A Turkey-Head Celebration

Last Tuesday (this post is way out of chronological order, but I was waiting for the pictures to accompany it which I now have) was my new mate Aubrey’s birthday. Aubrey is working as an au pair in a western suburb of Sydney, about a half hour train ride away from the city center.  She lives free-of-charge with an Australian family comprised of a mother, father and three young children (two boys and one girl), and in exchange watches the children two days a week (geez, not a bad deal huh?). The family kindly invited Sarah, Alex and I to their home for Aubrey’s birthday dinner celebration. I was eager to experience the life of a typical suburban Australian family, and also to see where Aubrey resided and “worked.” What I discovered is that Australian families are just like yours and mine- chaotic and crazy, but full of love, laughter and some occasional tears (inevitable when young children are running about).

We entered the house to five screaming children gleefully running about the house playing with each other. It was a zoo of blonde hair and blue eyed children. Two of them belonged to friends of the family who had also come over for the birthday celebration. Present was also a precious newborn baby. It’s no wonder that their home was a disheveled and cluttered mess. In fact, it reminded me of my own for which I felt a tremendous sense of nostalgia. For dinner we had some sort of lamb stew (apparently a classic Australian dish), and lettuce wraps filled with rice and ground beef, just the kind of simple but tasty home-cooked meal I like. And for dessert we enjoyed good ‘ol out-of-the-box cupcakes. My tummy was happy.

Abby, the only girl and the youngest of the children, was the most adorable child. She had perfect blonde pig tail ringlets and the bluest of blue eyes that just made your heart melt. But what really got me was her accent. I’m already a sucker for Australian accents (part of the reason I chose to come to Australia, duh), but when Abby spoke with her tiny little voice and Australian accent it was almost unbearable. Half the time I couldn’t even understand what she was saying, but it didn’t matter she was cuter than a kitten (that’s the cutest thing I can think of at the moment). We went hunting for rabbits together. I had to fight every urge not to swipe her on our way out that evening and take her back with me so that she could be my very own blonde, Australian child.

The other children loved us big kids. Well, actually they loved attacking us. In their eyes we made for great punching bags. I’m surprised that I walked out of that house in one piece, because I was punched, jumped on, head-butted and even spanked by these little rascals. It was the spanking that took my most off-guard. I turned to Alex, who was sitting on the couch and amusingly witnessed the event, and said “I just got spanked by an Australian lad!” And what is an American girl, who is a guest to their home, suppose to do about it? It wasn’t my place to scold them. And for all I knew, spanking was encouraged on this sided of the globe. Fortunately, one father also witnessed the event and immediately ordered all four boys to the kitchen for a serious scolding. So no, spanking is not acceptable in Australia either. What a relief. Still, it was all in good fun.

  

Once the rough-housing had subsided, the kids turned to name calling. One boy persisted to call me a turkey-head, over and over and over. “You’re a turkey head!” he would shout. To which I would reply, “Yea? Well you’re a kangaroo head!” We ended up calling each other every sort of animal-head you can think up. I preferred that game, much gentler on my tush. All the while the animated film, Quest for Camelot, was playing on the television in the background. I believe this is a film that was released in Australia only. All I know is that the protagonist and hero of the story is a blind man, and there is a goofy, two-headed dragon character. It was the most absurd animated children’s film I have ever seen. Australia isn’t known to produce award-winning films. Still, I may have to rent it and what the whole thing. 

Before we left, we took a group photo. As you can see there were 14 of us in total. All in all it was a great evening. But I can say with 100% certainty that I am glad I did not become an au pair in Australia. 

Birthday party people and Australian families galore

Us gals with the children (and my beloved Abby)