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This one’s for some of our Aussie friends. Mark is in Seattle this week on business, I am joining him on Thursday for a week and a half then we’ll fly home together. He sent me this picture of Seattle and as I sat at my desk in Sydney gazing out at the sunny blue sky I could almost feel the cold winter day in the picture. It will be great to be back in the Pacific Northwest next week, but at the same time, I think the weather will quickly excite me to get back to my new home. - kel
During my time in Sydney I’ve had many firsts, first Aussie Pub, fist real Aussie meat pie, first sighting of a kangaroo outside of a zoo… the list goes on and on. Yesterday however was a notable first, after picking Mark up from the Airport (see blogs below) we were off to the SCG (Sydney Cricket Grounds) for my first ever in person Cricket Game, Australia vs. South Africa in one day cricket.
My love, and yes I really do mean love, of cricket actually began last year when I was in South Africa for 4 weeks. In the middle of the afternoons, when the sun was just a bit too hot, I watched quite a bit of Cricket on TV. My love and understanding has grown immensely while being in Australia. Mark’s parents watch it all the time, while home sick for 
a week at the beginning of the year I watched for hours. I know the players names, I am learning the plays and some of the strategy and am slowly becoming a fan. This is a picture of Brett Lee, my favorite Aussie bowler and a South African batsman Graeme Smith.
The game was fantastic, Australia had 57-run victory over South Africa, the weather was beautiful (sunny about 85 F, slight breeze), and the fans were dressed up in Aussie pride like I’ve never seen in the US. Australia hit tons of great shots, for the first 2 hours (games usually are 8 hours long) Aussie fans were on their feet the entire time. Mark did get a slight sunburn, particularly funny since
he came to work today with a sunburn after being in Korea in -19 degree C weather all week. The fans were a bit crazy, typically drunken revelry aside; it was the outfits and costumes I am talking about. It was like Halloween where the theme was Australia! Whole groups of people wearing all yellow matching outfits, hats of all kinds, faces painted, wigs, I even saw a group of girls wearing Australian flags as dresses. This is a pic of Mark and I in the stands taken with my camera phone (sorry for the closed eyes).
Mark’s parents were at the game with us, I learned more about the game, saw just how fast the bowlers throw the ball and experienced my first sold out stadium full of drunken Aussies. It was a blast and I can’t wait to go again! -kel
Wednesday 1st Feb (cont): Difinitely more comfortable arriving in Korea this time - hopped the limo bus to the city (13,000 KRW versus the 90,000+ I payed for the limo taxi my first time here). Given the limited choice (with a summer bias) of clothing that Kelly and I have while we wait for the right time to have our container unloaded it is hard to prepare for -12 degrees C. The half mile walk from the bus station to the hotel was no fun.
Thursday 2nd Feb: Happy Birthday Ruminson! Got my mum to call me for her birthday after Kel had given her a present this morning. Drove to an offsite meeting about 80 km's north east of Seoul with one of my MS 
Korea colleagues - he explained the etiquette of Korean drinking to me along the way. I knew I had a night ahead of me.
Being the only non-Korean in a meeting that is conducted in Korean is tough. All of the MS people speak partial English and a couple speak great English so I rely on them totally. Lunch was traditional Korean food, most of which I couldn't identify but it was good - plenty of vegies and very spicey. I was asked if I had ever eaten dog food (which I clarified to mean have I eaten dog meat), I immediately confirmed that unless the unidentified meal I had just consumed included dog (it didn't) I hadn't. Although most do not eat it regularly every male at the table had eaten dog meat. Dogs are specially bred and raised for eating (the same as cows and pigs), and it seems there is currently a shortage so in poorer areas the regular dog population has been on the decline. I told them about the crocodile pizza (see "An Aussie Christmas" blog December 2005) that Kelly and I had and they thought it was crazy - it's all about perspective.
Seoul was cold but the area northeast of the city where the Hotel Chereville, (http://www.cherevillehotel.com), is located was at least another 2 degrees colder... and I'm running around in a cotton business shirt and a light sweater. It was wicked.
The dinner was again traditional Korean and this time everybody sat crossed legged on the floor to eat - I lasted about 15 mins until my legs went numb. The hard part for me was that because of my inflexibility the mats that are provided are too small and I end up with my ankles crossed on the hard ground. We were drinking soju (fermented potato and onion varieties) - it is about 20% proof. In Korea there are many ways to show respect and for bonding while drinking. One thing that can be done to build a relationship (it takes a bit of getting used to) is to give specific people the glass you have been drinking with and pour them a drink, they drink from your glass and then pour you a drink and return the glass. Everybody was really cool and as usual the more drinking that was done the less language presented a barrier. After dinner we continued a "casual" drinking session back in the hotel, which involved sitting cross legged on the floor again but this time the drinks were scotch (no single malt here) and beer. When the shoes were put back on at the end of the night some people's had definitely been replaced by wobbly boots. I slept well.
Friday 3rd Feb: Back to Seoul - lots of work to do.Saturday 4th Feb: Caught the subway to Insa-dong - Seoul has a great subway system. Today was really, really cold - I brought a wool hat from a street stall to get me through. Insa-dong is great, lots of small shops selling tradional Korean handicrafts and antiques and a number of art galleries, both traditional and contemporary. I went to a great robot exhibition at one of the galleries. I spent about 4 hours all up in Insa-dong and if it wasn't for the cold I would have stayed longer. 
Riding the subway back (and having thawed out some) I decided to take a detour to Itaewon - it's where most of the westerners hang out in Seoul. I could have done without it - seemed pretty seedy in the day and there was stall after stall of fake brand name clothing. In all a fun day of exploring. I was ready to sleep all the way home on the plane.
Tuesday 31st Jan: The long plane flights are getting easier, Sydney to Hong Kong passed in no time (actually 9 hrs). I read the paper, watched a horrible movie (The Transporter - so bad it was funny) and a few doco's and started speaking with the older lady in the window seat. I'm usually not a talker but she didn't have the strongest bladder, so she was up and down often and apologizing each time for making me move, so we got to talking. Anna is psychiatrist in Tel Aviv and has childeren & grand children in Sydney. What a story - born in the Netherlands, her family fled first to Potugal away from the Nazi's and then to Indonesia away from the threat of Franco, in Indonesia they were imprisoned for three years during the Japanese occupation. After the war they eventually moved to Spain, she married a Moroccan Jew, who was a lawyer but because of his dark skin found it hard to get work. They had family ties in Australia so moved here, started a family and lived here for 30 years. He died, her children were grown so she took the opportunity to move to Jerusalem to teach in the University, her apartment was damaged during a suicide bombing so she took the opportuntiy to move into private practice and to Tel Aviv. As Gwen Stefani says "the shit is bananas", it definitely helped pass the time but I was thinking at one stage that given all that has happened to her I am not too keen to be flying on the same plane let alone sit next to her.
The train into the city from HK airport is great - quick and easy. Jumped a cab to my motel (Le Meridien Cyberport - new & funky), I had to wait an hour for the room so they upgraded me to the suite - a waste, I was wishing Kel was there to enjoy it with me. Met my colleague Alan and his family for dinner and got to work at the MS offices.
Wednesday 1st Feb: I'm trying to lose a couple of pounds for the wedding and running out of ti
me. It doesn't help when the comp breakfast at the hotel is a buffet that includes shrimp dumplings and pork sticky buns. On the way back to the Central we passed an awesome cemetary looking down to the sea, I wish I had time to stop and take photo's (next time). Checked my bag at the airport express train station then jumped a local loop train to Causeway Bay to have a look around in the 30 mins I had spare. Lots and lots of shops, nothing too appealing although I bought some DVD's at a very handy price (could they be pirated :) ). Back out to airport and guess what... there is Popeye's chicken at the HK airport ... a few legs and then on the plane to Incheon.
(FRIDAY FEB 25, 2006) Patty Perkins sent out the rallying call and Pistol Pete played the gracious host - another great night at the Red Door.
I went home with a skin full and fell asleep before room service could bring up the grilled cheese - Kel ate the lot although still not enough of a reward for putting up with a drunk guy snoring next to her all night.
