Monday, August 20, 2007

Our first month in Downunder

It's already a month now, that we landed in Australia and I have finally
a little bit of time to write about our first adventures, impressions
etc by ripping off my dearest husband's dearest notebook.
We still have lots of unpacked boxes and many of them might stay like
that as we will have to move from this place in only 11 months as the
landlords are supposed to move in. This means, that we have to try to
enjoy as much as possible this short time.
Actually, the only things we have unpacked up to - let's guess - 90% are
toys, games and kids clothes... Adi & Oli enjoy their new home -
especially the covered courtyard with the sandpit and the huge
living-room, where we build up obstacle runs.

Now let's have a little backflash (hopefully, anyone in OuterSpace or
back home is interested in ;-) )
Concerning our journey to Oz, there's is not much to say, because it
went fortunately very well. I could only add that travelling Business
Class is really great, especially with the kids. A super+ not to miss is
also the access to Singapore-Airline lounge in Singapore.
By the way, I had the chance to see one film entirely (for those not
knowing us, I add that we have two little boys of 1 and 3 years). It
wasn't a Blockbuster as I abandoned quite quickly "300", but a
Bollywood-film called "Namastey London". I have to admit, it is not
quite the same genre, but delightful entertainment.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namastey_London

On July 29, we joined the ACT Swiss Club for the 1. August party (Swiss
National Day), which took place on a farm owned by an elderly swiss
expat couple. The lady made. a.o. things, 3 Zuger Kirsch-Cakes and 2
Linzer-Cakes for the dessert-table. I was deeply impressed!!!
We met nice people and received an invitation to the private 1. August
party of the Vice-Ambassador's family, as they are originally of the
french-speaking part of Switzerland alike my husband.
Adi enjoyed the huge fire and the walk-about with the lanterns, while
Oli has stayed at home with Granny and Grandpa (as he was still a bit
ill and winter nights are quite freezy here).

The "real" 1st of August, we celebrated then with other french-speaking
Swiss and raclette (melted cheese, hot potatoes, deli-meat, pickles...)
and white wine. A very joyful evening!

On August 13, Adrians 3rd Birthday, we went to Questacon, a discovery
museum for technics and science with a chapter designed for toddlers.
Adi and Oli had a lot of fun and we got an annual pass.
See: http://www.questacon.edu.au/

On August 14, I had a "mum's night out" to see "step into the
limelight". It's the talent-show of Canberra's Public Schools. It was a
very deligthful mix of primary school choirs, visual arts, contemporary
dance.... A great 2h-entertainment by over 400 kids and teens!

From August 15 - 26, there is National Science Week, and so I went on
16 with the kids in a reptile presentation for young children. They were
allowed to touch the animal (naturally all non-venimous). Adi was even
allowed to assist closely when the expert presented an about 2m
oliv-python and he got it around his neck! I saw him already crying but
he held straight and even asked for more afterwards!!!
Unfortunaley, I couldn't take a pic, so see instead (I'll replace this
terrible link asap by a pic):
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ingooeland.com/galerie/_pix/bild0.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ingooeland.com/galerie/Tierwelt/Reptilien/Reptilien-III/galerie-tierwelt-re3-bild11.htm&h=53&w=58&sz=2&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=r_D6LOJvhfgxSM:&tbnh=53&tbnw=58&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dolivpython%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DG

to be continued...

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