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.