The Iceman Cometh

With June just around the corner, in fact only a few minutes away as I write this, it means that winter is settling over the great southern land. However, from a Canadian perspective calling this season "winter" is nothing short of generous. Australian winters, even those in mountainous areas such as Canberra lack the sting of their Canadian equivalent. I imagine that now in Canada, as summer approaches the weather is turning sunnier, warmer and muggier.

To be fair to Australia, it does get snow occasionally. The Great Dividing Range, the mountain chain along the eastern coast rises to the heights of the Appalachians and does get frequent snow. There are places in the mountains, like Thredbo and Perisher Blue that serve as ski resorts. Sometimes it even snows on top in the summer, though that is rare. Canberra, which sits at an elevation of 571 meters above sea level, gets snow roughly once every 3 years but it rarely lasts the day. As of now, the weather is still sunny with daytime temperatures close to 20C, with today being a very warm day in the sun. Perhaps this winter will be milder than usual, but we'll see. The most fair statement about Australian weather is that it can be very bizarre. In 2006 in November, approaching the beginning of summer, a rapidly moving cold front powered its way along the east coast of the country. With it came very low temperatures and flurries, all the way to southern Queensland. This would be equivalent to a place like Miami receiving snow at the end of May.

The week in Canberra has been very quiet and I haven't really done much. My exams are in about 2 weeks time so I have begun to settle down and study. I think I've got a handle on things in the legal world. Today, I goal umpired 2 games the second of which was particularly exciting as it was decided by a single point. I've been going to training on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I think its begun to pay off. In addition to improving my technique, I think I've also been getting into much better shape. I have longer endurance and I think I've even lost some weight. As I don't have a bathroom scale it's hard to tell. I think the colder air at night is helping me. For the first few weeks I had to adjust to the higher altitude but now my body has adapted by producing more red blood cells to carry oxygen. The denser cold air has a higher percentage of oxygen in it than warmer air so when I draw breath, I'm actually oxygenating myself more efficiently. This translates into the endurance increase that I've noticed and the training regimen has no doubt helped as well.

Also today, our floor leader, Lisa, organized a special dinner for us, paid for out of the floor budget. It was Turkish food and very delicious. There was lamb, rice, spinach balls and other assorted items. We all had our fill and left quite sated. I also learned that some family friends from Ottawa are in town and I anxiously wait to meet them, I'll be calling them tomorrow to set up a time and place. Andre, a longtime friend and recent med school graduate is also in Australia, though in the Red Center at the moment. He'll be in Canberra in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to hearing his stories of the emergency room. He once spent 3 weeks in a south-central Los Angeles hospital on an exchange and I really want to hear all about that.

With winter officially starting June 1, I thought I'd take this opportunity to mention some Aussie customs which are normal down here but are unusual to outsiders. First of all, you may have noticed that they count the seasons differently. In North America, seasons begin on an equinox or a solstice, but here it's always the first of a month: June (winter), September (spring), December (summer) and March (fall). If I'm not mistaken, Australians do not use the word "autumn" at all and simply use "fall". In Australia, ketchup is called "tomato (toh-MAH-to) sauce" though I'm told that ketchup down here refers to tomato sauce that has sugar added. Australians call "beets" "beet root" (though it's actually a tuber) and they put it on hamburgers. Sausages are called "snags", they're larger versions of breakfast sausages and you eat them by folding a normal piece of sliced bread. It's actually very efficient since you can get more snags in bread that way. The second storey of a building is called the "first floor" while the ground floor is simply called the "ground floor", which means that building floors are numbered G-1-2-3-etc.. A ute is a uniquely Australian vehicle. Short for "utility" imagine a cross between a Honda Civic and a pickup truck and you'll get the idea. I'll take a picture of one and post it sometime.

Now for some Aussie slang. A "bogan" (BOW-gun) is a person sort of akin to a "redneck" but not really. If you come to Australia, someone will be able to explain the physical and personality characteristics of a bogan. "Goon" is wine in a box and "hooning" is the practice of suping up cars, usually utes, then tearing down the streets at ridiculous speeds. You'll learn many more phrases and words if you come Down Under.