I know that’s an obvious joke, but I couldn’t resist.
The thing that’s really awkward about Zoom calls from Australia is when the other attendees are in Europe and North America. I had to chair a (Euclid-related) telecon in the early hours of yesterday morning, which wasn’t much fun, though I think it went OK and I did manage to get some sleep afterwards.
Other than that I’ve been remarkably free of jet lag. I had received dire warnings from other colleagues who have made the trip, but it doesn’t seem to have affected me badly at all. By now I’m used to what time it is, though I still have problems with what day it is. That’s because most of the emails I get are sent from Europe and these are generally sent yesterday (my time), i.e. from a place where my today is the sender’s tomorrow. If somebody says “let’s chat tomorrow” that confuses me!
Although I haven’t had much trouble with the time difference, the one thing that I have taken time to adjust to is eating habits. I got on the plane at Abu Dhabi at 10.25pm and once the plane had reached cruising altitude they served dinner (and, of course, wine). The trouble is that was around 7am Sydney time when I should have been having breakfast. I arrived in Sydney around 7pm Sydney time, when I should have had dinner, but all I had was a craving for breakfast (especially coffee). Obviously my stomach wasn’t yet tuned in. Anyway, just two (or is it three?) days later, I’m back to having breakfast at breakfast time and dinner at dinner time so all is well.
