The flat is officially starting to grow on us, and we're feeling like putting down some roots. So we spend the weekend ripping out weeds and sewing seeds. We remove the tangle of weeds from the front garden, leaving only a papaya tree. We realize that we have no defenses against the red crabs, who are currently on the move beginning their migration to the ocean, so we salvage some sheet metal from the "tip" (=dump) and set up a crabby barrier. We add a little rocky landscaping, and needing a little more shade for our veranda, we decide to translocate a palm from our jungle-y backyard.








[Arthur pauses to reflect exactly how much 'merican white trash persona he can bring to the planting venture...]















We set up a mess of seed trays, and wonder if anything will germinate from all our little seeds. After cleaning up, we continue on the if-we-can't-buy-it-let's-make-it road and make yogurt and a homemade pizza for dinner.

FLIGHTPATH TO CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Start Arthur’s ipod timer on the jetway in Minneapolis to see what our total travel time will be. First flight is from Minneapolis to L.A. (4 hrs), and, after eating leftover lefse, we head from L.A. to Auckland (12.5 hrs) with no problems; get Air New Zealand's 747 into Auckland and it's big and beautiful and overflowing with movies and good food. During descent, can start to see tiny bits of islands spotting the ocean, and the idea of island living becomes all the more real. We’ve now been traveling for 20 hours. Grab a wireless connection in the airport and use our new Magicjack to call home, for free! First time trying it internationally (though it still registers as a local number) and get great reception. Excellent.

Our last flight for a couple days is from Auckland to Perth. Another big plane with lots of movies and food. Don’t sleep much, arrive on time, customs a surprising snap. Get picked up from our airport motel, waiting outside we find unexpected heat and humidity. We check in, shower, and “lay down for a minute.” When we wake up, it’s suddenly dark outside, and apparently 4 hours later. Luckily the hotel has a pub menu, as it’s 1030 at night. After eating we promptly pass out again.

Wake up to sunlight, eat some breakfast, and figure out the bus system and head to downtown Perth. Wander around for awhile and check out the outside malls, the waterfront, and Perth's bell tower.

We take a little rest under some great palm trees, which, at first glance, appeared to be inhabited by toy parrots. After some squawking and flying, we figure out our mistake and watch these Rainbow lorikeets play around for a bit.

We stop for a coffee and realize we’ve now been traveling for 60 hours.

Leaving the city we stumble across a Belgian beer garden, and indulge as it may be the last chance for awhile for imbibing our favorite brew.

Bus map shows location of main depot, and we see tons of buses pulling into large structure, but all the signs say “no pedestrian access.” Figure out that need to cross large sky walk to access building, and find the right bus. But don’t remember from what bus stop we started our day, and luckily the friendly bus driver knows our motel, and drops us at the right spot. See two gents drinking beer outside the motel restaurant as we return, and we officially meet Pete and Dennis, the project’s co-supervisors. Enjoy pleasantries over a beer, and then we take a taxi to Fremantle, a coastal town known for good seafood.

Take off next morning – Perth to Cocos (Keeling) Island to Christmas Island. We land a few times to refuel, and the seven-hour overall flight path has us anxious to stop the traveling. We descend onto a tiny airstrip on a tiny island, and, after 85 hours of travel, arrive on Christmas Island.

ROAD TRIP TO MN

After Arthur touches the Mezuzah for good luck, and we take one last goodbye picture, we head off to drive to Cleveland to visit Arthur’s sister, Nella and niece, Annabelle.

We take the ferry over Lake Champlain; it’s a beautiful day to say goodbye to VT. Stop for picnic lunch in Adirondacks and show up for dinner in Cleveland.

Spend the next day with Nella and Annabelle, watch Annabelle open up her gifts from VT and show Annabelle the

joys of playing with a frisbee and romping in the leaves.

After some clay modeling of a multicolored family and a big red ant, and a little jam session, we head on down the road to Chicago. Catch dinner with a friend from Mpala and then head to a great Belgian beer pub (thanks, Wyman).

Next day hang out with a couple old college friends and get to meet Finn, the biggest cutest 14 month old I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Head on up to Milwaukee to catch up with best bud from school, and have great overdue catch-up, epic shuffleboard included.

Finally make it home to MN and have a blast hanging out with the family, though wish we had more time and fewer errands. Eat superbly the whole time, Arthur rips up entryway carpet to discover gorgeous fifty year hardwood beneath, enjoy a walk around Lake Harriet, and an amazing meal at a French bistro. Go traditional Norwegian for last meal, with fish and lefse, rice pudding and fruit soup. Uncle comes over, huge atlas in hand, to see where exactly this Christmas Island is. Finish up packing, and get ready to fly to other side of the world.

THE ROAD LEADING UP TO CHRISTMAS ISLAND

11 March 2009: It all starts with an email forwarded from a UVM professor to my old PhD advisor, Nick, onto me: a job announcement for an ant ecologist to do work on Christmas Island. Nick wrote “it sounds like a pretty good match for you if you are in the market for another exotic post-doc...”

The desired skills and qualifications appeared uncannily to my experience, so, not expecting anything, I threw my proverbial hat into the ring, and promptly forget about it.

Two months later get an email from Nick reporting he’s just been asked to write a letter of recommendation, and three weeks after that, get an email saying I’ve made the short-list, and when am I available for an interview. Forward this news to Arthur, whose unwavering support still amazes me to this day. Enjoy a friendly, academic Skype video interview the beginning of June, have a second interview two weeks later, and get the job offer the day before a weekend canoe camping celebration for my 30^th b-day. After enjoying a weekend of carefree fun, we return Sunday night and have the sober conversation of whether this is something we want to do, what needs to happen to make it work for both of us, and write out a long list of questions to ask my potential new supervisors. We get a response the next day, and all signs point to yes. After taking a deep breath, and recognizing we’re doing some long-term, big-leap planning together, which scares us both in the best way possible, we decide to take the plunge.

July 1^st I head to Kenya, and Arthur manages the domestic front, finishing apt renovations, renting out the apartment, finding new caretakers of Kasha, and moving all our stuff to his parents’ house. I work on the international front, trying to find housing on CI, filling out Visa immigration and University paperwork. Return from Kenya end of September, and have one month to finalize plans. Now living with Arthur’s parents, and turns out to be a great arrangement (mmmm, homemade Russian cooking), and really get a chance to know each other: a pleasant journey sometimes lubricated with shots of vodka. Spend endless days running errands, finalizing packing, and trying to hang out with friends. Finally figure out the details of shipping our stuff across the world, and mid-October the movers come to pick up our stuff. Three weeks before the supposed start date, still don’t have airlines ticket (waiting for Visa to be finalized, and to see if have to fly through Melbourne to complete paperwork at La Trobe University). Finally get word, and turns out the project is flying *both* of us out; so happy we don’t have to pay or plan the airline logistics.

There are two routes to fly to the island: fly south to CI from Singapore, or fly north to CI from Perth, Australia. The airline that flies from Singapore hasn't finalized their Nov schedule yet, so we have to fly via Perth. Although it’s certainly the more indirect route, we’re happy to finally have tickets, and we’re schedule to leave on Nov 9^th. A few parties and some more errands later, we start our road trip to MN.