Cricket and Croquet!

Kersti organised a relaxing afternoon of outdoor games for the Ormond Senior Common Room (the resident tutors) this last weekend. We got to work on our important croquet and backyard cricket skills, as well as getting to enjoy some delicious snacks. I'm still not sure I understand croquet, but backyard cricket is a lot of fun and a lot harder than it looks!


Don Bradman about to score another century.



Adam Gilchrest leading off for the Aussies.



Watch out for that spin bowler!



Our antique croquet set.



Lining up to whack it...


I guess I missed!



Nikolaus getting a close look at the lie.



What? I wasn't cheating! I though you could use your feet!



Ai mistakenly thinks she is supposed to hit the soccer ball.


Right before all chaos broke loose on the croquet pitch...

Tennis at Melbourne Park

Kersti and I have been playing a lot of tennis recently as members of the Melbourne Uni Tennis Club. We have been able to play a lot of mixed doubles competitions, which make it fun to play together, and we have met a lot of really great people. We have signed up for a weekend league, which should prove interesting when it gets hotter as the matches are from 1-4!

Friday night, the club rented out Melbourne Park for the evening. This is where they play the Australian Open, which we went to last year and had a great time. It was really exciting to get a chance to play on the courts, including a show court with the stands around us. It was a very different surface, which took some getting used to, and was a really neat experience.

Kersti's Birthday

So this Wednesday we got to celebrate Kersti's birthday (actually, we try to celebrate Kersti's birthday week, might as well enjoy it). Although she is super busy right now with school work, she was able to meet up for a nice lunch and then a nice dinner after work. She finishes school in a couple weeks, so we will be able to have a more proper date then, but we still had a wonderful time.


The birthday girl!


Meeting up for a nice, sunny lunch on hardware lane (there aren't many hardware stores there).



We ate dinner on the east side of downtown, a ritzy side of town we haven't been to much (with good asian food).





Some beautiful flowers awaited for her upon her return, thanks to her Dad!



Where's Kersti?



I tried making some chocolate chip cookies (a poor substitute for cake), but you gotta start somewhere!

My Birthday!

So, to celebrate the big 3-0, Kersti and I had a lovely night down at the Docklands, eating at a Turkish/Moroccan restaurant with fantastic views of the water and the city. It is the same restaurant that we went to with Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Bob when they were here, and we had been meaning to go back for some time.
Thank you all for the birthday messages, it was nice to hear from so many people in the states that I haven't heard from in a while. I received many wonderful gifts, including an express package of Cheetos from Mom and Dad which was huge. Kersti got me a some cool gifts as well, especially a software package to help with my guitar playing. I think she may regret her decision though when I start using it all the time though!

Valedictorian Dinner

This last Friday was the valedictorian dinner at Ormond, which is the last big event of the year. It is a formal dinner where they announce several awards, have several senior students give speeches, and announce the results of the student elections and who will serve in the student offices next year. The students really do a lot of work and organising, so it is a big deal to be elected.
We had a fabulous dinner together, and then went to the party afterwards. I conned Kersti into staying up late, and we had a good time at the party as several tutors also went. It was a bit bittersweet as well, as many of the students we have become friends with will be leaving next year and this was their big send-off. Fortunately, most of them will still be around for the next month so we will still see them. This also means Ormond still serves food for the next month, so my laziness can continue for at least another month.


At the formal dinner, our last one of the term!


A good shot down the full length of high table.


The Master giving a speech to the students. He will also be leaving at the end of the term, and there will be some other send-offs for him in the coming weeks.


A picture of the student tables, looking from high table.


Here we are with our SCR friends Dan and Ai.


With our friend Vorapong, who was elected to the student committee.


Members of the SCR (i.e., resident tutors).

Kersti the Tutor

As we are resident tutors at Ormond, Kersti and I both run weekly tutorials for the students, who are mostly first-year undergraduates. The tutorials are for the courses they are taking at Uni, so we go over their course material and assignments and try to help. Kersti has been giving tutorials in the environmental and the interdisciplinary subjects, including the class "An Ecological History of Humanity", which required her to know everything about the history of humanity. I have been tutoring courses in Logic, Physics, and Engineering. Attendance by the students is not mandatory, but turnout is usually pretty good and the students generally seem pretty motivated.


Here is Kersti passing on her knowledge to Jonathon, one of her tutorial students.



Kersti is demonstrating her listening skills, an important tutor characteristic...

Billy's Birthday

We had a wonderful celebration for Billy's birthday... we went to lunch in a cafe in one of Melbourne's lovely laneways, Degraves St, and then went to dinner down at the Docklands. We went to Mecca Bah, a morrocon restaurant -- Bob and Carolyn, the same place we went with you! -- Anyway, dinner was delicious and then we went home for dessert & presents. I had made Billy a chocolate molten lava cake, which although tasty, made him wake up at 4am this morning feeling sick. Ooops. Mental note -- no more rich food for Billy after 8pm.

Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera, so all I could do was try to take pics with my cell phone. Billy was very patient with me as I tried to get it to work!

It was so nice to sit on the water... we're so close, yet we end up seeing water so infrequently. So it was a treat!
Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY!!!!!!!!!

Another oldy, but a goody... How on earth does Billy look so large?

In anticipation of his birthday, I thought I would put out a virtual roast, before I toast him tomorrow :)

This was taken in 2004(?) in Alaska while he was recovering from his poison oak outbreak. Anyway, if you look at it quickly, the skin of his neck looks like it's actually a second chin... and since he is the only one of the 5 to have his jacket enlarged by the wind, he does look unusually large!

But Billy, even if you were 600 pounds, I would still love you just as much as I do today :)

A 21st Birthday Party

A wonderful Australian tradition is to celebrate 21st birthdays in style. It is a very big deal which inspires upscale events. So this last Friday night, Kersti and I were invited to our friend Barrett's 21st party. She is a student at Ormond, and is close friends with our good friend Kristen as well. It was an amazing party... her family had rented out a bar downtown and served wonderful cocktails and snacks (including the rare chicken fingers!)

It is very different then 21st bday parties in the U.S. which is unfortunately mostly about being able to finally drink (I know I never drank until I turned 21). There were even some speeches, including a funny and endearing one by her father. They were the types of speeches we have at weddings.

Here we are with the birthday girl! She wore the most stunning gold dress!

Kersti with our good friend Kristen, our Oklahoman friend!

Although it is hard to see, we are wearing some (fake) bling which was part of the theme.

Our friend Jay from Ormond

Kersti trying out some new dance moves... or perhaps trying to revive some of her old, rusty tricks.

Showing off my bling after the party

Ormond Springtime

Billy's post.... We survived the winter (despite my being sick most of it) and springtime is now fully upon us. The trees and plants are blossoming, and the weather has warmed up to 26 degrees Celsius, that's more like it! Kersti and I have been getting out in the sun as much as possible, playing tennis, reading, etc.. and I'm working on my tan. Here are some pictures of the grounds here at Ormond.

Billy hard at work

Our "long" walk to the dining hall, we have to work hard for our food!

We love Uyghur - "Weegrrrr"

food, that is.

We went to a restaurant on hour outside the city to try this food, and the train journey on the packed commuter line turned out to be well worth it. Our friend Tyler spent much of last year in north west China and it was he that set up the dinner. The food was the BEST CHINESE food I've ever had. Apparently it is very similar to Uzbhekestani food.

The menu was a complete mystery to us, and Tyler ordered for all of us in Uyghur(?) If you ever have the chance to try it, definitely get the mini meat buns.

An oldy but a goody