How 'Ya Goin'?

You know you're not in Michigan when you hear this commonly uttered greeting of Australia: "How 'ya goin' Mate?" This is a combination of "How are you doing" and "How's it going" with bit of (somewhat cavalier) familiarity - "Mate" - thrown in for good measure. I like it!

My work days here are pretty long and filled with "interesting" surprises. Everywhere I turn, there's something to learn, someone to get to know (and hopefully understand) and opportunities to understand the employees expectations or how, in the past, those expectations have been stepped on. As I've mentioned, I don't know much about turbine engine overhauls and I'm starting to try and spend time in the shop, observing the mechanics and trying to better understand what they do.

I was initiated into our ex-pat Friday night "ritual" this week - dinner at the Breakfast Creek Hotel restaurant. Apparently, this place has a long (built in 1889) history and was formerly frequented by the union bosses who held sway over what was formerly a very industrial section of Queensland. Today, it's just a great place to enjoy a wonderful meal in an interesting atmosphere.

When I'm not stuffing delicious steak into my face, I'm trying to stay healthy. If you like to run / jog - you have arrived in a great place to do it. The entire waterfront is jogger / bicycle friendly and you can do a variety of courses that can add up to nearly 20K if you want to. I've been keeping it to 10K's - and Saturday was a great morning to accomplish that distance. It's the last few days of summer here and it's like Michigan in August - hot (nearly 90 degrees) and pretty muggy so you need to get out early or you'll regret it.

In Michigan, you have birds that like to hang around your lunch table in the hope of grabbing a snack for them from your meal. Here, the birds that like to join you for the lunches outside are the Ibis - which makes things a bit more interesting when a kid drops a "chip" (french fry) under the table. This fine fellow wanted to join me for lunch in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens where I had my first genuine Australian beef and mushroom pie - apparently a pretty commonly enjoyed foodstuff.

Well, I need to stop for now - it's getting late and I'm trying not to bore you (too much). I'm looking forward to Nancy arriving this Wednesday and moving into an apartment so I'll try to get another (potentially more profound) update soon.