Merry Christmas

Last year we spent Christmas eve sipping egg nog in front of a fireplace in freezing cold Winnipeg. This year Christmas eve dinner was enjoyed with the family at Baan Rim Pa on Patong Beach. Beautiful setting, amazing view, delicious food and lovely company. Sasha is down with a high fever but she is still worried about Santa being able to locate her. We reassured her that Santa will indeed find her but to make sure, we wrote a letter to Santa and drew him a map of our exact location on the Cape Panwa side of Chalong Bay.

So much has been happening is such a short time. I feel that we barely spent any time in KL before coming out here to Phuket. But the few minutes in KL were well spent catching up with friends and all the relatives during a traditional ceremony held for Dylan and his cousin Eva. Pics will be uploaded soon. I have no idea where the UBS cable for my camera is.

Not doing much in Phuket. The villa we are renting is on the beach so after breakfast Doug, Sasha and I will head down to the pool or the beach, swim a bit, sun alot, head out to the beach cafe for a double hit of fresh coconut and watermelon shake (watermelon juice ice blended), and repeat. We have been to an impressive cultural show, hung out on Patong beach, had many massages (at $15 an hour), and copious amounts of seafood. In 6 days we will have to shovel ourselves back into our home. I am definitely getting as many massages as possible.

Update

Well, after our self-imposed punishment, we decided to (again) salvage the day. We forced Sasha to take a walk with us on the boardwalk. We bought a couple of grilled barramundis, chips and salad and ate under the covered tarps on the boardwalk while Sasha played in the sand. After lunch we brought Sasha and Dylan to the pool where she splashed about a bit and then to the playground. We headed out to North Sydney for the BBQ after. So all in all things may have not gone according to plan, but we had a great day anyway. Now to arrange for a babysitter tomorrow...yet another Christmas party. I am not sure whether it is because it is Summer, or because Chrismas is a coming, but man they really party here in Sydney.

I am pissed. Seriously pissed. Absolutely livid with Sasha. It all started with a plan. We have a BBQ this evening organised as sort of farewell and thanks for Doug as his visit is ending this Wednesday and we are off to KL. So we thought we would spend the day at the beach and playground, just chilling and enjoying the beautiful weather. Our last Sunday here. Then Sasha woke up and refused to go to the beach. We should have guessed then that it would be one of those days. After much persuasion by her Daddy, she finally agreed to go out, but she wanted to wear her jammies. D then had to persuade her out of her jammies and into a dress while I packed her swimsuit as we figured that she would want to be playing on the beach once we were there. Wrong. She refused to get on the beach and wanted the playground instead. D was dissapointed as he wanted to have a last swim in the ocean and I was dissapointed because I too wanted to spend our last Sunday on the beach. But we wanted to salvage the day so we headed to the playground, where Sash refused to wear her hat and started crying. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. And she knows I have a short temper. So I packed the kids up, headed home and told D he should go for his swim as there was no point in both of us staying in on such a beautiful day. I told Sasha that we were staying home where there would be no TV and I would be doing work because she was being a brat and not listening to us. So as I type this Sasha is sitting on the couch and D is swimming his last swim on Coogee. She keeps asking me if I am mad and asking if she can say sorry. I told her she shouldnt say sorry if she doesnt mean it and no, I am no longer mad, but sad because such a nice day has been spoiled. I hate days like this.

Sasha asked us this morning if Dylan had a family. She thinks he should go back to his family. How do you explain the concept of family to a two year old?

I started feeding Dylan solids this morning. Well, extremely watery rice cereal. He still doesnt get the concept of swallowing and his tongue pushes most of the 3 tablespoons of mixture out. Slowly but surely.

D bought Sash a tiara and glass slippers on one of their Daddy Dot trips to get milk. I swear one day 14 years from now she is probably going to persuade him to buy her a car on another milk run. Anyway, the slippers are too big and flimsy to wear out and her other "glass slippers" are in her brick house (she refers to home as her brick house in [address]...we have taught her our address, especially city in the event there is an emergency whoever finds her will send her to the closest Canadian embassy). So now I have to go buy her shoes..I swear this child is blessed with pushover parents.

Family Fun Day

Last Saturday Coogee held its annual Family Fun Day. I was interested in taking Sasha to see Santa Claus on the beach to save the trip into the city. It was however too hot so after taking in a few rides, the haunted house, the show, and a couple of snowcones, we called it a morning and headed back to the hotel pool to have a swim, indoors. Good thing we did as the UV levels were later announced to be extreme.











It is strange to think that other than the trip to Zoo, the wedding and the Sydney Museum, we have not had the itch to go into the city. I find things here more expensive so there is no point is shopping. Other then the odd swimsuit and hat for the kids, that admittedly are just too adorable to pass up (although more expensive), we have not really bothered to buy anything. I still have a ways to go before I can say I have lost the preggy fat so am not interested in buying clothes, and well, Doug will wear the same $5 T-Shirt till it disintegrates. Back to Santa. We are at that stage in life where we either perpetuate the Santa belief that is starting to dawn on Sash, let her dream the dream or we shoot down the dream and instill in her the realities of life..at age 2. I think we are going to strike a balance. No cookies and milk left out near the fireplace, but we will let her believe there is always potential for magic in life. We cant do the whole cookies and milk thing anyway as we will more often than not be away from our fireplace at Christmas. If we are not in Asia, then we will be in middle Canada where D's Dad does set out the cookies and milk. All the rellies on D's side have sent the kids their presents to our home, labelled "From Santa", so even if we wanted to shoot Santa, we would face some major opposition. As a kid, living in the States, I must admit that I sort of believed in Santa although it wasn't really part of my upbringing. My Mum didn't exactly let me disbelieve either as we had a Christmas tree every year. And presents. D was initially worried that I would not be a part of the whole Santa conspiracy as he really wants Sasha and Dylan to have fun with Santa, as much fun as he did. I told D that considering that I believed in the tooth fairy, spent ages sniffing around toadstools in my garden for fairies and was convinced that my house must, just had to, have a couple of secret passageways, whats a few years of Santa. So we are going the Santa route. Although this year Santa has left all her presents in her brick house in Toronto as he didnt want to risk sending them to someone else by mistake in Phuket. She is very impressed with his thoughtfulness.

We attended a wedding last Sunday. It was a sweet ceremony held in the Botanical Gardens, overlooking the harbour. I met the groom in Shanghai in 2005 and it was very kind and generous of him to invite us as a family to his wedding. And I must add, there are worse ways to spend a Sunday than sipping champagne at 11am, nibbling asian finger food while looking on towards the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

I am a creature of habit. I like my routines. Part of my routine at home is to have my morning coffee in my favourite mug. We bought a bunch of these mugs at the Iitala shop in Utrecht the last time we were in the Netherlands. After a major discussion in the shop about numbers to be bought, where D wanted to but 8 mugs, and I wanted to buy 2, we settled on 4 mugs. I dont see the point of buying more than that because there are only 2 of us drinking coffee in the morning, so the extra mugs will just be taking up valuable real estate/storage space. D worries about having people over and not having enough mugs. I have to remind him that if our guests feel insulted about not getting matching mugs, well then, they would not be our friends and who needs such anal people in our lives anyway. There were only 3 colours available so we bought one red mug, two blue ones and my favourite, a white one. The apartment here provides us with crockery, but the mugs are small and so uninspiring. I miss my mug. I cant wait to see you mug. I love you.

Tis the season

They say that the Christmas season officially starts after the office Christmas party. Well, I guess it is officially the Christmas season. I joined Doug and the crew (literally) for the annual office Christmas do last night. Considering that it is not technically his office, and I hardly knew anyone other than the management and a few PhD students, I must say I had a blast. The party was held on board a chartered cruise ship which toured the harbour for 4 hours. I knew it was going to be fun as Champagne was served upon boarding. We left the Rocks, which was the pick-up point, and initiated the festivities with assorted sushi and antipasto. We were then escorted below deck to the dining area where we started dinner with Coffin Bay scallops, grilled scampi and carpaccio of smoked salmon. Dinner was held buffet style and it was definitely a spread. Whole king prawns, freshly shucked oysters, bluewater barramundi, seared wagyu beef, salt & pepper squid, mango and lobster salad, and of course beautiful Aussie white wine. Desert was a tropical fruit plate with sorbet and passion fruit coulis (whats up with passion fruit...the seeds are just irritating). I have been craving good seafood but other than the odd barramundi fillet at the local restaurants, we have not had a chance to get to the popular seafood destinations like Doyles. I can tell you that last night's party has fully satisfied my craving and now on the the next... a great Rib Eye.

There was a disco on board and lots more to drink. I have a huge hangover and I dont even want to think about my cholesterol level.

Taronga

We decided to take the kids to Taronga Zoo a few days ago. It was our first attempt at taking the bus from Coogee to Circular Quay so we didnt know what to expect ie how difficult it would be to take the kids with the stroller on the bus. And the stroller was necessary because we would be walking for ages at the zoo. Luckily it was much easier than expected as the bus was wheelchair accessible so we were able to wheel the stroller onto the bus easily and park it on the bus without having to fold it. We took the ferry at Circular Quay and were at Taronga within 15 minutes. I have always liked Taronga. You essentially walk downhill and the areas/displays are unique and interesting. The views from the zoo are also phenomenal. Sasha freaked out at the Koala Bear display so we were quite surprised that she was quite happy walking amongst the kangaroos.







We were able to catch the seal show but not the bird show as Sasha was losing steam and Dylan looked like he had had enough of the sun.





We took the ferry back to Circular Quay, and the bus back to Coogee where we spent the rest of the evening enjoying our favourite past of Sydney.

Sasha can be over-affectionate, over-exuberant and just generally over whatever when it comes to her little brother. But it is very difficult for us keep her from her brother generally as we keep reminding her that we made him for her, so she has to love and adore him as every big sister should adore their little brothers. Also, she comes back with the most innovative retorts that we admit we use their contact sports as entertainment. I usually tell her her to be gentle, to stop hitting, to stop stepping on him, to whatever that involves possible bodily harm to the little dude at least 10 times a day. Her comebacks are classic, and include:

I am hitting GENTly Mummy!
I am not poking his mouth, I am cleaning my fingers!
I am hugging Dylan Mummy! (This after I found her lying her full body on Dylan)
I am just patting him.
Dylan wants to kiss my toes.
Dylan wants to dance.
Dylan hit me first.
I am PLAYing with him Mummy!

She is going to be a lawyer I think.

The babysitter's name was Desiree and we were asked to call her Dez. She called us Darlin. Older, obviously tanned herself and extremely friendly. Sash showed Dez her toys as soon as she stepped foot into the apartment and Dylan giggled when she picked him up [He rarely giggles for us...whats up with that??]. We knew then that they kids were in good hands. I think it helped that we had prepped Sasha the night before, telling her a friend was coming over to play with her. She takes the "friend" label at face value, very much like a wiseguy in any mafia family. So after checking ID, giving Dez the rundown on emergency telephone numbers, location of passports and signing the necessary medication and ambulance release forms, Doug and I legged it out of there. Precious mintues were awasting...

We started our walk along the Eastern Coast by first going out to the ledge where we used to spend every evening having a beer. It was where Doug proposed too. Since we have been back at Coogee we have only been on the ledge once. Too dangerous to take the kids.





We then walked along to Gordons Bay.



Then to Clovelly.





Next to Coogee, our second favourite beach is Clovelly. The beach is child friendly, the pool excellent and the Sea Salt Cafe serves the best angel hair pasta. We will try and take the kids there next Sunday. They may not be able to do the whole 3 hour coastal walk with us this year, but they should at least enjoy part of it. After Clovelly, there is a beautiful cemetary. We always say that the dead guys are on prime real estate. Before reaching the cemetary, we stopped to enjoy some Aussie wildlife.







After Clovelly, we headed towards Bronte beach.





It is really only after Bronte that the walk really gets interesting. This is where you really feel like you are walking along the edge of Australia.





In all my travels, I have yet to experience a more interesting walking route. Well, the 4 hour walking tour of the fairy chimneys in Capadocia, Turkey comes a close second, but there you need a guide whereas here on the Coastal Walk, all you need are your trainers and a hell of alot of sunscreen.



We reached Bondi and realised that we had taken longer than expected. I guess when we used to live here we took the views foregranted and used the walk mainly for exercise. We never took a camera along and we wouldnt have stopped to check out the squatter camp that had been set up. So now not only do the dead guys have a great view for free.





We decided to forego lunch and just grab a Boost Juice to enjoy on the way back. Got us thinking about how much free time we had before kids. We used to do this walk every weekend, sometimes twice a week, have lunch at Icebergs or a random cafe in Bondi, explore the North side of Bondi, then head back leisurely. Those were the days when alone time did not cost Au$155 for four hours...we made it back in 3.5 hours, bought a couple of Burgers at Chish and Fips, and ate lunch while hanging out with Sasha and Dylan at the playground. It was another excellent Sunday.

Whatever happened to....

The dreaded question...whatever happened to [fill in name of someone not on yor FB list]? I was asked this morning..whatever happened to your old Uni roommates? What could I say...uhm, they are fine. M is inhouse counsel in a large corporation, SN also in house counsel..somewhere, and SR is finding her second calling with her own little business making cookies (dang they look yummy). Do I not keep in touch, I was asked. Weeeell, considering that in the last 5 years I have lived in 5 different countries on 4 different continents, obtained a PhD, a husband and popped 2 kids from my loins, keeping in touch has been a tad challenging. That was my excuse. Not a good one though as it was quite obvious that I managed to keep in touch with some friends, so why not others? And you know what..I have no idea why we have not remained close. Considering we were living together in extremely close quarters. We were poor law students, and lazy ones at that, so 4 girls squeezed into a grungy 3 bedroom flat that was a 5 minute walk to the law faculty..downhill. We had no central heat, and a miniscule water tank that meant showering was an exercise of faith. We were always cold but being across a small alley from KwikSave (read LiquorSave), a discount supermarket meant we were able to find ways to keep warm. 3 of us were smokers, so M was only ever able to maintain her shampoo fresh hair from the bathroom halfway down the hallway to her bedroom door. After that she too smelled like the Marlboro man. It wasnt exactly an extended slumber party as living in such close quarters inevitibly raised issues, but I think we had fun in our two year together. No idea what the others thought, but I had fun with them. Over the years many memories were made and some stand out more than others. Doing the monthly shopping with M, and carrying the many many bags from KwikSave back home. It was a short stroll but with the many many bags my arms felt like they were going to fall off. Doing the monthly laundry with M at the nearby coin operated laundry, and having a cuppa at the local cheap cafe while waiting for the dryer. Playing drinking games with SR, SN and our guests (we were the party house obviously so we always had guests) and getting supremely hammered..regularly. Giving up on the games as they got in the way of the drinking. Walking into a club we regularly haunted and hearing the DJ shout out a welcome..our tequila shot antics were popular. Just hanging out in the kitchen eating, smoking over a cuppa, gossipping, complaining about classes/exams and whatever else 4 girls living together do (no, this being real life and not a porn movie, no naked pillowfights). Then we graduated, and moved away. I went on to Warwick for my Masters, SN did her bar in London, SR went home to KL and M did her Bar in KL. Over the years we met up seperately. For lunch, tea, that sort of thing. But I am pretty sure we have never been in one room, all 4 of us, the roommates, since we left that flat. Funny how that goes. Sad in a way...as those were extremely memorable years of my life.

Holy Guacamole..

I used to think that babysitters in Toronto were expensive...till I arranged to hire one here. Agency rates..AU$ 155 for 4 hours. This is going to be one expensive alone time..

I pissed off a tourist this morning. At least I am pretty sure I did. Sasha, Dylan and I were at our usual spot near the pool when I noticed someone walking along the boardwalk to about where we were. An older Chinese man just taking a stroll. Thought nothing of it until he started taking pictures of the scenery from the boardwalk. Ahhhh, a tourist I thought. I continued playing with Sash in the sand until I noticed him pointing his camera more towards our area. And he started taking pictures. I waited and watched while he continued taking pictures of Sasha. Thats when I knew I had to do something. I walked to where he was and told him that I am not comfortable with him taking pictres if my children and told him that he had to stop and point the camera elsewhere. He said something to me in Chinese, no idea what, but I was well prepared to start shouting bloody murder if he didnt stop taking pictures with us in the frame. I think he realised this and left. He probably thinks Australian mothers are rude. But hey...nowadays you can never be too careful. If I ask parents permission before taking snaps of their kids, I expect the same courtesy.

Playdate

Sasha has made a new friend. She met him close to the pool on the South side of the beach where she was collecting water for her sand castles.






So while they were occupied I had a good chat with his mummy. T, her new friend is of Japanese/Brazilian parentage. His parents met in Sydney but tried living in both Sao Paolo and Tokyo. They decided a couple of years back to choose neutral ground and settle in Sydney. I told her about our attempt to choose somewhere neutral, the US, before deciding that neutral also meant rootless. We compared notes about surviving without a support system, without real friends. We agreed to meet tomorrow to let the kids play together again. Sash is such a social animal that these couple of weeks without friends must be difficult for her. I know it is for me.

This morning at the shops I found the coolest thing ever...a swimsuit for Dylan that is 100+SPF. Had no idea that it could go up that high. We were on the strip early this morning to meet with an artist we are thinking of commissioning to paint some of our favourite scenes of Coogee. Years ago, we had seen a painting of his in a gallery in Randwick and seriously contemplated buying it. It was unfortunately quite pricey then so we decided against it. We have been kicking ourselves ever since. We found the gallery again, and asked them about the painting. It was of course sold ages ago but they put us in contact with the artist directly (extremely nice of them). We are asking him to paint two small canvases (he is still pricey but what the hell...you cant take it with you right) which will go in Sasha's and Dylan's rooms. As we like to say, this is where it all started. Well, it actually started in Switzerland, but thats another story altogether...

Why I have to watch Sasha like a hawk...

I love my kids. I really do. Sometimes though, just sometimes, I resent my lack of freedom. I yearn for those carefree days when all I had to think about was me, myself and I. I had only just gotten used to the fact that I needed to inform someone, namely my husband, when I wanted to take a trip abroad...or even to the shops for that matter...., when wham bam I got pregnant. Just as I was comfortable with the logistics of leading my life with a dot, I found I was carrying Dylan. I may have mentioned this before, but having 2 kids doesn't double your workload, it increases it exponentially. And this trip back here to Sydney has again highlighted my new responsibilities. Like our trip to Milan. But in a different way. Before kids, during those days back when, I would wake up in the morning and take a walk along the Eastern Coastal Walk, or just read a book on the beach, or have a coffee at one of the many cafes here on the strip. Now, I have to tailor my days around them. Sure, I can take a book down to the beach. But that would mean I wouldn't be able to watch Sasha from afar as she tries to outrun the waves. Or build sandcastles with her. I enjoy these activities with her, but sometimes I just wish I could have some me time and read that damn book. I could drag the stroller with Sash and Dylan along to a cafe. But why bother as she would get antsy and bored within 3 seconds, or/and Dylan would start crying. I could go on the Eastern Coastal Walk with them, but the trail isn't exactly stroller friendly on some parts and it would be just painful to lug Dylan in the carrier for that distance. I am thinking of hiring a babysitter for a few hours so I grab a coffee, read a couple of pages on the beach and do part of the walk. I know I need to do it so I can regain some sense of my self.

The days here are flying by fast. We have fallen into a routine that is working out quite well. When D heads out to the CBD, I take Sasha either to the playground or the beach. Usually the beach first while the sun isn't too bad. Then the playground. Then home for lunch. Then the indoor heated pool while Dylan is napping (I just put him the car seat and he sits napping by the poolside). We used to do the playround after lunch, but I find the sun way too hot for them (me). She is usually tuckered out by then so we just chill and wait for Daddy to get home for dinner. Doing this day in day out has enabled me to notice a few things. First, the OZs have their sun protection down to an art. Their range of swimsuits, hats (especially hats) and sunscreen are unbeatable. I will definitely get Sasha's and Dylan's summer suits and hats here. Second, Coogee is becoming gentrified as there are more kids and strollers than before. Seriously...stroller traffic jams every day. Third, things are more expensive here. Even taking into account the exchange rate. Fruits, groceries, kids stuff, more expensive. But I suppose that's the price of living in paradise.

How to keep a 2.5 year old entertained