iBeck's Favorite Things (about Australia)

Oprah decided to visit Australia about two weeks before Becky and I did.  In honor of her, I give you iBeck's Favorite Things (about Australia).

1. Male Tramp Stamps - Becky spotted one of these bold tattoos early in the trip and had a hard time keeping her excitement to herself.  I could do nothing but express my unconditional approval.  I would put the over/under on the number that we spotted at five.  That also equals the total number of male lower back tattoos I have seen in my life.

Sadly, this is not my picture.  I have no excuse for not capturing the glory that was witnessed.  This will have to do.

2. Language - Stubbies (Bottled Beer), Stubbie Holder (Coozie), Jumper (Fleece/Jacket), How ya going, guys? (How ya doing), G'day, Mate, and adding the letter y/ies to every word like Chrissie (Christmas), Sunnies (Sunglasses), Esky (cooler), Good onya (good job), Pom/Pommy (Englishman),

3. Burger King is Hungry Jack's and McDonalds is Macca's. Enough said.

4. Commercial from the retail store Rivers. This either consisted of showing sales with hard-core death metal in the background or the most monotoned voice announcer of all time tell us why we need to go to Rivers.  Our favorite line explaining the glory of all the shirts on sale, "Some have pockets, some don't, it all depends really."

This is easily the most expressive Rivers commercial, but its the only one I could find.  Also, please don't be confused by these low prices, this is the WalMart of Aussie retail.

5. The Ashes.  Who knew cricket could be so interesting?  Well, no one apparently.  That didn't stop me from seriously getting interested in the biggest sporting event in Aussie.  The Ashes are four 5-day cricket test matches between the Pommy Bastards from the England and the boys in the Baggy Green.  They play every other year and alternate between the UK and Australia.  We were there in time to watch the last two tests, which saw Australia embarrassed by the Poms.

Is it sad that I could literally name five guys on the Aussie national team right now?  I could literally write several pages on Australian cricket.  I am pretty sure that most Australians couldn't do that.  This confirms what most already knew, I have a sports sickness.  The positive is that this is great knowledge to have now that I am moving to a commonwealth country.  I can't wait to make Becky go to five day cricket tests with me!

6. Sunrise and the lack of filter. Sunrise is the Good Morning America or Today Show of Oz.  There were plenty of things we liked about this show.  First was the QVC like shopping experience you get every 10 minutes or so.  They stopped the news and kicked it to one of the Sunrise people who were hawking some gadget or another.  It was seriously like flipping channels between Matt Lauer and Ron Popeil...but without having to change channels!

The other part that we loved about this show was the complete lack of filter.  This can best be explained by an interview with a plastic surgeon who was on to talk about plastic surgery becoming an increasingly popular gift for Christmas.  When the doctor made this proclamation, the host immediately said, "That's not true!"  He basically called the guy a quack the entire segment and ended by saying," Thank you 'doctor.'"  He literally made air-quotes when he said "doctor!"  How awesome is that?

7. Beer.  XXXX, Victoria Bitter, Coopers, Toohey's, Cascade, Hahn Super Dry, Pure Blonde all available in a schooner.

8. Tank Tops.  Did you know that tank tops are back in! Woooooooooo!  Everyone in Australia is going to the beach.  Always.

9. Steak! Bring me my steak!  Oz is expensive.  There is one exception and that is steak.  I don't think either of us actually got meat-sweats, but it wasn't for lack of trying.  Steak is not a part of the everyday Thai diet, so we tried to make up for lost time.  

10. Hospitality.  Our Aussie friends all nervously asked if people were nice on our visit which leads me to think that we were actually being made fun of to our faces most of the trip.  We were treated great by just about everyone, especially the Coopers.  Jason, Jenene, Harper and Promise all got up early and drove to the airport to pick us up when we first touched down.  They took us to brekky (breakfast) and then took us right back to the airport since we only had an hour between flights.

Then, because we had an overnight layover in Gold Coast before going back to Bangkok, Jason picked us up, took us back to their place and gave us a bed, shower and more breakfast.  What a great way to bookend our trip!

Harper, Becky, Isaac, Jason, Promise and Jenene taking the picture.

How did we do?  Did we miss anything or grossly exaggerate something?  What are your favorite things about Australia?

iBeck 

*Disclaimer - I had to ask the internets if Oprah's Favorite Things was real to make sure this post title would make sense.

Time for something New (Delhi)

Hey there blog readers.  Can we be serious for a moment?  This won't take long.

Becky and I spent last Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at a job fair here in Bangkok.  This was the second international teaching fair for both of us, but this time we came equipped with a special weapon: experience.  These fairs are generally gut-wrenching interview after gut-wrenching interview.  I think they are kind of fun, although Becky would disagree with me on that.  What is certain is that there is plenty of stress and decision making involved.

So even though I love suspense, I will lead you on no further.  Becky and I feel really blessed to be heading to what we think is one of the best schools in the world.  We are moving to New Delhi, India to work at the American Embassy School.  We are looking forward to working long hours, being challenged all the time and generally seeing a ton of professional growth.  Should be a good time.  We are looking forward to finishing strong here in Thailand.

I wish this was my drawing...its from dawpa2000's  flickr photostream.

Whew!  Glad that is over.  I had to be serious for almost two straight days.  What I really want to talk about here is what I think when I hear the word 'India'.

I can't help but think of the backwards Seinfeld episode.  In the episode, the cast all go to India for a wedding, but they don't really want to go.  Elaine only goes because she thinks the bride doesn't want her there.  To test if this is true, she goes to see the parents of the bride.  When she finds out that the parents discourage her to go, she of course then books the tickets, because that's the type of person Elaine is.

(Notice: "ONE HOUR EARLIER" Elaine is at Pinter's parents house)

ELAINE: Hi. Mr. and Mrs. Ranawat?

ZUBIN: Please, call us Usha and Zubin.

ELAINE: Oh. Well, Usha..

ZUBIN: I'm Zubin.

ELAINE: (Shrugging it off) Anyway, your son is marrying my friend, Sue Ellen Mischke..

USHA: You're not going to the wedding, are you?

ELAINE: Well..

USHA: Don't go. India is a dreadful, dreadful place.

ZUBIN: You know, it's the only country that still has the plague? I mean, the plague! Please!

USHA: Here's the registry. Send her a gift, and be glad you did not have to go.

ELAINE: (Soaking it in) Right. Don't go. Send a gift. I think I understand.

ZUBIN: If I had to go to India, I wouldn't go to the bathroom the entire trip.

ELAINE: (Leaving) That's fantastic.

ZUBIN: And I'm not so crazy about Manhattan, either.

(Scene ends)


My favorite part: The bit about the plague.  I am pretty sure that India is going to rock our world! Should be an adventure, and who doesn't love an adventure?

Citation: This script comes from www.seinfeldscripts.com

Edit: Becky will be teaching High School IB History (exact position yet to be determined) and I will be teaching 7th grade MYP Humanities (geography).

Australia, Aggies, Job Search..

We made it back from Aussie on Wednesday after a great trip.  How could be not have a great trip in a country where the idea of dressed up means wearing sleeves!  Oz was great and I look forward to blogging about it next week.

Next week?  Yeah, because we have more pressing issues at hand.  Starting tomorrow, Becky and I are attending a job fair in Bangkok which should determine where we will live for the next few years.  This should be a stressful couple of days with lots of interviews.

Finally, the Ag's played in the Cotton Bowl this morning.  Despite marooning out for 48 straight hours, we didn't pull out the win.  Good thing Aggie basketball starts Big 12 play tomorrow.

So big blog news coming later this week.  Be sure to check back in to see where you can tell us you can't wait to visit but then not actually visit!

iBeck