From: White,
Jamie D (WHITE)
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 9:50 AM
To: White, Jamie D (WHITE)
Subject: FW: Spring has sprung...
… several weeks earlier than we’d anticipated. Turns out that all of the seasons officially begin here on the first day of their respective months. (Nevermind the equinoxes and solstices.) Who would’ve guessed? (Actually, everyone in the lab is confident that this is the case everywhere other than the US. If any one can confirm or refute this for other countries, please write.)
Aussie word for the day: fairy floss (cotton candy)
Last weekend, we loaded our bikes onto the train and went to the center of Melbourne. From there, we biked along the Yarra River and out to Port Phillip Bay, en route to an amusement park (the source of our word for the day). Some stretches of the route were lovely, palm-tree lined paths along the beach. (Other stretches meandered past “car parks,” warehouses, and Department of Defence installations. Oh well….) It was a very pleasant day. A huge black cloud appeared overhead just after we’d purchased the girls’ wristbands for unlimited rides, but it passed over without incident. Joanna surprised us all by deciding that she wanted to ride the scary Ghost Train ride all by herself after trying it once with Sara (May). She waited in line for more than half an hour for the privilege. We couldn’t believe it.
Both girls are continuing to enjoy school. Several weeks ago. Sara (May) participated in a “Standardized Athletics” competition with other 3rd-6th graders from her own school and four or five other nearby primary schools. They competed in track-and-field events (long jump, high jump, discus, shot put, and sprints). There were easily 500 kids there, and the potential for total mayhem was huge. It was extremely well-organized, however; I (Laura) had gone along to help out, and I actually enjoyed the experience.
Joanna continues to adjust to school life. She’s now attending full days on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and half days on Fridays. She stays with me on Wednesdays. Today, the two of us revisited the science museum, a couple of train-rides away. (Before leaving Juniata, the kind folks in the International Studies office issued us International Teacher cards and told us that we might be able to use them to get some discounts. It turns out that the cards get us in absolutely free to museums, aquaria, etc., so we’re making many repeat visits to such places.) This time, we were happily surprised to run into a mother we knew through the girls’ school (there with her two preschool children). It made me feel like we’re really getting settled in here. Joanna and her classmates are slated to be on the 6 o’clock news AGAIN soon, this time because a local physicist (not from the university where Jamie’s working) wrote a book about quantam physics for five-year-olds and tried it out on them. Seemed kind of gimmicky to us, but Joanna’s been having fun telling us about “Ellie the Electron” and how she likes to spin.
The girls’ school community is proving to be very friendly, and I’m getting to know lots of other parents. We really enjoy the ethnic diversity of the student body and are quite heartened to see how well all of the children of various backgrounds get along together. Joanna’s closest friends here are two Lebanese Australian girls (from Sara (May)’s class, interestingly). Sara (May)’s current best buddies are Alexandra (whose family’s from Greece) and Mahalet (whose family’s from Ethiopia). Mahalet’s mother tells me that it’s hotter in Melbourne in the summer than it was in Ethiopia. We’re getting a little bit worried….
My schedule still isn’t too conducive to meeting up with biologists, but I’ve been fitting in some other things I’d hoped to do. In addition to helping out at the girls’ school, I’ve been enjoying doing some Aussie reading and visiting some museums all by myself, blissfully reading every single little card along the way, without Jamie tugging impatiently at my sleeve. The Melbourne Museum has quite a moving and disturbing section devoted to aboriginal history. The parallels to US history (both with respect to Native Americans and African Americans) are everywhere and extremely striking and thought-provoking. My most unexpected discovery there was that there’ve been several aboriginal country music stars (yes, as in Nashville)! Who would’ve guessed?!
Alas, my migraines continue. I saw the naturopath yesterday for the first time. She did a wonderful Shiatsu message and sent me off with some vitamin and mineral supplements, as well as my very own custom-made herbal concoction. She might do some acupuncture and/or acupressure down the line. We’ll see. At this point, I’m trying to buy into it whole-heartedly, so as to get the strongest possible placebo effect, if nothing else.
I (now Jamie) continue my search for a blue beam from the interaction of two IR lasers with Rb. It is like playing with tinker toys most of the time, with a total of thirteen mirrors, three beam splitters, a bunch of polarizing optics, 3 Rb cells (one of which is temperature controlled), 2 thermally- and grating-controlled diode lasers, 2 video cameras, 1 monochrometer, 3 fiber couples, a photomultiplier tube, 3 diode detectors, a chopper, one lock-in Amp, 3 oscilloscopes (or CROs, Cathode Ray Oscilloscopes, as they call them in lab, even though they are all digital and have no Cathode Ray tubes in them), one Optical Spectrum Analyzer, and a handful of power supplies, all on an edge of a vibration isolation optics table. There is not much room left, and it was a lot of fun laying it all out so that the laser beams would go the right way at the right time. The graduate students seem very hard working here, although the entire lab stops at 10:30 for a trip down to the coffee shop. I had a cappuccino, which many of you will know is my first coffee ever. I think I will stick to hot cocoa or green tea from now on. These morning breaks are quite culturally enlightening. Much of the time is spent recapping the latest footie (football, Australian rules) and the latest gaffes of George Bush or John Howard. (John Howard is the current Prime Minister and head of the Liberal party. Our grasp of Aussie politics improved dramatically once we realized that the Liberal party is the most conservative of the major parties. John and George appear to be two peas in a pod.) I don’t have the heart to tell everyone in lab that George Bush does not really think about Australia that much, but they certainly do think of the US a lot here.) Fridays are less productive in lab. There have been a few lunches for outgoing students, always a set of afternoon talks by graduate students, and then the entire school of physics retreats to the student lounge for beer and wine. If one does not get something done by coffee time, it is unlikely to get done.
The US election campaign is making news here nearly every night. We wonder how the coverage we see compares to what you get. Cable TV isn’t widespread here; most households in Melbourne apparently just get the major Australian networks – no CNN, etc. – so the news is all Aussie-produced. Several days ago, the Prime Minister announced the date of the Australian elections (October 9). The idea of the election date not being predetermined was new to us. Not only do the pundits get to speculate about who will win, but they also get to take bets on when the election will actually be held and even when the date will be announced. Now that the candidates are getting down to the business of campaigning, the process is all too frighteningly familiar. As voting is compulsory here, the level of pandering is quite high, but everyone seems to see it for what it is. By the way, thanks to the half a dozen or so of you who e-mailed to make sure that we’d requested our absentee ballots. As we told a few of you, “get absentee ballots” was the #1 item on our To Do list for the trip!
We hope that school’s gotten off to a good start for all of you. We think of you often and wonder how everybody’s doing. Thanks for all of your messages. We’ll continue to reply as we’re able. There are finally some photos on the website: http://faculty.juniata.edu/whitej/Australia.htm (Be warned that there are a number of pictures, so it would take a while to download if you are on a dial-up connection.)
Love,
Laura, Jamie, Sara (May) and Joanna
http://faculty.juniata.edu/whitej/Australia.htm