

Woohoo – an expenses-paid trip to Melbourne! Two years ago, Australia imported 8 Asian elephants for breeding. Half went to Taronga Zoo, which had their first elephant birth in July, and the other half went to Melbourne Zoo, which is expecting their first elephant birth in December. Parturition can occur any time during a 2-3 month window, and because things can go wrong when you’re delivering a baby that big, it’s helpful to know exactly when the baby is going to come so you can have your whole team ready. There is a change in hormone expression that indicates the delivery will happen in the next few days, so Melbourne Zoo is trying to set up a system for monitoring hormones in order to catch that change. Unfortunately, it’s not going so smoothly, which is where I come in.  I went down to Melbourne Zoo for 2 days to help them figure out why their assay wasn’t working and offer some other tips. I’ll never get over some of the perks of working at a zoo. This trip’s highlights: I got to watch them draw blood from an elephant,


and was able to help groom a snow leopard while they were doing an exam. There was SOOO much hair that came off that cat!

Fruit of the day: Loquat

Since Kristie hasn't been in her house a full year, yet, she didn't realize that she has a loquat tree in her backyard. And in spring, it goes crazy producing fruit. It's originally from China, and I guess I'd say the fruit tastes like a cross between pears and apricots. It's great - after a hot bike ride home from work, I walk over and eat a few loquats right off the tree. As a fruit-picking addict, it's the highlight of my day!

Roo-mates

While in Dubbo, I’m living with Kristie again. You may recall that the last time I was there, she was hand-raising a little Eastern grey kangaroo named Emmett. Well, Emmett has gotten much bigger, and he now has 2 “brothers”: Parker (another Eastern grey),

and Xander (a swamp wallaby)

– both of whom were rescued from pouches after their mother was hit by a car. Em & Parker are fairly independent – they have their own bedroom, they spend a fair amount of time outside,
joey daycare at the zoo

and they are close to being weaned off the milk formula (much to their dismay – Em is particularly addicted to it!).

They are pretty good buddies, too.


Em is much more interested in people than Parker is, and will even share his secrets with you.


Xander is teeny, and still lives in his little box. But the other day he ventured out of his pouch, and although he looked like Bambi at the beginning, he was getting the hang of it by the end.
bambi-legs

dinner time

Visitors!!

It's official - we're going to have visitors!!! My parents have bought their tickets and are headed to our corner of the world for a month. It'll be great to see them, but we're also REALLY looking forward to showing them a bit of our world and sharing some Aussie experiences with someone from home. Ever since we've moved here, we keep saying "So-and-so would love that restaurant/bird/neighbourhood/etc." Now we actually get share some of that stuff!

And I stole something from a fellow-expat's blog because I thought she captured the excitement of having visitors from "home" really well:

"My World
So it’s officially one month until my parents come!!!

It will be nice to have someone from home come here to see the life Andrew and I have set up for ourselves. None of my family or friends have ever seen the apartment I’ve lived in for over a year. People can’t see the street I live on (well, I guess they can on google these days). They haven’t eaten the food I’ve cooked in my kitchen, they haven’t sat on my couch to watch some TV.

Think about all your friends and all your family that you are closest to. You’ve been to their homes… you can walk into their places and notice if a picture or plant has been moved. You ask “did you get a new couch?” Or maybe you notice that they have put some new paint up on the walls. Now imagine setting up your own life, getting your first place, decorating, living your life… and never having those closest to you even see that life after almost a year and a half. It’s pretty sad, but that’s the reality you face when you move across the world I guess. So not only am I excited to see my parents again, I’m also excited to just have them be a part of MY world. It will be nice."

I heart Dubbo

Dubbo cracks me up. In some regards, I have never seen a town with more town pride. The "I heart Dubbo" t-shirts for sale in the visitors centre are not really for visitors - they're for all the residents, who then wear these shirts anytime they go somewhere exciting and take pictures to have printed in the Dubbo Photo News. Dubbo hearts often pop up in all these random places. And I came back to Dubbo just at the end of the week-long "I love Dubbo" Festival. I'm not really sure how they stretched it into a week-long celebration, but all the businesses still have their "We love Dubbo" signs up.

But on the other hand, anytime I tell someone I like Dubbo, they kind of look at me funny and say "Really?!?" Yes, really.

Back in Dubbo

I'm back out in Dubbo for 7 weeks. Same thing as last time - filling in for the reproductive biologist at Western Plains Zoo. Gotta love being back in a small town full of friendly people. Seems like everywhere I go, people are like "Hey Kerry, good to see you again!" At the gym, my instructor made a public announcement at the end of class - maybe a little more than I would have liked, but nice to feel welcomed back. And I'm lovin' the bike ride by the kangaroos, again. I'm not happy about being away from Ben and Ani again, but at least it's a lot shorter than last time.

Getting to know you

I've decided that personal maps should be a standard part of introductions.
"Hi, what's your name?
What do you do for a living?
Can I see your map?"

Could this idea be related to my obsession with maps and travel? Possibly. But I do think it makes practical sense. It replaces the "Where are you from" question, which is becoming more complicated as people become more mobile. To simplify this question, people either pick one place ("I'm originally from Colorado") or give a very general answer ("I'm from the US"). Consequently, you can miss some great parts of that person's geographic history. Having a map allows you to identify points of common ground (literally) in one glance.

And then you could have a recent version that you can show to people you haven't seen in a bit - get an instant overview of trips that people have taken since the last time you saw them.

So here's our map. It's only for places that we've both lived - it does not include vacations we've taken. The "B&K holiday map" is a whole other project.

View Our Map in a larger map

Korean Festival

This weekend we decided to venture down to the Korean Festival – kind of an obscure little festival by Sydney standards – and it was a great decision. The decision to ride our bikes was less stellar, given the hilly-ness of the ride and our post-long-run fatigue, but that’s OK.

So we came up to the park where the festival was, and I seriously asked Ben “Wait, what country are we in?” All the people were Korean; the majority of the signs were in Korean; there was Korean music playing; the master-of-ceremonies was speaking Korean (with occasional bits and pieces translated to English by a younger Korean). We had biked 2 miles and suddenly we were in a different country. I kind of felt like we had crashed a large Korean wedding.


And we stuck out like sore thumbs. Not only were we some of the very few white people, but Ben was also one of the tallest people. Within 10 minutes of arriving, we were interviewed by a film crew about what we thought of the festival. Later, someone pin-pointed Ben in the audience and dragged him up on stage to leg-wrestle their Korean leg-wrestling champ, who succeeded in flipping everyone who came up on stage, but I still say Ben put up the best fight.

And he got a prize for loosing

– turned out to be a case of this great orange drink. Didn’t enjoy the extra weight on the bike ride home, but we’ve been enjoying drinking it!

We had some great food, too: spicy chicken with funky noodle-things, dumplings, kimchi (of course), some novel berry drink, and these “pancakes” that are filled with brown sugar – very addicting.

And we accidentally bought a whole bottle of rice wine. You may wonder how we pulled that off, but I will remind you that in regards to communication, we may as well have been in Korea.

So all-in-all, it was a great afternoon!