G’day day from lovely Melbourne, Australia – the city of the infamous bushfires. Just to lay aside suspicions, it wasn’t me’ playing with the matches. In all seriousness though, it was a frightening day for a lot of people. (and animals, see photo). I saw the smoke from some of those fires whilst at my cousins’ that Sat, but b/c we weren’t listening to the news, I didn’t realize how bad it was until I began receiving emails from home, inquiring ‘if I was to blame’ and 'were we ok'. It was actually the hottest day on record for Victoria which I could personally bear witness to as earlier that day I attended a church with NO A/C in the 46C/115F heat. I was a puddle of saline sweat dripping from the pews by the time the pastor said amen. Fortunately, outside of 3 hellish days (mind you I have no A/C at the apt) the weather has been near perfect, but enough about the weather, lest you think I’m bragging.I couldn’t have asked to be in a more vibrant, exciting city than Melbourne. it's one of the southern hemisphere’s most charming and multi-cultural cities – its also the fashion/food/cultural capitol of Australia. Granted, Australia’s convict history is fairly recent so it doesn’t offer any rich historic sites, but it’s skillfully constructed, punctuated with a fair amount of areas in which to congregate in, making it a wonderfully livable metropolis. Within its borders is acres of parklands, but due to the 8yr + dr
ought in Ozland its been marred by yellow grass and leafless trees. Did I mention that because of the drought, each person is restricted to 155L/40 Gallons of water use a day. (You know what that means…yup, less toilet flushing and shower taking ~)My apt is a convenient 2 min. walk from the charming Melbourne trams. Once onboard, I’m 10 min. to beach/waterfront and 10 min to the center ctr. Since I don’t have a car, public transportation has become my friend (and fitness trainer). I always find it humorous when my relatives warn me to ‘be careful’ and not to ride the ‘dangerous trains’ - especially at night. Lest they forget, I grew up in the ‘hood’ of Detroit (I proudly say) so the threat of a few shoddy dressed aussies, making some heavily accented threats, does little in the way of igniting fear in me. Unlike the States, gun laws are in the effect here so I say to myself “ bring it on, I can ‘take ‘em”.
I’m certain that you’re all wondering how I spend my days. Well, firstly, I shuffle b/t two places, my overpriced apa
apartment in South Yarra and my relatives place in the burbs, on the weekends. The burbs is where I do most of my eating and visiting with the relies (that’s aussie for relatives as they like to remove the last consonants of some nouns and add –ie – why you ask, only the big Kangaroo knows) I’m also taking this opportunity to reconnect with friends I made when I took that Sabbatical here some 20 odd yrs ago. I do lots of exploring, as unlike Detroit, this is a very dynamic and expansive metropolis. Of course, there is work in the schedule as well (lucky me, all I need a internet hookup and Skype). Since I’m 16 hrs ahead of the US, there have been plenty of times I’ve found myself awake at 300am, working on my trusty laptop, trying to squeeze out some emails before the US east coast offices close at 5pm.My folks were actually here when I arrived, so we got to spend 2 weeks together, visiting with the various relatives (my father's 7 bro/sis immigrated here and each had a min. of 2 kids each + grandkids) suffice to say, there’s a lot of Michalski blood here in these
parts. It was a real joy to see my dad and his 4 remaining siblings (all in their 70’s and 80’s now) catching up on 10 yrs of being apart. Saturdays are always full of 3 course meals and an ever-expanding dinning room table. I try hard to fill up the stomach gas tank on the wkends, so I can save a bit of cash during the week. Not an easy task though, as I’m within walking distance to some of earth's most fabulous coffee shops, bakeries, & ethnic restaurants (as a majority of Australians are 1st or 2nd immigrants so their cooking is the real thing)I’ll be here in Melbourne until the Michigan thaws …. May 4th to be exact so if you find yourself Australia, just know that you have a place to crash for as long as you’d like.
I’d love to hear yous, so please keep my updated by email or text message. From USA: 011-6143-503-8346. Well gotta go put another chicken on the Barbie.....
