Golf: Not Actually a Good Walk Spoiled

After a 5 week beginner golf course, we decided it was time to play a real game. So Rob and I ventured out yesterday to play our first 9 holes. It was great! I always was a bit bored by the thought of golf, but it was actually really nice. I think it also helped that the golf club we played at was very laid back, not pretentious like most clubs. We had a really nice day in the fresh air and sunshine, and it was a good amount of exercise pulling those clubs around the course.

In other yuppie pursuits, we are thinking of taking up sailing. Kite surfing has been great, but there are some other things we want to try as well. We are going to give surfing a try, which seems really fun, and sailing is something that we can do once we leave Australia too.

On a musical note, I've been taking drum lessons, and I love it. It's one of those things that just makes sense and clicks, unlike some other musical instruments I've tried. It's a lot like dancing actually. The way you count and divide up the beats is how we would in a dance class, which makes it a lot easier for me. So, if I can't find a real job then drummer might be next up on my list :)

Still in the interviewing stage, this job hunt thing is harder than I ever realized. I'm having a nice time not working, and I'm sure once I start I'll be wishing for a vacation, but it would be nice to work. I need that, I like to have that purpose and I like earning a salary. I miss all that, and also the comraderie of office friends. So, hopefully that will happen soon.

Well, Rob and I are off to do a little shopping, help boost the Australian economy. We like to do our part. Have a great weekend all.

Lots of love,
Sandra

Winter is here, but not here!

Ah, it's you again. Welcome back.

It's winter for most of you, but here in the land of Oz it's so summery I can't envision drinking anything but lemonade. It's hard to believe that it's the holiday season when the first thing we do is come home and turn the AC on. However, that doesn't stop the Aussies from portraying the holiday season with snow-covered santas in the store windows, and dreaming of Christmases in white. We actually miss the cold, although when it was a little chilly over the weekend we were pretty happy not to be heading into a traditional winter. Still, we miss wrapping up in sweaters and scarves and the coziness that this time of year brings. Or maybe we miss complaing about the weather. Either way, we'll appreciate cold winters when we have them again. For now though, we'll bask in the summer heat and really enjoy it, because we know once January hits we'll be gloating (in the nicest way possible of course, you can gloat this month though).

So, what have we been up to the last few weeks? Rob-work. Sandra- searching for work. That pretty much sums it up. We've also been having some fun though, we're fun people. We went up to the Gold Coast, which is beachy, flashy, and fun. This past weekend Rob took me away for a pretty fantastic birthday weekend to the Yarra Valley. It started with a trip to Prahan Market, a foodie's fantasy. We stocked up on fresh french bread and cheese. Then we went off to the zoo, to see koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, and other Aussie specialties. Went out for a beautiful dinner, red wine and porterhouse steaks for two. The next day I got spoiled with spa treatments, then we went to a winery for some tasting and another picnic (cheese and bread again, we would eat it everyday if we had the metabolism of teenage boys).

So now I'm 27. It may sound young, but I'm officially now in my late-twenties. It goes fast, as I'm starting to really appreciate. Thank you to everyone who helped make my birthday so special with cards, gifts, emails, and phone calls.

And Happy belated Thanksgiving to the USofAers. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and that you have a lot to be thankful for. I do.

Love,
Sandra

We have phone numbers!

So, we are finally all sorted out here in Australia. We are now traceable, contactable, and flexible. Oh, the last one's just me actually, yoga classes. So, if you want to call us, email us, write us a nice letter telling us how much you miss us, or call us from a fabulous party to show us how much we're missing not being with you, here's how you can do it:

Find us or write us at:
576 St. Kilda Road, Unit 911
Melbourne, VIC 3004
Australia

Call us:
Sandra's mobile: 0406889046 (if calling from outside Oz dial +61 406889046
Rob's mobile@: 0437456309 (if calling from outside Oz dial +61 437456309

Call us for virturally nothing on our skype numbers:
Skype-skype: sandra-and-rob-burley

We pay a monthly service fee so you can now call us for just the call of a local number for you. We have the following three numbers, one is a local MD number, one is a local London number, and one is a locl Melbourne number.

US number: 301-637-4472

UK number:020 3287 4621

Even an Australian number: 03 9005 6194

No excuse for not keeping in touch now, huh :) We miss you all, and wish you a lovely weekend.

We're off to go fly a few kites.

Love, Sandra and Rob

More new pictures

New pictures posted, click on our picture link below.

Great Ocean Road

Our New Apartment

xx S

New Photos

New photos are added to our Picassa page (link below- the picture archive at the bottom of the page). Check frequently, we update it often. The new album is called Greece.

Cheers

Kite Surfing Part Two

Before I start in on our spectacular second kite surfing lesson, I must clarify something from a previous blog. I am sure Vegemite is really nice, and I hope I didn't offend any Australians by saying I thought it was scary. I will definitely have to try it now, and prove myself wrong. I hear great things, and so far no Aussie has led me wrong!

Well, this past weekend we plunged into the water to let a kite drag us around. That was really fun. Rob is great at it, I believe the instructor used the word "perfect". For me, well, a bit of practice won't hurt before our next lesson. I'm comfortable admitting I'm not perfect (at least with kitesurfing, as for everything else....) :) At first we were pretty irrated because the wetsuits they gave us were just that. WET. And cold. And full of sand. It was a rather chilly day. Just imagine stripping down to your bathers, pulling on a wed, cold, sandy wetsuit while the wind whips you like a bully holding a towel in the locker room. That was less than fun. And our wetsuits were holey, and not in a saintly way. But we got over the indignities of being freezing and exposed, and hopped into the water with our harnesses and kites. We had a good session getting dragged around the water, and think it's going to be a really fun sport. Tough work, but a great time.

Had a house-warming party on Saturday which was great. We now know lots of nice people, and that's nice to feel so settled in already.

Till next time,
S & R Down Under

How to be a Good Australian

I'm feeling pretty proud today. A small accomplishment in the scheme of things, but still a shining moment. I have learned to drive on the left side of the road. Comfortably. And Rob even felt safe enough to close his eyes and have a little snooze. Yes, I am multi-conducir (to drive in Latin, although that doesn't really make much sense does it. You know what I mean anyhow). So, that's good.


We had a fantastic road trip this weekend. Pictures to come, and maybe Rob will even post on that adventure. Australia is a huge, amazing country. Pretty too.


We saw a Wallaby (which looks like a smaller, darker, kangaroo). We were consumed with seeing Australian animals on this drive, so it's so nice that we saw one. I also saw a kangaroo, but I don't think it counts, as it was sadly laying still by the roadside. They are prolific here, like deer, and people hunt them sometimes, which is apparently legal. No koalas yet, which is a big goal of ours. Are they not the cutest things? Would like to see one in the wild, but might resort to an open range zoo just to take a closer look.

We're adapting to Aussie culture pretty well I think, although after the Netherlands any English speaking country is a peice of cake. However, there are a few things I haven't quite picked up on yet.

Reasons I have been told I am a bad Australian:

1) I only own one pair of thongs (refer to previous post if this sounds scandalous)

2) Although I will maneoever a huge steel object around at 60+ mph (our car) I am afraid to try Vegemite

3) I laugh at words like "bonza." I mean, doesn't that sound like a sound that comes from a comic book when someone lands a punch to an evil villain?

I am sure I will adjust.

In the meantime, I am celebrating an Obama victory and a world of hope. I'm sure there is much more clever commentary out there than I can write here, but I will just say that this is a new beginning to a new world I think, and I am really looking forward to this change.

Here's hoping,

Sandra and Rob

Happy Halloween

It's Halloween, oh how I miss those days of dressing up and candy and not doing real lessons in school. Holidays are such a good break from the day-to-day and I think celebrating holidays really reminds you to stop and not continue through life with the days passing fast. Celebrating holidays marks where you are in the year, and adds a little something to an ordinary week.

There are many school now apparently that are banning Halloween costume parades, and nighttime trick-or-treating seems to receding as people become more frightened of the people on the streets than they are of the costumes that kids wear. I know that bad people exist, and it is certainly a small risk letting your kids run around the neighborhood, high on sugar, but c'mon, we can't live in a paranoid, enclosed world. One of the great things about trick-or-treating is the sense of community it enables. Neighbors that you may never have met otherwise open their door to you, you have at minimum momentary exchanges, which is more than may have happened otherwise, and you see all of the kids your age that exist just in the surrounding area. It's great. What a shame if that all goes away because people perceive the world as more dangerous. I'm not sure that it is, who knows, but I know that it would be sad to make the next generation think that it is too.

Well, it's Friday...again. That seemed to come around pretty fast actually. Rob and I bought a car (thanks Tony and Trixie!) and are taking it for a road trip this weekend on the Great Ocean Road. It should be great, and I plan to become an expert on driving on the left side of the road by the time we're back.

Have a great Halloween and weekend, I hope someone has a Reece's for me!

Treats, not tricks,
Sandra and Rob

Thongs, etc

Well, it's been a good week, but a tough one. I had an unexplained case of food poisoning that is never much fun. Rob took good care of me though. On the plus side, I got my absentee ballot in the mail, and another vote for Obama is on its way. I will take it to the US Consulate here in Melbourne today, where they speedily express it to the U.S. Very convenient.

Rob is working really hard, and has lots of different things going on at work. He's learning a lot about what is going on with the national economy, environment, and government, and no doubt contributing a lot too. I have been writing endless follow-up thank you letters and seeing who wants to interview me next. But it's not all work and no play for the Burleys! Tonight we start the first in a series of beginner golf lessons. Now, I happen to think that golf is a pretty boring sport (and I really apologize to all those who love, I'm sure it can be great). I probably think it's boring because I'm so bad at it. I tend to like things I excel at :) However, we decided what the hey, there's a gold course across the street, people seem to love it, let's give it a try. So, don't expect any national championships from either of us, but we'll at least learn which end of the club to hold. Only kidding, it's the one with the rounded bit of course.

Actually, I'm not being fair. Rob knows how to play and is pretty decent already. I have no interest and talent, and therefore have far more to learn with this sport. Perhaps tonight I will uncover a long-hidden gift and surprise the world!

This weekend we are driving The Great Ocean Road, one of the best drives in the world apparently. Ferries to Tasmania were all booked, so we are saving that for another time. It's always chilly there, so we may as well go when the B & B's deem it cold enough to have fires going, and make it a cozy holiday.

On an Australian note, I have had another reason added to the list of why I am a bad Australian (mentioned to me by a born and bred Aussie). Apparently, I do not own enough thongs, as I only have one pair. Now, don't get all het up over this disclosure! This is lesson number two. Thongs are not what we in the U.S., England, or other countries might think of them as. They go no farther up your body than your feet. Thongs are flip-flops, an important thing to know here. So, when my friend this weekend said she liked my thongs and asked where I got them, I could have spared us all some embarassment had I known that she was referring to the choice of my footwear. A good thing to know indeed.

Over and Out,

Sandra and Rob

Woe to a weekend past- is it the next one yet?

Another beautiful day here in Australia. Rob and I were saying over the weekend that we aren't very good Australians yet. We ventured out for a walk on Sunday in t-shirts and sweatpants (yes, very scruffy), only to find that wearing anything more than a cotton tank-top and shorts was entirely overdressed. The weather is hotter than anything we've experienced. Even growing up in humid DC in the summer, this was unexpected. Partly because it's October and that doesn't seem natural to us, and partly because well, it's Australia, and we have some things to learn. We also have on our list a) a big bottle of sunscreen to put by the door and b) a big bottle of mosquito/fly repellent to be easily accessible in the same place. Apparently the ozone layer over Australia is verrrrry thin, so we have to be extra careful. The "apply every 2-3 hours" with sunscreen is something that people take very seriously. Thank goodness we have baseball hats coming in our air shipment soon, they are more than just a fashion statement here, they're survival! And the bugs, well, that's just something that comes as part of the Aussie package, luckily the only thing we can find to complain about so far :)

Had a great weekend, just fantastic. Went to a party, saw two movies, went for a great walk to explore the beach, and discovered a huge mall, which is only exciting because they don't have them in Holland. I have to say, the movies we saw were excellent. First, Body of Lies, the new Leo DiCaprio (new here at least, I think the movies run a little behind), and Russell Crowe. This was possibly the best movie Rob and I have seen in the last three years, which is why I mention it. There are times in it you might think, uughhh, I don't want to see this (scary factor/violent factor) but actually in the end you will be really glad you put in the time. So good.

The other movie we saw was possibly the saddest movie I have seen in years. Called Sleepers, it starts Robert DeNiro and Brad Pitt, and is just the most awful, heart-breaking, tragic movie I can remember. It was an incredibly good film, very thought-provoking, but so intense and horrible. Basically, it was about the torture and rape of young boys at a juvenile detention center in upstate New York in the 60's. Who knows if it is a true story, but certainly the prison system wasn't well-regulated for years, and guards abused their privileges constantly. Sadly, this probably still happens in many places in the world, to a variety of people. This movie really made me want to do something to help the exploitation and suffering of people at the hands of those who have authority over them. I think I'm going to have to take some action to help against this, whether it's volunteer work or part of my career. I've started looking into being involved in organizations that help prevent sex trafficking, and will continue to look into ways I can help.

On a lighter note.... :)

We are ready for another weekend. This one we are taking a three day-er, and hopefully hopping on a ferry down to Tasmania. A whole new country to explore! Are there really Tasmanian Devils and do they really whirl into tiny little cyclones? I'll let you know. Apparently it is a beautiful country. Great outdoors, beauiful hiking, fantastic wine. The Aussies call it Tassie, which is adorable. I think we'll have a fantastic time.

Signing out and hoping you all have a glorious tomorrow (which is already today here, so mind-boggling!)

Sandra and Rob

Musings on a Culture

What a multicultural city. Today I went for a walk on my lunch hour (which is whatever hour I deem that to be as I have yet to find formal employment). I walked around a big lake near our apartment, and I swear it could have been an ad for the UN. Or maybe Mastercard, or even more likely HSBC which loves to portray itself as truly global. Anyway, I digress. I saw an Asian woman doing Tai Chi, a be-suited Muslim man praying to Mecca, and passed the Australia-Egypt-Israel Peace Grove. I thought all that was pretty cool. I added to the intercultural mix of course by being a foreigner myself.



It's very interesting reading the history of Australia's immigration, which is relevant to every single person living here, even the aboriginal people who it is said had to come from somewhere else. Apparently Australia wasn't part of Pangea (according to Bill Bryson, who by the way wrote a fantastic book on Australia). There are so many people from all over, even though in some ways it feels like a very homogenous society. We'll see what our thoughts are as we really get to know it. In Holland, which at first glance feels very homogenous, after a while one realizes the vast immigration that happened 10 years ago, and the problems the country has had with people acclimating to Dutch culture.

On more personal news, it's the weekend in a few hours and we are really looking forward to it. It's been a busy week for both of us. Rob has been working incredibly hard, and I've been begging people to give me a job. Not begging, that's the wrong word. Interviewing. Are they different? So we are ready for the weekend. It's supposed to be hot, hot, hot so I dare say we'll end up at the beach one way or the other.

Have a great one

Sandra and Rob, from one day in the future

We've Come to the Land Down Under

Yes, it's not such an original title for a blog, but amazingly I cannot get that song out of my head. Why? How many other songs pop to mind when you think of Australia? I know of no such songs that discuss kangaroos or koalas or barbeques, and with shame I have to say that before coming that is really my entire impression of Australia. Obviously Kylie Minogue and various overused sayings come to mind, but my knowledge and ideas about Oz were fairly limited before coming. Hence, the song my great (and only) way to kick off this blog.

We've been here for three weeks now, and love it. We arrived the day before Grand Final Day, which is the superbowl of Aussie Rules Football. Went to a fantastic party and played in the halftime kick, which I have to say Rob and I did pretty well at considering we were barefoot (everyone wore sneakers, we wore flip-flops, hey, we're in Australia!) See the corresponding photos.

Obviously we have a lot of new impressions of Australia, and I would love to tell you about them, but this is all oerwhelmed by my amazing prowess at picking winning horses that I must brag about here. We went to the Spring Racing Carnival which is a fantastic multi-week event where various horse races take place at tracks around the city. Everyone dresses up (mostly nicely, but there are always a few who interpret things differently) and flocks to the sunshine with picnics and blankets surrounding the track. Our good friends Alex and Mel were down from Sydney, and amazingly Tony and Trixie from The Hague (whose brilliant idea the races were in the first place), so we formed a merry little band along with some of their friends and started in on the champagne. And sunscreen. The Aussies take their sunscreen very seriously. I can just about see my mom noddingly approvingly. They had a campaign a while back called Slip, Slop, Slap, which promoted sunscreen use and apparently was pretty effective (thank goodness, before that it was melanoma city here). Slip, Slop, Slap means slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat. Great advertising. And people do for the most part. They even had a sunscreen booth at the entrance which was packed with participants. Good for them.

Back to me then....I casually (but clearly knowingly and responsibly) placed a few bets throughout the day. $5 here, $10 there. My first bet had odds of 21 to 1. It won. (That's $105 AUS return, pretty nice). That was a long shot, but it was the first bet of the day. I bet on it because the horse was trained by the only female trainer in the race. Beginner's luck. The $10 bet was for a horse which I just loved the name of, All the Good. 47 to 1 odds, not looking so good for me and Rob. Still, it was fun to bet. The horse was placing fifth until the last few seconds of the race. Then it won. Yup, this no-chance horse zoomed ahead with a few seconds to spare and won the big race of the day. Rob and I couldn't actually believe it, and didn't really believe it until we claimed our winnings. It was a fun day for us. It would have been regardless, but that was just the icing on the cake. Called it a day shortly after that, and went home happy and impressed by how lucky we were in Australia.

Other than that life is peaceful and nice. We had our first kite surfing lesson, and have a second coming up this weekend. Rob bought a racing bike and cycles to and from work, and impressive 1 1/2 hour round trip. I of course am job hunting but appreciating the time I have do things such as write this blog. We adore our apartment and will post pictures soon. See if you can spot the planning flaw- it's great. Really though, it's an amazing place to live. Views to the sea, a balcony with a barbeque, and some pretty impressive ammenities that you'll just have to come visit us to see. And of of course, which is the main draw :)

With sunshine and sunscreen,

Sandra and Rob