Ready to go

Packed my bag ? - tick
Passport ? - let me check for the 915726418th time … tick

Reading material for the flights? - double tick
Camera ? - how dare you ask ??!!

I don’t need to worry about the flight tickets, these days they are electronic and the ticket for the game is waiting patiently to be collected by yours truly at the venue. Well, well.. looks like I’ve got all areas covered.

Following my first successful attempt last week at the Waratahs v Sharks game, I placed a bet on the final (look at moi … I’m turning into a true blue Aussie… next thing you know I’ll drink beer!), nothing extravagant though.. $5 on a Waratahs win, $5 on a Crusaders win. I simply cannot choose my side.

I’m also prepared to answer Little Miss (or Mr) Nosey’s question: “What is the main purpose of your stay in New Zealand?” .. I am soooo tempted to say : “I’m on a 2-day sheep shearing training course (huge smile)”. But I’d better not, I guess these short trips across the pond look suss enough already. Don’t want to be persona non grata on these shores, so I’ll be on my best behaviour. Maybe "Just coming for the Super- marplij - awesome - fantastic - brilliant - maravilloso - wunderbach 14 final .. what else???" will do!

Anyhoo… have a wonderblissful weekend everyone... I’m off… hooroo!

Stormy weather

Last night in Sydney ... picture from the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald

I thought lightning was going to strike me and the thunder scared me as I was walking home from work and getting soaked.. I had no idea it was going to rain so I didn't have my umbrella-ella-ella. Maybe I should pay more attention to the weather forecast... but then they get it wrong most of the time. But I wouldn't skip my after-work walk anyway...

Petit jeu

Completez les trous:

French Sydneysider va finir le joli mois de ___ en beaute. Vendredi soir, elle retourne a C___________ en N_______ - Z______ pour assister samedi a la finale du _____ 14 entre les W_______ et les C________. Elle est pas _______ la vie?????

Je suis sympa, je vous donne un indice....

Envoyez vos reponses a la blogmistress, a gagner: un mouton (extremely fluffy).

Literary Sunday

Yesterday I spent a bit of QT with my dear Caribou#2 at the Sydney Writers Festival. The event was called "Cultures intertwined" a conversation between Junot Diaz (his first novel The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize - not that Prizes really matter) and Jose Dalisay, a Filipino writer I had never heard of but he got me quite intrigued .. This is where it all happened:

A beautifully refurbished warehouse in the Walsh Bay 'hood. Caribou#2 pointed out a couple of things: the water of the harbour we could see through the hole in the floor (yikes!) .. and this...

The bridge is (almost) everywhere you look when you walk around the city...

Coming back to the SWF, my main criticism is that it's not an event for the working people.. all the good stuff is happening when you are tied to your computer from 8.30am to 6pm. I would have liked to hear Jeannette Winterson's answers to the audience, who could apparently ask ANYTHING and not just about oranges.. and also Robyn Davidson talking about "Women going bush"... but more than anything I would have loved to listen to David Davidar, whose House of Blue Mangoes is one of the finest pieces of Indian literature in English.. but this last Thursday between 4 and 5 pm.. I was.. erm... WORKING!!!!! Ah well.. next year maybe...

On est en finale, on est en finale, on est on est on est en finale!!!

C'est boooooon!! Les Waratahs ont battu les Sharks 28-13 .. et affronteront ... les Crusaders (qui eux ont battu les Hurricanes 33-22)!! Dieu est une femme - je le savais! - Elle apprecie le beau jeu et Elle m'a entendue!!!..

Visiblement Elle veut me conter parmi ses ouailles... OK, je concede c'est un bon debut.. mes 2 equipes sont en finale du Super 14.. mais il faudra attendre mardi matin pour que je sois vraiment con-vaincue/vertie. Ensuite je verrai si j'ai un creneau de libre dans mon agenda entre le 15 et le 20 juillet, au cas ou vous ne seriez pas au courant ce sont les Journees Mondiales de la Jeuness qui s'installent a Sydney... Ouais, enfin on n'y est pas encore ..

En attendant je refais le match dans ma tete...

Qu'est-ce que j'aimerais etre arbitre et hurler sur les gars "Crouch! Touch! Pause! Engage!"...

If God exists...

.... he or she (I'd really like to think that it could be a She) can prove it to me this Saturday, starting at 7.30pm Christchurch time and finishing at around 10pm Sydney time...

The Super 14 is getting close to the End (I can hear Caribou#2's huge sigh of relief) and all I'm asking for is a Crusaders v Waratahs final.

If this wish is granted I will reconsider my position when it comes to religion. Getting those teams in the final would be the first step.

If everything goes according to plan.. I might end up at World Youth Day in July.. now that's a scary thought...

The Big Issue

I'm sure you were not aware of this so I'm telling you. Our world is facing a very disturbing problem... sheep are (extremely) fluffy. Don't laugh, this is serious business.

[This is the part where you are supposed to watch the link, then come back to the post]

This video is like.. todally awesome! It cracks me up!! Thanks MaryL!

My favourite part is "3000 sheep mistakenly consumed as candyfloss at fairgrounds".. poor sheep..

Dans ma tete y'a tout le monde qui parle en meme temps c'est insupportable

Ouais ca donne un peu ca... et j'espere que ca resumera notre samedi soir apres la demi-finale Waratahs v Sharks, c'est pas marplij ca??

La federation australienne de cricket vient d'annoncer le programme des rejouissances pour la saison 2008-2009, ce sont nos camarades de NZ et SA qui viendront nous divertir de novembre a fevrier.. j'en fretille d'avance!

Voix 1: Hey mais serieux, y'a autre chose dans ta life que le sport???
Voix 2: Euh... non
Voix 1: Prends des cours de tricot ou ....
Voix 3: ... apprends le tadjik!
Voix 2: ??
Voix 1: mais faut vraiment faire quelque chose
Voix 2: ah bon?
Voix 3: Si, si.. tu verras..
Voix 2: (dubitative) ah ouais?? ..
Voix 1,3 et 4: Si on te le dit....
Voix 2: non mais je vous assure c'est bien le rugby.. et le cricket aussi
Voix 4 : Rien a faire.. c'est vraiment desespere...
Voix 1: Irrecuperable...



-

Jump around

WE'RE IN THE SEMIS!!!!!!!!!

Brilliant! Fantastic! Awesome!!! We'll have to face another Shark attack next Sat but fingers crossed, we'll make it to the final!!

Pont dans la brume

C'etait ce matin tres tot a Sydney.. (photo vue sur l'edition en ligne du Sydney Morning Herald)

Rencontre avec le dieu de la litterature australienne

Quiconque veut bien suivre mes conseils en matiere de litterature australienne a du lire Cloudstreet. Son auteur, Tim Winton, etait en ville hier soir pour la promotion de sa derniere pepite Breath que je vais certainement devorer ce WE (puisque je ne vais nulle part il faudra bien que je m'occupe). Devinez un peu qui n'a pas rate cet evenement??? Yours truly! Dument accompagnee de Caribou#2, que j'ai peut etre reussi a convertir au Wintonisme.

Pendant environ une heure il a evoque avec beaucoup d'humour des sujets divers et varies tels que le surf, les requins, de l'adolescence a l'adultescence dans le Grand Ouest, sa vie d'auteur, les critiques et bien sur ses livres/ses personnages. J'etais sous le charme!

Ensuite, seance dedicace. Je surmonte ma timidite pour lui dire que nous nous sommes deja "rencontres" a Paris il y a quelques annees lorsque que la traduction en francais de son livre Dirt Music paraissait. Le nom de la librairie m'echappait, lui s'en souvenait .. Village Voice Bookshop. Mais c'est bien sur! Si on m'avait dit qu'on se retrouverait a Sydney...

I HEART BRISBANE

Well, well, well..... that was another weekend in paradise:
- sunshine without side effects ie the burns - I’m getting so good at avoiding them it’s unreal
- sightseeing til legs/feet are sore
- rugby - Reds v Crusaders.. not for the faint hearted. 14-8 for the Reds at half time, looked like they’d win when they were 21-8, then along came Dan Carter. A try here, two conversions there, final score 27-21 for the kiwis. Just brilliant.

Aaaah ..that’s the way life should be… On Sunday I took the train to go to Ipswich, the oldest city of Queensland, about 30kms south west of Brisbane, but 1 hour on the train-that-stops-at-every-station-on-the-way.

The town is known for its heritage buildings (heritage in Australia means post 1850s) You can certainly enjoy everything the place has to offer on weekdays, I obviously chose the wrong day, and when you have a car, which I don’t .. not even one chauffeur-driven.

It’s probably fair to say : I’ve been there and it is unlikely I will go back. Unless they have another Global Gnome Competition

And now a poetry moment… Just found this poem by this Bulgarian born/citizen of the world author/poet called Kapka Kassabova from her book Geography for the Lost, that I have not read but should. How did I hear about her? Her novel Reconnaissance (picked up in Christchurch) kept me company during my Brisbanian week end ..


I want to be a tourist

I imagine my life as a city
somewhere in the third world, or the second.
And I want to be a tourist
in the city of my life.

I want to stroll in shorts and baseball hat,
with laminated maps and dangling cameras.
I want to find things for the first time.
Look, they were put there just for me!

I want a room with musty curtains.
I want a view of rubbish dumps and urchins.
I want food poisoning, the dust of traffic
in the mouth, the thrill of others’ misery.

Let me be a tourist in the city of my life.
Give me overpriced coffee in the square,
let me visit briefly the mausoleum of the past
and photograph its mummy,

give me the open sewers, the stunted dreams,
the jubilation of ruins, the lepers, the dogs,
give me signs in a funny language that I never
have to learn. Then take my money and let me go.

I can't wait for the week-end to begin

At long last it‘s almost the WE.. I’ve been waiting all week long, I’ve been waiting for too long…I woke up yesterday thinking it was Friday… erm.. nope.. not yet.. damn !

I can’t say I had heaps of un at work this week so I’m looking forward to my WE in Brisvegas. Haven’t I been there before??.. Yup.. but.. here’s my excuse : last time I was there my camera played tricks on me and all my black and white photo came out slightly blurred ...

That's no good ... so I thought hey.. how about this: I go back and take more pix???... Deal!!! and while I'm there I might as well catch some rugby action at Suncorp Stadium.. the Crusaders “happen” to be in town.. what a coincidence!

Enjoy your (long) week-end!

I'm smiling at you

Rions un peu

My dear friends, si vous ne connaissez pas deja le concept Lolcatz, il faut vous pencher dessus... Ce sont des photos de chats un peu marrantes, les legendes sont ecrites dans un anglais approximatif mais c'est ca qui est le plus drole .. enfin moi je trouve.. en meme temps, un rien me divertit...

Si vous en voulez encore plus..

Quel ennui

Diantre que ce WE etait sinistre sans une petite visite au stade - mes Tahs jouaient en Afrique du Sud et je n'ai pas pu me liberer pour les suivre ... elle plaisante, ca fait un peu loin quand meme pour un match.

Heureusement que Caribou#2 m'a emmenee faire une petite promenade pour degourdir mes petites jambes et prendre l'air sinon je serai restee dans mon boudoir a bouquiner...

Pourquoi tout est toujours petit dans mon language??? petite visite, petite promenade, petites jambes.. etc... mmmm.. il va falloir corriger ca, mais pas delonner, ca l'eclate!

I'm smiling at you

Petit Papa Noel ( il faut chanter le titre), etc...

C'est pas encore Noel mais ca y ressemble. Regardez un peu ce que cette fripouille de FSS s'est procure..

Elle s'en roule par terre de joie et elle en bave a l'avance!!! (Elle a un peu tendance a parler d'elle-meme a la troisieme personne, c'est le syndrome Facebook) Elle a meme reussi a convaincre Caribou#2 de partir avec elle a Brisbanania le temps d'un WE et assister au combat des dieux du stade de l'hemisphere sud! Friend, trust me, we will have the awesomest time EVER! You have my personal guarantee.. and you know that I'm right 99.5% of the time heehee...

A part ca, je me demande ou sont les cartes postales que j'ai envoyees de Christchurch. Elles backpackent autour de la planete avant d’atterrir dans la boite aux lettres de leur destinataire ou bien? Je sais que la NZ c’est a l’autre bout du monde mais quand meme... ca va faire 3 semaines ! Ca ne peut pas etre a cause d’une adresse illisible parce que j’avais pris la peine de faire des belles etiquettes... C'est fou ca... Malheureusement je ne peux pas y faire grand-chose.. par contre ca me donnera peut etre une excuse pour retourner a Christchurch! Ah bah oui hein, j’ai envoye tout plein de cartes postales mais elles ne sont pas arrivees alors il faut que je recommence !

Je ressemble a une celebrite... (ou l'inverse?)

http://www.myheritage.com/celebrity-collage

Et vous, vous ressemblez-vous?

Pas besoin de ce truc pour savoir que je suis un melange de Juliette Binoche, Punky Brewster, Nan Mouskouri, Ugly Betty et Bridget Jones !