A typical work day in Australia for the Yorks…

Photos: The top two photos are the Vanilla Bean Cafe. The white and silver building is the John Carver Medical Building, behind the client office. The brick building is the client office. The last two pictures are our kitchen and Jim slumped at his desk.

5:30 am Australian time (1:30pm AZ)

We are up at 0500-0530 to begin the electronic download from work.

Jim works like mad to communicate with the USA east coast (it’s already 3:00-3:30pm there). Between 0530 and 0800 he may take or make a few phone calls, attend a teleconference and generally his fingers fly over the keyboard to get things done before that team goes home. Lara works at a more leisurely pace at this time in the morning to answer emails and (if there is time) check personal email accounts.

Meanwhile, the Australian news is on (remember we can tune in to just four channels – not quality channels just channels) and the very best appears to be their ABC news station: Australian Broadcasting Network. While we don’t recognize much of the programming there is a lot of news about America. All of it has been pretty horrific. Murders in the USA dominate with features on the recent school killings. There is also a fair amount of celebrity news, most of it pretty terrible (Paris Hilton’s barroom fight was featured today). All this news sure does not put American’s in any decent light. Perhaps we aren’t decent as a lot. It is really very disturbing and makes me think that America should hire some public marketing personnel to work on the image of America that is being portrayed.

We are also brewing the first cup of tea for the day and getting our “breakfast tucker” (Australian for grub).

8:00am AU (3:00 pm AZ)

Lara packs up her things and walks to the office which is within a 0.5 mile of the apartment. This is a LOVELY walk. The trees are filled with a variety of beautiful, colorful birds. They all appear to be quite proud of themselves as they “discuss” the day and fly all around. It is typical to see a few cockatoos (white and pink variety), lorikeets (brilliant blue with red, green with yellow and red and occasionally pinkish ones), kookaburras and others. Also a treat, are the flowers that are beginning to bloom: more every day. There is often an ANU garden keeper working on the “garden” somewhere along the walking route. He wears a kaki uniform with a classic Australian bush hat and drives a mini John Deere truck with his supplies in the back.

8:15am AU (3:15pm AZ)

Lara arrives at the office. The Innovations Building is security controlled with a swipe card and another swipe card to gain access to the work location. Typically, she is the first one there and is locked out of the actual offices and must wait a few minutes for someone to come in. There are a multitude of newspapers (and a cup of tea) available in the front lobby so it is a very nice wait.

8:30am AU (3:30pm AZ) until 5:30pm AU (12:30am AZ)

Now its Lara’s turn to work to work like mad to maintain a schedule she defined (what a total slave driver ). She remains hunched over the computer writing interrupted only by a very welcomed meeting to review the work once or twice during the day.

Note: This is a semiconductor cleanroom assignment which means NO MAKEUP is allowed and we dress in pants because we are in and out of the “bunny suits” during the day. This makes for a casual and comfortable work environment.

Sadly, I don’t always get to attend the morning tea gathering (it is in another building) and never make the afternoon tea but I do seem to drink two cups at my desk.

On a few occasions, Jim has been able to join her for lunch at the Vanilla Bean (a wonderful lunch spot in the building next to her office).

5:30pm rolls around very quickly and the work day is over. I send an email to Jim that I am on my way home. Jim meets me halfway and even carries my computer home for me.

Meanwhile, Jim’s schedule is a bit more relaxed. After frantically sorting and answering emails before the Virginia office closes for the day, he works on various designs and quotes and other technical matters until 2:00-3:00pm. After that, he typically has to attend to tasks for his other “boss” (aka Lara) such as cleaning the apartment, grocery shopping, making reservations for the weekends, etc. While waiting for Lara’s day to end, he may also do some work on various technical documents for the Sales Department.

5:30pm AU (12:30am AZ) until 8:30pm (2:30am AZ)

It has been a long work day by the early evening (compounded by the less than comfortable ergonomics at our respective desks) so it is a welcome respite to end the day.

Once Lara gets “home,” she quickly changes into comfortable walking shoes and we are off to explore the area. We’ve walked a fair bit around Lake Burley Griffin (named after the Frank Lloyd Wright trained, Chicago Landscape Architect, who mapped out the original designs for Canberra in the early 1900s) and around the City Center area of Canberra.

We might eat dinner downtown or enjoy a “tinnie” or “stubbie” and “bush tuckers” (aka beer and snacks). We try to avoid anything that looks like “witchetty grubs” aka grubs eaten alive - reportedly eaten in the outback. We hear they have a pleasant nutty taste however; this is one Australian practice we plan to pass up on this trip.

We try to eat in a couple of nights a week and have managed to pull together some meals. We abide by the simple rule, “he who cooks does not have to clean up”. This past week we enjoyed several fresh fish dinners (including a wonderful meal of calamari!) from the fish we caught last weekend in Jervis Bay.

After dinner, we read our books (work on the blog) and eventually enjoy a cup of tea and a “biscuit” before bedtime.

8:30pm to 9:00pm AU (3:30am AZ)

Unable to keep our eyes open, we retire to our teeny bed to read until we fall asleep.