Heading Home

G'day Mates. A final blog from Down Under. I'm off to America tomorrow and in an amazing display of time travel, will actually arrive in LA 3 hours before I depart Melbourne.

Australia has been wonderful. I recently took a fantastic trip to the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Oz, and spent about 5 days in the reef and rainforest area of the North East. It was the first time in my life I have ever had the pacific to my east (also I was only about 200 miles from Papa New Guinea)

I'm not looking forward to returning ... school and work will hit me quicker than Bolt's 200 meters ... and I came to really love Melbourne. Also the break up of Mike and the Mad Dog has hit me rather hard and being far far away seems to be the best remedy.

Nevertheless, I leave tomorrow.

For those who have read ... thanks! And I do anticipate starting a stateside blog.

Croc it to me ...

Leyton's playing Tennis in the Olympics. He won a recent doubles match 18-16 in the final set. He also lost to Nadal in the Singles tournament, I guess there is no real shame in losing to Rafa these days.

Australia is Olympic mad. The media will interview anyone with any connection to an Olympic athlete -- I was watching the other the day and the Father-In-Law of one of the swimmers was being interviewed. They love this swimmer named Stephanie Rice (one commentary said "China is crazy for Rice") and pretty much all of there top athletes, mainly swimmers and rowers. Maybe one of our loyal Beijing Readers can give us a Stephanie Rice update.

All else is great. Hard to believe that I'm winding down my time til I depart Aussie. Erin arrived and is having a grand old time. We've taken a few day trips, explored a little bit of Melbourne and we are off to the Great Barrier Reef in a few days. She wrote two food related blogs one about the Queen Victoria Market and the other about Jam Donuts. One of the day trips we went on was to the Mornington Peninsula and the other was to the Yarra Valley (think Aussie Wine Country). We also checked out the Footy and the Melbourne Film Festival. Chris Rock was performing the other night and we tried to get tickets but one seat was going at about 150 dollars.

I've been rather busy. I've been teaching a lot. The other night they asked me to teach about 1000 years of Jewish History in 45 minutes. I started out the talk by saying "3000 years of beautiful tradition from Moses to Sandy Koufax, you're God Damn right I'm living in the f***ing past. " (I left our the f***ing part)

A few photos.


Melbourne and the Yarra

On the Mornington Peninsula

At the footy (Note this photo was taken after the game was over! Naturally, like all good sports fans both Erin and I refused to annoy the crazy Aussie masses around us by subjecting them to the awful spectacle that is photo snapping tourists at sporting events)

That song by men at work ...

8 - 8 - 08. Who would have thought it ... it's the same date in the US of A as it is in Australia. As you probably know by now, Brett Farve will be the starting rabbi for the Victoria Union for Progressive Judaism. (His cameo in There's Something About Mary is so fantastic ....)

Things continue to be enjoyable in Australia. I cannot believe I'm heading home so soon, it's less than a month away and I think I'll be throwing a welcome home party on the 6th of September on the roof at 786 Amsterdam Avenue -- see all of you there.

The big news in Australia (as i'm sure most other places) is the Olympics. The Aussies, with a population of about 25 million, should be in the top 5 in total medals. (US, Russia, China, Togo. The Roos really want to beat England). It's a little weird to be celebrating the Summer Olympics considering it is Winter. Chalk another one up to Northern Hemispherial Bias.

Actually, from a work standpoint it's interesting to see the way the Jewish Holidays fit into the calendar. Passover is in Autumn, Chanukkah (the festivals of lights) is in the longest month of the year and all of the holidays that celebrate the harvests and the blooming of the fruits and trees, are totally off. August traditionally the down time for Synagogue life, is packed, and this weekend I'm leading a study session for Tisha B'Av, an commemoration day rarely observed by Reform Jews in the US. It's not observed partially for theological reasons but partially because it falls in the middle of summer. Here it fits in perfectly in the calendar.

All else is well. Erin arrived and confiscated my camera so I have no photos to post -- I'll grab it back and make sure to get some other ones up in the future.

The first Annual Searching for Leyton Hewitt Australia Quiz:

1. The capital of Australia is:
a. Melbourne b. Sydney c. Canberra d. New Zealand

2. The Prime Minster of Australia is:
a. Kevin Rudd b. Barack Obama c. Captain Kangaroo d. John Howard

3. The following game is called Football in Australia:
a. Rugby b. Australian Rules Football c. Soccer d. all of the above

4. Vegemite is:
a. disgusting b. a terrifying yeast spread c. reason for instant vomiting d. all of the above

5. The Harbour Bridge connects:
a. Melbourne and Sydney b. Australia and New Zealand c. Australia and the Barrier Reef d. Sydney and North Sydney

6. The following native is NOT native to Australia
a. Wombat b. Tasmanian Devil c. Walliabee d. The Dingo

7. The Dingo ___________ :
a. stole my baby b. ate my baby c. took my baby d. is my baby e. all of the above

8. Sunday Rose is ______:
a. a famous Australian blush wine b. the name of an outback tourist town c. nicole kidman and keith urban's newest child d. the Australian national anthem

9. The following person was not born in Australia
:a. Heath Ledger b. Steve Irwin c. Patrick Rafter d. Russell Crowe

10. Tasmania is _________:
a. a desert b. a fictional village like Oz or Narnia c. the butt of all Aussie jokes d. a code word for the entire Island meant to confuse the Russians during the Cold War.

11. The outback is _________:
a. a mediocre steak house b. a major part of desert in the middle of the country c. the bathroom d. any place where you can get a beer.

12. I've seen fosters beer:
a. every time I go to the bar b. never c. only once d. it comes out of the faucet

13. A koala is __________:
a. a bear b. a marsupial c. not really an animal d. a code name for a very hairy person

The third corey ...

First and foremost, do you know about Corey? My friend Sam sent me this link about six months ago and if you have never seen it, you are in for a treat. More importantly Corey is a member of one of the synagogues I'm working at.

You'll notice in the clip that the news anchor really gives Corey a hard time. In a twisted way, it's kind of indicative of how the TV reporting is on the whole in this country. No kid gloves for politicians or athletes - the journalists ask sharp questions. I once saw an interview in which the the TV anchor asked an Australian politician if he knew how to say "I'm killing whales" in Japanese after he voted on an extended trade bill between the two countries.

Don't get me wrong they still follow the British tabloid system of having the trashiest news on the cover of the paper, break-ups and babies. The big news now is two swimmers who recently split and how this may impact medal chances in Beijing. I'm serious -- this is above the fold major news. Speaking of trash, Australia rivals the USA for stupid sports announcers. I was watching a tennis match the other day and at 5-4 in the last set tie break, the announcer decided to tell the viewing audience "This is a big point." Thanks buddy!

In broader Melbourne News. I really like the city. It's a nice big city feel with really great neighborhoods, cafes, sports venues, museums, markets, etc... Last night I saw a movie from the Melbourne Film Festival. I've included a picture of myself strolling through some one of the Melbournian Gardens as well as a shot of the massive rainbow that spread over the entire city yesterday afternoon (I wasn't in a place to get a good photo). The job has taken me to a lot of parts of the City that I'd never visit otherwise. Little suburban neighborhoods (here the "suburbs" are part of the city, not suburbs like Fairfield or West Hartford, rather more like Brooklyn Heights or Astoria) with cool little streets and shopping corridors. Don't get me wrong there are boring areas as well, but all in all its a great city.

Thanks for the upswing in posts -- nothing I enjoy seeing more than that.

Rabbi Proof Fence

I have a car. Her name is Matilda. She's no Charlene, but she's treating me rather well. It's an automatic shift Nissan Pulsar (in terms of pronunciation -- in Australia Nissan rhymes with listen). It's a good little car - the wheel is on the right side, the breaks and the gas are in the same position. I often turn on my wipers instead of my signal. As of yet I only drove on the wrong side of the road once -- and that was in a very remote area, there was no danger. I also almost hit a wallibee .

Driving in Melbourne is actually pretty easy. Generally a grid, patient drivers, well marked roads, etc.... The only tricky thing is that you share some of the major roads with Trams, so if you get stuck behind one at the wrong time of day it can be a long trip. When I go into downtown (the CBD) I take a train or a tram.

As I think I've blogged about before, Melbourne is in the middle of a drought. There are restrictions water usage and they encourage people to take short showers. It's also a rather progressive country in terms of Environmental matters. They recycle everything!! They also have switches on all outlets, to save energy when you leave your TV or Cell Phone charger plugged in -- it makes a lot of sense. They also cut down on fuel by having all of the postmen ride kangaroos. They put the mail in the pouch so they have an easy place to store the letters when they are riding around town. It really is an incredible sight.

Despite the drought, it was a cold and wet weekend down under. My tennis game got canceled and I got caught in a minor hail storm on Saturday afternoon. I'm going to postpone the Australia quiz for another Blog Post. But I will say, if you send me your address (or post as a comment) , I guarantee a post card.

Tomorrow isn't looking so bad

Let me just begin by telling those of you in the United States that today is fantastic. When it arrives (in 17 hours for my california readers) you'll know what I'm talking about! If you want any gambling advice, let me know, because the events end earlier here and I'll know the final outcome. For instance the Mets will beat the Phillies 6-3 with a dinger by Reyes in the bottom of the 6th. I'll bring some sports almanacs back when I return.

All else is good. I've got a busy weekend approaching with programs and activities most of Saturday and Sunday. I even had to turn down a footy invite because I've got to do this thing called Havdalah. (The person that invited me said "if you don't want to go just say so ... you don't need to make up fake celebrations to get out of it.")

Switching gears ... in the I'm learning more than I could ever imagine department -- I officiated my first ever funeral yesterday. It was a small funeral for a 94 year old woman who was pretty healthy until last weekend so it wasn't tragic, but nevertheless it was a pretty good learning experience for me. I think I handled it all pretty well. I wasn't even too nervous and there weren't that many people there (only friends ... she didn't have much of a family, she escaped Austria in 1939) and I think her friends felt rather comforted at the end.

I spent last night at the Democrats Abroad Happy Hour, they were selling Obama pins and shirts. Mostly older people who had been living in Aus for a while because they had married an Australian. I didn't stay too long, but enjoyed hanging out and having a beer or two with other political junkies. My two cents on the New Yorker cover: Shouldn't of been an issue, it's the New Yorker. I think the Obama campaign played up the cover to mask the information about him being such a calculating politician in the article.

Next post will be the Annual July Australia quiz ... so brush up on your Aussie history.

Mar -what- supial

A sad day in Europe for this sports crazed country. The Shark (aka Greg Norman), predictably, stumbled in the final round of the British Open and finished in third place and Cadel Evans lost the Yellow Jersey in the Tour De France and is now in third. The Greg Norman story is actually rather nice as he seemed to have emerged from the Jurassic Period even to have competed -- seriously did you know Greg Norman still played golf.

Also the pope departed Australia this week after a week or so in Sydney for World Youth Day. I must say I am crushed by his departure. Other than that things continue to be grand from this great big island. I've been doing a lot of different teaching activities, which I've come to really enjoy and think I'm actually kind of good at. I've taught a small little text based class for continuing education series, a weekly introduction to Judaism class, a group of 11th graders on a Synagogue visit from a local catholic school and bar/bat mitzvah kids. I told the high school group that one of my close friends was Jerry Seinfeld.

Socially things are going pretty well - even though I was home at 10:00 pm this last Saturday night. But I've found someone to play tennis with once or twice a week. Plan on attending the Democrats abroad happy hour this week and went to another footy match last Saturday afternoon. I love Australian Rules Football.

The economic downturn in the US has made the Australian dollar nearly level to the US dollar, which is shocking considering less than two years ago it was at about 60 cents to the dollar. Therefore what was once a cheaper country is actually pretty expensive. I get paid in Aussie Dollars.

The pictures that follow are some older ones (i've since cut my hair) taken when Ethan was visiting. That's me and a Koala, The Hungry Jack's Fast Food Chain and Me and Ethan with Rod Laver!!!

Aussie Aussie Aussie --

The Yarra River and the Melbourne Skyline and Luna Park in St. Kilda



Things I've Come to Appreciate/Love/Notice about Australia:

** When I listen to the radio in the morning, I get traffic reports for Adelaide and Perth. (This would be the geographic equivalent of living in Chicago and getting the traffic reports for Dallas and Seattle)

** There seems to be higher percentage of lefties here. Ethan first noticed this when he was visiting, but i went to the driving range the other day and I saw so many people swinging like Phil.

** You cannot make a left turn on red.

** No squirrels. Some rather fascinating looking birds, as well as possums and pigeons, but no squirrels.

** They love beets (the vegetable, which they call beet root) They even put them on hamburgers.

** One of the fast food chains (which I haven't been in) is called Happy Jacks - it's the Aussie equivalent of Burger King. They also have taco bills.

** They are crazy about sports. Last night the Tour de France and the first round of the British Open were on network TV. Can you imagine that in the US? Also some Australian rider is now wearing the yellow jersey, the country is going crazy over him.

** They love word plays. I think I've discussed this before. But they rhyme and joke about everything and use heaps and heaps of puns.

** They love the word heaps.

** They have incredibly intense border partrol. One of the most popular show is a show called Border Security which tells about people trying to smuggle drugs/animals/people/etc.. into the country. It is an awful show. Remember this is an island.

** In the supermarket kangaroo meat is included with the deli meats.

** 1. Thongs are flip-flops. Grab your thongs and head out to the beach has a very different meaning than it would in North America. 2. Your planner is your diary. I was asked to check my diary and I laughed, me keep a diary. 3. Telephone Tag is Telephone Tennis.

** Linda Kozlowski, star of Crocodile Dundee, went to my High School in CT.

** This was a cheap blog. Almost as bad a top ten list

Mel-Bourne Identity

A few fun days in Sydney. It's a really great city. I could use more time there and would love to try and get back, maybe in August. Sydney has a much bigger feel than Melbourne -- especially with regards to the downtown - skyscrapers, financial institutions, etc.... (in terms of downtowns an SAT analogy NYC:Sydney as Boston:Melbourne).

The city is truly on the water. They use the harbour (note the extra u) wonderfully. One of the main form of public transit is the ferry and as you ride in you see the opera house and harbour bridge as well as the city's skyline. It's also a very easy to stroll around, with some neat neighborhoods (not as charming as Melbourne) and with a host of tourists. The Pope arrives in Syd later on this week for World Youth Day -- I'm glad I avoided the commotion.

I spent one day in a little beach area, called manly beach -- a really fantastic little beach suburb only a 20 minute ferry ride from downtown Sydney. I also got to spend some time with some Moosilauke buddies (and stayed with one of them as well) In the pictures below are Dylan, Chris, Chris, and Mike. Since I've last seen them -- two weddings and one child. It was great to get away for a few days and hang out with some buddies. Chris and I tried to stay up to watch Federer v. Nadal but the match didn't end til after 5 am, when we were both fast asleep.

Aussie Rules !!!!

Spectacular few days down under. After Shabbat in Melbourne. I spent the weekend in Sydney. I led the Shabbat AM service at one of the synagogues down here - and I think it went pretty well. It was a small congregation and I seemed to have finished the service about 20 minutes quicker than it normally would have gone, so most members of the congregation seemed to appreciate my speed.

Other things of note … I attended a meeting at a local hospital about ethical reviews for medical research. Basically, the Australian equivalent of the FDA requires that all medical research proposals go through an ethical board before they are approved. Clergy members rotate serving on these ethical boards (along with doctors, professors and others). One of the proposals that was heard had was designed to isolate tumors early in a cancer to see if a cluster of tumors spread to other parts of the body and potentially eliminating cancerous tumors earlier and limiting the need for reoccurring chemotherapy. The problem was in the research there were some very questionable side effects on the individuals being tested and there appeared to be, potentially, a conflict of interest between the individuals monitoring the study and the ones administrating the research.

So the balancing of the two … high risk = high reward, verses “do no harm.” A final decision wasn’t reached, it was sent back to the research company to answer more questions.

Had a great few days in Sydney. I’ll put some photos up next time I blog. Saw 4 former Moosilauke Campers. Went to Manly beach -- one of the classic Sydney beaches -- spent the day in Sydney, harbor bridge, opera house. Tasted a few of Sydney finest lagers. The pope, and a ¼ million others, are due in Sydney next week for “World Youth Day” - I’m glad I didn’t choose that weekend to visit. All else is great, off to Northern Victoria (do you know what that means) for a few days with one of the youth movements. Will blog and post photos then.

Photo of me at some gold rush town near melbourne

More notes from a sunburnt country

Happy Canada Day everybody. To be honest with you I do not know when Australia Day is or even if there is an Australia Day. I do know that I'll be celebrating Chanukah in July in a few weeks, fitting since the festival of lights should probably come when it's dark outside -- unlike in December when it stays light to nearly 9 pm.

Some other things to update the lot on. One Lleyton Hewitt was defeated at Wimbledon yesterday, he lost to some slouch named Federer and he was the last Australian remaining in the draw. Note in this post I typed Hewitt's first named correctly with two Ls not one as in the blog title. Some may believe that individuals may not have been able to find the blog -- yet I'm confident they still were able to read about my thrilling life down in these parts. It may also be interesting to note that Hewitt's wife is pregnant -- so a big Mazel Tov to the Hewitt family.

Also, looks like the living situation has taken a turn for the great. I now will have a small little efficiency apartment -- in a great area, close to where I work and all too myself. Now, don't get me wrong where I was living was fine, but this is a much needed improvement. It kind of feels like I'm moving out of my parent's house. The older woman I'm living with has been extremely kind (especially by hosting Ethan and Molly), this is no knock on her, yet this was a no brainer.
I now have a little one bedroom to myself and I'll be able to walk to the synagogue that I'm based out of. I think there is a pull out couch --- so you're all welcome to visit.

*** The title is reference to a very funny Bill Bryson book about Australia, worth a read if you ever come down to these parts!!!! ***

Who Do You Barrack For?

After three fantastic weeks of visitors, I am now alone in Melbourne again. I officially saw Ethan off early this morning. Ethan left Melbourne at 8 am on Sunday morning and will arrive in Los Angeles around 6 am on sunday. He gains two hours on his flight and then he's set to arrive at JFK sometime around 6 in the afternoon on Sunday. A long long day of traveling. Molly left earlier in the week and she is now in Jerusalem after flying via Bangkok. Australia is far !!!

We had a fantastic time ... really a wonderful trip. The highlights for me was a trip on the Ocean Road -- we traveled south of Melbourne about 4 hours and saw a variety of different landscapes and scenery ranging from rain forest to rock formations in the middle of the ocean. We played mini-golf in the quaint town of Warnambool on the the tip of the Continent and ate kangaroo (not kosher and with a tough gamey taste), dunked in the frigid ocean near Apollo Bay and saw giant wave surfers in Bells Beach. (remember the last scene in Point Break -- with Johnny Utah and Bodie? This is where Bodie went off into the storm) We also visited the fantastic surfing museum hiked to a top of a lighthouse and saw more koala bears.

Ethan and I went to a footy (Australian Rules Football) match yesterday. We saw carlton played richmond, with over 73,000 others at the classic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The MCG is a mecca to Australia's sports fans -- like Lambeau to those in Wisconsin. It hosted the 1956 olympics, as well as other huge events including the huge Aussie Rules final every September. It's right across from Rod Laver Arena and the Aussie Open location ... which we toured as well.

Footy is a great sport!!! Fast moving, requires a lot of skill, incredible conditioning and is easy to follow and understand. I liked it a lot more than rugby. I am now a supporter of Carlton (in Australia to root for a team is to barrack for them -- I barrack for the Carlton Blues -- I also barrack for Barak --) who pulled away from an otherwise very tight game in the 4th quarter. Best of all -- once again got into the game free and also made friends with a guy next to us who was able to explain any parts of the game we didn't get. All in all loved Aussie Rules!

All else is great -- any visitors are welcome and encouraged!!! Off to see some of the Moosilauke Aussies in Sydney next weekend. Oh yeah, I'm working too!!

I Come From A Land Down Under

Greetings. Love from Melbourne. Things continue to be wonderful in this spectacular country. In the blog you'll notice I've included a few photos. The first is of Ethan, Molly and me standing in front of a Koala bear. The second is of molly and me on Phillips Island (read the last post). Notice in the that photo we were are dresses as if it is winter time -- well it's winter time.

The three of us took another fantastic trip, down to the great ocean road, which I'll include in a future blog.

But a little about my job in these parts. Popular to what you may infer from the blog posting, I am actually working quite hard. I am based out of the biggest progressive synagogue in Melbourne called Temple Beth Israel (but everyone just calls it TBI). While I spend most of my days at TBI, I am actually an employee of the Union for Progressive Judaism in Melbourne. I spend my time working for three different progressive synagogues, the progressive youth movement Netzer, a progressive Day School and a few other nick-knacks. I've been assisting with a variety of services, leading a variety of conversations/study groups, teaching parts of an intro to Judaism class, helping out in the Hebrew school and doing a variety of other projects and odds and ends.

The people are wonderful. It's a very playful culture. Australians love play on words, they rhyme lots of things (chicken curry = no worries), call each other hosts of names (bald = curly, big nosed = chiseled) and have other great phrases and mannerisms. I've also learned that people from Melbourne think they have a much much better city than Sydney and vice-versa. Furthermore, the mayor of Melbourne is a Chinese Immigrant named named John So, who the entire city adores, but who, I gather, is impossible to understand.


Off to footy with Ethan this weekend and maybe some lawn bowling tonight.

Check the road, mate

Wild bunch of days in Australia. I need to get my camera working because I would love to add some photos to the blog.

So ... nice to have a few visitors, Ethan and Molly have spent the last few days in Aussie (they are visiting Sydney right now) and we've had a rather grand time. The highlight was a day trip (my off day, I promise I'm working here) to Philips Island which is about 90km south of Melbourne and right on the Bass Straight (between Australia and Tasmania) which connects to the Indian Ocean and then south to Antarctica.

Going to Philips Island felt a little bit like being on a small little American beach town, little boardwalk, nice beaches, a few main roads. Only with some of the best Australian wildlife one could imagine. (Imagine if Montauk or Bethany Beach had Koalas) I promise I'll attach photos later, but we saw Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, incredible birds and little tiny penguins. These animals were incredible. The Koalas (not a bear, but rather a marsupial) are having serious extinction issues in Aussie, so we went to protected national park where they are protected and a few dozen of these little bundles of joy are living and trying to reproduce. They really are incredible animals and we found a few that weren't sleeping and moved around a little for us, even though most of them sit perched in a tree and do nothing but nap.

In the preserve we also saw a host of birds and a wallaby (which is like a small kangaroo). I had no idea what a kangaroo or wallaby actually looked like. But to watch it hop away was really incredible. We didn't see a kangaroo until later on in the evening when, as we were driving on a quiet road on the Island, a Kangaroo hopped in front of my car and I needed to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting it. Seriously! I'm not making this up. We've all seen deer run across the road in the US. Here wallabies and 'roos turn into road kill. Note -- Ethan really wants to eat a kangaroo, they sell the meat in the grocery store. Hey mate, fire up the barbie.

The island is most famous for the daily penguin parade. Hundreds of proud penguins dress up in leather and drag and waddle to the beat of house music while waving rainbow flags. Actually, it's really quite amazing. These little foot high penguins, gather in the shallows at dusk and as little teams of 5 to 15 waddle from the beach to the sand dunes after a day of fishing. They find there mates and chicks who have been burrowed in the dunes. They gather as groups to help avoid predators and they do it right at dusk every single day. It was really incredible -- the only problem that it was such a tourist attraction that the number of tourists outnumbered the number of penguins.

In other news: I drove on the wrong side of the road yesterday. Molly became a member of Joy FM -- Melbourne's LGBT radio station. Am even happier that the Giants beat the Patriots. Have adopted an Aussie Rules Football team. French Press Coffee is called plunger coffee -- "would you like your coffee out of a plunger?" Have not tried Vegemite. Also -- tomorrow is the shortest day of the year.

Waltzing Matilda

So ... things are going rather well down in these parts. The Australians in general are wonderful people. Very friendly, easy to be with, funny, enjoy going out ... it's a good good culture. I've only encountered one not so nice person, and she was Russian.

The nicest thing that happened so far was when I went to the Australia vs. Ireland rugby match a few nights ago. It took place at this big 50,000 + stadium in downtown Melbourne and as we were waiting in line to buy tickets, some guy walked up and just gave us two tickets. They were 15 rows back on the equivalent of the 50 yard line. Rather sweet. Australia won 18 -12, and I must admit, I didn't totally understand the game, but it is a brutal game. Quick moving, heavy hitting and pure force. There is even a blood bin, which people get sent to if they are bleeding too much. It's not as an athletic game (nobody catching passes over the middle, or dribbling through a crowd of defenders) but in terms of pure physical action, it's really insane.

Another wonderful thing about Australia, is that they named the national rugby team the Wallabies. It was the Wallabies vs. Ireland. The national soccer team is the Socceroos.

Everything else is enjoyable, the job is really great so far. I think it's a good match. The city is great, very fun, great neighborhoods, good music/movies/sports, lots of parks. The living is okay ... not the highlight. I live in a nice house, but it's with a grandma (Grandma ... if you are reading this, she's nothing like you). It's a fine location, good for my guests and a nice place, but it definitely isn't my own place. I may look to try a place on my own.

Also ... the blog title. Not trying to endorse Leyton Hewitt, actually don't really like him very much after his racist comment against Blake a few years ago (actually i was trying to play that up in the name ... as in if I ever find you Hewitt.) I liked my father's suggestion of naming it after Toronto Blue Jay great Graeme Lloyd.

Love from a land down under

Blizzard of Oz

Greetings from Australia. I plan on using this as a place where I can muse about my Australian adventure. This way, if you want to read it you can ... and I will not be flooding your inboxes with email. I'll try and post once or twice a week and (if i ever get my bloody camera working) will try and start posting some photos as well.

Did you notice my use of bloody in the sentence above?

Anyhow, I'm now in Melbourne deep in the South of the Southern Hemisphere. I've been here about a week and am generally enjoying myself. I'm here in two capacities 1. To fight crime and 2. as an intern for the Union of Progressive Judaism in Australia.

First things first, Australia is really far from anyplace else. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah we know we know. I'm telling you we have no idea, it's soooo far. It took me over 24 hours to get here -- it's 14 hours different than EST in the USA. (and yes -- I flew coach)

Will try and blog more soon -- give you a better update about my life.

Peace