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June 2009
Footy fever
No worries mate
Footy fever
I am such a fan of Australia… and everything Australian… and every day I become an even bigger fan of Australian footy. Adelaide Crows is our team of choice and slowly but surely we are getting stocked up on ‘crows’ supporter paraphernalia. Lunchboxes, scarves, beanies and more… I just can’t get enough!
We sit up late and watch the footy show, and we both participate in footy tipping at work. Unfortunately, we aren’t in the lead, and don’t stand an extremely good chance of winning… But it’s all good, and it’s heaps fun!
In Adelaide, we basically have two choices to support… Port Power or Adelaide Crows… of course everyone that knows anything will give you the run down that Port Supporters are a little less refined. And that’s coming straight from the mouths of Aussie’s.
On one particular Friday I happened to be wearing my Crows Scarf, and on greeting a fellow (Port Supporter) co-worker I was surprisingly shocked to notice how badly she snubbed me. I got a filthy look, up and down from a dear ‘sweet’ lady that normally greets me with a smile and a wave.
You can just imagine what happened the day tickets started selling for the Crows / Port Showdown… it was going to be big, and we had to go. AAMI Stadium was going to be electric, and we were going to be ready. Friends of ours, Des, Doug and their two boys joined us for some fun and really fantastic footy. Sure, we might not have been completely up to speed with the entire goings on… but it wasn’t all that hard to keep up with the loud screams from footy fans. Within minutes of the opening quarter Rebecca was in tears… her eyes the size of saucers… we clearly hadn’t prepared her well! It wasn’t long though before she was screaming support with the other 40 000 people there!
Our highlight for the evening was unfortunately not a win for the crows… BUT… a chick fight.
Right in the middle of the game, things got a little heated between some female supporters and from there things looked like they were going to escalate. Boyfriends started getting involved and it really looked like it was going to get nasty… Three hundred or so people stood watching, boys screaming behind me… ‘yeah, chick fight… that’s like SO HOT’….
And as I stood squeezing Bernard’s hand and grabbing for our belongings, I noticed the footy just carried on. With all the commotion no camera’s took any notice… and then the security and police stepped in… And just as quick as it had started, it was all over… And everyone sat down… and watched the footy.
Only in Australia, a major brawl starts, and within a minute it’s all over, like it never actually began.
One thing I keep reminding myself about, especially after the chilly footy evening was that I really should have paid more attention.
Those nights when Bern used to come home and read me the weather report… I REALLY should have paid more attention. Problem was, at that stage, Australia was a distant dream and most likely the TV in front of me proved far more interesting…
Sometimes, it amazes me how extreme the temperatures are here in Adelaide. A few months ago we were having temperatures well into the forties… and now… we haven’t dared reach 20 degrees Celsius this week.
The nights are freezing to say the least and what is really beginning to dawn on me, is that we are still many weeks away from the middle of Winter and I’m already sleeping in tracksuit pants and socks… and let’s not forget the micro fleece polar blanket, and the TWO duvets on top of that.
Overkill perhaps… but I’m really cold.
During the day, we get a few odd stares… whilst every Aussie is walking around in their shortsleeves… we’re all wrapped up in scarves and jerseys… Rebecca with furry ear warmers to compliment the groovy snow-look.
The bigger downfall to the cooler weather, is that I managed to catch a cold during the height of the swine flu terror. Of all times to catch a cold, my very first Aussie cold...
With paranoia at an all time high, I was sent home by my supervisor on Monday morning. I was a little confused until I saw my reflection in Mitsi’s window. I thought perhaps it might have been dust distorting the image, but the mirror confirmed the reasoning behind my supervisors decision.
I had puffy blueish circles under my eyes and to compliment the look, I had a rather gothic greyish skin tone… Arriving home I headed for bed, and that’s pretty much where I stayed for the next couple of days.
Tuesday morning, I phoned my supervisor… and in the croakiest closest to death voice I managed to muster…
‘I’m feeling a whole lot better, but not sure I’ll be in today… BUT I’ll definitely be in tomorrow’…
Wednesday morning, I phoned my supervisor… and in the croakiest closest to death voice I managed to muster…
‘I really, really am feeling much better today, but I’m not sure that I can get out of bed… BUT I’ll definitely be in tomorrow’…
She must have wondered who I was trying to convince that I was ok... Because I sure wasn’t doing a good job of convincing her.
It’s a hard thing being sick when you’re taking time off work. In the back of your mind you’re always wondering what people are actually thinking of you. Part of me was relieved knowing that they had seen me looking like ‘Wednesday’ from the Addams family… but the other part of me felt like a rotten scoundrel ‘pulling a sickie’…
It was only when Bern pointed out that I was having leave without pay, did I feel fully reassured in the fact that I could lie in bed without a worry in the world… or so I thought.
And then Wednesday happened. The routine already well established… barely managing to give Bern a kiss goodbye and barely managing to motivate Becca into action we pile into the car. Luckily, with Homer around I no longer have to ride my bike! Can you imagine having to ride on my bike, in the freezing cold with this awful ‘flu’ on board? Luckily for me, dear Mitsi’s heater works like a charm…
So what I do, and please don’t tell anyone…
Is I climb in the car with my unwashed, knotted hair and slept-in track pants, not bothering to put on any make up or looking good clothes and drive my daughter to school. After dropping her off, and parking the car… I dash from the cold and the rain and head for bed. Set the alarm, so I wake up with just enough time to pick her up without having to wait.
Only, on Wednesday… five minutes before the school bell sounds, I cannot get Mitsi to start… and I just can’t understand why… until I look down and realise… the lights… the lights are still on… and her battery is dead. Mitsi isn’t going anywhere.
And this is when the life of an immigrant gets a little much.
With no one to phone that can get to the school in five minutes – I’m left with just one choice.
And that’s to ride the bike… even in the spitting rain… and cold, cold wind…
Without the luxury of time to change, I had to head out with my unwashed, knotted hair and slept-in track pants with the first tracktop I manage to find… and slops.
Yip, I rode with slops, and the best part was, I had to roll up my one trackpant leg, to avoid the fabric getting caught in the chain… Go ahead, imagine it.
Nothing matches… expect my attitude and those dark heavy clouds.
We got to school and back… perfectly ok. Perhaps it was the fresh air that helped and I was back at work the next day. I was almost dreading going back… felt like I had to work on those work friendships all over again… Until I walked in, and someone turned and said…
‘It’s good to have you back… we really missed your smile’…
Like I said… I’m a big fan of Australia… and everything Australian!
No worries mate
In years to come Rebecca will sit down and read this, hopefully gaining a better understanding of why we did what we did. Why we flew 9 500km’s from Durban to Adelaide with no plan on ever returning.
Why we took her from her only family, friends and home she knew.
We know, and so does our family … but I hope one day she will know… and I hope, understand.
Life as an immigrant is a challenging self discovery, and I love what I’m learning along the way.
What I am learning, is that I made a huge mistake in judging two of the most important people in my working life. Both Molly and Sarah, the tracksuit-wearing-loud mouth-talking-attitude walking gals have become my very best working friends. We all had a good laugh the other day when they both walked in, wearing the same tracksuit pants… No mistaking that pink embroidery scrawled across the rear… I considered asking them where they got them from, but quickly decided against it… I didn’t want to join in the ‘Sexy bum’ brigade.
Molly is still, by far, the roughest ‘lady’ I have ever met. She still burps like a convict and talks like a trooper, but she has a heart of gold. A couple of chilly mornings ago, I couldn’t get Mitsi started… of course, when I arrived at work I had a real moan about it all. It was only that afternoon, with Molly talking to me at the car, did I realise she had been waiting for Mitsi to kick over. She had stayed five minutes after work, to help a friend pack up and then to wait just to confirm that I was able to get myself home; and more importantly to pick Becca up from school.
What I love about Molly is that she isn’t ashamed of what she is… and the best part about Molly, is that she is, well… just Molly.
She doesn’t have it easy… she’s a single mum raising three boys… one of whom the other day, she told us quite frankly that “she would like to take him out”… and that’s not take out to a footy game either, that’s “take out” of the equation completely. She’s from a rather broken home and has siblings all over Australia, some of which want nothing to do with her. Her mother, in Molly’s words, is a “bit of a tramp” and as far as I can recall she doesn’t have anything to do with her father. Every day we find out a little more about Molly’s life… and it’s never dull!
A couple of weeks back Molly received a disturbing call from her brother… he was released from prison and needed his car back from her!
‘Blimmen hell’, Molly says… ‘me brother’s out… and now I don’t have a damn car to use’!
No concern or elation whatsoever that he was finally out of jail… just pretty bummed that she would be without transport to work again! Poor Molly… the next day she didn’t arrive to work… It turned out her brother was driving her in that day, and the cops pulled them over for a defect with the vehicle… I think by that stage, work would have been the last thing on her mind. Like I said, Molly doesn’t have it easy.
But, amazingly she always has a smile… especially when she came in last week to tell us that she would finally be able to move her and her boys out of the caravan into a ‘proper’ rental. Sarah and I could only smile with joy hearing the news, Molly deserves every little bit of happiness she can get!
Call centre central wouldn’t be the same without Molly, just as it wouldn’t be the same without Sarah…
Sarah has welcomed me right into her life, and spares no detail when it comes to her personal matters. From the ex-boyfriends to her lesbian daughter, I feel like I know them all… Well, I guess I almost do! I met a whole bunch of them at her non-lesbian daughter’s fourth birthday. That was interesting, to say the least.
Driving to the birthday party, Bern and I were going through all the possible excuses of how we could get out of going… and so we carried on, scenario after scenario until the Garmin loudly and abruptly announced that we had arrived at our destination… and there was no turning back when Sarah caught a glimpse of the bewildered South Africans standing like rejects at her garage door. I went in straight for a kiss on the cheek… realised that perhaps the added hug was a tad too much… and felt even more awkward than I had before. The place was pretty full, and it wasn’t with her friends… it was… gulp… the family. Don’t you hate it when you arrive and everyone has taken every available chair and you’re the only ones left standing… and then you stand, like plebs getting introduced to … mum, son, sister, cousin Anne… brother… boyfriend… ex boyfriend… and you can’t remember the last name let alone the first.
Nothing worse in my opinion… especially because no one really greeted us, we just got the look... you know, the once over up and down…
Within minutes though, other’s started arriving, and the glare was taken off our faces to the newer ones… and within minutes after that we formed a standing group that comprised of friends that managed to crack the nod, but didn’t quite fit into the seated family category.
It was strange, because even with all our “early escape excuse” plans we ended up staying for a good few hours. The only real reason we had to eventually leave was because we had planned to watch the Adelaide Crows play footy at the local stadium. I genuinely had good time and even though I felt completely out of place, it didn’t take me long to share a laugh or two with the Aussie company. Bern even ended up having lengthy conversations with Sarah’s ex, Greg.
Greg showed Bern his veggie garden and was kind enough to let my darling husband sample a tasty jalapeño chilli. Initially Bern didn’t realise was he was getting himself into, and it was only after he casually remarked ‘it tastes like a capsicum’ that his face began to turn a brighter shade of red… and the tears began to flow… I could see he was sucking it up… Greg had a good chuckle though, and Sarah and I had a good giggle. I still can’t believe he ate the whole thing, and survived.
Bern even had a tour of the garden and Greg’s shed. The shed was initially supposed to be a hydroponic growing station. Growing what, we didn’t want to out rightly ask but the project was soon shelved when Greg’s friend needed a place to stay, and Greg ended turning the garden shed into a garden bedroom…
Aussies continue to amaze me; they always go the extra mile for a mate… And everything really is ‘no worries’…
We’re meeting even more of Sarah’s cousins , friends, ex’s and kids on the 9th of June… She’s invited us to join her and forty others to celebrate her fortieth birthday… It should be good, and perhaps just as entertaining… But I’m sure we’ll still be planning our “early escape excuse” plan…
I really need to learn the Aussie way and embrace the ‘no worries mate’philosophy…
Learn to live and stress just a little less…
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