Week 3

Hi,It's us again!

We have decided to post to a blog site so you can read our updates when ever you want to.

I finally have a computer on my desk and am transferring all my CSIRO work on to it. In typical Jaci style I had the computer only for about half an hour beforeI broke it. It seems to be working now though.

Last weekend we went to an Australia Day BBQ. We met another postdoc and her trailing spouse husband. Pete was happy to find out that he is not the only male trailing spouse. They both had strong QLD accents which were refreshing to hear. The other Australians had asian accents and one had a very distinct private school twang. We ate Tim Tams which are $7 a packet over here. The BBQ was a bit disappointing as they don't have sausages in the US, just hot dogs which just aren't the same. We really enjoyed the half a glass of Crown Lager that each person was given. I didn't think I'd miss Australian beer so much. Good wine is quite cheap though.


As we've said before, there is heaps to do in New Haven. On Wednesday we have a social night for international students, Thursday is a free dinner and discussion panel on race and ethnicity in the US (it is for international people, to provide a forum for them to ask politically incorrect questions) and on Sunday we are going to an ice hockey game.

On Saturday night we are going to the theatre thanks to the CSIRO people who bought us tickets. We are really looking forward to it - we love the theatre. We went down to the Long Wharf Theatre on the weekend to check it out. We were expecting something like Elizabeth Pier with a few restaurants and bars etc. Well there is a restaurant. But there isn't any water as the land has all been reclaimed. Most amusing though is the fact that the theatre is situated in the middle of a meatworks. The smell is not too bad though. That is typical New Haven - nothing is what we expect.

We were also told about a street that they call 'Little Italy.' We were expecting something like Lygon St in Melbourne. It is actually just two dingy pizza joints. But we're told the pizza is the best in the US. New Haven suffers terribly from trying to be New York.

Pete is able to sit in on any lectures in Yale that he wants to. He has found two courses that interest him in Philosophy that relate to his PhD. He has been working on Americanizing his resume with the help of the international office. He is thinking about doing some volunteer work in schools in the meantime.

Jaci's Work talk:
There are some really great aspects of working in a University, but some things I miss about CSIRO. There is more bureaucracy here believe it or not and certainly no staff credit card! Today I tried to get paper for the photocopier. You have to go and get it from the secretary one ream at a time. Apparently if they leave it near the photocopier, people steal it. There is also a lot more travel funding at CSIRO but this may be because we have to travel further. I think the idea is that you have to try and source your own extra funding (hmm,not sure if my creative efforts will be appreciated here).

I'm really enjoying the work. It is great to be employed to sit and read textbooks and papers. I am on a steep learning curve about climate in the past 3 million years. Rather different to considering decadal variability!!

The camaraderie is great though. I think it may be due to all the free food and drink. Wednesdays there are seminars followed by free beer (Australians are known to skip the lecture and just turn up for the beer). Every day there is free coffee and cookies at 3.30. And Fridays it is all you can drink from the keg for $2. Thursdays there is a meeting where we take turns to present a paper or some of our work. So lots of socializing if you are up for it.

More quirky things about Yale:
In the graduation ceremony, when they get up to the PhD awards, they switch to speaking in Latin.