From: White, Jamie D (WHITE)
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 10:47 PM
To: White, Jamie D (WHITE)
Subject: "That'll do, Pig."

Aussie word of the day:  capsicum (a menu mystery for the first week or so; turns out that it’s a bell pepper)

G’day, Mates!  How are you going?  Thanks to all who’ve written with news of home.  Hope those of you who are in Huntingdon see that dove with the olive branch soon.  You’re in our thoughts daily.  How have the rest of you been doing in the wake of the hurricanes?  If only we could redistribute some of that water, as the drought continues here.

Several weeks ago, the girls had a Friday off from school, so we decided to “hire” a car for the long weekend and head to some mountains called The Grampians, about three hours northwest of Melbourne.  Aside from signaling the first few dozen turns with the “windscreen” wipers, Jamie did an admirable job keeping us on the wrong side of the road.  We spent two nights in a “caravan park” (a.k.a. campground) in a “cabin” (a.k.a. RV without wheels).  Highlights of the caravan park included a big herd(?) of wild kangaroos (the first we’d seen), a couple kookaburras (yes, actually sitting in the old gum tree), and a flock of beautiful rosella parrots that ate from our hands.  (As the food ran out, they got a bit frenzied, sending Sara May to cower in the cabin, while Alfred Hitchcock scenes flashed through our minds.)  The weather was typical for early spring in the Victoria mountains:  it rained, snowed, and hailed several times each, for five to ten minutes at a time, with brilliant sunshine and stiff winds in between.  The mountains themselves were gorgeous, covered with wildflowers, ferns, cycads, and gum trees.  We took several short hikes – one to a very scenic overlook, one to the base of a very scenic waterfall, and one to a somewhat less than scenic rock shelter with ancient indigenous artwork in it (somewhat less than scenic because a metal cage had been constructed around the artwork to protect it from vandalism).  It was wonderful to get out of the city, and we reconfirmed for ourselves that we are truly bush (that’s with a small b) people at heart.

This past Sunday, we attended the Great Melbourne Show (“It’s the Show – You Gotta Go!” – so, of course, we had to.)  In many respects it was like the Huntingdon County Fair… with about 75,000 people.  There were some incredible chickens on display in the four-storey poultry barn, including some straight out of Dr. Seuss and others that looked like their brains were on their foreheads (VERY strange combs).  Didn’t see any displays of sheep-herding prowess, but we did make it to the highly-acclaimed pig races.  The pigs had their own electric-guitar-toting Country Western performer (“all the way from the Northern Territory!”) opening for them.  He even had a genuine simulated Southern drawl (while singing, but not while speaking – very disconcerting).  After the racing, we were treated to a pig diving exhibition.  It defies description.

Lab work is turning out better than expected.  A wonderful breakthrough occurred this past week and an abstract for an upcoming meeting of the Australian physics society is being submitted.  I not only found my mysterious blue light that I alluded to in the last note, but it turns out to be coherent…a laser beam.  Assuming it can be characterized and some theoretical quantum mechanics can be used to explain its existence, it will lead to a paper.  The next step would be to use it to image some laser-cooled atoms, but that maybe another breakthrough away. 

The girls are currently on a two-week break from school between terms three and four.  (School goes year-round here, with term one beginning in late January and term four finishing in December.)  It’s a welcome change of pace for Joanna, who’s still struggling a bit to get her bearings.  We learned last week that her teacher will be the acting principle next term, so Joanna’s in for yet another change.  Not an ideal situation, but we’re trying to help her cope.  Sara (May)’s biggest concern over the break is maintaining her monkey-bar calluses, so she’ll be ready for the challenges ahead in term four.

We decided to take advantage of the school holidays to take a trip up to Sydney for a week.  We’re heading out tomorrow morning “on the road to Gundagai” (in the words of a famous Aussie folksong), where we’ll be spending the night.  We’ll stay in another “cabin” in a Sydney-area caravan park for several nights as we tour the Opera House, the aquarium, etc.  Then, we’re hoping to head to the Blue Mountains (west of the city) to meet up with Joanne Thurston-Griswold’s sister and her family.

It’s so much fun to connect with people who are connected to friends back home.  Last Thursday, I (Laura) met up with Dale Hess, a dear friend of the Durnbaughs and the Murrays.  It was a bit surreal to be sitting in a Melbourne food court chatting about Huntingdon, Princeton, and Bridgewater.  It was wonderful getting a chance to meet him.  We’ve been communicating by e-mail a good bit since we arrived.

We miss you all and think of you often.  Wish we were around to help you all dry out, clear trees, haul away demolished outbuildings…

Love,

The Whites

Jamie White

Associate Professor of Physics, Juniata College

While on sabbatical: Senior Fellow

School of Physics, Melbourne University

white@juniata.edu

For family news: http://faculty.juniata.edu/whitej/Australia.htm