Our family compound is in the photo below - Uncle Nick and Aunt Vicki live in the center house with our cousins Theo and Tina. As neighbors have moved on over the years they've bought the house to the left, where cousin Con and his wife Nicki live, and to the right where cousin Irene, her husband Cameron, and the little rugrats, David and Luke, live. Everyone comes in and out of the houses, shares an interconnected backyard, and has dinner together at least 3 times a week. Even in Australia the family ties that unite a Greek family hold strong.
In Nick and Vicki's back yard are all sorts of wonderful plants and animals. They grow their own herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers; they have chickens (and the accompanying all-natural fresh eggs), classic alarm clock-sounding roosters, rabbits and even a dog!
We saw a Cockatoo hanging out in front of the house chattering away with her friends around the neighborhood. They call the cockatoo their "white crow" - we still can't get over what crazy animals they just have wild around here!
(Papa Cameron with little Lukey)
Luke and David climbing all over each other...they are wild little guys!
Shabd tried 'Vegimite' for the first time (a spread Aussie's put on bread, sandwiches, etc...)
Now that I've left behind college parties and the 'creative student's penny-pinching pad designs', it is a really strange feeling to see Christmas lights up in the summer time. But then again, the toilets here in Australia flush 'backwards' and the roads and highways are driven in opposite fashion than what we are used to in the US, so it's not such a surprise. As Cam explained to me, the neighbors across the street have added a few pieces to their glowing arsenal of Christmas lights each year.
Thirty-five degrees Celsius, meet Santa Claus.
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