More Living, Less Blogging

That's just the way things go sometimes.  I have a lot more to tell you, but less time to tell you, so you'll just have to imagine most of it. It has gone from crazy busy to ludicrous speed around here and I just to not have time to catch you up on everything.  All is well.

The girls in Eleanor Roosevelt family are working hard this term to get involved in everything in the village (drama clubs, dance groups, choirs) and also working hard in school to learn to write compositions and improve foundational math skills.  By and large, they are healthy and adjusting to the village pretty well.  We have the types of problems you might imagine with 15 girls living together.  ("I fetched water for a shower and someone else took it."  "She took my notebook."  "She borrowed my shoes and didn't wash them.")

I still love eating meals with Grace, Yvonne, Noeline and Josianne.  Ornella and Adelaide have been getting quite serious about basketball.  Happyness is dancing and singing all the time.  Honorine wrote a poem and read it at village time!  We are having vision screenings and the girls who had dental screenings last term have been getting teeth pulled.  Time marches on.  I can't believe I've ben here almost 6 months.

We miss Jeanette and are planning to go and visit her gravesite as a family on Saturday, July 6.

I am busiest teaching TOEFL prep for the top 16 students in Sr. 6. These kids are amazing and I am really enjoying working with them.  They all dream of winning Mastercard Scholarships to American universities like Stanford and Duke. They do well on the reading comprehension and writing sections.  Grammar is harder and grammar lessons are no fun. I am really stretching to explain things like the present perfect and past participles.  I wish Mrs. Howe, my 4th grade teacher, was here.  She would know what to do.  Additionally, we are especially struggling with the listening comprehension section because hearing actual Amercian English accents at real speed is not something the kids have much experience with.  We are listening to a lot of NPR World Story of the Day podcasts.  They do not love this, but I think practice is the only way to improve here.

"Somehow*" I am working on The Big Project (R) for JC.  Just, you know, writing a hit pop song and then directing a video for YouTube that will go viral.  No biggie.  As you know, this is my area of expertise.  Anyway, we are inspired by Hot Cheetos and Takis and I am working with an amazing Student Leadership Committee to write and record a fun song and we will see what happens.

I am still working in the Student Resource Center to help students write CVs and cover letters and leading a ridiculous thing called "tutoring club".  Every minute of the day is scheduled and honestly generally double booked, so I just do whatever I can before I fall asleep standing up around midnight.  If you are waiting on an e-mail back from me, do not hold your breath.

I had an amazing birthday.  Thanks so much to my mom who mailed me the highest tech, best coffee mug (and a whole box full of other awesome goodies). [Suck it Mega.] My sister sent me some high tech quick dry pants from Athleta.  Here in the village, my housemates decorated my door with construction paper and made me a 'cake' out of amandazi and nutella.  It totally made my day and reminded me of when my sister used to decorate the bathroom we shared for me  on my birthday when we were growing up in New Jersey.

Later in the day some of the volunteers took me out to a restaurant in Rwamagana where we had chicken and bananas stew and some beers.  Then they gave me a real honest-to-goodness chocolate mousse cake that was like a real dessert from America (unheard of in Rwanda).  We were all flipping out.  It was a coordinated effort that involved getting keys to a refrigerator and a matatu/bus ride back and forth to Kigali with a cake (no small task) and it really was the nicest thing in the world.  The cake was super wonderful and delicious.  [It did almost kill Jerrod, who is deathly allergic to almonds, but that was a small price to pay in my opinion.]  I also got a gift bag from some of the volunteers with amazing treats like a Snickers and Doritos and some hand carved art.  I was touched that everyone went so all out and I had a really fun day.  There are some cute photos out there of the day and I'll add them here later if I can get my hands on them.

the staff took this floating on the ceiling of the cabana

me saying, can't you just hear my voice, that all i need to be happy has been provided: , a cake, a huge beer, and a cabana.  i was elated.

me stalling cutting the cake

party team: avi, rod, kome, me and miki

I kind of thought he might die

Jerrod - post almond

In less uplifting news, I still cannot run without pain.  Achilles tears are no joke.  I have been doing my rehab exercises since April.  This blows as running was one of my favorite things to do in the area and a major component of keeping me sane / stress management.  I'm broken hearted about missing the marathon and more importantly not really being able to work out at all.  I am doing this lame circuit training to still pretend like I am exercising but it pretty much only serves to make me angry.

Even worse, last weekend, I got super sick and had to go to a cray third world health clinic.  Actually everyone at Polyclinique Du Plateau was incredibly prefessional and nice.  What I know now is that I had a bad cold, and then I contracted a nasty stomach virus.  What I knew then was I had a fever, vomiting, other extreme gastro intestinal symptoms, a bad cough, a runny nose, ear pain and generally felt like every system I had was failing.  I went to the clinic and they gave me IV fluids and some IV stomach calming meds and some tylenol for the fever and I felt much better in 12 hours or so.  They wrote me about 7 prescriptions, some of which you can see here:

Also here's me in bed, running my mouth, like I do:

I am so miserable and weak in this photo and Hassina, village director of Health and Wellness is taking pics to entertain me.  My thinking at the time, was that the only thing to make up for how much discomfort I was in would be fishing for sympathy later on the blog.  The logic holds.

I was feeling pretty terrible for a while there, but am much better now.  Also, then all the other volunteers got the stomach flu, and once we knew what it was and that it ended in about a day it didn't seem so scary, but since I was patient 0 everything seemed so strange and unpleasant.

I spent the night in the clinic and had three bags of IV fluid and two examinations and the bill was about 130,000 RwF, (about $200), which is pretty low compared to what I would have paid for that kind of care in the US I think.

Now I am better and back in the village and just working and trying to deal with a minor hostage situation.  I'm delighted to hear the Spurs won game 5 and I wish them the best, but closing out at Miami is no small task.

Hope you are well.  I am busy here, but generally doing okay and trying to find a few meaningful interactions a day with kids amid all the chaos.

*I should probably write an entire post on how Rwandese use the word "somehow" but it is ubiquitous on any topic and is a reducing modifier that means, kind of or sort of or might mean complete disagreement.  For example, "Do understand me?" "Somehow", by which is meant, "no."  I love it and use it all the time, somehow.

Another Extended Farewell

The irony is, I guess, that the more time you have to blog the less you have to blog about.  Lately I've been busy from morning to night hence the absence of updates.  I'm well aware that I've been here in Rwanda for nearly a week, and I have heaps and heaps to tell you about that, but this post is going to wrap up a long overdue update about my departure.

Also a note of warning, this year's Christmas letter is going to be late.  Think New Year's Day…

Despite Sandy putting the kibosh on my farewell from Knoxville, I still arranged to have at least three more going away parties.  (I pretty much only go away for the parties.)  I loaded up all of my possessions and put them in a u-haul storage unit in NE DC.  I hope that Deirdre is not too unhappy about her new living quarters.  On my way out of town I had a farewell at the Big Board in DC.  Do go by there for a burger if you are in town.  It was a super fun time and amazing to see so many people come out for someone who had only been in town a few months.  I had a blast with some folks from the DC disc scene and also a number of normals, friends new and old.  Extra special thanks to Sarah and Frank for dragging out an 8 year old on a school night, Ben Pauker for bringing me crisp 2006 hundred dollar bills in mint condition and the gang from Snack Pack who came from far afield.  I had a super fun time and somehow failed to take a single photo of the event that was marred only by a brief, but insistent, open mic night.

After recovering from that shindig, I got my bags packed and headed out to NYC on the Amtrak.  I had every single thing I'm taking to Rwanda for a year, so as you can imaging navigating inside Penn station with my overstuffed and heavy bags was a real treat.  Jesse and Alyson met me at Penn Station and gave me some keys.  Oh man Brooklyn!  Why did I ever leave?  It was so great to be back in Fort Greene.  Once I got back in the 'Lyn I got to walk Phineas and then I had dinner at Roman's with TG and a few beers at Hot Bird. 

Saturday started with an incredible brunch with Danielle at Dizzy's in the Slope.  Then it was a bit too rainy for a full walk around Prospect Park but I got to see Dave and Ali and take their baby, Ella, to a bar.  She had fun the whole time and never cried or fussed at all.  Then I met Erica for dinner at a place that served us "nachos" on potato chips with mozzarella cheese. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.  Maybe not my best choice for only a few meals left in NYC, but we were in a rush to get to the Park Slope Bier Garden where yet another farewell party was being staged.  Again it was great to see tons of folks.  Special props to Tishler, Erica, and Taliesin who ended the night by pledging a trip to see me in Rwanda and go Gorilla Trekking.  It's in writing now gals. I'm totally holding you to it.  Also high marks for Julie Sussman who stayed late and walked me to the subway.

Sunday was also a fantastic time, including watching an improbable Eagles win at the Dram Shop over Bloody Mary's (see my twitter feed for proof @CourtneyMFK) and getting to go to see the Nets in the new Barclays center. (Thanks Jesse!).  That place is like a space ship, it was incredible inside and tons of gourmet food as well.  The Nets let us down a bit, getting down 32 at one point and losing to the Bucks, but it was still a fun time.

Monday through Wednesday I had orientation for Agahozo Shalom youth village at the the Liquidnet offices in Midtown. The Liquidnet offices were AMAZING and they took such great care of us and brought us food every 5 minutes.  Orientation was truly inspiring.  I had the chance to meet the other members of my cohort who are heading over for a year with me.  We are 5 women and 4 men.  The women are from LA, NYC, Pittsburgh and a recent Middlebury grad from DC (Hello Pranksters!).  The guys are from Nigeria, Israel, Denver and Boca Raton.  It's a fun group and we're all focused on the kids.  

We had the opportunity to meet Anne Heyman, the founder for several hours.  She explained the story of the village from her initial inspiration until now with the village being weeks away from graduating the first class.  It's incredible that it went from an idea to a fully functioning school for 500 kids in the time that it has.  Her vision for development being focused on capacity building and having an exit strategy is compelling.  Her passion for the kids she works to help shone through with every topic she discussed.  We also met the executive director and had the chance to talk to several formal volunteers and get tips and guidance for the year ahead.  During the orientation I had another social style evaluation, and yes Stalin, I am still a Driver.  Oh well.

We went on a learning field trip to look at Images of Apartheid at the International Center for Photography in midtown. That was an exceptional exhibit and a stark reminder about extreme governmental control.  I'll spare you my detailed review of the exhibit in the sake of time, but I will say that if you haven't watched "I Ain't Gonna Play Sun City" in a while, it's a blast from the past and you should: Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City - YouTube .

Tuesday night was my last night in the good ol' U. S. of A. for about a year and after phone calls to mom Kelly and the Gupton house I attended my third and final farewell party. Thanks to Drew and Cara for hosting on no notice.  It was super fun to eat Pizza, watch Knicks/Nets and play poker.  I even came out ahead by the end (charity perhaps?) and won yet another of those prized 2006 Benjamins.  I had an amazing time and I wouldn't want to go out any other way.

Staying with Jesse and Alyson in the apartment I used to live in in Ft. Greene was a several hundred dollar donation to ASVY who would have put me up in a hotel.  Thanks Guys! In addition to helping the orphans it was great to be back in Ft. Greene and a real treat to hang out with Alyson and Jesse, and (of course) more importantly Phineas!  Phineas is super smart and also acts like a person and watches TV and looks at you with a proud condescension.  In the mornings before heading to orientation I would gather my belongings on the edge of the couch while I was getting ready, like a staging area.  By Wednesday, Phineas had figured out this meant I was going to leave soon and let me know what he thought about that:

Wednesday was an abbreviated orientation day so we could get back to our luggage, do laundry if necessary and any last minute shopping or errands.  Then I hailed a car service to JFK (thanks again to Jesse's help).  At JFK all of us assembled our heavy, overstuffed bags and, wait for it, three bags of doorknobs.

Sidebar: There's an entire post here on the doorknob situation, but I'll sum it up since I'm already so far behind.  Sourcing building materials in Rwanda is very difficult.  (Foreshadowing here for some weird fittings in my 'luxury' hotel in Kigali in a future post.)  Most of the construction materials for the village were actually sourced from China, which fit the budget, but it turns out the quality has really varied, so some items, like doorknobs, have had unexpectedly short lifespans.  This time around a decision was made to purchase higher quality doorknobs, but then they need to be shipped to the village, a process for the landlocked country that is more than 3 times the cost of the already more expensive doorknobs.  Since every cost trades off directly with services for vulnerable kids, these are hard decisions.  ASYV is trying to send the doorknobs over piecemeal when people from the states visit the village, but this means boxes of doorknobs crowding the tiny NYC office, coordination required to get the doorknobs to the traveller and an inconsistent stream of supplies to the maintenance team in the village.  Making do and improvising are a reality.

After waiting in a long check-in line and a longer security line we made it into the terminal just in time for one final farewell beer on American soil together.  The flight to Istanbul was an uneventful 9 hours, filled with movies and meals and a nap.  We were on the ground just long enough in Turkey to take our Malarone get a coffee and wander around the terminal a bit.  The flight to Kigali was another 7 hours with movies, naps, flashcards and some pretty gross Turkish Airlines meals.  The flight landed at 1:00 AM a few minutes earlier than expected and we were all glad to have finally arrived.  After preparing for months to come here, it was a huge relief to finally be here.  I was tired, flight-grimey and glad to be in Rwanda!

Next Post - Landing in Kigali and Beyond.

Will the Real Courtney Kelly Please Sit Down? Good Girl.

As mentioned previously, my dear aunt Vicki has recently acquired a new baby girl Jack Russell Puppy and I have been informed that she has been named Courtney Kelly. She is clearly the more charming of the two and CKs and fetches much faster than I do. It is a matter of time before she is a better project manager. I think she is just adorable and I am quite smitten with her. See?
You’ll remember my Aunt Vicki from being the sole preserver of my sanity when I toured around Victoria, Australia with my parents, me driving the 5 of us down the left side of the Great ocean Road in a Minivan. John takes great pictures and I suspect I may have him to thank for the sweet one above.

Let’s take a moment (with only 72 days remaining in our poll) to note according to the current tally that 50% of you, dear readers, are Internet stalkers. None of you, however, are my mother, which is quite curious and quite frankly casts doubt on the validity of the entire poll.

Let’s also take a quick status check on some of the promises and declarations I’ve made here on ‘Spondence for 2009:

• My commitment to review a book a month is ahead of schedule but significantly stymied with my current assignment. Look for the next review soon.
  
• The month off drinking was pretty easy. Maybe I should do that again soon. July?


• The 100 push-up project ended because it was taking up a lot of time and I couldn’t remember why I had ever wanted to be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups, except to prove some kind of point I had forgotten. 2 out of 3 isn’t terrible.

Next up, is an idea I’m still working through: Fruit Monday. For the last few Mondays I’ve been eating only raw fruit with no preparation or preservatives. The thinking isn’t gelled yet, but it has to do with how much I admire people I’ve known like Hussey and Emily who commit to being vegetarian. I do think being a vegetarian is the only ethical choice, if you care about the carbon load of your food or about how animals are treated on factory farms. I also know that eating meat leads to heart disease and obesity. I probably wouldn’t be willing to shoot deer for venison. Unfortunately I love steak. And buffalo chicken wings. And probably most of all Tuna sushi. Bacon is in there somewhere too.

So the idea of Fruit Monday, is not to leap into eating ethically or healthily all the time, but for just 1 day a week, for my food to have a lower than usual carbon load (local produce is best if possible) for it to be low cruelty, for it to be fresh and nutrient rich with no preparation or preservative. I’ve generally found so far that on Fruit Mondays I don’t get as tired as I usually during the day and I have a bit more energy than usual. I know it’s the only day a week when I get my recommended 5 servings of fruit and vegetables.

You might point out that I’m still eating unethically and unhealthily 6 days a week, but at least I’m, putting my toe in the pool here, and so far this seems like something I can actually stick to without feeling cheated. You might point out that I could have vegetables or grains. First off then it wouldn't be Fruit Monday and furthermore I need very clear bright lines and if I could have carrots, then the slippery slope to potatoes, to pizza combos to lobster would be sled right now. Fruit is simple enough to keep me focused. (Tomatoes are in). I let you know how this goes.

Want to give it a try? If you do, I want to hear about it. I think you know I'm not a dietitian. I hope this doesn't make you sick. I realize this is only 1/7th of the time, so for me to make any meaningful difference I need to keep this up for a good long while. The goal is a sustainable life change I can keep up. We'll see.

In other news, since my last post, NYC ultimate is starting to heat up for spring and I’ve already had an obligatory ankle roll. I’ve been scrimmaging with some of the women from the new team, Bent and it seems pretty cool. I’ll let you know how tryouts go. I’m off to Fools Fest in Virginia with the gals from Flash Taco as well, so that should be a good time.

I’ve been back to the animal shelter a few more times as well. The last time I was there some genius in a white Mercedes SUV rolled in to ‘drop off’ a dog. She was an adorable white Pitt puppy, maybe 8 months old. Very sweet and obedient. Sit. Roll over. The whole deal. He just ‘dropped her off.’ I hope his SUV gets Repossessed. I also walked a stray Pitt that was all ribs and spine and was as sweet as he could be. It was heart breaking. I do think a couple agreed to adopt a cat while I was there, so that was nice. I will try to remember to take some pictures while I am there next weekend.

Have you given blood lately? Accenture actually had a blood drive a work a few Fridays back, which was great. I was a bit sluggish at the first Bent scrimmage as a result, but I think a lot of us were just getting into shape anyway, so hopefully that will not be too big a factor. Giving blood is free and a huge way to give to people in need. You should probably open a new tab and click this link and make an appointment right now. RIGHT NOW.

I nagged Jesse until he finally got renters insurance. Don't think I won't nag you.

I am just back from a week in St. Charles, Illinois for ‘training’. I will not color outside of the lines any more and the accidents are pretty much under control as well. Actually, it was a week of client sales simulations and I guess I like my simulated work as much as I like my actual work. It was a long week. By pure chance, I did happen to run into a colleague who had been faculty with me at back in August, Patrick Warburton who has an unnatural attachment to Andy Murray.

As for my bracket, I have 11 of the sweet 16, which is not great, but has me in 5th place out of 12 in my pool. If UNC wins out I should finish up 3rd or 4th which is still just losing in the winner takes all format. Go Cards! The Big East is looking great, BTW. Mercifully the GU season is final over, with another lost lead late in the second half to Baylor in round one of the NIT. We’ll see if there is still a team next year or if they just dissolve the program. Maybe they will form a touring checkers team.

Of course you know my buddy Chip . His baby brother Michael is actually in Melbourne these days and playing disc with my favorite open team, the Heads of State. Do check out his blog of events which reminds me a lot of my first few months there so far (minus detailed recounts of dramatic layouts.)

Okay. Gotta run. It snowed in Minneapolis today. This weekend. Chip's wife Jen will be in town. I have dinner with Danielle planned. Saturday is another Bent Scrimmage and then off to the Animal Shelter. After that I'm scheduled at a W - Bachelor Party: White Castle, Whiskey and Wii. I CAN'T WAIT. Sunday is a hat tournament for Ultimate for Peace. I am prematurely exhausted.

Oh yeah, LSF was a pajama party. It was nuts. See?

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly...

Happy Holidays 2008! I hope this annual holiday letter finds you well.

2008 was a ‘Tale of Two Hemispheres’ for me with the first half still in Australia and the second half back home in NYC.

I’m still working for Accenture, now in my 10th year (can that be possible?) and now a Senior Manager. This year I’ve worked in Melbourne for Telstra, in Dallas for AT&T and in Minneapolis (where I am now) for Best Buy. In between Telstra and AT&T, this August, I got the opportunity to teach a new joiner school for a few weeks in St. Charles, Illinois and that was a great change of pace.

I started 2008 on a trip to Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa. It was an incredible trip. (I’ve done the scouting now, so do let me know if you want to join in on my return trip to SA for the 2010 world cup.) I enjoyed safaris in the Pilanesburg National Park, gambling at Sun City, climbing Table Mountain and touring Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned.

While South Africa was the most beautiful place I have ever been, the striking beauty was paired with unavoidable scenes of struggle and inequity. Millions of people live in Townships in abject poverty with few opportunities and little hope. Shacks like the ones below stretch for miles in all directions. It was a sobering reminder throughout my trip how lucky I am.

African wildlife isn’t fairing much better with continual reduction in habitat pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Outside of Cape Town, I visited a Cheetah rescue. While orphan cheetahs raised in captivity cannot be reintroduced into the wild, the funds raised from tourist attractions like this one (below) are used for conservation efforts. This cheetah was impossibly soft and shockingly, painfully beautiful. Being close to it was one of the highlights of the year.

In March I went to Rimini, Italy for the Paganello World Beach Ultimate Championships. I had a blast with my team, D-Rex. It was cold and rainy and we partied pretty hard. I think we finished 9th overall but none of us could still count to 9 when it was all said and done.

Back in Australia, the ultimate continued as I played a second season with the top women’s team from Melbourne, Sporting Team Box Althetico United. In April, I road-tripped to the Australian National Ultimate Championships in Coffs Harbor with my pal Lauren. Team Box is an incredible group of women and girls and we bring an irreverence to ultimate that is sorely needed.
Team Box (I’m in the very middle.)

All over the landscape of Australia there are these big tourist attractions like "The Big Banana" pictured below. They are hokey, quaint and a lot of fun, not unlike Australia itself.

This May, I made a trip back to the US for my sister Lynn’s 40th birthday. (Man Lynn, you are really getting up there!) Another reason for that trip was to attend my friend and Ambush teammate Jennifer Christenson’s wedding to Brian (Chip) Stout in North Carolina. They had a beautiful ceremony and we all had a wonderful time. Here is me as a bridesmaid on the far left:

In July, I left Australia and moved back to NYC and back into my East Village apartment. I had a great time while I was in Melbourne and I’ll miss all the friends I made there. There was a fun ultimate pick-up game send off my last day there, which was the perfect way to say farewell. I spent a few days in Fiji on the way home. Fiji was beautiful, but by that point I was impatient to get back to the city. I’ve really enjoyed being back home and getting reacquainted with the best city in the world. I’d say my favorite thing about being home is good places to get brunch.

As soon as I got back home I synced up with my NY Ultimate team, Ambush. This year we played tournaments in Ottawa, Vermont, Santa Cruz, outside of Boston and also qualified for the UPA national championship in Sarasota, Florida in October:
We finished up in 14th place and had a great time at the big dance. (I’m in the middle.)

With 2008 drawing to a close, I got the chance to spend Thanksgiving in Myersville, Maryland. Again I was surrounded by animals, but this time slightly less exotic ones: 2 parents, 2 dogs, 2 cats (not pictured), 2 horses (not pictured) and 2 “mini” horses.
We had a feast for twenty (divided by only 3) and I spent some time with my parents and all the animals. My dad and I caught a Wizards game as well. (Thanks to all of you who continue to ask about my nieces Kate & Lindy. Both are doing just great and spent Thanksgiving at Disney World with their parents.)

That’s about it. Look forward to next year’s letter when I’ll tell you about all my antics 2009. Happy New Year!

'Had Just Settled Down for a Long Summer's Nap

Happy Holidays 2007. I hope this annual holiday e-mail finds you well. This is the first ever Mid-summer edition! So far, my time in Australia has been great. I really like it here. Aside from being in Melbourne and not New York, I guess it’s strange how similar this letter feels to the past ones. There’s been some ultimate and some travel and lots of work. See below:

I still work for Accenture. It’ll be 10 years in June. How can that be! Time flies. The chance came up early this year for me to work in Melbourne for a while. I pounced on the opportunity. Melbourne’s a great city with good parks, museums, bike lanes, bars and restaurants. I’ve enjoyed being a spectator at sports common here like Aussie Rules Football, Rugby and Cricket.

As soon as I got to Melbourne in February, I fell in with a great Women’s ultimate team, Team Box. We won our regional tournament in Tasmania and finished up second at the National Championship in April. Here’s the team (I’m far right of the back row) and me getting a medal at the ceremony:

I also got to train with the Australian National Team at a camp in Sydney in July. That was an incredible experience.

There are really cool animals here in Australia: Wombats, Galahs, Flying Foxes, Wallabies and of course Koalas. Those of you who know how I feel about stuffed animals will understand how excited I was when this photo was taken:
That was topped by this moment at a Koala sanctuary north of Sydney, which is maybe the pinnacle of my life so far. Can you see how Sally the Koala is reaching out to me? She wanted to come home with me, but I had to break her little heart and explain that there are no animals allowed in corporate housing.

My parents came to visit in October with my Aunt Vicki and Uncle John. I showed them my favorite parts of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road and the Yarra Wine Valley. Everyone had a nice time. Here’s Dad, John, Mom and Vicki in front of the Queen Victoria Market:
For their visit, I drove the mini-van on the left side of the road (with minimal coaching from my parents) to see kangaroo covered golf courses, surfers, koalas, light houses, rain forests and beautiful rock formations. I’m becoming quite the tour guide so be sure to let me know if you’re in Australia in the next couple of months and I’ll show you around.

Here’s my Mom and I on the ‘Great Ocean Road’ in front of a few of the remaining “12” apostles. As you can see, it was quite windy.

I’ve had the chance to go camping twice this year in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here’s me at Wilson’s Promontory with girls from Team Box (4th from left):
That’s about it. Look forward to next year’s letter when I’ll tell you about this year’s Christmas trip to Cambodia and Thailand. If you can’t wait that long, be sure to check in on me at http://courtneyspondence.blogspot.com/ . Happy New Year!

~Courtney

The Ghost of Christmas Very Recent Past

Hi there. This week has been more work, and also a throw around with Team Box and and a screening at the Bicycle Film Festival which is presently in Melbourne.

I'm starting work on this year's holiday e-mail and I thought as inspiration I'd post the last few years here, in the next few posts. We'll see how that goes.

sleep shortage

Work has been hella hectic. Sleep is in short supply.

I can say I was in the Melbourne Hat last weekend, and it was a great time. It is a huge production with 24 teams, 2 dinner buffets, a huge party competitors from all over the world. I had a great time.

The begonia has been given a stay of execution, as advised by Snail .

Thanks to Kimmie for making me laugh, even when work is the 7th circle of hell. This is better than any of the excel graphs I have been making lately.

Jesse wants you all to make your holiday travel plans on his favorite new travel site .

That is pretty much all. I need to get back to quality time with Microsoft Office.

Wanted

Wanted for questioning about the untimely demise of Olympia Rose Begonia: Courtney "Black Thumb" Kelly. The suspect is likely unarmed but should be considered dangerous to anyone who relies on chlorophyll to generate cellular energy.

Well I skipped the Window Box update last week with the post on Wilson's Prom and I know that your are jonesin' just like when HBO skips a week on the Wire, so calm down, calm down (Season 4 DVD out now for those already thinking of Christmas) here's the skinny on the 'Box: As you can see the Begonia has about had it. Thanks to Amy for the suggestion to cut it back, I clipped off 2/3rds of the blooms. Maybe it was just to little to late, but the rest of the leaves have turned black and I think the end is upon us. Should I cut the rest of the blooms off? Should I hold a service? The Lavender has developed a huge crush on the Erinus and refuses to stand on his own any more. He is all tangled up. The Erinus doesn't seem to be returning the ardor, but doesn't seem to mind and she continues to grow and flower. I guess 1 out of 3 isn't so bad. That's still better than the survival rate of kids in the New Jersey Foster care system.

Work is nuts. Killing me. I worked all weekend. It blew. I am tired. I did escape on Sunday evening for a throw around of the disc which was a nice change. This week looks even worse. ew.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. They don't have that here, but I know enough expats I actually had two Thanksgiving Dinners. Thanks to Gil, Susan and Julia for having me over for an Aussie hybrid turkey and shrimp on the barbie. Thanks also to Mike Shimota who had a lot of the account expats over to his place for a full catered Thanksgiving dinner. People brought their families. There were 40 or so people and maybe a third of them were under 7. There was a tumble bus out front for all of the kids. [Lynn, since I've confirmed the existence of a Tumble Bus down under, will you be coming with the girls, or are we already past that stage? Time flies...]

The election happened. Kevin Rudd (Labor) won as was widely predicted by the polls. Most of my Aussie friends seem pleased with this result, but as far as I can tell he didn't say much during the campaign to inspire optimism. He relied heavily on his election slogan (Kevin 07) which luckily rhymed and tried to say as little as possible that would make voters dislike him as much as they dislike outgoing PM John Howard.

I did steal away a break at work this weekend to plan my holiday trip. I'll be in Cambodia and Thailand over the break. Angkor Watt on Christmas day and Bangkok on New Year's eve. (Vietnam fell out as the Visa process just seemed too complex and I only have about a month to prepare.) Next I'll be planning hotels. Let me know if you'll be in the neighborhood.

Alright then, back to the salt mine.

Crying Wolf. Crying Platypus.

I am usually wrong. I’ve learned this when betting about Troy Aikman’s voice, Brian Boitano’s citizenship and this weekend about a Platypus “corpse” aka a distinctive looking log. Anyone could have made the mistake. (Sheepish.)

This weekend I went back to Wilson’s Prom and had a blast. I was with a truly great bunch of women who I am so proud to call my friends and who take great care of me. We had some run-ins with some pretty aggressive wombats, some great hikes, and played on the beach. The water was delicious. I built some sand creatures, which I really enjoyed. I saw the Southern Cross on the beach after midnight and an incredibly bright shooting star. On Sunday we went on a long gorgeous hike and swam on a secluded beach. We laughed almost the entire trip. I also spotted a lot of carrion, some of which I photographed. See?

I took all the photo’s so I’m only in this first one. This is a typical view in Wilson's Prom. Tegan, Joy, Liz, Me, Jess and Amanda:
Friday night setting up the palatial tents in the dark. Thanks to Jess' parents, I had my own 'room'.
Crimson Rosellas were everywhere:
Another typical gorgeous view. Jess, Gab, Liz, Joy, Hussey, Tegan:
The estate during the day:
Liz on some rocks at the beach:

I saw 7 of these. Liz assured me it was not a chemical spill, but a normal part of the cycle of life:
I made this 'fish'. Jess found the fin and the eye:
This is Sarsaparilla and Jess. She made his hands, among other bits.
Views like this are on every hike. The entire time. It's beauty overdose:

Here's Liz, Amanda and Tegan:

By the way, here's a quick list of things not to forget when going camping in the Prom: Bug Spray, Bathing Suit, Hat, Beach/Shower Shoes, Tylenol.

For a list of the things I forgot, see above.