In Gratitude to Teachers

Ben and Dave had their last day of school on Friday and are now off for the summer. We are fortunate that they had two great teachers, who pushed them both to learn a lot. Dave commented recently: "At our school in Australia we learned things we already knew, but here in Berkeley we learned things we didn't know."

At first the boys felt overwhelmed by the amount and level of work and were prone to give up before they started. One afternoon, when Dave was getting frustrated by the amount of homework he had been given, Ben encouraged him by saying "You just need a system". An early homework task one teacher gave was to be able to memorise 50 prepositions in alphabetical order. Initially the boys decided that it was impossible, but when a couple of their classmates nearly succeeded, the challenge was on! After three days both boys had managed to memorise all the prepositions in order. Another challenge they were given was to be able to recite pi to as many decimal places as possible - a task the boys took on with relish. We were amazed by the level of their achievements. The teachers also taught the class how to write a persuasive essay, English grammar, dividing fractions, Greek and Egyptian mythology, and American history.

Other less academic, but equally valuable lessons the boys have learned were: how to work a combination lock, how to play American football, gay rights, being part of an ethnic minority and being a member of a band playing the American national anthem in front of thousands of people before a baseball game!

Over the last 7 months, I have had regular hikes with a local friend who has taught me about the geography and flora and fauna of the local area. There is nothing quite like a walk to Wildcat Peak on a clear day with a view of the Bay to facilitate learning about the orientation of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Albany. Thanks to my informed walking buddy, I can now tell the difference between a ground squirrel and a regular squirrel, a honey bee and a bumble bee, a starling jay and a regular blue jay. I can now recognise a gopher, a red-winged blackbird and a blue dragonfly, as well as poison oak, pride of Madeira, Californian poppies and majestic Redwoods.

As opposed to a flying visit to a new place, living within a community allows one to soak up some of the collective knowledge of the residents. Through numerous conversations and even short comments, American friends and neighbours have taught me about the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, and the protests and arrests of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in the 1960's. I have been taught about Cesar Chavez, an advocate of workers' rights, and the Berkeley educated architect Julia Morgan. I have increased my knowledge of the author Mark Twain and civil rights leader Martin Luther King. An inspiring choir leader has helped me to improve my singing and a lovely French dancer my rhythmic dancing. Eating the delicious Granola of a friend has encouraged me to cook my own, and seeing the warm generosity of the volunteers at the YWCA has reminded me of the value of giving freely.

So, to Berkeley teachers of all kinds, I say thank you!

Easter in the Spring

Easter in the northern hemisphere makes a lot of sense. Once dormant trees are beginning to clothe themselves in lime green, blossoms and flowers are creating a pretty and fragrant backdrop to our everyday lives and furry and feathery beings dart about energetically. The metaphor of new life is everywhere. One sunny morning recently I stood on our back veranda, trying not to move or make a sound as I watched a squirrel performing acrobatics from branch to branch, large fluffy tail swinging about. He stopped and grabbed a stem of lilac blossoms then took a big bite and balanced there munching. It was such a delightful sight I felt like laughing, but I didn't want to spoil the performance so I just smiled quietly in amusement. At that moment in my peripheral vision came a flash of azure blue and a rotund bird, head topped with a short dark crest, perched on a branch of the cedar tree quite nearby. Immediately it was joined by its equally beautiful mate and the two of them hopped around, their gorgeous blue feathers brilliant in the morning light. I had not seen birds like this before and here I was enjoying a spring surprise from a front row seat. I found out later from the next door neighbour that they were blue jays.

After several days of searching in vain for Hot Cross Buns to buy I eventually found some in one supermarket (on Maunday Thursday evening, just before Good Friday) which were a little different from ours. They didn't have quite the same spice and had an icing cross on top, which made heating them up a bit difficult but they tasted ok. Home-made chocolate chip Hot Cross Buns complemented the local variety, so all members of the family were catered for.

The Easter traditions in Berkeley this year were rather different from what I am used to. The Good Friday service was at dawn, which is not that unusual, but it was combined with an anti-nuclear protest at one of the University Science labs. I didn't feel particularly comfortable joining in a protest at that venue (having a husband and several friends who are scientists at the University) or for that reason (although I have lots of doubts about the safety of nuclear energy I don't know that it is a moral issue), so I didn't attend. Ben and Dave had school that day. It seemed to be a normal day for many Americans. I had a lot of trouble buying Easter eggs. There were none at our local supermarket, so I caught a bus to another supermarket where I also had trouble finding them. I asked one of the shop assistants if they had any Easter eggs and she looked puzzled. I had to explain what I meant and she showed me a display with fluffy chicks and rabbits, a few tiny chocolate rabbits and a small collection of Cadbury creme eggs. A bit of a contrast to Australian shopping centre aisles with row upon row of chocolate eggs, and rabbits of various sizes and colours. Just in time, I found out that chemists are the places that sell chocolate Easter eggs! So the boys got their Easter egg hunt on Sunday morning after all.

On Easter Sunday we attended the local Presbyterian church where the pews were packed with people and the front of the church was beautifully decorated with white flowers. Trumpeters and and bell-ringers played, as well as the usual pipe organ and choir. Afterwards we enjoyed a shared brunch and all the children had an Easter egg hunt, this time searching the lawn for coloured hard-boiled eggs and plastic eggs filled with various goodies. So that's what American kids eat for Easter!

Freedom, Desire and the tolerance of difference.

Berkeley is well known as a left-wing, liberal community. It is noticeably multicultural, with the University campus dominated by students of Asian background. Only 25% of students at Ben and Dave's school are Caucasian, with African-American and Hispanic making up the majority of the remainder. One evening Dave announced:'Destiny smells like waffles and maple syrup'. I thought he was being philosophical, until he added 'I think she has them for breakfast' and I realized he was talking about a girl in his class.

Only once have I overheard overt racism being expressed and that was when an American woman, incensed by perceived rudeness from her fellow passenger on the bus, told her to go back to Britain. The response from the English woman was 'I have lived here for 35 years' to which the American woman's final retort was 'I will not be spoken to like that, especially from someone with a British accent!'

At a church lunch recently I met a man called Freedom, along with his brother Desire who were originally from Zimbabwe. It being Mardi Gras Sunday, I told Freedom about Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Parade and our conversation turned to the topic of homosexuality. In Zimbabwe to be gay is against the law and punishable by death. What a contrast with Berkeley! One of the after school programs at Ben and Dave's middle school is called 'Gay and Straight Alliance' while our Presbyterian church's notice-sheet openly advocates the rights of gays. At an Episcopalian Church I visited, a man stood up during the service and introduced his husband and I heard only murmurs of approval from the congregation.

It is the homeless one particularly notices in Berkeley. They are young people sitting along Telegraph Avenue, some strumming guitars, a few smoking marijuana. Others are older, their possessions in bags around them, sitting on benches or sheltering at bus-stops. Some talk to themselves and others ask for money. Their signs read 'Hungry', 'Out of work' or 'Need money for cancer treatment'. Peoples' Park is full of them, their sleeping blankets in bundles under the trees. When the recent wet and windy weather hit the streets of Downtown Berkeley, some took shelter under the doorways of shops or offices. I know, because I couldn't find a bank I was looking for and I was sheltering there too. My umbrella was blowing inside out and my hands were becoming numb inside my sodden woollen gloves as I rang Matthew for assistance. The difference between me and the others was that I had somewhere to go at the end of the day. Are there homeless shelters in Berkeley? The answer is yes, but not enough to house all the homeless. Because of Berkeley's relatively mild weather (especially compared with the east coast of the United States) and the fact that Berkeley police don't forcibly move loiterers along, the homeless from many places end up here. The residents of Berkeley are proud to tolerate the unwashed, the mentally ill, the dread locked, the different, but how can they care for them all? No easy answers there.

Car-less in California

Is it possible to exist without owning a car? This is the question we asked ourselves after arriving in Berkeley. Living close to the University and the boys' middle school means that daily commuting is not a problem on foot. We also live about 2 minutes walk to a bus-stop with frequent buses to 'down-town'. But what about shopping, going out at night and sight-seeing trips? What has made our car-less state possible is a car-sharing organisation called zipcar. Now if we need a car, we book one on line. The cost per hour is reasonable and includes petrol ('gas') and insurance. There are 3 zipcar locations within 10 minutes walk of our home.

Now when planning to go somewhere, we have to ask ourselves if we really need a car for this trip. It's amazing how many journeys are actually quite do-able on foot or by public transport, and there is the bonus of not having to find a park (which in Berkeley is often extremely difficult). I have bookmarked the Trip-Planner website for the bus and light rail system (the latter known simply as BART) and have a 'clipper' card which works on both and can be topped up electronically.

It's not all plain sailing - or zipping - using a share car though. There was the time we went shopping and underestimated how long it would take us in the supermarket. Being unable to extend our time because someone else had booked the car, we had to rush back to the zipcar place directly from the shop rather than go home and unload. (Overdue fees start at $50!) Consequently we had a dozen full shopping bags to carry home, which is quite tricky. To make matters worse it started raining. We heroically went about 2 blocks before realising our strategy was ridiculously inadequate, at which point Matthew jogged home, returning with a bicycle, back-packs and a pull-along suitcase (the invention of the wheel was invaluable!) to rescue his slightly damp wife and 10 bags of food.

Being 'the wife of a visiting scholar'.

On my first visit to 'The Centre' at the YWCA I was handed a registration card to fill in. Immediately following the space for 'name' was the space for 'husband' and the next for 'his Department'. It seems my claim to fame here is that my husband is a visiting scholar in the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley. During the next hour I met a dozen or so other women from countries as diverse as South Korea and Sweden and invariably when I asked what had brought them to Berkeley, the answer was 'my husband'. Yes - we are the wives of international visiting scholars.

Actually, as an identity, it is a useful one. It qualifies us to meet once a week for 2 hours at the YWCA, where American volunteers (all 'Faculty wives') organise a program and put on morning tea. This morning's program was about the Californian Gold Rush and we had a display and a talk by a 5th generation Californian woman (yes, she was also a Faculty wife). One morning I, along with another 'wife' talked about our countries of origin. Both of us were from the Commonwealth (she was from Canada) so that was our linking theme. I made vegemite sandwiches and Anzac cookies and taught everyone 'Walzing Matilda'. The dish from Canada was waffles with maple syrup. Another morning our theme was Chinese new Year and we ate dumplings, while to celebrate St Valentine's Day we ate wedding cake. I always look forward to Thursday mornings!

Thanks to my new identity I, along with some other 'wives' received an invitation from the wife of the Chancellor of the University to coffee and pastries in her home. The invitation instructed me to dress professionally and the reminder email requested that I be on time. The venue was University House, on the Campus grounds. The interior reminded me of an English stately home, except that the original paintings on the wall were mostly by Americans. Two waitresses ('servers') were standing by next to a sumptuous spread, in case we required help. During the morning, the wife of the Chancellor asked us to go around the circle, introducing ourselves and the reason we are in Berkeley. One French woman made a point of first describing her own career (which has been put on hold, of course, like the careers of the rest of us), before describing her husband's. Radical!

Presidents Day weekend

Welcome to my blog!

We are nearly 3 months into the sabbatical, which is hard to believe. The four day weekend we have just had was very sociable, with two dinner invitations and an outing to the House of Air trampolining park with friends who each have a son. House of Air is in San Francisco, so the trip there provided beautiful views of the city as we drove over the Bay Bridge. From the bridge the Bay stretched out on either side in a pale blue watery expanse. The city has quite a few shiny skyscrapers towering over rows of wooden double story residences, the latter in different pastel shades. A lot were built in the 20's after the huge earthquake and fire.

The trampoline park was in a converted aircraft hangar in the Presidio, a former army barracks now comprised of parks and usable buildings. Matthew and the boys had a great time bouncing on the patch-work quilt of twenty or so trampolines all joined together, but even more fun playing trampoline dodge ball. Afterwards we had hot chocolate from the comfortingly named 'Warming Hut', within view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This morning all three of my boys were suffering from muscle aches and struggled to get out of bed. Back to the reality of work and school! As for me, I am off to a fundraising lunch, organized by Faculty wives.