Kia ora from New Zealand!

I said I'd let you in on the fiasco in my next blog. I suppose I should do that now. I have so much to report on, this trip certainly has had its' ups and downs!

So, I'll bring us back to Sydney on December 1st. Mom and I were checking in with Pacific Blue at the airport. We figured we had 4 hours between flights, we had lots of time. (ha! you know what assume means) anyways.. mom got through ok this time.. it was ME... First off, my passport. It is set to expire on March 15th 2010. We are in New Zealand from December 1st to December 19th 2009. The problem is that New Zealand wants visitors to have a passport that is valid 3 months beyond their departure date. If you look at the date on my passport, it is 4 days less than the 3 month requirement. The check in lady at the airport did not want to let me on the plane. I had to change my return ticket to be December 14th in order to fly into New Zealand. Of course, with the type of ticket I have, she could not do that at the desk, I had to get out of the queue and use the phone to call the airline to change my ticket... at a cost of $50. argh! So I finally got that done, and mom had thankfully stood in the line again to get me back to check-in, when I got there, they didn't want to ok my leaving because my travel change was not on an official ticket, but a number scribbled on a paper while I was on the phone. AHHH! They DID finally accept it, then we weighed my large backpack which was 22kg (they only allow20 I think) then... they weighed my CARRY ON luggage! can you believe it!? It had to weigh only 7kg... mine weighed 15kg. So I had to empty out my carry on into my already bursting backpack and pay the difference! (which meant to do the switching I had to get out of line again!) INCREDIBLE! So, finally after paying $30 for overweight luggage and $50 to change my return flight they gave me my boarding pass!

The flight was uneventful, bit bumpy, but overall, it was fine. Got to Auckland at about 11:30pm where we stood in line at customs for about 1 hour. The customs' line I picked was 3 times as long as mom's. Again he looked at me funny with my scribbles for my return flight but wished me a warm welcome.

Finally got to mom and she'd collected our luggage.

Oh! I forgot to mention! Mom got bomb searched at the airport .. too funny. At 11:30pm they searched my mom for bombs.. lol.. they were good sports as was mom and they wished us a good trip :)

So finally in Auckland to settle in to sleep at the airport. We saw the check in counter and figured we could find a place to rest our heads for 4 hours before checking in. We each got a 4 seat bench to stretch out on. There were several people doing the same thing. We didn't get too much sleep though, there were people working on a machine they kept on backing up with the "beep beep" sound, and a floor polisher that sounded like a jet engine beside us. At least we weren't stuck in a wee seat on a plane! :)

We got up every once in a while to go for a walk around the airport. Some things were open all night, like the little corner store and a food place. I was starting to get my cold at this point, which wasn't good.

At about 4am, mom decided to get herself some breakfast (a cafe just opened) so she got herself a coffee (late) and a savoury muffin. Thinking it a good idea, she brought it to our seat on a tray. Not noticing how unstable her drink without a lid was on such a contraption. Well in trying to sit down, she managed to topple the entire late all over my backpack and splashed her luggage our seats, pillows, and floor in the process. WHAT A MESS!!. I quickly tried to remove as much of the coffee from my backpack as possible, I had some extra napkins in my purse and quickly got to work... my backpack wasn't quite waterproof so somethings got damp inside it from the coffee, but nothing serious.. though I have to say it's probably the backpack's last trip... and I'm quite happy it's black!

We decided that we'd been there long enough and it was time to check in for our flight to Christchurch. We were both exhausted and trying not to be miserable. I think we did a good job. Neither one of us bit each other's head off, though I'm sure there were many times we both wanted to... especially mom wanting to take my head off for putting her through sleeping in an airport. We survived though, thank god!

So we went to check in, only to realize we were at the wrong airport!!! we were at the international airport and we needed to check in at the domestic airport! sigh. Luckily, it is only a 10 minute walk away from the international airport. Mom and I felt we needed the walk and fresh air after a night at the airport.

So at 4:40am we walked over to the other airport. It only opened at 5am (glad we didn't go there right away.. we would have been sleeping outside!!) I have to admit, it was pretty neat. We checked ourselves in, weighed our own luggage, put it on the conveyor ourselves! very neat. Then we had to wait for security to open at 5:30am to catch our 6:15am flight. The flight was excellent and it was raining when we got to Christchurch, but we had a driver waiting to bring us to the hostel.

That's enough for another episode... I'll write more in a bit!

Mom, Southern WA, Adelaide and now NZ

Hi Everyone...

oh my goodness. lots has happened since I last wrote.. I hope I'll get it all in!

So mom arrived safe and sound, though with badly blistered feet. We stayed with Hossein and Linda, though Linda left on Saturday morning (mom arrived Friday November 20th at 8pm).

Saturday was a day of laundry and packing then a dinner with Anka. She's so lovely. I am missing her already. She and mom got along peas and carrots!

Sunday Hossein was our tour guide... after a large breakfast, he brought us to a flea market then we visited Kings Park and did a mini tree top walk. Mom loved it and her feet survived!

Monday we were off to Augusta in the south of Western Australia. What a lovely trip! we meandered down, stopping at many little towns. We managed to get to one cave, Mammoth Cave. It was lovely, but I have to say the 342 345 626 754 stairs to get out of the place was definitely a workout! Our room was amazing. The Bayswater (I believe). For a hostel.. listen to this.. we had our own room with a balcony over looking the ocean. Our room had a tv, a fridge (with chilled wine glasses in it and ice cubes in a tray), we had a kettle, a toaster dishes, an ensuite... it was the ritz!

Tuesday Nov 24th, we made our way up to another cave, Jewel Cave. It was lovely and also had many stairs. From there we visited Margaret River and we went to a cheese factory and a chocolate factory.. YUM! We stayed in Walpole that night in a hostel. I was tired of driving by this point. It was beautiful... the uber tall trees and winding roads... but doing that at 90-110km/hr... my knuckles were a bit white by the end of the day.

The hostel in Walpole wasn't as fancy.. I think I spoiled mom too much on her first experience. It was like a little cottage room with a sink and two single beds. We had to share the washroom with other guests. We did have fun getting to know the others at the hostels though.

Wednesday Nov 25th, we got up early and went to a climbing tree... hmm.. starts with a G... anyways.. there are these wee little posts sticking out of a really tall tree that you're supposed to climb to a look out above. I got to the 4th rung I think before I turned back. Mom didn't make it past the second rung I think! lol We walked around in the forest then made our way to the Tree Top Walk. Man, that was really neat. The walkways were swaying with the wind, we were way up off the ground... they said over 40 meters.. whatever that is.. :)

From there we went to Pemberton which was our stop for the night. It was good to just have an early night for a change. We were in a cottage across the street from an IGA. The cottage was shared by others.. strangely enough.. others from the other hostels we were staying at! We met up again! That was fun. The room was good and facilities shared.

Thursday Nov 26th we did a little tour on the Pemberton Tram. We saw an emu and its' baby on the track so the conductor had to slow down. It was a great little ride, though really cold! mom was shivering! We left there and drove back to Bobbi and Wayne's for a good-bye dinner.


Friday we went to my offices to introduce mom to the crew... no one told any bad stories about me, so I think it went alright! We then went to Fremantle to check out the market and the cafes, have dinner and then on to our torchlight tour of the Prison. That was well worth it! what a blast! we had bodies falling down on the suicide mesh, actors playing the parts of convicts and ghosts... lots of fun.


Saturday we left for Adlelaide where Les (Mavis's ex-brother-in-law) greeted us. We had dinner and a tour of the city.. rainy and cold! lol. (so far, mom's not too impressed with the weather! lol)

Sunday Nov 29th (happy birthday to Aunt Shirley and Brenna) we went to a wildlife sanctuary where mom got to hold a koala and pet walabys and kangaroos. She was VERY happy about that! After that we did what all self respecting tourists did... visited yet another cheese factory and chocolate factory! Oh.. forgot.. we went to a little touristy german town for lunch... Handorf or something like that..Michelle & Keeleigh and Kaycee (sp?) and Lynette THANK YOU FOR TAKING US OUT!! I had such a blast! and Paula and Bella, thank you for joining us! it was loads of fun!

Monday Nov 30th we spent the day in downtown Adelaide. We walked around the botanical garden and then to a coffee shop for our obligatory morning coffee. We walked to the Dulwich Centre (the heart of Narrative Therapy) Where they were holding a session. (I'd have loved to have been part of it.. it's held every 2 years) Slowly David Denborough and Cheryl White's memories were jogged as to who I was and what our connection was. Mom came with, and we got to meet a great lady who goes by Auntie Barb. What a beautiful woman! She allowed us to sit in on her session on Lateral Violence.. VERY interesting. Mom also got to learn about the Stolen Generation of Australia. There were 2 Canadians taking the course, one of which I'd met earlier this year in Toronto. It was good to catch up and everyone was really friendly. We then met Jane (Les's wife, with whom we were staying) at her work and came home quickly to change before going out to dinner with the whole family.

MAVIS: WHAT A HOOT! your family certainly knows how to show people a good time! We went to a pub/hotel for dinner and got to meet Lynette's husband and Michelle's husband and of course everyone else was there. It was great to be able to make the connection of how the family tree is shaped. I was able to put faces to names as I'd already visited with Damien and Jo earlier on.

I know mom and I felt really welcomed and as a part of the family. THANK YOU!!!!


Lynette and her husband brought mom and I to the airport on Tuesday morning. Again, the generosity of your family, Mavis.... it has no ends. Such WONDERFUL people!

So we safely left Adelaide, and got to Christchurch via Sydney and Auckland. I will save that fiasco for another post!

Tired and sick hugs (got a cold... all part of the next post)

Till next time!

The time is nie... or near?

Hello everyone!

I have SURVIVED the cockroaches! muahaha! they will not defeat me!

Mrs L. arrived on November 6th and has since taken on the duties of bug killer in the house. If there's been another dirty filthy creepy cockroach, she has spared me the knowledge of it. I have seen lots of ants and daddy long legs. Those, I seem to be able to tolerate... ish.

Saturday Nov. 7th, Bobbi (Mrs. L's daughter) and Wayne (son in law) had a first birthday party for their youngest son, Aiden. What a pleasure to be part of a family party, delicious food, delightful people and the weather was perfect.

Sunday was Aiden's dedication at church. Mrs L and her family are Baptist. I didn't know very much about this denomination when I first arrived. Though I did witness two baptisms that Sunday. It was fascinating. I'm used to the Catholic baptisms, where you have little babies dressed in white frilly robes at the baptismal font with mom, dad, god parents and priest. The priest dribbles oil and water on the child's forehead and voila, ceremony is done.

This ceremony, however is quite different. First off, you must be an "adult" to be baptized. (what the cut off age is, I'm not sure.. but it has to be your choice, not your parents who decide). So there were two ladies, a mother and daughter, who chose to be baptized that Sunday. It is done during regular mass, not as a separate ceremony for family and friends. They sat down at the altar on a comfy couch which looked like a late night talk show stage at this point. There was the minister sitting with a mic and interviewing the women. Both women spoke to how God has played a role in their lives and answered the questions. After this interview, the minister and the women stood up and they asked for the pool to be opened.

I was thinking .. pool? where? why? aren't they going to just have a bit of oil and water dribbled on their foreheads? um, not quite.

So the electrical equipment was removed from the centre of the altar and two men pulled up the floor (guess there was a trap door) to reveal a pool the size of a hot tub! (though I was told that the pool water is freezing.. not quite as "hot tub" like as it seemed from the pews.)

The woman stepped in, as did the minister. He said a few things then when she said she was ready... he dunked her! She laid back in his arms and completely submersed herself in freezing water! I was impressed. So she got out, soaked to the bone and shivering then her daughter repeated the process. Sure made me think that the Catholic way is pretty wimpy. They soak themselves.. in front of the whole congregation as adults.. none of this as a little baby and not knowing what's going on and little dribbles of water. They were thankfully escorted out of the room, I assume to change and dry off, and the floor was put back and then Aiden was dedicated.

The dedication was simply that the parents and congregation vowed to raise him to learn about God and the religious beliefs and such. Very simple, to the point and Aiden behaved beautifully.

The past two weeks have gone by fairly quickly. I've finished up everything at work and today is my last day. Carol has completed my review and they are throwing me a farewell party in a few hours.

Mom left home on Tuesday and arrived safely yesterday in Sydney. She called me to tell me of her adventures. She raved about how helpful everyone has been, especially when she got lost trying to get back to her hotel.

She said she was going to go to Paddy's Market today to buy a jacket (locally known as a jumper er.. jumpah) as she forgot hers on the plane. She won't be needing it in Adelaide who are still suffering a heatwave, though it might be good to have in NZ.

I am anxiously waiting to pick her up at the airport tonight. I can't wait to see mom and hear about her flights and her time in Sydney and start our own travels together!

I'm sure I will have many more exciting adventures with mom on our trip. So you'll have to have patience through some of these more, pedestrian blogs.

For all, Mom and I will be home on Dec 21st.. likely sleeping the day away!

Till next time!! bye!

From Ballet to Cockroaches to Poppies

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the time between blogs. I have been finding it more and more difficult to blog as my time in Perth draws to a close.

I only have 2 weeks left before mom arrives and my placement is officially done.

Swan Lake was beautiful, and I'm looking forward to Sleeping Beauty on Dec 19th with mom at the Sydney Opera House.

My placement has kept me hopping. I've been quelling emergencies, arranging for VISAs, helping with housing and English lessons! I had my mid-term Assessment and Carol (my supervisor) says that I am doing very well! (yippy!)

I've been enjoying the use of the company car when I can get it. (I use it to visit clients, I cannot bring it home nor use it for personal errands). I am getting well practiced in driving on the wrong side of the road! :)

Halloween is not observed here, and so I spent the 31st in relative quietness. I had to get up really early on November 1st to be ready for a 3.5 hour drive down south for an outdoor baptist service recognizing the Burmese community in the small rural town (pop. 4000). I was up at 5am for the long drive, then we arrived back home by about 7:30pm, just in time to unwind and get to bed to start the week the next morning.

Speaking of the next morning, on Mondays, I have been working in a Community Care Centre for aging immigrants. I usually worked with the Italian group (who showed me how to play Briscola and Scopa.. I'll have to teach everyone when I get home) Though Monday Nov 2nd and the previous Monday, I worked at the Indian group. Both are really lovely to work with, the Indian food is just superb!

Then on Tuesday, I accompanied a colleague to a house where they were complaining of two infestations: cockroaches and rats. YUCK! I thought myself rather brave to follow my colleague into the house, though I was very careful not to touch a thing!
Just to show that it can happen to anyone, that same evening, sitting curled up on my chair at home typing away to mom in an email what do I see that decided to crawl out under my legs?.... a cockroach!

needless to say the blood curdling screams that came next and the jumping onto the furniture and the rest of the chaos. All the while, this little disgusting twitchy bug just sat there as happy as can be twiddling its antennae at me. I managed to get to a phone, I believe without stepping on the floor, which is somehow death-defying in itself, and called my landlady's daughter. She informed me of a magical little spray can that they keep under the sink in the kitchen that with a few quick squirts applied directly on the offending creature will promptly make it decide to take a very very long nap lying on its back with all of it's gross and disgusting legs in the air. I followed her instructions as she stayed on the phone with me, though I believe I was quite liberal with the spraying. So much so, that when I went to check on the little magic can's handy work, I nearly slipped TWICE on the wet tile floors (due to the spraying). By this time I was completely mortified, in tears and freaked out beyond the point of being consoled, and my dear saviour on the other end of the phone was laughing so hard at me she had to pass the phone over to her husband. I chose at this point to give up my lifeline and try to brave the circumstances on my own.

I've never witnessed a cockroach in the wild, let alone in a house. Anyone who knows me can attest to my aversion to the creepy crawlies. It was at this point, where I was pacing back and forth on the spot, shaking and my face streaked with tears that a second cockroach decided to arrive near the same place as the first. (thankfully at this point I was standing with my back against the wall facing the menace rather than being within inches of it) So I took the little red magic can and repeated the assault onto the grievous creature. It did not take as long to take it's final resting position.

By this time, I was in a grave panic that the house was being invaded by cockroaches. I was in complete terror. Images of movies filled with bugs, people who had cockroaches and other disgusting creatures pouring out of their mouths and ears and other orifices came to mind. I wanted out of the house. I wanted out of the city I wanted out of the country... I wanted to go home!

So I called a dear friend, Eric. He once had the title of being my bug killer, and thought he would be most understanding of my current situation. He was. He actually managed to calm me to the point of being able to move from the spot where I was frozen and to my room where I barricaded myself and tried to prepare myself to sleep. (by the way.. I didn't sleep that night.. when I did doze for a moment, the images of cockroaches crawling on me and coming out of me came to mind and quickly woke me up). I was still quite shaken the next day. Though it helped that I'd not come across any more since those two made the deadly decision to cross my path.

I will continue to sleep with one eye open clutching the magic red can, though at least now, the terror has at least subsided.

Something tells me I may have a phobia of bugs... hmm.. what do you think?

And now, onto the Poppies. It is quickly approaching November 11th and in Australia they have a specific day when they start selling poppies, which is today, November 6th. Their poppies are gorgeous compared to the awful things we get back home. These actually still look like flowers! They are little silk flower poppies and are quite pleasant. I purchased mine this morning and it is adorning my purse.

Otherwise, at the office, they are already preparing for my departure, making plans for a dinner with the immediate staff I've worked with at MAITRI, and another party on my last day, Friday November 20th to have cake and celebrate my time here with all of the Multicultural Services Centre staff that are able to attend! (I have to remember to bring my camera!)

I will be going home with many memories of the beautiful people I've met while working here.

Fingers crossed that this will not be my last entry, but that I will be able to write again, especially during my visit to New Zealand with mom!

Plans are brewing!

Hello!

On the traveling front, I've not done much traveling since arriving in Perth. I've visited around the area, Fremantle and Serpentine Park and such, but not much further.

I will be going to Swan Lake this weekend, and that's got me pretty excited!

I've seen only one ballet before, and that was in Paris at l'opera Garnier. It was lovely, but didn't really have that much of a story to it, more of a few short vignettes so to speak.

So I'm excited that I'll have seen my first Opera (Aida) in Sydney, now Swan Lake and when mom arrives, on our last day, we will be seeing Sleeping Beauty!

Though, when mom does arrive, I'll be done my placement and I plan on visiting the southern part of Western Australia with her. It's considered to be Wine Country. So we will likely visit vineyards along the Indian Ocean coastline. Sounds gorgeous! Also there are caves along that coast that I'm looking forward to exploring as well.

Despite being in the most isolated city in the world (Perth), I'm finding ways to keep busy, discovering as I go along.

I can't wait to get home and bore everyone with my pictures! I think I've taken over 2500 so far! (and that's not including when mom'll be here and when we go to New Zealand!) muahahaha!

I'll *try* to keep the photos down to a minimum. I may even do a montage in a book, like Randy Smith did. I'll have to get the information from him on how he did that.
It was a beautifully bound book that I think was part of a website where you can write what you like and paste pictures and get it all together submit it for publication and voila, you get the product delivered in the mail!

I think that would be best, my scrapbooks of Europe took me ages!

Bye for now!!

Mild Panic T Minus 22 days left of placement

Hi Everyone!

Yeah, it's starting to sink in that I'm past my half-way point on my journey. My placement is supposed to be 60 days and I'm already on day 38, leaving only 22 more days of placement, roughly one month.

I'm really feeling like part of the team at work. I am getting to know the local organizations, the acronyms and the people. I am able to provide information to others and understand what they are talking about. It's a really good feeling.

I have settled in with visiting clients at their homes, bringing them to their appointments, working with translators, and getting clients referrals to other organizations who can help them.

What I have not been working on as much as I would have liked is the immigration issues facing Australia. They are quite heated here at the moment. The official opposition is grumbling (kind of like they do back home about anything the government does) about how this current government has relaxed the rules and regulations around "boat people" and immigration in general to a point as to essentially have open borders. I really don't see that, as Christmas Island, the detention centre, is filled to the brim with people awaiting visas. So much so, that they had to bring in something like 200 supplementary bunk beds.

It is my belief that the upsurge of asylum seekers has more to do with the current political unrest in the world, rather than the Australian Government's policies.

I have even heard about a ship off of Vancouver filled with asylum seekers. Yet the article didn't say where they were being held or what was to happen to them. I guess the Canadian government likes to keep such things quiet, whereas, at least here in Australia, people may or may not agree with it, but the media tells of how many people were on the boat, what happened to the boat and where they came from and that they are going to Christmas Island for "processing".

All very interesting, but I've only been keeping an ear open for information rather than collecting it, as I felt I would be doing. Perhaps, as my eyes are often bigger than my stomach, I've tried to bite off more than I could chew.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Hugs to all back home!!! I miss you very much!

Long time no talk!

Hi!

Going to have to make this one short.. I'm on my way out the door.. just thought that an article I read from the Globe and Mail might be of interest for those of you who are following my asylum policy and procedures work.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/deportations-surge-50-per-cent-in-a-decade/article1321037/

I have also another article on how the UN has touted that Canada has the best immigration policy in the world. Interesting.

I'll get that link up here as soon as I can!

Gotta jet...

As you can see, I survived driving on the wrong side of the road.. and no one was harmed by my driving either!

Bye