Week #3: The Hotel Never Said We Couldn't and Other Tales from Down Under

We started out our Saturday morning with a trip to the most incredible farmers’ market I had ever been to.  Sterling’s co-workers told us that it was in the middle of a field.  It was definitely in the middle of a field.  We had so much fun sampling everything from homemade Turkish delight,  plum-infused vinegar and cinnamon-covered almonds to Belgian waffles, fresh feta, and homemade herbed sausages.    Somehow we ended talking with the woman who grows olives for the olive oil for about 20 minutes.  She told us that she lived in Seattle and was very proud of the fact that she went to the first Costco and Starbuck's while she was there.  We all have our claims to fame, I suppose :)  The man who sold us flowers grew up in Arlington.  (And today I met a man at church who grew up in the Oak Hills 4^th Ward with Clayne Robison as his Young Men’s leader and went to Provo High!)  Small world, huh?  Sterling and I didn’t make it out of the farmers' market without doing some damage:  Without realizing it, we ended up at our car to go home with rose-flavored Turkish delight, rhubarb-ginger jam, garlic + herb homemade sausages, leek, rhubarb, and some beautiful exotic looking flowers.  See?

Sterling at the market.

Sterling showing Cora his cool Australian flowers.  

So happy with our market treasures!

Originally, our plans were to go to Questacon, a science/technology center that supposedly has all of these cool things you can do, like challenge a robot to a game of air hockey, experience gravity on a 2 story free fall slide, and flip over on a 360 degree slide.  I was actually pretty excited about going.  I thought it was $8/person.  I misread the brochure and it turned out being $23/person!  Whoops! We decided to go to the National Library and Botanical Gardens instead.  Those things were both free J 

National Library of Australia

National Botanic Gardens.  Sterling was trying to capture me being all natural in nature.
Then I just felt self-conscious!  

Kangaroo at the Botanic Gardens

The Hotel Never Said We Couldn't
In the evening, we attended the unofficial ward Halloween party put on by an American family from Maryland.  On the invitation it said that there would be a costume contest, so we thought people were going to dress up.  (Turns out that only 2 adults, including the hostess actually did!)  We wanted to be thrifty and prudent in our costume endeavors so we simply took the sheets off of our hotel bed to make our togas.  The hotel never said we couldn't!  Fortunately, we were able to get out of the hotel without the front desk people catching us!  We didn’t have time to complete our costumes the way we wanted to, but don’t worry!  There is another party on Wednesday, so stay tuned for photos of the real deal!  Here’s what we were able to put together for the party Saturday. (Fortunately, we didn't spill any chili from the party on our sheets.  Housekeeping would have loved that!)

Venus and Cupid before the party.

Baby Cupid

Zeus and Cupid going to the party!

Social Savvy-ness

It is pretty obvious that I am not from around Canberra as soon as I open my mouth.  But, in case people ever assume that I know how things work around here, I have a few recent incidences to remove all doubt that I am a foreigner.  Here are a few of my socially awkward moments. 

11)   Aldi.

Many of you may be familiar with this gem of a grocery store.  Now, the quality isn’t that red-hot, but the prices are pretty great.  So, sometimes we shop there.  The other day, I went there to get some stuff.  Now I have to shove everything underneath the stroller as I shop because I can’t push a stroller and cart.  So, I get to the check-out, reach underneath the stroller in a skirt (which I’m sure was really attractive) and put each item on the belt.  I always feel like I have million more things than the person behind me.  People here must go shopping everyday—or not eat.  I like to make the most of my shopping trips, so I like to fill up every space under the stroller with food.  The cashier rings everything up including the Nutella-filled chocolate cereal, the roasted tomato pesto, and over-priced chicken.  My credit card doesn’t work.  I try it again.  Declined.  Declined.  Declined three stinkin’ times.  Then I try my debit card.   Declined.  By now I am feeling pretty cool.  Everyone is waiting for the American with way too much food to check out.  I tell him sorry and leave all of my food on the tiny little counter for him to deal with.  Now I have to see the same guy every time I go to Aldi.  I honestly try to avoid him because I feel so silly… (Turns out that we forgot to tell the credit card company that we would be out of the country, so there was a block on my cards.  Lame.)

2)  Lincraft

 Lincraft, is the craftstore jackpot, in case you were wondering.  So, I went to pick up some Halloween costume accessories there.  I had to get stuff like gold cord to put around our togas, and some sort of something to make into armbands, and material to make a “Cupid” sash for Cora.  Really important things, right?!  You seamstresses out there know that if you need a yard (or in this case, metre) of a fabric or trim, you take it up to the cutting counter.  I took my little bolts of cords, trimming and bra elastic (to hold Cora’s Cupid wings on) to the cutting counter.  The nice woman at the counter asked me how much I wanted of each thing.  I told her.  She cut them.  I was feeling good about life and Halloween, in general.  Then I forgot something, so she helped the next person in line while I went to go grab it.  At this point Cora is fussy and I was tired.  I got back to the counter.  Then I waited for her to finish cutting my things.  She was done.  Then she just looked at me.  I looked at her.  She looked at me.  I was waiting for her to print out the receipts for each item so I could take them to the cashier.  She looked at me some more.  Turns out that you pay for everything at the cutting counter.  Again, I can’t go anywhere without making things way more complicated and having everyone know that I can’t competently exist in a complex society like Canberra.

3 3)   The bus.

I ventured out with Cora to the National Museum of Australia on Tuesday.  This required that we figure out the bus system.  I did my research.  Figured out where to get my reloadable fare card, where to pick up the bus, and everything.  Bus #7 came exactly when and where it was supposed to, but I just looked at the bus entrance and there was no way the stroller was going to fit inside.  Fortunately, the bus driver was so nice.  He got out of his seat.  He carried Cora in her carseat while I broke down the stroller, making everyone wait—again.  I plopped Cora down on the floor (still in her carseat, don’t worry!) and I tried to swipe my fare card under the black box next to the driver’s seat.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Did I not get the right fare card?  The driver smiled and showed me where to swipe my card.  It wasn’t by the black box at all.  I smiled.  Sat down and tried to avoid eye contact with the woman sitting directly across from me.  Yes, I am an American with a big old stroller that makes everyone wait for me and I have no idea how to use your sophisticated bus fare thing.  I’m learning.  Please be patient with me J

 To be honest, I haven’t had any negative interactions with anyone the whole time I’ve been here.  My experience with Australians is that they are extremely helpful and friendly.  Or maybe they just always sound friendly because of the accent and the fact that every sentence ends going up.  I love it. 

Grease and Sugar

Sterling and I are pretty lucky people for lots of reasons.  One of those reasons happens to be that we live above a McDonald’s and across the street from a 7-11 here in Canberra.  I still can’t quite figure out this part of Sterling’s personality, but he absolutely loves McDonald’s.  A lot.  I think it is because he lived in Asia for so long and it has many fond memories associated with it there.  If you know Sterling, you would probably agree with me that he is a fit, relatively health conscious guy with a sophisticated palette.  I can’t explain it. 

I’m not a huge McDonald’s fan, but I am a huge Slurpee fan.  First of all, the word is fun to say.  Secondly, it’s fun to put the plastic dome top on a Slurpee cup and fill it up until it starts to overflow.  And lastly, it’s a joy to watch the colors in my cup melt into a brown, sticky mess.  When I was pregnant this last summer, there was nothing that tasted better to me than a Slurpee.  One night in June, we went to 7-11 and I pulled out the Big Gulp size while Sterling went for the much more moderate amount.  The cashier was surprised when he realized that the huge one was for me. 

 Sterling and I were going to see who could hold out longer, but for some reason, two nights ago, I suggested that we go to McDonald’s.  Usually, I love to cook, but I wasn’t feeling it that night.  Sterling loves it anytime I suggest something like that, so I didn’t have to twist his arm too hard to go.  As expected, it wasn’t that great  (Yeah, it wasn't that great - Sterling).  I got some chicken wrap thing (and ate a peanut butter and banana sandwich when we got home) and Sterling had their Angus burger.  This is a burger with onions, beets,  and an egg on it.  It’s totally an Australian thing to put a fried egg beets on your burger.  I had a bite—blech!  I am all about new experiences, but there won’t be a repeat of that one J 

And before we sign off, here are a few more photos for the grandparents.  We realize that not everyone wants to see dozens of photos of Cora--they are pretty cute, though :)

Cora's lounging pose.

Ready to go!

Cora tends to like to eat her fingers...