Well... today was butt shot day.... Its a real shame when that is the biggest event in a week for me. Anyway, so now that I’m acting like a big baby and laying in bed watching TV, avoiding homework, I thought I would put a little blog post. The only difference in my shot here is that they mix in a minor anesthetic, but I don’t really think it worked, because It is still sore and it just feels like they placed a brick in my butt cheek. But I digress....
The weather here has been crazier than normal. I have been having to keep my rain jacket with me at all times. When I leave for class it is sunny and hot, then when I leave class it is rainy and windy. The days have been warming up though, but when the wind blows it can be a bit cutting. I am still laughing at some of the people here talking about how cold it is. Today when I walked out of class, one of my group members turned to me and said “awwwww.. it’s freezing out here” I just started laughing and said, “yeah that wind is a bit chilly, but it isn’t too bad” What was the temperature you ask... 57 degrees. Not hot by any means, but definitely NOT freezing! I’ve been told that this is the coldest winter on record, and I’m thinking that if this is as cold as it gets here in the winter, I could handle that.
I think that a couple of friends and I are going to a place called Daylesford just outside of Melbourne. Sunday is SUPPOSED to be sunny and 60, so we thought it would be lovely to go and check out something new. We’ve read that there is good hiking and fresh mineral lakes and rivers there, and it is cheap to get to so we thought we’d give it a try. That is if the weather cooperates.
Not much else is new really... This week went by insanely fast. I feel like yesterday was Monday and it is already the weekend. Hope all is well wherever you happen to be reading this from. I have been told about many people reading the blog and I hope that you are all enjoying it. I am going to go and make some pasta here in just a bit. Guess that’s enough boringness for now... I’ll write again soon, until next time, no worries!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
The Great Ocean Road
So this past weekend was absolutely amazing! I was able to get out of the city for a bit this weekend and spend some time with Lee and her family in Winchelsea and boy am I glad I did.
I left on Friday afternoon after class. I was a bit anxious about figuring out the trains at the station and being able to get down there, but I walked up to the ticket agent, told him where I needed to go, he told me which train to get on and $3.20 later, I was on my way. After being picked up from the train station, we headed the 30 minutes back to Lee’s house. Once there I met Lee’s Mum, Dad, and Boyfriend who I actually share a name with. Yes, that is correct there is an Australian Dallas. We aren’t anything alike, but he is a pretty cool bloke. Anyway, after being asked a bazillion questions, none of which I minded (especially since I’m a talker) we started eating dinner or Tea as it is often referred to. As our dinner of spaghetti progressed I had come to find out that Geelong was playing in a footy match that evening, which is the team that they barrack or root for, so it was going to be an interesting night. Side note... They say barrack as a term for cheer. I have also come to learn that by saying you root for someone would be taken as you had sexual relations with someone... as in “yeah.. me and so-and-so rooted last night.” Needless to say, I am never using the term “root” again. So... as the beer came out and 8:30 rolled around we all started barracking for Geelong. It got close a couple of times, but Geelong pulled out a win by 42 points. It was a great game to watch and a lot of fun to participate in the action.
After getting to bed around midnight, we were up at 8 the next morning to head out on an Australian car tour. With Ann, Lee’s mum behind the wheel and Lee and I as passengers we headed out. For about an hour we went up and down and all around in this forest or the bush as it is referred to in Australia. We curved on these tiny little roads and every now and then the trees would open up to these beautiful rolling hills with sheep and cows and green grass everywhere. Being that high up in the mountains revealed some of the most stunning views you had ever seen. As we started to approach one corner Ann told me to look to the left. As I kept looking, waiting for the trees to clear to see what she wanted me to see, they opened up to reveal the deepest blue ocean you can imagine. I certainly wasn’t expecting it, but it was an absolutely stunning site. As we wound our way down the mountain side, we found ourselves at a little beach town along the coast. As we headed up the road we stopped at a park called the twelve apostles. It got its name from these twelve big tall and skinny rocks sticking up out of the water. Three have fallen over, so there is really only nine apostles left, but it was still a sight to see. We had gotten out to take a few pictures and have a walk around.
We were worried about the weather because it had been pesky all day. It would go from hot and beautiful sunshine to the coldest darkest rainy day. As we ventured down the footpath I snapped a few pictures with the fog in the background and just as we got to the end of the path, it started to pour rain. We turned around and ran back to the car, I had a rain jacket on, so only my jeans were getting wet, but that is still a nuisance, wet jeans are never good. Anyway, just as we got back in the car and drove away the sun came back out. We just laughed it off and it made for nice pictures at the next destination.
We ate lunch at a nice little pub on the water that afternoon around three and headed back to the house after that. Even with the sketchy weather, it was still an amazing day. That night we had tea at a local pub with Lee’s family and cousin that was down to visit. We had some good food and a good evening of chatting. We mainly talked politics as that day was an election day. It is compulsory in Australia for all citizens to vote, so their elections are every three years on a saturday. Just to make sure that everyone can make it to the polls. Their form of government is way too complicated for me to try to bang out an explanation on here, but at its core, the results are still undecided and no party in government is in control and they don’t have a prime minister as the power goes to the party in control. In essence, they vote for the party not the person directly.
Sunday morning I awoke to bacon, eggs, toast, and OJ waiting to be devoured by all. It was a lovely Sunday breakfast, or brekkie as they call it and It was a nice way to spend the morning. I had to catch a train at three so after a quick drive around the coast and some more pictures of the mountains and sea I am back home, safe and sound.
It was an absolutely amazing and much needed getaway. Other than my trip to Sorrento, I haven’t been outside Melbourne since I got here and so it was nice to see some country side. I am NOT looking forward to class tomorrow, but what can you do. The weeks go by so quickly, so it won’t be that big of a deal, but class is still class and I would rather not attend. I only have 95 days left in Australia, but I’d really not like to think about that... Hope all is well on the home front. I will try my best to post again soon, until next time... no worries!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Notice Board
G’day all... Sorry it has been so long since I’ve posted. I have been wrapped up in school and friends and thus have neglected to post some updates for you all to read.
Now that I have spent one full month in Australia (I was flabbergasted when I realized this fact) I have decided to post some things I have noticed. None of the following remarks are necessarily good or bad, they are just things I have observed whilst I am staying here... (First observation... they say Whilst a lot)
Ok... Here they are:
Australians are EXTREMELY obsessed with sports. Mainly Footy, here in Victoria, the state Melbourne is in, but they like rugby a lot around Sydney... Now, when I say obsessed I mean like all out defend your team aggressive, every article of clothing has to have a logo on it, and teams foster a sense of pride and unity.. the list goes on.. I mean I have met some die hard Cardinals fans, but these people LOVE their teams, and love sports. I think too, sports here create a sense of Nationalism.. like this is something Australians can find a common bond in. Kind of like American Baseball as America’s favourite past time, but bigger..
Australians have an uncanny ability of knowing which way doors go and Americans don’t. It doesn’t matter what door I go up to, I always go the wrong way with it and end up just looking like an idiot. To make matters worse, you hardly see signs that say “push” or “pull” on them... also, on top of all that they have doors that slide! and they just look like every other door! They also like to lock one door in a double door entrance or exit and I ALWAYS guess wrong as to which one it is... It is a crazy door mind game that has taken over the country!
Australia has a high volume of Asians... I see more asians than I do Australians.
Every other restaurant is an asian restaurant and asian supermarkets are EVERYWHERE and just in case that isn’t enough there is a China town...
Draft, as in draft beer, is spelled Draught ( if you can find an F in that word I will give you a million dollars)
They think Melbourne weather is freezing cold. Every time I talked to someone up in Northern Australia, they always said “your not gonna like it there it is freezing cold” now keep in mind Australia is in the heart of winter... its basically January here. The temperature hasn’t gotten below 50 degrees more than a couple of times since I’ve been here. I hate to break it to you Australia, but it’s not really that cold...
Many people here only work, when it suits their need, as in they’ve ran out of beer money. Work gets in the way of play and that is unacceptable
They are Sneaky studiers. They will tell you they haven’t read an article, or worked on a paper, but they have.
Australian pool is different. There are only yellow and red billiard balls and then a single eight ball. also, if you miss you get to take another try... they’re just friendly like that
There are even more asians here
All of the guys style their hair. Which puts pressure on me to do something with mine so I don’t stand out...
There is no Dr. Pepper
Tim tams are amazing
They have ranch dressing, but it should be arrested for being an impostor. It is really just like creamy Italian
Melbourne coffee is spectacular
Tea time is a great way to have delicious treats in the middle of the afternoon
they drive on the left side of the road
orange juice tastes completely different. Probably because it is made with real oranges and no preservatives
there are no hot dog buns, and every time there is a BBQ or “barbie” as they would say, there is always sausage and it is served on a slice of bread.
only McDonalds has ketchup, the rest of the country has tomato sauce (pronounced "tomahto"), which, in my opinion, is WAY better than ketchup.
Australian bacon sucks and is more like ham, and “rashers” as it is called that looks like American bacon is thicker and tastes like a pork chop...
They have Whole, Skinny and Lite milk
everything is insanely expensive, probably because their minimum wage is like $17 per hour. And just in case you are wondering that’s ten more dollars than in America
Their health care system is Awesome. There is a lot less paperwork and all Doctors agree that the American system is complete rubbish. For example.. Today I went to the doctor’s office to get my throat checked for strep. I walked in, asked if I could make an appt. the receptionist said I can get you in now (this would NEVER happen in the states... especially at 3:30 in the afternoon) I was seen ten minutes later, then walked out with a prescription for penicillin. I then proceeded to the pharmacy, I gave the girl my prescription and then no more than five minutes later I walked out with my meds... It was awesome!
Portion sizes are smaller except when it comes to cake. You can get like five tons of desert but you can’t get a free refill... and yes, that’s correct.. no free refills ANYWHERE in the country
internet is expensive
mobile phone service is expensive
there is little to no crime... There is actually a crime show that is Australian and it relies on crime data for the past 25 years. Leave it to America to be able to produce an entire series of shows off of the crimes held in one day...
I have an accent, and by that I mean, they don’t have an accent, I do. Only its funny because they always ask if I am from Canada or the US. Apparently Canadians get offended if they assume someone is from America, so they always just ask which of the two countries you are from.
They don’t really wear tennis shoes here for everyday footwear. You’ll find more dress shoes with jeans or sneakers/converse...
contrary to popular belief, Australians don’t speak English. They have their own slang and phrase words and I have been caught once or twice just smiling and nodding, not knowing what they have said. They say "How you going" instead of how are you, arvo means afternoon, petrol is gas, cuppa, is a cup of tea,
they like nick names. they usually just put an O on the end of a name.. like Jake becomes Jake-O
They use "but" as a filler word, but instead of it being used at the beginning or middle of a sentence, it is used a the end.
There are a lot of asians... I’m only joking, and I have nothing against asians, but I was not expecting this amount of asians
Australians are very friendly
Smoking is prohibited everywhere except in the street
you can get fined for just about anything
and to top it all off... you can never really dress appropriately for the weather
I’m sure there is more to a new culture than this measly list, but they are just a couple of observations I’ve had since I’ve been here... Everything else is going well for me. School is good and I am trying to balance work and fun. I was able to purchase a mattress pad today as well and I am super stoked to try out my new comfy bed. The past three days have been rainy and I think that’s why I’m sick. I am getting over it now, but I am gonna take all of my medication just to be on the safe side. Hopefully it won’t take so long for me to post again, but we’ll see.. Missing you all and keep the comments up and the Facebook talk. I love hearing from you. Until next time... no worries!
Now that I have spent one full month in Australia (I was flabbergasted when I realized this fact) I have decided to post some things I have noticed. None of the following remarks are necessarily good or bad, they are just things I have observed whilst I am staying here... (First observation... they say Whilst a lot)
Ok... Here they are:
Australians are EXTREMELY obsessed with sports. Mainly Footy, here in Victoria, the state Melbourne is in, but they like rugby a lot around Sydney... Now, when I say obsessed I mean like all out defend your team aggressive, every article of clothing has to have a logo on it, and teams foster a sense of pride and unity.. the list goes on.. I mean I have met some die hard Cardinals fans, but these people LOVE their teams, and love sports. I think too, sports here create a sense of Nationalism.. like this is something Australians can find a common bond in. Kind of like American Baseball as America’s favourite past time, but bigger..
Australians have an uncanny ability of knowing which way doors go and Americans don’t. It doesn’t matter what door I go up to, I always go the wrong way with it and end up just looking like an idiot. To make matters worse, you hardly see signs that say “push” or “pull” on them... also, on top of all that they have doors that slide! and they just look like every other door! They also like to lock one door in a double door entrance or exit and I ALWAYS guess wrong as to which one it is... It is a crazy door mind game that has taken over the country!
Australia has a high volume of Asians... I see more asians than I do Australians.
Every other restaurant is an asian restaurant and asian supermarkets are EVERYWHERE and just in case that isn’t enough there is a China town...
Draft, as in draft beer, is spelled Draught ( if you can find an F in that word I will give you a million dollars)
They think Melbourne weather is freezing cold. Every time I talked to someone up in Northern Australia, they always said “your not gonna like it there it is freezing cold” now keep in mind Australia is in the heart of winter... its basically January here. The temperature hasn’t gotten below 50 degrees more than a couple of times since I’ve been here. I hate to break it to you Australia, but it’s not really that cold...
Many people here only work, when it suits their need, as in they’ve ran out of beer money. Work gets in the way of play and that is unacceptable
They are Sneaky studiers. They will tell you they haven’t read an article, or worked on a paper, but they have.
Australian pool is different. There are only yellow and red billiard balls and then a single eight ball. also, if you miss you get to take another try... they’re just friendly like that
There are even more asians here
All of the guys style their hair. Which puts pressure on me to do something with mine so I don’t stand out...
There is no Dr. Pepper
Tim tams are amazing
They have ranch dressing, but it should be arrested for being an impostor. It is really just like creamy Italian
Melbourne coffee is spectacular
Tea time is a great way to have delicious treats in the middle of the afternoon
they drive on the left side of the road
orange juice tastes completely different. Probably because it is made with real oranges and no preservatives
there are no hot dog buns, and every time there is a BBQ or “barbie” as they would say, there is always sausage and it is served on a slice of bread.
only McDonalds has ketchup, the rest of the country has tomato sauce (pronounced "tomahto"), which, in my opinion, is WAY better than ketchup.
Australian bacon sucks and is more like ham, and “rashers” as it is called that looks like American bacon is thicker and tastes like a pork chop...
They have Whole, Skinny and Lite milk
everything is insanely expensive, probably because their minimum wage is like $17 per hour. And just in case you are wondering that’s ten more dollars than in America
Their health care system is Awesome. There is a lot less paperwork and all Doctors agree that the American system is complete rubbish. For example.. Today I went to the doctor’s office to get my throat checked for strep. I walked in, asked if I could make an appt. the receptionist said I can get you in now (this would NEVER happen in the states... especially at 3:30 in the afternoon) I was seen ten minutes later, then walked out with a prescription for penicillin. I then proceeded to the pharmacy, I gave the girl my prescription and then no more than five minutes later I walked out with my meds... It was awesome!
Portion sizes are smaller except when it comes to cake. You can get like five tons of desert but you can’t get a free refill... and yes, that’s correct.. no free refills ANYWHERE in the country
internet is expensive
mobile phone service is expensive
there is little to no crime... There is actually a crime show that is Australian and it relies on crime data for the past 25 years. Leave it to America to be able to produce an entire series of shows off of the crimes held in one day...
I have an accent, and by that I mean, they don’t have an accent, I do. Only its funny because they always ask if I am from Canada or the US. Apparently Canadians get offended if they assume someone is from America, so they always just ask which of the two countries you are from.
They don’t really wear tennis shoes here for everyday footwear. You’ll find more dress shoes with jeans or sneakers/converse...
contrary to popular belief, Australians don’t speak English. They have their own slang and phrase words and I have been caught once or twice just smiling and nodding, not knowing what they have said. They say "How you going" instead of how are you, arvo means afternoon, petrol is gas, cuppa, is a cup of tea,
they like nick names. they usually just put an O on the end of a name.. like Jake becomes Jake-O
They use "but" as a filler word, but instead of it being used at the beginning or middle of a sentence, it is used a the end.
There are a lot of asians... I’m only joking, and I have nothing against asians, but I was not expecting this amount of asians
Australians are very friendly
Smoking is prohibited everywhere except in the street
you can get fined for just about anything
and to top it all off... you can never really dress appropriately for the weather
I’m sure there is more to a new culture than this measly list, but they are just a couple of observations I’ve had since I’ve been here... Everything else is going well for me. School is good and I am trying to balance work and fun. I was able to purchase a mattress pad today as well and I am super stoked to try out my new comfy bed. The past three days have been rainy and I think that’s why I’m sick. I am getting over it now, but I am gonna take all of my medication just to be on the safe side. Hopefully it won’t take so long for me to post again, but we’ll see.. Missing you all and keep the comments up and the Facebook talk. I love hearing from you. Until next time... no worries!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Cultural Crash Course
Well hello all! Its been a bit since my last post, but with school and Jordan being here, I have found a free moment to write a quick post. Granted it is 1 am but don’t worry, I don’t have class until 2:15 tomorrow, so I will get my recommended eight hours of sleep! Anyway, Jordan and I have been having a blast! It has been a whirlwind of activity, but it has been so nice to have her here. She is leaving Friday morning though, which is sad. We have done so much in the small amount of time she has been here. We went to St. Kilda which is a nice little beachy area and then that evening a bunch of people showed up and we did a little pub crawl. We also toured downtown Melbourne and Jordan was able to take her first street car tram ride. We did some shopping... I didn’t buy anything, but Jordan got some souvenirs. I totally could have broken down and bought this one whole outfit however. We walked into this one store because I wanted to try on a shirt that I thought looked nice. Well... you would have thought that the King of England had just walked in, as the two women working in the store were bringing me clothes left and right. I would walk into the dressing room and then three shirts would appear. This happened EACH TIME! At first I was getting a little freaked out, because I wasn’t going to buy anything in the first place and I only wanted to look at this one particular shirt... anyway as time went on I kinda started liking the pampering so I just let them bring me clothes. I was putting on jeans and shirts galore that the first lady was bringing me and then I had changed into all sorts of different shoes that the other girl was bringing me. Each outfit was better than the next and I was really starting to fall in love with everything I put on. Unfortunately, but luckily I suppose, reality hit when they started talking prices. I finally just told them that I would have to think about what I wanted to buy and just come back. They weren’t too happy with that, but then again I didn’t ask for the service. I just wanted to try on one simple blue button up shirt. The rest was just a fun game... After I surfaced from my visions of grandeur in high end fashion we checked out a couple more shops and caught a tram back home. Everyone will be happy to know I spend all of $0 on that shopping spree. I was feeling pretty good. Minus one pair of black jeans that I will probably be going back for at some point in time.
Sunday was a really dreary day with super cold temperatures and a lot of rain, so we opted to stay in. Monday was pretty lax as well with just a couple of strolls downtown. Tuesday night was fun however. We hit up a couple of local hangouts and then went to a comedy club. The people were pretty funny. There were several comedy acts and when they found out that there were Americans in the room they all got pretty excited and started ragging on us. It was all in good fun and was overall a good evening. Tonight we went and checked out a casino. There is a massive complex here with heaps of restaurants, shops, High end stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada and more.... Then there is like a five story casino. Jordan and I spent five dollars on some random slot machines. I would rather play poker, but the poker tables they had open were already pretty full and I don’t really have the money to gamble away... but overall it was an awesome experience. I have never really gambled outside of an occasional poker game at home. It was neat to just be in a casino with flashing lights and “place your bets” noises coming from all around.
After our walk about and our five dollar loss we went to a bowling alley to meet up with some friends. Jordan and I and a couple other people didn’t bowl, but it was fun just to hang out. It was a pretty cool venue called Strike. It was all underground and there were different sitting areas with cool looking bars. All of the lanes were blacklit and really cool. It was just an overall good evening with friends, both new and old. After that and watching a couple of the boys from our group play an intense pool tournament we headed back home to the village. Tomorrow, or later on today if your really want to get technical, Jordan and I are heading to the museum to do one final cultural adventure before she leaves. I have been to one section of it before and it is pretty awesome! What’s even more amazing is that it is free for students so that is a super bonus!!
Friday marks two full completed weeks of class which means I only have 10 left, which is absolutely crazy to think about. My time here is going by insanely fast! I know I’ve said that before, but when you look back and think... Wow it’s already August, in five days I will have been out of the USA for an entire month and I only have four months left... I don’t think I can get everything I want to done!
Well... thirty minutes later and I’m still just typing away. I should probably get some shut eye. Until next time, No worries!
Sunday was a really dreary day with super cold temperatures and a lot of rain, so we opted to stay in. Monday was pretty lax as well with just a couple of strolls downtown. Tuesday night was fun however. We hit up a couple of local hangouts and then went to a comedy club. The people were pretty funny. There were several comedy acts and when they found out that there were Americans in the room they all got pretty excited and started ragging on us. It was all in good fun and was overall a good evening. Tonight we went and checked out a casino. There is a massive complex here with heaps of restaurants, shops, High end stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada and more.... Then there is like a five story casino. Jordan and I spent five dollars on some random slot machines. I would rather play poker, but the poker tables they had open were already pretty full and I don’t really have the money to gamble away... but overall it was an awesome experience. I have never really gambled outside of an occasional poker game at home. It was neat to just be in a casino with flashing lights and “place your bets” noises coming from all around.
After our walk about and our five dollar loss we went to a bowling alley to meet up with some friends. Jordan and I and a couple other people didn’t bowl, but it was fun just to hang out. It was a pretty cool venue called Strike. It was all underground and there were different sitting areas with cool looking bars. All of the lanes were blacklit and really cool. It was just an overall good evening with friends, both new and old. After that and watching a couple of the boys from our group play an intense pool tournament we headed back home to the village. Tomorrow, or later on today if your really want to get technical, Jordan and I are heading to the museum to do one final cultural adventure before she leaves. I have been to one section of it before and it is pretty awesome! What’s even more amazing is that it is free for students so that is a super bonus!!
Friday marks two full completed weeks of class which means I only have 10 left, which is absolutely crazy to think about. My time here is going by insanely fast! I know I’ve said that before, but when you look back and think... Wow it’s already August, in five days I will have been out of the USA for an entire month and I only have four months left... I don’t think I can get everything I want to done!
Well... thirty minutes later and I’m still just typing away. I should probably get some shut eye. Until next time, No worries!
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