Tuesday Thoughts

Everyone talks about how the world just keeps getting smaller. Technology has made it accessible in a matter of seconds and kilobytes. But it is still physically a big place. Even as the oceans are rising and spaces are being filled with all manner of human existance, it is still a big world. There are events happening every day that matter not one bit in the general life/style of the average person. We make a donation and pray for peace and the end of suffering. We make grocery lists and do laundry. It is still a big world. But I have seen the other side of it and it is blue and green and brown much like home. The colours do not change, it is only the arrangement, intensity, and proportion of hues that changes, that and the names. So I think it's not what you see in a new place, but rather who you become. Some people change. For the better, for the worse, or maybe not at all. Sometimes you fall down, sometimes you lose an eye. Sometimes you limp around for a long, long time. Sometimes you are finally able to acknowledge and recognize who it is you see in the mirror. You miss a bus, you ride a unicycle and finally, in the end, you go home, taking with you the memories and scars of the person you were in that particular time, in that particular place. They'd better be good ones. They'd better be worth it.

The SoHemi Dispatch : The Food Issue

Well, I've attended my last tute and lectures are over as well, so it's nothing but free time and procrastination from here on out till exams. Neat. So here's just a few pics to give a little insight into the past 4 months. Yes this is another random listing of the daily events that color my days here in Australia.
So I finally buy some eggs one day cause we need to make some cupcakes. I open them up and viola (or walah as janell would say) they've got little smiley faces on them. My first thought was, "good grief, no wonder everyone's so laid back in this country, even the eggs are smiling!" I acutally didn't think that, because I was taken aback too much to do anything but stare incredulously. But it was a neat little surprise. They probably made me pay extra for it though!


This is RA Joe licking up the frosting drippings from the cupcakes we had made for him (with the smiley face eggs I might add - the lil buggers aren't smiling now are they!). We usually share them amongst other people in the block but in this case since there were 4 of us and 12 cupcakes, we decided we should each have 3. And this is why people (people = me) gain weight when they study abroad.

I think we all know what this is, well you should anyway, but I've run into a surprising number of people who are not familiar with the heavenly creation we call puppy chow. We have introduced it to both Australians and fellow American's alike and all have marveled at the peanut buttery, chocolate goodness that flows forth from the ziplock bag. And it wouldn't be complete if I didn't personally clean out the bowl. Meredith and Lacy, you've seen this pose before.... Basically me doing what I do best.
And then there's Stuart. My neighbor and birthday buddy. Proudly posing with some caramel and chocolate cupcakes.
He's a generally lovely left-wing bloke who thinks Howard is akin to one of satan's lesser personal assistant demons (ok, he's never used those words but that's the impression I get, lets just say he doesn't care for the fella - "Howard" and "fella" refering to the current prime minister). He sometimes listens to his music a bit loud for my taste but as it is generally during a reasonable hour of the day and not 3am, I really haven't felt moved to complain.

Mom asked me the other week about the food here. Well, it's alright and I generally clean my plate, so I can't complain. Everyone else seems to think it's way healthier here, but I don't really find that to be the case. Maybe I'm just stubborn and biased and wierd, but I ate way healthier at home. Regardless of all that, we get three evening meals a week and then money to spend on campus food during the day. It's annoying though because everything closes down on the weekends and that's when the busses have shortened schedules anyway so it's even more difficult to get anywhere when we really need to. But we have been surviving obviously.

That's about all the food stories I have to relate, so I'll leave you with an image of the beans and weenies we made weeks back. Just to get the ol' appetite roaring..

Idol Ordeal topped off with a Cocktail

Last weekend: May 12-14 will go down in history as one of the most random, uncomfortable, and yet still fun weekends I've ever experienced. To start out, it was the weekend that Australian Idol was holding auditions in Melbourne. Dan, of Easter Buddy fame, has been waiting to try out since season 1, but has always had some obstacle that stopped him from making his dream come true. But this year it was meant to be. Auditions started on Saturday at 8:30 so his plan was to get there on Friday and camp out so we could be at the front of the line. And Katie and I were priviledged enough to be a part of the support crew.

The whole camping out thing didn't seem like such a bad idea until we realized we would be sleeping not on a nice grassy area but instead on a sidewalk surrounded by a bunch of idol freaks. Bless their little singing hearts, these people were for real! The people you see on TV do exist, and it is a scary scary thing to witness. We passed the 13 or so hours before the auditions by playing games, using my mittens as puppets, taking walks, and helping Dan and Joe (Collins RA who decided at the last minute to try out) rehearse their songs. I would say though that we were all a little sick of it long before the auditions started. (Except for Dan - he was in Australian Idol Heaven) It was cold and rained a little bit and some girl puked 3 times in the parking lot. Gross. Which was how we felt by the time the next morning when they started getting us all organized to start filming stuff. Needless to say, Katie and I looked a little rough around the edges, so we were thrilled to discover that once inside, Maybelline and Garnier, sponsors of Australian Idol had big areas set up where you could get your hair and make-up done. So we stepped right up for that. I ended up with the crazy little hairdresser guy who had some kind of accent that I really didn't understand, but who really loved Madonna and wanted me to sing something for him. Katie got her hair done by one of the ladies and wound up with a very high-fashion french twist thing and I got a braid. Of all the things I thought he would do, the little half up and slightly off center braid wasn't even in the top 10. I could feel it hangin off the back of my head like a separate entity. We had Dan take pictures of it but I haven't gotten them from him yet so I'll just have to add those in later. The makeup went well except for the people kept asking what my number was and what I would be singing and I didn't want to tell them I wasn't actually auditioning because then I thought they wouldn't do my hair and stuff, so I had to keep kind of telling lies and they didn't really all add up so I think they probably thought I was a big bozo. But I did score some sweet chapstick from the Telstra people who were running an online blog about the audition. There should be a couple pics of us on there, so if I can find the address, I'll send it out, cause I know it'd be a great way to kill a little time. Dan and Joe didn't end up making it to the next round so they were actually done before Katie and I were.

Then Katie and I were planning to go to the Victoria Market, but first we had to drop some stuff off at some friends' house so we wouldn't have to carry it around with us all day. There had been some talk about a cocktail party put on by their footy club, but then they specifically told us they wouldn't be going. Well this all changed when Matt got home with the good news that, yes in fact we were going to the cocktail party! This is great and all except, I didn't have any cocktail worthy attire and my hair was in a braid and I had only about 6 bobby pins with which to work some magic and make it all presentable. Oh the horror and awkwardness that then ensued. Just because of the situation there really wasn't any way I could gracefully bow out so I ended up wearing a dressy shirt and jeans, brown shoes and a smile that said, "even though I'm highly under-dressed I'm going to pretend I don't notice and have a good time hanging out in a room full of people who are noticing I'm highly under-dressed". Even though it started out pretty painfully, it ended up being a fun night all in all. First of all, Matt and Ben, the guys who took us to the cocktail party went off to mingle and told us to stay there and wait for them. Well this is even worse because with them gone, Katie and I didn't know anyone. So we decided that in order to make this bearable we might have to play some games and do a few missions. We decided that by the end of the night we both had to dance with a guy wearing a bowtie and Katie had to wear the drummer's hat and I had to hold the guitar. Katie managed to get the drummer to let her try his hat but I wasn't brave enough to ask to hold the guitar. We failed on the bowtie front as well, although one bowtie-wearing gentleman did kiss my hand and compliment me on my accent and tell me that it reminded him of a Canadian lover he had once years ago. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matt had came back, however, Ben, my "date" has been snatched up by the footy coach's wife and daughter. Apparently Miss Paula had a thing for Ben and Momma was gonna help her make it happen... at first it was a bit awkward, but then once I found out Ben didn't like her at all, it got to be quite funny. The Mom would casually walk up and ask Ben if he could hold Paula's drink for her... then Paula would come to fetch it and would confide to me that Ben was keeping his eye on her and was her "babysitter" for the night... Poor fella, between the two of them he could rarely catch a break, but I told him if he ever needed to be rescued to just give the signal and I'd come save the day. Since he was usually busy fighting Paula off, I had ample time to have several deep and meaningfull conversations with some of the other footy players, all the while thinking, "Well isn't this about the most bizarre place you've ever ended up, Miss Adriane Ohlde".

#1 Mum

Just want to take a moment to honor my momma. She's a great lady who works hard and makes me laugh. She makes the best green bean casserole and I sure am looking forward to having some of that when I get home. If you see her today, give her a hug for me.

We're gonna have to send Grandma (aka Sidebar Stories Vol. 2)

Well I bought some dried apples on Sunday. I had some reservations just because mass produced dry fruits are never quite as great as you expect, but I thought I'd give them a try. They were made in Tasmania, "straight from the Huon Valley", which if you know your business, and your business happens to be Australian Apple Growing Regions, you know that this is one of the best. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt, tore into the package, and the apples taste like rubberbands. I know you're wondering, "What does a rubberband taste like?" Well find an old nasty rubberband that's been in your desk drawer since 1993 and put it in your mouth and then you will know the depth of my despair. Grandma could show these imposters a thing or two. The thing is, I'm going to continue eating them because:
1. I paid good Australian plastic money for them
2. If a snack is bad, I won't overdose on it like I would if it was cookies
3. They've got some nutritional value and it's better for me than most other things

So they are my new study snack (as long as they last that is, I'm not gonna waste more money on the nasty things) and it actually works out quite well. Like I said they keep me from eating things that are bad for me and since they taste bad, I drink more water because of them. It's a win win situation I guess.

(cue triumphal interlude music)

Last week on Thursday, caf. was a glorious experience. I had missed caf. earlier in the week, so come Thursday I had a swipe left on my card (I get three meal swipes per week) and we were having chicken enchiladas! Now these aren't like the chicken enchiladas you'd have in the states, but they're still pretty tasty. So, what did I do? I went through once and ate my meal. Then since it was so darn good, I boldly went back through the line again. Oh yeah, victory was mine. Two enchiladas, two desserts. It was the gastronomic equivalent of winning the lottery. (ok, maybe not quite that good, maybe more like getting your tax return back)

(cue jock jams interlude music)

Some of the boys from the block have invented a new game which goes by the name "Hammerball" apparently it combines elements of soccer, cricket, and croquet and is played with a large rubber mallet. So far no one has been injured so we'll consider it a success.

(cue something, maybe a polka if you've got one handy)

OH, and now, for the REALLY BIG NEWS! Ok, now that you've all picked up on the sarcasm, you can back away from the edge of your seats. So one long evening in the computer lab sparked the implementation of a new goal for my life. Yes, you guessed it, I decided that I would listen to my "The Grind" (as in the daily grind) playlist on my ipod all the way through, without switching to anything else because that makes the counter start all the way back over at one. You have to understand there are 717 songs on this playlist. On May 5th at 3:30 pm Australian time, I finished. The accomplishment is slightly marred by the fact that, since I had it set to "random", I have the sneaking suspicion that I heard some songs twice. I'm a little disturbed, but I mean there's always tomorrow. I can always do it again, now that I know it can be done, it seems so much more conquerable than in the past. And next time, I'll be smarter, I'll go in alphabetical order so I'll KNOW if it's trying to mess around on me. Also, I am a loser. (just in case you hadn't picked that up in the prior paragraph)

ANZAC Day

Anzac day was March 25th and it started very early in the morning. A bunch of us got up at 4:00 am and headed to Torquay for the dawn service overlooking the ocean. Structurally it was quite similar to memorial services at home. The flags were different as were the uniforms and battle references, but the mentality was the same. Then around 9:00 we took the train to Melbourne to watch the marches (parades) and attend the Anzac day game, the 2nd biggest game of the year, after the grand final. I'm just going to add some pictures from the day to give an idea of what it was like.


Service men and women at the dawn service wearing their distinctive hats.



Sunrise over the ocean



Honoring ANZACs in Melbourne


Playing footy at Ben's family's tailgate before the Collingwood/Essedon game. Tyson is Ben's younger brother and he is a blast. I'd bring him home if I could, but I think there's some sort of import restriction on 14 yr olds.



The guys playing footy


Inside the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) for the pregame festivities. It is an enormous stadium. Holds about 100,000 people and it was a sold out game.


The Game - Collingwood is in Black and White, Essedon is Black and Red.


Falling asleep for a few minutes right in the middle of it all. (Remember I did get up at 4 am)


Since Essendon lost, Adam had to wear a Collingwood jersey and sing their song.


By the time the game got over it was quite late. This is one last shot of Melbourne as we were heading for the train station to get back to Geelong.

Sidebar Stories: Vol. 1

I've discovered that the majority of the events here are not big and earth-shattering and probably not worthy of an entire post (me going to class at the wrong time = case in point). Most people don't care to know about the nitty gritty details of the daily grind, but at the same time they are the things that will be memorable to me down the road and will make me laugh at inappropriate moments that I won't be able to explain to other people. So I'm going to combine the smaller events into collections of sidebar stories and leave it at that.

In March we tried to make beans and weenies. They did not turn out that great, but they were close enough to the real thing to satisfy that little section of our stomach that craved them. The beans were in "tomato sauce" so maybe that was teh problem, but it looked like our best option at the time. The Australians thought we were crazy. We also managed to get into a huge argument because they think it is morally reprehensible to cook hot dogs on a grill (or barbeque) because "they would get all crunchy." Honestly, it's not that much different from a snag (sausage) if you cook those on a grill you can cook a hot dog on a grill. Sheesh. And my pants weren't hiked up as high as they look in the picture. I'm really not sure what was going on there.

Somehow we've gotten in the habit of making cupcakes for people's birthdays. It's kind of nice because we try to surprise them, which is sometimes hard with communal kitchens or because Laura is the only one with a muffin pan... it was tricky when her birthday rolled around... I casually mentioned I was going to make blueberry muffins the next morning and asked if I could borrow her pan. Worked like a charm! She wasn't even suspicious. Then last Tuesday we made some for Joe, the RA for the Collins side of the Blocks, he totally walked right in while we were making them and even asked if we were having "cooking club" cause he's seen us do this before. We thought he was on to us, but it turns out he is Captain Oblivious and had no idea the whole time. So that was great. Usually we share them around the block so 12 people get to enjoy them but on Tuesday we each decided we'd each have three. It was wonderful.

Have I mentioned my feelings about public transport? I'll admit, sometimes it's nice. It can be a relaxing way to unwind, just roll with the rhythm of the bus, you know. But for the most part I think it is a joke the world likes to play on me. I think it proves that I am just not in sync with city life. I can't get the timing down, I end up on the wrong side of the road to catch the bus I need, I look at the wrong day's schedule, a different bus driver gives me bad directions so the next bus driver yells at me.... It's more than just getting from Point A to Point B. Trauma, pain, social humiliation, angst, self hatred, and 90 cents poorer each time I ride, this is what I get from public transport.

Have I told you about my family?

So I kind of figured that this goes without saying but recent events make me believe I should reiterate certain facts of life, namely that my family is truly awesome, probably the best in the world actually.

Here's the story - I like to check my mail just because it's kind of a treat and makes the day great if I get something, and if I don't get something it just means that there's a greater chance that I'll get something the next week. Well I went for a run the other morning and on the way back to the Blocks I decided I'd just walk over to the residential life office and check my mail. Well immediately when I walked through the door I could tell that the "O" box was pretty full. And I take a few more steps and there's a bunch of envelopes that all look the same. So I just figured that Deakin had sent out a bunch of stuff to everyone. But the first one had my name on it and as I looked at the envelopes I could see all the labels were the same and I just kept flipping through (and my eyes and smile just got bigger and bigger) and on about the fourth one my brain finally processed all the information and I just couldn't say anything for a couple minutes, which was fine because no one else was there and it would have been weird if I had started talking. Then even though I had 11 envelopes in my hand, apparently that wasn't enough so I flipped through the rest, and lo and behold there was a yellow slip that said I had a package! That just put me over the moon. It was a bit of an overload for one day but so so great. It was so great to walk back to the Blocks with this huge stack of mail I felt very conspicuous in a very good way. Like those people that deliver the great big checks to peoples' doors, you know as they're walking down the sidewalk and everyone is just thinking, "whoa". That's how I felt and I was thrilled.

I just want to thank everyone for the cards and prayers and everything that have helped me stay connected with people back home even when I'm so far away. It really is amazing to know you have so many people that care about you.

So cool

Today I woke up and got my act together to go pick up a package that mom had sent me, and let me just say there is no better way to start the day. Then I pulled a cool move and went to class at 10:00. Walked in, didn't recognize any of the people, realized my class is at 11:00 not 10:00. You would think after a couple of months I wouldn't still be having these sorts of problems. I guess it's the constant minor screw-ups that keep life interesting.

An over-the-rainbow kind of girl in an under down under kind of place

Tasmania was the next stop after Mulwala. It was a beautiful country but sadly didn't photograph very well. What follows will be a brief rundown of our escapades, in no particular order of significance or chronology. It rained alot so most of the time it was dreary and gray but there were a few shining moments when the sun burst out and everything became a magnificent green. So what did we do? Well bright and early Tuesday Katie, Aman, and I rented a car and got the heck out of Hobart (just kidding it really was a nice town). From there on we saw some animals, drove on the most windy, curvy roads imaginable, went to Kettering, Tasmania for Katie who is from Kettering, Ohio, drove on some more curvy roads (this will be a recurring theme),
came across some cows that were being herded up the road (brought back memories of the good ol' days on the farm), saw some funny signs, petted a wombat, slept in the car, learned the location of every public toilet in every town on our route, went to Lake Barrington, talked about how much Tasmania looked like the landscape in Lord of the Rings (yes I know that was filmed in New Zealand),
did a grueling hike to Wineglass bay (and when I say hike I mean we did the equivalent of 2 hours on a stairmaster - by the time we got done it hurt just as much to go down as up), enjoyed a cold and rainy day at the 2nd best beach in the world, saw some rainbows, tried to see some monkeys at Launceston but it was night so we had no luck, got to see little (formerly known as fairy) penguins on their nightly trek in from the ocean, drove on some more windy roads, found out we couldn't get on tours of the Cadbury factory or the Cascade brewery (the only two things we had really planned to try and do), did a ghost tour at Port Arthur, almost hit a possum on the road, spent a little time in Bicheno (Tidy Town Tasmania 2003 by the way), discovered a wonderful treat called Quatro's by Arnott's, the same company that makes TimTams (Quatros by the way beat TimTams by a mile and a half, that's how absolutely good they are), did some mermaid poses, tried to take artsy pictures (as a result we have lots of pictures of rocks that will possibly look cool in black and white, but I'm not holding my breath), wrote things in the sand, saw the "Remarkable Cave" (it's remarkable because it's a little tunnel, not really a cave at all, but the ocean comes rushing through and at one end, you can see the outline of Tasmania - it really is pretty remarkable), climbed a tree, filled the Nimbus up with petrol,
and, you guessed it, drove on some curvy, windy roads.

Easter in Mulwala

Easter was different this year just because it was the first time I had ever had to celebrate it away from home. Our residence had secret Easter Buddies which made things kind of fun. Mine happened to be Dan (turned out to be not so secret), one of the loudest individuals you'll ever meet. He's a pretty nice guy though and gave me the wonderful Eggosaurus pictured at the left which I promptly ate. (ok not the whole thing but a good portion of it was gone by the time I left on Friday). On Friday Katie and I left with Mel to spend the weekend with her family at Mulwala, New South Wales. On Friday we went out to eat with her family and an uncle and aunt from her mom's side. Her uncle Mike had spent about 5 years being a sales rep. in Kansas so he knew a lot of the towns etc. and it was so nice to talk to someone who actually knew what I was referring to! Mel's two younger brothers both play footy so on Saturday we watched them play. It was pretty cool just to see the Australian version of high school sports. There are some big differences but for the most part the atmosphere is pretty similar. On Sunday evening we visited her Grandparents and met some of her extended family. No matter where you go, families are the same. Her Grandpa was bald and sat at the head of the table and her Grandma was making sure everyone had enough and not really taking time to eat. Her younger cousin had an accident and her uncles told jokes. It was great to be there but at the same time I was wishing I was home with my family. It was pretty neat though when we had dessert, the bowl I ate out of was the exact same green flower pattern that is on our plates at home so I was thrilled. It was great to be able to spend Easter with a surrogate family and be so welcomed into their home, and I guess that's about as close as you can come to the real thing when you're half way around the world.

....in Paradise

I went to Brisbane and Surfer's Paradise last weekend (March 30 to April 2) and got to see a different part of Australia. In Brisbane I spent a lot of time wandering around by myself waiting for my friend to get done with classes. I spent a lot of time in the Roma Street Parklands and got a little bit homesick for my mom and grandma. I kept taking pictures of stuff knowing that if they were there, that's exactly what they would be doing and knowing how if they were there I would be getting so exasperated with them. And I enjoyed myself in a melancholy way for that very reason. It makes not very much sense I realize but that's apparently the way my brain works. That was pretty much the highlight of Brisbane. I helped my friend (a fellow K-Stater) work through some enrollment issues and just kind of hung out. The next afternoon I headed for Surfer's Paradise and met up with some other Int'l students I have met since being here. We had a good time going to the beach etc, and looking at signs. There were so many businesses that were called "Something" In Paradise... there was Vegas in Paradise, Pancakes in Paradise, and countless others that I don't remember. I'm adding two of my favorite signs below:



Who knew that they had IGA in Australia?





Some people say everyone has their own version of paradise, but apparently there's only one and there is a road that'll take you right to it. Good to know.

Thanks Mom!

My first bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal (with almonds) sent with love all the way from Palmer, Kansas. Believe me, they tasted amazing. Like a little bit of heaven in my mouth. I saved them for a couple weeks because I had other Australian cereal to eat (of a much lower calibre on the breakfast scale) and I wanted to prolong the anticipation. I was not disappointed.

Meet Adam

This is Adam. This picture was taken on his 19th birthday, a day that will live in infamy as the day he officially became "past his prime." His look says it all. He got a text from his mom at 9:00 that night that said, "Hey, was today your birthday?" Who's mom forgets their kid's birthday?! It was quite funny, poor fella. We surprised him later with cupcakes though so I think that cheered him up a bit.

I have to give him credit for introducing me to Tim Tam Tea and rock climbing as well as the Essendon Bombers - the only footy team worth supporting in his opinion. He is notorious for hollering things down the hall that are completely out of context with the present conversation, as a result we laugh a lot when he's around. Some funny quotes from Adam:

BUSY VERY BUSY!

Amsterdam! Beautiful Women! Mr. Jones!

Hey Adriane! Hi, my name is Neo! (followed by his version of matrix moves)

I realize that these aren't as funny if you weren't there, but I thought it was worth taking a shot to share the humor.

Catching up on Life

It's been raining all day and the computer lab has a more pungent funk than normal. But I'm going to take advantage of the bad weather to do a little catching up on stuff. Some things that I have done that I haven't yet passed along include going out to a club in St. Kilda which is an area in Melbourne. Katie and I went there with Ben, a guy we know from Uni and one of his friends Timmy. We had a pretty good time except the techno music got a little old after a while. We even saw an actor from Neighbors which is a TV show over here. (It'a pretty bad show though so it's kind of a joke)


The next week, on Wed. (March 22nd) we went and watched the Commonwealth games Squash competition. At first it wasn't too thrilling but towards the end it really heated up. The crowd got intense especially during the England/Mauritius match. The players from Mauritius were just amazing. They ultimately lost but they played with such flair. Amazing. So at the end of the match we rushed down and had them autograph our ticket stubs. How many people have that souvenier? I'm going to wager not very many.

The next Monday, there was a school sponsored trip to Queenscliff to see seals and swim with dolphins. I'll admit I had some reservations because I'm really not a dolphin lover, but it actually was a pretty cool experience. The seal colony smelled really really noxious. My whole face kind of shriveled up in agony, but once you got in the water you didn't notice it as much. When we got to the dolphin area, it took us a little while before we spotted them, but once we did there was a group of like 20-25 that were swiming around and below us. The company that was taking us out there doesn't feed them or anything so everytime they go out it's a matter of chance whether or not you see any. So basically we had about the best luck anyone has in that situation.


A celebrity, some squash, seals and dolphins...

How do you top a line-up like that?

The morning after

So after sleeping for a grand total of 3.5 hours. We got up and got the ball rolling to go see some Commonwealth games action. The men's triathalon was in St. Kilda and we could watch for free so we made a valiant effort and managed to make it there in time to see the last leg of the event. While we weren't in the best position for seeing the most exciting parts like the finish or the exchange zones where they switch from swimming to biking (we wouldn't have been there in time anyway), it was pretty cool to be there and experience it all. There was great crowd support and a lot of the runners interacted with the crowd and it was just a very fun atmosphere. A guy from Australia won the event and it was great to see him come around the turn on the final lap of the course. You could tell he had been waiting for this day for a long time and was loving every minute of it. It was amazing to me to think that I was standing in a crowd of people, halfway around the world from where I would normally be, cheering on world class athletes from around the world. To see them at the end when they're dog tired and yet still have the energy to raise their arms up and share the moment with the crowd.

An extremely long night

We spent St. Pat's day in Melbourne (thanks to the wonderful transport from Mo) and met up with Amber, one of Katie's friends from Ohio who is studying at Deakin's Melbourne campus. We went to an Irish pub and after waiting in line to get in for 45 minutes met up with some of the other international students from Deakin. All in all it was a pretty good time. We talked to some interesting people who probably don't remember us. Katie, Amber, Drea (another int'l student) and I ended up going to KFC once the pub shut down and sat there for a long time talking with some of Amber and Drea's friends. At this point Katie decided she was hungry for some chicken, but really didn't want to pay for it. So at this point she approached the counter and said, "I'm an American, do you have any spare chicken?" And it worked! They gave her a whole to-go box full of chicken. It was pretty much the high point of our night.

At this point it would have been the best option to just go home. That's what I would have liked to have done. However, there were people in our group who absolutely just had to go to the Crown Casino at 5 in the morning. This is a pretty big place. In fact it's the largest casino in the southern hemisphere, or so I've read. I've never actually been in a casino so it was kind of cool except that I was dog tired and my feet hurt. Katie and I and one of the guys who had been hanging out with Amber ended up losing the other four people. So after walking around for 1.5 hours, we decided that since the trams were running again we would just find our tired way home. We finally got back to the campus at 8:30 in the morning and we both pretty much collapsed. All in all it was a good time, it just lasted a lot longer than it needed to.


PS - That's Katie in the picture with me. The other guy is just there cause of the hair. We don't really know who he was.

PPS - They don't like it when you take pictures in casinos.

Show 'em your Mo face

This is Mo, which is short for Mohammad. He lives on the Collins side of the Blocks just down the hall from my friend Katie. He's probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Last Friday he gave Katie and I and another girl from the U.S. a ride to Melbourne and it was one of the most enjoyable trips I have ever taken. We left in the afternoon and the windows were down and the music was up and the weather was just as perfect as you can imagine.

Some things that Mo says that we find funny:
"So, what's going to happen next?" and "Is that awesome?" Most people say, "Is that alright?" but not Mo. With him, it's gotta be awesome.

So anyway, that's Mo and he's one of the many great people I've met here at Deakin.

Belay Certified

So on Tuesday I went rock climbing. It was a pretty sweet deal because if members of the DCC (Deakin Climbing Club) brought along a guest we both got in free and got free shoe rentals. Whoo Hoo! (check 'em out, they're green and yellow... so cool) I was a little nervous all day but that wasn't enough to stop me from eating dinner (or tea as they call it here), even though we were going as soon as we got done eating. On the way there, we saw the most amazing thing. We were going down the road and down by the river we saw some big tents set up and then, just standing around, not tied up to anything, were two elephants! When's the last time you saw two elephants just standing around? At that point I was so thrilled that I didn't even care what happened the rest of the night. When we got to The Rock (as the rock climbing place is so originally named), we first had to figure out how to get the harness on. It was tricky but we made it. Then, everyone who was new had to go through a short training session and learn how to belay. This is when you're not the one climbing but you're on the ground keeping the rope taut and making sure they don't crash to the floor. I am now certified, which means I can belay with the best of them. I even have a blue, laminated card to prove it. Anyway, climbing was quite fun even though I wasn't super at it. Turns out my hands aren't the best grippers in the southern hemisphere. But I managed quite nicely. I made it to the top on all except for one of the walls I tried. To make things tougher, you're supposed to only use one color of hand grips (i.e. move up only stepping or hanging on green ones). I never managed to accomplish this feat. I usually ended up getting stuck and sneaking in a purple or something at the last minute. Course it wasn't helping that Adam, my belayer, was of the impression that bursting into random song would help my cause. Nothing like being halfway up a wall, clinging to small little lumps of plastic and hearing, "when I get that feeling, I need sexual healing" and then remembering that I am kind of trusting him with my life as he is supposed to keep me from plummeting to my death. No worries though, we all survived.

Nothing says Happy Birthday like a wrecked unicycle.

So Sunday was Josh's 19th birthday. He threw himself a picnic and we all joined him. Even though we made him cupcakes, he still provided cake and punch for everyone. And he brought his unicycle. Honestly, what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than eating a $5 Sesame Street cake, drinking punch out of a bucket and trying your hand at unicycling. Josh is actually quite good, the rest of us - not so much. I tried valiantly but the only way I could do it was with one person on each side and one in front. Still it was fabulous. Because we had such a good time, I think we're going to celebrate a birthday every Sunday, regardless of whether or not anyone is actually having one.



I'm here to get an education. Honestly.