Settling In

Commuter trains rumble, horns occasionally blaring, as they blast down tracks that parallel Cambridge Street, adjacent to our apartment and wholly audible from my new bedroom.

Cockatoos, though they look beautiful and exotic, let out the most awful screeching cries in the trees above us, usually in response to another's taunting.

But I'm not complaining: this is an urban paradise.

Today was another pleasantly warm day, which we leisurely used to do a little shopping in nearby Hornsby. I got my bags unpacked and set up my bedroom, with small touches of home: a photo of my family, a few cards from friends and family.

On Monday evenings, at the nearby Epping Hotel, they televise American football. (Interestingly, bars here are often labeled "hotels" since it used to be required they make available overnight accommodations for all those who had spent the evening drinking the night away.) So, the gridiron (as they call it here) that we went to watch, was the Sunday Night NFL game re-broadcast and re-edited to take out all the time-outs and commercials. This reduces the game viewing time to just over an hour, and makes this very much appealing to my expatriate friends who every now and then miss home. Sadly, the broadcast was preempted for the Australia/Germany field hockey game, and a cricket match. So instead of watching the undefeated Patriots, we watched guys in crisp white uniforms, with zinc sunblock on their lips, throw over-hand without bending their elbows to another guy in white, swinging with a bat that looks like a giant wooden paddle. Ah, to be part of the Commonwealth.

Aussie Word of the Day: lollies = lollipops, candy