First impressions of Melbourne

OK, so for some unexplained reason, Blogger is currently refusing to allow me to upload pictures, which is annoying because I know that not everybody reading this has access to my facebook account (and no, my dear former students, I'm not telling you how to find it, either!). So for now the pics from my Tassie adventure will have to remain in limbo. I am working on a solution, so keep checking back.

In the meantime, I figure it's high time for me to write a little about Melbourne. After all, I've officially been here for three whole days and haven't really said much. The truth is I've been taking a bit of a break from touring. I think I'm a wee bit tired. Jen's been trying to remind me that I'm supposed to be relaxing on my holiday, so that's what I've been trying to do. Since coming back from Tasmania, I've been sleeping in (all the way to 7:30), lolling around in my PJ's in the mornings, and reading, reading, reading. The new school term started here this past Monday, but so far Jen's not had any work yet (she's basically employed as a supply teacher). So we've had time to move at a slower pace, but also to get out and do a little bit of exploring together.

Jen had already been in Melbourne for three weeks by the time I got here, so she already knows the city and our neighbourhood pretty well. I like the way she describes the place: it looks and feels so much like Toronto, but it's as if everything is skewed just a little bit - like you're looking through an imperfect mirror. When you walk out from our house to the closest main street, Sydney, it's easy to be fooled into thinking you're on Queen Street or Eglinton in Toronto - but then you blink and realize the traffic is flowing backwards to what you're used to, there are different brands of items for sale here, the trees and architecture are just a little bit off (ok, a LOT off if you're looking at a palm tree!). It's eerie. I'm hoping to walk around my neighbourhood with the camera and take some pics of the houses here - they're so beautiful/cool/different and yet so similar to home at the same time. But first I've gotta see if I can get Blogger to load my pics again!

We keep running into little differences between here and home that remind us we're in a foreign land. For example, there are Subway restaurants here - but they don't have sub sauce. Ketchup is called "tomato sauce" and it looks and tastes quite different. There are no Burger Kings in Australia, but there is a chain called Hungry Jacks which uses all the same logos and serves the same food (and we think is actually owned by whoever owns Burger King, but why it's not called Burger King here is beyond me). When I asked Bill and Ruth whether there were Wal-Marts here, they looked at me with that blank "what are you talking about, you crazy Canadian" expression (hee hee), but then the next day they took me to a "Big W", which is DEFINITELY a Wal-Mart - again, all the same logos and layouts in the store, but the name is changed.

Yesterday Jen and I were on the hunt for construction paper, so that Jen could prep some art projects she's hoping to do once she gets into a classroom. (Unlike in Canada, supply teachers here are expected to come with a day's program planned... the classroom teachers are not responsible for leaving dayplans. NOT FAIR!) We went everywhere. We tried Office Works (a bit like a Staples), with no luck. We went to discount dollar stores, no luck. We tried a K-Mart, no luck. In desperation we stuck our heads into an art supply store, with no luck. The man running the art store didn't even know what construction paper was! Well aware that sometimes things go by different names here, we tried describing construction paper to him. He searched and searched his stock but had nothing even close to what we know as construction paper. We were flabbergasted, to say the least. How does one do art with kids with no construction paper?

Tomorrow ought to be interesting. Jen has found a place to trampoline, so I will be going along (for free for tomorrow!) and likely joining up for trampolining lessons, like I was doing back home. The difference is, the trampolines here are set up off the ground and not surrounded by the padded floors that I'm used to. Wish me luck - I might need it!