The district level footy season lasts about 20 weeks, each week defined as a "round". Last weekend was the first round of play for the team that I am working with and the team that Erik is playing for. I wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of how many people would be there to watch and how the day would go, but I did know that there was a special "guest player" playing with our team in order to try to attract a large crowd on opening day. Anthony Koutoufides, affectionately known as "Kouta" by the locals, played for our side (teams are referred to as "sides" here) last week to the tune of what I'm guessing was a couple thousand dollars in his pocket for one game.
Kouta getting ready to play with the Moonee Valley FC
Kouta used to play in the AFL (equivalent of the NFL if we were taking American football and not footy), and had great success during his career, including being a few votes shy of winning the Brownlow Medal (the MVP of the league, essentially) in 2000. In totally non-footy related news, he won Australia's Dancing with the Stars in 2006! One of the guys on our team who follows the NFL first compared him to Tom Brady, but then decided he was more like an Eli Manning, not having quite the stature of Tom and his Under Armour and Stetson cologne ads, though Kouta did advertisements for both Nike and Adidas in the 90's. Either way, he's a big deal and LOTS of people came out to watch him play, which created a really fun and exciting atmosphere. Both teams (the senior team, or the 1's, and the reserve team, known as the 2's) beat the opponent by over 100 points, a big turn around from last year when apparently both teams lost to that same opponent by a combined 300+ points. Perhaps we should have tried to get Kouta for Round 2 as well, because we got flogged (commonly used Aussie word when a team loses badly of which the definition is: to beat harshly) in yesterday's game. Both teams lost by over 100 points, so the shoe was on the other foot, as they say. Apparently the team we played yesterday will be a top 5 team in the league (out of 14 teams), so there is no need to get discouraged yet. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but the team I am working with won only 2 games last season, so I am certainly hoping for a better season this year!
Unfortunately I didn't capture the spectacularness of this rainbow, which was completely full and extremely bright over the CBD after a big storm came through this afternoon. Here is what remained of the rainbow when I left the gym.
I thought I'd share a few funny terminology things with you that come up with the footy guys. I often ask them how things went in practice. They are constantly correcting me because they call it training, not practice. Their shoes are not cleats (they have NO IDEA what cleats are), they are boots. In fact, Erik mentioned to the other sports trainer (my official term when working with this team) that he needed a band-aid because his cleats were rubbing, she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Game jerseys are not called jerseys but jumpers. We aren't exactly sure how that works because a jacket is also a jumper. A bruise or contusion (like when you get kneed in the thigh) is called a corky. In training, when they put on pennies (the different colored mesh things so that you know who is on each team), those are called bibs. Before the regular season started, we had 3 practice matches, not scrimmages (they had no clue what a scrimmage was). And I'm not taping their ankles, I'm strapping them. :)
Another amazing autumn sunset captured thanks to the iPhone.
In terms of life in general, I was back to work last week after two weeks off due to school holidays. School is year-round here and that was the first break, separating term 1 from term 2. I was fortunate to be called to work at the sports school right across the street from where we live, so it was a nice ease back into working in a place that I am familiar with already. Week 2 of the second term starts tomorrow, but it's a bit of an easier week because Wednesday is a public holiday for ANZAC Day, a day that marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the first World War. It will be nice to work for 2 days, have a day off, then work for 2 more days before another weekend rolls around!
I thought this cloud made it look like there had been an explosion over our 'hood!
The term "full-on" is often used by Aussies to describe something that is intense, complete, or busy. They might describe a crazy night of partying, a hard workout, a difficult class assignment, or even a holiday as being "full-on". Right now, the Australian Football League season has just gotten underway, and I would describe the first weekend (also known as Round 1), as full-on. The first game was Thursday night, and I'd guess that most of the state of Victoria was tuned in to watch at least a bit of the game. Games continued on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and with each game seemingly came excitement surrounding the beginning of a new season. Because we arrived towards the end of the Footy season last year, we didn't totally immerse ourselves into the footy culture. We did watch the Grand Final (like the Super Bowl), but we did not own a television for the first few months of our time here, so it was not easy to watch the games.
Two players in "the ruck". This is similar to a jump ball in basketball. A ruckman is usually one of the taller guys on the team and he generally has sensational vertical jump height!
We got in on some of the Round 1 action today, as we headed to a game with a few friends. At this point we haven't completely decided who we are going to cheer for during our time in Oz. A common question that is asked this time of year is "who do you barrack for?", meaning "which team to you support?". I'm leaning towards the Essendon Bombers, because we lived in Essendon for a few weeks when we first arrived. I'm also a bit partial to Geelong, because they won the first footy game we attended even though they were the underdogs. We learned their victory song right away that night (yes, every team has a victory song), and it stuck with us for the last few weeks of the season. Geelong won the Grand Final last year, and they certainly aren't lacking supporters, so that might help me make my decision of which team to support! Today's game was a team from Perth (the largest city in Western Australia) versus a team from Footscray, which is actually where Erik's work is located.
The game requires an aerobic capacity similar to soccer, but with the addition of a physical component of tackling like American football (commonly called gridiron by the Aussies!) or rugby.
We were cheering for the team from Footscray today, but unfortunately they ended up on the losing side of the match. Regardless, it was fun to watch the game live and it was a beautiful fall day to be outdoors watching a sporting event at yet another stadium in Melbourne.
Our first sporting event at Etihad stadium. Lots of red, white, and blue from the Footscray supporters.
In addition to the AFL (which would be comparable to the NFL if we were talking "gridiron"), there are "feeder" leagues of footy. Then there are also district level footy leagues across various regions of Melbourne and presumably throughout Australia. Let me introduce you to a few of the guys who are on our footy team!
That is their promotional video for the 2012 season. Some of the guys get paid to play for the team, though I think what they make is generally equivalent to gas money for the week or money for beers and dinner on the weekend after games. We've had 3 practice matches and the regular season starts in 2 weeks, just after the Easter holiday. The team is coming off of a really bad season, but they have made some changes and they seem optimistic that this year will be better. They certainly keep me busy with lots of injuries and I'm enjoying getting to know the guys on the team. It's nice that Erik is playing as well, because it's something we can enjoy together. Impressively, Erik actually scored his first goal (worth 6 points) this weekend, in only his second game of footy!
We also continued our search for delicious Mexican food this weekend, as we met friends for dinner at a Latin American restaurant, Los Latinos, that happens to be a short walk from our house. The prices were very reasonable and the food was quite good. Erik and I split a delicious Chilean appetizer called "arepas de mascora", or seared yellow corn cakes topped with melted cheese, grilled chorizo, and sour cream. I was a bit disappointed that they did not serve margaritas on the rocks, but they did have a great selection of yummy frozen margaritas, so I indulged in a mango flavored drink. I also saved room for dessert, and the tres leches cake topped with whipped cream and berries was amazing! I'm hopeful that we'll make a trip back there when we start to crave Mexican-flavored food, which seems to happen quite often in this house. :)
March 1st was the official start of autumn in Australia. However, this past week has felt much like summer, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70's and low 80's. The forecast for the next few days looks like much of the same, but towards the end of the week it appears that temps will start to fall. It's a strange thing to have the days getting shorter instead of longer in March and normally we'd be looking forward to summer right now. We don't have much room to complain though, considering we essentially got to enjoy two summers back to back in 2011! I'm not sure how much color-changing of the trees we will see, but I'm excited to find out what the fall and winter have to hold for us in our new country of residence.
Hoping for a fall season full of sunsets like this one!
This week I actually felt the stress of work for the first time in months. It wasn't completely overwhelming, but I was quite exhausted by the end of the week, and I think that going from not working at all to working so many different jobs actually caught up with me a bit. I also had a very challenging day of CRT (substitute teaching) work at a high school teaching an extremely rowdy group of 9th grade boys, which reminded me of my days teaching boy's freshman health, who were the most challenging group of students I've ever taught. I also had the opportunity to play cricket with a group of 7th grade boys, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the fact that I was a terrible bowler (a position similar to that of a pitcher in baseball) at the beginning of class. Eventually I did improve my bowling skills and was able to hit the wicket, and the boys actually seemed quite impressed with my progress.
After a long week I was happy to catch up with a few friends this weekend. One of my former workmates is moving to Vancouver to pursue her dream of becoming an actress, and she had quite a lively going away party on Saturday night. On Sunday, I enjoyed catching up with another former coworker, as we took a stroll along the Maribyrnong River and followed that up with a delicious lunch of Columbian food in West Footscray at a charming little place called Besito. The food had terrific flavor and I will definitely be dragging Erik there to try additional items on the menu.
A delicious treat! Arequipe, a Columbian caramel sauce topped with chocolate ganache. AMAZING!
I am absolutely missing March Madness over here. Unfortunately I've only been able to watch clips of the exciting games, and it's just not the same as watching them live. It seems like there have been several huge upsets this year, and even though those games have busted my bracket, I love to see that happen (unless it's Carolina that is being upset, of course!). I'm totally bummed that I have to work tomorrow during the Carolina-Creighton game, because with the tournament on network television instead of ESPN, it is not possible to watch replays of the games. I'll be cheering on the 'Heels in spirit though and hoping that I will have several more chances to watch them in 2012!!
Wasn't I just blogging about how much I love being able to commute to work via the bike?! On Monday I was having a great start to the morning...beautiful day, good lift at the gym to start the week...then it all came crashing down on my ride to work. I was only about a half mile from our house where I was building up speed to get through the green light at an intersection when a cyclist came from the sidewalk (riding on the sidewalk is illegal, by the way) into the road in front of me. He was riding significantly slower than I was and he basically pulled right into the middle of the lane. So I frustratingly moved towards the outside of the lane, but not too far out because I am aware that there are tram tracks towards the outside and if you get stuck in a tram track on a bike you are in big trouble. What I was not so aware of was a big metal plate that I presume is screwed into the ground, but in looking at this picture it looks like it's out of place.
This is kind of a crazy intersection, and I was making a right turn (basically following the tram tracks) onto the left side of the road where you see the red light, but trying to keep to the left due to cars and trying not to be TOO far to the left because of the tram tracks. Are you confused yet? Anyway, all I remember is losing control of the bike and sliding along the pavement. My helmet has a good little dent in it and right pedal ripped my shoe and tore into the skin on my right foot pretty good. The worst part was that my knee got twisted into a horrible position I had excruciating knee pain, so much that I could not get up without assistance. So I was in the middle of the intersection screaming in pain and yelling for help and when the light turned green cars just started driving around me. Lovely. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a minute or two, a few very nice people came over to help me up and get me and my bike to the sidewalk. At that point I was running on pure adrenaline and thinking that I would just hop on my bike and ride to work. Ha! Then I started to get dizzy and feel sick to my stomach, so like the good athletic trainer that I am, I propped my feet up on my backpack while lying on the sidewalk. At this point the nicest man came to help me! He had been in the car in front of me, had seen the cyclist pull out in front of me (ummm, that cyclist just kept on biking after I crashed), and came back to check on me. Gave me some fluids and some stuff to clean up my cuts, put my bike in his boot (aka the trunk), and drove me home. Even called me later that day to check on me. There are still good people in this world. :)
So I spent Monday doing what I've told so many young athletes to do over the years...RICE. I was seriously worried about my ACL because I had so much instability, though I didn't have a massive amount of swelling like is usually (but not always), the case with an ACL tear. So on Tuesday I got in with a physiotherapist (similar to a physical therapist, but also similar to an athletic trainer), who was able to rule out an ACL injury but confirmed what I already knew...a grade 2 MCL sprain. Over the last 7 years of working in the high school setting I have had almost 10 athletes with grade 2 MCL sprains, and now I know exactly how they were feeling. At this point I'm almost a week post injury and while I can walk, I do not have full range of motion and I certainly don't have full strength. It will probably be about 4 to 6 weeks before I can resume normal activity, though I might be able to bike sooner once I'm mentally healed from this crash.
Erik and I had planned to do a long bike ride to Bells Beach this weekend, but that was out of the question. Saturday it rained all day anyway, so it was one of those days that you love to hang out and just do nothing. Today was spent similarly, though I did get out for a short walk around the neighborhood. Hopefully I'll be getting a bit better each day, though I really need someone to force me to do rehab because it's much easier to tell someone what exercises to do than to actually do them yourself. :)
Lessons learned from the crash:
Do not come remotely close to anything metal while on a bike.
Always wear a helmet (definitely saved me from a concussion and potentially worse head injuries).
Do not be afraid to lend a helping hand to someone who looks like they are in trouble. I am very thankful for the strangers who helped me and it definitely made me think about what I would do if I was on the "other side" looking at the person who was in the middle of the intersection. Don't be the person who keeps driving...be the person that offers assistance!
On Wednesday our 20 foot container was FINALLY delivered to our house, exactly 3 months to the day that it left our home in Elkridge!
I really cannot explain how exciting it was to watch the truck pull up, knowing that we were about to see all of our belongings, often referred to in the last few months as our "stuff"! Over the last few months we have watched and tracked our container as it sailed down the Atlantic Ocean to the Bahamas, over to Europe and through the Suez Canal, then up through the waters of Southern Asia and finally to Australia. We sent most of what we owned, as I did some research before we made the move and discovered that things would be much more expensive to buy here in Oz. Much of our furniture is Ikea and most of it has been around for close to 10 years (or more!), so our thoughts were to get 3 more years of use out of these things and then leave them here when we return to the US.
As we began to unpack, we found some funny things that made in on the ship that were NOT supposed to make the trip. We sent a rice cooker and a fondue pot, both of which are useless here. The 2 attachments for the Kitchen Aid mixer made the trip even though the mixer did not, as appliances run on a different voltage here and we learned before sending everything that even though our kitchen appliances could work here, running them would cause damage to the motor(s). I sent lots of US stamps (luckily they are "Forever" stamps, ha!), and both of the titles for the cars we sold in Maryland were in our file cabinet that was shipped (hmmm, that might have saved me a trip to the MVA!).
I was most excited about our kitchen utensils, cookware, and the box full of toiletries that I stocked up on before the container was packed. The shipping company advises against shipping liquids due to the extreme temperatures that occur while the container is at sea, but I stocked up on hair products, miscellaneous toiletries, and some make-up, packed them into large Zip Lock bags, and they all made it over safely! My shampoo/conditioner is more than twice as much here and mascara is $16, so thank goodness for my pre-shipping shopping trip. :)
Just try to ignore the mess and focus on my smiling face. :)
At this point we are about 75% unpacked and I think that the last 25% will take a bit longer to accomplish because I will be starting work tomorrow! I've accepted a temp job at a non-profit organization where I will be making phone calls and updating a customer database. The job is supposed to last 4 weeks, and I'm hoping to earn some money for our Christmas vacation, destination still TBD. I have not been to work since mid-June, so this could be a rough week!
The weather has been relatively nice as of late, so Erik and I often go for a walk after dinner to "explore" the surroundings of our neighborhood. Last night we turned what we intended to be a 20 minute walk into almost a 2 hour walk, but it was enjoyable and we "discovered" a path that we had never been on before. One of the beauties of living close to the Maribyrnong River is that there is a trail along the length of the river, which is easy to get to from our house. I regularly run on the trail, but I have been wanting to bike the trail because I can go much farther with less work on the bike than I can with just my own two feet!
This afternoon I decided to head out on my fancy old pink Trek to discover what lies ahead on the trail. Near our house, the trail is mostly packed sand or dirt and it is super smooth biking, so much so that you *could* probably manage the trail with a road bike. I assumed that most of the trail would be this way. WRONG! After I got a few km (yes, trying to work in kilometers here instead of miles!) into the bike ride, the sand turned to gravel, which then turned to rocks and sticks and mud. Let's just say I was happy that Erik had taken me mountain biking through Patapsco a few times when we were living in the 'Ridge. Not that this compares to Patapsco in terms of difficultly, but being that I had ZERO idea what was up ahead of me I most certainly would have turned around after the first rough patch without that previous experience under my belt.
The view from my bike when the path was easy to ride!
Overall I really enjoyed the bike ride and I'm excited to bike the path again with Erik once his mountain bike gets here (on that note we have received confirmation that our things are going to be delivered next Wednesday, exactly 3 months to the day that they left our home in Elkridge!). When I was on my way back home, I did notice a sign that said the trail was closed!
I didn't see anyone else on the path while I was riding, but it was the middle of the afternoon on a Friday so presumably most people are at work during this time. I'm quite sure that people still ride it despite the sign, as evidence by the orange fencing that has been cut down next to the sign. :)
From the path there is a really cool view of Melbourne's Buddhist Temple:
And the most random thing, by far, that I saw on my bike ride today:
Surfing, anyone?
As of now we have no formal plans for the weekend, but hopefully we'll do some more exploring and I'll have more fun stuff to share soon!
