Last month

Our "new" life as an extended family has begun well. Eemeli was not on the College's list of students they were expecting from overseas, so we went back in the afternoon to enrol him & arrange his subjects. I suspect that the year adviser was pleasantly surprised that we were so well organised as to which subjects he wanted to do, although we were obliged to fit in with which subject fitted in which lines & also which subjects were already full. He finished up with English, Mathematical Applications, Physics, History & Physical Education for the first semester (i.e. the first half of the year). For next semester, we'll go for the English & Maths again, then push for three subjects out of Physics (again), History (again), Photography, Geography & Outdoor Activities like rock climbing or surfing. Already, he has made several friends at College & went to the movies last night & is hanging out at the home of a South African friend this afternoon.

Just prior to dropping him off, we took the bus out for a run to Parliament House. The photos are of the tapestry in the Great Hall, with the close-up of a cockatoo in the top centre of it. A later photo shows that it really is a tapestry, not a painting.

Meanwhile, our new neighbours in unit 5 needed the space in the driveway to put their cars in it & clear out their carport for a birthday party. so I backed the bus in across the front of our carport. In the process, I broke off the radio aerial, so I have now replaced it with a suitably modified coat hanger, which is now high enough that it will act as an early warning device if we go under something with a low clearance, before we take out the air conditioner unit on the roof. And I'm sure April will be pleased to hear that we have discovered why the fan at the front of the bus was not blowing properly - it doesn't have enough air to blow from, so it's trying to suck & blow all at the same time. When Eemeli & I opened the doors to the DVD player & the woofer, it really took off. So I'll be installing a vent in the panel on either side before we hit the road again.

Eemeli & I are heading out in the bus this weekend, leaving Julie at home for some quiet time, going with the local CMCA folk to a spot in the Tallaganda State Forest. Already, we've had some fairly drastic plan changes, with roads being washed out by the weekend rains & the original camping destination being impossible to get to. Should be fun. As the new Secretary of the local Chapter, I get tangled up in broadcasting all these changes to those expecting to be at the outing, which can be exciting at times.

Meanwhile, we have successfully sold 5 of our investment properties in an attempt to release the debt we incurred by buying the bus, & are leaning heavily on the agent to sell #6 in Kalgoorlie. It looks like we may have to sell #7 in Perth & re-finance ours here, to finish the process. Just going through the data gathering phase now, to see whether it's worth the heartache. The end is in sight, just getting there is the problem. Trust the Universe, Rodney! Yeah, yeah, I know, have faith in God, but still tie up your camel!

The weekend outing has indeed been "fun". If you like sitting around in the rain, that is. The Chapter now has a new marketing tool - a drought-breaking service, particularly as every outing lately has been wet for at least a substantial chunk of it! Eemeli & I did make it out to the State Forest, where we met up with Agnes & Aloys (the "hosts" for the outing), & they came with us out to the Lowden Water Wheel. We got the rig to within about 500m of the spot, then unhooked the Sierra, turned the bus around & all piled into the 4WD for the last stretch. I got so involved, I left my camera behind, so the photos are from Agnes & Eemeli.

Once we got back to the campsite, we decided to get the hell out of there before the roads got flooded again, as the rain has been steady & continuous all day. Both vehicles are now propped in a car park in Captains Flat for the night. As it happened, they got a phone call from home to say that their garage had been turned into a creek, so they headed for home after an early dinner. Eemeli & I got early night, going to bed as it got dark, & both slept for nearly 12 hours!

Lesson learned from this trip: When you first hear a "funny" noise that sounds like it might be coming from the front suspension, check it out sooner rather than later. This particular one  has been around for a while, but got progressively worse over the weekend, to the point that on the way home, we found a wide enough section of road that we could pull off, & I got underneath for a good look. It turned out to be the left front shock absorber coming loose at the top, to the point that the nut had come off altogether. Ugh!

And now that I have pulled the photos off Eemeli's camera, I have added some to the January collection, where we can see just how much snow they have over there. And Julie was talking to her Dad for his birthday. He can't quite wrap his mouth around Eemeli (Air-meh-lee), so he decided he'd all him Email. That'll do, Dad!

Wow, is it only a week since I wrote something here? Eemeli & I visited footy (Aussie Rules aka AFL) training to see what the game is about & he is looking forward to starting training next week. Then my colleague Mary mentioned that her son Jacob plays for the same club & in the same age group, so we now have another venue for friendships & the opportunity for the boys to get together out on the Duffy oval & kick a footy around.

As both Julie & Eemeli was keen to see some of the coverage of the Winter Olympics, we acquired a set top box & reasonably sized TV from Tim, & Eemeli had it all set up in just minutes. As our coverage here is rather limited & of course biased towards any Aussies that are competing, Eemeli had to follow the first game of the Finland ice hockey team against Belarus by following the score minute by minute on a Finnish sports website. During today's game against Germany, I was working out side trimming the shrubbery in the courtyard & had a thought. Yes, it did hurt! We knew that his parents would be glued to the TV, so how about getting them on Skype, with their laptop camera pointing towards the TV, & we could watch the game sort of live! It worked exceptionally well, although the hardest part was getting them to answer their phone so that we could set it up. It was quite hilarious for me, watching the last part of the game with a running commentary in Finnish & the occasional comment in English.

Actually, having him here has changed our lives & relationship for the better. We are now more organised, we get out of bed at a regular time, we organise meals in advance & we eat an evening meal. It's great! One evening, after Eemeli had been snuggled up with the dogs on the couch, he decided to take Angel back to his bedroom. We couldn't figure out why Angel was on our side of the passage barrier in the early hours, until we stumbled out next morning to find him on the couch. His explanation was, "She peed on my bed".

I had to interrupt the "viewing" of the Ice Hockey game on Monday night, to drop Eemeli at footy training while I went off to a medical appointment. From what I saw of him when I returned, he was doing really well with picking up the basics & getting involved. At dinner, we were talking about "stuff" & when Julie mentioned that she was "not the best cook in the world", Eemeli's reply was that after hearing that before he left home, "actually, I had expected worse". We both busted out laughing. Almost a PML there.

On Tuesday evening, we went to the Parents' Introduction Evening at the College. We spoke to some of Eemeli's teachers, got a better idea of how he is going & explained to them some of what we have gleaned from Jukka & Annakaisa about Finns being somewhat more reserved & less conversational than us. The highlight of the evening was talking to his history teacher, who when we mention his name, her face lit up with a big beaming smile. The Australian History course is currently looking at how Australia fitted into the world scene in the 1950's, during the Cold War. Eemeli is the only one in the class who has any idea of what was going on in the rest of the world at the time!

We have also figured out that the Maths Applications course he is doing is too easy & will investigate the process of getting him shifted "up" to Maths Methods. And Julie has found out that he is ticklish. He'll never be safe again!

This week has proceeded as they all seem to do. My birthday on Friday started out with an early online card from Jukka & Annakaisa, Eemeli's parents. Followed by a message from my son Paul, & phone calls from my brother Kevin & sister Dorothy. And finished at work with me rebuilding my workstation. We met Bob & Jen for dinner, together with Eemeli's friend Ryan & his parents & siblings. The 3 of us went to the Canberra Show today. Seen one, seen them all, spend lots of money. At one point, Eemeli spotted someone wearing a jersey from the ILK ice hockey team in Helsinki. Later on, we caught up with the guy, whose parents live there, & he & Eemeli had quite a chat in Finnish! At the end of the conversation, the guy just flipped back to the Aussie "no worries, mate". And there were HUGE celebrations at the Finnish end of the house when Finland took the Bronze Medal in the Ice Hockey.