Jaymi in Perth

My good friend Jaymi came to visit--meeting us in Fiji to the completion of her MBA. Having guests is great...it makes us feel like locals (because we know more about the city than SOMEBODY!), it gives us a great excuse to explore things we have taken time to do, and we get to spend some time with people who make everything fun (including upacking up my office, and quiet nights in for cards). Jaymi's an independent traveller so while I was working she was scouting. Gretchen's visiting too, (while celebrating her 60th) but she's scouting different things.

So we now have 10 new things we've learned:

10--Jaymi knows everybody who spends anytime at the pool bar (and has their emails).


9-- Karaoke bars in Australia play the same songs as in the US.



8--The parking garage closes at 1 pm (so if you are planning to stay at the club until 4 am, park on the street--or you have to ride the bus back the next day).



7--Cirque du Soleil really are as good as they say.



6--Kris doesn't get to navigate, she talks too much and gets car sick reading maps.



5--Bring extra camera batteries, they always run out when you want them (e.g. the snorkelling in Fiji, the dolphins in the river, the nature park, the beach).



4--The tree top walk is less scary than climbing the Gloucester tree, and the view is better.




3--Gretchen's conquered her fear of birds and reestablished it within a week (after a dreadful magpie attack).













2--No matter how many times Nathan has been sailing, make him take the dramamine. He'll enjoy the whale watching much more.








1--Koalas=cute.




0--Everything is more fun when you share it with friends.














Thanks for coming to visit Jaymi...we loved having you. See you in Italy!

BULA! from Fiji!

Fiji is gorgeous. Beautiful flowers, azure waters, palm trees waving in the breeze, everything you pictured in the guide book. Somehow they neglected to include you sun-burned, sweat rolling down your back, contemplating the air conditioning in your hotel room. Somehow, when I picture tropical paradise, I left out the tropical.



My friend Jaymi offered to meet me half way for a celebratory vacation. (Celebrating her MBA completion, and our moving). Since her timeshare has lots of room, Nathan's mom agreed to meet us here to celebrate her 60th birthday as well. The 4 of us have been traipsing around Fiji in a rental car with no shocks (maybe at one time, but the rough roads finished them off a long time ago).

We visited a village where the women's primary income are the few tourists that stop by to buy pottery. We bought a lot (not a lot of it was attactive, but most souveniers aren't!). The tourist trade is really important income for everyone here, but it is hard to enjoy it because of the disparity between the customer and producer sometimes.

Nathan and I went to our running club, and got to meet quite a few locals. They really understood the tourist industry as part of the economy, and nobody seemed eager for it to change. Of course they were talking to a tourist so maybe they are too polite. We will need to post more about the HASH club when we can post pictures.

Anyway, need to head out of the air conditioning soon. We are planning a snorkelling trip tonight, and a sail to some of the uninhabited islands on Friday. Then back to reality. It has to happen sooner or later.

city to surf 2007

What could possibly attract 29,000 runners and walkers to cover 12 k (7.5mi) out on a rainy, blustery, morning at 7:30 am? I was there and I still don't know. There were no T-shirts, no race packs, no fans, no bands, 3 big hills, too many people, not enough bathrooms or garbage bins. There were no freebies at the end, no bananas or bagels, no powerade.

Despite the rain, the wind, and too few amenities, and too many people...it was a really good time.

It's the largest competitive run in Western australia, and may well be the largest run per capita in the world (we'll have to compare it to the Great North Run), and what Kris wrote up above is all true -- and this morning is a different story. Our quiet afternoon post-race was quieter than most. A pan of shepherd's pie, a half a glass of wine, 2 episodes of Firefly, and then crashing into bed by 4pm for a 16 hour sleep. Well, we'll see what it's like next year.

nathan

Decision--new job!

It's been a decisive month. First a car. Now, a job.

Yes, after much deliberation, Nathan has decided to stop working emergency clinic, and join me in the 9-5 world.

It's been a difficult decision. Nathan wasn't going to start working emergency here, but Murdoch has a lot of great learning experiences, fantastic specialists, doing work noone else does, and an incredibly persuasive hospital CEO, Phil Payne. In March of this year, Nathan told the CEO he didn't think emergency hours were right for him. Phil was persuasive, and promised they'd be adding more vets to free up the schedule. Despite Nathan's reservations, he signed up at the Murdoch and has been working heavy hours, mostly weekends.

When we came back from our trip to the States, Nathan discovered he'd been assigned every weekend from August 1 to October 1. They promised they'd rearrange the schedule so he'd get some time off, if he would offer some suggestions about which weekdays he wanted to work. In trying to make those suggestions, he discovered he really didn't want to give up any weekdays either.

The truth is, despite all the excitement, cool medicine, and prestige that comes with ER, we are ready for the good ol' 9 to 5 rut. Sleeping in the same bed, dinner out, weekends off.

They've asked Nathan to stay on as a casual employee (that's what they call temps...but it describes people who get to wear pajamas/scrubs to work) until he finds a permanent job or a better locum position. So, Nathan's last official day as a Murdoch employee is September 13...when we are in Fiji on vacation. Nathan will have the option of picking up some extra shifts after that day (to pay for our travelling) but will mostly be able to look for something great...and enjoy a long visit with his mom, and our friend Jaymi.

Two big decisions in 2 weeks. It's a Mannix record.

Woo Hoo--Let it Rain!

For those of you that we have been trying to entice to visit us, we've probably neglected to tell you something. "Winter in Perth is Rainy". July averages around 19 years of rain per month (I meant days). Last year was the driest July on record, this year is making up for it. On the sunny days, its gorgeous...75 degrees, sunny, the world is alive with shockingly bright flowers, and everyone is smiling.


Everyone is smiling because they know any minute, the weather will change. Out of sunny skies, a cool drizzle will start to fall. Within 5 minutes, the wind has picked up and the rain is blowing horizontally. Umbrella's collapse in the 20-25 mi per hour gusts. A sudden deluge overwhelms gutters until its just pouring off buildings.

So why do I say let it rain? Nathan and I have finally bought a second car. For most of the summer and fall, I rode the bus to work in the morning or evening, with Nathan picking me up on his way to or from his overnight. Then the rain started. I rode the bus a few times, but its a 15 minute walk to the first bus station. Its a 10 minute wait between bus transfers. Its a 15 minute walk to my side of campus. Let's just say after 5 minutes of horizontal rain standing in a bus shelter, none of my suits looked too sharp on arrival. And let's face it, its hard enough to go to work somedays, without the additional demotivation of gray clouds, hurricane winds, and pissing down rain. So for the really wet time, Nathan has been acting as my chaffeur or has volunteered to be carless at home rather than get up after 5 hours of sleep to drive me to work. We promised ourselves when we sold the house, we'd buy another car.

TA-DA! (Debbie we need the cape!).
















Within 10 days of being home, Nathan and I decided on what car we were going to buy, visited 3 dealerships, and purchased one that met our needs. And we both think its a sporty little number! So, all you would be visitors we are ready for you...we'll take the top down and cruise the beach. Orhead into the bush with our camping gear for a little bushtrack camping. Or if that's not your style, or if its raining at least you won't have to take the bus to the pub.

Kristin

Home again?

When you work overnight, conversations with your co-workers cover alot of ground. After talking about growing up in Alaska, living in London and MN, then moving down to Perth, one of the nurses asked, "so, where do you consider home?"

Now, I'm sure that she did not intend that to be a philosophical question, but just something polite to keep the conversation going. Something along the lines of, "and how's the family?" To be fair, i didn't wax philosophical until a couple of hours later (3am is a good time for retrospection), but then I gave the question some serious thought.

See, I had just come from a trip back "home." That trip included California and Minnesota, both of which could arguably claim the title, but in this case "home" was just a handy and concise way of explaining that it wasn't a vacation, but rather a visit. You vacation in Fiji or the Christmas Islands, but you visit back home, and you rarely get a great tan visiting.

It was a really good visit, though. At the California "home," we got to visit grandparents, in-laws, sister, cousins, neice, and father (in no particular order), catch up on the gossip, eat at IHOP, and clean up some of the generations of accumulated treasures behind grandpa's house. At the Minnesota "home," I got to keep grandma company after her surgery, hang out with mom, stay with some friends in rochester, catch up with church folks, and hear the rochester concert band in the park. I even drove past the "home" that we recently, and with much rejoicing, unloaded in this soft market (only to see a boat parked in the driveway -- I knew he could have paid more!).

Then there are the homes that I didn't make it to on this trip. I didn't get up to the ranch in Mendocino county, I didn't make it to Alaska, I didn't get to visit with friends in Washington, a "home" where i've never lived, but claim it as something familiar and loved. It seems that I would claim every place west of the Mississippi as home, and some parts of London as well. But when I was on the plane out of San Francisco, at the start of the long flight to Sydney and then to Perth, my neighbor in the row asked where I was headed. "Going home," I replied without thinking, "Perth."

I guess that home is many places, many people, and a wealth of experiences shared with folks that you love. So come and visit us...wherever we happen to be.

Make yourselves at home.

Sold! At Last!

Yes. The House is SOLD! papers signed, money in the bank, no more bills to pay.

It was a hard 15 months, between the nail biting wait for prospective buyers to view the house, the difficult decisions to lower the price, the gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair as we negotiated (and renegotiated)3 seperate offers and finally the last flurry of activity with the new buyer who changed his mind almost weekly. Our realtor Curt Britson is a SAINT!

As I am in Minnesota visiting family, I stopped by the house to say goodbye. If felt strange, there was nothing to move out, nothing personal left there (except a coffee mug in the microwave that Curt found 3 months after we left--ugh....science project). Curt opted not to leave that moldy cup of coffee for the new buyers. After several difficult negotiations, I was on the fence about our little housewarming present.

Part of the change was the new buyer had asked if he could have a contractor start work a day or two early.When I walked through the place, there was a big gaping hole in the wall between the kitchen and living room, new tiles laid out for the floors, and new carpet on the way.

I went to the backyard to dig up St Joseph, who was supposed to help sell the house, but instead sensed our Lutheran guilt over the iconographic saint and refused to help. I was ready to dig St Joseph up, and repent. The flowers in the backyard had grown up over his burial spot, and I didn't have the heart to ruin the flowerbed. (I didn't have a shovel either).

Leaving the house felt strange. Part of me was still looking at this as an escape hatch (if everything went wrong in Australia, we wouldn't be homeless) but part of me felt that worry over selling and the on-going bills meant we weren't really free to fully enjoy Australia.

Despite our intentions of being footloose and fancy free, Nathan and I put down roots here. We were nourished by our friends , rewarding work, a welcoming church community, music and theater. But, the longer we stayed the more we realized that these roots would only grow deeper, making it more challenging to transplant ourselves later.

So, with joy and a little nostalgia, we are ready say goodbye to 5559 Fairway Dr. NW, Rochester MN. Thanks for all the memories! Kristin