sydney sydney sydney

I've never actually seen the Brady Bunch episode where Jan, in a fit of sibling rivalry-induced angst, veritably shakes her fists to the heavens and rages, "Marcia Marcia Marcia!" But I moved to Brisbane and all I heard was "it's a country town, it's no Sydney" (from nearly all the locals we ran into), "I hate it here, there's nothing going on" (from transplants from other parts) to flat out "go to Melbourne" (from my former manager in Vancouver, a born and bred Gold Coastie).

I'd always wondered, WTF? It's perfectly fine here, if a bit hot. Now I'm known to be stubborn and I'm sure a lot of this was due to my making the best of things, determined to embrace my new home and I like to think I look at every situation anthropologically, for it's own merits and every new opporunity is a chance to observe and winnow out the unique and special. So it is with a heavy heart that I confide I FUCKING LOVED SYDNEY!!! I kinda want to move there. We had to visit the US Embassy (there isn't one in Queensland so we headed to Sydney, capital of New South Wales) to straighten out our passports and it was a fine excuse to spend five days in a city city.

It rained a little which of course made us ecstatic. We sat in cafes and wondered "what are we doing in Brisbane?" We walked through seedy neighborhoods, through reclaimed light industrial areas, alleyways, poking through nooks and crannies, wrestling milk crates and beer bottles out of The Bun's grasp (We did a lot of this at 6am since The Bun woke at 4, much to the chagrin of our neighbors in the edgy boutique hotel with paper thin walls...I think we've outgrown these).

It was like London with a comprehensive subway but about 1/10th the people and the people who were on the trains were NICE. Men would often grab the front of the pram and heave it off the train or up and down stairs with nary a look up for a smile or thank you. Weird! The streets were like New Orleans. The vibe was like San Francisco. The harbor was like San Diego and Vancouver. With a shot of Amsterdam. It was many favorite cities rolled up into one. Nuts.

Months ago, I saw a recruiting site looking for creative directors in advertising based in Sydney, boasting a fat salary...I mean PHAT. 4x what I could make here. A salary that would have us burning drugs and money in the front seat of our Porsche. It makes you think...

culture clash

When Little Miss Organic falls off the wagon, she falls hard. After serving up a dinner of brown rice with tempeh and vegetables last night to my beloved husband (and soba noodles with tofu, flaxseed oil and shredded carrot, zucchini and broccoli to my unsuspecting baby), I decided what I needed for lunch today was...Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Is it different here in Australia? You bet your arse it is.

a) it's called "Macaroni Cheese" (what's that? aren't "macaroni" and "cheese" two different things?)

b) it's not orange

c) the packaging says "no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives*" and "*preservatives are not included in this product in accordance with Australian food standards." WTF?

d) it lacks that tang, that saliva-inducing sensation when the fake, chemically-enhanced cheese product hits your taste buds.

Know what else is different here? Sara Lee frozen chocolate cake. Drier, not as dense and buttery. Don't tell Kirk I've been eating crap while he's out of the house.