Slow progress

Tess with her Year Six buddy

Emily and her friend Emily

So yesterday was the first day of school. I wish I could say Emmy and Tess greeted me at day's end with big smiles and told me how much they loved it. Instead both girls were exhausted, hungry, thirsty and a little shell shocked by pick up time. The weather was quite warm and humid and neither girl had drunk any of her water. Likewise, their lunches were largely uneaten. They eat lunch outside during an all school recess period and apparently we have some kinks to work out.

The school pairs up each Kindie kid with a buddy from Grade Six. Once I got some food into Tess she began to tell me stories about her buddy Brian (just like Daddy!) and all the funny things he had to say. She said he joined her for lunch and played with Emily as well. Em announced that she'd met another Emily. After day one neither girl could name their teacher or a single other kid in their class. 

For day two I gave the kids three assignments: 1) Learn your teacher's name, 2) Learn the name of one friend, and 3) Drink your water!

Both girls dragged their feet leaving the house this morning and Emily in particular seemed quite nervous. It seems they do a lot to ease the Kindie kids into school but Emily is one of only a few new students in her year and I think she felt a little lost. 

As we walked into the school yard in the morning a sweet older girl walked up and said to her friend, "Look, there's my buddy." The older kids seem to take their buddy responsibilities seriously and I was glad to know that Addie had an eye out for Tess each day. Of course, I now have to second guess anything Tess tells me about her day.

By the time the girls went in for school we had already asked around and found out their teachers' names - Ms. Reid for Tess and Ms. Stone for Emily. Emily also introduced me to the other Emily.

At pick up Emily seemed in a much brighter mood. She knew a lot of names and seemed to really like several of the kids. Tess seemed happy at pickup but her teacher said Tess had an emotional morning and had cried and said she missed me. I heard that several other Kindie kids were crying in the morning so it's possible that set her off. 

After school we stuck around in the play yard and then in the nearby playground for a good two and a half hours. I was so happy to see the girls play, jump and smile, and just act like happy kids. I know they will both thrive in school in time. I know they will make close friends. Still, it's heartbreaking to watch them struggle through these early days. 

Emily's class files into school

Tess shows off her big jumps in the school yard

More after school play in the public park

First day of school

Tess and Emily donned their new uniforms this morning and headed off to day one of Kindie and Year One. Tess has been very excited about starting Kindergarten but she started getting cold feet in the last few days and as of yesterday declared she would rather stay home with me. I know that they will both love school once it gets going but I recognize that a new school in a new country is a big leap for even an adventurous kid. Emily did her best to assure Tess that Kindergarten was a lot of fun while also admitting that we have no idea what first grade is like. 

We took a bunch of pictures, walked the 3/4 of a mile to school together and spent some time milling about the play yard before going in. Both girls bravely separated and headed into the unknown. I can't wait to hear all their updates when I pick them up this afternoon.

Tess working through the morning checklist

The principal addresses the older classes

Meaty chips and Vegemite

We all know Aussie's love their Vegemite but it's still an amazing sight to see a Costco tower's worth.

As promised, here's an example of chicken flavored potato chips. A quick look at the Woolworth's online order site shows that 18 of the 77 chip flavors involve meat. Actual flavors names include:  honey baked ham, cheese and bacon, chorizo & caramelized onion, cheese burger, chicken, bbq rib, grilled steak, honey bbq ribs, and seasoned chicken. 

Cheezels? Apparently they're kind of like a Cheeto. That reminds me, here you can get Cheeto bacon and cheese balls. 

Australia Day

Yesterday we celebrated our first Australia Day! Sydney puts on quite a show for the occasion. We watched ferries race across the harbor. We ate corn on sticks and waved Aussie flags. We saw a concert in a park and came home for a barbecue. The girls even stayed up to see their very first fireworks. We watched them from a park across the street from us. We could only glimpse the ones that came up over the buildings but it was a lovely warm night and still worth doing.

Australia Day reminds me of the 4th of July in its nationalist sentiment and Labor Day in that it marks the end of summer and the start of school. Brian pointed out an important difference. In the US we celebrate the departure of the British. Here, Australia Day celebrates the arrival of the British in 1788. Australians remained British subjects through 1984. The union jack still features prominently on the Aussie flag.

Watching the ferries race across the Harbour.

A fire boat leads the way with an impressive spout of water.

The Harbour was packed with boats.

Brian covets this awesome police boat.

Check out this paramedic's ride!

Mmm. Corn on a stick.

Vehicle Report

I remember reading about Aussie slang before we got here. They call breakfast brekky. Afternoon gets shortened to arvo (I kid you not). They say ute for SUV. Or so I thought. As it turns out, ute is its own vehicle class here. A ute is an Aussie-specific cross between a pick up truck and a car (think El Camino) and you see them all over. 

A little wikipedia surfing turns up that Ford is claimed to be the first company to produce an Australian "ute". This was the result of a 1932 letter from the wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia asking for "a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays." See more here. There's a whole culture of modified "hotted up" utes. Who knew?

I also thought some of our young male readers (that means you Sam, Liam and Mac!) might enjoy seeing what fire trucks look like here. The drivers of this one even turned their lights on for me when I took the picture. If there's a cute nickname for a fire truck I haven't heard it yet but I'll keep you posted. 

Personally, I still haven't worked up the nerve to drive here but Brian does every day. We both find the lanes much narrower than back home. On the other hand, the overall speed limits are lower. And then there's the whole thing of driving on the other side, learning the new traffic patterns, and learning your way around a new city. I'll get there in time. For now, I'm happy that we can walk around Balmain and take the bus and ferry all over. 

It tastes like a Lamington

So far we have adopted a European approach to grocery shopping. Instead of one big shop once a week we pop into our local Woolworth's almost daily. This seems to be the norm - at least in Balmain. I rarely see someone walk out of the grocery store with more than a few bags and I often see people walking a mile or so home with those same bags. I carry my backpack everywhere and I plan on picking up a few supplies at a time.

Tonight Brian and I hosted one of his colleagues for dinner. So instead of just going to the grocery store the girls and I made several stops including one for dessert and fresh bread, and another for fruit and flowers. We  enjoyed checking out some of the smaller shops in our little town. 

For desserts we went to Australian celebrity chef Adriano Zumbo's narrow little patisserie to pick up some of his signature macarons. I chose six macarons of various flavors including: eucalyptus, salted butter caramel, chocolate doughnut and lamington. I asked what the lamington tasted like and the woman behind the counter replied, "you know, like a lamington." Thanks. Once again, I'm glad to have wikipedia to turn to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington.

A girly day at Manly beach

Yesterday we took too long to get out of the house. Lesson learned. Today we packed up our gear and headed to Sydney's famous Manly beach. The slender spit of land called Manly creates the Northern edge of the mouth of Sydney Harbour and boasts beautiful beaches on both the harbor and the ocean sides. The big surf on the ocean side draws surfers from all over the world. 

We hopped on the bus to Circular Quay and then took a ferry out to the Manly stop. From there we walked the few short blocks to the ocean. Along the way the girls found a fountain to soak in. I'm glad they did because once we hit the beach we saw a sign warning about blue bottle jellyfish (known elsewhere as the Portugese man o' war). The girls went from game to play in the surf to stuck on the sand. I tried to show them that with the super clear water you could just keep an eye out on your general area but they heard the word sting, turned tail, and got out. They played happily in the sand for an hour or two although every time their hands got sandy they'd debate endlessly how they'd ever get them clean again. Eventually they worked up the nerve to at least rinse off.

We spent the day outdoors. I walked my 10,000 steps. The girls behaved quite well and we enjoyed some of the most stunning scenery around. Not bad for a Tuesday. I'm glad we got another dose of summer fun in before school starts next Wednesday.

Trying times

Could a cappuccino that beautiful make up for a morning full of power struggles, ear piercing screams, epic meltdowns, and sibling fights? What if you drank it in a beautiful garden in quaint cafe that also offered loaner children's books? Well, it's a start.

Circle Cafe - one of my favorites

My eldest looking all innocent

The fresh air, exercise and stimulation of leaving the house helped as well. Still, I'm ready for the start of school. These kids need some friends and a set routine and I need a little personal space. In the mean time, I'll leave you with some pictures of the neat houses we passed on our walk into town. I really do love it here. 

Check out the old iron railings on the upper porches.

You also get a sense of the slope of the roads.

I love all the overflowing gardens.

Produce and pies

 

We love the produce here! We've found both convenience stores and whole grocery stores dedicated just to fruits and vegetables. Yum. It helps to have a lot of familiar staples as we sort out all the other food options in our new country.

With all this great produce and a plethora of pie shops you might think we could find fruit pies to rival Keene Valley's Noonmark Diner. Think again. Here savory pies outnumber their sweet counterparts. Beef and Guinness; tandoori chicken and yogurt; lamb, garlic and rosemary; mincemeat - sure. Strawberry rhubarb crumb - not so much. 

From the exotic to the mundane

Living in Australia involves more than just kangaroo and koala encounters. It also means a thousand little differences. Today's post focuses on everyday food. As you can see, we still find American breakfast cereals but they're all slightly different. Raisin Bran is Sultana Bran here but otherwise quite similar. We have yet to find basic Cheerios but you can get Multi-grain ones under the brand name Uncle Toby. Personally I've opted for Just Right. It's pretty similar to the US version but also includes mango. Yum.

I could write a whole post on coffee - perhaps I will some day. For now, you can see my range of iced coffee options for the mornings. On the left you have my own cold brew. This is something I started doing back home and it's carried over here. Recipe link Then you have two Australian brands of ready made iced coffee. The Farmer's Union is very popular in South Australia. Apparently it outsells Coca-cola there so it seemed worth trying. I've also tried Dare brand. I don't drink it every day but it's nice to have if my own homemade supplies run low.

I find grocery shopping overwhelming because I can't just scan the aisles. I really need to read all the labels and sometimes I can't even make sense of the items I'm seeing. I have no clue what bread improver is but I'm a little suspicious of adding wallaby to my baked goods.

 Somehow you can buy tons of SPAM but not a Triscuit. Very strange.

 We think Tasty is their term for Cheddar. I suppose Extra Tasty is Sharp Cheddar?

Apparently Aussie kids have a low tolerance for spice because they sell a family friendly even milder mix.

Do you have any specific food questions? I'm happy to answer them!

Blue Mountains day trip

 

Today we took our first day trip out of Sydney. We left early, grabbed breakfast to go and made our first stop at a little campground called Euroka Clearing with the hope of seeing some kangaroos in the wild. To our delight a mob of six kangaroos were casually grazing in the field. We snapped pictures and then sat down to eat our breakfast as well just delighted that the kangaroos hung out so close and didn't hop away. In fact, we left before they did. It felt strange to chose to walk away from such a site but we had other things on our agenda.

Next, we drove up to Katoomba to one of the most iconic spots in the Blue Mountains. Brian and I took a guided tour through this area when we came two years ago and we returned today to some of those same spots. From Katoomba we took a cable car down to a boardwalk through the rain forest. I was worried the kids would be scared by the cable car but they did really well. We returned home exhausted and happy. 

 

Standing by a giant tree fern