Celia and Greg

Dec 22, 2004

Greetings one and all!!

I hope this finds you well and enjoying what the season has to offer. I am having a “down-under” seasonal offering myself - I am writing this from Sydney, Australia where I am visiting my friend, Greg. Yes, this trip was a bit of an impulse but I figured that the chances of having three weeks off at Christmas for the next few years are remote.  Student life does indeed have its perks!  It is very strange to be out on December 23 shopping in a tank top, skirt, and sandals, knowing full-well that those of you in Canada (or at least Eastern Canada) are enduring -20 degrees C. The weather here has been stunning - mostly sunny and 25-30 degrees. Sunday however shot up to 39 degrees, which seemed a tad extreme.

I’ve been here a week now and have managed to tour around Sydney a bit and also spend two days with my friend, Christine, on her 88 acreage outside Canberra. The latter trip was a real treat - her property is home not only to her and her family but I also saw kangaroos, a wallaby, parrots, and cockatoos. I was disappointed (OK, not really, more relieved) not to see red-backs (very deadly spiders) and scorpions, but this was merely chance. They regularly show up, as do deadly snakes. I managed to get a bit of sleep, but with one eye open.

Arriving back to Sydney yesterday seemed a return to urban safety, so you can imagine my surprise when Greg found an enormous spider in the apartment. Really enormous. I was scared to look at its live body (I did peek at the carcass), although I saw the end of its massive hairy leg extending out from beyond the window blind where it was carefully hiding from view. Greg was very brave and killed it but neither of us was too comfortable going to sleep. Had I been thinking, it could have proved a useful stand-in for my annual Christmas spider.  In this bizarre family tradition, we marked the passing of time before Christmas (and other major occasions) by making a paper spider and ripping a leg off each night before bed. I was probably 20 before I ever saw an advent calendar. This may help to explain the more unusual aspects of my character.

For the musical among you, you’ll be interested to hear about my experience at an outdoor carol singing event on Saturday night. About 100,000 people attended, with many celebrity singers performing (mostly Australian Idol finalists). It was quite an event to behold! Not quite sing-along Messiah at Massey Hall in Toronto but a nice substitute under the circs. 

A friend of Greg’s has invited us to a Christmas Day feast, and then on Boxing Day, we are driving down the coast and across the inland mountains to Melbourne where Greg actually lives (we are currently staying in his company’s Sydney apartment).  Melbourne will be great to explore - I was there briefly in my ICLEI days, but only saw enough to whet my appetite. I remember being struck by the fantastic urban sculptures on all the major downtown streets.

Well, that’s about all I can tell you for now.  To get some sense of Australia these days, however,  I can certainly recommend the latest Australian TV comedy called Kath and Kim. Very funny stuff!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday and that 2005 brings you much happiness and good health. 

Celia

PS attached is a pic of Greg and me out for dinner on the evening I arrived.  If you look carefully, you’ll see I’m eating ‘roo. 

Celia Chandler, Law Student, University of Victoria