October 1, 2009





First I need to report that I believe my kangaroo sighting was actually a wallaby & I don’t know enough about them to explain the difference, but I’ll let you know!





Whoa, 2 earthquakes in less than 24 hours and 1 tsunami -- it's all over the Australian news. It's really different to see the news from another's perspective. I don't know how to verbalize it, but just enough to make me notice it. Maybe it's because I have to listen harder to understand because of the accent and figures of speech? Or the fact that we are living in 1 room and the TV is always there?





We're really settled in now at The Victoria Hotel! One of John's colleagues has bought us a microwave and a toaster oven that he will put in his office after we leave. We will now have a wider variety of food than before. Since we've arrived in Melbourne, we've really made an effort to eat mostly fruits, salads, cheese and whole grain breads... to lose weight and be healthy. Since food is so much more expensive here, we are trying not to eat out as much either. But we could go to a different place every noon & night and still not get to all of them just surrounding the hotel. There are small narrow alleys that are packed full with stores of all kinds and a huge variety of cafes. Chinatown is just a couple blocks away as is a Greek area. Apparently there are MANY Greeks living here in Melbourne.





We took the Tourist 'City Circle' Tram (trolley car) around the city center yesterday to see the 'highlights'. Most of them we had seen in the guidebooks, but some are new. It's good to see where these places are ahead of time, so then we don't have to have our maps out, like some tourists! ;-)



On Sunday, The Royal Melbourne Show (their state fair) was a lot of fun despite the wind and rain! I really enjoyed the many varieties of cattle and sheep that are different than ours. We also saw cavies (guinea pigs), rabbits, alpacas, chickens, dogs, cats, goats & horses. Since I have never been to the State Fair in Puyallup, WA, I don't have much to compare it to. But, most of the buildings appeared to be fairly new, the craft, cooking and other displays were all behing glass and a lot more areas selling things. Also, I didn't see any political type booths which was great, but never found an elephant ear :-(.

John and Sue in Melbourne

where I'll be working when I work--Melbourne Uni

sue at melbourne uni

Our Friend Ray King, the Kings were in Minnesota with us years ago on our first sabbatical, he now works for Dairy Australia.

these are not Australian cows.

What's wrong with this picture? She'll never criticise my driving again!

September 27, 2009

Well we are settled in Melbourne at the Victoria Hotel, right in the middle of downtown, close to the Uni and Dairy Australia offices. the last several days have been a party here as the Aussie Rules Football grand Final (super bowl) was yesterday. Cold and wet, as football should be.

Had a great meeting in Camden, near Sydney with several dairy farmers and scientists. Then went to Canberra to the CSIRO (Cooperative States Industry and Research Organization) to meet with scientists there and get some of the material I'll be working on. We escaped the duststorm just barely, leaving Canberra (the capital, about 200 km SW of Sydney) just as it was getting dusty. drove down the east coast into Victoria, East and South Gippsland, where the beautiful pastures are and most of the dairy cows (about 1 million in Victoria). Got here Wednesday and have been pretty much sightseeing, resting and such since.

Work starts in earnest for me this week, but it is still only parttime. I'll be working on mathematical computer models that describe the metabolism of cows on pasture, how the genetics, nutrition and reproduction interact for the most efficient animals.

But plenty of time to look around. Today we go out to the last day of the Royal Melbourne Show. Missed the dairy contest last weekend. Today is all pets (ferret judging anyone?), so we get to see some active dog contests.

here are a few pics.

Humility

So everyone who knows me knows that most of the time I think I've got it handled and usually think my way is the best way (stop laughing). Every once and a while, events happen to deflate my head a bit. The deflating process has been in full force lately.

Burst bubble #1:
After organizing an evening out for a group of eight people to see Wicked the musical, a nice dinner and arrival at the theatre, we discovered people in our seats, or so we thought. Turns out this girl who has everything under control bought tickets for the 2pm show, but remembered the 8 pm show and there we all were six hours late for seeing the show we purchased tickets for. A merciful house manager allowed us to stand in the back (on chairs) of the highest mezzinine and watch the show. Thank you God for rescuing me from myself.

Deflation # 2:
In the past I have pridefully thought, how could someone run out of gas in their car. When your gas is low, you fill it. So . . . on Sunday, when coming back from a friends birthday party, guess who ran out of gas less than a mile from our destination. YES! Luckily (thanks Dad) we had a gas can and walked to the next exit where we got a ride (from someone we knew) to get gas and get our car. Thank you God for rescuing me from myself.

Nail in the coffin:
If these haven't been enough for prideful me, yesterday I locked my keys in my car at school. Yes, yes I did. Of course my spare is at the house, but my house key was also on that chain. A super helpful parish employee worked some magic with a coat hanger and the car was opened within 20 minutes of being locked (and 5 minutes before the students recorders were needed that were stuck in the car with the keys). Thank you God for rescuing me from myself.

Now one may think that this should be enough for one person, but I have a feeling that the point of humility has not been fully ingrained in my head and I'm sure there will be many more mistakes. Stay tuned . . .

Annie

Final French Thoughts

Monday September 21, 2009 8 pm

France Final Report! (I think!?)

The final full day in Paris, John & I went on the Metro again to visit L’Arche de Triumphe and the Eiffel Tower. It was too crowded to go up into either one, since it was Saturday. We did see the Australian Embassy & a hotel called Pullman, which was on the way to the Eiffel Tower, which I took as a good omen! We met some colleagues of John’s & ate at an Indian Restaurant. Some of the other varieties of food we ate was Morrocan, Greek, & FRENCH!
There wasn’t enough time to see more, so we’ll just have to come back again!!
General Impressions of France:
The people were very tolerant, friendly, and helpful and I loved to see the slight, subtle, pleased smile that appeared on their face when we attempted to speak French to them.
I noticed the greatest variety of doors that I have ever seen before. From ornate to simple, but all very unique.
Each short little street has a different name and there is a lot of them and the city (at least the area we were in) is very haphazard. It made it quite a challenge to find my way around.
The only English language stations we saw were BBC News & a European version of CNN. Saw the French version of Wheel of Fortune and didn’t understand anything.
There were McDonald’s, Dominos Pizza, Planet Sushi, Starbuck’s… but we only went to Starbuck’s once. Domino’s & P.S. had scooters that had boxes mounted on the back that they used to deliver their product.

There is lots more, but I think I will end the France chapter and move on to Australia in the next couple days.

Thanks for reading,
Sue

France # 2

09-20-09 4:30 pm
OK, back to France -- we took a very nice high speed train ride from Paris to Clarmont-Ferrand for the International Symposium for Ruminant Physiology meeting and there in our compartment of the train was a colleague of John’s from University of Illinois - now everybody sing: ‘It’s a Small World…’ So they chatted while I slept, so didn’t get to see the countryside, but sleep was more important at that point.
Clarmont-Ferrand is a beautiful area surrounded by extinct volcanoes & home of Michelin tires. Blaise Pascal was born there and figured out air pressure differences by the comparison of the pressure at the top & bottoms of these volcanoes. It is also an area with small dairy farms where they have ‘copyrighted’ cheeses, and we got to taste many of them. Some of the fun things I got to do here was go swimming in various hot pools (they had 1 cold one but I only went in to my ankles) from natural hot springs, and it wasn’t smelly like others I have visited. We went on a walking tour of the city and saw 2 Churches and 1 Cathedral and the old part of the city. Also we were bussed up to one of the extinct volcanoes and we hiked around the top. France has SO MUCH MORE history there than we do, from Roman times, French Revolution, WW II …!! The architecture, the food (GOURMET, 5 course meals for lunch & dinner!!), & always wine & cheese and the whole experience was incredible and so beautiful!
I got to meet so many people including many that John will be working with in Australia & New Zealand. I met spouses from France, Switzerland, Australia, Estonia, Canada, Italy, China, and Brazil. We had a great time getting to know each other and bonded quickly while on our sightseeing excursions. On the last night, all participants & guests were bussed to a kind-of combination theme park and science museum called Volcania. We walked down a spiral staircase around the outside of a rumbling, steaming, shaking fake volcano – which was freaky. When we left this area for dinner, they lighted torches for each of us to hold as we climbed back out of the ‘volcano’. Because we couldn’t leave until the buses left, we didn’t get home till 1:30 am & overslept past checkout & missed our train back to Paris & took a later one. John also left behind his passport in the room in our haste to get to the train station for the next train. Fortunately, because the hotel desk clerk got us new tickets, she called the station & John heard the stationmaster make an announcement! John took a quick taxi ride back to the hotel & made it back in time, but by then my anxiety level was pretty high.
John started his next meeting, Modelling Nutrient Utilization in Farm Animals, the very next day. I went with another professor’s wife for a quick self-guided tour of the city. We took the Metro to Opera, visited a multi-level and multi-building shopping mall, that looked like an ornate museum! Then took the Metro again to the Louvre, and we walked from there down the Champs Elysee to the L’Arche de Triumphe. Then Metro to the Eiffel Tower, and finally back to our Hotel!! Yes, we both had to stay & rest the next day!
The next evening we all went to Paradis for again a deluxe dinner & then a burlesque show that included a man that was a trapeze artist and a unicyclist/juggler.

5K baby!

So in an attempt to get in better shape and reach some personal goals, I have been pushing myself to be a runner by signing up for different events. I did my first offical 5K today (my number 145 tag proves it) and did it in 37 minutes which is really good for me (better than my gym times) and it was uphill, a . . . really . . . long . . . hill . . ., for a mile of it. I'm doing another one next weekend, but that one is flat so I should be able to really improve my time. Go me!

the sister

First Wild Kangaroo Sighting

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days, but haven't felt well, so just rested & relaxed.

Today is the first day that John hasn't had a meeting or we didn't have to travel. So we visited Thirlmere National Park and walked around the lake. We saw many unfamiliar plants and trees, some in bloom. We heard many birds, but only saw a couple of them.

But we did see the first wild kangaroo!! It wouldn't let us get close -- but look closely at the pictures & I think you can see it. Needless to say we were happy!!

09-16-09, 10:00 am
This is the first chance that I have had any amount of time to put down some of my thoughts and remembrances of France! First of all, it really was an awesome experience and with the exception of when we overslept after the Gala and missed our train back to Paris, it really was an extraordinary, wonderful …(insert many superlatives here) time!
We arrived the morning of September 4 to pouring rain which cleared up as we arrived at our hotel by taxi. At the Hotel France in the Latin Quarter of Paris, we were placed in the smallest hotel room I have ever seen (smaller than a dorm room which included a shower, sink & toilet – I am grateful for that!). I didn’t care however since I was exhausted and slept for over 4 hours with John trying to wake me. That’s what happens when you watch movies instead of sleep.
When we explored the area, we found our way to Notre Dame Cathedral, which was incredible, but were not able to go inside. We had a small meal at a nearby restaurant & I had strawberry crepes while John had escargot & French onion soup. Luckily the waiter spoke English. I tasted the snail & they tasted slightly fishy with lots of garlic & butter! My first complaint about France – You have to PAY for the bathrooms, even in some of the restaurants (with tokens) and it doesn’t necessarily mean they are in better condition.
Sue

Information on trip. Should have posted this first, but oh well...

From Sept 3-23rd we will be traveling with intermittent email and phone service. After that we’ll be ‘settled’ at the Victoria Hotel in Melbourne until early November. More than likely our cell phones will be off, and we’ll get a cheap one when we get to Australia.

Sue’s Email mcnamara76@verizon.net
John’s Email mcnamara@wsu.edu

Skype: The McNamaras, linked to mcnamara76@verizon.net;



Travel and locations

Sept 4th-- Hôtel de France Quartier Latin 108 rue Monge 75005 Paris

Sept 5-8th-Clermont-Ferrand
Hotel Mercure, 82 Boulevard Francois Mitterand, 63000 , 33.4.73.34..46.46; h1224@accor-hotels.com;

9th-13th-Hotel de France, Paris

Sept 14th-Marriott Sydney
Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay 30 Pitt Street, Sydney, 2000 Australia

Sept 15-19th-Nehelem Inn, Camden, NSW

Sept 20, 21-Canberra

Sept 23rd-November 6th Hotel Victoria, Melbourne, 215 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Reception Phone 03 9669 0000


Nov ~ to Dec ~30—Sydney/Camden

Dec ~30 to March 16th-Hamilton New Zealand
March 16th to 26th , Seoul, South Korea


Sue

Mike's New Apartment

Hello Seattle!

I have finally moved into my new apartment in beautiful Seattle! I am glad to be back here for school, but I am also thankful for having a couple of weeks to see friends, shop for needed furniture, (If anyone has a bed or dresser they don't need, please tell me about them), and just relax before it gets insane again.

For all those who need my new address, it is:

4233 7th Ave NE Apt 203
Seattle WA 98105

I hope all is well in your lives, and I hope to see or hear from you all soon.

-Mike

Paris Friday Sept 11

we are in Paris at the 7th International Workshop of Modelling in Farm Animal Nutrition, founded by our mentor and friend Lee Baldwin, who created integrated science research in agriculture and was elected to the National Academy of Science.

the pullman macs did a sabbatical in UC Davis with him in 1998 and John has worked with him many times on animal research.

while john was saving the world for milk, Sue and other visitors toured Clermont-Ferrand, center of old france (and Gaul), old volcanic area and area of great cheese and wine.

also they toured Paris and tomorrow after the conference we will too.

John and Sue are now in Paris, we had a great trip, being dropped off by Annie and Mike on Thursday morn. All connections were great and we got to a rainy foggy Paris at 08:30 local time, got to the hotel by 10:30. Hotel de France, on Rue Monge in the Quartier Italian. About 2 k just south of Notre Dame.

we walked up there this afternoon (after Sue finally woke up). Obviously an impressive building, and definitely showing the wear of weather, but they are upgrading it. Had a little supper (John had escargot--taste like clams...).

A nice if a little cool and breezy day. We take the train to Clermont Ferrand for the International Society for Ruminant Physiology meetings (and a few tours, wine country, etc). Then we come back to Paris on Tuesday for the International workshop on mathematical models in animal agriculture and more serious sightseeing.

so here are some pics for Paris

Au Revior!!

first post

wednesday sept 2, almost ready to go, waiting for Sue to get packed. We can't wait, and I love her. John

Annie and Tony's Status

We just celebrated our 6th monthiversary and had a great honeymoon this summer. Tony's ship is stationed in Bremerton right now so while he has to commute, he will not have to go out to sea until next year, which we are grateful for. He is working on his Theology degree through Catholic Distance University. Annie just started back to her forth year teaching, is one quarter away from finishing her Professional Certification and is looking forward to being less busy (believe it). They are helping to run a young adult group at church.