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Published: September 27th 2007
A Hare
First time we have ever seen a hare!It was bigger than a rabbit and much more wiry and stronger looking. We felt so sorry for the chubby girl rabbit they had sharing his cage...Can you imagine how exhausted she looked after trying to get away from him every waking hour!It's starting to feel like the home stretch even though we have another 3 and a half months in England. All of us found it a bit hard to come back from the Summer break. It's always a bit of a struggle getting back into the rhythm after a nice holiday but it seemed to be a little depressing coming back "home" to our little London flat, instead of our real home in Sydney. Luckily that feeling has passed as we all got busy fairly quickly. I'm also appreciating the English a little more as I meet more and get to know people better. I've always liked the dry wit which at times is hilarious and also the self effacing humour. Also, the "I'm fine" attitude which can also be a little ridiculous. A few weeks ago I was chatting with a friend on a foot path when we saw this flash of colour followed by an enormous crash. I ran over to find this man all mangled up under a car (fortunately parked) with a weirdly twisted wrist and a ripped leather jacket. I helped him out, lead him to the side and asked if he wanted me to call
an ambulance and he said...(wait for it) "I'm fine, just a broken wrist, I must go as I have an appointment" And then he was gone. ..!
When they are cranky however, it usually surfaces as rage and is quite scary.
For me, the recent weeks have been getting the girls settled ( and fully equipped) into their new classes and schools) attending meetings and generally just being there. Christine has now been two weeks at her new High School and we have already seen a huge range of emotions form elation (got the first Gold Slip reward of the form) to near hysterical tears (also got the first detention)...Obviously following in her mother's footsteps.
The school is extremely strict as we guessed from the disgusting letter I got after we missed a meeting. All teachers spent the first few lessons going over rules and testing the students on them. If you forgot a book, came a few minutes late (even if you were lost in the new school) or failed to do your homework, you got detention. Detention can be 15mins after school with no warning (ie on the same day) or a big version on
Wednesdays. Some teachers didn't even give chances. The exception being the Design and Tech teacher who said they get three chances. He is also the only Australian. Christine already hates her history teacher but loves DT, science and maths. Interestingly French is given high priority with three lessons a week (same as maths, English and science) and very intensive, practical tuition. Christine is enjoying this class too and besides maths, says this will be the class that she learns most. There is a nice cafeteria on site which is cheap and has nice hot food but she chooses to bring her own (This I think is because we give her 5 pounds a week to buy lunch but said if she doesn't spend it she can keep it (suddenly it's her own money and not mum and dad's so she has become more frugal:-).....she has worked out this means 12 Australian dollars every week and has been hoarding the fivers up in great anticipation of the post Christmas, new year sales in Aus)
All in all, I feel the school is similar in level of education to St Ursulas where she will go on our return. She is really looking forward to seeing her old friends) No better and no worse although you would think this one is the height of educational institutions listening to the staff and other parents. Certainly the school would get the very best out of the student and many parents believe that is worth all the bad vibes that hang around the school. (For example there is little extra curricular events and when there are, the students don't attend!) I am actually very grateful for this experience because Christine is learning to organise herself and take responsibility for preparation and also learning time management (because of the enormous amount of homework.) This is a good thing as she did need to lift her game in this department and already she has taken on the challenge really well (well, you would too if you had these dragons teaching you putting the fear of punishment constantly over your head!). However I'm also glad it's only for a couple of months (I said she could finish a it earlier). I keep telling her that Australia still has its dragons too and rules are rules and schools are based on rules, rewards and punishments but we both know its nothing like this. In general she doesn't like it but she is happy to meet up with friends and some lessons are exciting so it's not all bad .
Lauren is happy and I think she is probably doing even better without Tine at the same school. She is suddenly the source of all knowledge and is in all these extension classes which she enjoys. Unfortunately bright kids here are treated like bright kids back home: once they are identified the teachers just throw more work at them. However the English extension is great because she is in a small group learning research skills, following on from her GT class last year at OLF.
Tomorrow is International Day at Lauren's school and the students are meant to come to school in national costume.....?! What on Earth is the Australian national costume. Too cold for thongs and stubbies (sorry, must call them flip flops in England as thongs here are only women's underwear...you can imagine the looks the girls received upon saying they wear "thongs' all the time in Australia, before they were quietly informed:-)) and shorts. And who actually wears thongs and stubbies anyway! (Actually now that I think about it I think I may have seen dad wearing just that when boating). So, she is just wearing jeans with one of those little Koala squeezy peg toys that clutch onto your clothes. Not much of an effort really. You can also bring in food from your country but again, unless we were to bring in Vegemite sandwiches (which I'm sure would still be sitting there at the end of the night) we have no ideas...and no, I'm not spending the whole day making lamingtons, even though they are really nice.
The other day I did my first shopping online..ever! Quite a feat that only took me three and a half hours. (I could have gone to the local shop four times and back in that time) The main problem I found is that I bought more than I needed which was strange because I always thought that happened more when you were actually in the shop surrounded by all the temptations. I also bought obscure things. Like Vegemite. Considering the last jar of Vegemite our family had was dated from the 70's and sat on our shelf getting that sticky grimey feel (although I must say the actual Vegemite didn't seem to date) this was an usual choice of purchase. When I showed everybody that night we all huddled around it like it was Alladin's lamp , inhaling deeply and sighing ecstatically with those glorious yeasty fumes. Four days (and many vegemite toasts) later, the jar is back up in the cupboard shoved behind everything else and will be tossed away with the rest of the rubbish in December. From this Vegemite experience I have learned that we are all home-sick.
It has, however also got us reminiscing about all the great lollies (which is what they call ice-blocks here) we have been missing in the last 9 months. The most heart-felt groans of loss emitted from the girls being for Allens Clinkers and Snakes Alive. Also the thought of Tim Tams and Iced VoVos made their little hearts beat faster and chests heave. (Lauren can't even have these things but it didn't stop her drooling all over the lounge). All they have here is mainly digestive biscuits and Cadbury's chocolate. I can't believe I wrote that so casually, as if Cadbury Chocolate was a minor confectionery contribution. Cadbury's is also really cheap and the rise in my weight gain can be directly attributed to the lower cost of chocolate in England, in fact in the whole of Europe. There is actually a place called Cadbury's World up north which is apparently a bit of a Charlie's (of factory fame) heaven. Yes, I did investigate flights and overnight stay hotels just to visit it but there is just too many things to do and see and we can't do them all.
Other news was my penfriend of 21 years, Jim Mackenzie, came to London with his wife Lori on a grand European trip. (London, Switzerland and Scotland to visit where his grandfather lived) Jim will need no introduction to my family and close friends but for others: he was my greatest penpal, particularly during my late teens and we wrote incessantly. My door was plastered with his postcards, cards and other mementos). It was a great week for us to have easy friends to chat and laugh with. (So different from our year amongst the more reserved English, which actually took a bit of adjusting at first). Normally we only feel free like that with other Australians so it was really nice to laugh and joke. They actually took us to our first Trivia pub night (ever) and our table "the Beaveroos" (?) came fourth. (I better add that this was only because Jim knew everything, just in case he reads this). The rest of us can take no credit whatsoever. I made a small attempt to show them something in London but almost everything I said was wrong. (I'm no tour guide) Luckily they were pretty happy exploring for themselves anyway.
PS Angela, this is not the "What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing" penpal :-)
As an aside I noticed then, and have noticed even more now that I have been watching more, the Canadians and Americans get a much warmer reception by the English than Australians do. But on the other hand I think Australians are easily accepted as very similar. I noticed this because Americans and Canadians always get asked questions like "Where are you from" in friendly tones. I've never been asked this question in the whole 9 months. It's not like there are few North Americans here..there are many. I guess we are just a little too normal and our accent is easily identified.
Weather has changed and London people are getting snappier. Rage bursts out of them unexpectedly. My theory is that the cold weather has suddenly loomed and it has come as a shock as we felt we hardly had a decent Summer at all. Quite unexpectedly a drama will burst out with shouts, violence and rage but there is so much noise ..sirens, traffic etc, and there are so many people marching fast in London that unless you were directly in front of it, you would be unaware it had occurred. There have been sunny days, September has been pretty good but the rest was fairly pathetic and I have heard that tempers flare during the Winter proceeding a bad Summer. I on the other hand LOVE the change (although I admit it's a little early to be waking up to 7 degree temperatures..we are only in the first month of Autumn!) I love seeing the leaves and trees change and feel that crispness in the air. I also like wearing boots and jackets. It is an exciting time, when seasons change in colder climates. There are more cute little squirrels and song birds too, its a little magical. I imagine Sydney is starting to shift into a different change of weather too. After such a cold and fierce winter I'm sure you are all glad.
Believe it or not there are already Christmas decorations in the shops! Are there in Australia too? (question for anyone) Fortunately no carols blasting out yet in the stores but I anticipate that any time soon.
Battersea Park is great and there is a very cute little zoo with all these weird looking animals that we have never seen before.
So, you can see the focus has been on school . Herve is going well at work. Taking it easy. Not having to prove himself anymore since his contract was renewed has certainly helped this attitude. Everyone tells him he could get any job in London now after working for GS for a turnover contract but he looks at them like they were mad. :-). Tonight he is of for drinks with the company that manages tax for foreign workers. The social nights are full of Australians and so he loves them. He has never attended drinks at his work as, if they do go out after work they must set out too late for him (many finish work very late in the evenings in the investment banking field).
Which reminds me, yesterday Christine came home telling us that a girl asked her why she had come to England. (She said she didn't know ! Sigh, ..I only hope they appreciate this later on, We'll live in hope) and then all these other girls around joined in the conversation with comments like "Yeah, why on Earth? Don't you know how many people here are trying to migrate to Australia!". The only Australians here are either on holiday or are usually young working for a year or so for whatever reason. We are a novelty here as very few Australian families actually Move here to live and they think this is what we are doing as we have not told them otherwise.
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valerie
non-member comment
homecoming
there will be snakes and clinkers in the cupboard when you come home. See you soon-Love Mum