Just Call Me...

...Amber "No Need to Know the Date" Minogue.  All my adult life I have wished for a life that would allow me the freedom of not needing to know time.  The feeling when  you are on vacation and you don't know the date or the day of the week and you don't need to, that is what I wanted for my way of life.  Well here in Australia, I have officially reached that point.  As a general rule, I know what the day of the week is so that I show up to mummy boot camp on the right days, but other then that very serious obligation, it really does not matter.  I am vaguely aware that it is mid-March but I don't know the date and only make note of it every now and again, as needed. 

There are definite up sides and downs sides to this lifestyle.  It is very nice not to have any obligations outside of the ones I place on myself.  But at the same time, it would be nice to have obligations.  When I first conceived that it would be wonderful to live without obligations, it was on vacation and it was a wish for a permanent vacation.  I am not complaining, it is fabulous to be living in Australia, taking care of my daughter with little responsibility or duty, but this is hardly a permanent vacation.  My relatively few obligations do not mean that I am spending all my time vacationing.  Quite the contrary, I am a suburban house wife, raising my daughter in Australia.  My obligations are the ones placed on me by my daughter and they change daily according to her evolving needs.  Though this is the hardest job I have ever loved, motherhood does have its slow moments.  Don't get me wrong, Riley is beautiful, and I am so happy and grateful to have the opportunity to be home with her this year, but every now and again-not always, but sometimes-I wish I needed to know what the date was.   

Super Bowl Monday

Not very sexy sounding is it? It was about as exciting as it sounds.  They do broadcast the super bowl here in Australia. It started live at the awesome hour of 10:00 am. So after my  super bowl of cereal (super bowl, get it, tee hee), Riley and I sat down to enjoy some football. Josh was of course at school and I am not all together sure anybody else in Australia was watching, but we tuned in.  

I don't know about anybody else, but since I turned 21 (and probably a few before I turned 21, sorry mom), I have not watched a super bowl without the aid of alcohol. It helps to pass the time that the dreadfully long 3 hour (or more) game can take. Beings that it was 10:00 am and I was alone watching an infant, I chose to forgo the spirits for this year's game. Because many people in Australia do not understand gridiron football (that is what they call American football), they had an Ozzy announcer along with two Australian NFL players.  The players were formerly Rugby players that have come to the US to play in the NFL. Througout the game, when the network would go to commercial and everyone would partake in the $2.7 million dollar-a-piece commercials, we would get commentary from these three blokes.  So we missed out on the fabulous superbowl advertising, but it was very interesting to hear about how Gridiron was perceived by Australians, they are after all, hard core rugby fanatics. Slow, it is perceived as slow! But the two Ozzy NFL blokes are reformed gridiron lovers, even with the countless number of rules, who could possible know all the rules??

Did I say 3 hour game?  It was more like 4.5 hours. And one of the most productive superbowls I have ever watched. I cleaned the vacuumed the carpets, swept the floor, did the dishes, hung out the laundry ate my lunch...  By the fourth quarter my whole house was clean and Riley had napped...twice.  I probably consumed fewer calories then ever, especially without the alcohol. But I must admit, I did miss my seven layer dip.  

Clearly, with all this cleaning, one might assume that the game was not that interesting.  Quite the contrary, the game was probably the best superbowl I have ever seen.  And the half time show was equally memorable, at least for me.  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed. Those who know me, know that they are one of my favorite bands.  In fact, I walked down the aisle to a Heartbreakers song in my wedding (Wildflowers).   They kicked it off with American Girl and then went into I Won't Back Down (my theme song--since I was in high school).  As the song started, an overwhelming wave of home sickness ran through me.  I was rocking out singing every word and bawling like a baby. 

I recovered from my wave of sickness when Josh called during the 4th quarter to find out who had won.  Like I said, the game took ages, so I had to report that the game was still going then proceeded to announce the last 10 minutes to him over the phone so he could get a good feel of what happened. And what an ending, I am sure it was quite funny for Josh to hear:

"Manning's got the ball, why won't he throw it? Oh no, he's going to get sacked.  He just won't go down.  Jesus, he has three guys on him and he won't go down.  He got away.  Holy moly, he is throwing long, they will never catch that.  Oh crap, it is going to be intercepted, no wait the guy has it, its complete. Oh my god.  And look at Peyton Manning, (those who know me, know I love Peyton, so by extension, I must cheer for his brother) he is cheering so hard for his brother, Peyton is so great. Now he is throwing long, I can't believe he is throwing long, holy moly, the guy caught it, holy moly--take that you New England Patriots Cheaters!  I guess it doesn't matter if you are undefeated if you lose the one that counts!  Yeah for the biggest upset...woohoo!!"

Or something like that.  

And just an editors note, they did rebroadcast the game in the evening for those Australians who missed it during the day and I am told that they did tune in, even without the entertaining American advertising.  

Bula!

Bula! Or hello in Fijian (used in the same manner as the Hawaiian Aloha).  It is an infectious word that aptly describes the friendly people we encountered during our 2 day stay on the main island of Fiji. After a uneventful flight on the Fijian airline through the night, we arrived on the island at 5:30 in the morning.  This was along with another flight, so we had to jump in line to get through customs with about 500 of our closest traveling friends and neighbors. Riley really did fabulously on our flight, largely because we flew through the night and we had the bassinet for her to sleep in.  The flight was almost 11 hours and she slept for the first 8 of those.  She woke up happy as a clam and enjoyed her captive audience for the remainder of the flight.  All kids should be so lucky as to have their parents undivided attention for 3 hours a day.

Once we got into the customs line at the airport, I keenly noticed a sign that created a separate line for senior citizens and families with infants.  Score!  Our 20-30 minute stay in line was reduced to a 5 minute one.  That turned out to be one major benefits to traveling with an infant. There are not many to the traveling aspect, but we found out that they get you through lines and in some cases allows you to completely avoid them.  Of course, on our way back through the airport to board our flight to Sydney, it was only after enduring 20 minutes of waiting in line with a screaming, hungary infant that we were jumped to the head of the line.  That right there is the downside to traveling with an infant.  But yeah Riley for getting us through the line, I will take all the perks I can get!  

After we got together all of our luggage, I went to exchange our money while Josh got us a taxi cab.  At the western union in the airport, I went to exchange $300 US for the Fijian currency. The attendant told me that I was going to receive $430 Fijian for my money and proceeded to count it out to me.  As an afterthought, I asked for a receipt and as I walked off, I glanced at the slip of paper.  The paper said I was to receive $440.  Immediately, I went back to the attendant and pointed this out.  He suggested to me that I might have pocketed the extra $10 myself. After a quick heated exchange, I was able to get my $10 and go on my way.  

We arrived at our hotel and were settled and ready to go to the beach by 8:30 in the morning. Arriving at 5:30 in the morning is not so bad when you are able to be beach ready by 8:30! We took some time to nap a bit and then headed down to the beach, a short 10 minute walk from our hotel.  We were staying on the mainland in the city of Nadi.  As we were walking to the beach, a cab driver stopped to offer us a ride.  His car was not marked so we did not immediately know that he was a cab driver.  We were skeptical to take it but it was hot and he was nice so we got in.  It turned out that the beach we were close to was not a nice beach but was in very dirty with trash everywhere...not really meant for recreation. Immediately, the cabby offered to take us to a nicer area on the other side of town and then come back and pick us up at an arranged time, all for the 'bargain' of $20.  We ended up taking his offer as we wanted to soak up the sun for the day and recover from our jet lag. We landed at a hotel resort beach where we crashed their beach and pool and lounged for the afternoon. 

Riley's first dip into the ocean was a bit shocking for her.  She reacted to the crashing waves with fearful screams and to her father's chagrin, enticed us to spend the rest of the afternoon at enjoying the calmer waters offered by the pool. Needless to say, the ocean and Riley are not yet friends.  But she did make friend with everyone else on the island and had no problems doing that pool side.  It was so interesting because woman and children alike really took a liking to Riley.  Women would just come up and take her out of our arms and walk around with her. "Hellllooo Rillleeey" they would say with their cute Fijian accents as she smiled and cooed back. At dinner one evening, a young boy of about 10 came up and took her from Josh to bring over and show his mother and younger sister.  Another woman at the hotel pool wanted to take several pictures of her, not us and her, just her.  As proud parents, we of course think that all should be enamored by her, and in Fiji, they were.  It was at first alarming when people would take her from our arms but it quickly became obvious that this was a normal custom in Fiji and she seemed to enjoy all of her new friends.

On our second day, our cabby friend took us on a tour of the city.  Following a downpour of rain all night, we were greeted with continued rain showers in the morning .  It was quite warm so the rain was rather refreshing but not conducive for beach lounging.  Our first stop was to visit the botanical gardens, the ultimate highlight of our trip.  The gardens-interestingly they were founded by actor Raymond Burr-had an amazing orchid collection. They included acres of rainforest with all kinds of beautiful flowers, truly an amazing sight.   After the gardens, we were treated to a guided tour through a typical Fijian village.  This was a bit awkward, like paying to few someone's house while they are still in it, but it offered an interesting glimpse into Fijian culture.  The village was actually the one that the President of the country came from. The island is made up of approximately 50% native Fijians and 50% Indians. Prior to our visit, I had know idea they had such a large Indian population. Most people there speak English, Fijian and Indian, at least in some capacity.  

The end of our tour included a trip to the local market and a visit to a Hare Krishna temple.   I found the temple to be beautiful and sweet and unfortunately only offered a small taste of the Hare Krishna faith. It is clear that there is a nice blend of several religions and philosophies on the Fijian islands with the people blending them in their own special harmony.  

Our afternoon was spent swimming in the rain at our hotel pool.  The pool had the most amazing slide that was so fast it was slightly scary.  After one shot down, it was more enjoyable to watch others shoot down and see there reactions as they came up for air.  Especially entertaining was two young teenagers who kept going down the slide but who could barely swim.  They would try to slow down their ascent by starting half way down the slide. It was very amusing.

Our cabby friend picked us up and took us to the airport early in the morning.  Again with these early mornings! He greeted us with the news that the reason for all the rain was a fast approaching cyclone heading for the island and set to hit later that afternoon.  To the best of our knowledge, it did not cause any major damage but as I type this entry,  news on the T.V. reports that Nadi was hit today by a hurricane.  We were obviously quite lucky to experience the island and miss the terrible storms.  So Vinaka (thank you) for checking in and Bula!

The Margaritas

I thought I'd post a picture of us on that night out. We're at Palamino's for dessert, and another glass of wine. It was a great night, and the first one we had had to ourselves in over a year. Our little ones are great, but a night without them was just what we needed! I'm gonna miss nights like these while Amber is far south!

We are off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!

Okay, so we are not going to visit the wizard, but we are going to Oz!!!  D-day, as in departure day.  It is finally here and holy moly we can't believe it.  We were up till 1:30 packing bags and got up bright and early to tie up last minute loose ends that can only be completed during business hours.  My dear friend Kimberly came over for lunch to bring me her baby bjorn to use while we are in Oz.  She is the last to see of all my friends and the hardest good-bye second to my grandparents thus far.  Two weeks ago, her and I went for a girls night out by ourselves without kiddos or husbands or any other silly distractions.  We had such a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the margaritas at Lola.   So thoroughly that I was belligerent with my husband and don't remember the whole evening, at least not the end of it.  And that was only 4 drinks in about 6 hours.  So that says something about their margaritas (and that I am a bit of a light weight since the baby).  And Kimberly, lets not forget the amazing avacodo fondue, that was really the nights big treat.  Flash back to present and we must say good-bye to each other.   As she puts her pea (beautiful Anya) into her carseat to leave, we both bawled like two little babies who just had their favorite toy swiped from their hands.  As I have stated, I am very loved and I will miss my friends and home over this next year.

Both my mom and Josh's mom generously stepped up to drive us to the airport.  It was a good thing that we had both of them because our luggage alone filled one car.  On our way to the airport, we stopped at our house to pick up a roller suitcase to trade out for Josh's carry-on duffle so it would be easier to manage.  I had planned ahead to anticipate my husband's whims and knew that with the stop, we would still have 2.5 hours at the airport to get checked in and settled.  After the stop, we headed to the airport and as we drove, the nervous energy settled.  A quick call to Josh to see which way he was driving (we took two cars, Josh and his mom and me, Riley and my mom).  Two minutes later he called to see if I remembered to put the stroller in the car, I gently--through clinched teeth--reminded him that I had asked him to grab the stroller.  It turns out we don't have the stroller.  And the fun and stress begins.  As we get off the phone with each other, Josh nearly kills himself and his mother when he misses the highway exit.  

Once we arrive at the airport, we get in line to check in.  Because everything is self-check with computers for the most part, we really don't have to wait in line.  We must see an actual attendant because believe it or not, we actually have paper tickets.  I found it odd when we first purchased the tickets but after dealing with Air Pacific (Fijian airline), I realize that it is not that weird.  Anyhoo, we were checkin in for count this, 1 hour. We were those people, the ones with a million bags that you don't want to get stuck behind, who seem to be taking forever but without any obvious reason.  After that long hour, the ticket agent generously asked us if our mothers would like to accompany us to the gate.  This was a happy surprise for all of us and helped to delay the inevitable good-bye just a bit longer.  

Another 25 minutes later we made it through security and to the gate, or rather the bar just by the gate.  After that long ordeal and to face the next long ordeal, we really needed a drink.  So with our remaining 15 minutes before boarding, we downed a beer with our mothers.  Now it is time for easily the hardest goodbye, a tearful--sobbing really--good-bye to my mommy.  It is amazing how mom becomes mommy when we are about to leave home.  She is really one of my best friends and it was heartbreaking to leave her at the gate.  So no lions and tigers and bears.  It was Josh and Amber and the monkey (Riley) off to see the wizard...following the yellow brick road but with the notion that there is no place like home.

Perfecting the art of packing

We rung in the new year in a very special way this year--packing. We were finishing packing our house so that Jeannie, our exchange teacher from Australia could move in on the 2nd of Jan. Riley, Josh and I all had a cold left over from Christmas and were running around like crazy just trying to get it all done so we could move over to my Mom's house and do it all again in two weeks.  In our efforts to get finished packing quickly, we actually had a moment to take stock in our house. We love our house and really feel at home in a way that I know I personally have never felt before. This feeling of home is not something we will easily duplicate. We are going to miss our home over the next year and it is a pity we will not be able to enjoy all the hard work that went into getting our house in tip top shape for Jeannie.

Our first attempts at packing for a year long trip were nothing short of comical. Let me try to put the packing into perspective. We are moving away for a year with an infant and we are only bringing the luggage we are allotted for the plane ride over. That is equal to two bags at 50 pounds a piece for Josh and myself and one bag at 20 pounds a piece for Riley. We also get one carry-on bag for each of us and we have decided to pay extra to bring one more 50 pound bag. If you have ever gone anywhere with an infant, even just to the grocery store, you will understand that you can fill a car without any effort. So to try to get everything we would need and get all the things Riley would need into 6 suitcases and three carry-ons...well lets just say that neither of us has a degree in engineering.  We do have Josh's creative artistic side to help us but we will likely need a divine intervention.  Needless to say, creativity only goes so far and our first run was a bit of a bust. We were able to get each of our wardrobes down to one suitcase each, leaving three more to fill with sporting gear, shoes (you laugh but just try to count out how many shoes you would need for one year (cold and hot weather), it is not easy) and Riley's stuff, and then the whole operation imploded. We ended up bringing as much as we were able to fit and that we thought could possibly make "the cut".  Not to give away the ending too early but my mother's basement is now full with the boxes of crap that did not make the cut because we determined we could live without it after all. Don't tell my dentist, but the sonic care will have to wait one more year and the good old fashioned tooth brush will need to suffice a little while longer.

Bless my mothers heart because once we moved into her house for our two week visit, our stuff took over her entire house. We could not walk anywhere without tripping over something of ours. You would think that with two weeks to pack at my mom's, we would have had it done quickly and neatly. That was not to be the case. Josh had to finish grading 150 papers and complete his term grades before we left and I had to finish up all the other details associated with moving across the world. On the day grades were due, Josh was working at the school until late in the morning. At 3:30 in the morning, after Josh had not phoned, I showed up at his school to make sure he was still alive and lucky for him, did not kill him when I found him typing away at his computer in a race to finish. I helped him finish and we came home and fell into bed at 4:30. 

In the days leading up to our departure, we spent all our available free time saying good-bye to friends and family. We were very fortunate this year to experience the birth or our daughter and to have the opportunity to fulfill a life long dream of moving to another country. Both of these events have illustrated to us how many brilliant and wonderful people we are surrounded by and how much love we have in our lives. We are truly lucky to have an intricate network to care for us and makes our life full and in this year more than any, we have been reminded of this love in profound and poignant ways.

In true Josh and Amber procrastination form, we had each and every minute of the weekend before we left planned with activities, most of which that did not include packing. Consequently, we were up on the night before we left until 1:30 am packing our bags (are you seeing an early morning pattern?). During this time, we worked out a system of measurement with my mothers bathroom scale that would hopefully have us taking the most weight advantage from each bag without going over the weight limit . Let me just say that NASA should be so precise. When we got to the airport on Monday, we had 6 bags we were checking. Of those six, one weighed 20 pounds, 3 weighed exactly 50 pounds, one weighed 49.5 and one weighed 50.5. A quick little shift and we had 6 bags that weighed exactly their requirement, taking advantage of each and every pound but not going over forcing extra fees. No applause necessary and yes, we are available for parties :)

Blogging???

I am not so sure about this whole blogging thing. I am going to try this out in an effort to keep in touch with the Yanks and document our trip so Riley has a reference about this whole experience years from now. Where do I start? My name is Amber and I am moving to Wollongong which is in New South Whales, Australia. My husband Josh is a teacher and he will be doing a teacher exchange for a year. I get to tag along as arm candy and learn to surf and be a mommy to our new beautiful baby girl, Riley Scout. Other supporting cast members will be introduced througout this journey, but for now, we are the main characters.

Please feel free to post and share your comments on our adventures (and not so adventures). Also, let me know if my details fall short of a complete story, it is my bad tendency to assume the reader knows more than they actually do.