Settling into Sydney

Our Australian adventure is off to a great start!  We are one week in and the jet lag is finally starting to fade.  Our accommodations are lovely and the kids are delighted with the toys, books, and movies hidden throughout the house.  We are staying in Newtown, just a short walk from The University of Sydney where Ram is working.  There is a nice park across the street and the train station is a 5 minute walk away.  You can visit or write us at 2 Holdsworth Street, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia.  

This week has been a bit of a blur, with our mornings starting as early as midnight!  Jet lag is pretty painful with youngsters to feed and entertain!  Priya and Kiran were a bit staggered with their schedules.  She was waking up first, and then he would come bounding downstairs just as we were cleaning up breakfast.  I kept telling them to listen to their bodies and eat when they felt hungry and sleep when they felt tired.  On our third morning, I asked Priya how she was feeling.  "My body is adjusting,"  she replied.  Atta girl!  Kiran would be begging to go to bed right after dinner, if he lasted that long.  Today was our best day yet.  We woke to the noise of the garbage truck in the alley beside our house.  I asked Kiran to tell me the first number on the alarm clock.  When he replied with zero, I knew we had finally made it over the hump.  It was 6:30am and we were all eating breakfast together by 7!  Breakfast tastes so much better when the sun is up and I'm not worried about waking the neighbors! 

While we weren't eating toast and taking long naps, we started exploring and getting our feet on the ground.  Ram jumped into work at the agricultural robotics lab at Sydney Uni.  He also stocked our fridge and pantry with goods from the farmers market and "Woolie's."  We made it to a birthday party already and Priya dug into preparing the fairy bread.  The kids and I discovered some great playgrounds, went to a music and dance class at the Redfern Community Centre, topped up our Opal cards and had our first train adventure, toured the Anzac War Memorial and the Embassy of Disappearance, sampled some treats from corner stores along the way, and made a dent in the bookshelf.  We are loving Roald Dahl and already banged out "James and the Giant Peach," "George's Marvelous Medicine," and "The Enormous Crocodile!"   We are also having fun with a cute wooden chess set, marbles, and a hungry dino's game. 

Coffee culture is huge in Sydney, so we feel right at home.  Our home brew has been less than stellar so far, but the cafes have picked up the slack and kept us running.  Here are a few of the places we have enjoyed so far:  Three Queens,  Cafe ISM, Cafe Ella.  On Monday, I was treated to coffee with my old (young) friend Jenny from Dublin.  She is living in Melbourne now, and swooped in for the day to welcome us to Australia!  Our last visit was at our wedding six years ago, so it was great to catch up on life since then!   We will make a family journey to Melbourne in a couple of weeks to visit with Jenny, her husband Will, and their pup Cleo!  

So far, Sydney feels familiar and reminds me of streets I have roamed in Dublin, Northampton, and perhaps Williamsburg.  It is winter here, but it feels more like Fall.  There are red leaves that look like New England and palm trees that look like New Orleans.  There are hills that make the pram a struggle at times, but the sidewalks are wide and well maintained.  There are roundabouts and phone booths.  College students swarm the sidewalks around campus, and they politely step aside in a wave when they see the kids rambling towards them.  Parks and playgrounds are thoughtfully designed and clean, and they pop up at regular intervals.    Houses and cars are smaller.  Trash cans and bins are smaller.  Our house has three outdoor trash bins, one for trash, one for recycling, and one for green waste (compost).  These three bins would nearly fit into one NOLA trash bin.  There is also a worm garden in our side patio that we add our food waste into.  We "topped it up" today, and the kids were delighted to peek at the heap of worms twisted amongst banana peels and coffee grinds.  The flora and fauna are very different.  The kids have chased birds with very long beaks poking in the dirt and uncovered mysterious pods with large seeds.  A pair of pink headed cockatoos bobbed around in the street this morning as we walked by gawking.  

It is now 10pm on Friday, and while the formatting of Blogger is really annoying me, I should head to bed!  Kiran hollered out a little while ago, asking if it was morning.  In fact, its 7AM in New Orleans so his little clock is still loyal to home.  If the heavy rain carries on tonight, we'll be having our Saturday breakfast around 4PM NOLA time.  Confusing, heh?   

Kiran improving the rules of chess.  

Double decker kids at the Redfern Community Center

3AM breakfast -- flowers from Jenny

Treasure of the day --- a giant pod with 4 seeds in it.

Close look at an Ipis (scavenger bird)

On top of the play structure

Saluting the Anzac Memorial at Hyde Park

Making Fairy Bread for Jarvis's 3rd birthday

Coffee break

Exhibit in the Carriageworks