Family Fuzzy Feelings :)

I come from a family separated by many miles and 40 or so states.  My dad's family is spread out in Virginia, Minnesota, and Indiana (mainly) and my mom's family is from the east coast; specifically Connecticut and New Jersey.  For those of you who have no idea about US geography (because you aren't from here or because you failed high school geography like many other Americans :) ), these states are extremely far from California.  

NOTE: I do have some other family from my parent's marriages that are in CA/AZ and who I love very much but for the sake of this blog entry I am discussing my family that is far away.  

I know that every family has their own traditions that they share but I think the distance makes our family traditions even more special and important in my mind.  It is kind of like a long distance relationship, every meeting is extra sweet because of the distance in between.  My dad's family is characterized by trips to the lake, strawberry shortcake, rhubarb (everything), barnyard canasta, fishing, and my grandma win's Christmas cookies (so basically... food :) ) 

My mom's family is defined by GOOD bagels, lobster, white fish salad, amazing corn, blueberries until our face changes color, excessive schedule planning, and lots of cultural adventures.  I have realized that two of my most distinctive qualities come from my mom's side: my constant planning and my habit of packing snacks even if I am leaving the house for 20 min or so... :). The planning is from my grandma who always has a calendar out with a stack of articles on things for us to do and a pencil in hand to ensure we get as much out of our stay as possible and the snack packing is mirrored in my mom's daily activities.  I think Todd appreciates the second and not the first but each of their quirks are seen in my daily manner.  Anyone agree? :) 

This trip back east has been no different :)  Tonight we are sitting down (outside) to attack some lobster, yesterday we made the shlep down to New Jersey to see my Aunt and Uncle and today Grandma, Grandpa and I made a trip to Gillette Castle.  It is an enormous house overlooking the Connecticut river that William Gillette designed and built as his retirement home.  This is the man who brought Sherlock Holmes to the stage and played him more that 1,300 times and yet his design of the house is almost as impressive as his theater repertoire.  It is a huge, three story mansion built with different kinds of wood, locally found stone, secret passageways and amazing views.  I highly recommend googling Gillette's Castle or clicking HERE as this "house" was really one of a kind!  We (basically Grandma) always seems to find some museum or interesting place that we haven't been to yet and it is such a treat to have someone else thinking of things to do! I have to admit that I am nervous about Todd visiting because Covina is not the greatest and I am thinking I may have to hire some friends or something to keep him occupied ;) 

Actually I am very excited for the possibility of sharing my family traditions with someone else.  Rachel, my friend from junior high loves coming over for our Jewish food and we love sharing our family/ cultural traditions with her.  Thank you to all my family that has nurtured and introduced the traditions that I treasure so dearly today.  It makes the distances seem small and the time between visits short and sweet.  I am really enjoying my family time and also counting down to the next opportunity we have to create memories and share our traditions :) 

Whirlwind last weeks...

My final few weeks were full of tearful goodbyes, celebrations, good friends and lots of good food.  Todd and I celebrated our one year anniversary (festivities orchestrated by me) by having a super date.  On Saturday July 24^th , we rode our bikes to Burleigh Heads and enjoyed brunch by the ocean while watching surfers , kids and their harassed looking parents.  We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some errands via bike which was really fun and very environmentally friendly of us :). Our super date came to a close with a night in surfers which ended up being fairly short because we were both tired from our biking adventure that morning. 

The next weekend Todd and I tried to hike into Stinston Wreck which was a hike that we had tried to plan for months, but something always got in the way… We ended up leaving the house earlier than expected and by the time we arrived at the start of the hike we only had a few hours of daylight left.  We walked 300 meters in and were confronted with a swollen river and a log straddling the river as our only means across.  We proceeded to wrap our legs around the log and crawl across.  Fifteen minutes later we had managed to inch ourselves across.  We were wet, muddy and the sun was already beginning to set.  Another kilometer or so in, we discovered that the trail was becoming harder and harder to follow so we decided to set up camp by the river (on the trail) and attempt to get to the site on Sunday.  We knew it would be a big return trip but figured it was worth a shot.  Two hours later we had set up camp, had tea (dinner) and were playing cards in the tent.  We discovered that we only had one bedroll because of some packing errors and were laying across a tree root in our hot, stuffy tent.  We quickly agreed that this was just not meant to be and so we headed home, with a celebratory stop at McDonalds on the way.

The following weekend, my final weekend in Australia, was spent in Sydney with Al and Gav (two of Todd’s friends from work).  We were originally supposed to run the city to surf, a 14K run from Hyde park to Bondi beach, but Todd and I decided to be lazy and so Gav and Al showed us up by their impressive running abilities.  Todd and I used that morning to walk from Bondi (where our hostel was) down the cost to the neighboring town of Bronte.  It was a beautiful morning and it was nice to get some exercise without hurting our joints through running :)  The previous day, Todd purchased a GPS and so he spent much of the morning trying to figure it out to make sure we didn’t get lost on the well marked, self explanatory path we walked down.  After Al and Gav finished the run we all met up and then Todd and I managed to meet up with Miles in downtown Bondi.  I really had an amazing time meeting up with Miles.  The time flew by and I think we are both happy that we have kept in touch throughout our time in Australia. 

Our weekend concluded with a night on the town with Al and Gav.  We went to a classy wine bar and then moved the party to a BYO Mediterranean restaurant where Todd discovered a new region of food that he really enjoyed.  Woo experimenting! :)  I am really glad that we spent that weekend in Bondi.  It was a new part of Sydney that I had not seen and the endless houses on hills reminded me a lot of San Francisco’s architectural silhouette.  Saying goodbye to Al after that weekend was, once again, really tough.  I met him within the first month of being in Australia and I don’t think I have ever met such a kind, spiritual, funny individual.  I really had an amazing time getting to know him and I really hope our paths cross again in the future.  

Al and Roman (two friends I miss a great deal) at Moreton (another weekend) 

Straddling two worlds

I know that I have yet to really conclude my last few weeks/ days in Australia and I will but not today... I think it is hard for me to write about it coming to an end because I am still in denial that it is the case.  I miss Australia.  I miss the beauty of the land and the people that I met there.  I miss the life that I had and yet at the same time I am glad to be back and start a new part of my life.  I am currently in Berkeley visiting lots of friends from school etc and it has been amazing to catch up with them all but right now it still feels kinda fake... I mean of course I am glad to see them but there is still a part of me that is rebelling against discussing my experience in Australia in the past tense.
I updated my cover letter and resume this morning so I can start applying for the dozens of jobs I have saved in my "indeed" profile (excellent website, by the way).  I know this is all stuff I have to do it makes the "grown up" part of life all the more real.  I am looking forward to finding a job, and interviewing with different companies (I am weird, I know) but it all takes a bit to get used to.
Next week I am visiting my grandparents/ mom's family back east and I am very excited to see everyone but I feel like with each passing day I am getting further from Australia; and I don't like this feeling one bit.
I guess all I am saying is that I will tell you all about my last few weeks in a bit but right now I still want to hold on to it and not let it all come to a close.

And the Verdict Is...!

Well it wasn't really a competition but I have had an overwhelming response from people that I should continue my blog when I return home so I will be doing just that :) Speaking of votes, mom, Jan, and I got REALLY into Master Chef Australia when they visited and I have to say that Australia's overall response to the show is just massive.  Over 10% of the population tuned in (more than the percentage for American Idol) and the upcoming election debate was postponed an hour so that it would not interfere with the competition :)  Amazing what TV can do! ha ha.  Although I am not up to their caliber I do have some recipes that I have been changing/ working with etc and I will be sure to start writing more about my cooking in the months to come.  And finally, here are two more of my recent paintings that I have completed for Todd and Russ.  I still have two more in my brain at the moment and am looking for some "get my butt into gear" inspiration :)

Explanation: Russ plays guitar ALL the time; i guess it doesnt look like a
guitar though, neither him nor Todd knew what it was :) ha ha

Multi panelled painting for Todd; he loves lines and angles; hence the triangles;
I made if for him to decorate his living room while he sells his apt

Tassie -> Whales (the animal ;) )

My second trip to Tassie was just as much fun but unfortunately much shorter than my first.  Mom and Jan and I flew in on Saturday morning, waited for Todd at the airport and then started our speedy journey.  We fit in lots of Foster family time, a stop at the Raspberry farm for jam and fresh ice cream, BBQ, and a trip to the Nut, this Ayres Rock shaped formation on Tassie coastline.  It was a beautiful 3 km walk around the top.  We saw a wallaby in the wild (mom was ecstatic!) and then proceeded to the town bellow (Stanley) for some amazing fish and chips from this eccentric place with a lobster on the roof :)

Our trip came to a rapid close and we left on Monday for Sydney! Sydney is much different from Melbourne.  Melbourne is just a gorgeous city in itself and doesn't attempt to brag about its splendour.  Sydney is also beautiful but a tourist town through and through.  Most people say they would love to live in Melbourne but visit Sydney and I think this is a very good way to sum up my feelings for it.  With my mom and sis, I did much of the same as I did when Steph and Anna visited.  We walked a ton, visited Darling Harbour, saw the bridge, and took a few ferries.  The variations in this trip included a visit to the oldest Synagogue in Sydney, a tour of the opera house, trip out to the blue mountains, and a visit to the Sydney zoo.  The synagogue was beautiful with stained glass windows and place for a choir, and the tour guide was informative and gave everyone a surprisingly good overview of Judaism.  I was very impressed overall and was glad that we took this little cultural side trip :)

Blue Mountains 

The blue mountains were beautiful and blu-ish but I find most mountains are during a certain point in the day... It was still a very worthwhile trip but I was more impressed by the zoo :) I am a sucker for cute little animals even if they are in a cage.  We saw a seal show and I think I was as amused as all the little kids around us :) The elephants were cool although our experience was dwarfed by Janet pronouncing that they are much cooler in the wild.. duh... she saw them in Africa, lucky girl :)

The opera house tour was led by a 65 year old (or so) woman with an entertaining way of mingling her own stories with the history of the opera house.  She talked about how her favourite show there ever was sumo wrestlers from Japan and how she remembers our dear governor, Arnold, competing for the Mr. Universe title.  Although the price of tickets for a show weren't as high as the most expensive price ever for a show ($850 for one ticket!), we still felt that the ticket prices were a little ridiculous and so our opera house experience ended.

Inside one of the theaters at the opera house

From Sydney we went back to the Gold Coast for ONE day, ha ha in which we pretty much did nothing but gear ourselves for the trip up north.  We flew into a small town called Prosperine and then took a bus to Airle Beach, the home of the Whitsundays.  At this point, the cold mom had infiltrated Jan and my immune systems and so we weren't feeling up to much.  We walked around the tiny, touristy town for a day and debated which ridiculously expensive tour we would splurge on.  We couldn't decide if we wanted to go to the Whitsunday Islands or to the Great Barrier Reef (which was HEAPS more) but in the end we decided to live large and on Tuesday we headed out bright and early to venture to the Great Barrier Reef.  The snorkelling was, of course, very enjoyable although the water was a bit chilly for my still ill self and so I spent the rest of the totalled 4 hours on the reef in a glass bottom and submarine boat so I could see the amazing coral and sea life without constant shivering :) The glass bottom boat was truly miraculous and gave me a very different view of the reef.  We cruised along the top of the reef instead of just on the side, the view we got from snorkelling.

I have to say, however, that my favourite part of that day was the whales! Since landing in Australia I have seen many sea turtles and dolphins in the water but no whales up until this point.  At one point there was a few humpback whales showing off their flippers only 50 meters from the deck.  I could actually see the barnacles on their skin? hide? Unfortunately, we were all smart enough to think that the others were bringing a camera and so we have no pictures of them but we met a very nice couple from Canada who promised us shots of the whales.  If we receive them I will be sure to post them!

Ok I am now off to tackle my growing list of things to do before I go.  I have a few more adventures to tell so come back soon! :)
ps. since my adventures by the sea are ending soon I would like to know if you all want me to continue writing when I get back state side?