Friday, August 10, 2007
CanÕt believe that our first week in Tasmania is over! We actually had practically a full work/school week! This week we:
- set up a bank account
- started both kids in school
- figured out how to take the bus
- found our way to the University
- met up with our respective contacts (Jim Weller at UTas, Tim Albion at Menzies)
- collected all our boxes from the post office
- posted my blog for the first time
- got internet working at home, applied for it at work
- cooked lots
- washed the floors
- started a schedule for the girls to sweep the kitchen daily
- went to Salamanca Market
- mailed lots of postcards
whew! We really did a lot! Today I stayed home. I was tired of getting soaked walking to and from work. I posted my blog last night and this morning I had lots of emails from people who had read it! The positive response was really wonderful and made me feel excited to keep up with this. I think it will be a good way to keep up with people and share our experiences. IÕm thinking of it as an open access scrapbookÉ
Eileen and Annapurna both had field trips to the university today for a science demonstration. They went at different times, but Anna saw some kids from EileenÕs school arriving when they were leaving. Eileen had a GREAT day! Mr. White took the class again, and he was good at including her and helping other kids to learn a bit about the US. He had questions about geography, etc. at the end of the day, and asked a number about the US, and let Eileen answer once he had exhausted the class answers. She really likes him and was pleased to get several rewards so that she could put more stickers on her chart.
I spent all day on my laptop catching up with email, peoplesoft and other online things. I really should do some reading as well as respond to all the questions from my lab, but I didnÕt quite get that far. I did get my inbox down to under 90 emails, and replied to a lot. Now IÕm ready to do more. My wrist is already starting to be tired. Guess it was a big workoutÉ
Eileen is also excited about choir at school. It seems that there are two choirs, one in school, that kids can join, and a more select one that also meets in school, but will perform Dec. 7th in an all-city concert. There was a special permission form for the extra choir and Eileen had to audition. It sounds like the girls were quite nice about including her in all this and telling her where to go and who to talk to. Eileen loves to sing and was singing Danny Boy, which is one of the choir songs, off and on all day.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
We woke up to sun today! After all the clouds and continuous rain/shine and resulting rainbows, there wasnÕt a cloud in the sky. We walked down to Salamanca market again after all (I had not wanted to get caught in the rain again!). I must really keep better track of how much we are spending there! We pay a little here and a little there and suddenly weÕve spent a lot of money! Some things are clearly a really good buy there. The wool socks and gloves were much cheaper than stores. The produce is cheaper (I think!) and the flowers are a lot cheaper.
Today we bought warm gloves for me and for Annapurna (for our hike tomorrow, see below), wool socks for Annapurna, two kinds of jam, apples, pears, sweets (homemade hard candy with pictures folded into them), potatoes, salad, spring onions, beets, tomatoes, baby carrots, tulips (pink!), and lavendar soap. Almost everything was grown and made in Tasmania, including AnnapurnaÕs gloves. Most of the wool things were also from Tasmania, but the socks Annapurna bought were from New Zealand, I think. Her gloves were merino wool, possum fur and 5% silk – very cool! (actually, very warm!)
There were sooo many stalls that we saw this time that I had not seen last time. There were lots of really beautiful things made out of Tasmanian wood or wool and lots of beautiful jewelry. WeÕre trying to decide what to get as our memento of Tasmania. Well, anyway, IÕm spending a lot of time thinking about it! Each time we go I see more really nice things that I want!
It has not escaped my attention that Rama was not in any pictures in the first installment. He does not stand still for photos enough, nor did he have a new uniform to model, but here he is in Tasmania.
We ate Persian food from a cart today – yum! Eileen had a sausage. We sat in a little park behind the market where we could see the Antarctic icebreaker Aurora Australis moored in the harbor. Not only is it bright orange, itÕs pretty much the largest thing around.
Aurora Australis
Oh, I forgot to mention that we ran into two girls who Eileen knows from school! They said, ŌHi, EileenĶ as they walked by and she said hi back. It was Allie and someone else. Apparently another girl from Goulburn St. was also there, Lizzie, but we didnÕt see her. It felt like Burlington, where weÕre always running into people, especially at a place like the market!
We came back after shopping and just hung out for a while. We will try out a close Indian restaurant tonight and make lunches for tomorrow. We are going on a hike (ŌbushwalkĶ in Australian parlance) on the Tasman peninsula at Cape Huay tomorrow (see this page for more about Cape Huay.) ItÕs supposed to be really beautiful – cliffs dropping to the ocean with unusual rock formations called the Candlestick. WeÕll start at Forescue Bay, with either a walk to the Candlestick or else a shorter one to Canoe Bay with a Shipwreck. There was a dusting of snow just above us on Mt. Wellington today, so it must be colder. We could feel the difference in the air temperature both last night and this morning. It could be quite cold on the coast, hence the need for the gloves. Hope the weather holds for tomorrow!
Do you see the snow on Mt. Wellington?
