2020: A Life On Pause

Of course 2020 couldn't end without another coronavirus outbreak in Sydney, which has resulted in around 170 new cases from community transmission in the last two weeks. It also appears that a returned traveler from New South Wales is the origin of eight new cases in Melbourne in the last 24 hours, which ended our run of two months with no local cases. In response (and with the expectation of further COVID-19 positives among close contacts) the Victorian Government has re-mandated the wearing of face masks indoors, limited gatherings in private homes from 30 to 15 people, and will close the border to all of New South Wales as of 11:59pm on 1 January 2021. Happy New Year's Eve everybody!

 

2020 has felt like a year with my life on pause. I began working from home in March and have been fairly homebound for most of the year. There were no gigs, comedy festivals, movie festivals or art gallery visits while Melbourne was in its various stages of restrictions and lockdowns during the first and second waves of the pandemic. The last two months have seen us all cautiously re-enter public spaces as things began to open up again. It's been nice to catch up with friends in person, eat at restaurants and exercise at the gym.

I have been fortunate to live here and not be facing what my family and friends are dealing with in the United States as the pandemic rages out of control. Thankfully we have a vaccine on the horizon (my brother has already gotten his first shot as a frontline worker) and hopefully things will start to return to a new normal soon. I look forward to being able to travel again at some point, but for now I will continue to wear my face mask, follow public health advice, and do my best to support artists and businesses that have done it so tough this year.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmastime!

It's been a couple of years since I last celebrated Christmas in Australia. Both Sean and I don't have any family here in Melbourne so we decided to have Christmas dinner together at my place. We started off the afternoon with hors d'oeuvres of zucchini chips, salsa and tortilla chips, and a cumin pinto bean dip and rice crackers. Sean also made a French 75 cocktail, but used cognac instead of gin.

For dinner we had a mixed green salad and roast pork with pumpkin and potatoes. Despite the warm weather is was nice to have a roast dish since I am used to a cold Christmas. While digesting all the food we had eaten we indulged in a marathon of Season 1 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. After a while we finally had room for some dessert, which consisted of snowball cookies and a rosewater and pistachio cake that I had baked (all gluten free). It was a lovely afternoon/evening and a nice way to celebrate the holidays when you do not have family around.

Farewell Dad

The last two days have been spent saying our goodbyes to Dad with his funeral mass for family and friends yesterday and a private interment at the cemetery today. We have been well supported by everyone as we go through this difficult time of mourning. My brother James and I took turns delivering the following remembrance of Dad at the funeral mass:

Nicole
Our Dad was born and raised in the Sunset in San Francisco as the only child to Ralph and Cathryne Ellis. His entrepreneurial spirit kicked in during his high school years as he bought old cars, fixed them up and then sold them. This entrepreneurism continued during his life as he built an apartment building on the lot of his parents’ house after they passed, and started his own business out of our garage, Motion Enterprises, which sold welding products.

Dad and Mom were married in the early 1970s and moved from the City to live in Marin. Dad married into a large extended family, and I wonder what it was like for him to all of a sudden have all these new brothers and sisters-in-law (and later nieces and nephews) and the many cousins on both sides of my Mom’s family who referred to him as “The Big E.”

I was born in the mid-1970s and James came along four years later. Since Dad worked in San Rafael, he was the one who would pick us up from school or day care in his old orange Chevy pic-up truck, which we could hear coming up the street. Dad also cooked the family dinner most nights as we were growing up, since Mom worked in the City. Dad loved to cook and was always searching for new recipes to try out, with the ones that worked well marked “keep” and making repeat appearances on our plates. He loved a kitchen gadget, from barbecues to various kitchen utensils and tools that would make food preparation and cooking easier. The internet made finding these gadgets and devices quite easy, and as a result finding places to store them all in the house became a long-standing challenge.

James
Dad’s love of cars meant there was usually a project going on in the garage or on top of the driveway. I was fortunate enough to be able to work alongside my father in tricking out my vehicles. When I was a teenager we worked together on an El Camino and a Chevy S10 pick-up truck. Dad’s latest project was his 1934 Ford roadster, which he built from scratch. Unfortunately, due to his declining health he was unable to completely finish it, but don’t worry, I swore to him that I will get it done.

One thing I am going to miss is cruising with Dad to the Goodguys car shows in Pleasanton. It was so fun looking at all the cars and trucks with him. After the shows he would take me to In-N-Out Burger for a special treat, as that was his favorite burger place.

Dad and Mom both loved to watch sports on tv and we would often spend our Sundays watching the 49ers play football. They were also big fans of the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors. Dad was a huge supporter of my youth sports career as he attended my soccer games and helped coach my CYO basketball team. He was also in the stands each week to cheer me on in high school when I played football and basketball.

Nicole
Dad did like a drink or two. His favorite was red wine out of a box or the “red paint” as it would be referred to at family parties. When Dad was in hospital James messaged me to say that Dad wanted a bourbon and 7UP – I told him to give Dad the drink (although I don’t think the hospital staff would have let that occur). When we brought Dad’s urn back to the house last week we thought it was only fitting that it be placed on the bar.

We have learned many things from our Dad. He loved watching car races – from Formula 1 to Indy cars to drag racing. He taught us life skills such as how to swim, drive and take care of our cars, do home renovations, cook, and manage our money responsibly. Dad always encouraged us to pursue what we loved and were interested in, as his only concern was our happiness. He supported us every step of the way through our education and careers, and always said we could return home if we needed to. He got so much joy from his daughter-in-law Simi and grandchildren, Logan and Kylie, and the time he was able to spend with them.

Dad’s health had been in decline over the past decade, and I know that it frustrated him that he couldn’t do all the things he was used to doing. Mom did an amazing job looking after him and taking him to numerous doctors’ appointments, which I would get to hear about when I called from Australia to talk to them on the phone. Over the past couple of years Dad’s health had been pretty stable, so it was a surprise to us that he suddenly deteriorated so quickly. Dad appreciated the full life he had led and was ready to go. We are grateful that we were able to say our goodbyes and be with him at his bedside as he passed on. Dad, we love you and will miss you so much, but are happy that you are now at peace.

RIP Dad

My Dad's health has not been the best over the past decade after he had his first heart attack and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. There was a point a few years ago where he was entering hospital every couple months with fluid build up. But the doctors managed to get his medications working to a point where his body stabilised and he was doing much better than in the past - so much so that I figured I wouldn't travel to the States this year for Christmas.

Unfortunately two weeks ago Dad took a sudden turn for the worse. His AFib starting acting up again and Mom took him to hospital. They attempted to stabilise him but after a few days his blood pressure dropped and he ended up in ICU, where they did a cardioversion to try and restore normal heart rhythm. His heart was weak though and the rest of his organs were starting to fail. I can tell you that this is not the news you want to receive when you live half way around the world. It was a wait and see game for a couple of days of whether I should fly home as they tried kidney dialysis to see if that would help. However, after a few days of doing that Dad had had enough and decided to stop treatment.

On Wednesday I booked a flight to San Francisco and was on a plane six hours later. Dad had been moved into step-down care and was still alert but tired by the time I arrived. He felt he had had a good life and made the call that he was ready to pass on. We were all able to say our goodbyes and be with him as he was unhooked from the machines and moved into comfort care to ensure he wasn't in any pain. It took longer than he or us probably expected, but he finally took his last breath this morning with me, my Mom and brother at his side. I am grateful I was able to make it back home in time to say goodbye and spend these last couple days with him. I know he is in a better place now and I will miss him greatly.

New Homeowner

Shortly after I returned from my Christmas holidays overseas, I got the not so pleasant phone call that my landlords were putting the apartment I've been living in up for sale. I had been toying with the idea of buying my own place for a while now, but the housing market here in Australia has been in major bubble territory for years. While it has finally started seeing more significant decreases since the price peak in 2017, I was hoping to be able to wait until later this year to start looking. However, with the impending sale I was forced into action earlier than anticipated.

I spent about a month looking around at places and going to open inspections to get a feel for what was available and prices in this market. Having never been to an auction before, I planned to go watch a couple in case I would have to bid on a property myself. One auction I went to was for a unit I had marked as having potential but hadn't had a chance to see. When I walked through the place I really liked it as it was open and had good sized bedrooms and closet space. Speaking to the agents I told them I was interested but not prepared to bid. We went outside for the auction, which turned out to be just me and another girl, who ended up leaving before they opened things. Since I wasn't bidding, the unit was passed in on a vendor's bid, and then got listed for private sale.

I spent the next week lining up a conveyancer to review the contract of sale, a pre-purchase property inspection, and getting a home loan from a mortgage broker so that I could make an offer on the unit. Thankfully a person I work with recently purchased a property, so she gave me some names of people which saved a lot of time. A week after the auction I put in an offer that was then accepted by the vendors. It was good that I managed to buy this place as the unit I was living in did sell to owner occupiers, so I would have had to move either way.

I settled on the property a few weeks ago so I am now officially a homeowner! As the building is relatively new it didn't require too many renovations or fixes. I did get it painted and replaced the beige carpets with laminate flooring and grey carpets in the bedrooms before moving in. I've been spending my time unpacking and getting settled, but overall I'm excited to finally have a place to call my own (even though I am now much more cash poor than I was a couple months ago).

NaBloPoMo: Expat Observations

It's the beginning of November, which means it is also the start of another National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). This will be my sixth year participating in trying to write something for each day in November. Some years I have just winged it, while other years I have done a theme for my posts (see Fave Albums and the Wear My Wardrobe challenge).

Since last month was the ten year anniversary of my move to Australia, I thought it might be good for this NaBloPoMo to write about my observations as an expat. I plan to cover a range of topics about my adopted homeland, and hopefully I won't offend anyone in the process! The last thing I need is the Australian Border Force stripping me of my dual citizenship and deporting me back to America.

Birthday Celebrations

My milestone birthday has finally arrived, and it's been a great day! Unfortunately things at work are really busy so I was unable to take the day off. However, my parents brightened my desk by sending an incredible bouquet of flowers (which also tipped off my colleagues that it was my birthday). Justin and I escaped for lunch at Mamasita, which was fantastic as usual and fulfilled my craving for Mexican food. Then my divisional colleagues threw a little surprise afternoon tea for me with a cake from Laurent, which was really thoughtful of them.

As someone who went on a patisserie crawl last year, it should be no surprise that I chose to celebrate my birthday this year by doing the dessert degustation at Om Nom in the Adelphi Hotel. When you walk in you are hit by the sweet smell of sugar. I was joined by a lovely group of friends, with over half of us doing the degustation and the others ordering savory food to share. Onagh was kind enough to get me the Adelphi Rose cocktail, which was quite nice. I think between us we managed to order all of the degustation options on the menu. My three choices were as follows:

• Raspberry Field- Raspberry and lychee sorbet, baked meringue, raspberry panna cotta, rosewater pearls and white chocolate
• Icecream 'Sanga'- Pistachio ice cream, ricotta orange cream, vanilla chantilly, biscuit cuillere, strawberry swirled vanilla ice cream and balsamic spheres
• MagNOM- Flourless chocolate, valhrona manjari 64% chocolate ice cream, peanut dacquoise and peanut butter swirled vanilla ice cream

All of the dishes tasted and looked great, but I think my favorite was the Raspberry Field with its raspberry sorbet mushroom cap. It was really nice of the staff to write happy birthday on my MagNOM plate (I blew out one of the table candles after my friends sang to me). Since the sizes were smaller than normal desserts and had light flavors I didn't feel overloaded on sugar by the end of the evening. The degustation was a great way to sample a portion of the menu at the quite reasonable price of $48 per person. I look forward to coming back to Om Nom to try some more dishes. I would also like to thank all my friends for making turning 40 years old a fun and relatively pain free experience.

Early Birthday Celebrations

As I will be back in Australia when my milestone 40th birthday occurs in February my parents decided to throw me an early birthday celebration with family and friends from the Bay Area. Mom made three poster boards filled with pictures from throughout my life and hung those on the wall in the dining area. It was great to see some of my aunts and uncles, cousins and godparents who I don't get to see regularly. We also got a bit of kid wrangling in between my niece and nephew and Lynne and Jeremy's two little ones.

Lunch was very nice between the hors d'oeuvres and the main meal of chicken tetrazzini and a mixed green salad. The chocolate cake from Victoria Bakery was rich and delicious, and accompanied by a glass of Mumm Napa sparkling wine. The funniest gift I received was from my aunt who managed to save my high school graduation senior cruise t-shirt that was given as a hand me down to my cousins in order to give it back to me all these years later. It was a lovely afternoon and best of all I've still got a month and a half until I actually turn 40!

South Yarra Patisserie Crawl

Some people like to go on pub crawls- I prefer a patisserie crawl!  After my South Yarra adventure last year I was ready for a return visit to celebrate my birthday.  Leilani and I started our afternoon at LuxBite and shared the Tea Set for Two.  Besides our chai lattes and two finger sandwiches we had our choice of 4 macarons and two desserts.  For the macarons we picked the following flavors: heilala vanilla creme brûlée, ribena lemonade, green tea pistachio and bamboo oolong tea.  For the desserts we had the Lolly Bag Cake and Banoffee.  Everything was great and I think the Lolly Bag Cake was a favorite for both of us with its unique mix of flavors.

The next stop was Adriano Zumbo's first Melbourne shop, which I have been wanting to visit since it opened last year.  We picked out a box of six Zumbarons to eat later on: apple pie, mojito, pandan & sticky rice pudding, red velvet, caramel de buerre sale and Francesco brownie.  We then got a table and shared the WASSAUP-BI! and Secret Carrot's Business cakes.  Both were quite yummy, and the hint of wasabi actually worked in the cake.  All of the Zumbarons that we ate this evening were quite flavorful and tasted as expected, especially the mojito one.  I look forward to returning and tasting some more Zumbaron flavors as well as the famous V8 cake.

Our last visit was to the Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio.  You would think we had sugar overload by this point, but you would be wrong (at least for me).  We bought a couple treats to take home with us: the popcorn & honeycomb rubble and strawberry, mint & white chocolate rubble.  In addition, we shared two different desserts: the Explosive Raspberry Milk Chocolate which was served in a tube and the Beetroot, Strawberry, Rose and Vanilla cake.  Both were surprisingly light and tasted amazing (especially the cake).  When Lei told them it was my birthday one of the ladies brought us out a slightly damaged Explosive Raspberry Wheel to take home as a gift, which was so nice of them.  Overall it was a great way to celebrate the day and get a pretty strong sugar fix!

Happiness Is A Row To Yourself

It's always sad to say goodbye to the family, but it was time to head back to Australia.  I had been sweating the weight of my checked bag most of Friday afternoon as it and my backpack were packed full of items I had purchased over the last three weeks.  The moment of truth came when I checked in for my flights and I was one kilogram under my 23kg limit!  Success!

San Francisco International Airport is one of the better airports to kill time at.  Besides free wi-fi access SFO always has interesting little exhibitions, such as the America's Cup 1851-1937 display currently in the international terminal, as well as public art.  I discovered the gates had these great large art pieces above them as I was walking around so I took pictures of a few that caught my eye.  It's a pleasant distraction while you are waiting to board your plane.

Once again I flew Air New Zealand from San Francisco to Auckland and then to Melbourne.  The travel Gods were smiling on me as I got a whole row to myself for the SF-Auckland leg.  This meant I was able to lie down to get some sleep (although we did have a fair bit of turbulence during the sleeping hours).  After the usual downtime at Auckland Airport and watching yet another sunrise there, I was back on a very full plane to Melbourne that ended up being a half an hour longer than scheduled due to a strong headwind.  As always I was able to watch a few movies during my extensive time in the air: "The Butler," "Enough Said," "One Direction: This Is Us," "Blackfish" and "Blue Jasmine."

I zipped through customs and baggage claim fairly quickly and then caught a taxi home.  Melbourne's typically erratic weather has been in full effect this afternoon- sunshine, strong winds, a little rain and clear skies again.  Now to try and get some sleep so I'm not a total jet-lagged zombie tomorrow at work.

Happy Holidays

Last night my parents hosted their annual Christmas dinner at the house.  My aunt and cousin Leilani came, as well as my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew.  This is the first time James has made it to a Christmas dinner in years since he's usually working, so it was extra special.  We had a bit of an antipasto platter for hors d'oeuvres as well as my favorite drink- mulled cider.  It was good to catch up with Chris and Lei and celebrate my aunt's retirement.  When the kids arrived we had the fun task of wrangling Kylie away from the Christmas tree as she was going after the ornaments (my Mom was smart to put the soft ones at the bottom of the tree).  Logan was very silly and running around but settled once we all headed into the dining room for dinner.

This year my Mom made a Christmas version of her Jell-O salad with a layer of lime Jell-O and pineapple on the bottom, sour cream, then a top layer of raspberry Jell-O with raspberries.  For the main course we had biscuits, roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and a cranberry and apricot chutney.  It was all very delicious.  Lei brought us a red and white wine for dinner as well.  The kids were very well behaved as we ate our meal.  After finishing we headed back into the living room to open presents (I was impressed by Logan's patience in waiting so long) and then it was time for dessert.  I made pumpkin pie and snowball cookies and Mom made these lemon and cranberry pie bars.  We were well beyond full by this point but that's always part of the family gathering- good conversation and lots of food!  I'm glad I was able to be home this year to celebrate with everyone.

The Word Of The Day Is Delay

After only being back from Africa for two months I wasn't exactly looking forward to another day of travel and long haul flights.  However, how could I say no when my parents asked if I would come home for the holidays (and that they would pay for my airline ticket)?  I began my journey on Air New Zealand with a Melbourne to Auckland flight.  Since last year they have installed self check-in for international flights which meant I wasn't standing in a line for an hour and got through fairly quickly.  Unfortunately the flight was delayed for around 45 minutes due to the knock-on effects of an earlier power outage to the control tower in Melbourne.

As we arrived in Auckland I learned that there would be a 3+ hour delay to the Auckland to San Francisco flight due to mechanical issues with our original plane, which they were replacing.  This isn't what you really want to hear when you are about to embark on a 12 hour flight.  In any case, I killed time in Auckland airport and Air New Zealand did give us food vouchers, so at least I didn't go hungry.  We finally left Auckland at 10:45 pm and made up a half an hour in the air.  I entertained myself on both flights with my usual eclectic choices in movies to watch: "We're The Millers," "The Way Way Back," "The Internship," "Frances Ha" and "Mr. Pip."

On arrival at SFO I zipped through customs, but then there was an issue at baggage claim with a door that jammed and it took nearly an hour for my luggage to come out.  I really felt for the people who had connecting flights as a bunch had already been rescheduled due to our delay leaving Auckland.  I was expecting bumper to bumper traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge all the way up the 101 considering how the day was going, but thankfully I made it into Marin with little issue.  It's nice to be back home to see family and friends and celebrate the holidays (especially as I wasn't expecting to be home for Christmas this year).

Fly, Fly Away

Well, my holidays have come to an end and I am back in Australia.  I also have a hideous head cold which I got around Christmas, so the congestion just added to the joy of a long haul flight.  Thankfully the flights were smooth and I didn't have any major coughing fits.  However, the pressure on my ears when landing was a bit painful and I'm still waiting for them to completely pop.  I watched three movies on the flights: Pitch Perfect, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Beasts of the Southern Wild.  I also got to see the sunrise while at Auckland Airport waiting for my flight to Melbourne.  At least I have another day to recover before returning to work on Monday.

Christmas Dinner

It has been two years since I was last home for Christmas so I was really looking forward to the annual Christmas dinner at my parents' house.  Before dinner though there was a lot of cooking and cleaning to be done.  I baked up a storm on Christmas Eve, making sugar cookies, snowball cookies and pumpkin pie while Mom made tiramisu.  When my aunt Chrissie and cousins Leilani and Meinani arrived we had the cookies along with cheese, dip and crackers for hors d'oeuvres as well as my favorite holiday drink- mulled cider.  As is the case most years, my brother had to work so he was unable to join us.  Simi, her parents, Logan and Kylie were running late, so by the time they arrived and settled we were ready to sit down for dinner.

As requested Mom and Dad made some of my favorites for dinner.  We started off with vegetable soup, and then had turkey, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, green beans and biscuits for dinner.  Lei brought one of the sparkling wines from our little wine country adventure- the Gloria Ferrer Va de Vi, which everyone enjoyed.  Logan was pretty well behaved throughout dinner, but the lure of presents under the tree became too hard to resist, so as we finished we headed out to the living room to open presents.  All my gifts were Aussie themed this year as I bought nearly everything before I left Melbourne.  We were also treated to a photo slide show of Chrissie and Lei's trip a few months ago to Sicily and Italy during dessert.  It was a lovely evening, and the kids were very well behaved. 

Today Mom, Dad and I headed up to James and Simi's for lunch.  It was good to finally see their new place, which they moved into a couple months ago.  We also got to give James his presents and finished up opening the rest of ours.  It was a bit sad to say goodbye to everyone as I have had such fun spending time with my niece and nephew on this trip.  Tomorrow afternoon I head back to the airport for the long flight to Australia.

Shopping And The City

Since it is the holiday season I think everyone is currently focused on shopping for Christmas presents.  I have been to every major mall in Marin County over the past week and a half, even though I bought nearly all my gifts before I left Melbourne.  However, when I come home I do stock up on clothes and other items, so it's been a mixture of online and store shopping for myself. 

I have also been catching up with family, friends, and former work colleagues. We attended Logan's preschool Christmas pageant last week, which consisted of his class walking up an aisle to a Christmas song and waving (very cute and short!).  Today I headed into San Francisco with Lynne for some shopping around Union Square.  It was a sunny yet cool day in the City, and I had Boudin's clam chowder in a bread bowl for lunch and then we went over to Ghiradelli Square for some hot fudge sundaes after our shopping adventure.  Both were very yummy and quintessential San Francisco!

Back In The Homeland

Yesterday was my epic long day of travel across the Pacific.  I killed my time on the plane trying to sleep, listening to music, and watching a few movies- The Campaign as well as the documentaries I Am Eleven and Paul Kelly: Stories Of Me.  I arrived to a crisp but sunny San Francisco Bay Area and repeated December 7th all over again by catching up with my family and trying on my online purchases.

Today we had my nephew Logan's family celebration of his 3rd birthday that was earlier in the week.  He is so much more talkative than when I was last home, but still a whirlwind of activity.  I also got to meet my niece Kylie for the first time, but spent the majority of my time playing with Logan outside as he rode around on his little bike and scooter.  We had a very yummy lunch of my Dad's clam chowder and my favorite Bordenave's sourdough bread.  After opening presents we gathered around to sing "Happy Birthday" to Logan- his third celebration this week!

NaBloPoMo: Fave Albums

Today is October 31st, which not only marks Halloween, but also the eve of another National Blog Posting Month (or NaBloPoMo for short).  Last year I challenged myself to Wear My Wardrobe.  This year I have decided to tackle my music collection and review 30 of my favorite albums- one for each day of November.  The rules are that I can only choose one recording per band/artist, and they must be full length studio albums (so no live albums or compilations).

This will be my fourth year in a row doing NaBloPoMo, and hopefully you will discover an album or two you may not have been aware of to check out along the way.  Wish me luck (I'm sure I will need it)!

Seven Year Itch?

Today is the seven year anniversary of my arrival in Australia.  It's hard to believe I have been here for this long.  Over the years I haven't really felt homesick, but during the past few months I have been having thoughts that maybe it's time to move back to the States.  This could just have been a result of boredom, the big restructure at work and the very tempting opportunity of taking a voluntary departure package (although even if I had wanted one I likely wouldn't have received it because they are so oversubscribed).

I do really like my life in Melbourne, but the pull of family will always be a deciding factor at the end of the day.  This morning was the birth of my niece Kylie, which is another big milestone I have missed.  However, I will get to meet her in December when I am visiting, so that is something to look forward to.

New Directions for School Leadership and the Teaching Profession

This morning I was privileged to attend the launch of the discussion paper I've been working on New directions for school leadership and the teaching profession by the Premier, Minister responsible for the Teaching Profession, and Minister for Education at Parliament House.  The paper outlines the Government's strategy for moving the Victorian education system into the global top tier by improving the teaching profession.  The three key reform areas focus on attracting great people into teaching, creating a high performing profession, and leaders providing strong direction and support.  Consultation on the paper will now occur over the next few months, and should lead to a longer term strategy.

Quietly Living Life

I have been a bit neglectful of the blog lately since I haven't been doing too much outside of my normal routine.  April has been full of its usual holidays (Easter, ANZAC Day) so it's been nice to have shorter work weeks and some days off.  I have been good about getting myself to the gym at least three times a week for one to two hours of classes (depending on the day).

At the end of March the Department moved into its new structure, so I am now working in a new division, but under my old general manager.  My main focus is still on school workforce reform, and hopefully at some point the paper I have been working on will see the light of day.  We are also awaiting the announcement of the state budget on Tuesday to see if there will be further cuts to the public service (currently 10% will be cut over the next two years). 

The AFL 2012 season began in March and Essendon has had a great start to the year.  We are currently 4-1, having lost the ANZAC Day match to Collingwood on Wednesday by only one point in a heart stopping finish.  The boys are playing better with each round, and hopefully this momentum will continue to build throughout the season.  I also hope to actually make it to at least one game this year!

Tamales at Mamasita

Although I haven't been to any gigs for the last couple months (never fear, there are some shows coming up in May) I have been catching up with friends, including Will and Helen who have been out visiting from the UK with their little ones.  I have also been getting out for lunch and dinner at some old favorite restaurants (Mamasita, China Red, Shuji Sushi) as well as trying some new places such as The Hardware Societe, The Mess Hall, Miss Marmalade, and burgers at Hoboken and Phoenix Public House.  I am also completely obsessed at the moment with the delicious macarons at La Belle Miette.  Kat and I have been escaping work to go there on an almost weekly basis.  They made special hot cross bun and Easter egg ones for Easter, and the salted caramel macaron is one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted.  Check them out if you are in Melbourne.