Costumes, crepes, and kitty fun...

It's been a busy few weeks but plenty of good times to write home about. Adrian's been Mr. Corporate lately ("Buy, buy, buy! Sell, sell, sell!" he likes to say)-- well, maybe he doesn't work on the stock exchange but he sure loves dressing the part. You've gotta have a little fun at work! Adrian has been working downtown in an office tower of one of Australia's major banks (ANZ) for almost 3 weeks now, and has gleefully discovered a games floor in his building. So every Friday he and his co-workers sit in those video-game cars and race each other. Word is there's a beer cart that comes around the office on Fridays as well- now that's the life!

As for me (Dayle), I've been blissfully unemployed since last Monday, enjoying another wave of sunny, 25-degree autumn days. This week's been a little colder, so I'm not spending as much time doing crayon drawings under the old trees in beautiful Carlton Gardens (the nearby park where we sometimes chase possums at at night). It's been really nice to enjoy some "me" time, exploring the nearby neighbourhoods and shops, and running all of those little errands that have been neglected for months (and fixing tattered clothing and shoes!). The work will come soon enough-- but it's just nice to relax a bit for now. It's a "working HOLIDAY visa", as we say here, not a "working slavery visa"!

But actually, I'm not totally unemployed. On Saturday afternoons I get paid to play dress-up at this wonderful, humongous costume hire (that's Aussie for rental!) shop called Costume Factory. I applied for the job way back in January but only recently did they decide they still needed another staff member for busy Saturday afternoons. It pays great and the staff are all quirky arts students, painters, writers, and theatre enthusiasts, and we basically just help people piece together costumes for the unbelievable amount of costume parties that happen in Melbourne. (For a country that doesn't do much for Halloween, I have been shocked). My first day consisted of fixing up wigs and dressing mannequins as tacky tourists, gladiators, cowboys, and even a 'gay sailor' (that's a sailor suit with sequins!). And ever since I've dressed people up as flappers, Prince, Tina Turner, Alpen yodeler and even an Indian chief and Pocahontas. It's been a real exercise in creativity because a lot of customers walk in without any costume ideas, and it's also easy to get lost in the huge shop/showroom. But it's a nice place to spend a weekend afternoon and I do wish we were staying long enough to see what Halloween brings. And apparently the company's been around for ages, evolving over the years since the Gold Rush days! For that reason we have an amazing amount of gorgeous medieval wear, etc., which we rent to a lot of theatre productions too.

In other news, our roommates got a kitten last week! Pax is rambunctious and lively, and he's completely adorable (but more about him later!). He's also a great entertainer of houseguests--we've just finished a multi-day goodbye party for our French friends Stephane and Jenny, who came to stay with us after working in Tasmania. There was lots of wine-drinking, reminiscing, and a final crepe feast... and we definitely caught (me more than Adrian I think) a bit of the travel bug as we chatted about their plans to travel Southeast Asia. Our friend Bianca's also off to New Zealand now and we're possibly the only people left in Oz from our original Echuca crew. We can only wonder on which continent we'll all meet again... we'll miss you guys! xoxo, D.

Getting sporty in Melbourne

Since we couldn't be around for yet another Jays home opener, we decided to get sporty, Australia-style over the weekend. We'd previously caught bits on TV of the strange spectacle that is the Australian Football League (AFL), and since Melbourne is true heart of the league, we figured it was about time to check out a live game. And people are REALLY into it here...

Basically, this version of football (or "footy") involves two teams of 18 guys each wearing tank tops and short-shorts, running around a gigantic circular field and kicking a ball through the goalposts (not to mention beating each other up along the way). The season runs from late March to early September, and it's by far the most popular and well-attended sport in the country. The league began as a solely-Victoria league, which is why many of the 16 teams are Melbourne suburbs-- only recently did the other state capitals get their own teams in the league. Naturally, we have to cheer for Carlton, not only because we live here, but because they're pretty much the worst team in the league (yay underdogs!). So we got on our Carlton Blues scarves and watched as our guys nearly beat the Essendon Bombers... but then lost.

The game itself is surprisingly not at all boring and pretty easy to follow, unlike American football. Aussies often ridicule American-style football because of the players' padded suits-- "That's not real football, mate!"-- which we can now understand, since these guys play just as, if not rougher, in outfits fit for the beach. Luckily, it's not too hard to understand: there are four fast-paced 30-minute quarters and a few strange rules about how to pass the ball. Our favourite scenario is when one player has the ball, and everything's on pause as he readies himself to boot it, while members of the other team stand a certain distance away and do jumping jacks in his line of sight (presumably as a distraction). Quite funny to watch from the nosebleeds!

At the end of the game, the winning team's "song" comes onto the staticky loudspeakers, and the fans sing along. In our case, we got to hear Essendon's song, which was very 1940s/WWII/creepy. Perhaps time for an update? The best part is how much people get into the game. We sat behind two moms and their teenage daughters-- one mom had a hand-knitted Carlton-colours scarf on-- and they were screaming louder than the jock types sitting on either side of us. From what we've heard, the rivalries run deep, and the queues to score a seasons' ticket or a member's seat will commit you for decades- word is locals sign up their kids at birth! Seeing as many of the teams have been around since the 1800's (Carlton's club dates back to 1864), there's a bit of that old-school Yankees/Red Sox legacy flavour, where fans wear their scarves proudly and take every win and loss very seriously. [You can read a little of the history here!]

Although attendance was more than 64,000, there were still many blocks of seats empty in the MCG on that chilly autumn evening (isn't SkyDome around 50,000 at full capacity?). The Melbourne Cricket Ground (or the "Mc G", as we call it, waiting to stand corrected) is an enormous open-air stadium, and shares with the retractable-roof Telstra Dome for all of our local games. It was definitely a good time to be part of a cheering, excited mass; almost-- but not quite-- a substitute for baseball!

Home sweet home (again)

It was much easier than we thought possible-- we now have a Melbourne home! After checking out that first doorless dump, the place we moved into was that much more fantastic. We signed the lease right away, and moved in a day later. It's actually a renovated former refrigeration warehouse that's down a little lane off a main street, but it's quite nice inside- ceramic tiles, big kitchen, large furnished bedrooms with exposed brick (reminds Dayle of her bathroom in Cabbagetown!). It's a little pricey-- Toronto rents have NOTHING on Melbourne-- but it's in the heart of Carlton, which is the university/Italian neighbourhood, and just a five-minute walk north of the CBD = millions of cafes, shops, restaurants, gelato shops, and bars to hit. And the perks: free wireless internet, laundry, all bills paid, nice landlords who pop by with coupons for attractions and 2-for-1 ice cream... hell, we can't go wrong. We're committed for two months, and will probably stay more, so feel free to send us mail-- there's nothing better than snail mail in this electronic age. :)

OUR ADDRESS:
18 Powell Lane
Carlton, VIC 3053
Australia
(SEE OUR HOUSE ON A GOOGLE MAP)

We also have some cute kitties who roam around at night, waiting for belly-scratching, which is cool. Last night we went for a stroll and stumbled upon a park full of small, tamed possums that stumble around like they're wasted (we promise you a video soon). Our biggest problem is parking-- and we love Daisy way too much to give her up! We were almost able to get a street-parking permit from City Hall, but then we read the fine print and our car has to be registered in Victoria (and Daisy's a true-blue Queenslander). Since we live down a "lane"- kind of a cobblestoned alleyway- we can't park in there, it's illegal. And while the city street-parking permit is only $20 for the whole year, the cost of changing Daisy over to a Victoria van- safety check, roadworthy certificates, rego fees, changing insurance- just isn't worth it. I think we're going to have to rent a spot for her in a parking garage, and hope she doesn't hate us for neglecting her. On the bright side, we did buy a detailed manual on our trusty Toyota Hi-Ace, and now we actually know which spot to pour the radiator coolant into... tee hee!

Happy New Year all- hope you have an enjoyable one! They're calling for 44 degrees here, so we're going to have some drinks and watch fireworks from the St. Kilda beaches, and go for a midnight swim (or maybe a toe-dip, for those afraid of sharks). For a few hours there, we'll be in 2008 and Canada will be still in 2007- how strange! We'll let you know how the future looks...

...well actually, it kind of looks like this:

Behold the Future from BigQuestionMarks on Vimeo.