November 30, 2004
Cradle Mountaint Photos
Finally! Cradle Mountiain photos click here
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Becoming a Kiwi
It’s official. We are going to become Kiwis next. Next stop Tauranga, New Zealand.
We have accepted a position in New Zealand!
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November 29, 2004
Blessed
Surprise! Happy Thanksgiving!
My week before Thanksgiving was a bummer. I was sad because I was far away from friends and family. Then I found out Rob was working during the day, rather than the evening. All our plans for dinner were over. I was going to make a pumpkin pie for our small group and that would be it. Sad, huh?
It would have been, if that had actually happened.
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Happy Birthday Erica!
Happy Birthday Erica!
To my beautiful, creative, intelligent, caring, compassionate, wonderful wife, I love you. The way you reinvent yourself inspires me to puruse my own creativity. Your intelligence inspires me to learn constantly. Your caring inspires me to love others more deeply. Your compassion makes me strive to be a better doctor. You are wonderful and loved by so many on this day. We celebrate you!
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November 24, 2004
Just Another Day
Today is Thanksgiving, although it’s a day like any other day in Australia. Someone asked yesterday what Thanksgiving is and why we have it, so Rob and I launched into a small explanation involving the words pilgrims and bounty. I’ve been feeling a bit sorry for myself; since Rob is working today we won’t be having a Thanksgiving dinner until next week. (We’re going out of town tomorrow.) So, to remind myself of the reason for this holiday, I am posting the List of Things Erica is Thankful For*.
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November 22, 2004
sky blue pumpkin
Let’s hope that cultural differences are only skin deep, at least when it comes to pumpkins. Aussies are fascinated by pumpkin pie – they can’t imagine eating sweet pumpkin. Pumpkin soup is more normal to them, so pumpkin pie, the Thanksgiving tradition, is exotic. Upon learning this, I promised to make a pumpkin pie for our small group at church. We meet on Thursday nights, and as this Thursday will be Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate. Everyone seems to be VERY excited about it anyway.
Imagine my surprise when I went to buy the pumpkin yesterday. Not only was it outrageously expensive, it was also…blue. Kind of grey-blue to be specific. It was the only type of squash that looked like a pumpkin, though. (All squash here is called pumpkin, which is a bit confusing. E.g., you can buy a butternut pumpkin.) So I bought it.
I hope it’s not blue on the inside.
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November 21, 2004
Idolatry Part 2
And the winner is…Casey! The 16 year old with dreads from Sydney wins it all.
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Oh the suspense!
Who’s it gonna be?
Tonight is the final of the second season of Australian Idol. We’re on the edge of our seats. The question of the hour is “Who you going for?” Casey or Anthony?
Update coming in two and a half hours or maybe more.
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November 17, 2004
Fallapalooza
Last weekend was a waterfall extravaganza. In order from the top down: Lilydale Falls, St. Columba Falls, Ralph Falls. Enjoy.
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November 10, 2004
Different Cultures Mate!
(That’s Corrine’s blog.)
She’s inspired me to create my own list of cultural comparisons:
Australians don’t tip anyone, although you might allow a cab driver to keep the extra change.
There are no pennies and so when you pay cash, they round up or down. But when you pay with a debit card or credit it charges the pennies.
Australians (Aussies) like to shorten every word they can, so Australia becomes Oz, Tasmania is Tassie or Tas, University is Uni, Pavlova is pav, Launceston General Hospital is LGH, Launceston is Lonnie, Australian Rules Football is footy, etc. You get the picture.
When you’re shopping and not buying anything, you’re not looking around, you’re just “having a browse”.
Everyone is your mate, whether you know them or not. Also, women typically do not say mate.
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Pav
Pavlova: a traditional Australian dessert. I had my first pav on Sunday at my friend Ruth’s home. A good pav, I found out, should be like a meringue cookie on the outside, but soft and marshmallowy on the inside. They are topped with fruit and they are so fantastic. Another great benefit of a pav? It’s fat free! Eat pav to your heart’s content folks. Don’t know where to get one? No worries. Ruth’s going to teach me to make it for all of you when I get back. Cheers.
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November 05, 2004
Cradle Mountain
You are now looking at one of the most famous sites in Tasmania, Cradle Mountain National Park. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here each year from all over the world, now up by two more.
There are heaps of great walks to do at the park. We were quite lucky with the weather. Normally cradle mountain is covered up in grey misty clouds, but for our trip the sun came out and dried up all the rain. We had two really beautiful days. On the first day we did our longest bushwalk yet, about 5 hours altogether. Views were amazing and the visibility was perfect, as you can see.
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November 03, 2004
Possum trick or treat?
In the first of several holidays that aren’t celebrated in Australia, Rob and I went away on Halloween weekend. We took the short trip to the famous Cradle Mountain National Park. More blog entries on that later. When we first began packing, we decided to celebrate by buying candy for ourselves. The night before Halloween we got back to our woodsy cabin after dinner to find a possum on our doorstep! Possums here in Australia are much cuter than the ones in the US: furry tails, little pink noses. More like a cat than a rat. We decided that he was there to trick or treat and got the date wrong. We didn’t get a photo since it was so dark, but you can look at some Aussie Possies here.
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