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

Accolades for Kersti

Well, apparently the 20+ hours I spent on the poster below paid off because my professor was so pleased he gave me a very high score and asked for a copy of it to distribute to certifiers that accredite the Urban Design degree program. He even offered to pay for it! But alas, I thought charging would be a it over the top. Anyway, I know you can't read it but you can still see the pretty colours :)

Party at the Aquarium!

Kersti and I took a break from our work to go the Post Graduate Ball for Melbourne Uni students this weekend. It was held at the Melbourne Aquarium, a truly amazing venue. They kept most of the aquarium open, so we had full access to view all the fishies while enjoying tasty food and drinks. It did make us feel very nouveau riche. Kersti had a beautiful dress appropriate for the 'Atlantis' theme, on loan from our friend Kristen. I was a bit loopy, as I was on several medications, but I managed to be a passable date.

Outside the aquarium looking at the Yarra River.

Look out Kersti, there's a snake behind you!

That's an oyster shot. I couldn't convince Kersti to down one, but I did enjoy one. -- In my defense, it was disgustingly large and was so big it stuck in the glass. When I managed to get it out, my mouth filled with salt water and I nearly lost my cookies. I 'politely' spat it back into the glass and left it on a table. Ick.

In front of the tanks.

A giant ray passing overhead.

Our friends Lindsay and Lisanne.

Our friend Jane with the fireballs from the Crown Casino in the background.

What have I been up to you may wonder?

Well, studying buidings like this one... the Rialto Towers and it's contribution, or lack there of, to the public realm. Today there was not a cloud in the sky (for about 20 minutes)... and I took a shot of this bird, though the office building happend to be there too. The office where I work is directly across the street from the blue towers, though out of the picture).

I have also turned into a full time poster maker... here are the latest:

My investigation of Box Hill, a suburb in the outskirts of melbourne (these were ~11x17 each)

and my monster A1 poster on the proposed redevelopment of an empty block in downtown Melbourne is too big a file to post here... so sad, it took forever.

Spring?

Good news for me and Billy, the weather seems to be taking a turn for the better. While there's still a crispness to the air, some trees are starting to blossom and we are actually seeing the sun for at least a few hours a day. Phew!

On Saturday we went for a run in Princes Park next door and the weather was perfect -- we were rapturous :) We watched the Ormond girls play 'chicks footy', which is really just girls playing Australian Rules Football quite aggressively and without mercy. The tackles were quite bruttal! But we cheered them on and ran on home...

Billy sat on the patio in the sun for a wee bit, but then a few hours later it was raining... ah, Melbourne.

Anyway, life has not been very fun lately. I have been completely overwhelmed with assignments, been tortured by my maniacal Property Investment lecturer's excel spreadsheets, stared at the computer screen for 14 hours a day and not resting easy. I've even developed some sort of stress related stomach ache that causes me to be nauseous all day and night long. So you might remember that not long ago I enjoyed blissful, stressless days? Well, sadly, I have joined the ranks of the working-hard-class... it's probably about time.

What we now know about C H E E S E !!!!!!!!

Billy and I went to the Australian Association of Specialty Cheesemaker's annual cheese and wine tasting extravaganza today. Best Sunday of recent months... We thought we'd pass on some of the knowledge we gained today in the 'wine and cheese pairing class'...

All the cheese we tasted in the class was from Milawa Cheese Company (from Victoria)... and all the wine was from Mount Langi Ghiran Winery's "Cliff Edge" series (also Victorian).

Cheese - Wine
Bocconcini - Riesling or Pinot Gris
Brie - Riesling or Pinot Gris
Cheddar (hard, 3yr) - Sangiovese*
Blue - Shiraz* (but also good with whites and Sangiovese)
Washed Rind cheese (strong!) - Pasito Riesling (sweet dessert style)

* The winemaker who was there told us that usually he prefers to have white wines with all cheeses, but he wanted to show that red wines are also quite good. They were beautifully paired as it happened.

Also, did you know that when making brie, they dump in the white mold which then hardens on the outside to form the skin? When first made the brie is actually hard, and then the enzymes in the white mold break down the cheese and soften it as it ages. Cool, huh? Also, brie is nearly exactly the same as camembert - the size of the wheel is really the only difference!! (except if you're super critical, there is a slighly different maturation rate because of the different surface area to volume ratio.)

And did you know Rennet is traditionally made from the stomachs of baby cows? Sad... but if we're going to be sad about that, we should probably re-examine our view of the entire dairy industry! To start producing milk, the cows have to get pregnant and give birth to a baby cow... the farmer then has the option to let the baby drink the sow's milk, or let us drink it... Well, I'll let you consider your own position on that.

Anyway, we must have tried 40 types of cheese today, and they were nearly all delicious!

Alaina and Lindsay (Lindsay had just arrived from a visit to Pennsylvania!)

Here's Billy - still standing as we exited onto Southbank!

Quick trip to Sydney

I (kersti) was up in Sydney for work at the beginning of this week... it was quite a treat! On Monday we (the 5 of us who make up a team) had a planning day in Palm Beach, which is north of Sydney. Despite being winter, we sat outside on the deck all day and had spectacular views of the ocean. At lunch we walked along the beach. Not a bad day at the office!

And the fruit of our hard day's labour: the schedule.

I was at the Sydney office on Tuesday, and as it was a beautiful day, I took a picture from the balcony that runs the length of the office. This puts our Melbourne office to shame. The Sydney crew are lucky ducks... one of the best spots in Sydney, I reckon. It's right on the edge of Hyde Park with views of the harbour. The opera house is hiding behind the buildings on the left.

Paolo was here!

Paolo, my friend from Stanford, was in Melbourne! We had a wonderful time sharing some meals and walking around Melbourne. We went up to the top of the Rialto Tower for a view of the city, walked around the Melbourne Uni campus, and toured Ormond. There was a massive power outage covering all of the campus and all the colleges, so it was not the best of times to visit! But the lights came back on as we were in the great hall (dining hall).

He also introduced us to two of his friends who live here in Melbourne... an old buddy from his university days in Switzerland and his wife whom he met while he was in China for several years. Here are some pics!

We had tapas at the Long Room

New Job for Billy

So I started my new job last week at e_connect. I think I am really going to enjoy it, and the work looks like it will be challenging and rewarding. The company specialises in connecting renewable electricity unto the electricity network, especially wind power. It requires a lot of power engineering, so I have been busy-busy trying to learn it all as fast as possible. It is a small and quiet office, but there are a lot of young people. Unfortunately, I have been quite sick for a while (blast this cold winter), but I think I am on the mend now finally. The job is really the type of work that I want to do, and it helps to feel like you are doing something constructive.

It's still winter....

Unfortunately, it appears that we are still in winter, and the conditions will persist for some months to come... We have some nice sunny days, but it's cold, windy, spitting rain, and on the whole, it's not so lovely. But, here are some picks of Ormond on such days...

Here was a lovely wintery sunset from the bedroom...

This is the path we take to the dining hall (unless it's raining in which case we go through the building)...

Our apartment is on the 6th floor of the white "modern" building!

Ormond Musical - City of Angels

Last week we attended the student musical, City of Angels. It was a spectacular performance that turned out to be fairly professional. This was a surprise given their lack of funding and little time to really prepare as the show was the first week back from school holidays. The singing was great, the dancing was great, and the music (a 17 or 18 piece band made up almost entirely of Ormond students) was fantastic.

The only downside (in my opinion-this is kersti), was that it was totally, totally, over the top. Sex, sexiness and inappropriate innuendo's were the feature... As we attended "Master's Night", the audience was made up entirely of College administration, tutors like us and academic fellows. We weren't the audience that was going to laugh hilariously at such things! (Plus, it's a bit awkward - the girls are just barely 18 years old!!!) I, for example, sat next to the College's resident MINISTER... so it was a wee bit awkward when women were prancing around in bustiers, thigh high lace stockings in high heels and tiny, tiny bottoms... and when they actually had a sex scene! It was a bit too much for me! And all the women in the play had these similar roles... very sexist and terrible!

Anyway, the music was good :)

Re-Commencement Dinner

Last Saturday we had another big formal dinner at Ormond... this time we didn't wear robes, but wore formal attire instead. Billy and I have seemed to run out of formal outfits to wear... I swear we have another picture of us wearing the exact outfits. Oh well, no one knows but YOU!

One of the resident fellows, Jane Freemantle, gave a lovely address to the students. Her talk addressed the major issues that Australia must tackle regarding Indigenous australians... and hopefully she inspired some of the students to help solve all the injustices! This is Jane in the red, next to a fellow residential tutor, Bei-En:

The dinner was lovely, which boded very well for the new Chef! She has transformed the food regime and it is now WAY BETTER. Anyway, here are some pictures from before the dinner...

Here we are with the Master, Hugh Collins

and with the Dean of Studies, Jenny Holmes

Kristen and I wore very similar outfits... black dresses, gold shoes, gold accessories, and black shawls! American Twins!

And here I am with Jane H and Jason... heaps of cameo's that evening...

After the dinner Billy headed to the party (I headed to bed)... here's the only in-action dance shot!

The start of my last semester!

My final semester has begun... I have just three more classes to pass and I will have my masters! Whoopee. Here's a run-down:

1. Property Investment - a rather hard core financial class with lots of spreadsheets and calculations (Eeek), but it will be very useful for me to have some idea of what asset managers do to compare investment options.

2. Regenerating Activity Centres - from an urban design perspective, how do you transform a town hub to allow for higher density living while still making it a nice place to live, work, recreate, etc. Fun!

3. Urban Design for Planners - an excellent accompaniment to #2... here I will learn to draw, they say. Nice, I've been looking for a drawing and coloring class. But no, I think it will be great and a hopefully it will be quite fun.

So that's it on the classes, which will round out my "Master of Environment, with a focus on sustainability in the built environment" degree!

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And in addition to classes... I'll be tutoring one subject for Ormond and also working 20 hours a week, so busy busy, I will be!

$37

Yesterday I went to borrow Billy's backpack so that I could take it to Safeway on my bicycle. It felt quite heavy so I went to empty out his treasures. In addition to the usual things you would expect him to carry around (like 9 highlighters, 4 pens, 3 rubber bands, post-its, etc), I also found $37 in coins. THIRTY-SEVEN DOLLARS. Granted we have $2 and $1 coins in this country, so it's not like he had 148 quarters, but it was a lot.