Saturday 15 December 2007

Summer's here & it's nearly Christmas!

How strange is it to be getting ready for the school summer holidays whilst Christmas shopping? Christmas will certainly have a different feel for us this year. It just feels all wrong hearing radio stations playing songs like, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" and , "Oh the weather outside is frightful...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" when it's 36 degrees outside. Even in school some of the kids have been doing art work about Frosty the Snowman!

We went to a 'Carols by the Lake' evening where everyone took their picnic stuff and we had a BBQ whilst listening to Christmas carols. We even had candles for when it got dark but as you can see, the candles were battery operated as real candles could have been a bush fire risk! One of the local schools sang an Aussie Christmas Carol which made us laugh so I've printed the lyrics for you...


Aussie Jingle Bells.
1. Dashing through the bush in a rusty Holden ute,
Kicking up the dust, Esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It's summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs. Oh!


Chorus
Jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day,
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a dusty Holden ute.


2. Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too.
All the family's there, sitting by the pool,
Christmas day in the Aussie way, by the Bar-b-que. Oh!


Chorus
* Holden is the name of Vauxhall cars & a Ute is a typical open back van
* Esky = cool box

We're both feeling pretty settled now which is good. It's taken 6 months but things are finally falling into place. Andy had a job interview last week and we should hear from that soon. Even if he doesn't get it, he's got plenty of handy man work available and he's just as passionate about coaching and is developing that all the time. I start back at school at the end of January and it will be good to have my own class after doing supply work for 5 months.
Our Aussie mates!
Our new friends have been incredible to us. We had 3 invites for Christmas day and they have really been sensitive to how we are feeling about being away from 'home' for Christmas. We are busy every weekend and usually get an invite round for dinner a couple of times a week. They have just been great and we know how fortunate we've been.

We're off on holiday today! We're going to Perth and the Margaret River region for a couple of weeks. Margaret River is a wine prodcucing area and we're looking forward to doing some tasting and getting reacquainted with some of our favourite Aussie wines. Then we're flying to Sydney so look out for us on the harbour bridge on New Year's Eve. We get to celebrate 2008 11 hours ahead of you and they usually show the celebrations on TV so we'll wave! We're going to spend two weeks in and around Sydney, staying with friends before we fly back to Adelaide mid-January.

We now have the internet at home - only took 7 weeks (!) But we're now off for a month so postings and emails may still be sporadic. Thanks to those who have stayed in touch with us even though we have been pretty poor at staying in touch with you. We now have our webcam setup - I have loved being able talk to my family 'face to face'. So on our return maybe we'll be able to speak 'face to face'!

Well, I am going to sign off here. I need to get packed - musn't forget swim wear, body boards, sun block etc. Christmas must be coming!