Still Unanswered...

Rumor in the northern hemisphere has always insisted that constellations appear up-side-down and toilets flush backwards in the southern hemisphere. Eager to test the theory, I admit to excitedly observing the toilet after my first pee in Australia. I'm sorry to report, however, that the toilets I have thus far encountered have not been amenable to resolving the issue. The toilets do not so much swirl away the waste water, but actually... flush I guess. There is a great rush of water coming from some invisible faucet on the front end of the bowl, that just flushes everything down the receiving hole. The result is not swirly like we are used to in the States, but more like a white water rapids of plumbing, consequently not swirling in any direction with which to compare a New York City toilet swirly-flush.

But, I am happy to report something unusual yet. It is known, colloquially, at least to me, as the "half-flush." Toilets in Australia have a button flush (not the handle) on top of the tank or embedded in the wall behind. And, this very special button has two parts. One in the crescent shape of a waxing moon, and the other in a oval-eyeball shape labelled with "1/2." Apparently, the half-flush is not as . . . powerful as the full-flush. I don't know for what purpose the half-flush is meant, but one can only speculate that it is for those moments when not as much. . . uhm . . . oopmh . . . is required. Pushing on the crescent part of the button creates the full-flush, and pushing the eyeball-shaped portion results in a half-flush. Vexing.

I like to think that Aussies are more conservation-minded, and reserve the full-flush, obviously requiring more water, for dire moments when it is very much needed, and utilze the half-flush for those everyday regular pee's. We have already noted that electricity is conserved through shutting down lots of flashy lighting for things such as the Telstra dome's neon sign, most high-rise buildings' lights and such stuff. There are also individual switches for electrical plugs located directly above the plug itself.

However, gazing out our floor-to-ceiling windows, which occupy more exterior wall footage than actual opaque walls in our ridiculous apartment, I am currently observing many city lights still burning brightly at this late hour (12:15 A.M. on a Tuesday night [for those of you curious folk, Melbourne is 8 hours behind Eastern Time, but a day ahead. So 8PM in NYC on Wed is 12 noon on Thurs in Melbourne (pronounced "Mel-bin")]). So perhaps Aussies are not as resource-conserving as I'd like to believe. Which still leaves us with the mystery of the purpose of the half-flush.

In totally unrelated news, the recap of the day essentially is as follows: Visit to the 17 acre Queen Victoria Market for fresh produce and meat, gander about town for shiggles, some quality sun time by the pool, drinks at the Beach Club overlooking the harbour (where a bartender was thoroughly confused when I requested a Tanqueray on the rocks, and when I clarified by saying "gin" he said "Bombay or Gordon's?" when the Tanq bottle sat in clear view), and home made dinner by El and myself (including a resourceful hunt for salt).

Tomorrow officially marks the beginning of the responsible portion of our trip to this crazy island - orientation and the first class. And Jay, if I get up to use the restroom in the middle of class. . . you know why. Nighty night folks.