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.