That was the temperature here in Geelong yesterday. Today is supposed to be 43. Actually this entire week as been scorching.
We are experiencing the opposite of what many of you in the States recently went through with that extreme cold snap.
Here are a few things I have noticed with the extreme heat.
When it gets to be 45 (113) a hush falls over the city. The birds stop singing, you don't here many cars driving, the tradies (construction workers, etc.) stop working so no building sounds, it becomes very quite. This is the same quite you can find after a really hard snow.
When it gets really hot we get a factor that is similar to the wind chill factor. For instance yesterday it was 113 but felt like 125. I suppose you have this factor all the time but you only take notice when you are in the extremes.
When it gets really hot the houses look like they are in lock down. Everyone pulls their shades over the windows. These shades can be heavy duty fabric to full on metal sheets. Remember, most of the houses here do not have central AC/heat. We don't have any AC, only evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling is a large fan that blows moist air through your house. It only works in very dry climates. You would feel like you were in a sauna otherwise.
Here is what I do with our house. Pull all the shades down so the sun can't get in. Evaporative cooling on. The windows and front/back door open a bit so that the moisture can get pushed outside and doesn't build up inside. It cools the house a bit.
When it gets really hot here the train system and power grid fail. Yesterday a couple of the rail lines buckled under the heat. Some of the trains are electrical. The metal rails cannot conduct enough electricity when it is this hot to keep the trains going and the system shuts down. Science lesson for the day: Metal is a good conductor when it is cold not when it is hot. Brandon wasn't dropped off at his station today due to the brakes on his train locking up. I guess that is better than not having any brakes.
The power grid failed due to everyone trying to cool down. Over 70,000 lost electricity.
I think we are going to the beach tonight.
In other news, Brandon started work this week. He is really enjoying the work. He rides the train into Melbourne and then hops on a tram that takes him to his street. Brandon just got assigned to a new project. He and his boss are flying to Brisbane for three days to crawl around on trains. I think it will be more fun than work for B. What boy doesn't get excited about crawling around on big machines that go fast and have lots of power?
Sadly I have to bring out the iron again. I dislike laundry and I dislike ironing even more. Brandon is required to wear collared shirts/ ties (if he wants), and suits(if he wants) to work.
We are continuing to thank God for this job as the layoffs are constantly mounting over here. I would say that proportionally it is almost as bad as the US layoffs. The fact that he found a job so quickly and that it is with a company who is expecting to double or triple in size is such a blessing. God is good. That is all there is to say.
30.1.09
22.1.09
Ouch!
That is what I said in my head when I woke up today.
Yesterday we spent all morning at the beach. It has been pretty hot the past few days. The coast is always a good place to cool off.
Brandon rented a foam board (good for beginners) for surfing. Abby and I gave it a try after he was done. Thus the pain. My arms and abs (or lack there of) are very much in pain. I suppose trying to battle waves, getting crushed by them, and then trying to pop up on a surf board is a work out. I was able to stand up a couple times but only for a second or two. Snowboarding seems so easy now. At least with snowboarding the snow doesn't move around much (well except for avalanches I guess).
The waves we were trying to surf were only around 3 feet. It is amazing though how such small waves can be so powerful. I can't imagine surfing ones that are 10 feet and above. Crazy.
I had a wetsuit on which was nice. I felt more protected from all the swimmy things that could have been around me. Wetsuits give a false sense of protection though. Jellyfish stingers can get through and obviously a shark would have no problems. Ha, it would be like chewing gum for a shark. Probably shouldn't laugh seeing as though several people in the past month have been bit. There was a plane flying over our beach keeping a look out (common practice during the summer months) for any sharks. It is pretty rare to see many this far south but.... we have had a pretty cool summer.
Having just said all that, we are going back to the beach tomorrow with playgroup :-)
The garden is frying in this hot weather. Our rain barrel is pretty much empty and there is no rain in sight. Thankfully I can water on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We should try to do without. When the Northerlies blow down the garden needs some help. Everything looks sad after being under the hair dryer all day.
Update (10:45pm): Dust storm today = dirty house
Yesterday we spent all morning at the beach. It has been pretty hot the past few days. The coast is always a good place to cool off.
Brandon rented a foam board (good for beginners) for surfing. Abby and I gave it a try after he was done. Thus the pain. My arms and abs (or lack there of) are very much in pain. I suppose trying to battle waves, getting crushed by them, and then trying to pop up on a surf board is a work out. I was able to stand up a couple times but only for a second or two. Snowboarding seems so easy now. At least with snowboarding the snow doesn't move around much (well except for avalanches I guess).
The waves we were trying to surf were only around 3 feet. It is amazing though how such small waves can be so powerful. I can't imagine surfing ones that are 10 feet and above. Crazy.
I had a wetsuit on which was nice. I felt more protected from all the swimmy things that could have been around me. Wetsuits give a false sense of protection though. Jellyfish stingers can get through and obviously a shark would have no problems. Ha, it would be like chewing gum for a shark. Probably shouldn't laugh seeing as though several people in the past month have been bit. There was a plane flying over our beach keeping a look out (common practice during the summer months) for any sharks. It is pretty rare to see many this far south but.... we have had a pretty cool summer.
Having just said all that, we are going back to the beach tomorrow with playgroup :-)
The garden is frying in this hot weather. Our rain barrel is pretty much empty and there is no rain in sight. Thankfully I can water on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We should try to do without. When the Northerlies blow down the garden needs some help. Everything looks sad after being under the hair dryer all day.
Update (10:45pm): Dust storm today = dirty house
18.1.09
In God's perfect timing
Well the past week has been eventful.
My sister Eleni is now engaged (she got engaged while over here visiting) to an American Aussie by the name of Allen Blackwood. Most of you probably know him. His parents moved over here the same time we did. Allen's father is the pastor of the RP Church in Frankston.
My other sister Shannon along with her husband are expecting their first child sometime next August/September! I am very excited that our kids will have a cousin.
The last bit of God's timing was seen on Friday. I will start with this past Monday. On Monday Brandon had a job interview in Melbourne with a company called Westinghouse. On Wednesday they called him to set up a time for a medical checkup. Friday morning they called him to let him know he had the job if he wanted it. He said yes!
We are pretty amazed at how quickly this has all been worked out. The strangest, insert providence, thing is that this all came from an online job application. In our experience our jobs have always been found by who we know never through online job seeker sites. We really saw God's hand in arranging all of this and are so very thankful. There will only be two weeks of down time between Brandon's last paycheck from the old job and him starting with the new job. In that time I was given work on the iPod project which fills in that gap.
Here is a little more about Brandon's future job (this is copied from an e-mail we sent my dad)
"Westinghouse is part of the Invensys Rail Group. I know they are around 150 years old but I'm not sure about the history. I'll be an Electro-Mechanical Design Engineer in the Signal Group. The job is pretty varied in its duties. I will be involved in CAD design, support of current products and some project management. The things I'll be designing will be the LED signal housings, interlocking and point-layout designs. I'll be involved in turnkey projects where entire rail management systems are installed.
I'm excited for some change and to be back in a more structured environment, but I'll probably be complaining about acronyms and office bureaucracy within a month. In the interview they said they expect to double or triple their company size in the next few years due to Australia's need for upgrading all the public rail system. So it will be nice to be part of a company that isn't either in bankruptcy proceedings (Delphi) or always on the verge of collapse (my current/last job).
I am already sad about not working from home anymore. Its been a great blessing to be around the family for the past year. The extra 2+ hours for a commute are going to be difficult. Hopefully I can do stuff on the train that I would otherwise be doing at home, like bible study or Sunday school prep."
One more little bit about this job. They sometimes help pay for their employees to further their education. A big plus for us. During the interview Brandon told them about how we like to go back to the States every other year to visit family, usually for 5-6 weeks. They were very cool with the idea. They actually have a mandatory 2 week shut down over Christmas. So Lord willing we will get to come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2009!
Gideon is screaming, I should go rescue him. Later.
Oh one last thing. A couple days ago we got Gid's US passport in the mail. Still need to get the Aussie one. Here is what his passport photo looks like.
My sister Eleni is now engaged (she got engaged while over here visiting) to an American Aussie by the name of Allen Blackwood. Most of you probably know him. His parents moved over here the same time we did. Allen's father is the pastor of the RP Church in Frankston.
My other sister Shannon along with her husband are expecting their first child sometime next August/September! I am very excited that our kids will have a cousin.
The last bit of God's timing was seen on Friday. I will start with this past Monday. On Monday Brandon had a job interview in Melbourne with a company called Westinghouse. On Wednesday they called him to set up a time for a medical checkup. Friday morning they called him to let him know he had the job if he wanted it. He said yes!
We are pretty amazed at how quickly this has all been worked out. The strangest, insert providence, thing is that this all came from an online job application. In our experience our jobs have always been found by who we know never through online job seeker sites. We really saw God's hand in arranging all of this and are so very thankful. There will only be two weeks of down time between Brandon's last paycheck from the old job and him starting with the new job. In that time I was given work on the iPod project which fills in that gap.
Here is a little more about Brandon's future job (this is copied from an e-mail we sent my dad)
"Westinghouse is part of the Invensys Rail Group. I know they are around 150 years old but I'm not sure about the history. I'll be an Electro-Mechanical Design Engineer in the Signal Group. The job is pretty varied in its duties. I will be involved in CAD design, support of current products and some project management. The things I'll be designing will be the LED signal housings, interlocking and point-layout designs. I'll be involved in turnkey projects where entire rail management systems are installed.
I'm excited for some change and to be back in a more structured environment, but I'll probably be complaining about acronyms and office bureaucracy within a month. In the interview they said they expect to double or triple their company size in the next few years due to Australia's need for upgrading all the public rail system. So it will be nice to be part of a company that isn't either in bankruptcy proceedings (Delphi) or always on the verge of collapse (my current/last job).
I am already sad about not working from home anymore. Its been a great blessing to be around the family for the past year. The extra 2+ hours for a commute are going to be difficult. Hopefully I can do stuff on the train that I would otherwise be doing at home, like bible study or Sunday school prep."
One more little bit about this job. They sometimes help pay for their employees to further their education. A big plus for us. During the interview Brandon told them about how we like to go back to the States every other year to visit family, usually for 5-6 weeks. They were very cool with the idea. They actually have a mandatory 2 week shut down over Christmas. So Lord willing we will get to come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2009!
Gideon is screaming, I should go rescue him. Later.
Oh one last thing. A couple days ago we got Gid's US passport in the mail. Still need to get the Aussie one. Here is what his passport photo looks like.
7.1.09
Christmas, house swap, and job searching
Note: all the albums for these adventures are at the bottom of this post
Christmas is always interesting here. We never really know what we will be doing. This year we spent Christmas Eve with Abby (my sis), her fiance Pete (she is marrying an Aussie), and his parents. We had a yummy traditional Christmas dinner of prawns, clams, smoked salmon, and roast beef salad. Pete's parents gave the girls some presents, all of which made noise :-) We really had a good time with them and it was nice getting to know Pete's family a bit more.
Christmas day was packed to the brim with activity. We opened our gifts in the morning. Of course skype was going the entire time so that our parents could join in on the chaos. When presents were finished with we packed up all the new toys/books/cds/etc. put them in the car and headed to Fitzroy gardens in the CBD (downtown) of Melbourne.
We met the Blackwoods, my other sister Eleni (here visiting), and the Blakston clan at the gardens. There was a major picnic (two tables of food), games, kites, and siestas. We got there around 1pm and didn't leave until after 5. Lots and lots of fun. We brought our badminton set and soccer ball. The Blackwoods and Blakstons brought bocce ball.
I would have to say the most interesting thing I ate was the Turkish fairy floss (cotton candy for you Americans) and the spinach-date-pistachio quiche. It was really yummy. There is a pic of the fairy floss box in the album below.
After thoroughly tiring ourselves out we headed southeast to Frankston. Jono and Lou Blakston came up with the great idea of house swapping for the following week (Dec. 25-Jan. 1st). They wanted to come down to Geelong to visit with family and work on their rental house and they figured we might like to hang with the Blackwoods and Eleni. So swap we did. It was great fun and a cheap holiday.
The Blakstons only live a few minutes from the Blackwoods. Due to the close proximity we were able to hang out with the Blackwoods and Eleni pretty much every day we were there. Good times! We had a White Elephant gift exchange, visited three beaches, drove the Blackwood's bus to Philip Island, fixed the Backwood's bus compressor, helped sand and seal the church floor, and brought in the new year. Hooray for house swapping!
If any of you want a fairly cheap holiday I would recommend swapping houses with friends.
From Frankston we headed to Sorrento for the annual New Years Day picnic. It started out windy, overcast, and cloudy but ended with sun. The cold weather did not stop most of the kids from jumping into the ocean, Jolene included.
After the picnic we drove the car onto the Queenscliff/Sorrento ferry and rode it back to our side of the bay. This saved us driving back around the bay, about a 3hour drive.
A thoroughly enjoyable trip. Here is a map showing where we went.
Job update. Brandon was able to apply for about 15 jobs while we were away. He has received several "ding" letters back. Not a huge surprise seeing as though most of the jobs are in waterworks and railway areas. It always seems that it is who you know that gets you a job. Our friends over here are on the hunt and we are very thankful for that. Brandon has a couple of leads for jobs at some engineering firms here in Geelong. He talked to one today and it seems promising. The experience Brandon has gained working for Allan fits right into what this company is doing. Time will tell. God is good. He has brought me some work (the iPod research project) that will take care of a few months. After that I will have website work that can keep us going for even longer if needed. All of this is part time which is good because it will give Brandon time to look for jobs, apply, and then sit through interviews. Once again we are seeing God provide just enough, not more than we need but just what we need. We are thankful for this and are at peace that it is in His hands.
Here are picture albums of all our travels and adventures over the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Holiday Travels Part 1
Holiday Travels Part 2
Holiday Travels Part 3
Holiday Travels Part 4
Christmas is always interesting here. We never really know what we will be doing. This year we spent Christmas Eve with Abby (my sis), her fiance Pete (she is marrying an Aussie), and his parents. We had a yummy traditional Christmas dinner of prawns, clams, smoked salmon, and roast beef salad. Pete's parents gave the girls some presents, all of which made noise :-) We really had a good time with them and it was nice getting to know Pete's family a bit more.
Christmas day was packed to the brim with activity. We opened our gifts in the morning. Of course skype was going the entire time so that our parents could join in on the chaos. When presents were finished with we packed up all the new toys/books/cds/etc. put them in the car and headed to Fitzroy gardens in the CBD (downtown) of Melbourne.
We met the Blackwoods, my other sister Eleni (here visiting), and the Blakston clan at the gardens. There was a major picnic (two tables of food), games, kites, and siestas. We got there around 1pm and didn't leave until after 5. Lots and lots of fun. We brought our badminton set and soccer ball. The Blackwoods and Blakstons brought bocce ball.
I would have to say the most interesting thing I ate was the Turkish fairy floss (cotton candy for you Americans) and the spinach-date-pistachio quiche. It was really yummy. There is a pic of the fairy floss box in the album below.
After thoroughly tiring ourselves out we headed southeast to Frankston. Jono and Lou Blakston came up with the great idea of house swapping for the following week (Dec. 25-Jan. 1st). They wanted to come down to Geelong to visit with family and work on their rental house and they figured we might like to hang with the Blackwoods and Eleni. So swap we did. It was great fun and a cheap holiday.
The Blakstons only live a few minutes from the Blackwoods. Due to the close proximity we were able to hang out with the Blackwoods and Eleni pretty much every day we were there. Good times! We had a White Elephant gift exchange, visited three beaches, drove the Blackwood's bus to Philip Island, fixed the Backwood's bus compressor, helped sand and seal the church floor, and brought in the new year. Hooray for house swapping!
If any of you want a fairly cheap holiday I would recommend swapping houses with friends.
From Frankston we headed to Sorrento for the annual New Years Day picnic. It started out windy, overcast, and cloudy but ended with sun. The cold weather did not stop most of the kids from jumping into the ocean, Jolene included.
After the picnic we drove the car onto the Queenscliff/Sorrento ferry and rode it back to our side of the bay. This saved us driving back around the bay, about a 3hour drive.
A thoroughly enjoyable trip. Here is a map showing where we went.
Job update. Brandon was able to apply for about 15 jobs while we were away. He has received several "ding" letters back. Not a huge surprise seeing as though most of the jobs are in waterworks and railway areas. It always seems that it is who you know that gets you a job. Our friends over here are on the hunt and we are very thankful for that. Brandon has a couple of leads for jobs at some engineering firms here in Geelong. He talked to one today and it seems promising. The experience Brandon has gained working for Allan fits right into what this company is doing. Time will tell. God is good. He has brought me some work (the iPod research project) that will take care of a few months. After that I will have website work that can keep us going for even longer if needed. All of this is part time which is good because it will give Brandon time to look for jobs, apply, and then sit through interviews. Once again we are seeing God provide just enough, not more than we need but just what we need. We are thankful for this and are at peace that it is in His hands.
Here are picture albums of all our travels and adventures over the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Holiday Travels Part 1
Holiday Travels Part 2
Holiday Travels Part 3
Holiday Travels Part 4
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