Tag: Australia

  • Getting your feet (ritually) wet: An American-Israeli’s mikvah story

    Perhaps, for a taharat-mishpacha-keeping American-Israeli olah (female American immigrant to Israel who keeps laws of family purity), nothing else can quite epitomize the cultural differences of here and there better than… the mikvah. Because I got married in Israel, my mikva knowledge and experiences have been molded here. The closest I got in the States before…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: Tasty.

    Vegemite gets a bad rap. I’m American, I’ve tasted it, and gosh darn it, I do like it on a piece of toast with some butter. If you like salty, and you like toast, what’s the issue? Week 22: Tasty  Yeast extract: Australian for ‘tasty.’

  • How’s the serenity?

    That’s for you, Darl.

  • Back to gan.

    We got back from Australia/Hong Kong late Monday night, kept off the radar yesterday and went back to respective offices/gans today. The report from Koala’s ganenet was – shockingly good, for a kid who doesn’t sleep much on airplanes. He is definitely taller than when he left. He went to the play kitchen and did…

  • DYK? Australian Etiquette dictates…

    I’m enjoying the bizarrity of finding this book at the State Library of Victoria today: Published in 1885, it’s pretty thorough on the type of behavior expected from true-blue Aussie ladies and gentlemen. How to propose marriage, how to accept or reject them. How to grow your beard, how to deal with hangnails. I like…

  • United States of YAY!

    Aside from being a seemingly social paradise, Australia can now boast a stronger dollar than the United States: Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how to get an hour’s flight away to Sydney without running out of U.S. of Yay cash. Oh, how the tables have turned. Here’s to 2011.

  • Merry Christmas from Oz.

    Just took an impromptu walking tour of Ivanhoe, an area of Melbourne where the folks get real merry about Christmas decor, American-style. Well, kind of; it’s a good effort. The blue-ribbon light show, in my opinion: Aussie class… Snowmen? Reindeer? How about a Santa-hat wearing kangaroo? Pretending it’s winter (though, it’s a freak summer and…

  • First Australian… trip.

    We’ve left Israel and arrived in Australia (253465 hours later). Don’t you think the sign should have been a koala?

  • Got a feeling this whole family’s going down.

    It’s amazing the things you can plan a year in advance and then when the date finally arrives, you’re scrambling to make it all happen. Weddings… Babies… Trips to Australia… Oh, that? Yeah, we’re leaving tomorrow on a long-awaited, long-planned, finally here month-long trip to Australia to visit the family. And introduce Koala to most…

  • My own Israeli Australia.

    Just left the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv. If you happen to be an Australian married to an American and you have children together, then I don’t have to tell you how much more of a pleasant experience it is to acquire Aussie citizenship and passport for your tri-citizen child. The embassy is located at…

  • Happy Australia Day!

    Nah, I’m not Australian just because I’m married to one… But the Aussie I’m married to was given Lamingtons today by an Aussie coworker in hono’u’r of Australia Day this Saturday, and he brought one home for lil ole American me. Another benefit to “mixed” marriages. The Lamington is an Australian pastry consisting of sponge…

  • Sharing means staring.

    Holidays are nearly over… One more day for us, two more for everyone else in these parts. That’s including Easter Monday (remember Christian holidays?). I can’t stop staring, so instead of being rude, I’ll share: