In Sydney

On Our Way!

Writing reports

 We were escorted into the ECOSOC delegates lounge, which is much nicer that our previous camp sites. We have previous been meeting and working in the cafeteria

And in the hallway.

The delegate's lounge is much more comfortable.

Some of the delegates bags their tables by leaving little flags on them

Apparently, that's Norway's table. Don't sit there. You might cause an incident.

Ditto Bulgaria and Spain off in the distance.

The view is great

Yay!

Yayayayay! 

Love you both and see you soon.

Last night at home

 

Thomas was not particularly well this  morning, so I kept him home. All the better to get better for tomorrow - and this afternoon he seemed much chirpier, so I'm glad I did.

Our bags are mostly packed... just a few more things to cross off the list and then I'll be heading to bed myself. See you soon!

I'm getting really excited

It's going to be really great to see you both. I'm starting to get really excited. I bought Thomas a shiny UN t shirt today. 

Don't feel like you need to keep posting. You're going to be busy!

Two sleeps!

The really pointy end

Were are now in the end game. The nations are struggling through the text of the agreed conclusions

and we are sitting in the corridor outside because we aren't allowed in.

Our job is to provide advice to the Aust delegation about language. We're likely to be here very late, so feel free to send questions if the packing gets tough!

Looking warm

Just a thought. It's looking like it'll be warm in NY during your stay (highs above 10c) and Yosemite has highs in the 20s at the moment so if you need to ditch stuff when packing, the cold gear could be the first to go. 

But if that makes everything harder, don't worry.

Quasi-static focuser

The 1m telescope quasi-static focuser failed to find home today and everyone was running around like crazy. It was quite good really - allowing me to fade into the background and finish up my stuff quietly.

Yay for the bodgy quasi-static focuser!

Mum and Dad have headed home now. I think they enjoyed their stay in a quiet way. Cooler and less humid than Wollongong. Mum also enjoyed seeing Clancy and Tessa every afternoon :-)

Thomas does seem to have a little bit of a cold - he complained that his throat felt sore so I dosed him up with paracetamol and antihistamine and made him gargle salty water before bed. He settled down well at 7:00 so hopefully he'll sleep it off.

But then 7:00 is the new 8:00 according to our program, so I should be heading to bed myself soon.

We'll pack your raincoat. It's now On-The-List. I'll spend tomorrow packing and organising home (and playing with Clancy) and then we're off!

Love You.

Forgot

Are you packing rain coats? If so, can you pack mine? I forgot it. Thanks!

A big day

Today was a really big day. The chair's draft of the agreed resolutions came out yesterday afternoon, so we worked until 1am to produce our recommendations and then spent today getting them into the hands of the delegations. Now really tired and off to bed. I don't think it will be that intense again. During the late night drafting session we ordered fried chicken and pizza for dinner... With grits! You were right - cheesy polenta. The pizzas were enormous. Then there was ice cream. Tonight I have a sore tummy and no right to feel sorry for myself.

Off to bed for the third last sleep before I see you again....

Two more days of school

I've posted our first picture on the travel blog and sent a link to the blog to:

• My Parents
• Your Mum
• Bill
• Pam
• Duncan
• Adrian
• Emma
• Evelyn
• David & Megan
• Lucy & Winston
• Catherine & Bill
• Deirdre & Mike
• Cathy Hogg
• David & Fleur
• Celeste and Glen
• Thomas' Teacher

If you can think of anyone I've missed out let me know!

I've officially informed the school and afters of our trip.

I've just transferred $3000 to the travel account - the rate is pretty good right now.

I think that Alex is having next week off to get married... he's being pretty quiet about it! So Ian is now panicking that there will be no Software People around to fix things up. Too late now Ian!!! We'll just have to make sure that everything is working tomorrow and then tell everyone not to touch anything.

One more day of work.

Two more days of school.

Three more days of CSW.

Various UN oddities

We are now in the home stretch. I have a rough timetable for the week and I know roughly what to expect. Feeling good about that! 

I went swimming at the Y last night, which was really good. Everyone is complaining that they have put on weight- restaurant food every night is starting to take its toll. Last night I had cous cous with veg and pepperoni in my room, which was nice. 

Every day I walk through the entrance to the main UN building, past a bank of old computer thingies. I have no idea what they are, but they look a long way from wifi.

I also walk past a statue of st George and the dragon, which really confused me for a long time.

The middle section of the dragon looks like some sort of rocket. At first I thought it was some sort of weird attack on the space program until someone explained that the middle section is actually a decommissioned nuclear warhead.

I have discovered that I am going to be reimbursed for my living expenses during csw, which is nice. I've also discovered that the windows in my hotel open, which is a bit of a relief because it was getting a bit stuffy in there :-)

Four sleeps to go!

Four sleeps to go!

Cool Monday

It was cold last night. It got down to 6°C at night and only reached 22 during the day. I've been watching the weather channel and see that you have snow forecast for your today. Cool.

My day was filled with Collision Band Avoidance Algorithms. Which was actually quite fun. I drew a number of pretty diagrams and highlighted bits in yellow. My ride home was good. The wind was quite gusty... from the west :-)

I think Thomas enjoyed the day too. A few kids were off today with colds, so cross you fingers. At lunch they were allowed on the newly surfaced oval for the first time which was apparently a bit of a thrill. I'm sure that the running around would have been good for warming up. This evening he was keen to show me the hero card that my Mum and Dad got for spending $20 at Woolworths. It is a snail from Turbo... and he has taken it to bed.

It's a full moon today, nice and clear where we are. Remember it's the same moon that we can both see (if the clouds aren't in the way).

Coolness in many different forms

Last night was a raging success. Emma and I went to see Sleep No More. Its the only time I've ever had to run while watching a play. I loved it. We all had to wear identical masks and were forbidden to speak. This is my mask:

The effect at night in a really dark building was very eerie and it changed the way you viewed the people around you. 

We had dinner afterwards in a train carriage in the restaurant next door to the hotel where the show was. The show went until after 10, so dinner was really late and it was after 12 by the time I fell into bed, but it was really worth it. 

It's cold today. Yesterday was lovely - 14c and sunny. It's still sunny today but the temp has plummeted. When we left the hotel at 10:00 this morning it was 1c. By 2pm it had hit 6c but was starting to fall again. We walked a long way uptown to the Frick collection. The Frick collection is the private collection of one of the late Victorian US industrialists which is housed on his NY town house. Apparently when it was built in the early 1900s, the papers described it as 'a bungalow style building with a picture gallery'. This is mr frick's little bungalow:

It faces Central Park east. We got there before opening so we sat in Central Park and watched squirrels playing. 

We went through the art collection (which includes holbein's portrait of Thomas Cromwell, which was cool) and then I saw Emma off to the airport in a taxi. Btw-Emma says the taxi is about $60 to the airport and when she caught the train from JFK to Manhattan on Saturday it took about an hour and a half because it was an all stops train.

I went back to the hotel via the subway.

 

The subway stations all have really lovely mosaic signs.

I've sorted out the credit card problem-apparently it was locked because I got the number wrong three times on one occasion. Now I know how to sort that out if it happens again and I have plenty of cash. It wasn't too much of a problem in any event because cards are used here for everything with only a signature.

I feel much better after the weekend. Seeing Emma has really cheered me up, I've sorted out groceries and my card and I will see you in 5 days time. Things are looking up! Now I just have to get an early night tonight. 

I hope you are ok. Don't worry too much about the packing- as long as you have the passports and tickets, we can sort everything out later. Love you both.

Ps: there is a Lego store in the Rockefeller building that is apparently really worth seeing....

Produce

We had a good day today. Thomas had fun with grandparents and I got quite a bit done. I had been feeling a little anxious last night... what if I forget to do X and it all goes bad???!!! But today I had a chance to get our bags partly packed, and cross off a few of the other jobs that had to be done - including mowing the lawn (which has been growing like topsy) and gathering some of the produce.

It is going to be quite cool tonight (Dad is looking forward to that) and I'm sure I will sleep better. I'm planning on riding to work tommorow. It will be good to get some sustained exercise.

I hope that you sorted out your credit card troubles and that you enjoyed the show.

Aunty Emma is in there somewhere...

We are having a lovely time stumbling around midtown, looking in shops and getting slightly lost. I've bought a t shirt and a sort of tracksuit top that looks like a Star Trek uniform for a smallish elephant. Emma is in the change room, which is covered in old national geographic photos.

 We went to an enormous bookshop called the strand at union square. They have new and second hand books all jumbled up on the shelves. Outside they have books for $1 & $2. I had fun spotting the stranger titles. I initially misread this one:

I had an image of a young woman in a ball dress, speleologist's helmet and boots beside a manhole cover.

 In the kid's section I found the extremely worrying:

Which was less alarming when I looked at the cover.

Finally, some people hear voices, but....

I have no idea why the text below is here. I don't seem to be able to delete it. Never mind. Love you both.

You are here

1. Home / 
2. D.D.A. guide: Who does the D.D.A. protect?

Downer fate

Thanks for skyping this morning. It was good to see and hear you. If you need us to do anything regarding the credit card let me know.

After talking to you we went to the market, bought some fresh food and played with Noah, Arlo and Clancy (digging in the dirt, playing in the drain etc). When we got home Grandma and Grandad were waiting for us, so we headed to the Downer community fete for a late morning tea.

Thomas found Angus and Henry there and had a good run around, and then went with them back to Henry's house for an afternoon play. They've just had a complete renovation... not much of the original house is still visible! When we walked over to get him later we were induced to stay for a cup of tea and a chat... so our day was socially quite busy all round.

 

I've set up another blog for our holiday but haven't posted anything yet:

http://widebluewander.blogspot.com.au/

Yay for half way!

Today I feel a bit like I've turned a corner. The weekend is on sight and I'm getting into the swing of thongs. It is amazingly intense, but I now feel like I can do it. 

Today the temperature dropped and we had a very brief flurry of snow. The cold make the under street dragons even more impressive.

I spent a few hours working on my laptop    (Mapping national positions on issues) in the third floor lounge. Most of the UN building looks like a hospital designed the the 60s, but the lounge looks like a hotel lobby. It has hige windows looking out over the east river. I stayed there from when the view looked like this:

To when it looked like this:

This evening we went out with the Australian govt delegation and drank red wine with the sex discrimination commissioner, who has a very cute bunny named Leo (she had pictures).

Answers and stuff

I'm assuming that you've got the Google+ App on your phone. You need to use the Hangouts feature - which is actually a different App, so I don't know if you have to install that separately. Then you just start a hangout, select Emma and click on the text icon at the bottom of the screen to specify a text (as opposed to video) hangout. Then type her a message.

Or you could email her. She emailed our home account, which I imagine you have already logged into.

Or you could send her a message through skype.

Or you could call: 0510 686 3662

Busy day today, but we had fish and chips from Watson Takeaway for dinner and now I'm looking forward to a cruisy Friday (might even see Matt Robards for lunch).

We worked out that we're half way there. Its been 8 days since we last saw you, and will be 8 days till we see you again!

Help

I can't remember how to message Emma through google! Can you send me her phone number? Thanks

Now into a routine

My days are settling into a routine. There is a meeting at 7am in the hotel, followed by attending presentations and lobbying people in coridors until I do my afternoon shift taking notes in the commission. We're identifying nations that we think we can convince to advocate for our suggested text.

Then at 6:30pm we go to the Hilton on 42nd street for the Australian government briefing. Then we generally go to a function or event in the evening.

My presentation on disability went well this morning.

It's been quite warm lately, enough to not wear a coat outside in the middle of the day, but this evening it started to rain and they are forecasting snow tomorrow.

At night, steam rises out of the manhole covers, leaking out of the underground steam heating for buildings. It looks like there are dragons under the streets.

New violin

We bought Thomas a new violin this afternoon. We've uploaded a short video on Google+. It sounds really nice! It is a Gliga. Made in Romania.

Simon had previously said that they can hide your mistakes, but he said that this one is nicer than most... Not over-made and not as heavy and more open.

Thomas should be going to bed but he just wanted to have one more play. What can you say to that?

New York is really good at...

Sky scrapers. Theirs grow really well.

And this is it....

This is the actual Commission on the Status of Women.

The blue signs tell you which country sits where. I'm taking notes as the countries make their opening statements.

Caroline and another delegate from our group called Emma have just ended up on the big screens as the woman in front of them made her speech.

Caroline is the one on the left. I'm right next to Emma, but you can't see me. I thought it would be in poor taste to photobomb at the UN.

Lots of people are wearing traditional dress here.

I spent a bit of time being a bouncer this morning because YWCA was holding an event on sex and reproductive health and the religious right here have a reputation for disrupting events with anti-abortion stuff. I had to wear my special pink t- shirt.

I am presenting tomorrow morning on disability at 8:30am. Yuck!

Our (collective) day

We both had a good day today. Nanny arrived yesterday afternoon, so Thomas has been busy and I've had a little more time. We had one of the packets of your frozen bolognese for dinner last night, and your mum was quite tickled with the idea that you'd managed to cook for us.

Today I read a few different people who said that the best way to get from JFK to the centre of Manhattan is to catch the train to Penn St and then get a taxi from there. Everyone said to avoid the shuttle buses. So I think we'll see how we're travelling when we arrive and choose between train and taxi, or just taxi. I actually think that after all of that sitting on the plane it might be better to walk around a bit on a train.

You mentioned that you bought a Metro Card so I assume that you've been on the subway. Not too confusing?

BTW: I can't see any of your comments, so it might be better to just follow up with a new post instead.

BTBTW: I've sent your password to your phone and in case you don't remember you are helenfisher15. If it looks like a capital O it is probably a zero.

Fame at one remove

You are in the US guardian! http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/10/australian-scientists-zap-debris-with-lasers

By the way

I loved both of you music clips. Caroline was particularly impressed by Thomas on the piano.

Sometimes I have been adding comments to your posts but I'm not sure if you can see that.

Robert- can you send me our gmail password? I want to log in to talk to Emma. Thanks!

A big day

Wow. We'll, my data presentation was more successful than I could have hoped. We got 30 people, which was respectable and they all had questions, so I didn't need the list I had prepared in case of awkward pauses. I found out that 10 minutes is not a long time to talk and the other guests were really good. One had to turn up late because she was in another meeting, but when she arrived she was brilliant. She took us right back to basics and pointed out that the most important data we have is in birth certificates. She said that there are approximately 300million girls with no birth certs who therefore don't officially exist and have no access to services etc.

Today was my first full day of csw-ness, and it is really intense. Our first meeting everyday is at 7:00am and the last one is still going on at 10:00pm. It's utterly crazy in that weird way you get at school camps and presumably on long mountaineering treks. Everyone is throwing themselves into it.

My security pass makes me look like my mum....

Canberra Day (Me Today)

I finished reading Harry Potter today. Last night we finished watching Ghostbusters. I really liked it when there was a Stay Puft Marshmallow man walking around.

The daily prize pod was 750 bananas.

We made a metal detector. It detects metal. It beeps (BEEP) and it lights up. It can detect metal.

I'm going to be in Muscateers soccer team with Lucas, Angus, Oliver, Declan, Riley, Aiden and Toby. Dad and I played soccer in the garden.

I can play I am the Doctor on the Piano (and it is driving Dad to frustration!).

Tea cake

I thought that we might see Lucy, Winston etc. today, but apparently they are sick, so we're staying well clear. My plan was to cook a tea cake and take it around. Too good a plan to give up...

I’ve done some tidying, repairing, washing, cleaning, lawn mowing and washing up. I think I’m almost ready for the week.