A Tale of Two Cities

We’ve been back in America for nearly a week now and I think only in the last day or so have we started to feel somewhat normal. At least “with it” enough to be able to document the adventures of the last few days in Adelaide, the trip over the Pacific and our first few days back home.

Reflecting on the events of our last few days in Adelaide, I figured Charles Dickens’ book A Tale of Two Cities is the most appropriate – especially the first line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” It was frantic getting everything in place: selling the cars, transferring money, cleaning the house, packing the suitcases, preparing for the house inspection from our tyrant house agent, saying goodbye to friends and all the while trying to keep a positive attitude that everything would work out in the end :) We had many people from the ward come and help with cleaning the home on the Saturday prior. It was a breath of fresh air to have so many people willing to sacrifice of their time – even though Kelli and I are stubborn enough to think we could accomplish everything on our own. As it turned out we could have spent weeks on end getting the house ready and it would not have been good enough … but more on that in a moment. Our last Sunday was melancholy. I didn’t really think it would be as hard as it turned out to be – I guess a testament to the close friendships that we’ve been able to foster while in Australia.

So, that was the best of times … the worst of times was the day before we had to leave. I don’t want to dwell on this part of the move since it was so horrible, but nonetheless warrants at least a mention. Suffice it to say that the house agent was in the house for 7 ½ hours! She went through everything with a fine-toothed comb. My inspections at the Academy were nothing compared to what this lady did. It was so ridiculous it was comical. We had a lot of things left to do that final day in Australia but spent all 7 hours following her around cleaning this and that. In the end she said our cleaning of the blinds and windows wasn’t good enough and she was going to have to do it ‘professionally’. Kelli in the end had a huge shouting/yelling match with her and we just signed the paperwork, handed over the keys and left. We have no idea what kind of bond we’ll be left with, we were just glad to finally say ‘see ya’.

Ok, so now on to the adventure of actually traveling. We arrived at a motel down by the Adelaide airport around 8 that evening … utterly exhausted. A good friend of ours dropped us off and took our minivan back to a family in the ward which had bought it from us. We put the kids in the shower and Hunter was in there for literally 45 minutes (sorry Adelaide … after the day’s events we weren’t in much of a mood for making sure we conserved water.) We all went to bed fairly quickly but then Savannah woke up at 1 in the morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep so we watched Pocahontas together and then around 4:30 had to get everyone up to get ready. We had good friends meet us at the airport – Scott Hann, John and Brianna Chambers (Brianna was in Collin’s primary class) and Leanne, Keely and Savannah Fleet (Savannah’s friend from school.) Keely and Savannah gave our kids bags of things to do on the airplane. They’ve all been such wonderful friends … and the fact they got up at 5 in the morning to come see us at the airport is just a small indication of the kind of things they did to make us feel welcome in Australia. They will be missed dearly.

Our first leg of 5 was a short hop over to Canberra. We made a quick stop in at the US Embassy to do my final outprocessing. There is a funny story with Collin that MUST be mentioned. So I was in the Embassy doing my thing and Kelli and the kids were out in the rental car. They were parked on a side street which led to the Israeli Embassy and right in front of the Myanmar Embassy. Collin decides that really has to use the toilet, so Kelli takes him directly over to the Myanmar Embassy fence (a black, wrought iron fence covered in ivy) and tries to get him to go. He gets stage fright and just can’t go so they go back to the car. Yet, the urge becomes too great and he runs back to the fence, bares it down to his ankles and relieves himself all over the Myanmar fence. I guess he showed what he thought of them, eh! (Don’t tell anyone by the way …)

We were able to catch up with some good friends that moved to Canberra from Adelaide – the Atkinsons (Chad, Holly, Hinckley, Belle and baby-yet-to-be-named.) We enjoyed a lovely meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken and had a few good laughs for old times’ sake. It was good to be able to see them before heading out. The next morning we were off to Sydney. Thank goodness the lady in Canberra checked our bags all the way to Salt Lake, so we didn’t see them again until LA and the customs checkpoint … and only then to pick them up and drop them off on the other side of the checkpoint. Sydney was amazingly blue and pristine as we flew in and flew out. It was good to have a final snapshot of the eastern Australian coast to pack into the memory banks. Our plan of having a whole middle row to ourselves on the 747 fell through as the plane filled up pretty fast. It was also a very old 747 (it still had ash trays in the bathroom!) that had only one movie projection screen at the front of the cabin and it was a poor picture to begin with. So, we were left to our own devices to keep the kids entertained. We’d managed to keep Hunter from taking a nap during the day, so by the time our 2 pm flight left from Sydney, he was ready for a nap. But, with all of the big trucks, tractors and airplanes at the airport the excitement was greater than nature’s call to sleep. That said, the gentle roar of the jet engines was no match for his will power. As we took off I looked over at him in the window seat and he was falling asleep kneeling up and fell against the wall of the airplane. Thank goodness he slept for a couple hours, was up for a couple more, and then pretty much slept for most of the rest of the flight. We managed some meager sleeping accommodation by putting Hunter on the floor and Collin and I shared the side seats while Kelli and Savannah managed in the middle. It was a very long 13 hours, but the kids did very well. Landing in LA was a welcomed sight to see the good ole US of A. It was a very nice, blue day as it was in Sydney with very little LA smog to speak of. After a snafu of collecting our bags (United put 3 international flights on the same carousel … even though there were 3 total carousels that they could have used!) we took our 2 full carts of luggage through customs (Kelli had tried to smuggle 3 bananas in her backpack so we had to go through the hassle of a customs line instead of bypassing it …I didn’t smuggle them, and there was no customs line, we just had to put a few bags through another x-ray machine). We then boarded our plane to Denver … of which we all remember next to nothing because we slept the entire 2 ½ hours (except Kelli, who woke up just as we were getting settled when the refreshment cart banged into the back of her seat). We were hurting pretty bad, but at least our bodies let us sleep on the plane to Denver. With a small layover in Denver we boarded a small regional jet headed for SLC. That flight was long with anticipation, but as we descended over the snow-covered mountains and Mt Timpanogas into SLC, it was a feeling of relief and gratitude to know that we’d finally made it back home … for me personally it has been 14 years of doing the military/mission thing and not living in Utah so it was even a little more, gulp, emotional.

Sydney ... L.A. ... Rocky Mtns = Home!

The kids came running out of the security area to give Grandma Whetstone a huge hug … Hunter was once again taking his own sweet time (he was our little slow poke since he had to look at every light in every airport, stop at every window to look at every truck and airplane …) but when he came out of security as well he came running up and laid a big hug on Grandma W as well. We were all happy to be off the airplanes and somewhere which felt like home. We spent a relaxing evening with Kelli’s family eating Papa Murphy’s pizza and cream-filled strawberries … only then to watch my first and last live Jazz game of the year as they lost to the Lakers in the playoffs. And then I got up at 4 the next morning because I couldn’t sleep … and ended up going down to American Fork to watch Jenny (my sister) do her first triathlon. So, no rest for the weary!

Over the past week we have been burning up I-15 to Logan and Ogden spending time with my side of the family (first time our entire family has been together since my brother Oliver’s wedding over 2 years ago!), and looking for a home. All the cousins are getting so big and Savannah has loved playing the big, big cousin role. Hunter loves to hold the ‘babies’ … one on each side of the family (Rya with Jacob/Robyn … big shout out to those two for letting us invade their home with only a 4-week old baby! --- and Colton with Robert/Angie.) We’ve gone through over 30 homes, and we finally found one that we like. We’ll see how the rest of the process goes. It is a beautiful area and I’m sure it will be good to get settled in to a new ward and everything.

The jet lag has been killer for us. We’ve taken a lot of afternoon naps and spent many a night hour looking for a way to kill time until the morning. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed their time with cousins, taking walks with Grandmas/Grandpas, playing the Wii and getting teased about their Aussie accents. Some of the things that have been ‘impressionable’ since coming back are high gas/grocery prices (looks like Walmart and Sam’s Club will be the shopping areas of choice!), hearing people talk about priesthood quorums and church callings while at the gym, listening to the radio and having a heavy LDS opinion being voiced, seeing billboards with LDS advertisements, the large size of trucks and vehicles in general, being able to talk without fear of people not recognizing what you are saying or giving that quizzical look of ‘where are you from’, and generally just being able to relax. The other big thing is the scenery – there is one thing that I’ve missed wherever I’ve lived since leaving Utah and that’s the amazing scenery and view of the mountains on both sides of the Salt Lake valley. Dad just bought a little aluminum (or aluminium :)) fishing boat and so we he took Jacob and I out on the Hyrum reservoir to teach us how to use it. Just being out on the lake and enjoying the sounds of the water and the birds was a heavy nostalgia for me. Just amazing the scenery and beauty that Utah has to offer.

Triathlon training on top of jet lag and the nearly mile of altitude gain has been interesting to say the least … only yesterday did I finally feel like I wasn’t starting from scratch all over again! Nathan and I are getting ready to do an Olympic distance in June (Nathan has to defend his sprint title) and then I’m doing a half-ironman in August … hopefully :) Yeah for Utah and being able to do this stuff on Saturdays (not Sundays)!

To finish there are some funny stories from our trip …

Hunter, upon getting into one of the first airplanes, turned to Kelli and told her he wanted her to open the window.

Hunter also thought he was pretty hot stuff being able to sit in his own seat on the airplane and buckle his own seat belt. Of course we couldn’t keep him buckled for more than 2 minutes … but at least he never took his diaper off and ran down the aisles!

In the hotel, before we left Adelaide, Collin all of the sudden got melancholy and told Kelli, “I’m really going to miss my friend Jack.” The kid has too many big emotions going on inside of him!

In Canberra when we were having dinner with our friends the Atkinsons, we gave Collin 2 chicken nuggets to which he replied, “Only 2? That doesn’t make sense.” Ok kid, whatever.

We traveled on a good number of vehicles, planes, etc getting back to America. One vehicle of choice was a shuttle from the plane to the terminal. The only problem is that Collin couldn’t get it in his head how to pronounce it correctly and kept calling it a ‘shittle’. What can you do … laugh?

And Collin again … in one of the airports they had a bathroom stall that was just for little kids, complete with miniature toilet … Collin was so excited as he sat down he exclaimed, “It’s just right for my bum!”

And lastly it was funny for me to be the caboose of our little train as we traversed the airport crowds. Each of the kids had their own little suitcase and Kelli and I looked like a father and mother chicken trying to keep all the little chicks in line and moving in the right direction. The grandparents usually stopped and commented on how cute it was, and people our age stared as if we were nuts and we could see the question in their eyes of whether we knew what birth control was or not (at least that was the impression in Australia since I would say 95% of people our age do not have 3 kids – the other 5% are members of the church … in Utah the ratio is probably reversed somewhat so it’s the norm and not the exception!)

So that’s about it! We are looking for to getting settled and know there is a ton (or heaps!) to do between now and then, but for now and forever, we’ll enjoy the journey and all the adventures that come with it. Cheers, ya’ll!

Home Safe ...

Hello, Everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that we made it home safe. That was 7 pm yesterday evening ... and here it is 4 am and I can't sleep! No real problems from the flight over -- the kids did pretty well and we're just happy that we made it safe and are now back with family. We'll give a full run down pretty soon ... there were some pretty darn funny moments from the kids.

Cheers -

Cheers, Australia!

We have but a few days left in Oz so this will probably be our last entry before we are back in the States. We definitely are preparing for this move with somewhat heavy hearts. People have asked if we are excited to go back and I’ve responded that it’s much the same feeling as preparing to go home from a mission. You look forward to being reunited with family and getting back to the life you knew from before … but at the same time you know that you are going to miss those friends and experiences you’ve had here. That said, we do have the luxury of the internet and technology to keep in touch, so hopefully we all do :)

So where do we start with the fiasco of the past 2 weeks since the last entry? How about the fact that Hunter has conveniently started to undress himself from head to toe and loves running around in the buff at each and every opportunity! We did try the potty training a little while back but when it didn’t work we realized our timing wasn’t very good and decided we’d try again when we get settled again. The other day I caught him behind a tree out in the backyard trying to ‘go potty’ and then today after church he had a dirty diaper and decided he was going to remove it himself. This is probably more information that you care to hear about, but it does add some humor to our current circumstances. With all of the house in mayhem he is in heaven with all of the opportunities to get into things. Yesterday it was a bottle of lotion that he decided to use as shampoo (and still has a lovely fragrance following him around!) and today it was a bottle of ‘eclipse’ gum that he thought would be fun to eat like candy. We all know that if he’s quiet for more than a few minutes then you can expect trouble. We just hope there isn’t too much that he’ll be able to get into on the 13 hour flight over the Pacific. A streaking little 2-year old down the aisle might add some comedy to the flight. He has been pretty good in enduring three days of movers in the house, packing and boxing all his belongings, but tomorrow may push him over the edge. We’re hoping he can last one more day, and he has been promised to be able to sit in the “huge” truck the movers are bringing tomorrow. We are a bit sad to be leaving just as he has really gotten settled—he goes to kindy and nursery without crying at all, and loves his friend, Jade, a 12-year-old girl in the ward he loves to be with (he’s spent the last two Sundays on her lap).

Collin has been his usual crazy and entertaining self. The move is affecting him a bit more, as he is unsettled and can have melt downs. But he is doing rather well, especially since he is able to go to kindy most afternoons. He told us today that he wants to sleep naked. He also confiscated my mother’s day flower after church and wore it around, along with his light saber. He is quite interested in football, since we told him we got BYU tickets, and told Jessy, “You be BIU and Savannah will be Port.” A funny mix of Aussie rules and gridiron. He fell getting into the shower on Tuesday and still looks like an abuse victim, with the biggest, nastiest bruise on his thigh, as well as several along his ribs and spine. He is very excited to go for a final play with Savannah’s friend, Keely, and her mom and older sister, Savannah. I’m not sure what he is going to do without their family. He also now looks for someone to go sit with during church. Luckily, the Hanns were sitting right behind us and he went back with Jacob and did some drawings.

Savannah was very lucky to be able to go to “High School Musical on Ice” Friday night with Keely and their family. She had so much fun at the show, and then she and Keely slept on the air mattress at Keely’s, where she is proud to say they stayed up until midnight. She then went with Keely to netball and out to lunch on Saturday. It was her last big shebang, and the Fleet family showed her a great time. As far as the move goes, she has been the least affected. She goes to school just as the movers get here and comes home as they are getting ready to go. Her teacher and class have prepared a farewell party for her on Wednesday, and they are all talking about it. Her teacher and some of the kids from her class last year are preparing to “crash” the party. They all want to wish her well. She is sad to leave her friends, but is sure she will make new friends in our new home. Her teacher is more concerned about the kids she’s leaving behind, as they have been worrying about her leaving for months and telling her and their parents how much they are going to miss Savannah.

Kelli was lucky to have several ladies from school throw a farewell party for her, too. Shauna, Savannah’s teacher from the past two years, and Leanne organized a dinner out and there were 5 other moms and two of Savannah’s teachers who showed up. They each gave her Aussie souvenirs and Kelli was so happy and genuinely touched by their thoughtfulness. She even stayed up way past her usual bedtime—the ladies stayed until they were closing the restaurant and Kelli got home just before 11 to find Jessy asleep on the couch (actually he heard me open the door and groggily jumped up, thinking he was going to protect the family from an intruder, but when he saw it was me, he fell onto the couch, already sleeping again). I also had a Mother’s day to remember today. It started with breakfast in bed. Since everything is packed (we are so grateful to Leanne for bringing over air mattresses, blankets, sleeping bags, towels, and pillows when she brought Savannah home), I probably will never have another Mother’s day quite like this. Jessy and the kids came up to the air mattress to deliver breakfast of toast and orange slices on a paper plate, as well as my gifts of a card and chocolates (I get to buy some clothes when we get to America). My special dinner was a pre-made lasagna and garlic bread on paper plates on the floor (Jessy was thoughtful enough to get us each a pillow to sit on), with our last can of beans and some bottles of ginger beer. That sounds more pitiful than it was, but it was definitely a day to remember.

Jessy has officially completed his assignment here at work, and had his farewell barbecue Friday. He also had a last kick with his soccer buddies from the workplace last Friday, a final game with the 5-a-side team at the Air Force base on Tuesday and a final golf outing with fellas from work on Monday. It has been a dream job with nothing but technical work and little to no ‘extras’ to worry about in the workplace. But, alas, time to go back to the ‘real’ world.

I guess it definitely goes without saying that we are going to miss Australia. I woke up this morning to the laugh of the kukaburra, watched the lorikeets flying through the trees, and the cockatoos gliding gracefully through the air. It is a beautiful place. We’ve been extremely fortunate to see a lot of the beauty of the land down under, but most of all we have made some great friends and we are going to miss hanging out with them. We hope that our Aussie friends reading this blog will always know that they have a place to stay where we are in America and we hope that someday we will be fortunate enough to come back for a visit and ‘holiday’. Until then, thank you for the warm hospitality and opportunity to share in your culture. It was been an amazingly quick 2 years :)

Culturegram #2

Continuing with our impressions of the Aussie culture … last time we talked about language, food and birds. I did miss a few things on those items. We totally forgot about the poor little kookaburras – they are pretty elusive in terms of being able to see them, but you hear there laugh from miles around. It’s kind of infectious as well. In addition, I had the kids at the park the other day and there were these two rosellas. They look like parrots with red heads and blue breasts. Very pretty birds. There were just the two of them eating on the grass. Collin kept sneaking closer and then finally they flew away.

Sports

Aussie football, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Cricket. Mix in a little soccer and basketball … and some netball for the girls and there you go. We posted a bit on our blog recently about the Aussie football experience at an ‘AFL (Australian Football League) game. It was good fun and the action is pretty nonstop. They rough each other up even when the ball isn’t around but it’s just part of the game (although the ‘minor’ league games are a little more of the no holds barred variety.) Not sure on the Rugby stuff since that’s primarily played on the east coast – New South Wales and Queensland (footy is big in Victoria, South Australia and West Australia.) We’ve never had much to do with cricket. It’s a lot like baseball in terms of pace of the game and such … kind of boring unless you know the tactics and players. Basketball and soccer kind of take a back seat, but are popular among the younger generation. There is netball as well which is basically basketball without a backboard but you can’t dribble with the ball and players, depending on position, are allowed in only certain areas of the court. A little different but Savannah has enjoyed playing in a little league with her school friends. And this section wouldn’t be complete without a comment on their emphasis on swimming. All kids are expected to be able to swim. There is a sign in the swimming pool where I go that they are expected to be able to swim 400 m by the time they finish primary school. And it really does show … the schools even take a full week during the year and they do swim training. As near as I’ve been able to tell, they don’t have a whole lot of high school sports competitions (between schools that is). It’s more based on community programs, which is nice for kids and adults alike. Tennis is something that isn’t as common. In fact, it’s pretty difficult to find a public tennis court. Kelli had to join a tennis club to get her fix and a decent tennis court.

Shopping

Australians have a unique set up for their shopping. With few exceptions, grocery stores close around 9 during the week and by 5 on Saturdays. Pretty much all other shops close at 5 every day except for Thursdays. That means that Thursday evenings you just stay home. Going to the mall (or plaza) on Thursday is just asking for crowds akin to the morning after Thanksgiving. It’s nuts but something you have to experience to believe. As far as the actual shopping, prices are 1.5 to 2x more expensive than prices for the same items in the States. It probably has something to do with the lower supply and longer shipping routes. But, then again, you don’t have the same demand as well. I only managed a B in economics and don’t even claim to understand it all. People just generally don’t buy so much junk (which isn’t such a bad thing :) and have to save more before buying certain items. Definitely makes you more conscious of what you are spending your money on. As Kevin alluded to in their blog, gas is around $6 a gallon. So, we’re already getting used to the pain of the gas in the States coming up to $4.

Pubs and Pokies

When you want to go out to eat, the most reliable source of reasonable food without going to the expensive joints downtown are the local pubs. No kidding, take the kids and lounge in the restaurant. The local footy clubs also have very good restaurants that they use as a source of additional support for their teams. But, also attached to these establishments are drive-thru liquor stores. No kidding, you pull in to something like a Jiffy Lube, but instead of an oil change, you place your order for whatever sort of spirits you are looking for. You don’t even have to get out of your car --- this is full service we are talking about. Inside the pubs and footy clubs you’ll find a festive atmosphere of food, drink and … pokies! These are the Vegas style slot machines that many a person enjoys in the middle of the Nevada desert … and in all throughout South Australia. In fact, gambling in general is pretty popular. It’s generally even an acceptable practice to do ‘footy tipping’ inside the government workplace … including using government e-mail and such to advertise it. Horse racing is also hugely popular. Look inside the newspaper at the sports section and 2 full pages are dedicated to nothing but horse racing for that day.

Wildlife

So we mentioned the Australian birds which do deserve their own little section since they are so unique to Australia. That’s taking nothing away from some of the other amazing animals down here. We’ve had the opportunity to see kangaroos, wallabies, emus (pronounced em-you for all you Yankees!), Tasmanian devils, wombats (did you ever know there was such a thing), and koalas. I did fail to mention one bird which I’ll mention here. It’s the wedge-tailed eagle. I’ve seen golden and bald eagles, but this thing is enormous. When we drove up north through the center of Australia on our way to Uluru we could see out in the distance a roadkill and it looked there was this long-legged dog of sorts standing over it. As we got closer though, this massive ‘dog’ spread it’s wings and took flight. I couldn’t believe the size of this bird. It was just amazing how long its legs were, saying nothing of its wing-span. The kangaroos are big and muscular. Not something you’d want to mess with and can very easy grow taller than you in height (and width) and are amazing to watch in how smooth they bounce and how fast they cover distance. The wallabies are basically miniature kangaroos that are your cute and cuddly variety that don’t come any higher than your waste. Emus are nasty ostrich-type birds that have little to no fear when it comes to humans. I did taste emu once and they aren’t too bad. Tasmanian devils are pretty elusive, but I don’t know much more about them. Koalas appear cute and cuddly but when they walk on the ground or you hold them they are more or less wirey little creatures with not much to them. Wombats are about as bland as they come. It’s basically a generic oval-bodied animal with a round head that you’d see a kid drawing in elementary school. But, they are Collin’s favorites … they do kind of look alike. And then there is the hard-to-see platypus. We’ve tried numerous places to see one, but just haven’t been successful. They like their solitude and only tend to come out at night. Alas, we’ll have to wait to see them in a zoo J