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