Well, we're back. Despite yet more fun fun times! with American Airlines, we are back in DC. Jeff arrived July 31, I arrived August 1 (it was 1:30 am when my flight finally got here).
After 2 weeks, I'm about 95% back on US time. I still have trouble remembering what day it is. Once I start seeing clients again (later today), I think I'll get back in synch with the calendar.
The heat and humidity hit me as soon as I walked out of the airport and it was oddly welcoming. "Oh yes, I remember you!" We haven't had the insane heat of July but it's been plenty hot and humid enough.
I discovered (remembered?) on that very first day -- after I woke up -- that heat smells different here than it does in Australia. I can only presume what I was smelling was the effect of the heat on both the plant life and the building materials of Washington DC and those aren't the same as Brisbane. Again, it was oddly comforting.
I spent one particularly hot and humid day running errands, which had me outside for most of the afternoon walking all over my half of the city. I was sweating like a pro football player and, um, loving it. It's not that I particularly love sweating but I was enjoying being on my feet and being in the outdoors. I fear the Queenslanders may have converted me into a fresh air fiend!
In some ways, Australia is beginning to feel like a dream. Did that really happen? Was I really there? The coupla-thousand pictures on my hard drive gives me some reassurance it really happened. Plus, I made my first deposit this morning into my Oz Savings account, which will (if all goes as planned) get me back to Australia in about 18 months.
The things I was dreading about returning to DC are still here. My mom is overjoyed to have me back and my sisters even seem pleased with it. My housemate is working hard to engage with us. I think more conversations need to ensue. My prison-bound friend is still prison-bound and I've visited with him twice and will continue to visit weekly. His larger circle-of-support is very glad to see me back and have wrapped me into their efforts to help him with this transition.
My return to Augustana Lutheran was pure joy. We hosted an Aussie-style bbq our first Sunday back and they loved it (particularly the grad students and 20-somethings who are always up for free food).
Got my first client tonight (and she's going to be a doozy!) and two more on Thursday. Got writing time scheduled in for Wednesday and Thursday. I'm getting back into "work" mode.
And DC? Just as intense (and sometimes angry) as I remember it. Beautiful and sad at the same time. Too serious most of the time. It's....DC.
And I'm back home in it.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Big or Little?
A few more thoughts on Australia before I tell you all about getting back to the USA.
Is Australia a big country or a little country? How would you vote?
Australia is a big country! It's the 6th largest country by land mass in the world (7,686,850 square kilometers). If you took out Alaska and Hawaii, it's pretty much the same size as the continental US. In fact, it's its own continent! That's BIG.
Australia is a small country. It has 30 million people. In fact, its population density is 3 people per square kilometer (the US has 317 per sq km; Canada has 3.5 but they have even more land mass!). They are 51st in the world for population but 235th (out of 241 countries) in the world for population density. (The US has 317 per sq. km) There is a lot of open space in Australia. They have 10% of the population the US does in roughly the same land mass.
They've got fewer people than the US, Canada, and the UK (countries they often compare themselves to) but more than New Zealand (and, trust me, that matters!).
This is a conflict the Australians live with every day. That big honkin' piece o' real estate gives them a sense of massiveness, of size, of bulk. And they start to expect certain things of themselves because of the size of the land. (I wonder if Canadians have the same challenge?)
Every so often, I would overhear a conversation about how the Australian people needed to start filling out this enormous land mass (ignoring the fact that most of those wide-open spaces are desert). The thought seemed to be that it was incongruous to have so few people in so large a space. I would overhear conversations expressing frustration that this or that thing wasn't happening despite Australia being a "big" country.
On the other hand, Australians also feel their smallness too, especially when it comes to their role on the world stage. I ended up feeling that Australians are not confident that their population could defend their landmass if they had to; there just aren't enough of them. Though they have the consumer expectations of larger populations, they don't have the economy to support it because they don't have the manufacturing. So, they pay for a lot of imports. They argue about whether they truly need a national broadband program because they are so large/small.
Part of the confusion, of course, is that the word "Australia" literally refers to something large and something (relatively) small -- a landmass and a people. We are the United States but we aren't North America. Neither is Canada. The UK isn't even all of the British Isles. It's something no other country in the world has to contend with.
I can understand the confusion.
Is Australia a big country or a little country? How would you vote?
Australia is a big country! It's the 6th largest country by land mass in the world (7,686,850 square kilometers). If you took out Alaska and Hawaii, it's pretty much the same size as the continental US. In fact, it's its own continent! That's BIG.
Australia is a small country. It has 30 million people. In fact, its population density is 3 people per square kilometer (the US has 317 per sq km; Canada has 3.5 but they have even more land mass!). They are 51st in the world for population but 235th (out of 241 countries) in the world for population density. (The US has 317 per sq. km) There is a lot of open space in Australia. They have 10% of the population the US does in roughly the same land mass.
They've got fewer people than the US, Canada, and the UK (countries they often compare themselves to) but more than New Zealand (and, trust me, that matters!).
This is a conflict the Australians live with every day. That big honkin' piece o' real estate gives them a sense of massiveness, of size, of bulk. And they start to expect certain things of themselves because of the size of the land. (I wonder if Canadians have the same challenge?)
Every so often, I would overhear a conversation about how the Australian people needed to start filling out this enormous land mass (ignoring the fact that most of those wide-open spaces are desert). The thought seemed to be that it was incongruous to have so few people in so large a space. I would overhear conversations expressing frustration that this or that thing wasn't happening despite Australia being a "big" country.
On the other hand, Australians also feel their smallness too, especially when it comes to their role on the world stage. I ended up feeling that Australians are not confident that their population could defend their landmass if they had to; there just aren't enough of them. Though they have the consumer expectations of larger populations, they don't have the economy to support it because they don't have the manufacturing. So, they pay for a lot of imports. They argue about whether they truly need a national broadband program because they are so large/small.
Part of the confusion, of course, is that the word "Australia" literally refers to something large and something (relatively) small -- a landmass and a people. We are the United States but we aren't North America. Neither is Canada. The UK isn't even all of the British Isles. It's something no other country in the world has to contend with.
I can understand the confusion.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Cross That Off The List
When we came to Australia I had a few goals and I was, finally, able to tick one of them off my list this week (just in the nick of time!).
As many of you know, I have a strong aversion to snakes. Actually, more like a phobia. Moving to a country with some of the deadliest snakes in the world didn't help. On top of that, the Risby-Jones family (I am co-authoring a book with the father, Ben) likes snakes. They own two pythons (not the gigantic ones, smaller ones) and have often been visited by the big mamma-jamma pythons when they had chickens (apparently a chicken coop looks just like a McDonald's drive-thru to a big python).
My goal before I left Australia was to actually hold one of their smaller pythons (known affectionately as Billy Slater, after a Brisbane rugby player). I did it on Sunday (I also got to witness the other one pooping but that's a story for another time).
I think I had hoped that actually holding a snake (for, like, 5 minutes!) would somehow cure me of my phobia. I'm not as phobic as I once was but snakes still make me incredibly nervous.
I think I hoped I would find them oddly beautiful and fascinating. Eh.....they're not butt-ugly but they still don't awe or inspire me.
The chief problem is that I am hopelessly mammalian and they are hopelessly reptilian. We don't think alike, we don't communicate alike, we don't react to the world in a similar fashion, and their teeth are way the hell sharper than mine (and their reflexes off the charts as far as I'm concerned).
I find them inscrutable and vaguely untrustworthy. I can not imagine establishing or experiencing a "link" with them. Plus, their eyes still freak me out. I mean, really freak me out. I cannot look them in the eye. Sorta like vampires.
But It Has Been Done! I have held a snake (sorry, Charlie, but I had to). I don't know if I'll do it again but now I know I won't die from a heart attack if I have to. That's helpful. :)
As many of you know, I have a strong aversion to snakes. Actually, more like a phobia. Moving to a country with some of the deadliest snakes in the world didn't help. On top of that, the Risby-Jones family (I am co-authoring a book with the father, Ben) likes snakes. They own two pythons (not the gigantic ones, smaller ones) and have often been visited by the big mamma-jamma pythons when they had chickens (apparently a chicken coop looks just like a McDonald's drive-thru to a big python).
My goal before I left Australia was to actually hold one of their smaller pythons (known affectionately as Billy Slater, after a Brisbane rugby player). I did it on Sunday (I also got to witness the other one pooping but that's a story for another time).
I think I had hoped that actually holding a snake (for, like, 5 minutes!) would somehow cure me of my phobia. I'm not as phobic as I once was but snakes still make me incredibly nervous.
I think I hoped I would find them oddly beautiful and fascinating. Eh.....they're not butt-ugly but they still don't awe or inspire me.
The chief problem is that I am hopelessly mammalian and they are hopelessly reptilian. We don't think alike, we don't communicate alike, we don't react to the world in a similar fashion, and their teeth are way the hell sharper than mine (and their reflexes off the charts as far as I'm concerned).
I find them inscrutable and vaguely untrustworthy. I can not imagine establishing or experiencing a "link" with them. Plus, their eyes still freak me out. I mean, really freak me out. I cannot look them in the eye. Sorta like vampires.
But It Has Been Done! I have held a snake (sorry, Charlie, but I had to). I don't know if I'll do it again but now I know I won't die from a heart attack if I have to. That's helpful. :)
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Object of Their Obsession
Back on Easter weekend, I was at a marina with Jeff, waiting to meet someone. We started talking to the woman at the next table. When she found out we were Americans, she began talking at length about her travels in the US, her observations about the US, her thoughts about race relations in the US, etc.
This just happens every now and then. Several times in the past year, we've met people who had a lot to say about the US when the found out we were Americans. Only once did it get sort of confrontational. The other times it was only clear that these people had thought a lot about the US as an international power, as a creator and exporter of cultural values, as a melting pot, as a concept, as an example (good and bad), etc.
Australians, on average, spend more time thinking about the US than you might imagine. Not all Australians and not all the time. But we are a subject of reflection, contemplation, revulsion, admiration....well, we just are a subject.
It's rare to watch TV news shows or daytime talk shows that don't mention the US at some point. All the morning news/talk shows have a segment on entertainment and it's always from the US it seems.
Does this mean Australia universally loves us and wants to be just like us? Oh, hell no! There is a lot of conflict in the relationship between Australia and the US (at least for the Australians). They believe they must maintain a buddy-buddy relationship militarily because we're the only thing that will protect them from the marauding hordes of Indonesians / Muslims / Chinese / North Koreans / villian-of-your-choice who could come swarming across their borders any minute! Yet they (like so many) are not keen about our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially when Diggers (the Aussie equivalent of "GI") die there.
They watch the way America has dealt with African Americans and Native Americans and wonder if we're doing a better or worse job than they are with their Aboriginal citizens. They seem a bit confused, sometimes assuming that the Aboriginal status is most like the African American status because both cultures refer to themselves as "black". In fact, the more accurate comparision would be to Native Americans.
They love shopping for American products online now that the Aussie dollar is so strong but resent that it's tough to "buy Australian" since American products often dominate.
Like to travel to the US (especially Las Vegas! Oh, how they love Las Vegas!) but get fretful if American tourism drops. They seem to attach much more value to American tourism than to European or Asian tourism, though it seems from my limited experience that Asian and European tourism is a much stronger stream. I get the impression they look at American tourism as more validating.
Love their Maccas (McDonalds) and KFC but deeply resent the intrusion of American holidays like Halloween.
There are plenty of Aussies who can blissfully go days, weeks, and possibly even months without thinking about America. But I'd bet there are very few Aussies who never think about the US. Or form an opinion about us.
The best part about living outside your own country for a while is getting an outsiders perspective on it. If you were to form an opinion of the US based solely on TV coverage and Facebook, you'd probably come to the conclusion that it's a gigantic loony bin! We are....different, very different from Australia.
This just happens every now and then. Several times in the past year, we've met people who had a lot to say about the US when the found out we were Americans. Only once did it get sort of confrontational. The other times it was only clear that these people had thought a lot about the US as an international power, as a creator and exporter of cultural values, as a melting pot, as a concept, as an example (good and bad), etc.
Australians, on average, spend more time thinking about the US than you might imagine. Not all Australians and not all the time. But we are a subject of reflection, contemplation, revulsion, admiration....well, we just are a subject.
It's rare to watch TV news shows or daytime talk shows that don't mention the US at some point. All the morning news/talk shows have a segment on entertainment and it's always from the US it seems.
Does this mean Australia universally loves us and wants to be just like us? Oh, hell no! There is a lot of conflict in the relationship between Australia and the US (at least for the Australians). They believe they must maintain a buddy-buddy relationship militarily because we're the only thing that will protect them from the marauding hordes of Indonesians / Muslims / Chinese / North Koreans / villian-of-your-choice who could come swarming across their borders any minute! Yet they (like so many) are not keen about our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially when Diggers (the Aussie equivalent of "GI") die there.
They watch the way America has dealt with African Americans and Native Americans and wonder if we're doing a better or worse job than they are with their Aboriginal citizens. They seem a bit confused, sometimes assuming that the Aboriginal status is most like the African American status because both cultures refer to themselves as "black". In fact, the more accurate comparision would be to Native Americans.
They love shopping for American products online now that the Aussie dollar is so strong but resent that it's tough to "buy Australian" since American products often dominate.
Like to travel to the US (especially Las Vegas! Oh, how they love Las Vegas!) but get fretful if American tourism drops. They seem to attach much more value to American tourism than to European or Asian tourism, though it seems from my limited experience that Asian and European tourism is a much stronger stream. I get the impression they look at American tourism as more validating.
Love their Maccas (McDonalds) and KFC but deeply resent the intrusion of American holidays like Halloween.
There are plenty of Aussies who can blissfully go days, weeks, and possibly even months without thinking about America. But I'd bet there are very few Aussies who never think about the US. Or form an opinion about us.
The best part about living outside your own country for a while is getting an outsiders perspective on it. If you were to form an opinion of the US based solely on TV coverage and Facebook, you'd probably come to the conclusion that it's a gigantic loony bin! We are....different, very different from Australia.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Fresh Air Fiends
Picture this: it's the time of the year when the days are in the 60s and the nights are in the low 40s. You decide to go out for dinner after dark; the temps are in the high 50s. About half the restaurant's tables are inside and the other half are on the sidewalk.
Do you want a table inside or outside? If you're an Aussie, it could as easily be one as the other!
Honestly, I am continually amazed by the Aussie devotion to eating outside even when it's much chillier than the average American would ever choose for outside dining. Sure, they have those tall propane heater thingies but I've seen more than one Aussie fully done up in coat, gloves, scarf, and hat choosing the outside table.
The guy who was Jeff's predecessor on this contract (another American from the DC suburbs) mumbled darkly about being tired of eating outside when he left. I thought he was just being grumpy. Now I understand.
I finally asked the women in my meditation group about this. They, somewhat sheepishly, admitted that Australians are a little obsessed with "fresh air". They loathe being in a room without access to a window they can open. One woman admitted that when she visits her daughter in London she can only stand to leave the windows closed on the coldest of days and even then it's a struggle.
I think this may be part of why they have been reluctant to adopt some of the energy-saving construction methods that are standard in the US -- double-paned windows, insulation, etc. While these sorts of things (and the a/c and heating systems they support) are useful they also lead to "closed" buildings.
The truth is that many of us in the US rarely interact with air that isn't treated in some way (heated or cooled, humidified or de-humidified) and we go from one closed environment to another -- our sealed houses to our sealed cars to our sealed offices.
That would drive your average Aussie nuts. Sure, they have to deal with bugs, flies, etc. more than we do but they accept that these are a normal part of life. And theirs are more likely to be lethal than ours!
So if you've got Aussies coming over for dinner, you might want to open a window or two. :)
Do you want a table inside or outside? If you're an Aussie, it could as easily be one as the other!
Honestly, I am continually amazed by the Aussie devotion to eating outside even when it's much chillier than the average American would ever choose for outside dining. Sure, they have those tall propane heater thingies but I've seen more than one Aussie fully done up in coat, gloves, scarf, and hat choosing the outside table.
The guy who was Jeff's predecessor on this contract (another American from the DC suburbs) mumbled darkly about being tired of eating outside when he left. I thought he was just being grumpy. Now I understand.
I finally asked the women in my meditation group about this. They, somewhat sheepishly, admitted that Australians are a little obsessed with "fresh air". They loathe being in a room without access to a window they can open. One woman admitted that when she visits her daughter in London she can only stand to leave the windows closed on the coldest of days and even then it's a struggle.
I think this may be part of why they have been reluctant to adopt some of the energy-saving construction methods that are standard in the US -- double-paned windows, insulation, etc. While these sorts of things (and the a/c and heating systems they support) are useful they also lead to "closed" buildings.
The truth is that many of us in the US rarely interact with air that isn't treated in some way (heated or cooled, humidified or de-humidified) and we go from one closed environment to another -- our sealed houses to our sealed cars to our sealed offices.
That would drive your average Aussie nuts. Sure, they have to deal with bugs, flies, etc. more than we do but they accept that these are a normal part of life. And theirs are more likely to be lethal than ours!
So if you've got Aussies coming over for dinner, you might want to open a window or two. :)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Why I Wanted To Walk Away
17 more sleeps till I step on a Qantas flight to return my well-rounded tush to Washington DC. I say that with a sigh.
I will admit that when Jeff told me about our chance to live in Australia for 6-12 months, one of the thoughts that zipped through my mind was "oh, hell yes, I'd love to walk away from a few things for a while". I bet we all have things in our life that we'd like an excuse to walk away from, even for just a little bit.
And it has been nice, I admit it. But in the last couple of weeks my DC life has resurrected itself in all its messiness, all its joys, all its pains.
Prison. A dear friend is going to prison in October for a federally-mandated minimum of five years. I received a letter from him today, handwritten since he's on the equivalent of house arrest and is not allowed access to a computer. I laid my hands on it before I read it, knowing that his hands had also touched it and it's as close as we can get right now. Handwritten letters have that power; email does not.
He's being honest about where he is and what life is about for him right now. He's also being honest about the people that have stepped up to tell him that he still matters to them, even people who were merely co-workers before. That made me cry. I intend to visit him as often as I can for these 5 or more years.
Surgery. My mom is very anxious to have surgery to replace an artificial knee that has quit working. Both her health and her age make this a difficult decision and it falls on we three daughters to, ultimately, make the decision. Surgery will be preceeded by a pile of doctors appointments (which we have to arrange and attend) and followed by up to a year of PT (which we will have to support her through, which historically has been nightmarish). If the doctors agree, it will still be a difficult decision to make and we may have to say "no", despite how desperately Mom wants it.
On top of that, both Jeff and one of my sisters also need surgery this fall.
Organizational chaos. An organization I am deeply engaged in, even 9500 miles away, is going through another spasm of change, thanks to a firing. The person fired is a friend (and someone I've come to depend on), the people doing the firing are friends, the larger community (who are divided about this) are friends. In responding to what I know of the events, I've managed to hurt some people deeply. This organization is struggling and I desperately want them to survive the challenges facing them. The chaos continues.
Disintegrating relationships. Our housemate -- with whom we own our house -- has been retreating more and more into her self for a couple of years. This last year she effectively disconnected from us, not returning our emails or letters or answering our phone calls. We had to have our mail forwarded to another friend since we discovered we couldn't rely on our housemate to keep us updated or forward our mail.
That's not the relationship we all aspired to when we decided to live together. I don't know that I have to do anything about this when I get home other than accept that it's unlikely to get better.
And, oh yeah, I need to re-build my practice.
New opportunities. Going home means also going back to some exciting stuff, professionally -- workshops, books, teaching, and new partnerships. Those all require a lot of work, planning, and organizing but I am excited about them.
There are other things that will make it good to be back home but my escape from my DC responsibilities is about to come to an end. Back to the real world...
I will admit that when Jeff told me about our chance to live in Australia for 6-12 months, one of the thoughts that zipped through my mind was "oh, hell yes, I'd love to walk away from a few things for a while". I bet we all have things in our life that we'd like an excuse to walk away from, even for just a little bit.
And it has been nice, I admit it. But in the last couple of weeks my DC life has resurrected itself in all its messiness, all its joys, all its pains.
Prison. A dear friend is going to prison in October for a federally-mandated minimum of five years. I received a letter from him today, handwritten since he's on the equivalent of house arrest and is not allowed access to a computer. I laid my hands on it before I read it, knowing that his hands had also touched it and it's as close as we can get right now. Handwritten letters have that power; email does not.
He's being honest about where he is and what life is about for him right now. He's also being honest about the people that have stepped up to tell him that he still matters to them, even people who were merely co-workers before. That made me cry. I intend to visit him as often as I can for these 5 or more years.
Surgery. My mom is very anxious to have surgery to replace an artificial knee that has quit working. Both her health and her age make this a difficult decision and it falls on we three daughters to, ultimately, make the decision. Surgery will be preceeded by a pile of doctors appointments (which we have to arrange and attend) and followed by up to a year of PT (which we will have to support her through, which historically has been nightmarish). If the doctors agree, it will still be a difficult decision to make and we may have to say "no", despite how desperately Mom wants it.
On top of that, both Jeff and one of my sisters also need surgery this fall.
Organizational chaos. An organization I am deeply engaged in, even 9500 miles away, is going through another spasm of change, thanks to a firing. The person fired is a friend (and someone I've come to depend on), the people doing the firing are friends, the larger community (who are divided about this) are friends. In responding to what I know of the events, I've managed to hurt some people deeply. This organization is struggling and I desperately want them to survive the challenges facing them. The chaos continues.
Disintegrating relationships. Our housemate -- with whom we own our house -- has been retreating more and more into her self for a couple of years. This last year she effectively disconnected from us, not returning our emails or letters or answering our phone calls. We had to have our mail forwarded to another friend since we discovered we couldn't rely on our housemate to keep us updated or forward our mail.
That's not the relationship we all aspired to when we decided to live together. I don't know that I have to do anything about this when I get home other than accept that it's unlikely to get better.
And, oh yeah, I need to re-build my practice.
New opportunities. Going home means also going back to some exciting stuff, professionally -- workshops, books, teaching, and new partnerships. Those all require a lot of work, planning, and organizing but I am excited about them.
There are other things that will make it good to be back home but my escape from my DC responsibilities is about to come to an end. Back to the real world...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Hey There Pilgrim
The congregation I've been attending -- St. Michael and All Angels Anglican -- has been hosting a series of travelogues by members and discussing travel as a form of pilgrimmage. We've discussed members trips to Jerusalem, Rome, and Vietnam.Along the way, we've delineated what makes a trip more than a trip; what makes a trip a pilgrimmage? Some conclusions.
* A pilgrim travels lighter than a tourist, often choosing to leave favorite items behind.
* The trip involves "letting go" in some fashion.
* The focus is much more on the journey than the destination.
* The pilgrim must move outside of their comfort zone and journey into the new.
* The trip is to somewhere new.
* The traveler must be willing to trust strangers more than we might normally.
As I thought about this list it dawned on me that the last year has been a pilgrimmage for me. Brisbane is not normally thought of as a pilgrimmage destination but since it's about the journey rather than the destination I supposed anywhere can work if you have the right conditions.
We had to travel light. Because this was an "assignment" rather than a "relocation" we could only bring with us what we could pack in suitcases and convince American Airlines to check. We chose to leave a lot of things behind. We have been wearing the same clothes for a year. We have chosen not to buy some of the things we miss, deciding to just learn to live without them.
I had to let go of my professional life as I understood it up to the point of departure. I'd spent 10 years building my massage practice but I walked away from it. I will only know what remains to return to in a month when I open my massage doors again.
While I do like Brisbane -- a lot -- the important parts of this year have been about the changes we have gone through by being so far away from home, outside our comfort zone, into a new place and culture. That's where we've had the most challenges and that's where we've had the most fun.
Along the way, we have had many opportunities to form relationships with strangers and to trust strangers. We have not been disappointed yet.
At the end of each presentation at church we have asked the presenter "how are you different for having taken this pilgrimmage?" We've gotten some good answers. I don't know what my answers are yet. I probably won't know until I get full re-settled into my life in DC and have a chance to notice the differences.
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