On rats

A lot of times, I'm not in the mood to blog because I don't feel like I have anything interesting or original to say but oooooh boy have I got something for you today.

Today I went to buy shoes for my spin class (those biking shoes that have cleats on them; my instructor assures me that the workout is totally different and amazing once you have the shoes and I love her and would do anything to make her like me).  

At the bike shop, the guy helping me -- Dan -- was putting the cleats onto the shoes and while I waited I asked him if he's American or Canadian.  He said American, and as we talked about where we are from, another guy at the counter said, "Seattle has an amazing underground tour!" and I said, "yes, but there are so many rats down there."  So then Dan told me about a huge rat he saw in Philly and I told Dan about a large rat that Eli and I saw on the electrical wires when we were outside our flat at 8:30pm on Saturday night.  Dan stopped putting on the cleat, pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his photos.  I was excited but also anxious (this is one of my favorite feelings).

Dan turned his phone toward me, and showed me a rat the size of a small dog.  In the photo, his colleague is holding the dead rat by the tail (the colleague was wearing a glove of course).  My shock was apparent and Dan explained that the rat had been eating supplements for six weeks before they trapped him (obviously they didn't sell any supplements that the rat had access to; this was a good bike shop).  !!!!  Protein powder works on rats, my friends!  That's the moral of this story.  

Our flat

I have had requests for photos of our flat (hi, Han!) and here you go!  We love this flat SO much.  I haven't put photos of our bedroom or of the deck because we need to buy outdoor furniture for it (this has been on the outstanding jobs list for so long that it's exhausting to even think about outdoor furniture; also it's coming into Autumn now).  Anyway, I will post photos of those spaces in the future.  The kids room is also cuter with comforter on their beds but they are mostly into fuzzy blankets and there are some battles not worth fighting.  They'll get cold one day.

This is how it looks when you come in the door.  Those steps to the left are to the
kids' room, and the steps to the right are to our room.

This is a super comfy pull-out couch, so if you come to visit this is your room!

Things that are strange here

Here is a list, in no particular order, of things that strike me as different in Sydney:

*People leave their trash strewn throughout shops, especially coffee cups.  It apparently is the case that if there isn't a bin (trash can) beside you when you finish your coffee, you can just put it on the shelf. I always imagine the workers going through the stores after they close, collecting trash, and wonder if they're angry or matter-of-fact.

*The coffee here is very good. I have not had a bad one.

*One afternoon each week, after lunch, the children do nothing but sports.  Tommy’s sport day is Thursday afternoon and Lizzie’s is Tuesday.  The entire school participates in a swim meet (called a "swimming carnival").  If you're young, you play games in a separate pool, but if you're 8 and over, you have to swim.  Even if you're not a swimmer, except that everyone is a swimmer.

*Most grown ups, say 35 and over, and most especially men, call Tommy “matey.”  We test this out quite often because Tommy greets many people as he goes through his day.

*Austrialians hate the letter “r”.  I knew this because of Sid, but even the lady who says the stops on the trains leaves them out.  It’s the classy way to speak. My favorite stop is Burwood, but you say it "buh-wood".

*You don't tip anyone for anything at all. I had a long chat with my only friend here, that sounded like this: "Your hairdresser?" "Go to the counter and pay." "What about a pedicure?" "Go to the counter and pay." "What about a delivery?" "Tell them thank you."

*The word "arvo".  It means afternoon and that is just silly.  It's too hard to say or type "afternoon"?