Inventive Australians

I saw these adorable stamps for the first time the other day:

Hanging your clothes on the line while wearing Speedos and drinking wine from a box.  All made possible by those inventive Australians.

An American's Guide to Easter in Australia

Brown eggs made pretty

Shortly after we arrived in Australia 2 years ago the room mom in my daughter's class organised an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids.  Her email invited us all down to the beach after school and asked each parent to bring a bag of Easter eggs for the hunt.

I searched high and low for Easter baskets (and finally found one style at the fake Aussie Target).  But the big plastic Easter eggs were elusive.  I emailed the room mom to ask where to get the eggs.  Her reply was something like this, "Each parent should bring a bag of chocolate eggs.  They are available at all the shops."  Duh.

Easter eggs=chocolate eggs.  And they are everywhere.  The shops are packed with choco eggs, along with choco bunnies and the occasional choco bilby.  But good luck finding any other Easter candy.  No peeps (gasp!), no jelly bellies, no reese's eggs, no pastel M&Ms. 

When we showed up for the egg hunt my kids were ready, armed with their bright green cheap-o Easter baskets.  (I was really wishing I had brought our cute personalized Pottery Barn ones).  To my surprise they were the ONLY kids there with baskets.  A few kids had plastic grocery bags.  Some used paper lunch sacks.  Others just used their pockets to hold their loot.  I got several comments about our "American" Easter Baskets and it was painfully obvious that I was missing the nuances of Easter- one of the biggest Aussie holidays.

So here are a few tips for Americans celebrating Easter in Australia.

*Easter is a long weekend here.  Everything is closed on Good Friday.  And for good measure  Aussies take Monday off too.  This year, Anzac day is on Monday.  So Tuesday is a public holiday, too.

*Little kids (generally Kindy and Year 1) will have Easter hat parades at school.  You will be expected to supply a variety of arts and crafts items to decorate the crazy hats.  After the Little Princess' parade they sang a few songs, including "Aussie Easter Oi Oi Oi" and "Disco Inferno".  (The musical selections at these school functions always baffle me).

*The Easter Show has nothing to do with Easter, other than they both come at the same time of year.

*Little girls will not be dressed up in fancy new dresses on Easter Sunday.  In fact the whole "Easter Dress" concept is unheard of here.  We got lots of strange looks that first year when we went out to breakfast.

*Aussies don't dye hard boiled eggs.  If you want one of those PAAS kits with the little coloured tablets you better have someone send one from the US.  And, there are no white eggs to speak of here.  But fortunately, brown eggs work just fine.

*Sadly, Easter is a secular holiday here.  Everyone celebrates Easter, but there is hardly a mention of Jesus. 

Two hard at work.  One supervising.

So tonight, on this night before Easter, we dyed our brown eggs and watched the Veggie Tales Easter Carol.  We talked about the true meaning of Easter and left a carrot out for the Easter Bunny.  Tomorrow there will be a treasure hunt and lots of choco eggs too.  We'll go to church and the Easter Show.  We're a little bit Aussie, and American too.

Happy Easter, Oi Oi Oi!

Mufti Day

We had a mini-crisis this morning in the school drop off lane.  As soon as we pulled up I realized what I'd done.  I completely forgot it was Mufti-Day.  When the Little Princess realized it, the tears started to flow.  She didn't want to get out of the car.  I felt horrible.

Any decent mother would have put this date in her diary (that's calendar for you Americans) weeks ago.  The memo would have been slapped on the fridge and the outfit laid out carefully the night before.

But we were away all weekend in gorgeous Jervis Bay (more on that later) and I just completely forgot. 

Mufti-Day is the term used here for a "free-dress" day at school.  And I guess when you wear a school uniform every day you DO NOT want to show up in your uniform on Mufti-Day.

So I did what any guilt ridden mum would do.  I raced home and gathered up some clothes and darted back to the school.  When I went up to her classroom I saw that the Little Princess had stuck a stringy red feather in the back of her pony tail.  She said she found it on the playground and stuck it in her hair so she wouldn't be left out of Mulfti-Day even for the 20 minutes it took me to go home and get her clothes. 

She had a big smile on her face when she saw that I stuck her glittery purple Converse in the bag for her.  Because the outfit just would not have been the same with her black uniform shoes. 

You better believe the next time a Mufti-Day memo comes home I'll be setting up a reminder on the iphone, writing it on the calendar, posting it on the fridge and writing it on my arm in Sharpie.  We won't miss the next one Princess. 

The First of The Lasts

For the past 2 years our Spring & Summer Sunday mornings have gone something like this:

-Wake up and shovel some breakfast into the kids' mouths
-Watch them wiggle into their speedos and rashies and swim caps
-Chase them around to get the suncream on
-Double check to be sure goggles and towels are in the bag
-Dash out the door and across the street to be on the beach for roll call
-Then I watch as they swim and paddle and run and race

 I love Nippers.

We're heading back to the U.S. for a few weeks and will miss out on the rest of the Nippers season this year. 

And this time next year my kids will be in America doing whatever it is American kids do in February.  Soccer?  Baseball?  (Seriously I don't even know).  But they won't be here, on this beach doing Nippers.  And that makes me a bit sad.  It's the first of the lasts.

We Need a Little Christmas

I have to admit, I haven't been much in the Christmas spirit this year.  Maybe it's because I'm in Australia and it's the middle of summer.  Maybe it's because I'm so far away from my family and friends. 

But finally tonight, on Christmas Eve, it hit me.  We went to church and listened to the beautiful Christmas carols and heard the story of the first Christmas again.  And it finally felt like Christmas when I realized that tomorrow morning, no matter where you are, the whole weary world rejoices. 

Happy Christmas!

I'm re-posting these two videos that have been floating around the internet this week.  The first I found on Natasha's blog.  It's such a beautiful version of the Christmas story presented by the children of St. Paul's Church in New Zealand.  I first saw the bottom one on Erin's blog.  It's a cute modern-day take on Christmas.  Both made me smile while reminding me of the real meaning of the holiday.  I hope you enjoy them!

Joy to the World

What a perfect night for Christmas carols.  

Beautiful weather, heaps of people, lovely music, candles.  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (In a Southern Hemisphere kind of way).

Little Princess in THE HOUSE

Yes, that house.



Way back in February, the Little Princess decided she wanted to join the Australian Girls Choir.  But, like most things in Australia, there was a waiting list.  (Have I mentioned the waiting list issue before? Waiting lists for playgroups, waiting lists for preschools, waiting lists for sports classes, waiting lists for doctors and so on and so on and so on). 

So we waited.  For months.  And finally they called.  So for the past 2 terms, the Little Princess has been singing her heart out every Saturday morning in preparation for the big Annual Concert.  At the Sydney Opera House- in the Concert Hall no less.

She dreams of being a pop star someday and who knows if that dream will ever come true.  But she sang on stage at the Opera House- and that's more than most wanna-be pop stars can say.

It was a day she'll never forget.  And neither will I. 

Over breakfast this morning:

Little Buddy:  Mom, did you know some "bygals" are round and have holes in them?

Me:  Bagels?  Yes, they are round with holes in them.

Little Buddy:  But not the Australian kind.  They don't have holes in them.  They're just round.

Translation:  Pikelets=Australian bagels (apparently)

Real bagels how we miss you . . . .

A BYOB Hospital

Or everything you (n)ever wanted to know about having a baby in Australia.


Things I Loved:

-The private hospital where I delivered was lovely. All private rooms, carpet on the floors, flat screen TV, comfy chairs, mini-fridge- almost more like a hotel room than a hospital room.

-Morning and afternoon tea brought around by a lady with a little trolley. Yes, I'd love some biscuits, thank you!

-Self serve kitchen with help yourself snacks and drinks for mums and partners.

-Decent cafe in the lobby with toasted sandwiches and fresh baked goods.

-Variety of classes offered to mums during their stay. Bathing, settling, breastfeeding, physio, etc. I'm sure these would be really helpful for first timers.

-My OB/GYN (although they never use that term here) was outstanding, and most of the midwives who cared for me afterward were great too.

-In the operating room ("theatre") they handed me the baby right after he was born. No one wiped him off or wrapped him up. I got to hold him immediately. It was awesome- and it made me feel much more involved than I had with my previous c-sections.



Things I found Annoying or Just Plain Strange:

-Hospital food is still hospital food. The only thing I found edible during my 5 night stay was the Rice Bubbles (Rice Krispies) I ordered for breakfast each day.

-It's BYOB- Bathe Your Own Baby. Seriously, no one does this for you. And since we are super lazy parents, our kid only had one bath while in the hospital.


-They don't provide Kleenex, bulb syringes for sucking gunk out of baby's nose or those nifty peri-cleanse squirt bottles I always got at the American hospital. In fact, when I asked about the nasal aspirator, the midwife looked at me like I was crazy and said, "We stopped using those a long time ago." Huh? Aussie babies don't get gunky noses? Go figure.

-No crushed ice! This should not come as a surprise to me as ice is often hard to find in Australia. But I figured they would have it in the hospital. Chewing on ice chips was standard post-op procedure in the U.S.

-Parking. Yes, the only parking is in a multi-story carpark, complete with huge pillars and low headroom. The lot was so over crowded that it was literally full when we arrived to check in for our scheduled c-section. Fortunately, a nice hospital employee allowed us to leave our car in the drop off zone- seeing as we were about to have a baby and all. On subsequent visits, my sweetie had to circle the lot searching for a spot. And, of course, we had to pay for parking.

-The "clothing" provided for the babies consisted of little tank tops ("singlets") and miniature hospital gowns that tied in the back. These looked completely uncomfortable to me- so we quickly switched to our own clothing from home. (The midwives all loved my baby nightgowns- apparently these aren't readily available in Australia). They also don't put hats on the newborns here- apparently to allow them to regulate their body temperature better.

-Limited access to a pediatrician. There was no pediatrician in the delivery room, and in fact, no one came to see the baby until he was 30+ hours old. Very different from the standard care in the U.S. When we finally saw the pediatrician, she basically told me that since this was my 3rd baby she wouldn't need to see us again. She actually said, "I don't believe in well baby checks." Um, OK, I guess.

-Nursing care was much more "hands-off" than in a U.S. hospital. One of the midwives actually told me that it was just too difficult for her to keep track of when I was due for my pain medication, and it would be up to me to call when I needed something. They seemed to be constantly writing things down on scraps of paper and sticking them in their pockets, unlike at the US hospital where the nurses logged everything on a computer and showed up at my bedside promptly every 4 hours with pain medication.

-Finally, leaving the hospital was a different experience here in Australia. In the U.S., babies leave the hospital in mom's arms, and a hospital volunteer pushes them out in a wheelchair. They also provided a trolley for us to load up all our flowers, gifts, and bags for easy transport to the car. All I had to think about was holding my little bundle of joy. But here, we were on our own. And, of course, it was pouring rain. Getting to the car with the baby and all our stuff was a bit stressful. Of course, we made it, but I found myself longing for that wheelchair service we took for granted back in America.


Overall, having a baby here was a good experience. And now that we're home with our amazing newborn boy, all the little annoyances seem so insignificant. Having a baby here was like most things in Australia- familiar enough to make you feel somewhat comfortable, but just different enough to keep things interesting.

Tastes Like Chicken

Walking through the grocery store in Australia is still a mystifying experience. Here is a small sampling of the interesting products I found for sale in the chip aisle. Because you've always wanted chips that taste like . . . . meat.

Honey Soy Chicken

Not just BBQ- but BBQ Ribs

Moroccan Spiced Chicken and Lemon (really??)

Classic Honey Baked Ham

For the Purists: Chicken

Luckily for me they also have the standard "Sea Salt" and "Salt & Vinegar". Which is good for those of us who prefer our chips to taste like . . . chips.

Too Good to be True

I've been in Australia for nearly 11 months. And for 11 months I have been queuing up inside the petrol station whenever I need to fill up my tank. That's right, there is no pay at the pump in Australia. You can imagine what a pain this is, especially for those of us with kids.
And then today, while driving home from the SupaCentre, the low fuel light went on in the car. I pulled into the nearest petrol station and was shocked to see something called ePump! Yes, there were what appeared to be credit card machines attached to the pumps. I was so excited!
However, as I read the instructions I realized that I had gotten my hopes up for nothing. The ePump only works with their special everyday money credit card! All the poor saps (like me) with regular old bank credit cards are completely out of luck.


So, after all that, it really was too good to be true. I had to stand there, pump the petrol (by the way there are no little levers you can use to hold the pump for you either), and then go inside to pay for the fuel.
The only person happy about this arrangement was the Little Buddy, who scored a pack of gum from the mini-mart.
No pay at the pump- just one more reason why I try to get my sweet husband to fill up the car as often as possible!

You Know You're in Australia When . . .

You know you're in Australia when
you are at the Oval watching your 6 year old do Little Athletics
and a huge kookaburra swoops down
and snatches a sausage
right out of the mouth of the little girl standing next to you
and she is left holding an empty slice of white sandwich bread.
Then you know you are definitely in Australia.

Halloween Review

Back in the U.S. my neighbors are still handing out candy but here in Australia Halloween has come and gone.

For my kids, Halloween isn't just a holiday- it's a season. We spend months pouring over costume patterns, choosing just the right one. I haul out my sewing machine and work frantically until the last minute. For weeks leading up to the event there are parties, school parades, carnivals, pumpkin patch trips, and costume contests. When the big night arrives, we join the masses in our neighborhood and collect enough candy to last until Christmas.

But this year it was a bit different. First of all, it's Spring here. No pumpkin patches in sight, and a small pumpkin at the green grocer costs $40. So no pumpkin carving. As far as I can tell, the celebration at school consisted of a Halloween word search. No costumes, no eating a donut off a string, no pumpkin bowling. But no worries because our sweet Australian neighbors organized trick-or-treating for the neighborhood kids.

About a week before Halloween, they did a letterbox drop informing everyone that the local kids would be coming by at 5 pm. Everyone willing to hand out candy was asked to put out something orange.

We met up with the neighbors at the designated time (in broad daylight in 80 degree weather). I immediately noticed that Aussies have a totally different approach to Halloween costumes. It is a widely held belief here that costumes are meant to be scary. So lots of kids just wore their regular clothes with a scary mask. We also had several kids dressed as witches in everyday black clothes with pointy hats. (These witch hats also doubled as treat bags. Turn them upside down and voila- a place to put your candy)! Some kids didn't dress up at all. One kid was a ghost- Charlie Brown style in a sheet with oddly placed eye holes. I can confidently say that I am the only mum in the neighborhood who blew a fuse on my step down transformer sewing away on my kids' costumes. No one really knew who my kids were dressed as (I guess the Disney channel hasn't completely taken over the lives of all children here). I think most people assumed the Little Buddy's costume was his crazy red hair. But nevertheless, my kids were thrilled to be dressed up and didn't really notice what everyone else was wearing.

Of course the big thrill of Halloween is collecting candy (or lollies, as they say). Sure, I was a little bit grossed out at the unwrapped gummy worms being handed out at many houses, but there were also plenty of lollipops, Freddo Frogs, and fizzers. We walked 5 streets and probably hit around 20 houses. While we were out around 30 kiddos came by our apartment where my sweet husband threw candy down to them from the balcony.


All in all it was a wonderful Halloween. Lots of friends, fun and candy. Just what Halloween is meant to be.

Halloween Preview

Last year we lived a block away from the busiest trick-or-treat street in our city.
We had over 300 kids come to the door for a sweet treat. And luckily for us- no tricks!

This year we're in Australia where Halloween is a little more . . . low key.
My neighbors assure me that there will be trick-or-treating. Since the only kind of candy they seem have here is gummy worms it ought to be interesting.

I finally finished the kids' costumes. The Little Buddy was so excited about his he wore it to his sister's school for pick up. No one knew who he was. Do you?

Check out more Halloween cuties over at I Heart Faces.

Part of the Club

Recently we drove up to the Blue Mountains (which are more like hills by California standards) to take the kids on the Zig Zag Railway. Predictably, we pulled into the parking lot just as the train was pulling out of the station.

So, we found ourselves in the mountains with a couple hours to kill while we waited for the next train. Since it was freezing cold outside, we decided to take the advice of the station attendant and head to the Workman's Club in nearby Lithgow.



I've been wondering about these clubs since we arrived in Australia. Every suburb seems to have a RSL Club. I assumed (incorrectly) that you needed to be a veteran to go into these clubs. It turns out they are open to the public and are a hub of social activity here in Australia.

The Workman's Club in Lithgow, otherwise known as "Workies" is a combination restaurant, casino, sporting facility, and bingo hall. The place was packed with people (mostly white haired, but plenty of the younger crowd, too) playing the pokies, watching lawn bowling, and eating chicken schnitzel and chips. Televisions offered a variety of viewing options; like Magnum P.I. and The Footy Show.



The best tables were the ones by the windows, where people crowded to see the bowling outside and the greyhounds racing in the distance.



There is really nothing in the U.S. that compares to these Aussie clubs. I think the American Legion, the Elks Lodge, or the supper clubs of the Midwest come close.

If I had to rate our visit to Workies, I'd give it a "C" for food, but an "A" for it's interesting look into Aussie culture.

And, we did make it back in time to catch the last train of the day. To see more about our ride on the Zig Zag Railroad check out the Little Princess's Blog.

Who Would've Thought . . . It Figures

It's been 6 weeks since I became the owner of a shiny new Toyota Kluger and well, she wasn't looking so shiny any more. And, since my mom is coming to Sydney tomorrow (woo-hoo) I figured it was time to try out the local Crystal Car Wash.

$42.75 later ($40 for the car wash and $2.75 for a M&M biscuit that the Little Buddy promptly gnawed the M&Ms off of) I left feeling a little ripped off.

It's not just that the car wash here is nearly 4X the price of a good car wash in SoCal. It's that I didn't even get Armor All on the tyres or that overpowering "new car" scent sprayed inside.

The good news: This is Australia so the guys with the chamois don't expect a tip.

The bad news: Looks like it's gonna rain again.

It figures.

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

When we decided to move to Sydney I started reading about culture shock. I wanted to be prepared to deal with the inevitable roller coaster of emotions that most expats describe. Here's what I learned (or learnt if you're Aussie):

There are 5 Stages of Culture Shock

1. The Honeymoon.
Everything is exciting, it feels like you're on vacation.
2. Distress Stage.
Everything is confusing, and you don't have your support system to fall back on.
3. Re-integration Stage.
You feel angry, hostile, and frustrated and idealize life back home. You reject the new culture as inferior.
4. Autonomy Stage.
You start to feel like yourself again, have more confidence, and no longer feel isolated.
5. Independence.
Embracing the new culture and everything in it, you start to feel at home.

I think I am on an extended honeymoon. I love it here. We live in a beautiful place and have met many lovely people. We've found a school for our daughter and a church for our family. And while I miss our dear friends and family members back home, the truth is, I am happy here. There has not been one day when I felt that coming here was a mistake.

I'm not so bold to believe that I am immune to the effects of culture shock. So I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. We've been here for a bit over 2 months. How long can the honeymoon last?

Wish List

Things I Wish They Had in Oz:

-Reeses Peanut Butter cups and Heath Bars
-Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
-My Sissy
-Amazon.com
-Gift Receipts at Toys R Us
-Costco
-Pay at the Pump petrol stations

(There's heaps more, but those are the biggies for me right now).

Things I Wish they Didn't Have in Oz:

-Cartoon Network and Boomerang
-Speed and red light cameras
-Sharks in the harbour
-Dangerous spiders
-Coin operated shopping trolleys with 4WD

Hey, a girl can dream.

On a side note, today I saw a very attractive young woman wearing full-on MC Hammer style harem pants. Can't touch this:



Please, people, tell me these pants are not making a fashion come back.

Fitting Right In

The Little Princess and I have an ongoing competition trying to one-up each other in a little game we like to call "Who is More Aussie?" She seems to think she is more "Aussie" than me because she uses words like "heaps"and "ta-mah-to sauce" and calls me "mum". Usually she wins, but last week I trumped her with the holy grail of Aussie-ness. Parking.

I've noticed that Australians love to back their cars into parking spaces. I think it is actually their preferred parking method. Back in the U.S. I only backed my car in when absolutely necessary. (Like when going to see Elmo Live on Stage at the Civic Arts Plaza when a million other mothers with sleepy toddlers would be trying to exit the parking structure at exactly the same time. If you didn't back in you would never be able to get out!) But here everybody backs in all the time. I've been intimidated by all this backing in. The parking spaces here are very narrow, often bordered by cement pylons or cinder block walls. To make matters worse, street parking often involves stopping traffic on busy roads to parallel park. I have walked blocks out of my way to avoid parallel parking on the street. I've had nightmares about long lines of hurried drivers behind me honking while I try unsuccessfully to squeeze my big new Toyota Kluger into a tiny spot on the street.

But now that has all changed.

First, I backed my car into this tiny space at Woolies (the grocery store where you can by 2 12pks of Diet Coke for the amazing sale price of $16 this week).




Then I parallel parked my car on Military Road perfectly on the first try! I was too busy gloating about my amazing Aussie parking skills to take a picture of the perfect parking job. But trust me, it was spot on. Even the Little Princess had to concede. I am so Aussie. I fit right in.

G'Day Mate

It's time for the weekly restaurant review.

The G'Day Cafe
Location: The Rocks



The G'Day Cafe is a quick, inexpensive place to grab a bite to eat. There is a small outdoor patio in the back where pigeons love to hover and grab discarded chips (translation: french fries).

On each table is a large box of Kleenex. I guess facial tissues are an acceptable substitute for napkins here. Never mind that they stick to your skin and disintegrate when wet. It is made from paper and you can wipe your face with it, right?

The menu featured burgers and sandwiches so it seemed like a pretty safe place for a quick lunch. But things aren't always how they seem in Oz.

When the waitress finally arrived to take our order, I had a couple questions about the menu. The conversation went like this:

Me: "What kind of cheese is on the roast beef sandwich?"

Waitress responds with blank stare.

Me: "Is it cheddar or swiss?"
I thought if I presented the question in an easy to understand, multiple choice format I might be more likely to get a response from her.

Waitress: "It's just normal cheese."

At this point my man steps in to come to my rescue. He moves on to cheese colors.
Him: "Is it yellow or white cheese?"

Waitress, clearly exasperated by our complete lack of knowledge about basic normal cheese finally responded: "White cheese"

When the food arrived the roast beef did, in fact, have some variety of sweaty white cheese on it. It also had huge raw mushrooms on it, which was a bit surprising but not completely unappetizing.

We were also surprised to see that the burgers are topped not with tomatoes but with sliced beets. Interesting.

Overall, I would avoid the G'Day Cafe. I'd rather make my own sandwich with not so normal cheese and wipe my face with a real napkin, thank you very much!