2009: The year that was...

2009 is already almost over, can you believe it? It's been a dreadful year for me in terms of posting here, but in reality life has been overwhelmingly good. After almost six years living overseas it's been a relief to be home in Australia, not dealing with visas or the general dramas of being a foreigner. The flip side is that even though we're living in a different part of Sydney to where I grew up, everyday life seems more mundane and less interesting to write about than it has been over the past few years.

I thought I'd end the year summarising a few of the standout moments, and of course the best and worst of the last 12 months. Here's to a great 2010!

Best of the year
- Being home in Sydney.
- Living by the beach.
- Seeing family and friends at a normal pace, not jammed into a two week visit.
- Weekday lunches, often spent catching up with people.
- Matt's chocolate classes (especially the massive amounts of hand-made chocolates he brings home).
- No shoveling snow, no slipping on ice, no parka, no hat, no gloves.

Worst of the year
- No rockies, no camping, no vacation.
- No French classes (mostly due to my own inertia).
- Swapping countries with my sister - it seems we are never on the same continent for more than a few weeks.
- The worst year ever for updating greendragonfly.

The standouts
- Finally having a home of our own, not shared with anyone!
- Being calm and settled for a while. I haven't even been on a plane this year....
- Two lines on a stick - actually this was one of the most memorable moments of my life, and an even more memorable one should follow in March 2010.

2008: Weeks 49-52

Despite my valiant efforts to write each week, the time has come to admit defeat and write a few posts to get back up to date. The last weeks of December were rather busy, filled with travel and preparation for travel.

We started the month in London, sending the last 5 nights of our trip in a nice little hotel between Paddington Station and Hyde Park. Despite constant gray skies and drizzle, and extreme tiredness we managed to fit in the Tower of London, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Gallery. We also walked through Hyde Park, visited the Diana memorial fountain, and explored the very eclectic Victoria and Albert Museum. On the social side of things, we caught up with friends at a nice pub in Camden, and toasted our last night of holiday drinking cider with John. Then, after almost 3 months, we were on a plane and back to Canada.

Our 11 days in Merrickville were spent packing and organising, applying for jobs, and of course enjoying a bit of Canadian winter. We had an early white Christmas, and enjoyed walking around the snowy village. And we had a memorable trip into to Ottawa, trying to get around during a transit strike the day after a massive snow fall. Too soon, though, we were back at the airport, this time heading for Sydney.

After way too many hours on a plane (delayed because we had to be de-iced in Vancouver of all places), we finally touched down, and after a short wait for the plane to be be dosed with bug spray, we finally had our feet on the ground. All 4 of our large bags arrived safely, and we were soon through the gate and greeting my family. They were happy to see us of course, but there was better news to come for them - after months of secretly applying for visas and talking about where to live we finally told them that we were planning to stay.

The last week of December was filled with celebrating Christmas and my Dad's birthday and settling in to Australian life. Finally, we saw out the year eating great food and drinking great wine with some very good friends.

Best of 2008
- skiing Banff
- NYC with Lynda
- Elysa and Patrick's wedding
- Algonquin Park
- camping at Castle Mountain
- roadtrip to Vancouver Island
- Radiohead in Vancouver
- Quebec City
- Edinburgh
- Amsterdam
- white Christmas in Merrickville
- sunny Christmas in Sydney

2008: Weeks 25 & 26

Did I mention that June was going to be busy? After my French exam on the 16th it was time to start preparing for the next adventure, a very brief trip home to Sydney. It was my first visit in 18 months, so I was very excited, but also trying to keep things low key and avoid over-scheduling.

I flew a different route to usual. Air Canada have recently started flying direct from Vancouver to Sydney, so I decided to try them out, and I'm pleased I did. The 777s flying the route are brand new, and the personal TV screens certainly made the trip less boring. Avoiding US customs was great, but Vancouver airport is in rather a mess as they expand for the Olympics.

The time at home flew by as always. I opted to spend a lot of time with my parents and grandparents, and I had a number of bits and pieces to take care of, so there wasn't as much time to catch up with friends as on other visits. I'm planning a longer visit soon, so hopefully I can catch up with more friends then.

This morning I arrived back in Calgary to a heat wave - it was 28C in the house, and about the same outside. Fortunately an afternoon thunderstorm cooled things down a little. Now I just have to finish unpacking, recover from jetlag, and steel myself to go back to work on Wednesday.

Best of the week(s)
- The first glimpse of land out the plane window, then flying over Sydney Harbour.
- Spending (way too little) time with friends and family.
- Passionfruit, haloumi cheese, lamb cutlets, and the red wine I've been storing for years.
- Good coffee. Everywhere!
- Feeling confident after my french exam!

Worst of the week(s)
- Sydney airport and the last glimpse of land out the plane window.
- Too many friends, not enough time.
- Leaving Matt behind in Calgary.

House pictures

As promised, here are a few pictures of my new place. The top photos are my lounge room and bedroom, underneath is the view out the front window and the outside of the house (my windows are the row across the middle floor).

A "taste" of home

Over the last few days I've been playing with a few online tools to keep me in touch with home. Everyone knows you can stream Triple J, but did you know that Dr Karl has a podcast? It certainly beats remembering to listen online. I've also been watching Rage on ABC broadband. There's just nothing here that compares.