After Footie Celebrations

I forgot to tell you about the best part of footie. When the game was finished everyone, and I do mean everyone, ran out on the field. The players were gone, but people had brought their own footballs and were playing away. It was truly a spectacle. I don't know how to describe it. There were people everywhere, men, women, children, just throwing these footballs all over the place. It was a riot. For some reason, it was very magical. I was in awe. Sacha, Susan and I just stood on the field, which was pretty surreal, and just watched everyone, while trying to duck footballs that whizzed by us. Everyone was in such a good mood, even though our team had lost. It was a nice friendly feeling. I am very happy that I got to experience it.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Kangaroos versus the Lions and Birthday Dinner

On Saturday Sacha and I went to a footie game with his friend, Susan. Footie is Australian rugby. I have to say that it was so exciting! I was amazed and entertained almost the whole time. It's fast-paced with very little down-time between plays. Unlike baseball or Amercian football which I find excruciatingly BORING! Our seats were very close to the field and we could see all the action. Our team lost, but that was because the other team was much better ;) I have to say that I have never seen a group of people eat so much junk food in such a short span of time. There were meat pies (that actually smelled heavenly), beer, candy, beer, chips, beer, fries, beer, hot dogs, beer...well, you get the picture. It seems women in Australia drink just as much beer as the men. In fact, each person drinks 2 litres of beer a day! How can that be?! Also, Australia is the fattest nation. I can see where that statistic comes from. Anyhoo, I will definitely go to another game while I am here.

After the game we went into town and did some dancing. Sacha also sang his signature Bob Marley 'No woman, no cry'. He is a true performer and was really getting into it. The crowd loved him. Speaking of Super-Sacha, he just got another assignment back and he got a High Distinction (highest mark you can get). In fact, his professor asked if she could use it as an example to show other classes of the work that she is looking for. Go, Sacha!

Well, we've finally booked our tickets. We will be coming home on June 21st and returning on July 19th. I'm so glad that's been dealt with.

I completed the draft for my second assignment, so only ONE more to go! I rock!

Last night Sacha took me to a Thai restaurant in Fortitude Valley for my birthday dinner. Fortitude Valley is an area of Brisbane that includes Chinatown. It was so nice to eat restaurant food and enjoy each other's company. Very sweet. Thanks, babe.

Some More Pictures

There are two new folders: Out and About in Brisbane and Springbrook National Park.

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sachabakht/my_photos

Enjoy!

$100 Lost, Wedding Rings and Honeymooning in New Zealand

Firstly, I have to congratulate Sacha on winning $100 from me. Before we left for Australia we had a weigh-in at his parent's house. Well, Sacha was none too happy with what that *&^)%! (his word, not mine)scale had to show. So, he devised a way to take advantage of little 'ol me by making a bet. The bet stated that if Sacha weighed less than a certain amount, then he would win $100. If not, then I would win. The bet would end on May 27th--my birthday! Well, it is now May 27th and Sacha has won. I have to give him credit because he won despite my many subtle (and not-so-subtle)attempts to sabotage his efforts. This mostly done through the use of the ever-delicious native-to-Australia cookie (or biscuit as they call them)the Tim-Tam. I have to say that at times I resorted to not-very-sportsperson-like conduct on the battlefield...Did I mention that $100 was on the line?! Sacha is now enjoying his spoils by wasting (my word, not his) them on his Magic site. Oh, well, maybe our next bet could be about who could eat the most Tim Tam's. That might be a good way to earn my money back. Aren't I clever?

Secondly, the newly svelte Sacha and I took a bus ride to our local mall, Garden City, last night to purchase some wedding rings for ourselves. The mission was very successful. I got a lovely white gold one with etchings and Sacha's is a dual (white and yellow gold) band with a Greek key design around the middle. It was such an easy process and the saleslady was very helpful. At one point, we both had to stop for a moment because the reality of what we were doing just sunk in. The moment of panic passed very quickly and then it was just excitement and joy. We have tentatively set a date of July 2nd for our wedding. It will be a small civil ceremony at the Scarborough Civic Centre.

On the way home from Canada we will be stopping in Auckland for a few days for our honeymoon. I am excited about that and can't wait to look up things to see in New Zealand. It should be a nice way to wind down before school starts again.

Thank you for the birthday wishes today via the telephone from: mom and dad, Ledo, Brankie and Audrey. You guys are wonderful!

K-Mart Shopping Spree

I am so happy and sated right now. For the first time in about four months (can you believe it?!) I got a chance to go shopping! I went to K-Mart because it was the only store open in this lovely suburb, but it was amazing! I got a very generous check from Sacha's mom and dad for my birthday. I was in shock when I realized that I could actually spend it on whatever I wanted instead of school books or groceries. We have not had ANY spare money to do any incidental shopping. I was in heaven. I spent about 2 and a half hours just looking at everything. I finally made my purchases, though. They are as follows:

--1 gypsy style skirt. I am a size 10 in Australia!
--4 tank tops. Two of them have beads and gathers at the bosom, so it makes me look very well-endowed ;) It's an added bonus
--4 chocolate bars

Thank you very much Mrs. and Dr. Bakht for such a beautiful gift. You have no idea how much it meant to me. It gave me a taste of freedom that I haven't had in so long. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I also got a package from my friend, Sallie. She sent food, Hello Kitty stickers and candy. She also made me a CD of songs and a book to while away a lazy, sunny afternoon. She even sent Sacha a can of coffee from the vending machines in Japan. He's really been missing that treat. Now he's hording it for a very rainy day (probably an all-night study session).

Thank you to all my friends and family that sent me cards, too: Lara, my mom and dad, Ginette, Shirley, Sallie, and the Bakhts.And thank you to my sister, Ledo, for sending me pictures of my nieces and nephew playing on the beach. Brankie: you look gorgeous!

ALSO: Congratulations to Rose and Jeffrey on the birth of their new baby, Mandelina. What a lovely name!

Springbrook National Park

On Sunday, Sacha and I rented a car and drove about an hour out of Brisbane to the park. The drive was amazing. The day was sunny and warm and it was nice to just drive and listen to music. The park was up a steep, narrow and very windy road. At some points it even went down to one lane--for both directions! I loved it and Sacha was very patient in the passenger side.

The park was lovely. There were many scenic outlooks and the views were breathtaking. We took a four kilometre hike to the bottom on the valley at the base of a waterfall. It was amazing! We walked under the waterfall and just watched the water come cascading down. There was even a rainbow over the waterfall. We loved it!

On the way home we stopped at this little cafe (more like a country club). I had the best date pudding ever. It was drenched in toffee syrup and covered in whipped cream. Sacha and I even licked the plate! Very uncivilized.

Sacha got his haircut yesterday. It's very Aussie and a bit macho. A very different look for Sacha. It almost looks like a (very) modified mohawk. It really suits him. The funniest thing was that the hairdresser asked him if he wanted a mullet first. Can you imagine?!

A Wonderful Call

I had such a lovely treat this morning. Archana called me from Toronto. I was so surprised and so very happy. We talked for a while and it just seemed like I was home. Even Archie said that it felt like I was at home and we were just having one of our normal phone conversations. Thank you so much for making it a wonderful day, Archie.

I received the last of my assignments back today. I got a really good mark. It's such a relief to have them all back. Now I can concentrate on the next batch.

In Australia they call the pound key on the telephone the 'hash' key. Sometimes I use the phone just to hear the operator say "to complete your call, please press the hash key". I don't know why I find it so fascinating. You all know that I'm weird.

RETRACTION: This is for my friend (and I use the term loosely) Shanon who, so very kindly, reminded me that time is not affected by north and south, but rather by east and west. He just wanted to point out my mistake in the last blog. Thank you, Shanon, and keep up your pestering ways ;)

Congratulations to my friend, Sallie, who has finished a gruelling round of shows for a performance put on by the english-language teachers in Japan. She spent so much time and effort memorizing a huge amount of dialogue in Japanese for the spectacle. Great work, S.

A special Happy Birthday to my sister, Lydia today. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Flora and Fauna and other Ramblings

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Okay it's only Saturday for you souls north of the equator, but Sacha and I are enjoying a relaxing day together. This morning I washed the floors, dusted the furniture and made the bed. Sacha cleaned the bathroom and will be doing the dishes as soon as he finishes eating. He also took a look at my pension plan from ING to see what I should do with my (slap-in-the-face-for-10-years-of-great-service-to-the-company) money. I spend some time responding to emails from my friends, Trudy, Liz and Sallie.

The day looks lovely. We have all the doors and windows open to let in the breezes and the sunshine. It's such a treat to be able to do that.

I have to tell you about the abundance of animals and vegetation where we live. There are trees, bushes and flowering shrubs everywhere. It's so green, even when we haven't had rain in a while. Lately, it's been even better because it has rained pretty consistently. The variety of greenery would make my gardening friends drool in their compost heaps. One of my favourites is the frangipani trees. The flowers are beautiful, very waxy and robust. The best part is their fragrance. Lovely! It feels like we're in a tropical paradise.

The animals are another surprise. There are two GIANT lizards that hang around the school property. They are about 3 feet in length and pretty stout. They are not afraid of anything and love to hang around begging for food. They are very scary when you first see them because they truly look like miniature dragons. They love to chase each other (I think they are male and female) around the school grounds. A friend's husband was visiting and we were having lunch in the school restaurant--very classy. He spotted one and almost jumped out of his seat. He said that if he had seen it at night he would have screamed out loud.

Last night Sacha and I took Georgie (the landlord's doggie and the love of Sacha's life at this point) for a walk to rent some videos. We passed by this grove of trees by the side of the road and we could hear what sounded like a thousand birds in them. I'd always thought that they were the black birds (look like crows) that hang around everywhere. But they weren't. In fact, they looked like small parrots. They were green and red and bright blue. Sacha and I were shocked. We had heard them for so long and could never see what they were. It was a pleasant surprise. Of course, Georgie was immune. He was too busy looking sheepish because I had put a frangipani flower in his collar. He thought it took away from his 'macho' look.

Another night Sacha and I were coming home from campus and we walked by a tree with its branches sticking out into the pathway. We were about to push the branches aside when we almost walked into a couple of possums hanging from them. They were so cute. They were not interested in us at all. They were so relaxed. We watched them for a while and then walked home.

On a grosser note, we killed a HUGE cockroach in our apartment the other night. I stomped the sucker with Sacha's shoe (of course, I couldn't use mine). The worst part was that its guts were a bright aqua blue/green. It seemed very surreal and post-apocalyptic somehow. Why would its guts be glow-in-the-dark? I think it's just to freak us humans out.

Well, I'm off to enjoy my day off!

Graduation Day for Natasha

Congratulations to Sacha's sister, Natasha. She graduated today from NYU with her Masters in Law. Mrs. Bakht is there with her to enjoy her special day. They had it at Madison Square Gardens. There were approximately 7000 people there! Pretty impressive.

Cloudy Weather

Oh well. The bright sunny days seem to be over. It's not cloudy and rainy most days. It's also cool. I will have to wear my jacket to school tonight. Lots of people are still wearing shorts and flip flops, though. I think they're used to this weather.

More Australianisms:

--they call a mini-van a people mover (even in commercials)
--pet peeve is a pet hate (I'm not sure how the pet owners feel about this one)
--a quilt or comforter is a "doona" as in: it's time to snuggle under the doona tonight. Now this could be dooner, but their pronounciation is sooooooo lazy, that I'm not sure. For the longest time Sacha and I thought that our landlord's son's name was Joven because of the way that he pronounced it, but in reality it's Corbin. Think about it...
--for my alcoholic friends: a small glass of beer is a pot, the next size up is a schooner (pronouned skoona), the next size up is a pint (same as in Canada). Their smaller version of a pitcher is called a jug. As an aside, Sacha has yet to see Foster's beer, but there are many Australian varieties. And yes, their beer commercials are just as irritatingly ridiculous as they are at home (very sexist and stupid).

Sacha and I will be coming home at the end of June! Yay! I can't wait.

Have a great day, all!
--

Package From Home

Hurray! Sacha and I received a package from my family in Canada. It was such a lovely surprise. We had spent the day studying and coming home to the package was the best treat. The box was so big, too! We just put it on the desk for a while and just looked at it. It was nice to just anticipate what was in it. When we did open it, inside were the following:

--copies of Canadian Living magazine. I can't describe how it felt to receive these from home. It really made me feel connected to Canada (sappy, eh?). I'll really savour these at leisure
--art work from my nephew Nike. My favourite pieces were his construction paper tootbrush, his straw and construction paper orange fish and the picture with his hands done in paint
--the stained glass window decorations Lydia made for us. I love my flower and kitty cat. We've put them on the windows already. I can't wait to see them in the light tomorrow morning
--pictures of my family from before we left Canada--very nice--especially the ones of the oldest daughter--very hot ;)
--fairy stickers. I will use these in my scrapbook of Australia. They're beautiful
--Noxzema face wash. Sacha was so excited about this
--Hello Kitty socks. They're pink with a picture of her face on them. I'm sure these are from my mom (aren't they?)
--other treats that I am so grateful for

Thanks so much to my whole family. It was a lot of work and Sacha and I really appreciate it.

I also wanted to say happy maternity leave to my friend Rosie. Enjoy this most enchanted time. I'm sure your colleagues will miss you lots.

Today we had lunch with my friend, Lina, and her husband Arjay. Lina is doing her masters of Training and Development and we have a class together. Her and her husband have a training company in Bangalore, India (ring any bells Archie?). Her husband came for a visit for a month and he is leaving tomorrow. It was a very good lunch. We had good food (Sacha and I had lamb curry) and good conversation. It felt so grown up to eat in a sit-down restaurant and have grown up conversation. I loved it. We ate outside and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, with a nice breeze blowing. It was very tough to do some studying in the afternoon.

There is this area at Nathan campus (the campus closest to our apartment and the one at which Sacha has his classes) that has cushiony seats all around. They're not chairs or couches, but more like an area with cushiony benches at different levels. They're so big and comfortable. I found a spot in the sun and it felt so good that I fell asleep for a while. It was nice to sleep to the drone of many different languages. The book I'm reading for an assignment is about utilizing a learning strategy called concept mapping to help trainees get their head around complex concepts (like Goldfield u/w guidelines, rules, workflows, etc.). It's very interesting. I have a paper due on this idea at the end of May.

Sacha made some butter chicken for dinner last night. It was delicious! Truly!

Next time I'll tell you about this reality show called My Restaurant Rules. It's very exciting.

It's Bloody Cold!

We didn't sign up for this weather. Sacha and I were promised 360 days of sun and warmth. Well, lately it's been anything but. I exaggerate a bit (can you imagine me exaggerating?), but it has been chilly lately. I have even had to wear a sweater. Today I even had to wear it during the day when I was not in the sun. It's been drizzly, too. Good thing that it usually doesn't rain too hard here. It's more like a shower, or if it does come down, it's only for a little while. It's heavenly for sleeping. Nice and cool. In the morning the sun comes out for a while and I can bask in it while I eat my breakfast.

We saw the movie In Good Company on Tuesday. It was okay. Sacha was in Scarlett (Johannasen) heaven. Sorry, I'm not too sure of the spelling. Topher Grace plays the same character he does on the tv show he's in. Not too much of a stretch. I liked the ending, though, because it wasn't neat and tidy, Hollywood style.

My gosh, the time is flying by. I can't believe that it's May already.

My sexy financial planner, Timmy, just told me that I owe Paul Martin and his government $53.00. I haven't had to pay taxes in years. Don't they know I'm a poor student. Oh yes, that's right, that is this year. Last year I was a high-paid Belair employee (ha, ha, ha, ha). Oh, how the mighty have fallen. ;)

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

May Birthdays

Hello Everyone!

Happy Birthday to my friends who are lucky enough to have their birthday in the lovely month of May:

--New mom and Team Leader extraordinaire Danielle (hi sweetie)
--Karaoke king and Ford Focus owner, my friend, Chris G.
--Karate-kicking, accident-prone, heart-of-gold, Ledo (my sister)
--My sweet, kind, awesome Finnish friend, Elisa (I miss you)
--Smart, sexy, stylish, intelligent (hey, I want to marry her), my friend, Ju-Jube

I wish you all a warm, sunny, surprise-filled, happy birthday!

Love,
Sue