chinese new year 2015.

It was Chinese New Year last weekend, which is always a fun celebration in Melbourne. This year, our neighbourhood hosted some amazing festivities during the day, which was super convenient for us. There were delicious Asian food trucks, a stage for various musical performances, a few traditional lion dances, and of course - the return of the huge light-up dragon.

CNY in the Docklands

yummy tofu banh mi

We also celebrated the holiday by keeping some of our personal Lunar New Year traditions, based on traditional Chinese customs:

• Cleaning the house before the new year: typically done to "sweep away evil spirits" and such, I like doing it because it's actually a super useful post-winter-holiday tradition (aka: last chance to get rid of the Christmas tree!).
• Remembering our "ancestors:" we're not into ancestor-worship, but it's a nice opportunity for us to share stories of loved ones who have passed away. I think this will be a great way to preserve memories for our future children, of the family and friends they won't get to meet in person, but are still very important to us.
• Wearing red, the celebratory colour of the Chinese: also a way to "scare away evil spirits and bad fortune," because why not? This is especially useful during years when CNY lines up near Valentine's Day.

Happy Year of the Sheep/Goat/Ram, and we wish you all a year of prosperity and joy! 恭禧發財

CK

one down, three to go.

studying at the Docklands library

My first semester of grad school has been over for a little while (and I passed all my classes - what a relief!), but I thought it would be fun to share some of my general back-to-school experiences, as both an international student, and someone who's been out of the academic world for a while.

Semester Structure

I was a mid-year entry student, so I started in Semester Two, which is from late July to early November-ish. We have class for three months, with a one-week break in the middle - pretty short, which I don't mind at all! But per usual, I've grown accustomed to my environment, and by the beginning of month #2 I was already experiencing end-of-semester-itis.

I'm still not used to thinking of March-June as "Autumn semester" and July-November as "Winter/Spring semester." During one of my first classes, the professor asked each student to introduce themselves and tell everyone about something fun they did over the winter break. I was the first to go, so I naturally started blabbering all about what I had been doing since winter. American winter, that is - November, December... It totally went over my head that the professor was simply asking us about our "winter break," aka the single month of June. I was mortified.

there may not be a Starbucks on campus, but there's a bubble tea place! 

Academics (and Grading)

During international student orientation, the instructor briefly touched on the topic of grading. "Grades are a lot different here - it's best to discard any expectations you have from previous grading scales, and just ask an Australian classmate if your grade is good. Most of you will be aiming for an H2A, which is about 75-79%... Students from the US will be disappointed, students from the UK will be ecstatic."

Here's the Melbourne University grading scale:

H1 = 80%-100%
H2A = 75%-79%
H2B = 70%-74%
H3 = 65%-69%

Of course, grades mean different things to different people (one's B+ is like another person's D- etc. etc.) But generally speaking, in the US, grades in the 70's are not really considered great. Especially if you're Asian, in which case you may have just disgraced generations of ancestors. But here in Australia, 70's are actually pretty good. "I've never been this excited about an 80% on a paper!" I exclaimed to my family over video chat one day, as they tried their best to hide their horror.

I worked hard, but kept personal expectations low, especially since I'd been out of academics for a while. My grades weren't terrible, and for my first semester average I managed to hover around a low H1. Yay!

crunch time.

Going Back to School as an "Older" Student

I graduated from college in 2007. That's over seven years ago, and while it seems like just yesterday, it really isn't. Going back to school as an "older" student was challenging, and there were many skills I had to learn, as well as re-learn.

I had a chronic headache for the first week or so, just trying to wrap my mind around big words and readjusting to concise academic-speak. Also, I had forgotten how hard writing is. I had to use a different type of writing style for each of my four classes - complex academic writing (citations, yay!), opinionated editorial, dry investigative reporting, and conversational blogging (really not familiar with that one at all. haha). And even though I've grown accustomed to the Australian way of spelling (colour, manoeuvre etc.), there were some phrases and unique spelling that I had to consult my iPhone Dictionary about, especially while editing other classmates' papers.

For the entire first month of the semester, Ben was still working on the road, so I was very much alone. And then when he finally came home, I stressed out about having a husband around - I didn't have a husband during my undergrad years, so would I be more or less distracted having one around? But to be honest, school is so much nicer without having to worry about dating, or even looking nice for class. After the first week I realised that it was perfectly fine to sit in large lecture halls without wearing anything girly, or looking remotely awake. School is wonderful like this.

And finally, I know I sound like an old fogey here, but: I really miss the days when getting a paper back was a simple thing (i.e. you get your physical paper handed back to you, physically), not a chain of e-mails between tech support and various instructors about why I can't see my comments or grades in the supposed Learning Management System. Almost everything at school is done digitally now, from accessing the readings online, to handing in final papers. There are obviously many pros and cons to technological change in any area of life. But, as always, I find myself getting very accustomed to the benefits, and wanting to rip my hair out over the pitfalls.

how I construct philosophical essays, no joke.

The Social Network

Of course, one of the best things about university life is the chance to meet people from all different walks of life. Grad school is especially diverse, because unlike an undergrad program, more students have come from different life situations (backpacking across Europe, taking multiple "gap years" after college, pursuing a drastic change of career, etc.) and there's more age variety. I'm definitely not one of the younger students in my classes (and I actually may have had at least one younger instructor, ahhhh), but I'm not the oldest, either. I've met plenty of fellow classmates my age, give or take a year, and I've had no problem connecting with my classmates who are up to a decade younger or older. It's amazing how often age really doesn't matter, once you hit your mid-twenties. Especially if you look and act like an awkward teenager, like yours truly...

Anyway, when I started school last year, it had been months since I'd interacted with people in-person, so it was nice to finally be able to practice my "social skills" again. It was great to finally meet some local Australians, and have real conversations with them. It was also fun to share my experiences as an American traveling throughout their homeland. Some of my classmates hadn't even heard of many of the towns that Ben and I got to explore last year. And sometimes they had heard of these places, although not positively. Me: "We spent a few weeks in Shepparton, it was super fun!" Classmate: "Shepparton? That place is terrible!" <-- I imagine it would be like an Australian visiting Indiana and spending a three-week adventure in a charming, quaint town called, say, "Gary." (No offence if you're from Gary, IN.)

An American in Melbourne

I love how being an American makes me "unique" around here. All semester long I took every opportunity I could to make terrible, self-deprecating American-jokes. And whenever I'd do something completely awkward like trip over my words (or feet) or bungle a well-known expression, I'd just chalk it up to my American roots, as if no one was at all familiar with the United States. Losing my balance and falling over in my chair? Totally an American tradition. Dropping my water bottle and accidentally dumping water into my lap? Just another cultural quirk from the US of A!

I tried to play it cool as much as I could with Australian words and phrases (out with "whatup, guys?" and in with "g'day mates!"), but every now and then I'd learn (the hard way) about certain unexpected Americanisms. For example, there's a non-teaching week during the month of September. I asked some classmates if it was "like, Spring Break?" and everyone began laughing and shouting things like "SPRAAAANG BREEEAK!! WOOOO!! Let's all go to Cancun, duuuudes!"

Apparently the notion of "Spring Break" is a VERY American thing. And a terrible stereotypical one, at that.

Also, studying journalism as an American in Australia has had some strange challenges. For example, when discussing politics (which I am terrible at, by the way, but unfortunately it's a staple of journalism), I was dismayed to find out that in Australia, the "Labour Party" is liberal, while the "Liberal Party" is conservative. So whenever someone is identified as a liberal, I have to figure out if they're liberal, or Liberal. Or maybe a liberal Liberal? Good grief.

And speaking of America... it's been fascinating to see just how much of an impact American culture has on Australians, especially through the media. Most movies, popular songs and television shows come from the States. In fact, a friend of ours told us that to him, our American accents sound out of place in person - but that when he watches American movies/TV he's so accustomed to hearing American accents on screen, that it doesn't sound American to him - it just sounds normal.

One classmate of mine admitted that he had memorised all the American States and their Capitals for fun, when he was in grade school. Another classmate happily talked my ear off about the NFL, which he preferred over Australian Footy. And quite a few of my classmates aspire to one day move overseas for a bit. "I'd love to get an apartment in New York for a few years... I mean, to live anywhere in the States, that's the dream, you know?" Which is funny and kind of ironic, because many of our friends and family feel the same way - about Australia.

What's the thing they always say about the grass?

It's always greener on the other side. (Of the world.)

CK

sportsing summer in melbourne.

Although the weather may suggest otherwise, summer is in full swing in Melbourne, and that means plenty of opportunities to watch some of the world's best athletes 'sportsing' their hardest.  Of course there is the Australian Open, but this year is extra special as the AFC Asian Cup is being played in Australia.  The Asian Cup is a football (soccer to us Americans) tournament similar to the UEFA European Championship or World Cup in that it is played every 4 years and features the national team of each country.  As the name suggests, it features all the qualifying teams in the Asian conference.  This includes Australia (who joined the conference in 2007), as well as Japan, China, South Korea and also other countries like UAE, Pakistan and Jordan.  This is the first time Australia has hosted the Cup as the host nation changes every 4 years, and was the perfect opportunity for us to experience some world class football. 

cheering on some Asians at AAMI Park

Luckily for us, Melbourne was one of the host cities for a few first round matches of the Asian Cup, so Candice and I got tickets along with one of my friends to attend the group stage match between Japan and Jordan.  The stadium was filled to near capacity with over 20,000 people, 95% of whom seemed to be rooting for Japan, one of the favourites to win the Cup.  Japan were true to form and won 2-0, as Jordan struggled to keep the ball out of their half of the field for pretty much the entire match.  The crowd was energetic and engaged, especially the singing section near where we were sitting (though in my opinion it didn't come close to the energy of a Seattle Sounders crowd), which made for a great atmosphere.  

watching Japan win

It would have been fun to see the Australia team play live, but those matches were more expensive and sold out quickly, so by the time I was aware that the Asian Cup was happening it was already too late to get tickets.  The massive support from the Australian faithful and the goal-scoring prowess of Tim Cahill helped Australia secure a spot in the finals where they played South Korea.  Australia won in thrilling fashion 2-1 on a goal in extra time after South Korea had tied the game in the 91st minute.  It was a great win for Australia, and their first win as a nation in a major football tournament!

Being the former Coupeville High School 2nd singles tennis player that I am, I tend to geek out when the Australian Open is on.  Even when I played tennis, I never really spent much time watching it on TV, but having the opportunity to attend and see the world's best players live is something truly special.  When looking up tickets for the Open, I discovered that during the four days of qualifying before the tournament, you can go watch the matches for free.  So Candice and I headed to Melbourne Park on the last Saturday of qualifying and were rewarded with some great tennis under beautiful sunny skies.  We were able to sit two rows back from the outdoor courts as we watched players ranked in the hundreds playing just for the chance to be in the Open, where their victory would mean facing off against the highest ranked players in what would inevitably be a short lived tournament experience.  We had a great time and it was a great teaser to what would become another epic Australian Open.

day four of qualifying for the Australian Open

After the first week of play, we decided to get an evening ground pass to the first Saturday session, where we had the chance to watch the world's 5th ranked mens player, Kei Nishikori, who we also watched live during the 2014 Open.  It was actually a very deja-vu experience, as we saw Nishikori play an American again, and we saw him win with relative ease, again.  Steve Johnson (ranked 38th), the American he played this year, put up a good fight in the first set and managed to win the tiebreaker, but apparently that took all of his ability to achieve as Nishikori won the next 3 sets easily to secure the match.  As with the Japan vs Jordan football match, the crowd was dominated by Japanese supporters cheering on Nishikori, though there were a few American supporters who would yell out encouragement ("come on Steve" and "let's go Stevie") when they got the chance.

watching the tennis pt. 2

Nishikori vs. Johnson

Australia had a lot of representation in the men's tournament this year (10 players in total), but as the tournament went on all of them were defeated until only one remained, 19 year old Nick Kyrgios.  As with most of the nation, we became swept up in the excitement as Kyrgios made it into the quarterfinals by beating Andres Seppi in an epic 5-set match, before losing in straight sets to Andy Murray.  Kyrgios is a bit hot-headed and a polarizing player, though quite entertaining, and he fed off the energy and support of the crowd throughout his matches in the tournament.  It was exciting to witness a young talent make a real splash in the tournament, especially as he had the support of the host nation (and TV announcers) behind him.  

Murray would go on to the finals to play Djokovic, where they had met 2 times previously in the Australian Open finals.  The first two sets were some of the finest tennis I've ever seen, as neither player could gain the upper hand.  The third set was the change though as Djokovic got a late break to win 6-3 and then swept Murray 6-0 in the 4th to win a record 5th Australian Open championship.

Despite these great sporting events, what had me most excited this summer was Super Bowl XLIX.  The Seahawks were in it for the 2nd year in a row, and this time I actually had the day off work to watch!  Apparently our move to Melbourne has been just what the team needed, as they've made it to back to back Super Bowls since we left Seattle.  Heading into the matchup with the Patriots I was as nervous as always, but so excited to see my favourite team playing the sport that I love above all else.  Candice baked a cake and decorated it with the logo and the slogan of Seattle, "Go Hawks", and we even had our friend James and his wife Marcela over to enjoy the game and celebrate with us.  Everything was going perfectly for us to celebrate back to back championships, but it wasn't meant to be.

a Monday morning Super Bowl party!

Candice and her little cake.

By now the entire world knows what happened, and like all of Seattle I was devastated and went through all the stages of grief in coming to grips with the heartbreaking loss.  It was an especially difficult loss because the past few years following the Seahawks has given me the greatest sense of community with a sports team I have ever experienced.  It began before we moved from Seattle as I started listening to sports radio more frequently, and continued to listen to the same podcasts 5 days a week either as I drove to remote parts of Victoria or rode the tram on my morning commute.  It allowed me to continue hearing the great play by play of Steve Raible and Warren Moon, and continue to get all the news and speculation on all things Seahawks, even from the other side of the world.

Then there are the personalities of this team, the coaches and players and their dedication and respect for the 12s (the Seahawks fans).  From a defense that is one of the best the league has ever seen, a running back who runs like every play might be his last and who refuses to let up no matter how hard he gets hit, a quarterback who visualizes victory in every matchup and continues to achieve beyond even our wildest expectations, and a coach whose positivity and leadership has inspired our players to play for one another and allowed them to perform at such a high level because he uses the unique talents of each person in situations that will allow them the best opportunity to succeed.  

But for me, this feeling of community is really about the friends and family back home in Seattle that I miss every day.  Sharing the common love and excitement for this team make Seattle and the great Pacific Northwest seem not so far away.  And that is why I will continue to follow this team with the same dedication, no matter the outcome.  Go Hawks!

BK

january happenings.

Summertime in Melbourne is always jam-packed with fun things to see and do: festivals, sporting events, and other exciting activities. Here's what we've been up to this month:

It's been a pretty cool and temperate summer, although at the beginning of the month we had a few days of over 100 degree (F) weather. We made our annual beach trip to St. Kilda on one of the hottest days, taking short dips in the water and reading/laying out in the sun. The beach is always fun, but it's kind of a trek to get there, and St. Kilda is always super crowded. Once a year is enough for us!

The beginning of the year is a busy time for sports - the Australian Open, the Asian Cup and the Superbowl (it's not Australian, but we're still excited, and we'll be watching it together this year!). We'll write a separate post dedicated to those events in the near future. But even as someone who isn't super enthusiastic about athletics, it's been fun attending games and getting swept up in the excitement of it all.

us cheering on the Seahawks - on a Monday morning.

Australia Day came and went - now that we have more Australian friends/acquaintances/classmates, it's interesting to hear more perspectives on how locals actually view their national holiday. It seems like quite a few people (at least, people I know) are opposed to it, referring to it instead as "Invasion Day," when the English settlers invaded Australia. There are certain American holidays that produce similar polarising viewpoints, such as Columbus Day and Thanksgiving, and it's interesting having discussions with friends about how these events should be celebrated or recognised, if at all.

Controversy aside, Ben and I both had the day off, so we wandered around the city to observe the various festivities - radio station dance parties, markets, and of course, fireworks.

Ben finally got a chance to visit Hosier Lane.

Docklands celebrations, complete with fireworks.

This year, we finally decided to visit the Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne's touristy viewpoint, and apparently the Southern Hemiphere's highest viewing platform. It's at the very top of the Eureka tower, which is also a residential building (the 14th tallest residential building in the world, as of 2013). We picked a good night to go - during a nice sunset, with beautiful views of the surrounding city and beyond. We decided to purchase an annual pass (not a terrible deal, especially now that I'm able to get a student discount), so now we'll have a fun view to visit whenever we want to! 

panoramic view from the Skydeck

on the "Terrace," the outer viewing platform

sunset

touristy sunset

day turning into night.

Ben has been keeping busy with work per usual, and I've also been putting my days to good use - taking a summer class on data journalism, and completing an internship at a startup media company, which has been a great opportunity to put some of my journalism skills to use.

summer school is fun!

And last but not least, Melbourne has finally turned the heart of the city into a free tram zone! The no-fare area covers everything in the Docklands (super convenient for us!) through the main parts of the CBD. And even though it doesn't extend all the way to Ben's office or my University, they're both only a short walk from the last free stop. Not a bad thing for our budget.

 CK

our official honeymoon: cruising to new zealand!

We're back from our 13-day cruise to New Zealand aboard the Dawn Princess! Due to the proximity of the wedding to our international relocation, we decided to postpone our honeymoon for a more convenient time and location. And it was well worth the wait - we found a cruise that left directly from Melbourne, to a place high on our travel list, during a time when Ben would have to take work off anyway (Christmas/New Year's). Getting to and from the ship was super easy - the pier was just a tram ride away. No flights, no shuttles - it hardly felt like we traveled anywhere, because we weren't exhausted or stripping down for the TSA. Ideal for sure. Anyway, we had an amazing time getting away from it all, exploring a few cities in a brand new country, getting pampered on board the ship.

entrance to our stateroom

This blog post is mostly about my cruise experience (and here's a post from Ben's perspective), but if you want to read about our New Zealand port adventures, here are links to their separate blog entries:

• Auckland - cloudy and rainy, but plenty to see and do
• Tauranga - visiting Hobbiton and scaling a small mountain
• Napier - the "Art-Deco" capital of NZ
• Wellington - the actual capital of NZ
• Akaroa and Christchurch - gorgeous port, and a short trip to an artsy city in the midst of post-earthquake recovery
• Dunedin and Port Chalmers - Christmas Day adventures in a Scottish-influenced town

port #5, Akaroa

This was Ben's first cruise, but it was actually my fourth. I happen to come from a large international extended family, one that likes to combine reunions with travel whenever we can. My previous cruises include the Inside Passage of Alaska, the Bahamas (on a Disney cruise! over the holidays!), and a large family reunion on a Hawaiian island cruise in 2007. I knew what to expect (lots of delicious food, being waited on hand and foot, day-excursions at various ports, and of course - entertaining shows in the evenings), but it was also my first cruise as a full adult, without relying on other relatives to plan activities. 

This cruise was easily the longest cruise I've been on - New Zealand from Melbourne is a three day trip each way, so we spent half the cruise at sea and the other half visiting various ports. It was also the rockiest cruise I've ever been on, due to the geography (my previous three cruises were all on relatively calm waters, close to land). The Tasman sea is not kind, and after our experience sailing on it, we've decided to stick to airplanes if we ever visit Tasmania or return to NZ. Ben got super seasick during the return trip to Melbourne (medical centre, wheelchair, barf bag - you get the picture) which was a huge bummer. I asked a crew member if it was usually this rocky, and she replied that it gets 10x worse during the beginning of the season - no fun! Thankfully, our final day at sea was pleasant and smooth, and we were able to end the trip on a positive note.

rough weather.

On the third day of the cruise, our stateroom toilet began gushing out water, spectacularly flooding the whole bathroom within minutes. The ship was rocking back and forth so hard, the toilet water sloshed into our room - which was very exciting (and made for a great story to share with all the elderly people at dinner the next evening!). It was eventually cleaned up and sanitised by the friendly maintenance crew, and there were no further bathroom mishaps for the rest of the trip.

luxury.

Of course, aside from the rough sailing and rogue toilet, we had plenty of wonderful moments at sea. The sunsets were gorgeous, with the cleanest horizon lines and long rays of light. On our final day at sea, Ben and I were hanging out by the bow (we may have been pretending to re-enact the "I'm flying!" scene from Titanic...), when suddenly Ben spotted a dolphin leaping out of the water... and then a few more, and then maybe hundreds, making identical little surface dives in and out of the sea. It was a magical moment, perfect and unplanned.

seconds before we saw hundreds of dolphins leaping out of the sea!

During my previous cruise experiences, I was part of a large group of relatives in the midst of a reunion, and we only socialised among ourselves. But because Ben and I were alone, with no one else to catch up or spend time with, we had a chance to meet other couples. This was mostly due to breakfast and lunch at the formal dining room, where most tables were for 4-12 people, so we had to sit with at least two strangers. I'm no good at interacting with people, but Ben is, and I definitely enjoyed meeting various couples and families, hearing their unique stories and backgrounds. We met a middle-aged married couple from China and France, traveling with their friendly, metal-music-loving nephew. We talked to a woman and her adult daughter (who has Down's Syndrome, and is only a few days older than me!) - the cruise was a part of the daughter's travel bucket-list. On a few different occasions we ran into a man from Utah, who specialised in cowboy poetry performance. We chatted with fellow Melburnians, Australians, New Zealanders, first-time cruisers, elderly couples adding this trip to a collection of retirement cruises. Definitely an older demographic, but as Ben put it, "much better than the other extreme - a bunch of loud/annoying/drunk cruisers in their early 20's!" There were some younger couples on board, and some families with younger kids - but most children spent sea days with the children's club, and they only came out of the woodwork when Santa arrived. Speaking of which...

The cruise ship was all decked out for the holidays, with bright decorations, holiday-themed music playing nonstop (live and recorded), various Christmas desserts, and other traditional festivities. Santa made a short on-board appearance (giving a small present to every child - how sweet!), and there was a Christmas-themed evening show featuring the ship's singers, dancers and other entertainers. We also attended some of the Hanukkah menorah-lighting ceremonies, and made it to the midnight Christmas Eve inter-denominational service - led by none other than the lead singer of the evening shows, who had just walked off a different stage dressed as an 80's rock idol, and onto the makeshift pulpit wearing a sharp pink suit. Ben and I had a little Christmas morning celebration in our stateroom, giving each other cards we had made during an on-board crafting class, and opening small presents we had saved from packages our families had sent us earlier in the month.

formal night on Christmas Eve, and gathering in the lobby to sing carols

attending the ship's Hanukkah ceremonies

Christmas Eve midnight inter-denominational church service

our cards and some presents from family

There was no free internet on board, which we definitely appreciated - it gave us a chance to completely get away and unplug, and resort to non-electronic entertainment. Like Bananagrams, reading, and of course - journaling. I had packed a small notebook for us to both write in, to record our daily adventures, big and small. It definitely served us well in writing our blog entries, and will be fun to re-read in the future, while reminiscing about our newly(ish)wed adventures.

Ben losing to me at Bananagrams, again! haha

our shared vacation-journal.

We tried to take advantage of as many on-board activities as we could. We made it to most of the nightly shows: broadway-esque song and dance performances, a highly entertaining violinist, moderately funny comedians, an impressionist-singer. We attended a few presentations, such as a New Zealand shopping slideshow, various lectures about upcoming ports, and a harrowing testimony from fellow passenger Siegmund Siegreich, a Polish Holocaust survivor and an incredible man (his memoir is called "The Thirty-Six"). We participated in various crew-led "enrichment classes" - Christmas card-making, origami, gingerbread-house decorating, and various dance classes (it's no small feat to learn to Meringue on a rocky ship!). And we attended as many deck parties and lobby activities as we could, including a balloon-drop party, island-themed dance party, paper airplane-throwing contests, and various food-making shows featuring chefs and edible centrepiece-decorators.

balloon-drop party!

island deck party! (sounds entertaining in a NZ accent)

various enrichment and entertainment activities

final primetime show in the theatre

The weather was moderate - not tropical or anything, and very windy during bad-weather days. But we had a few sunny afternoons at sea, which we always took advantage of by sitting out on deck, and we took a quick dip in the hot tub once.

our one day at the hot tub

Overall, the cruise was amazing - we had the opportunity to completely relax, eat delicious and unique food (not my mediocre cooking!), explore (a tiny bit of) New Zealand, and be thoroughly entertained by our surroundings. In the future we'll be steering clear of the Tasman Sea, but at least now we know!

CK