quicko: jacaranda trees

Unfortunately, this post is about three weeks too late and the photo's about a week out of date now, but better late than never, right?

The reason it's late is that the jacaranda trees finished their week of intense blooming about two weeks ago. They're absolutely gorgeous trees, hugely filled with purple flowers that petal all over the ground, creating a lavendar carpet all around the base of the tree, the neighboring street, the neighboring zip code, etc. They're beautiful.

And, while the photo really doesn't do them any semblance of justice, I thought you'd appreciate a glimpse of what they're like.

Evidently the place to go to seet he jacaranda trees in all their glory is the North Shore train line between North Sydney and Hornsby. Amazingly enough, this line is actually one I've been on and is quite easy for me to get to. Less amazingly, I was told this the week after they finished blooming.

One more thought while we're on the topic: it seems there's a saying at one of the universities strategically situated upon this train line to the effect of if you haven't started studying for exams by the time the jacaranda trees bloom, well, there probably isn't much point in starting.

at the corner store

So I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake tonight. I covered it quite well, though.

It all came about at the corner store. Now, we have corner stores in America, too, or at least I know definitively that there is one in northern Ohio. I've been to it on several occasions and know it is a corner store because it is three doors down from my grandma's house, and everyone calls it "the corner store." I think I used to figure that most grandmas had one.

Here, though, there are a lot more corner stores. When I first arrived, I found one an easy five minute walk away and was amazed to learn that it actually was the far away one. Having grown up in suburbia where the Kroger was an easy five minute drive away and convenience stores are not convenience stores but gas stations that happen to sell a wee bit more than gas, I was blown away by being able to walk to buy milk for my morning cereal if I needed to. (On Saturdays, of course. Weekdays remain a completely different story.)

I'd been warned early on that the corner store, being so convenient, did charge convenience store prices, but as I couldn't find a container of milk for less than $4.90 anywhere I looked, I figured I already so much skin off my nose I wouldn't really notice the extra dollar or two or ten.

Now the hours at my corner store end at 8 pm. (No, I don't know when it opens. Why would I?) So it was 7:30 and I was on my third straight day of being sick and only just beginning to think that the next day I could go slightly stir crazy (two days usually being sufficent to drive me to distraction gives an indication of the severity of my condition) and that my only edible options included toast, the okay-but-not-as-good brand of cereal, pasta (required a bit more preparation than I felt inclined to give), pasta sauce (tasty, but insufficent as an actual meal), the orange juice that stung my raw little insides, tea and toothpaste. I decided to visit the corner store.

It is my general modus operandi to make a thorough sweep of the corner store whenever I go, just in case they've acquired something new and delicious, like chocolate peppermints. (This has really happened. It was quite wonderful.)

Not finding anything terribly new or intriguing, on my second sweep I gathered up the necessities (the good brand of cereal, Milo and an ice cream bar), as well as the apple to counteract the ice cream bar and keep my balanced diet in tact. I also noticed that they had movies for sale.

Now movies for sale were an intriguing option, particularly in light of the impending stir craziness. I'd noticed them once before, but having been less than amazingly impressed by the selection (they were clearly a second-cousin side item at the corner store), had never purchased one. The situation at hand, though, led me peruse them, despite having fulls hands and needing to blow my nose.

I was thrilled by what I discovered: Mamma Mia! Out on DVD! And only $5! Now, I realize that there are many of you who would not purchase Mamma Mia if someone paid you $5 to, but I happen to enjoy beautifully colored musicals set in Greece, and really there are not so many of them. I would also submit that you are not about to face day four of Kleenex and social isolation, and perhaps would think differently if you were.

Not only was there Mamma Mia, though, there were at least three other relatively recently released romantic comedies. Being a Responsible Consumer, though, I decided that buying two movies in one night was quite enough, so settled on one other I hadn't seen, but thought I'd probably have to pay $5 to rent, let alone purchase.

Quite pleased with myself, I marched to the counter, deposited my items and seized the opportunity to blow my nose. The man, whose name I don't know, but which I should, seeing as I see him often enough what with him being my primary cereal provider and all, rang up my necessities and then asked me to fill in a form with my name, address and phone number.

I think I may be commended for realizing immediately what the form was, and responding, I am convinced, exceedingly appropriately. First, I told the man behind me to go ahead as I'd be a minute or two. Second, I decided that actually I didn't really need Mamma Mia after all. Third, I asked how long exactly I got the movies for, just as a point of note. And upon hearing the answer of only one night, I hemmed a bit, because, oh dear, I really wasn't planning on watching the movie tonight and maybe I'd have to come back for it tomorrow. Which really was possibly true, and, might I point out just for the record, was it not brilliant to hand back Mamma Mia before asking the length of rental time? Yes, I thought so, too.

quicko: nippers

So "nippers" is the cute little name for all the little kids who are in swimming lessons at the beach. From what I can gather, lots and lots (most?) Australian kids are in nippers somewhere around age 8, and they are quite effective at making a joyful noise as they troop from one end of the beach to the other.

quicko: fairy floss

AKA cotton candy.

quicko: tight*** tuesday

I'll tell you what it means, and let you guess what the *** stands for, deal?

Tight*** Tuesday is the cheapie entertainment night -- you can see movies for more like $9 than more like $16, get special deals at pubs and generally revel in the glory of being a tight***.

Figured it out?

quicko: sweet as

I thought it was misplaced Valley Girl the first ten times I heard it, but the Australians really use it in daily life. It sounds so Clueless, but yeah -- sweet as!

thanksgiving

As much as I enjoy life in Australia, this week is Thanksgiving, and what sort of American would I be if I didn’t talk about the things I was thankful for? Of course I’m thankful for the opportunity to live here, my church, my place to live and my job. Of course I’m thankful for my friends and family. And of course above all I’m thankful to God for His love, presence in my life and sure hope of salvation. Since I’m abroad, though, this year I’ll list the things I’m especially thankful for – the ones I miss most:

10. Mexican food, Bombay Cuisine, Common Ground, Panera, Coldstone, Graeter’s and mom’s cooking. Yeah, you guessed it, that’s all food. First off, Mexican – they just haven’t got much of it here. A little, but not much. Bombay Cuisine for the nan bread. Common Ground because it’s my favorite coffeeshop, and everyone needs a favorite coffeeshop to come home to, even if it is five hours away. Panera for the Asian sesame chicken salad, the cinnamon crunch bagels and the hot chocolates. Coldstone for the Mud Pie Mojo, add some brownies and put it in a waffle bowl, Love-It size, please. (Incidentally, that is not the biggest size. That’d be Gotta-Have-It). Graeter’s for the black raspberry chip, obviously. And mom’s cooking, enough said.

9. Tri-County Mall. It’s not really as materialistic as it sounds. It’s a comfort place. I can just go there and walk around and know where (okay, approximately where) the stores are. There’s Charlotte Russe and Wet Seal and Body Central and, in the department stores, Jody Coyote earrings. I get the biggest kick out of being able to go there now in the middle of the day and being allowed to be there – I don’t have to be in school anymore! (If anyone questions me, though, I’ve got my handy pocket-sized diploma to prove I am a genuine graduate of Lakota West and most definitely not truant.) And there’s the memories. There’s the store I always avoid because I once got offered a job there and then took a different one a couple days later. There’s the glass elevator I acted out a Lady Macbeth scene in multiple times in succession for a theatre project. And mostly there’s just tons of ambles back and forth with friends, chatting, shopping and sharing lives.

8. Dates, measurements, sides of road, elevators, etc. It would be so incredibly much easier. The month goes first, it just does! And my brain just thinks in pounds and inches and miles and Fahrenheit. And I nearly get run over on a regular basis. (Not really, Mom, it just sounded better.) And that ridiculous "ground" floor notion. As if we count "zero" in any other context!

7. The choices and prices. America’s just got so much variety so cheap – and I am so ready to stock up at Meijer! And get my film developed. And run into some random person I happen to know from somewhere.

6. The Cincinnati Enquirer. I’m excited that I’m going to be home over New Years so I can see Jim Borgman’s year in review. And read Tempo, and Forum and the comics. I get Speed Bump online, but that doesn’t make up for Red and Rover, Zits, Baby Blues and Frazz.

5. The Cincinnati theatre scene, by which I mostly mean the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. I’m also pretty partial to LaComedia and whatever’s on at the local high schools and community theatres, but you’ve got to have a favorite theatre company and Cincy Shakes is mine. Sitting on the stage, making eye contact with the actors, going to talk-back sessions after Sunday matinees and seeing Jeremy Dubin and Giles Davies.

4. My library. I love it. I even have its phone number memorized, which is slightly more than I can say for my own library number. Thank goodness they let you check books out regardless. And rack up fines of up to $10. It’s a great library. It has all my favorite books and movies and the CDs that I think I own because you can check them out for three weeks and then renew them (online!) up to three times, and I won’t even be home for that long. They let me stand out front and do "Issue of the Week" for the Pulse-Journal and didn’t kick me out like they did at the grumpy Kroger’s (that, HA, doesn’t exist any more!). And the librarians are great and there’s the summer reading program and the easy-to-use computer card catalogues and the sales with ultra-cheap books I’m sure to get a few of for Christmas.

3. My car. Freedom to an American. Independence! Liberty! Sorry. I’ll stop naming elementary schools now and get on with it. Despite Baby Blazer’s suspect AC and perpetually breaking-though-Dad-assures-me-they’re-really-fixed-this-time wipers, Baby Blazer is my pal about town. We crashed on the regional highway together, got pulled over (and let off) in Michigan together and are generally inseparable on the road. We listen to music together; sigh when we find our keys swallowed inside one of us; search wildly for the sight of each other in the parking lot; and occasionally beep at each other for the fun of it.

2. Snow. It just really isn’t winter without it. And, may I just say, my driveway and yard make an absolute winter wonderland when it snows. Really, honestly, they do. The driveway’s lined with huge evergreens and we’re all in a woods and it’s beautiful.

1. My friends and family. Okay, you just can’t make one of these lists and not put friends and family in their rightful space. Being so far from home, easy access to my family is what I miss the most. It’s horrible being in a different time zone and having to coordinate schedules to times when both parties are 1. awake and 2. not at work, which pretty much leaves weekends, and heaven forbid you make plans then. And not only that, it’s so ridiculously expensive to fly home. And it takes so long. I miss being able to jump on a quick, cheap flight – one quick, cheap flight. Or be in a plaec where I could feasibly drive home. Doesn’t really work so well from Australia. Anyway, I can’t wait to be home and see them all again. I can’t wait to hug everybody and hang out with Dad and play games with Mom and take my one brother everywhere with me and talk Calvin with my other brother. And hug everybody some more.

Happy Thanksgiving!!