Bellydancing, Crickets vs. Trams, Oven and Fridge

In Mont Albert, the suburb where I was staying with Heather, I went to sleep with the sound of chirping crickets and woke up to the sound of weird birds making all kinds of bizarre noises. When I moved to Dallas from my studio apartment on highly traffiked Second Avenue in New York City I was horrified at the racket the damn birds made every morning. The birds jolted me awake while the trucks on Second Avenue were calming white noise. In Carlton North where I live now (a short walk to downtown Melbourne--CBD)I go to sleep and wake up to the sound of trams and traffic. Ahh, home sweet home at last.

OK, so I want to use the oven. Well it has three buttons, no words. One button has five different images surrounding it: ovals with pictures of tiny fans inside each. Maybe this is a convection oven? What is a convection oven? I'll have to Google it. The middle button appears to be a timer with the numbers 30-60-90-120 around it. The third button is the temperature. Ok, so what the hell is 180C? Thank goodness for igoogle and google gadgets where I could quickly convert. What did we do before the internet??? Oh yes, I remember being in London back in the day: we burned stuff and learned from experience. OK, pizza successfully reheated (how glamorous, I know). That oven kicks a*s! Powerful and fast! Mental note: buy potholders (which I'm sure are called something else here.)
By the way, most awesome pizza and just $7.90 for a size large with everything on it. Fresh, crunchy red and green peppers (or "capsicum" as they are called here), freshly cut mushrooms and onions, and juicy kalamata olives. And of course the people who made it and served it were incredibly friendly and kind!

Ordered a fridge today. Not very exciting. Very simple. Wanted stainless, but for the size space that is allocated for the fridge, choices were limited. Basically one choice: white, Kelvinator (an old Australian brand recently purchased by Electrolux). Bought it over the phone. Delivery next Tuesday. Done. Not the most fun I've had spending $1k, but it is what it is.

What was fun was Belly Dancing at the Lebanese grill up the road. Yes, Jen and I were having dinner there and suddenly there was really loud Middle Eastern music and dancing. Belly Dancing. I felt really awkward when the I-Dream-Of-Genie clad girl (jewels, belly chain, the works) walked directly to me and started gyrating her hips in my face. There were plenty of guys to choose from, why pick me? Anyway, I felt so awkward that I had to say something/anything, while the entire restaurant looked on. "I'd like to take lessons one day", I said. "Do you teach?" Then an awful thing happened... she extended her hand to me. I was completely confused and my face showed it. "I'd like to give you a lesson now", she said. Me and my big mouth. Gulp. So, there I was shaking my giant hips to some happening Lebanese tunes in front of a restaurant full of strangers. That was my Friday night. Happy Thursday to those in the US; in case you are wondering, tomorrow is another good day.