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!!!! ***