Ellis feeding birds at UQ

Ellis feeding birds 2
Originally uploaded by Renboo

On Friday we went to work with Cyp. We were up at 4 am again, so even though it takes us a long time to get out the door, we were still in good time. We took the citycat. It rained! Cyp's colleagues like to joke that Cyp seems to bring the rain and it seems he does. That is good as there was a 10 year drought before Cyp arrived for his first visit last year in November. At that time it rained so hard his flight couldn't take off.

Hmm - didn't really bring any warm clothes or raingear. Actually - don't need warm clothes really - just a raincoat or umbrella.

The commute took about an hour - it was nice, but it is kinda slow. There is free wireless though so maybe it will be ok for Cyp. We parked Rowan (who was sleeping) by the Catman (the worker who checks your ticket) and when Rowan woke up, the catman tickled his leg and entertained him the rest of the trip. He was a young handsome guy. They seem to like kids here.

We got off at the campus and started walking. Passed a daycare so I went in to check - put my name down on the list and got an email later that day saying that they think they have a two day spot for me = YAY!

We walked through the grand courtyard. I didn't take a picture - but is is beautiful.

We next stopped for breakfast - it is unlike UBC in that there are private restaurants on campus. They are expensive though - I got the healthy breakfast (which was good - 2 eggs, half an avocado, 2 pieces of toast, a tomato - for $10.50). Ellis had cinnamon toast for $5 and Cyp had the unhealthy breakfast. He said he'd been a regular on prior visits. Hmm. Yup - pretty much knew he was living the highlife, but I'm not too bitter. They have good coffee though, but expensive again.

After breakfast, we headed to Cyp's office. The outside of the building is actually much nicer than the inside - whenever I had video chatted with Cyp, his office looked kinda bleak. It's not that bad in person and he has lots of great people around him.

I met his colleagues - we discussed Australia - I wondered about dangerous animals. Mark told me the most dangerous thing in Australia is the sun. Yup -think I knew that. His other colleagues are from South Africa and Malaysia - very international.

We chatted with mom and dad as there was good internet and then Ellis, Rowan and I let Cyp get to work. We headed to the pond outside his building. It's a beautiful pond with all sorts of creatures. Lizards, turtles, eels, fish, weird birds - look kinda like coots. Ellis fed the ducks, eels and turtles the rest of his cinnamon toast and then we headed towards the river. There is usually a path along the river that you can walk along and we did - back to the citycat. The last stop is the University, so we didn't need to worry about what direction it was going.

As it was the middle of the day, there were lots of tourists on the boat and it went quite slowly. That is when I started to wonder if Cyp would get bored of the commute. It is beautiful though and as I mentioned there is wireless. I don't think he'd get bored and he would only take it when it was too hot to bike.

Hmm. Still trying to figure out where to live.

As we neared our stop I asked Ellis if he wanted to get off or go to the store. "Store" he said. Darn! Why do I ask. I had been planning on asking Colleen our landlady to drive us to the store.

So, we stayed on the cat and got off at Sydney St (same as yesterday). Today there was a bus sitting there, so we got on it. It went right to the store! Yay!

Ellis was mostly well behaved. Today he grabbed a chocolate bar near the counter and the woman behind me just chuckled - they seem more tolerant here. Saw a Baker's Delight (that's Cobs in Vancouver) bakery and found the BWS store (Beer Wine Spirits - I must say, they are not very imaginative when it comes to naming things - they tend to just use the initials for the the store is - e.g. Home Design Store - HDS etc)

Then we caught the bus home - getting help from an elderly woman. I got on her good side - she said to me as Ellis jumped into the street "you have to have eyes in the back of your head"

"Yes, I said, and I don't"

She said - "and those two will go in different directions - I had twin boys - my sister said twins were easier as they go through the same development stage at the same time"

I said

"no, twins would be harder in my book - your sister was wrong"

That pleased her immensely and after that she went out of her way to help us.

We got the bus back to the ferry and in the confusion of where to get off (everyone was chiming in at this point) I forgot to swipe my go card on the way out. DARN! When I got on the ferry next I think my total had dropped by $6. Darn double darn. I don't think I will forget again.

We got home and waited for Cyp. We hit the pool again. He was supposed to be home by 5:30 but at 6 he called and said he was just leaving. hurumph. Ellis and I had already battled and Ellis was in bed. I was trying to barbecue (people don't have roast pans as they don't use their ovens) and finally with the help of Colleen I got it lit. I opened the wine, ate my dinner and pretty much went to bed as Cyp walked in the door. At least it was the weekend.