Un déjeuner pas comme les autres

Aujourd'hui, notre groupe de cinq sommes allés a Doyles pour le déjeuner. Doyles est un fameux restaurant réputé pour ses délicieux fruits de mer, situé à Watsons Bay, Sydney. Watsons Bay est la pointe du nord-est de Sydney. Avec un magnifique vue sur la mer, Doyles nous a servi un plateau de fruits de mer exquis, avec Crevettes, Huitres, Saumons, Crabes, Langoustes... Je sais que j'y retournerais avec mes parents l'année prochaine. Mais le meilleur dans tout ça était le voyage à Watsons Bay ! Après avoir pris le bus (classique) jusqu'à Circular Quay, nous avons pris le Ferry pour aller à Watsons Bay. Ce voyage de 15 minutes était magique car nous avons pu apercevoir la ville sous un autre angle. Etant une journée ensoleillé avec ciel bleu, nous avons croisé beaucoup de bateaux, petits et grands. Ce voyage nous a couté seulement 10$ aller-retour, ce qui fait 5€ ! Les photos sont sur mon picasa, enjoy !

Featherdale!!

A few days ago Kyle, Karen, Vincent, Bec, and I went to Featherdale Wildlife Park-- FULL of Australian flora and fauna. It was Awesome. We got to hold baby wallabies and pet koalas. My new favorite bird is the tawny frogmouth (I think that's what it's called)... and the storks. The storks were, um, tall and, um, well--just all around cool. We even saw some fighting wallabies doing crazy kung fu. I think y'all should come visit so I can go again. Enjoy the movie!

Kyle, Karen, Bec, Lindsay et moi sommes allés a Fetherdale Wildlife Park samedi dernier. Featherdale est un zoo rempli d'animaux australiens ! N'ayant jamais vu de kangourous, koalas ou encore kookaburras, je dois dire que ce zoo était génial et fascinant ! Nous avons pu caresser les koalas et les kangourous et aussi les nourrir. Si les koalas semblaient lents et mous, les kangourous avaient la patate et n'avaient pas du tout peur des humains. Nous avons même pu voir un vrai combat entre deux kangourous qui se battaient pour gagner leur territoire ! Si vous passez par Sydney, je vous recommande fortement de faire un saut au zoo de Featherdale. Sur ce, bon film !

bats at christmas

George, Maria, and I went to see the gazillion bats at the Royal Botanical Gardens just next to the Opera House in Sydney. It was incredible!

Les premières fois

Salut, je viens de poster 3 nouveaux albums sur mon Picasa alors allez jeter un œil avant de lire ce 'post'...

En tant que touriste, j'ai pu apercevoir l'Opera House et prendre une photo ! Lindsay et moi sommes allés à Circular Quay, qui est le Chatelet les Halles de Paris, mais au bord de la mer. Cet endroit est magnifique. Comme nous étions un samedi, il y avait un marché (comme les marchés dans les petites villes touristiques) aux Rocks (juste à côté de Circular Quay) qui proposait des objets asiatiques et aborigènes.

En tant que nouveau conducteur dans l'hémisphère Sud, j'ai pu conduire... à gauche. Conduire de l'autre côté de la route n'est pas si évident que çà, surtout lorsqu'il s'agit de tourner !

En tant que européen, j'ai rencontrer un aborigène pour la première fois. Il s'appelle Terry, et, malgré son accent très fort et difficile à comprendre, il semblait super sympa :)

En tant que non-salarié, j'ai obtenu mon premier entretien d'embauche ! Une société de recrutement m'a contacté pour une poste de développeur .NET. La société qui recherche un e dévelopeur est une des plus grosse agence web d'australie et s'appelle Tequila. L'entretien s'est très bien passé, et j'attend une réponse d'ici peu. Avec un peu de chance, je pourrais commencer à travailler le 5 janvier !

En tant que joueur de tennis, j'ai pu jouer sur l'herbe synthétique ! J'ai également rencontré un coach de tennis super sympa qui a eu son bachelor à Tennessee University aux Etats-Unis. Il m'a proposé de donner des cours de tennis, et de lui faire quelques sites internet !

Ces trois premières semaines à Sydney se sont super bien passées, et je suis pour l'instant plus que satisfait de cette nouvelle vie. Ma famille et mes amis me manquent, mais c'est une expèrience extraordinaire que d'être ici, à l'autre bout du monde...

too cool for school

drinking Strongbow has been shown to be a significant factor in predicting pre-morbid intellectual functionality....as much as testosterone in older males correlates to higher cognitive functioning (hahahahahahaha).

Isn't my division of Linguistics and Psychology at Macquarie cool?

I missed my calling as a psychologist. I really did

I could have produced field revolutionizing work on the navigating strategies of some obscure Australian foraging ant. Or, how traumatic brain injury hurts really bad.

That's it linguistics- I am done with you. It was a good fling, I had fun. But it's over.

....

...

..

.

Hah. Just kidding, people. C'mon, I know you know me better than that.

This year's Research Festival (featuring the over two hundred post-graduate students in our division) ended successfully. The vegetarian food was delicious. I got a t-shirt. Oh, and me and George rocked our presentations describing what research we WILL be doing. I've never used "potential," "possibly," and "maybe" so often in one presentation.

To celebrate we enjoyed a refreshing beverage at the student pub and lamented the demise of the Ibis. Also, we discussed how I must go see the fifty thousand bats that hang out at the Botanical Gardens in the city. (hahahahahahaha-- get it? hang out?!)

Adaptation en cours

Hier matin, je suis allé chercher le lit de Guillaume avec un (nouvel) ami en voiture, et j'ai pu avoir un aperçu de Sydney. J'ai également ouvert un compte à la banque ANZ, qui devrait être opérationnel dans quelques jours.

Les premières photos de Sydney sont en ligne sur picasa ! Ces photos ont été prises hier après-midi lors d'une petite marche autour de la maison. La mer est plus proche que je ne le pensais (6 minutes à pied) et le voisinage est très calme et assez riche. De l'autre côté se trouve le centre de gladesville et tout est accessible à pied, ce qui est super pratique !

Aujourd'hui, nous sommes allé à l'université de Lindsay (Maquarie University) et c'est un très beau campus, qui ressemble beaucoup à Georgia Southern avec beaucoup de verdures (photos à venir). Nous avons également fait du shopping dans un grand centre juste à côté de Maquarie. Une petite paire de chaussures pour courir à 220$, ca fait mal. Mais si on pense en euro, ca descend à 110€, ce qui fait un peu moins mal. Pour les amortir, je vais faire un footing dans un moment !

Un voyage à Manly Beach est prévu ce week-end, donc plein de photos en perspectives :)

Pour finir, le temps est toujours chaud et humide, et quelques lézards font des petits passages par chez nous :)

natural encounters

I'm sorry this video is not captioned-- once again, I find myself waaaay too lazy. But, if you don't sign-- watch it anyway, I have pretty pictures in it.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Sydney airport, the temperature is 21 degrees

Paris - Sydney, c'est 11 heures d'avion jusqu'à Hong Kong, puis 10 heures d'avion jusqu'à Sydney. Mon voyage s'est super bien passé, et ça ne pouvait pas mieux se passer. Mes 2 avions étaient à l'heure, mon bagage est arrivé en même temps que moi, les douanes à Hong Kong et Sydney ont duré 10 minutes chacune (et non 2 heures si on prend la douane américaine). Je n'ai même pas eu besoin de donner mes empreintes digitales, ni photos, ni questions ! J'ai donné une carte avec mon nom et la durée de mon séjour...
Le trajet entre l'aéroport et la maison a duré 30 minutes et on a traversé 4 ponts. Ca avait l'air joli mais on ne voyait pas grand chose car il faisait nuit.

La maison dans laquelle je vis est vraiment top (photos à venir) et la chambre d'ami est prête pour vous accueillir!
On a une terrasse ensoleillée le matin avec une vue de dingue (photos à venir).
La tempérture est de 21 degrés, et il est seulement 8h38!
Cette semaine, j'ai pas mal de choses à faire: ouvrir un compte à la banque, obtenir une assurance santé, ranger mes affaires, et visiter un peu la ville.

A pars ça, je viens de tuer ma première araignée :) Elle était toute petite mais qui c'est, elle était peut-être très dangereuse !

A très vite!

Voilà

Nous y sommes, mon avion décolle de Charles de Gaulle demain à 13H30. Je vais passer ma dernière nuit en solitaire, ma dernière nuit de l'année en France... Je me sens bizarre, je suis content et impatient. D'un autre côté je suis triste de quitter ma famille et mes amis pendant un moment... Donc je ne pourrais pas décrire mon sentiment en un seul mot.

Maintenant, il n'y a plus qu'a espérer que les deux vols de 11 heures chacun se passent bien et que mes baggages (que dis-je, mon unique bagage de 20Kg ou toute ma vie, enfin presque, se trouve dedans) arrivent en même temps que moi.

Au revoir Plessis-Robinson, France, Europe et bonjour à Sydney, Australie, Océanie... La distance est longue mais j'espère que le choc de la culture ne sera pas trop difficile. La soleil va remplacer la pluie, la plage va remplacer le trottoir, le kangorou va remplacer la vache, la mer va remplacer le traffic.

J'écrirai mon prochain article à 20 000 km d'ici, et j'aurai la tête à l'envers (comparez à vous). A très vite.

sunset

So, in addition to having a slight obsession with various flora and fauna, I've also developed a thing for sunsets. Here is one taken from the plane in Melbourne (because the lady wouldn't let me take a picture from outside the plane).

lindsay goes to melbourne.

I will not go into the linziesque way my trip to Melbourne started--you all know me well enough to probably guess. However, did you know there is such a thing as iridology? I was reading over the shoulder of my fellow bus-rider who was highlighting madly into some booklet. Iridology- "the study of iris diagnosis." Hm. Take a moment to think about that. I know I did.

Anyhoo, I arrived on time to Avalon airport: the Gateway to Melbourne and Geelong. (And that's where it hits me-- I have been livestreaming Geelong's rock station at work for the past few months...I had thought it was somewhere in South Australia and I had spelled it "Jalong" in my mind. Oh the things we learn.)


To get to the city, I took an hour long bus ride and then took the subway two stops to my hostel. The public transportation in Melbourne is awesome-- buy a ticket and hop and off the trains, trams, and buses, as much as you want. My kind of city. :)

The Freeman Lodge is a hostel run by an older man named Bob and his wife (whose name I did not get). He's Swedish and has lived in Melbourne for forty years. He was a sailor for most of his life. A real live Sailor. Cool. He started the hostel only five years ago-- and I have to stay, it's just a treat! I recommend it to anyone traveling to Melbourne. It's quiet and clean..and just lovely. Also, it's very green. Signs everywhere calling visitors to recycle and conserve water. My kind of place. :)


OH, and there's a cat. He and I watched "iRobot" on Friday night.


Julie, doesn't he remind you of Flo? hahahahahaha, okay, okay-- you're right. He doesn't. However, he was a pretty hefty cat who slept all day.

The reason I went to Melbourne was to attend the University of Melbourne Linguistics and Applied LInguistics Post-graduate Conference. Notice the "University of Melbourne." Also, on the map--there it is clear as day: University of Melbourne, at the corner of Grattan St and Swanston St.

Lindsay: Good morning sir. Could you tell me where to catch the tram to the University of Melbourne?

Mr. Help-People Guy: Where are you trying to go?

Lindsay: University of Melbourne.

Mr. Help-People Guy: (pause). OHHHH! Melbourne Uni! Yes, just go out this way and the tram stop is on the corner. We don't call it the University of Melbourne, that's why I didn't understand the first time.

I arrived early to "Melbourne Uni," and so went across from the campus to this lovely little cafe named the "Animal Orchestra." It reminded me of that vegan cafe I used to go to in Savannah. It also kind of reminded me of Big Bear, but not as much for some reason. I had DELICIOUS coffee there and was very happy.

On some paintings in the presentation room were these two quotes: "Ah me! What perils doth the youth encounter. Who dares within the Fellow's Bog do enter." "The Master's Wig the guilty wight appals. Who brings his Dog within the College Walls." Notice the brilliant use of capitalization Cecily.

With all of this said, the conference was lovely. I'm glad I went.
I also have a list of things to do when I come again! (And yes, there are PENGUINS involved!!) Now the week is about to begin again-- back to work! But what is even better is that in 9 days Vincent arrives.... hip hip hooray! Everyone: be happy for me! And be happy for Vincent!

And now, your moment of Zen:

This was located in the Starbucks I stopped at before going to the airport in Melbourne.

Needed: mental space builders

Today, while I was very VERY busy working on my upcoming conference presentations and DAT homework I came across this comic:



...and let's just say, it got me thinking. (Cecily, I hope you are reading this, because I secretly want you to make me a comic). Ever since arriving to Sydeny, I have been in constant anxiety. Mind you, it's not the kind of anxiety that causes high blood pressure, but rather it's the kind that causes very dull paranoia...which with time has manifested itself into subtle self-doubt and acute frustration. And now, I can say with a sigh of relief that I have figured out why!

It's my freaking incompetent American mental space builders.

I mean, to be honest, most of them left before I got on the plane. "I don't wanna go to Australia," replied Harry (a space builder since 1972 and who had been with me since 1981), "They eat Vegemite there!!" "Nah, I think I'll stick around here," explained Freida, "I got a really good offer from a builder for one of your friends on the West coast." "I can't go there," whispered Mike, "I don't speak Australian."

At the time I just huffed and puffed and told them all "Good riddance, I didn't want y'all to come ANYWAY!"

Well, it turns out that Mike had actually hit the monkey with the banana! And once I arrived in Sydney, I learned that none of my other mental space employees knew Australian either! Now, all they do is complain and form unions. "We can't work in these conditions," explained the union rep Sal, "they have different building codes here!" "The materials LOOK the same, but then we get admonished by the Mental Space Monitoring Committee. Fred's on probation until February for using inadequate connectors to your want space," Paula whined.

And they have a point: I drink iced lattes now for Pete's sake because he just can't get a handle on the "coffee" situation here. UNFORTUNATE TOTAL INCOMPETENCE.

So, if I don't get screwed in the union talks next Tuesday I'm going to take my sanity, what's left of it, and hire some new guys. Australian builders are more expensive, but they'll be worth it if I can buy bus tickets in peace, or actually explain what it is I'm doing here... it must be done. So, Sal, Fred, Pete....get your construction hats on-- come Monday, you're going to be gettin' a lesson in space building down under Aussie style!

sky off balcony

Loo Lizard

WHAT is the world coming to?!!!

[The following is modified from http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2405616.htm]

Apparently, the cruelty in the world keeps getting worse!
Yesterday at the Adelaide Zoo a BLIND 78 year old flamingo was ASSAULTED by four young men! The flamingo was rushed to the hospital and was kept overnight. He's in serious condition! The zoo has charged the four men and they face a $50,000 fine or four years in jail. I PERSONALLY think they should pay the fine and give it to the zoo. Then they should be exiled to the middle of the desert where they can't hurt any other living thing. All the words racing through my mind are not suitable for public blogs--but I'm sure most of you know what I am thinking.

This flamingo has been at the zoo since the 1930's and has become an icon. He's quite friendly (being in a zoo for so long and all) and he was happy at one time to wander around his lagoon and the footpaths! A long time friend of the beanten flamingo, another male Chilean flamingo, is now quite distressed and is roaming the lagoon without his long time friend. "Whilst they don't get on terribly well, they do sort of push each other around a little bit. Like two grumpy old men but they will certainly miss each other if they are apart for any length of time." It just makes you want to cry!

Sigh.


Isn't he gorgeous?! And they say he's one of the oldest flamingos at any zoo in the world!

this one's for you kyle!

My loopy day started with THIS--aren't they gorgeous?!
(This loopiness, I must add, is completely Brayde's fault).
Then, after JUST making the bus-- (thanks Vincent), I got to work and met Trevor about my NEW job that makes MONEY!
Lorikeets. Money. Hm.
THEN, me and George went for an afternoon glass of wine at the pub on campus. (Because she's leaving to go galavanting around Europe for a few weeks... you know, as you do.)
Lorikeets. Money. Wine.
Wednesdays may be my new favorite day of the week.

introducing: Cacatua sulphurea abbotti

I'd like to introduce one of the rarest bird species on the planet today. Everyone thought these little cuties were pretty much extinct. But recently, ten were found (including TWO teenagers) on Masakambing island in Indonesia!***

Yellow-crested Abbott's cockatoos are a subspecies of the Lesser Sulphur Crested cockatoos... I think. (The story is quite convoluted and apparently the world wide web is full of misinformation. The words 'yellow' and 'crested,' more or less, are being thrown around like there are no other adjectives in the English language.) In any case, the Abbott cockatoos, native to Indonesia, are not to be confused with the species that entertain me everyday. Those are the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita). See what I mean?

I did find this for the Frenchies though: En milieu naturel : Le cacatoès d'Abott est une sous-espèce du petit cacatoès à huppe jaune que l'on peut reconnaitre à sa longue huppe et l'absence de marques jaunes sur le coté de la tête. Cette sous-espèce, comme un grand nombre de sous-espèces du petit cacatoès à huppe jaune est en très grave danger d'extinction du à la fois à la réduction de son habitat mais également au trafic incessant dont l'espèce fait l'objet. Il est endémique à l'Ile de Solombo Besar, en Indonésie.

There you are people-- let it be a lesson. Don't buy cockatoos! Let them live in the forest!

weather schmeather

This is the weather forecast for Sydney this week. Please note that this week's low is 10 C (50 F) whereas this week's high is going to be 34 C (93.2 F). Also, expect "haze" next Wednesday. Welcome to spring?

Happy (alleged) Birthday Sydney Opera House !

Opera House birthdays must mean good Mondays.

I woke up very early this morning to go swimming at Macquarie. (I've been trying to convince myself for over a month now). To my pleasant surprise the olympic sized pool turned out to be heated...and not crowded...and clean...and AWESOME. I couldn't believe it. What luck.

Afterwards, I went and picked up my shiny new health insurance card where I enjoy no-copays and am allowed to ride in an ambulance for free.
I cannot WAIT!

(I must comment here that these are two things that my life has lacked since my undergraduate days.... MORE THAN THREE YEARS AGO. What adversity I have endured! I have no idea how I managed.)

And this all happened before I really even started work-- hm. With such a good start to a Monday, I had no choice but to fill the rest of my time doing linguistics and watching the storm clouds and cold winds blow in, drinking coffee.

What did you do?

a dialogue with the two leading presidential candidates....

McCain: And of course, I've been talking about the economy. Of course, I've talked to people like Joe the plumber and tell him that I'm not going to spread his wealth around. I'm going to let him keep his wealth. And of course, we're talking about positive plan of action to restore this economy and restore jobs in America.

Lindsay: Oh right, because Joe who is a plumber will actually have enough "wealth" by himself to pay for his family's health care needs, and his kids' education including college expenses, and any damage to his property from catastrophic natural events (indubitably caused by our extreme care for the environment), and food, and the new bridge into his town, and...and...and. Come on! Are you serious?! Where does Joe's wealth go when he loses his job? If it's everyone for himself--what's the point of even living inside a society?

_____________________________________________________

Obama: Now with respect to a couple of things Senator McCain said, the notion that I voted for a tax increase for people making $42,000 a year has been disputed by everybody who has looked at this claim that Senator McCain keeps on making. Even FOX News disputes it, and that doesn't happen very often when it comes to accusations about me.

Lindsay: HAHAHAHAHAHA

_____________________________________________________


Obama: When President Bush came into office, we had a budget surplus and the national debt was a little over $5 trillion. It has doubled over the last eight years. And we are now looking at a deficit of well over half a trillion dollars.

Lindsay: Just recently, the national debt clock in New York had to be replaced because it didn't have enough digits on it. TEN TRILLION DOLLARS. Impressive.

_____________________________________________________


McCain: Free trade with Colombia is something that's a no-brainer.

Lindsay: Right- because free trade would really help stabilize the Columbian economy...pffft. Read Chomsky for a good discussion about Columbia... and Venezuela for that matter.

_____________________________________________________


McCain: Well, it is a terribly painful situation for Americans. They're seeing their premiums, their co-pays go up. Forty-seven million Americans are without health insurance in America today.
And it really is the cost, the escalating costs of health care that are inflicting such pain on working families and people across this country. And I am convinced we need to do a lot of things.
We need to put health care records online. The V.A. does that. That will -- that will reduce costs. We need to have more community health centers. We need to have walk-in clinics.

Lindsay: What happened to Joe paying for all of his health care by himself with the "wealth" that you are going to let him keep to himself? You mean to say, it is not enough?! You mean to say that even a small successful business owner such as himself cannot afford to go to the hospital if he cuts himself while fixing a drain pipe.... in the "richest and most powerful nation in the world." Oh-- right, community clinics, of course--that'll work. I'm sure they are totally funded.

_____________________________________________________


Schieffer: Let's talk about energy and climate control. Every president since Nixon has said what both of you...

McCain: Climate change.

Schieffer: Climate change, yes -- has said what both of you have said, and, that is, we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Lindsay: Ummm, wait-- I get it... in some way if we don't use Middle East and Venezuelan oil, then we somehow avert the impending doom climate change will bring to civilizations across the globe*. WOW, thank you Schieffer, I never saw it that way before. YES, then I agree--full speed ahead on drilling in Alaska!

*(As a sidenote-- I think that forcing everyone to drive SMART cars would also work to avoid the apocolypse, you know, just in my opinion).

dive bombing cockatoos make waiting for the bus WAY more fun

Daylight savings started last week for us Sydneyans, which means it's dark later now. Wahoo. The good news is I have more time to run everyday. PLUS now when I'm waiting for the bus home it's starting to be that high part of the afternoon. And apparently at this particular point in the day the birds are out to play. They fly around dive-bombing each other and just generally making a raucous. It's brilliant. I want one. But Beckie won't let me...Hm, sounds like another roommate I used to live with. :)

I started my french classes this past Saturday! It's at the University of Sydney--which means I get to go to the city every weekend! The class will run till mid-December, so hopefully I'll learn some things before Vincent arrives. We can only hope. In any case, it gives me an excuse every week to drop by Starbucks and feel all nostalgic about times gone by.

Weather is getting warmer, summer is getting nearer and work is coming along nicely. I'm waiting on ethics approval for my PhD research and we're getting started on the Medical Signbank project. Go Go Linguistics!

And on a final note: Congrats to Brian on his awesome run in the Portland Marathon a few weeks ago--all I can say is "supafast!" Also, hats off to Kyle who has arrived in France and will start his PhD work soon. And Happy Birthday Kylie who turns 21 this week! (Her party was lovely by the way!)

silly rabbit, cookies are for kids

thank you guzer.

i wanna live in a castle

OR at least I think Barack and John should have a duel.
For those of you who had the pleasure of living in Carlin-- I think the Lake of Doom would be an appropriate venue....hm, yes, perfect. But what kind of weapons? I think maybe they should have to sing karaoke to the Beach Boys and then proceed to Riverdance across the pond. If that does not decide a winner, light sabers should prove sufficient--or hey, even regular sabers would be okay. Who's with me?!

Or better yet, they should play the New Zealand game of Stonewall. oooh-- yeah, that's even better. This crazy game is full of strategy and reminds me eerily of the elementary (primary) school game of Dot. The predictive powers of presidential success should not be ignored.

...onward DEMORCR/...oh wait, I think my french fries are ready

peace out.

wine-colo(u)red daisies make sundays oh-so-delicioso

So pretty much, by 2100 sixty percent of the world's species will be extinct if we keep doing what we are doing. This is quite troublesome for me, and it should be for you as well. (If it's not and you just think it's all a big cliche, then you, I'm afraid, have been taken by the crazies. I am sorry for you for that.) ANYHOO, I thought I should start documenting all the pretty flowers I see on my run, because then I can show my adopted children later and talk about the better days when we had more than one plant or animal in the neighborhood. Plus, I have some torn, broke, or pulled something-or-other(s) in my hip/ leg and this way I can stop and walk every now and again while trying not to cry.




Just gorgeous.

So not to bore you too much with details you probably care little about--I'll briefly summarize some fun times in the last week. Friday was a Deaf Studies Symposium that turned out to be a really nice event. There was a very mature discussion of some very interesting issues, and I got to meet more of the Australian and New Zealand Deaf community. PLUS:

After the symposium, George, two of her friends from New Zealand, and I went to Kat's house to pre-party before Deaf club. After a bit, we headed on our way--to what ended up being a fun filled night in Burwood. I even think I learned more Auslan! Saturday, me and Kat went to her friend's house for a Nepalese birthday lunch. Then later we headed to the city for another birthday party--which ended up as a bust. So we just walked around Darling Harbour and had a beer at a HUGE casino.

After, we just caught a train to Paramatta and called it an early night. So a very nice weekend indeed. At the moment I'm watching Van Wilder (::sigh::) and recharging for another full work week.

Signing off.

Aujourd'hui, j'ai

Je viens de lâcher 1400€ dans un billet d'avion. C'est beaucoup et peu à la fois. En espérant que Air France soit gentil avec moi durant tout ce voyage, je vous dit à bientôt. Enfin je ne suis pas encore parti :) Mon départ est prévu pour le 1er décembre.

(p.s. from Linzi: by the emails i've been getting, some of you can't read french. so--basically Vincent bought a plane ticket and should be arriving in Sydney on December 2, 2008. YAY!)

Demain , j'achète

Hello, cela fait un peu plus d'un mois que j'observe les fluctuations tarifaires des billets d'avion. Ayant décidé de partir le 1er ou 2nd décembre, je passe plusieurs minutes par jour sur les sites de Air France et British Airways pour un jour acheter un billet d'avion vers l'autre bout de la terre.

La concurrence est rude ! Air France propose des billets aller-retour à 1400 € environs (sachant que le billet aller est en première classe pour une modique somme de 5000€). Du coté de British Airways, le billet aller est aux alentours de 1100€. 300€ de différence me direz-vous ! Ce n'est pas ce que j'appelle de la concurrence.

En réalité, j'ai poussé la logique plus loin que ces 2 prix. J'ai la carte Flying Blue de Air France et je gagne des miles sur chaque vol. Ce qui n'est pas le cas avec British Airways. Un vol à Paris-Sydney me permettrait de gagner 10 000 miles, ce qui équivaut à un billet gratuit aller-retour en Europe. Or, un tel billet coûte de 250€ environ. Il ne reste plus que 50€ de différence, si vous me suivez...

Avec Air France, plus on gagne de miles, plus on est respecté. Et sur les prochains vols, j'aurai éventuellement le droit de passer devant tout le monde pour monter dans l'avion, accéder aux espaces privés Air France, et obtenir des tarifs intéressants sur les vols.

Et c'est à ce moment exact que je pencherait sur Air France ! Mais ce n'est pas fini ! En l'espace d'un mois, le billet aller-retour de Air France a oscillé entre 1400 et 1700€. Il ne me reste plus qu'à attendre sagement et acheter le billet lorsqu'il est au plus bas... C'est un peu comme à la bourse. Sauf que ma carte de crédit bloque mes achats de plus de 1000€ :(

Et là, ce n'est pas cool. J'ai fait la demande à ma banque (BNP) pour augmenter le plafond afin que je puisse acheter ce billet d'avion. Normalement, je devrais pouvoir acheter mon billet demain, encore faudrait-il que le prix du billet Air France n'augmente pas cette nuit...

Woah Nelly--

Man, you sure do emit a lot of carbon. I mean, what are you trying to do--start another ice age?!

SO- maybe you have noticed a pop-up being generated when you load Out Finding the Real. (Let's take a moment to dwell on the fact that Lindsay figured out HOW to embed pop-ups on the blog. Sometimes I don't even recognize myself anymore!) In any case, the popup contains a survey I just made inspired by the book I'm reading "The Weather Makers: the history and future impact of climate change" by Tim Flannery (who's Australian!). I made it partly because I think every person I know should read this book and partly because I need to learn how to use Survey Monkey. Yeah, yeah, I know- some of you have already been victim to a previous attempted survey. But this one is better and you should take it. EVERYONE TAKE THE SURVEY!

It's my birthday and I'll do what I want to!

Against several objections from those of you who still have to live in the United States about the technicalities of time travel,

it's my birthday.

Bec and I discussed and decided that I get to celebrate it from the time it starts in Australia to the time it ends in the States. Therefore, unlike ALL of you, I get a 38 hour birthday. Read it and WEEP. AND, because of all of this, today I get to do what I want. So, I woke up and said hi to the mom-o and quickly proceeded to write an email making fun of my twin brother for it NOT being HIS birthday. HA HA HA. (That hasn't happened since 1999 when I was living in Japan!). Then I made my way to the university to watch a lovely presentation entitled "What do they think of me? The perceptions of interpreters held by medical and legal practitioners" by Dr. Hale of the University of West Sydney. Oh! And Agnes and George gave me a flowery plant for the office! Keep your fingers crossed so that it can live.

Then on the way home, the bus driver decided to go the wrong way. So, we pulled a U-y in the middle of a residential area. Hm. This has happened twice so far here-- you think they'd practice first or something. Because of this, I've decided to learn the way myself so I can be of assistance next time...right on Tallwood, left on North just past Lavender Grove...past the Meat Boutique up Quarry Road (the one with too many refuge islands--whatever those are)...left at Victoria Road near the ibis trees...Then after another driver replaced him (end of shift?) the new driver couldn't get the bus in gear and we kept sliding backwards. HAH.

Luckily, I made it home, because I had a mission. I was treating myself to a LONG RUN!! Wahoo, the weather was absolutely perfect and sunny. It had to be done.
I ran mostly on a pedestrium (sp?) that they just opened for me--it goes for quite some miles along the water. I'm very happy about this.

In about an hour I'm going to eat delicious Thai food with Bec and her parents...because I want to. :) Hip Hip Hooray for Birthdays!

whoever says canberra rocks hasn't seen the big merino

The trip to Canberra was a wild success. Although, halfway there, I realized that the actual point of the trip was to visit Goulburn, a small town home to the Great Merino. The Great Merino is a gigantic statue of a sheep, and it is quite gigantic. Man, this town must love its sheep. While me and Lenny (the other hearing American on the trip) enthusiastically went around taking photographs of this tribute to Australian engineering, Kat and Rachel stayed in the car (probably mocking us). But all is well.
We arrived to our hotel about three and half hours after leaving Sydney, just in time to make it to Trivia night (the supposed point of the trip) at the local Kangaroo Football Club. There were probably about 100 or so people there all ready to get their smart random knowledge on. I found out quite quickly that I do not know much random Australian knowledge...something I plan to work on for the future. Highlights of the evening included meeting some lovely members of the Australian Deaf community, learning the tactile Auslan alphabet, having Rachel win us a nice handle of Jack Daniels, learning that the Pentagon is four stories high (I'm not sure if I believe this), and having a late night party at our hotel room.
Waking up after only a few hours of sleep worked out amazingly well. And good thing too, because we had to get to Canberra! After a hearty breakfast at McDonalds (not a word), we made our way to the Parliament House. It was a pretty cool Parliament House-- at least the public can go in it. Had a nice pinhole photo exhibition and the Magna Carta! It also had an impressive mace. "In the middle ages, a mace was a club used as a weapon in battle. Today the Mace is a symbol of the authority of the House and hence, the authority of the Speaker, and is placed on the Table in the chamber while the Speaker is in the Chair." If this is not a tribute to democracy, I don't know what is. Also, the roof is quite amusing, because it is covered in grass and slopes down to the ground. Now that I think about it, it reminds me of the home in the hobbit shire in LOTR (don't you think Lenny? Kat?).
We thought about democracy for a minute before making our way (more or less) to the National Museum of Australia! The crazy architecture reminds me of the Centre Pompidou except that it has better art and more interesting exhibits. AND I got another photo of a parrot! (Speaking of parrots, did you know Australia is home to 119 species--more than any other country?!! I have my work cut out for me for sure!)
After a nice meal in Manuka we made our way back to the big city. On the way we stopped to take pictures at the line between New South Wales (one of Australia's states) and the Australian Australian Capital Territory (one of Australia's Territories). They have a nice sign and we only had to suddenly stop on a big highway to get to it. Unlike on the way there, our way back enjoyed good weather and nice scenic vistas (which I'm sure were there before but we just couldn't see them).

I arrived home late and exhausted. But it was a beautiful weekend full of good conversation, funniness, and more practice using AAUSL (the official language of the trip--a mix of Auslan, ASL, Englishy type signs, and probably a whole lot of gesture). I can only hope more of this is to come.

music, instant coffee, and Canberra!

Almost every day this week on my way to work the bus has been playing the radio! Isn't that lovely?! Of course it's not nearly as good as what George got to see:
...oh well, the music is still good.

This week, me and George have been very busy with our ethics applications. (Well, it must be said that my project will probably have much more luck at the ethics committee than George's, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for her.) As this is quite tedious work, (you know the checking of boxes and promising not to do anything secret or mean), we have been drinking our fair share of NesCafe to keep our spirits up. This country LOVES instant coffee, which I will not immediately hold against them but I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. Anyhoo.

Bec is out of town this week, so I've been partying it up at the homestead watching West Wing (I must really miss DC). It's going okay. However, tomorrow I am going to go to Canberra (Australia's capitol) with Kat, my premier Auslan teacher and new friend! I really just think she felt bad for me that I was all by my lonesome, but I'm really happy for the invite anyway! We will be going to a trivia night fundraiser :: aka ROAD TRIP ::. WAHOO. You will hear more about this next week.

Okay, more West Wing. Chow.

Sydney, Australia- from an airplane*

*Thanks Georgina for providing these stunning airplane shots (taken on her way back from New Zealand).

...and what's better than democracy?!

COCKATOOS! (I actually wanted to tie this into the last post but just couldn't spin it) I even got it on film, because I know you guys can't get enough of them. :)

democracy rocks!

Chomsky, N. (2007). Interventions. San Francisco: City Lights.

This book is a collection of essays written by Noam Chomsky and distributed by the New York Times Syndicate but that have never been published in any major US newspaper. Hm, as the introduction explains "that our mainstream media system seems unwilling to tolerate a range of political thought wide enough to include Chomsky but is willing to market them outside the intellectual and geographic borders is ironic and revealing" (p.vvi).

A Linzi summary (Julie would be better at this) for you:
Basically it's a bunch of short essays (1000 words or so) that talk about how the US valiantly traverses the globe spreading "democracy." Of course, the rhetoric here actually stands for our complete contempt for civil liberties and our impressively atrocious record regarding human rights. A must have for every coffee-table!

Quick Robin, to the Batcave!

I'm really lazy. I didn't caption this video, so I hope you know ASL or some type of signing. We all know my abilities. All is well and I miss you all.



Australia ROCKS!

Happy Anniversary to ME and VINCENT!

So, just an update for everyone.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of me and Vincent's engagement!

And, we are still together--well not together, together--but together in our "we have lived in different countries for more than two years" love. WAHOO!! This year, our goal is to live on the same continent! (Is it funny to anyone else that this will be accomplished by both of us having to move to Australia? Because, it IS pretty funny to me.) Keep your fingers crossed, you lucky charms on hand, etc., etc. for us will you?

tips for learning Auslan and other musings

Lindsay's Guide to Learning Auslan*

1. Drink alcohol with Deaf Australians.
2. Look up your favorite signs with the Auslan SignBank
3. Then drink some more with more Deaf Australians.
4. Repeat 1, 2, and 3 as needed.

*There is very strong anecdotal evidence that my guide is the most effective for learning this particular signed language. Of course, more research is needed. Dissertation anyone?

Now, on to other musings...
1. I have decided to start a photo journal of all the crazy birds I keep seeing. For example, last friday (the one day I didn't bring a camera to school) I saw a cockatoo, an ibis, two kookaburras, and a bunch of galahs all at about an arm's length away!

2. Older Australians often like to strike up conversations with me in the supermarket or on the street--because, let's face it, I exude that kind of aura.

3. Twenty-first birthdays in Australia are better than in the United States**.
** Please note this claim is also based on my limited experience. But, they do like heart-felt speeches, and rent a bar with a tab, and invite long lost classmates and friends of the family and stuff.

At this particular twenty-first Bec made one of the speeches and I got to meet a lot of her awesome friends!





So, in these photos are some of the people who will be taking on the big BIG responsibility of teaching me Auslan. A round of applause please!
And also a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the birthday boy (who will for the moment remain unnamed) and thanks for the fabulous party! :)

interesting finds in Macquarie

Everyday I hop on the 518 to Macquarie University. On the way, I pass my new favorite shop, The Meat Boutique. Well, actually, I have never been in this store and as of yet I'm still a vegetarian, but come on-- The Meat Boutique. Very cool. Then once I arrive, a world of coffee kiosks, a real library, and ::gasp:: helpful people greets me. Then there's the gym which I just joined. It has two pools, a variety of fitness classes, some squash courts, a basketball court, tennis courts, weight/ cardio room, etc, etc. What is even more lovely is that on my way to the gym from MY OFFICE, I walk by a lake and usually several kinds of exotic birds are eating the grass.

So far so good. Now, on the other side of the street is an absolutely ginormous mall. It spirals up like three floors in a ridiculously confusing way (I actually tried to get out of it for like twenty minutes the other day). This mall has one of the most sophisticated food courts I have ever been to, a Borders, and RebelSport--my actual new favorite store, full of all the latest sporting goods. How do these people ever expect me to do linguistics with all these brilliant distractions? Oh-- wait, I'll tell you. They GAVE ME AN OFFICE...and a computer...and a filing cabinet. My very own filing cabinet. Can it get better than this?! I can't wait to file things in it. I can even lock it when I'm away, just in case I have top secret documents to hide from the rest of the world. And believe you me, I will make sure to get ahold of such documents. Why else would I need a lock on my filing cabinet. Then every afternoon when the sun starts to set, I make my way home. I get back on the 518 and go back past the Meat Boutique. I usually get off one stop short to make a trip to the local BWS to buy a cleanskin or two. Then me and Bec cook some food, drink some wine, and watch the Olympics. Very very cool.

Hi guys,
So my first day at Macquarie ROCKED. Here's a recap-- a bit dry, but whatever. I'm tired.

Enjoy.

outside our kitchen window!

lessons learned

1. NEVER book a plane ticket with vayama.com.
2. While trying to secure an Australian temporary long-stay visa, side-trips to Africa and Europe are crazy fun but not advised.
3. Fitting 26 years of stuff into two suitcases is very difficult.
4. While traveling, it is convenient to bring either cash or credit cards to buy all of the stuff you no longer get for free
6. The international departures lounge in fiji has nice seats for sleeping, and the men wear skirts.
7. If you are poor, it takes 33 hours to get from Atlanta to Sydney.
8. Always have best friends pick you up at airports.

Le Visa qui court plus vite que la lumière

Based on a true story

C'est l'histoire d'un Visa qui une fois demandé sur le net arrivait dans ta boîte mail quelques heures après...

Et oui, j'ai commencé mon application en ligne pour obtenir le Visa Australien : Working Holiday. Ce Visa permet de passer un an en Australie et travailler pas plus de 6 mois pour le même employeur. L'application a duré exactement 18 minutes, et n'importe qui aurait pu répondre correctement aux questions (avez vous fait de la prison, allez-vous en Australie pour obtenir des soins médicaux, avez vous fait l'armée...). Même si j'ai l'intention de partir début décembre, je voulais m'y prendre en avance pour éviter tout le stress inutile, à savoir les documents incomplets ou manquants...

J'ai répondu tellement bien aux questions qu'un mail m'est parvenu tout à l'heure pour m'annonçer que mon Visa était accepter !!! Ce processus a pris moins de 6 heures. Qui dis mieux?

Je suis en fin prêt pour partir en Australie en toute légalité, et c'est une bonne nouvelle, si on pense aux problèmes que Lindsay a pu rencontrer pour obtenir son Visa.

Survive-the-spiders-day

Make this one about hiking Linzi says to Nina... so, I will give it a try... about the oh so damn scary spiders we met, our quest against them, our walk-on-the-road-trip, Linzi trying to speak Dutch, our Vodka-talk-evening, u know, the regular stuff people experience.

En dan maar hopen dat jullie je een beetje kunnen inleven in de gevaren en de avonturen van de afgelopen week. Werkelijk! Wat een feest.

So, where were we? Right, I think the day after our off-day. During our off-day we practically only ate food, slept, watched movies. Not much to say about that right. Anyway, we decided we needed some exercise the day after. Let's go hiking at Mistletoe Park! And let's do so in the morning. Seemed to be a great idea... but the spiders kinda thought the same thing... but the subject of their thoughts were not focused on hiking, but on moving in permanently on our hiking trail.

We choose the 1 3/4 mile trail... doable right? That's what we thought too, just before we ran into the first just-moved-in-spider. Honestly, every yard there was a ginourmous spider-villa-web across the trail, and I am not exaggerating! We could not move one yard without ruining a web. It feels disgusting, sticky on your face. And if it was just that, fine, but noooohooooo, the spiders were home! See!

We were so scared... So we decided to walk down the trail with our just discovered magic stick which, when we waved it around as much as we could, was supposed to get rid of all the spider cities. It did work, but nonetheless it took us like 10 minutes to do 1% of the trail, so we decided to move our athletic hiking to a better place. As disappointed as we were, we did decide to leave the forest trail alone, and we took of hiking down the road. Linzi got herself roadkilled, but Nina did not mind joining her.

We felt totally reborn after the hiking adventure.

After that, we naturally needed to regain our strength. We did so sitting down at the doc with our delicious vodka-lemonade. Talking about life, Nina trying to overcome some word-finding problems, and Linzi reliving her IRB-wtf-thing (Cecily, awsome commentary!) and trying to speak Dutch, we felt really proud of our perseverance that day.

Btw, if u wanna see more pix: http://picasaweb.google.com/Mistaya00/NinaAndLinziGoToGeorgia

Linzi and Nina say: oogjes dicht en snaveltjes toe, welterusten!

hontodesuka?! SUGOIDANE!

Lindsay has plane tickets. In her physical possession. I know, I can't believe it either. It's been a hard and long road, and I just want to thank all who have supported me through these trying times. And to all the dumb people who irritate me: BOOYAH.

Atlanta to Los Angeles. Los Angeles to Nadi. Nadi to Sydney.
I leave at 17:30 on August 5 and arrive at noon on August 7.

WAHOOOOOO! Let's get this started.... oh wait, well, I guess I still have eight days. So be it.

eat, drink, and be merry

Nina loves to eat American food.


And I love to drink (preferrably, non-American) beer.

So we are having just a very merry time together.

In addition to all this merry-making, we are also joy-riding and just trying to make it through each day.

We have the house to ourselves for the rest of the week-- which means, I get to drive the big D's car!! Mwahahahahaha...AHHHHHHH!

For the sake of my father's car, please keep us in your prayers.

Alrighty, that's it for now. I'm gonna get an hour of work in before I start partaking in being merry. Enjoy your Monday/ Tuesday/ whateverday it is for you.

For starters, tackling jet lagged dutch people in the Atlanta Airport is not the best idea. I thought it was at the time, but Nina told me it wasn't. Eh. Live and learn. OH RIGHT! Nina came to visit me!!! YAY! She's going to stay this week and we are going to hang out in Georgia, because it is the only cool place to be. So far, we have been very busy swimming in the lake and eating fancy food and going to movies. Later today we are sea dooing (jet skiing for all you other folk) to the Savannah River. BOOYAH.

Also, to help Nina practice for her upcoming drivers license lessons, we decided to practice around the neighborhood.

Lily kept patrol and I held on for dear life.

So, I think it's safe to say that when Nina gets back to The Netherlands, she will be oh-so-ready to take on the mean streets of Nijmegen. WORD.

More later, IF I feel like it.

Chow.