2 Very Cool Events Today

2 very cool events happened to me today:

1 - Andy and I received a surprise package in the mail from Marnie, which held 2 new Portland Underdog t-shirts for us, and a peacock bookmark for me. For those of you wondering, "What the heck is Portland Underdog?" - it is our Portland-based bowling team league. What an awesome surprise! Thanks, Marnie!!

2 - While I was at work at the shop, I ended up chatting with a gentleman whose son I went to elementary school with in Sioux City, Iowa! I overheard him talking on his mobile about how he had just gotten off a flight from the midwest of the US, so while I was ringing up his purchases I asked where in the midwest he had been. His first response was, "Oh, you wouldn't know it. A state called Iowa." And I replied, "I'm from Iowa. I'm from Sioux City." To which he totally started freaking out and said, "That's where I was! My son lives there." And then he introduced himself, and his last name was Galinsky (not the sort of last name easily forgotten). To which I said, "You don't happen to know someone named Chris Galinsky do you?" Now he totally freaked out and said, "That's my son!" And I told him I knew Chris from elementary school so long ago. Anyway, it went on from there, but what a random event, huh?

Hope you are all well -

Love, Christy

Nielsen, O'Connell's, Crocs, Buddy, oh my!

Happy July from Australia! I can't believe it is July - it doesn't feel like July for us. Maybe the Yankee 4th of July BBQ Party that we're hosting this Friday night at our place will help. We've encouraged our guests to bring their most creative 'Yankee-rific' food item, so we'll see what we end up with! We're supplying the hot dogs, potato salad, and apple pie.

Before I get started on a bunch of other topics I must "Hooray!" my Uncle Denny & Aunt Linda, for they are on their way to Australia this September! They've got a whirlwind of a trip planned, with visits to Sydney, Cairns, Ayers Rock, & Melbourne, all in 3 weeks time. We are thrilled to have more family coming to visit us and this country.

Well, we successfully visited & returned from official Australian "Croc Country" on our journey to see our good old friend Jason Nielsen and to meet his girlfriend Leslie. What a fantastic feeling to get off the plane in Cairns and receive a huge hug from such an old friend (and a huge hug from a new friend I might add as well) over here in this part of the world. Our week couldn't have been more perfect - we had warm, mostly sunny weather, we stayed at a crazy Jungle Village on our 4WD journey from Cairns to Cooktown, and we stayed at the resort where Jason & Leslie are chefs the rest of the week (at awesome friend prices I must add - $50/night rather than the non-friend price of $180/night - sweet). We ate a ton of great food (most of it prepared especially for us by our personal chef friends :), enjoyed a lot of good drinks & laughs, saw our first crocodiles in the wild, went on an Aboriginal rock art tour, soaked up some sunshine, and enjoyed late afternoon naps nearly every day.
Aside from visiting Jason, seeing crocodiles in the wild was definitely the highlight of the trip - I think it made all 4 of us feel like little kids again, sitting in the boat just staring at these impressive & intimidating creatures, passing the binoculars around and whispering phrases such as, "Wow!" and "Oh my gosh!" and "My mom would not approve of this." The largest croc we saw was about 12 feet long, we think. Thanks to Jason & Leslie for being such fantastic travel guides, travel partners, and hosts throughout our visit!

With that trip now in the past, we are really on countdown for our upcoming trip to the US next month -- that's right, it's next month!!! I've received a few requests for flight details for our arrival in Portland, so here they are: we arrive on Alaska Airlines flight #2586 on Thursday, Aug. 14th at 12:45pm.

In general life news, things are going very well. I'm working FT this and next week at the shop, as one of the owners is on holiday. I love working down there. I subbed at a special needs school for 1 day 2 weeks ago, which was interesting and went really well. Andy and I attended a rather bizarre social gathering sponsored by the teaching agency I work with the Friday before we went on vacation - nothing like getting a bunch of substitute teachers together to liven up an indoor lawn bowling arena. You may think I'm joking here, but trust me, I am not. By the end of the evening, Jag shots were being poured all around, of which I must admit... I had 2! Eeewww! I can't even recall the last time I did a straight shot of liquor. And I was one of the well behaved ones! Thankfully I didn't feel too horrible the next day, and our friends Marloes and Annelieke came over and we feasted on pancakes for hours.
It is mostly cool and kinda gray in Melbourne so far this winter - some rain, but nothing like Portland's locked-in grayness for days on end. There's usually some sunshine every day.
Enjoy the pictures - oh, and there's some awesome ones of Buddy at the end that we just got from Zach - if you have ever seen Buddy, you will be shocked!

Wishing everyone a safe and fireworks-filled 4th of July!

Cheers from the land down under-

Love, Christy
xoxoxoxo

August US visit details

Hi all - here are some of the main details of our August US visit so far:

*We arrive in Portland on Thursday, Aug. 14 at 12:45pm. So excited! Who's going to be there?

*We'll be out camping with (hopefully) everyone we know in the Portland area on Friday & Saturday, Aug. 15 & 16. (Who's getting the keg of Bridgeport? - seriously).
We're hoping someone will volunteer to take us to Won & Jordan's house on Sunday so that we can pick up Andy's truck (hint, hint).

*We depart Portland for Minneapolis on Wednesday, Aug. 20 - will spent Wednesday night in the Minneapolis area with Larry & Deb Sweany and Ray & Marcia Brown. We're going to hit the closest Outback Steakhouse to check-up on its authenticity.

*Friday, August 22 - attend Steve & Marnie's wedding in Duluth!!!

*Sunday, Aug. 24th - fly Minneapolis back to Portland.

*Depart Portland headed back to Melbourne on Thursday, Aug. 28th at 5pm.

We are really excited to be coming home for a visit and to attend this very special wedding.


In other news, we leave this Sunday for a week-long vacation in Cairns and Cooktown (far NE corner of the country) to see good-ol' Jason Nielsen, the Great Barrier Reef, and who knows what else.

We chatted with Zach & Buddy in Alaska via webcam this past weekend - so great to see both of them. Buddy couldn't look more content - we're beginning to doubt that he will see the need for returning to the city-life of Portland next year after his much loved Alaska wilderness. Andy dropped a "Maybe we should live in Alaska for 6 months when we go home," suggestion, to which I didn't really have a response.

Hoping summer has gotten off to a fantastic start for everyone. For many of you, see you in 2 months!!

Cheers!
Love, Christy

Snow capped mountains in Australia???

Well, I may be using the term 'mountain' loosely, but last weekend I went on a trip with the Monash Bushwalking and Outdoor Club to Mt. Feathertop. Feathertop is about a 5-6 hr drive from Melbourne (I told the folks that if I drove that far from Portland I would be in California :) and, at 6300ft, it is the 2nd tallest in Victoria (for comparison, the tallest in Oz is Mount Kosciuszko, at 7310 feet). It was a good trip with a good bunch of folks, and as usual in Melbourne, it was basically a mini UN summit, with a German, a Malaysian, a Norwegian, a Canadian, some Americans, and of course a few Aussies in attendance (one nicknamed Dingo, the 2nd of which I've met in under a month).

The skies were ultra clear, which meant good visibility, sunny and warm (mid 60s) during the day but bitterly cold (upper 20s) at night. Oddly enough, my first glimpse of Australian snow and sub-freezing temps coincides with the officical beginning of winter here. Thankfuly there was a warming hut complete with wood burning stove near our campsite, which, in combination with the Johnny Walker, was enough to temporarily keep off the chill. The only other group there was a bunch of old timers celebrating a woman's 70th b-day - if I'm still able to do a trip like that when I'm 70 I will be one happy camper (get it? man, that's really bad.....).

In other news, we just bought flights up to Cairns to see our buddy Nielsen in about a month. Cairns and beyond is what they refer to as the 'tropical north', and is basically known for jungle, crocs, and the Great Barrier Reef, and we have all of these on our 'things to do' list during our visit. So, in terms of travels, we are looking at Cairns in June, the US in August, Alice Springs (central Oz, with the big rock, aka Uluru) in Sept, then NZ in Oct. We are definitely headed to the poor house, but we're gonna have a blast getting there....:)

Cheers,
Sweany

Red, White & Blue

I was out doing a bit of shopping today, and one of the stores that I went to is playing up a US theme as they give away trips to New York, so there are United States flags hanging all around the store, manequins wearing red, white, & blue plastic hats and clothing, etc. I found myself smiling and thinking it was rather a nice theme, which quickly seemed weird to me, because I swear, prior to living in Australia for this long, had I seen this same theme anywhere else, I think I would have thought it silly, and possibly even felt slightly annoyed with it.
I don't feel that I've ever been un-patriotic about the US exactly, but prior to moving here, I certainly wasn't publicly announcing my love and pride of my country. So it is an interesting and unexpected emotional transformation regarding my home country that is taking place while we live down here. Oh, and my mom always puts US flag stickers on the envelopes she sends us, which did not go unmentioned here in our apartment earlier this month :) I think I might have even kissed the sticker!

On the topic of the US, we had dinner this week with 2 fellow yankees - a couple that Andy met playing frisbee. They have been living here in Melbourne for almost 2 years and will be moving back to the states this July. Even more by chance, it is likely that they will be moving to Portland. So we had a good time (aka: they couldn't shut us up!) telling them all about our Top 435 Things We Love About Portland. It was also so great to chat with them about our similar experiences with the trials of moving here - we covered everything from pre-move chest x-rays and doctor examinations to trying to figure out how the heck to rent an apartment in Melbourne. It felt really nice to laugh about so much of it with them.

Our house in Portland re-rented quickly, which was fantastic news. The new tenants have signed a 1-year lease that will go into May of 2009. We're thinking/hoping this will work out well in relation to our anticipated move back date of May or June 2009. Trusting the care of our home to complete strangers and a property management company that we don't feel 100% satisfied with has been somewhat difficult - it continues to be a lesson on not being in control. Quite frankly, I'm discovering that I'm not so good at that. I'm thinking some of you readers of this blog already knew that.

Well, I think that's about enough insight into the psyche of Christy Sweany for tonight. Hope you are all well. How about that Obama rally in Portland, eh?! The pictures we saw really made us miss Portland even more - we miss the bubble!

Cheers!

Christy

"Off the bus, mate."

Greetings from Australia. Not a whole lot to report, but some fun pictures to share. We've attended 2 Australian Rules Football ('Footy') games, taken some pictures of our neighborhood, and completed a 35km, 3 day/2 night backpack trip as volunteers with a high school outdoor education group at Wilson's Promontory National Park. We had heard nothing but amazing testimonials about Wilson's Prom since our arrival here in Melbourne, particularly when people learned about our love of the outdoors, and our first visit certainly left us impressed. It was interesting, in multiple forms, to complete this trip with 2 teaching staff and 7 Grade 9 & 10 students - what a trip back in time to the world of being a teenager! Did we really used to act like that?!

We saw our 1st poisonous snake since living here - a baby tiger snake, which our teacher guides were quick to point out that, although quite small, had venom poisonous enough to deliver a fatal bite. I stayed quite clear, and was thankful that I was wearing my protective hiking gators, even though they definitely are not the most stylish.

Hoping all is well for everyone. Be well-

xoxoxo
Love, Christy

April Happening I forgot to write about

Hi again.
I forgot one of the other most weird things that happened to me just last week.
As I was coming home from my book group dinner on Thursday night, I came across a young man passed out on the sidewalk of a fairly busy street. There was vomit all over the sidewalk and him. His wallet and mobile phone were falling out of his pockets. Drunkards passing by in cars were yelling out at him and taking his picture. There were 2 guys there trying to rouse him, and he was responding slightly, but mostly just in drunken moans. I debated calling an ambulance for him, and finally did, as I knew that later, as I lay in bed, I would probably regret it if I didn't make sure he was in safe hands. So I hung around and waited for the ambulance to arrive. One of the 2 guys that had been helping out waited with me, and we had a nice chat. He's here from Chile on a working holiday for a few months. The whole experience made me feel very adult.

Christy