Silly Season in Sydney

Stunt Driving, Santa, Summer, and the Silly Season - see you if you can say that three times fast. Life in Sydney has been really busy lately, but between the work and normal life activities we

have had some great opportunities for fun. We work hard to play hard.

We’re a part of a car share and we rented a Smart Car last weekend as we had a number of activities to do that we couldn’t access easily with public transportation. I’m not sure if I’ve vented about the Smart Car or not before, but I’m absolutely mortified by it. Honestly, I’d rather take the bus, especially when Paul gets the fluorescent yellow Smart Car. It’s horrible. Everyone just looks at us and laughs. Seriously. When Paul has picked me up from work in the Smart Car I make him park a pretty good distance from the school because I don’t want the kids or anyone to see me associated with that car. I’m like a 13 year old embarrassed of their parents! Usually he just parks behind a tree and since it’s so small no one can see it, but then I have trouble finding him. Sigh. I should just get it over it, but I can’t.

Anyway, we arrived at the racecourse for our Stunt Driving course in our very eco-friendly, yet highly embarrassing, Smart Car and the crew just laughed at us. Yes, openly laughed and pointed. Apparently a Smart Car doesn’t gain you much respect within the car racing community or probably any community. On a side note - We did go shopping at the equivalent of a Home Depot after the course and were quite proud of ourselves when we fit the two of us, a fan, 2 laundry baskets, and a propane tank into the car. It’s almost as if traffic stopped in the parking lot to see how we were going to make it all fit. We were pretty surprised ourselves.

The stunt driving course was set up to teach you four tricks - a 180 degree and 360 degree hand brake turn, riding on two wheels, and jumping ramps – all in modified Mini Coopers. For Paul this was a great opportunity to drive like he normally does without me griping and saying prayers in the background. Check out the attached video…basically we drove down a huge slip n’ slide – fun!

As the school year quickly comes to a close (5 more days!!) there have been a number of end-of-the- year functions to attend – Lessons and Carols Church Service, School Carnival, Awards Day, Staff Christmas Party and many others. It’s been a great year and I’m really going to miss my boys over the next 2 months. Even though I know summer break is right upon us it seems so weird that the school year is over in December rather than June. Regardless, I’ll take the break so I can go back to Texas and visit my much loved and missed family and friends.

We have now entered the Silly Season, the term in which Australians use to refer to the Christmas season. This weekend we participated in a number of Santa related events. Saturday night was the Santafest at Darling Harbour that included a pyrotechnic jet ski show, fireworks to Christmas music, inflatable Santas, and the lighting of the largest Christmas tree in the Southern Hemisphere. On Sunday morning we woke up early to run in the Santa Fun Run benefitting a children’s charity. The unique difference between this 5k and others is that all participants were provided a full Santa costume made of felt (including a beard) to wear during the run. It was quite a humid morning and Paul opted to cut his pants into shorts. Well, halfway through the run his shorts turned into a skirt and my drawstring pants kept falling down. Felt doesn’t breathe at all and we disposed of our costumes pretty quickly after the run. All in all it was a blast and definitely made me feel like it was Christmastime even though it’s hot.

Many have asked about our holiday plans and Paul and I will spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Sydney. We both return to the States in January, but on completely different itineraries and return to Sydney in late January in time to celebrate our one year expativersary and start a new school year. I can’t believe we’ve been here almost a year!! 2011 will also bring an additional expat into our lives as Paul’s daughter, Suzanne, comes to live with us. We’re both looking forward to having her with us and sharing our lives in Sydney with her.

So Happy Christmas and a wonderful Silly Season to all from Sydney.