Kids and compost

Today both kids started school. The past few weeks my life was kids, kids, kids. I did not really have time to concentrate on anything else. Now I need to find other things to keep myself occupied. So what do 'mums-who-just-arrived-in-Australia' do on a first day without kids?

The past hour I emptied our new compost bin. At least I felt very productive and it was a good work out. I even discovered a few white worms but they are now dead. I had to empty the bin because last week we threw in a lot of long plant roots and I read somewhere that these will not rot easily so it's better not to put them in. I've thrown in a lot of things like eggshells and bread but these are now all gone. Did the worms eat everything?

We really need to concentrate on our garden. We moved into the house two weeks ago and the lawn already shows brown spots and some of the plants don't look that happy anymore.

For the kids we make a vegetable garden. Last week we put tomato and capsicum seeds in little pots and these already turned into little plants of about 2 cm. This weekend we will put them in the garden. Hopefully we can eat our own vegetables in a few weeks from now.

I'm very happy by the way with the choice of our house and the street. It turns out that all our neighbours have 18 year old daughters who are happy to baby-sit. Hoeree! Tonight we go out for dinner for the first time since I arrived in Australia. I look forward to that.

School uniforms

Children in Australia can't start school without a school uniform. Today I had to go to the shop to buy uniforms for the kids. Total costs: AUD 382 without shoes. I guess it's all part of embracing Australian life. There are only a few schools where the children don't have to wear uniforms. At Castle Cove school the main color is dark blue, a very exiting kids color. In India they call these dark colors 'Énglish colors' as opposed to the bright Indian colors.

Being Dutch, I could never have imagined sending my kids to school in a uniform. I don't think it contributes in a positive way to the children's development. Yes, it's very practical as I don't have to have early morning discussions anymore about what the kids should wear. What about the development of their own personal choice? Kids are not the same. The way they want to dress themselves is an important way of expression. You can't go against that because children will then find other ways to express themselves. At least that's what I think..

I'm glad that my six year old is very pleased with his uniform. I don't think he realizes yet that everyone will look the same tomorrow. In Holland, Sebastiaan had a bright orange winter coat. It was very easy to spot him at school pick up. That will be different now when all the boys look 100 percent the same.

Neighbourhood pool

When you live in Sydney, it's not a problem to find a place to swim close to where you live. This is a nice thing, knowing that with 41 degrees it's today the hottest day in four years!

This morning we discovered the Northbridge Baths, a five minute drive from our house. It's an extremely kids friendly pool for swim fanatics. We were kindly reminded by one of that dads that it's better for the kids to wear the Australian long sleeve swim shirt because 'the sun in Europe is different'. I was already chasing the kids with sunscreen lotion but that's clearly not sufficient.

The pool is made in a beautiful bay surrounded by hills and lot's of green. It has a shallow area for kids and there is a more serious swimming area for adults where you can do laps. The day clearly starts very early at the Northbridge baths. On the notice board I read that the 'senior swim squad' starts at 6 a.m.!

To Sebastiaan's excitement a lot of fish swim around in the pool. Fishing - unfortunately - is not allowed. A special activity is kayak fitness. Wondering what that is like.

What else do you need? Ah, I forgot to mention that they do serve great cappuccino's.

Combating the heat

When I arrived in Sydney I knew it would be warm because it's summer. But it's not only warm, it's hot! Instead of going to the beach which most people probably do today, I decided to take the kids by bus and train to Darling Harbour. Great decision. For the kids it was fun. They got two ice creams each and I let them get wet at the water fountain.

We are home now and I put the kids in front of the tv. It's just too hot to do anything else. One of the problems of this weather is that I don't get a lot of things done in the house. It's still a mess because of all the unpacked boxes so I would like to be more productive. A positive thing: today they delivered our new barbeque. Marcel ordered it so it must be big. It weighs no less than 82 kg. Wondering how big it will be when Marcel puts it together tomorrow morning.

Kookaburra

This is a picture of one of the Kookaburra's in our garden. They are extremely tame which makes it difficult to chase them away. They have an arrogant look on their face and don't seem to be very impressed by us.

Speaking about Kookaburra's. Today I almost ended up in hospital after I was almost hit by a two meter long branch. It fell down from a gum tree 0.5 metres from where I was sitting.

Jetlagged

It's now 5.30 am and I'm awake. It's very quiet in the house. The kids obviously don't suffer from the jetlag. They are still in bed. It must be my age. When I went to bed yesterday I was so tired from all the unpacking and running after the kids, I thought I could easily sleep the entire night.

Yesterday, I visited the new school of the children. We received a warm welcome from the principle and she gave us a tour of the school grounds. The principle has Dutch parents and still speaks some Dutch. A funny coincidence because the principle at the school in Mumbai was also from Dutch origin. Sebastiaan and Julia now think that school principles everywhere in the world speak some Dutch. Two more weeks to go before the school starts. That's the beginning of the new school year which is nice for the children because everyone will be new.

The Sydney life

This will be my first Sydney post. After a flight of over 24 hours we finally arrived in Sydney on Friday ready for a new adventure.

My recent stay in Holland was great but when I landed at Sydney airport I realized it's time to move on. When we walked out of the customs area the first thing we saw was Marcel. He actually was crying when he saw us!! For me it was a weird feeling that Sydney will be my home for the next few years. We have been here before as tourists but that's different from living here.

Marcel brought us to the car. It's not just a car, it's a very big car. I've given it the nickname 'battlestar Galactica'. It's not really a city car but an outback car made for very rough terrain and to be save for very big kangaroos which may jump in front of the car. That's not something that will happen here. I'm sure it looks cool from a men's point of view. I already put a 'small decent city car' on my wish list. We then headed for our new house which is a 20 minute drive from the airport. When we turned into our driveway I noticed a few boxes in front of the garage. I then suddenly realized that the movers had already come and that we would not have to camp. That was a great surprise!! A lot of the boxes are still unpacked but that does not matter. At least it feels a little bit like a home.

The house is great! Lot's of space, an outdoor deck with a big dining table and room for a barbeque and a garden. We already had our first encounter with Australian wildlife. Our landlord used to feed the kookaburra on the deck and these birds also expect food from us. Bad luck! They seem to be even more aggressive then the crows in Mumbai. When we had dinner outside yesterday one of the birds tried to steal food from Marcel's plate.

This morning Marcel left for work on his scooter. That way it only takes him 15 minutes to get to the office. My program for today: entertain the kids, unpack boxes, and meet with the school principle to get the kids registered.

A very cold winter in Holland

When we arrived in Holland eight weeks ago I told my two children that they probably would not see any snow. This was disappointing because being an expat in India the children had never experienced a real Dutch winter. Snow in Holland is not very common anymore. On the Internet I even checked out the locations of indoor snow venues.

A friend of mine gave my 6-year-old a sleigh for his birthday in December. I noticed the surprised look on the faces of some of the guests at the birthday party wondering why you would give a boy a sleigh. Snow in Holland is not very common anymore and it was very green outside. The birthday was less then four weeks ago. The sleigh has proven to be the best present ever. We used it a lot, for pleasure but also out of necessity because on some days the sleigh was the most practical means of transportation.

We are now nearing the end of our ten-week-plus visit to the Netherlands. I'm sure the kids will especially remember the snow and the sleigh. With our stay in Holland, we wanted to give our children a better sense of what it means to be Dutch. I believe weather wise we have been very successful.

Moving: we have a date!

When we arrive in Australia next week Friday we only have to 'survive' in our house without any stuff for three days. This morning we heard that the movers will come on Monday, 15 January. Time wise that would be perfect because we then have three days to recover from the jet lag after our 1 day and 2 nights around-the-world-trip.

We will leave Holland at 9 pm on Wednesday and will arrive around 9.30 am in Sydney on Friday. With two young kids, I'm sure I will be having a great time! So will my fellow passengers in the seats close to us...

Coping with difficult questions

When kids turn six, they enter a new phase: the question phase. I feel as if I'm constantly interrogated by my son Sebastiaan. Today we drove all the way to Amsterdam to visit Artis, the Amsterdam Zoo. Below I've listed down the questions he managed to come up with during lunch:

• Do animals have nightmares?
• How does black Pete turn black? (black Pete = the helper of Sinterklaas)
• Why does a man from Africa work in this restaurant (the person in question was within hearing distance)
• How do they make potato chips?
• Are your grandma and grandad dead? (question asked by 4-year-old Julia)
• What did the first 'peacock' look like?

Simply ignoring these questions does not work. Sebastiaan really expects an answer. When I don't know the answer, I tell him we will 'Google' it. My 6-year-old has a good memory and he does not easily forget what I promise him. I'm afraid tomorrow we will have a lot of 'Googling' to do.

I really miss my printer and scanner

Since end October all our stuff is packed in a container. Marcel brought two suitcases with him to Australia and I packed everything I need for myself and the kids in five boxes, two bags and two big suitcases. That's all and I'm fine with it.

This makes me realize how little I'm attached to the things we 'own'. There are only a few things we really need. Last week, I thought I would not be too upset if our container would sink to the bottom of the sea. I'm carrying my laptop with all our pictures with me so they won't get lost. Most of our furniture is easily replaceable and we carry around too much stuff anyway.

But today, for the very first time, there was something I actually miss: our scanner and printer. I had a nightmare day trying to make a scan and to print two other documents. At home, in India this would have taken me five minutes max. Today it took me about two hours to get, part of the job, done.

The PC and printer I tried were extremely slow. After trying for an hour, I decided to go to the public library. Gone are the days when you had a computer and next to it an easy to operate printer. This library put a very 'sophisticated' system in place. First you have to log in to the computer with a library card. Then you need to log out form the computer and log in again for the printer.

Sounds easy. Did it work? No. Ten minutes before school pick up time I ended up sending my files to the private email of a library employee who was kind enough to print the documents for me using her private log in. I still need to find a way to make a scan of the other document.

New Years morning on the Larense hei

I'm sure next year in Sydney it will be a lot warmer with New Year's and I will not be able to take pictures then with lot's of snow! This year I spent New Years eve with my parents in Laren. I took this picture around 10 am on New Years morning at the 'hei' ('moors') near Laren. It was still early but a few people already followed the same route by foot and on bicycle as you can see by the tracks in the snow.