I’m back…I’m out of blog retirement for now. I’m coming out of retirement like MJ returning to the Wizards, not quite the same as before but still serviceable. Not like MJ figuring out he can’t hit a curveball and returning to win a couple more championships and destroy Pacer fans’ hearts along the way. Brett Favre (I couldn’t think of a joke but couldn’t do a paragraph on retirement without at least mentioning his name).
You see, my computer is still at the Apple store. Apparently, I need a new hard drive … from America. Convenient, right? For now, I will have to do all of my blogging, interneting, and facebook creeping from ACU (where we take classes). This means no pictures, no daily updates and therefore, probably no followers. I can’t blame you. I will do my best to keep things detailed, entertaining and up to date. I know you’re wondering how you’re going to survive right now. Again, I will do my best. Okay enough with the overview of my current situation. Let’s get down to blogging:
Oh where to begin, it’s been a while. Excuse me while I stretch my typing fingers. Okay, so we returned from Cairns late Monday night and we were all exhausted. I know I combined for about 12 hours of sleep in 3 nights – not what the dr. recommends. Not surprisingly, I woke up Tuesday morning feeling terrible. I assumed it was just from the exhaustion but I was wrong. More on that later (this will be a running theme to this entry, try to contain your excitement). I really considered calling in sick but I need to get my hours and I already missed half a day Friday and a full day Monday. Begrudgingly, I went into work. Mistake numero uno. Email me if you want all the exciting details but the moral of the story is I left work feeling worse than when I went into work. I got home, still exhausted, fixed a fast dinner and went straight to bed thinking I just needed a good night’s rest to feel better.
So I woke up Wednesday morning even worse. Again, I wanted to call in but I didn’t and by the end of the day, I wished I had. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Thursday, I woke up feeling a little bit better, thinking I had turned the corner – not the case. Anyway, we had class and then I made my way to a travel agent to figure out some post-program options. Found out quickly I wouldn’t have the time or money to do New Zealand properly and was given some other cheaper options that I now probably can’t afford due to some unexpected expenses. Again, more on that later. Wow, this entry really is boring. My computer crashing might have been the best thing to happen to you.
Okay, so the weekend. Hopefully, this will give my entry a pulse. Friday night we decided to have a “guys night”. It started off with a trip to our favourite sushi restaurant because nothing says “I’m a man” quite like eating an uncooked fish with chopsticks. Right? Wrong. You know what is manly though? Bombs. That’s exactly what we were faced with.
When we turned the corner of the street that Sushisuma is on, we were greeted with tons of police and flashing lights. The section of the street that Suma was on was roped off. We asked what was going on and apparently, there had been a bomb threat at the restaurant right next door. Being American men, we ran into the rescue cut all the right wires, re-wired the thing and saved Australia from the detonation of death with one second left on the clock. Okay, that’s a lie; we went to the bar down the street and enjoyed a drink while we waited. But hey, the first is more exciting and this entry needed some of that.
Dinner was delicious. Edamame and a California roll. I am man, hear me roar. Okay, so the first part of our night wasn’t the most manly thing in the world but the second was. Gambling (sorry mom and dad). It’s not a problem if you win, right? We headed to the casino at Darling Harbour. I spent four days in Vegas before this trip so I was expecting to be let down by the casino here in Oz but surprisingly, the casino was huge and very nice. We did some wandering around and finally settled down at a blackjack table. Three of us, were playing right next to each other. We started out pretty slow, the dealer (an Adam Lambert look-alike) was killing us. As soon as he left, we started getting hot and it was a good thing because we were running on fumes. Eventually, we all left the table “up”. I’m thinking I should just drop out of school and gamble professionally. Right, parents? On the way home, I found a $5 bill on the ground. I think the Aussie gods are trying to get me to stay here. Earlier in the trip I found a $20 bill on the ground. I now walk around just staring at the ground, looking for money.
On Saturday, we all woke up early and got dressed in our finest attire to spend a day at the Randwick Horse Track. I swear I don’t have a problem – this trip was actually built into our program. Anyway, we were treated to a champagne breakfast at a restaurant that overlooked the track and the Sydney skyline. It was very nice. At about noon, we headed down to the track. We all looked the part. The men were in suits and the women were in dresses. We looked like we knew what we were doing and I would like to think I kind of did. Anyway, we made it in time for the second of 8 races. I placed a bet and lost that one but in the second race, I won $28 on a $3 bet. It was enough to cover the rest of my bets for the day. I ended up right around even. It was a great day. I’m really glad we decided at the last minute to do it. It was different and very entertaining. Afterwards, we received a dinner and then headed back to the apartments and to bed. We had an early, early morning on Sunday.
In the midst of the casino Friday night and the track Saturday afternoon I had started to lose my voice and I still wasn’t feeling a whole lot better. That’s the subplot now back to the plot.
I woke up at 1:30 a.m. (you read that properly) to get ready for Team USA’s match against Ghana at 4:30. A pretty good-sized group of us wanted to go to Darling Harbour for the game to watch it at the FIFA fanfest. I blogged about this earlier but it is a huge screen in the middle of the harbour and only one of six in the world. It’s a big deal. Anyway, we headed to a bar called Cheers at about two in the morning. A couple of screwdrivers (ask a Purdue student who has experienced Breakfast Club if you don’t know what this is) later and we were on our way to Darling Harbour. Well, you know how the game went. We lost. Soccer can go back to being irrelevant for the next three years now. Thank God.
The highlight of the morning: we went to a place called Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast. I had the most delicious pancakes I think I have ever had. It was banana pancakes with butterscotch sauce and ice cream. Okay, so what if it sounds like a dessert? It was in the morning and there was fruit involved making it a breakfast. Get off my case. I plan on making on more trip back before I leave. It was delicious. I have a picture of my meal I will upload later.
With a full tummy and frozen toes, we headed back to the apartment complex. I got about four more hours of sleep before heading out for the day. Late in the week, my computer stopped working. It is the first time I have ever had an issue with it (there’s my mac shout-out) and it just figures I am on the complete opposite side of the planet. Anyway, I knew it was still under warranty so I headed to the Sydney Apple store to see what they could do. It’s actually a very cool building. It’s three stories with an all glass front. It was pretty neat but still I would have rather not been forced to make the trip. Well, you know how it went. Hard drive issue, shipping a new one, get it back in 3-5days. The crappy part is that I had to buy an external hard drive to transfer all of my information to. It set me back about $140. Investment good. Timing bad.
After that fiasco, I met up with the guys at the World’s Largest Imax. We had tickets to see Toy Story 3D. It. Was. Awesome. Go see it. Don’t ask questions, just do it. It ranks right up there with Finding Nemo, Shrek, the original Toy Story and Monsters Inc. The huge screen and 3D were awesome. It was the first 3D movie I have ever seen. Here’s my take. It’s cool for some movies but I can’t ever see it being anything more than a fad for television. There, I just saved you a $1000 on your new TV. And you thought this was a waste of your time.
So Monday was pretty boring. Went to work, ate and went to bed. That’s my new schedule because I am still not feeling real well. I had to spend $100 this morning on a trip to the dr. and some medication. It better work. For what it cost I think it is made up of ground diamonds. That and my computer have probably cost me any travelling after the program ends. Too bad. Well that’s the update for now. I will try to give another quick update this Thursday and then something at the start of next week. We are making a trip to Port Stephens this weekend. On the schedule: wine tasting, whale watching and sand surfing. Should be a good time. Hopefully, I will have my computer back by the start of next week and can upload a ton of pictures. Until then…
Cheers!
I promise, the skydiving entry is coming as soon as I get my computer back. Hey, I got to keep you guys coming back somehow.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
FYI Again
Okay, I know all my readers are just starving for more Boiler Outback reading but unfortunately, my computer crashed last week and it is currently at the Apple store being fixed....hopefully. In an ideal world, I will have it back by midweek and I can finally update everyone but as Dwight Schrute once said, "In an ideal world, I would have ten fingers on my left hand so I could just use my right for punching." I don't know if that quote is really relevant but do with it what you wish. Until I get my computer fixed....
Cheers!
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
FYI
Just a head's up, I am getting around to the skydiving video I know you can't wait to watch. It takes forever to upload and I am out of time. In the meantime, enjoy my blogs about the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest below!
Cheers!
Cheers!
DAY 32: WITH A BIT OF LUCK
With about two or three hours of sleep under my belt we started day 2 in Cairns with another ammonia scented breakfast at the bar. Thankfully, we were all still in a pretty good mood from the night/morning before and ready to hit the path in the rainforest. After breakfast we went out to get in our tour vans and headed out to the Daintree Rainforest. I didn’t realize it at the time but choosing the correct van was a very big decision. The same guy wasn’t driving both vans (I know, crazy right?) and apparently our van’s guide was the best. I got lucky; he (Peter) was incredibly smart and passionate about the Daintree. He was a trained chemist but gave up his job just because he loved the Forest so much.
Peter was a funny guy. He might have been my favorite part of the entire day. He ended every sentence by saying “with a bit of luck” and before he turned off his microphone between all of his facts he would say “NNNNNoooooooo wawwies” It was awesome. I will do my impression of him when I get home.
Okay, enough about Peter for now and back to our day. Our first stop was Port Douglas. This is a little tiny town just north of Cairns. It is a very up-scale five-star town.
Apparently, a lot of celebrities hang out there. The Clintons are rumored to have a house. Last week, when Peter took a group they saw Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer). I would have pooped my pants had I seen Jack Bauer. I was on the hunt. I didn’t find him but we went to a cool little market and did some wandering around before it was time to get back to the bus for our next stop.
The old wharf at Port Douglas
A part of the market at Port Douglas
The Somethin’ Somethin’ Gorge was our next stop. I probably should have paid more attention; I can’t remember the actual name. Anyway, it was a nice little river running through the forest. There were several little walks you could take. One led us right to a suspension bridge that we spent some time on. One of my first memories is being terrified of a suspension bridge at Turkey Run (I think) with my family. I did much better this time around. It was a cool little stop but again, we had to get back to the bus for our next stop.
Tilt yo head. The suspension bridge.
We made a stop at this lookout point. That bay is actually where Steve Irwin was killed. Peter said "Irwin loved Crocs but kept the sting rays closer to his heart." Too soon? Hey, don't shoot the messenger.
Next stop: Daintree Wildlife Center. This was a cool little center that had some of the animals that are native to the Daintree. We saw a spider that was as big as my face, a huge python, some kangaroos, a couple of wallabies, some crocs and a cassawerry (more on these crazy things later). Peter spent some time working at a Kangaroo center and let me just tell you this, he knows way too much about kangaroos, especially there um mating habits. He was happy to share all of this information with us. For instance, did you know that female kangaroos only need to have sex once every 3 years to be pregnant every year? Did you know that this in turn, leads to raping problems with all the male kangaroos? Fascinating stuff right? Female kangaroos can also choose the sex of their offspring. Nobody knows how but it’s true, Peter said so.
After the wildife center, it was time to cross the river and head into the heart of the Daintree Rainforest. This forest is not your typical forest. It is the world’s oldest living rainforest at approximately 200 million years old. There are more species of plants in 1 hectare of the Daintree than there are in the entire United States. There are all sorts of crazy animals such as, a spider the size of a large dinner plate, a butterfly the size of a man’s chest and the infamous cassawerry. This big ugly is a five-foot tall bird. It is a member of the ostrich and emu family. There are only around 1400 alive today and about 200 or so in the Daintree. According to Peter, they are sort of symbolic with the Daintree. He said it’s very rare but occasionally a group will get to see one in its natural habitat. So there we were cruising along, Peter was in one of his speeches and all of a sudden we here “Aha, lookie there guys, it’s a cassawerry. We got to watch one of these prehistoric looking birds cross the street just feet in front of our van. Peter was pumped, we were pumped and I would assume the bird was pumped.
Crikey!
After seeing the bird and some more driving through the rainforest we made it to our forest walk. It was brief but very interesting. We saw some crazy plants and trees that were very interesting. It was just cool to be in the midst of a rainforest – something I have never done before and might not get to do again. Next, we went to Cape Tribulation to get some lunch.
The strangler tree. It is actually completely hollow. Weird huh. That's Peter at the bottom if you tilt your head correctly.
Unfortunately, we got a little unlucky with the weather so it wasn’t as picturesque as we thought it would be but it was still very impressive. Again, it reminded me a lot of Hawaii with the mountains and beach. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay forever.
When we made it back to the Daintree River, the border between the uncivilized rainforest and the civilized rainforest, we went on a boat tour to hopefully see some crocodiles, snakes, birds and other random animals and plants. Our boat driver was hilarious. Again, you could tell he really loved his job as he was cracking jokes the entire time but also educating us on the plants and animals of the forest. He left the wheel of the boat several times and every time he acted like it was normal as he walked up and down the boat just talking to us. About ten minutes in we saw a croc – Lilly. She was a 2.7 meter croc that has been nesting in the same place for about 15 years. 2.7 meters sounds like a lot for a predator like the saltwater crocodile. However, many crocs get up to 9 or 10 meters. Scary, very scary. Later in the boat tour we saw a very rare bird that our boat guide was stoked about. That guy was crazy, I think he was on something. What was the only thing that could cap off a day like this?
You guessed it, ice cream. On our way out of the Daintree we stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream company. We didn’t have much choice on the flavor as we were just given a scoop of each of their flavors of the day. You might have heard of them: Raspberry, Yellow Sapote, Wottleseed, and Soursop. The raspberry was your typical raspberry. The Wottleseed had a mocha taste to it that I enjoyed. The Yellow Sapote was actually my favorite. It almost had a carmel flavoring to it. I am not real sure the best way to describe it but I really enjoyed it. The Soursop was sour and citrusy. It was refreshing. Well, our day was behind us, we were full and exhausted as we headed back to Cairns.
The "menu."
The result. A wooden spoon for good measure.
We were on our own for dinner Sunday night so a group of us decided that we wanted some seafood. We found a restaurant right on the beach and had a delicious meal. We started it off with an appetizer of kangaroo, crocodile and emu. The kangaroo was good, the crocodile was good and the emu was absolutely terrible. I imagine it tasted something like catfood. The texture was the strangest thing I’ve ever tasted and the taste was equally strange. Glad I tried it, but that will be the last time I ever eat emu. I had a delicious grilled barramundi meal and the restaurant shouted (Australian for bought) us all a glass of wine. Couldn’t tell you the name of mine, it was white and just okay. It was a delicious meal. After dinner, we all headed back to Gilligan’s we knew what was in store for tomorrow. I tried to get some sleep but had trouble relaxing. Why? I was considering jumping out of a plane Monday morning. Until then…
Cheers!
Peter was a funny guy. He might have been my favorite part of the entire day. He ended every sentence by saying “with a bit of luck” and before he turned off his microphone between all of his facts he would say “NNNNNoooooooo wawwies” It was awesome. I will do my impression of him when I get home.
Okay, enough about Peter for now and back to our day. Our first stop was Port Douglas. This is a little tiny town just north of Cairns. It is a very up-scale five-star town.
Apparently, a lot of celebrities hang out there. The Clintons are rumored to have a house. Last week, when Peter took a group they saw Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer). I would have pooped my pants had I seen Jack Bauer. I was on the hunt. I didn’t find him but we went to a cool little market and did some wandering around before it was time to get back to the bus for our next stop.
The old wharf at Port Douglas
A part of the market at Port Douglas
The Somethin’ Somethin’ Gorge was our next stop. I probably should have paid more attention; I can’t remember the actual name. Anyway, it was a nice little river running through the forest. There were several little walks you could take. One led us right to a suspension bridge that we spent some time on. One of my first memories is being terrified of a suspension bridge at Turkey Run (I think) with my family. I did much better this time around. It was a cool little stop but again, we had to get back to the bus for our next stop.
Tilt yo head. The suspension bridge.
We made a stop at this lookout point. That bay is actually where Steve Irwin was killed. Peter said "Irwin loved Crocs but kept the sting rays closer to his heart." Too soon? Hey, don't shoot the messenger.
Next stop: Daintree Wildlife Center. This was a cool little center that had some of the animals that are native to the Daintree. We saw a spider that was as big as my face, a huge python, some kangaroos, a couple of wallabies, some crocs and a cassawerry (more on these crazy things later). Peter spent some time working at a Kangaroo center and let me just tell you this, he knows way too much about kangaroos, especially there um mating habits. He was happy to share all of this information with us. For instance, did you know that female kangaroos only need to have sex once every 3 years to be pregnant every year? Did you know that this in turn, leads to raping problems with all the male kangaroos? Fascinating stuff right? Female kangaroos can also choose the sex of their offspring. Nobody knows how but it’s true, Peter said so.
After the wildife center, it was time to cross the river and head into the heart of the Daintree Rainforest. This forest is not your typical forest. It is the world’s oldest living rainforest at approximately 200 million years old. There are more species of plants in 1 hectare of the Daintree than there are in the entire United States. There are all sorts of crazy animals such as, a spider the size of a large dinner plate, a butterfly the size of a man’s chest and the infamous cassawerry. This big ugly is a five-foot tall bird. It is a member of the ostrich and emu family. There are only around 1400 alive today and about 200 or so in the Daintree. According to Peter, they are sort of symbolic with the Daintree. He said it’s very rare but occasionally a group will get to see one in its natural habitat. So there we were cruising along, Peter was in one of his speeches and all of a sudden we here “Aha, lookie there guys, it’s a cassawerry. We got to watch one of these prehistoric looking birds cross the street just feet in front of our van. Peter was pumped, we were pumped and I would assume the bird was pumped.
Crikey!
After seeing the bird and some more driving through the rainforest we made it to our forest walk. It was brief but very interesting. We saw some crazy plants and trees that were very interesting. It was just cool to be in the midst of a rainforest – something I have never done before and might not get to do again. Next, we went to Cape Tribulation to get some lunch.
The strangler tree. It is actually completely hollow. Weird huh. That's Peter at the bottom if you tilt your head correctly.
Unfortunately, we got a little unlucky with the weather so it wasn’t as picturesque as we thought it would be but it was still very impressive. Again, it reminded me a lot of Hawaii with the mountains and beach. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay forever.
When we made it back to the Daintree River, the border between the uncivilized rainforest and the civilized rainforest, we went on a boat tour to hopefully see some crocodiles, snakes, birds and other random animals and plants. Our boat driver was hilarious. Again, you could tell he really loved his job as he was cracking jokes the entire time but also educating us on the plants and animals of the forest. He left the wheel of the boat several times and every time he acted like it was normal as he walked up and down the boat just talking to us. About ten minutes in we saw a croc – Lilly. She was a 2.7 meter croc that has been nesting in the same place for about 15 years. 2.7 meters sounds like a lot for a predator like the saltwater crocodile. However, many crocs get up to 9 or 10 meters. Scary, very scary. Later in the boat tour we saw a very rare bird that our boat guide was stoked about. That guy was crazy, I think he was on something. What was the only thing that could cap off a day like this?
You guessed it, ice cream. On our way out of the Daintree we stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream company. We didn’t have much choice on the flavor as we were just given a scoop of each of their flavors of the day. You might have heard of them: Raspberry, Yellow Sapote, Wottleseed, and Soursop. The raspberry was your typical raspberry. The Wottleseed had a mocha taste to it that I enjoyed. The Yellow Sapote was actually my favorite. It almost had a carmel flavoring to it. I am not real sure the best way to describe it but I really enjoyed it. The Soursop was sour and citrusy. It was refreshing. Well, our day was behind us, we were full and exhausted as we headed back to Cairns.
The "menu."
The result. A wooden spoon for good measure.
We were on our own for dinner Sunday night so a group of us decided that we wanted some seafood. We found a restaurant right on the beach and had a delicious meal. We started it off with an appetizer of kangaroo, crocodile and emu. The kangaroo was good, the crocodile was good and the emu was absolutely terrible. I imagine it tasted something like catfood. The texture was the strangest thing I’ve ever tasted and the taste was equally strange. Glad I tried it, but that will be the last time I ever eat emu. I had a delicious grilled barramundi meal and the restaurant shouted (Australian for bought) us all a glass of wine. Couldn’t tell you the name of mine, it was white and just okay. It was a delicious meal. After dinner, we all headed back to Gilligan’s we knew what was in store for tomorrow. I tried to get some sleep but had trouble relaxing. Why? I was considering jumping out of a plane Monday morning. Until then…
Cheers!
DAY 31: THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
I am going to warn you. I am not sure how to put any of this weekend into words. Words and pictures won’t do it justice. So maybe I just won’t post anything at all. Kidding, of course. I will do my best but if I overuse the words awesome, incredible, crazy, awesome, wild, neat, fun, outstanding, awesome, stellar, you-had-to-be-there, amazing, astounding, surreal or awesome, I am very sorry. So here we go:
If you’ve never experienced breakfast at 6:30 a.m. in a bar, I wouldn’t recommend it. Gilligan’s provided our group with breakfast literally off the bar. They had at least cleaned but I think large amounts of ammonia were used to kill all the nasty germs in the place, which meant instead of smelling toast and coffee I smelled the wonderful scent of bleach or something – I don’t even know. Anyway, I had a huge bowl of chocolate rice krispies and some toast and was on my way.
I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of traveling with my family. I really am blessed. Hawaii has been my favorite destination. I’ve been there three times, once I was too young to remember it though so for all intents and purposes, I have been there twice. I love it. It’s paradise on earth. People say they couldn’t live there, I say sign me up. The point is, Cairns reminds me a lot of Maui. There are picturesque mountains that go right up to the ocean, the waters are crystal clear and the weather is phenomenal. It was a beautiful day as our group boarded the Ocean Spirit boat and headed for one of the seven natural wonders of the world – The Great Barrier Reef.
I'm on a boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28jBDhqwXhE (censored version)
The cruise out to the reef was worth the trip alone. We were leaving the mountains and city behind and heading into the emerald green and sky blue waters that signal reef. I will upload some pictures but again, they don’t do it justice. The colors were so bright and vivid, it’s a shame the camera can’t capture them all. We made it to our first stop, Oyster Reef, at about 10:30 a.m. We had a quick scuba diving tutorial, were given our time slot and then we were free to do whatever we wanted. For me, this meant snorkeling. Again, I have been fortunate enough to snorkel in Hawaii and I thought that was absolutely unreal but this was truly something special. The wildlife (fish) was much the same - spectacular amounts of fish, color and activity. The real difference was in the volume of coral. There was an incredible amount of color and creatures. I dove down to get some closer looks and snapped a couple pictures with my underwater camera. It was a nice appetizer for the main event – scuba diving.
Some scenery on our way out. Tremendous.
So, here’s a funny story. My swimsuit has a back pocket. Do you see wear this is heading? I jumped in all anxious to snorkel and about 2 or 3 minutes into it, I was hearing jingling. I knew, or was at least fairly certain, that fish don’t jingle and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I just kept swimming (Finding Nemo reference). Two or three minutes later I heard it again. Then it hit me, I had about ten dollars worth of change in my back pocket. But wait, there’s more – I also had my wallet. I made it back to the boat with my wallet in my pocket but unfortunately I made a $10 donation to the Reef against my will but there were bigger fish to fry (okay, maybe not the best timing for that saying) – I wanted to get back out there and snorkel. But wait, there’s more. So at this point, about 10 people from our program and ten strangers on the back of the boat are laughing at the goofy kid who just got out of the water and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. I’m laughing too. The ability to laugh at myself is something I have become very good at it. This skill would come in handy in the next two or three minutes as well. I climb back down the stairs and jump back in the ocean. My flippers decided to stay behind, stuck in the stairs. Now, everyone is laughing harder as I come back to the surface with these stupid flippers stuck in the stairs. I climb back out of the ocean (familiar theme), put my flippers back on and jump back in the ocean. But wait, there’s more. When I put my flippers on I had to put my goggles and snorkel on top of my head so I could see what I was doing. When I jumped back in, I forgot to put them back on and they came flying off as I went under. Now, everyone is laughing even harder at me and I am laughing at my own stupidity. I got them on and FINALLY was able to go get some more snorkeling in. It cut into some of my time but in the end, it’s a fun story myself and about 20 other people will be able to tell.
Since, none of us were licensed scuba-ers (definitely not a technical term), we had to be under the supervision of a dive instructor while we were scubing (again, not a technical term but should be). This meant we went in groups of five (including the instructor and HAD to interlink arms the entire time. Equipped and ready to go we jumped in and took the plunge. Easier said than done. We spent about 20 minutes getting adjusted once we were in the water and diving down to different depths on the side of the boat to make sure we could handle the pressure and what not. I was the first person down to the lower level (2 or 3 meters) in our group and floated there for what felt like eternity. I don’t want to toot my own snorkel or anything but I was just kind of hanging out there while others were going up and down and up and down trying to get adjusted. Our group of five had one member who couldn’t get adjusted (relatively common. Another group had all but one back out) and finally headed out to the reef. We made it to the first huge piece of reef and it was absolutely, phenomenally, incredibly awesome. One of the first things we saw were clown fish swimming in and out of their little piece of coral. My niece, Zayda, calls these fish Nemo fish after the movie Finding Nemo – one of my top five favorite movies. I was armed with my camera and swam off to get a picture. Remember how I told you he HAD to be interlinking arms? Oh how quickly I can forget things. My instructor was not to pleased, to say the least. As soon as I snapped my picture, I was ripped away by the grasp of my instructor on my harness and jerked back into place. She looked at me and said “bubble, bubble, bubble.” Well, that’s not what she said but that’s what it looked like and heard. I’d imagine it went something more like this “Listen here, you stupid Yankee. If you pull another stunt like that, I’ll feed you to the sharks.” Oh well, I got my picture and lived to tell about it. No harm done. The rest of the trip was just as beautiful. We saw giant clams, endless amounts of reef and tons of fish up close and personal. We went up and down and through and around. It went way too fast. I can honestly say, looking up and seeing we were back at the boat was one of the most disappointing moments of my life. I could’ve stayed down there for hours or at least until I ran out of oxygen. Either way though, it was the chance of a lifetime and something I will remember forever. I really want to get certified now and then do some more diving at some point but we will see. I climbed back onto the boat traded my scuba gear for my snorkel gear and headed right back out. I always have been obsessed with swimming and the ocean. I think it might have something to do with the saltwater aquarium I had as a kid but the stuff fascinates me and I couldn’t get enough so back out I went and I stayed out until they practically had to drag me back to the boat. I got back on the boat at about 2:00 but our day was far from done.
It really upsets me that cameras can't capture the colors but this was my effort.
We had one more stop. The Apollo reef and I wanted to get back in the water. We took about an hour to get there and back in I went. This reef wasn’t quite as spectacular but it was still pretty incredible. The water had gotten a little rough which made snorkeling more challenging but nothing to difficult. Again, I spent as much time as they would physically allow me to spend out in the water. I got my money’s worth. Some students got to see a sea turtle but by the time I made it over to where they were, it was gone. It is my personal mission to see a sea turtle in the wild before I die.
Plus, it gives me an excuse to scuba/snorkel some more. After I made it back to the boat, we made our way back to shore. The trip back was a little choppy. We were all sort of bouncing around but the scenery was worth it and we were all so exhausted we didn’t even care.
Just doing some philosophizing (sarcasm) on our way back with our complementary glass of champagne. Great way to end the day.
When we got back to Cairns, we had an hour or two to change and get ready for dinner. At dinner, we went to a Pizza place (on our travel agency’s tab) for some Pizza and pitchers (of water as far as my parents are concerned). After dinner, we went out and experienced the nightlife a little bit. Again, maybe a little too crazy for my tastes but um, well, let’s just say we all had a good time. We went to a place called the Woolshed that was pretty awesome. The dance floor is actually your table. And your table is actually the shelf above your table if that makes any sense at all. After we had all we could handle there, we went back to Gilligan’s for some live music and some more dancing. It was a great night. Something I wouldn’t want to do more than once a month or so but I have no regrets. We made it back to our rooms at around 3:30 or 4:00 (yes, you read that correctly) and passed out. On schedule for the Sunday was the Daintree Rainforest. Until then…
Cheers!
P.S. I am in the process of getting some underwater pictures developed that I can hopefully upload later.
If you’ve never experienced breakfast at 6:30 a.m. in a bar, I wouldn’t recommend it. Gilligan’s provided our group with breakfast literally off the bar. They had at least cleaned but I think large amounts of ammonia were used to kill all the nasty germs in the place, which meant instead of smelling toast and coffee I smelled the wonderful scent of bleach or something – I don’t even know. Anyway, I had a huge bowl of chocolate rice krispies and some toast and was on my way.
I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of traveling with my family. I really am blessed. Hawaii has been my favorite destination. I’ve been there three times, once I was too young to remember it though so for all intents and purposes, I have been there twice. I love it. It’s paradise on earth. People say they couldn’t live there, I say sign me up. The point is, Cairns reminds me a lot of Maui. There are picturesque mountains that go right up to the ocean, the waters are crystal clear and the weather is phenomenal. It was a beautiful day as our group boarded the Ocean Spirit boat and headed for one of the seven natural wonders of the world – The Great Barrier Reef.
I'm on a boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28jBDhqwXhE (censored version)
The cruise out to the reef was worth the trip alone. We were leaving the mountains and city behind and heading into the emerald green and sky blue waters that signal reef. I will upload some pictures but again, they don’t do it justice. The colors were so bright and vivid, it’s a shame the camera can’t capture them all. We made it to our first stop, Oyster Reef, at about 10:30 a.m. We had a quick scuba diving tutorial, were given our time slot and then we were free to do whatever we wanted. For me, this meant snorkeling. Again, I have been fortunate enough to snorkel in Hawaii and I thought that was absolutely unreal but this was truly something special. The wildlife (fish) was much the same - spectacular amounts of fish, color and activity. The real difference was in the volume of coral. There was an incredible amount of color and creatures. I dove down to get some closer looks and snapped a couple pictures with my underwater camera. It was a nice appetizer for the main event – scuba diving.
Some scenery on our way out. Tremendous.
So, here’s a funny story. My swimsuit has a back pocket. Do you see wear this is heading? I jumped in all anxious to snorkel and about 2 or 3 minutes into it, I was hearing jingling. I knew, or was at least fairly certain, that fish don’t jingle and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I just kept swimming (Finding Nemo reference). Two or three minutes later I heard it again. Then it hit me, I had about ten dollars worth of change in my back pocket. But wait, there’s more – I also had my wallet. I made it back to the boat with my wallet in my pocket but unfortunately I made a $10 donation to the Reef against my will but there were bigger fish to fry (okay, maybe not the best timing for that saying) – I wanted to get back out there and snorkel. But wait, there’s more. So at this point, about 10 people from our program and ten strangers on the back of the boat are laughing at the goofy kid who just got out of the water and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. I’m laughing too. The ability to laugh at myself is something I have become very good at it. This skill would come in handy in the next two or three minutes as well. I climb back down the stairs and jump back in the ocean. My flippers decided to stay behind, stuck in the stairs. Now, everyone is laughing harder as I come back to the surface with these stupid flippers stuck in the stairs. I climb back out of the ocean (familiar theme), put my flippers back on and jump back in the ocean. But wait, there’s more. When I put my flippers on I had to put my goggles and snorkel on top of my head so I could see what I was doing. When I jumped back in, I forgot to put them back on and they came flying off as I went under. Now, everyone is laughing even harder at me and I am laughing at my own stupidity. I got them on and FINALLY was able to go get some more snorkeling in. It cut into some of my time but in the end, it’s a fun story myself and about 20 other people will be able to tell.
Since, none of us were licensed scuba-ers (definitely not a technical term), we had to be under the supervision of a dive instructor while we were scubing (again, not a technical term but should be). This meant we went in groups of five (including the instructor and HAD to interlink arms the entire time. Equipped and ready to go we jumped in and took the plunge. Easier said than done. We spent about 20 minutes getting adjusted once we were in the water and diving down to different depths on the side of the boat to make sure we could handle the pressure and what not. I was the first person down to the lower level (2 or 3 meters) in our group and floated there for what felt like eternity. I don’t want to toot my own snorkel or anything but I was just kind of hanging out there while others were going up and down and up and down trying to get adjusted. Our group of five had one member who couldn’t get adjusted (relatively common. Another group had all but one back out) and finally headed out to the reef. We made it to the first huge piece of reef and it was absolutely, phenomenally, incredibly awesome. One of the first things we saw were clown fish swimming in and out of their little piece of coral. My niece, Zayda, calls these fish Nemo fish after the movie Finding Nemo – one of my top five favorite movies. I was armed with my camera and swam off to get a picture. Remember how I told you he HAD to be interlinking arms? Oh how quickly I can forget things. My instructor was not to pleased, to say the least. As soon as I snapped my picture, I was ripped away by the grasp of my instructor on my harness and jerked back into place. She looked at me and said “bubble, bubble, bubble.” Well, that’s not what she said but that’s what it looked like and heard. I’d imagine it went something more like this “Listen here, you stupid Yankee. If you pull another stunt like that, I’ll feed you to the sharks.” Oh well, I got my picture and lived to tell about it. No harm done. The rest of the trip was just as beautiful. We saw giant clams, endless amounts of reef and tons of fish up close and personal. We went up and down and through and around. It went way too fast. I can honestly say, looking up and seeing we were back at the boat was one of the most disappointing moments of my life. I could’ve stayed down there for hours or at least until I ran out of oxygen. Either way though, it was the chance of a lifetime and something I will remember forever. I really want to get certified now and then do some more diving at some point but we will see. I climbed back onto the boat traded my scuba gear for my snorkel gear and headed right back out. I always have been obsessed with swimming and the ocean. I think it might have something to do with the saltwater aquarium I had as a kid but the stuff fascinates me and I couldn’t get enough so back out I went and I stayed out until they practically had to drag me back to the boat. I got back on the boat at about 2:00 but our day was far from done.
It really upsets me that cameras can't capture the colors but this was my effort.
We had one more stop. The Apollo reef and I wanted to get back in the water. We took about an hour to get there and back in I went. This reef wasn’t quite as spectacular but it was still pretty incredible. The water had gotten a little rough which made snorkeling more challenging but nothing to difficult. Again, I spent as much time as they would physically allow me to spend out in the water. I got my money’s worth. Some students got to see a sea turtle but by the time I made it over to where they were, it was gone. It is my personal mission to see a sea turtle in the wild before I die.
Plus, it gives me an excuse to scuba/snorkel some more. After I made it back to the boat, we made our way back to shore. The trip back was a little choppy. We were all sort of bouncing around but the scenery was worth it and we were all so exhausted we didn’t even care.
Just doing some philosophizing (sarcasm) on our way back with our complementary glass of champagne. Great way to end the day.
When we got back to Cairns, we had an hour or two to change and get ready for dinner. At dinner, we went to a Pizza place (on our travel agency’s tab) for some Pizza and pitchers (of water as far as my parents are concerned). After dinner, we went out and experienced the nightlife a little bit. Again, maybe a little too crazy for my tastes but um, well, let’s just say we all had a good time. We went to a place called the Woolshed that was pretty awesome. The dance floor is actually your table. And your table is actually the shelf above your table if that makes any sense at all. After we had all we could handle there, we went back to Gilligan’s for some live music and some more dancing. It was a great night. Something I wouldn’t want to do more than once a month or so but I have no regrets. We made it back to our rooms at around 3:30 or 4:00 (yes, you read that correctly) and passed out. On schedule for the Sunday was the Daintree Rainforest. Until then…
Cheers!
P.S. I am in the process of getting some underwater pictures developed that I can hopefully upload later.
DAY 30: OFF TO WORK AND OFF TO CAIRNS
Work hard to play hard. That’s one of my favorite sayings and something I try to live by. Day 30 of my journey was a good example.
I went in to work and, I’ll be honest, I had other things on my mind – Cairns to be specific. There was work that needed to be done and I knew I just had to get through it then I was off for one of the greatest weekends of my life. With that said, work was relatively relaxing. I made some charts for uniform orders for all the different sport teams at the Uni. In the midst of that project, I got called into the conference room. Apparently, two of the workers are leaving and they threw a farewell party. There was cake – obviously. It felt exactly like the Jim Gaffigan reference to cake. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o-u4IwXkbE. Watch the whole video. “I don’t really know those people. Wait, there’s cake? I guess I should say goodbye.”
After a little more work on that project, I took a lunch and then was given the rest of the day off. I came back ready to work and then my supervisor was just sort of looking at me and finally asked, “What are you still doing here?” I asked if they had anything more for me to work on and she insisted no. I asked one more time then half the office yelled at me to leave. It was pretty funny. I love the Aussie work environment. However, in my hurry to get back to the apartment, I got on the wrong bus and it ended up taking me about 2.5 hours but I made it…eventually.
I finished up packing and was ready to go. The anticipation was killing me. We flew out with Qantas – the official Australian airline. I had heard about some people who flew to Sydney on it and they all raved about it, I was pretty excited. Honestly though, it wasn’t much different. I guess the only real cool part was the fact that they gave us all drumstick ice cream cones after our dinner. Ice cream is the way to my heart and they got to it. We touched down at about 10:30 and then had about a half-hour commute to Gilligan’s Hotel and Resort.
Calling it a hotel and resort might be the overstatement of the year. It was a hostile. It was alright, nothing too fancy but I didn’t mind. I was in Cairns. We were all pretty tired at this point but we were all still American college students so we did what we do – hit the bar. The biggest club in Cairns is attached to our hostile. Gilligan’s club is a little too crazy for my taste but it provided the cheap beer we were looking for and a giant TV that was showing the US World Cup game. We didn’t do anything too crazy – unless you consider streaking after every US goal crazy (that’s a joke but don’t think it didn’t cross our minds). After the game it was about 1 in the morning and we knew we had a busy day planned on Saturday so we headed to bed, or so we thought.
The nice thing about having a bar connected to your hostile is that a bar is connected to your hostile. The bad thing about having a bar connected to your hostile is that a bar is connected to your hostile. You follow my logic? No? Didn’t think so. What I mean is that the dance floor was literally about 75 ft. outside our window, which meant the crazy loud music was the same distance. There’s Nothing like falling asleep to some Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne. On schedule for tomorrow, the Great Barrier Reef. Until then…
Cheers!
I went in to work and, I’ll be honest, I had other things on my mind – Cairns to be specific. There was work that needed to be done and I knew I just had to get through it then I was off for one of the greatest weekends of my life. With that said, work was relatively relaxing. I made some charts for uniform orders for all the different sport teams at the Uni. In the midst of that project, I got called into the conference room. Apparently, two of the workers are leaving and they threw a farewell party. There was cake – obviously. It felt exactly like the Jim Gaffigan reference to cake. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o-u4IwXkbE. Watch the whole video. “I don’t really know those people. Wait, there’s cake? I guess I should say goodbye.”
After a little more work on that project, I took a lunch and then was given the rest of the day off. I came back ready to work and then my supervisor was just sort of looking at me and finally asked, “What are you still doing here?” I asked if they had anything more for me to work on and she insisted no. I asked one more time then half the office yelled at me to leave. It was pretty funny. I love the Aussie work environment. However, in my hurry to get back to the apartment, I got on the wrong bus and it ended up taking me about 2.5 hours but I made it…eventually.
I finished up packing and was ready to go. The anticipation was killing me. We flew out with Qantas – the official Australian airline. I had heard about some people who flew to Sydney on it and they all raved about it, I was pretty excited. Honestly though, it wasn’t much different. I guess the only real cool part was the fact that they gave us all drumstick ice cream cones after our dinner. Ice cream is the way to my heart and they got to it. We touched down at about 10:30 and then had about a half-hour commute to Gilligan’s Hotel and Resort.
Calling it a hotel and resort might be the overstatement of the year. It was a hostile. It was alright, nothing too fancy but I didn’t mind. I was in Cairns. We were all pretty tired at this point but we were all still American college students so we did what we do – hit the bar. The biggest club in Cairns is attached to our hostile. Gilligan’s club is a little too crazy for my taste but it provided the cheap beer we were looking for and a giant TV that was showing the US World Cup game. We didn’t do anything too crazy – unless you consider streaking after every US goal crazy (that’s a joke but don’t think it didn’t cross our minds). After the game it was about 1 in the morning and we knew we had a busy day planned on Saturday so we headed to bed, or so we thought.
The nice thing about having a bar connected to your hostile is that a bar is connected to your hostile. The bad thing about having a bar connected to your hostile is that a bar is connected to your hostile. You follow my logic? No? Didn’t think so. What I mean is that the dance floor was literally about 75 ft. outside our window, which meant the crazy loud music was the same distance. There’s Nothing like falling asleep to some Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne. On schedule for tomorrow, the Great Barrier Reef. Until then…
Cheers!
Friday, June 18, 2010
UNITED STATES OF IMISSYA:
Let me preface this entire post by saying that I am not homesick and I am not in stage 2 of culture shock.
When we arrived we got it beat into our head that we would go through culture shock and to be prepared for stage 2. What is stage 2? Well, I couldn’t tell ya and more than halfway through this trip, I don’t think I will know but we were told it would be the homesickness (is that a word) stage. We would get depressed, overeat, overdrink (um, hi we’re college students), cry, want to go home, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc. I was afraid some Stage 2 monster was going to come hammer my head with an American flag or something. However, that has not been the case. I am proud to say, I have survived – I have defeated Stage 2.
With that said, I have compiled a list of some of the things I miss from back home:
Family: Wouldn’t have been funny if I left them off the list? What would they have thought? But seriously, I really do miss my Mom, Dad and sisters. I am fortunate they have been a huge part of my life and I am blessed that they have had such a positive influence on me. That extends (pun) to my extended family as well and my grandma who is fighting cancer right now. My thoughts and prayers are with her.
Nieces and Nephew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know they technically are under the Family umbrella but they’re special, they get their own bullet point. Zayda, Garrett and Andra. I love ‘em all and miss getting to run around the house with them. I hope they haven’t forgotten who their Uncle J is. I must also mention that both of my sisters are currently pregnant and I miss watching them get fat ☺
Friends: Chances are, if you’re reading this I miss you. If you’re a stranger and you’re reading this, stop. That’s creepy.
Summer: This is a broad and vague category. For you geographically challenged (IU students/grads) Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, which means it is winter here, which means it is around 60 everyday. I miss the heat and humidity of the Indiana summer. I know I am weird but I enjoy the humid weather. I figure if you’re going to be outside working, work up a sweat while you’re at it. I can’t wait to get back in the heat and humidity of the Indiana summer. Now some sub points under summer:
Umpiring: I am an IHSAA licensed umpire. I spent the majority of my summer last year umpiring baseball games. I miss being at the baseball field and most of all I miss the very very good money I was making.
Baseball: I miss baseball in general but especially my FIRST PLACE Cincinnati Reds. Yeah, all you cubbie fans read that correctly. The Reds are on top of the NL Central and actually competing for the first time in about 10 years…and I am on the other side of the planet. Perfect. I don’t think there is anything better than going to a baseball game, with a bag of peanuts and my dad. We share chocolate malt and life is good. I plan on doing this as soon as I get back.
Swimming: I love just hanging out at the pool and playing pool basketball with my friends – a favorite summer pastime of mine.
Grilling/cookouts: I love grilling and I love cookouts. I haven’t gotten to do either here in Australia. I hope there is enough summer left for me to enjoy these when I get back.
The 4th of July: Undoubtedly my favorite holiday. I love the season, I love the weather, I love the patriotism, I love eating a burger, hot dog and brat on the same day and I love lighting things on fire. It’s just an awesome time of the year. For whatever reason, Australians don’t celebrate America’s independence. How rude! I hope I can find some fireworks over here. If not I will just light my roommates’ stuff on fire and throw it off my balcony as I sing God Bless America.
ESPN: I miss being able to turn on the TV at any time and getting the latest sport news. They have sport channels over here – four of ‘em actually. Here’s what’s on those channels: Rugby, Rugby, Rugby and highlights of Rugby. I don’t get it and I don’t really have any desire to. Give me my highlights of baseball and golf and my daily dose of Tiger Woods coverage.
America News: We get some American news over here but it’s the trashy gossip celebrity news that I couldn’t care less about. For instance, Katy Perry was on the cover of one of the local newspapers yesterday.
Rascal: That’s my dog. Everyone over here has dogs and they take them everywhere. It just makes me want to have a dog that much more. Rascal may be getting up there in years and more lopsided (he has a fat tumor on one of his shoulders) by the day but I miss him.
Car: You might know him as Charlie. He’s a 2005 charcoal Ford Taurus - a well-oiled driving/transporting machine. I have had my fill of public transportation. I just wish I could hop in my car in the morning, blare some music and make my own commute to work in the morning. Side story. Yesterday, I was on the way to work on one of the buses and had my lunch in one hand and backpack in the other. Next thing I knew, we went around a round-a-bout and I was sitting in a guys lap. Not like the funny accidental bump. It was more like the embarrassing “hi, I’m American. Thanks for letting me use your lap as a landing base.”
INTERMISSION: Take a breath, take a walk. I didn’t know this list was going to grow to this. I just had to check over my shoulder to see if Stage 2 was creeping up on me. It wasn’t.
Mom’s cooking: I have ate very well here in Australia but still, nothing and I mean nothing can ever compare to my mom’s cooking. I can’t wait for some biscuits n’ gravy.
Boating: My family doesn’t have a boat but every summer I find a way to make it to a lake to do some boating. Whether it is with my friends, my sister’s friend, my brother-in-law’s family, my aunt and uncle or just a random connection, I make it to the lake for some tubing and attempts at skiing. My sister just got a boat this winter. I’m thinking I’ll need to test it out this summer once I get back.
Convenience: I made the decision to not purchase a cell phone and not purchase Internet over here. I figured it would help me save money and get more immersed in the Australian culture. I’m not addicted to my iphone but I do miss being able to use it to get updates on sports/news, directions and txt messages from friends and family. I have found ways to get Internet but I haven’t really missed it as much as I thought I would. It’s actually been a refreshing exercise to be “disconnected” at times.
Concerts: Specifically, the Dave Matthews Band concert. I have been going to DMB’s concerts for four or five years now and every year the two-night stand is two of the best nights of my summer. In the past he has came late in the summer such as August or late July. This year, he decided to come in June. I was really upset and then, he announced he won’t be touring next year! I have to find some way to make it to a concert once I get back but the way this is going I will also have to find some way to do that for free. There are also Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Kenny Chesney, Brooks and Dunn and Kings of Leon concerts I would like to go to but again, not sure that will fit in the budget when I get back.
Purdue University: People say they bleed gold and black. That’s ridiculous and I can’t imagine healthy. I take pride in my healthy red blood BUT I eat, sleep, dream and breathe gold and black. Even when I use the restrooms the colors are typically … sorry I just couldn’t finish that sentence. Use your imagination. I know I wouldn’t be spending much time there this summer and I would probably miss it if I were at home. I miss wearing a Purdue shirt around and people asking me if I go there and responding yes and they kind of raise their eyebrows in the “wow, I’m impressed. I couldn’t get in so I just went to IU” kind of way. I miss being able to bash my IU friends on how bad they are at well, everything ☺ Okay, I’ll stop with the IU bashing. I don’t want to offend anyone (but seriously IU students can’t read so I’m not too worried).
Sports Information: I spend a lot of time working sporting events and office hours during the school year. I am fortunate that I love my job and I really enjoy the people I work with. Not to mention, a steady flow of income would be really nice right about now.
Roommates: Tay Tay, Lewis and Grandpa. I miss those guys and all of our shenanigans. Tay Tay and Grandpa, I will be visiting Tipton when I get back.
Golf: Typically, I spend a lot of time on the golf course during the summer. That has not been the case. I want to play while I am over here but I imagine greens fees plus renting clubs will cost anywhere from $80 to $1million.
Friends’ Birthdays: One of my really good friends has already turned 21 and is currently in Vegas and I am going to miss two of my other best friends’ 21st birthdays. I wish I was there and could “take care” of them the same way my friends “took care” of me on my 21st. As the Aussies would say, “You got fuzzy.”
The “right” side of the road: Right as in correct and right as in the right side of the road. They drive on the left and their steering wheel is on the right. It takes some getting used to. And then there’s the awkward situation where two people are walking right at each other and being American my natural instinct is to go right but that won’t work because the Aussie’s natural instinct is to go left. It’d be less confusing if I could just wear a sign: “Hi, I’m a tourist.”
The empirical system: Yeah, I get it the metric system makes more sense and the empirical system makes no sense what so ever. I don’t care. Give me my inches, pounds, feet, miles, and ounces. And for the love of all things good, can I PLEASE get a temperature in Fahrenheit. I turn on the news in the morning and they tell me it is going to be 18. This means absolutely nothing to me. Can you please just tell me if I can wear shorts? I think the whole world should switch to a universal wardrobe temperature system. I can see Al Roker now, “Today’s high is going to be shorts and a t-shirt with a low of you might want carry a jacket with you.” It’s perfect. I’m copywriting this.
Real Football: It’s almost training camp time and I haven’t heard a word about it. Can someone update me, how many times as Brett Favre retired and unretired since I’ve been gone?
Welcome: Everything is “cheers” or “no worries” here. The “no worries” takes the place of welcome and ends up sounding like “nawawwies” with their accent. I’ve actually started saying “no worries” without even thinking about it.
Money: I’m really glad America doesn’t have coins worth more than a quarter that we use often. I will stand at a cash register with a handful of change look at it, look at the person operating the cash register, look back at my hand and eventually they get the message and take the exact change right out of my hand. It’s easier than me inspecting every coin to see how much it’s worth and then having to do the math.
Money: I miss having money and so does my bank account.
School of Management Council: Lots of great friends, lots of great work. Can’t wait to start another semester.
Basketball: Last year, I spent many summer nights playing basketball. I love basketball. If I could do anything in the world it would be playing basketball. I can’t put it into words. It is not a big sport over here and I haven’t even got to watch the NBA finals. I miss basketball. I need basketball. It’s therapy.
Running: I had enough space for one extra pair of shoes. It was between my basketball shoes and running shoes. I went with the basketball since I knew I was working at a sport center. Bad choice. I haven’t been on a basketball court.
Reasonable prices: It might be a good thing I am not going to have any money when I get back. Otherwise, I would probably just blow it all anyway. I’ve grown so accustom to the outrageous prices here, I would be tempted to blow it all on stupid cheap stuff back in the states.
Cold drinks: The ice over here is terrible. If anyone has been to Europe or Asia, they know foreigners are stingy with their ice. It’s the same here. No ice or very little ice. Bottled and canned drinks are outrageously priced (think ~$30 for a 24 pack of diet coke). All I end up drinking is lukewarm tap water. Wonderful.
Cheap Beer: This one was contributed by Bo Dietrick. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never bought beer ;)
Well, loyal followers that ought to keep you busy for the weekend. I might add more to this list later as I find more but for now, that is all. Until next time…
Cheers!
When we arrived we got it beat into our head that we would go through culture shock and to be prepared for stage 2. What is stage 2? Well, I couldn’t tell ya and more than halfway through this trip, I don’t think I will know but we were told it would be the homesickness (is that a word) stage. We would get depressed, overeat, overdrink (um, hi we’re college students), cry, want to go home, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc. I was afraid some Stage 2 monster was going to come hammer my head with an American flag or something. However, that has not been the case. I am proud to say, I have survived – I have defeated Stage 2.
With that said, I have compiled a list of some of the things I miss from back home:
Family: Wouldn’t have been funny if I left them off the list? What would they have thought? But seriously, I really do miss my Mom, Dad and sisters. I am fortunate they have been a huge part of my life and I am blessed that they have had such a positive influence on me. That extends (pun) to my extended family as well and my grandma who is fighting cancer right now. My thoughts and prayers are with her.
Nieces and Nephew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know they technically are under the Family umbrella but they’re special, they get their own bullet point. Zayda, Garrett and Andra. I love ‘em all and miss getting to run around the house with them. I hope they haven’t forgotten who their Uncle J is. I must also mention that both of my sisters are currently pregnant and I miss watching them get fat ☺
Friends: Chances are, if you’re reading this I miss you. If you’re a stranger and you’re reading this, stop. That’s creepy.
Summer: This is a broad and vague category. For you geographically challenged (IU students/grads) Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, which means it is winter here, which means it is around 60 everyday. I miss the heat and humidity of the Indiana summer. I know I am weird but I enjoy the humid weather. I figure if you’re going to be outside working, work up a sweat while you’re at it. I can’t wait to get back in the heat and humidity of the Indiana summer. Now some sub points under summer:
Umpiring: I am an IHSAA licensed umpire. I spent the majority of my summer last year umpiring baseball games. I miss being at the baseball field and most of all I miss the very very good money I was making.
Baseball: I miss baseball in general but especially my FIRST PLACE Cincinnati Reds. Yeah, all you cubbie fans read that correctly. The Reds are on top of the NL Central and actually competing for the first time in about 10 years…and I am on the other side of the planet. Perfect. I don’t think there is anything better than going to a baseball game, with a bag of peanuts and my dad. We share chocolate malt and life is good. I plan on doing this as soon as I get back.
Swimming: I love just hanging out at the pool and playing pool basketball with my friends – a favorite summer pastime of mine.
Grilling/cookouts: I love grilling and I love cookouts. I haven’t gotten to do either here in Australia. I hope there is enough summer left for me to enjoy these when I get back.
The 4th of July: Undoubtedly my favorite holiday. I love the season, I love the weather, I love the patriotism, I love eating a burger, hot dog and brat on the same day and I love lighting things on fire. It’s just an awesome time of the year. For whatever reason, Australians don’t celebrate America’s independence. How rude! I hope I can find some fireworks over here. If not I will just light my roommates’ stuff on fire and throw it off my balcony as I sing God Bless America.
ESPN: I miss being able to turn on the TV at any time and getting the latest sport news. They have sport channels over here – four of ‘em actually. Here’s what’s on those channels: Rugby, Rugby, Rugby and highlights of Rugby. I don’t get it and I don’t really have any desire to. Give me my highlights of baseball and golf and my daily dose of Tiger Woods coverage.
America News: We get some American news over here but it’s the trashy gossip celebrity news that I couldn’t care less about. For instance, Katy Perry was on the cover of one of the local newspapers yesterday.
Rascal: That’s my dog. Everyone over here has dogs and they take them everywhere. It just makes me want to have a dog that much more. Rascal may be getting up there in years and more lopsided (he has a fat tumor on one of his shoulders) by the day but I miss him.
Car: You might know him as Charlie. He’s a 2005 charcoal Ford Taurus - a well-oiled driving/transporting machine. I have had my fill of public transportation. I just wish I could hop in my car in the morning, blare some music and make my own commute to work in the morning. Side story. Yesterday, I was on the way to work on one of the buses and had my lunch in one hand and backpack in the other. Next thing I knew, we went around a round-a-bout and I was sitting in a guys lap. Not like the funny accidental bump. It was more like the embarrassing “hi, I’m American. Thanks for letting me use your lap as a landing base.”
INTERMISSION: Take a breath, take a walk. I didn’t know this list was going to grow to this. I just had to check over my shoulder to see if Stage 2 was creeping up on me. It wasn’t.
Mom’s cooking: I have ate very well here in Australia but still, nothing and I mean nothing can ever compare to my mom’s cooking. I can’t wait for some biscuits n’ gravy.
Boating: My family doesn’t have a boat but every summer I find a way to make it to a lake to do some boating. Whether it is with my friends, my sister’s friend, my brother-in-law’s family, my aunt and uncle or just a random connection, I make it to the lake for some tubing and attempts at skiing. My sister just got a boat this winter. I’m thinking I’ll need to test it out this summer once I get back.
Convenience: I made the decision to not purchase a cell phone and not purchase Internet over here. I figured it would help me save money and get more immersed in the Australian culture. I’m not addicted to my iphone but I do miss being able to use it to get updates on sports/news, directions and txt messages from friends and family. I have found ways to get Internet but I haven’t really missed it as much as I thought I would. It’s actually been a refreshing exercise to be “disconnected” at times.
Concerts: Specifically, the Dave Matthews Band concert. I have been going to DMB’s concerts for four or five years now and every year the two-night stand is two of the best nights of my summer. In the past he has came late in the summer such as August or late July. This year, he decided to come in June. I was really upset and then, he announced he won’t be touring next year! I have to find some way to make it to a concert once I get back but the way this is going I will also have to find some way to do that for free. There are also Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Kenny Chesney, Brooks and Dunn and Kings of Leon concerts I would like to go to but again, not sure that will fit in the budget when I get back.
Purdue University: People say they bleed gold and black. That’s ridiculous and I can’t imagine healthy. I take pride in my healthy red blood BUT I eat, sleep, dream and breathe gold and black. Even when I use the restrooms the colors are typically … sorry I just couldn’t finish that sentence. Use your imagination. I know I wouldn’t be spending much time there this summer and I would probably miss it if I were at home. I miss wearing a Purdue shirt around and people asking me if I go there and responding yes and they kind of raise their eyebrows in the “wow, I’m impressed. I couldn’t get in so I just went to IU” kind of way. I miss being able to bash my IU friends on how bad they are at well, everything ☺ Okay, I’ll stop with the IU bashing. I don’t want to offend anyone (but seriously IU students can’t read so I’m not too worried).
Sports Information: I spend a lot of time working sporting events and office hours during the school year. I am fortunate that I love my job and I really enjoy the people I work with. Not to mention, a steady flow of income would be really nice right about now.
Roommates: Tay Tay, Lewis and Grandpa. I miss those guys and all of our shenanigans. Tay Tay and Grandpa, I will be visiting Tipton when I get back.
Golf: Typically, I spend a lot of time on the golf course during the summer. That has not been the case. I want to play while I am over here but I imagine greens fees plus renting clubs will cost anywhere from $80 to $1million.
Friends’ Birthdays: One of my really good friends has already turned 21 and is currently in Vegas and I am going to miss two of my other best friends’ 21st birthdays. I wish I was there and could “take care” of them the same way my friends “took care” of me on my 21st. As the Aussies would say, “You got fuzzy.”
The “right” side of the road: Right as in correct and right as in the right side of the road. They drive on the left and their steering wheel is on the right. It takes some getting used to. And then there’s the awkward situation where two people are walking right at each other and being American my natural instinct is to go right but that won’t work because the Aussie’s natural instinct is to go left. It’d be less confusing if I could just wear a sign: “Hi, I’m a tourist.”
The empirical system: Yeah, I get it the metric system makes more sense and the empirical system makes no sense what so ever. I don’t care. Give me my inches, pounds, feet, miles, and ounces. And for the love of all things good, can I PLEASE get a temperature in Fahrenheit. I turn on the news in the morning and they tell me it is going to be 18. This means absolutely nothing to me. Can you please just tell me if I can wear shorts? I think the whole world should switch to a universal wardrobe temperature system. I can see Al Roker now, “Today’s high is going to be shorts and a t-shirt with a low of you might want carry a jacket with you.” It’s perfect. I’m copywriting this.
Real Football: It’s almost training camp time and I haven’t heard a word about it. Can someone update me, how many times as Brett Favre retired and unretired since I’ve been gone?
Welcome: Everything is “cheers” or “no worries” here. The “no worries” takes the place of welcome and ends up sounding like “nawawwies” with their accent. I’ve actually started saying “no worries” without even thinking about it.
Money: I’m really glad America doesn’t have coins worth more than a quarter that we use often. I will stand at a cash register with a handful of change look at it, look at the person operating the cash register, look back at my hand and eventually they get the message and take the exact change right out of my hand. It’s easier than me inspecting every coin to see how much it’s worth and then having to do the math.
Money: I miss having money and so does my bank account.
School of Management Council: Lots of great friends, lots of great work. Can’t wait to start another semester.
Basketball: Last year, I spent many summer nights playing basketball. I love basketball. If I could do anything in the world it would be playing basketball. I can’t put it into words. It is not a big sport over here and I haven’t even got to watch the NBA finals. I miss basketball. I need basketball. It’s therapy.
Running: I had enough space for one extra pair of shoes. It was between my basketball shoes and running shoes. I went with the basketball since I knew I was working at a sport center. Bad choice. I haven’t been on a basketball court.
Reasonable prices: It might be a good thing I am not going to have any money when I get back. Otherwise, I would probably just blow it all anyway. I’ve grown so accustom to the outrageous prices here, I would be tempted to blow it all on stupid cheap stuff back in the states.
Cold drinks: The ice over here is terrible. If anyone has been to Europe or Asia, they know foreigners are stingy with their ice. It’s the same here. No ice or very little ice. Bottled and canned drinks are outrageously priced (think ~$30 for a 24 pack of diet coke). All I end up drinking is lukewarm tap water. Wonderful.
Cheap Beer: This one was contributed by Bo Dietrick. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never bought beer ;)
Well, loyal followers that ought to keep you busy for the weekend. I might add more to this list later as I find more but for now, that is all. Until next time…
Cheers!
DAY 29: MY LUCKY DAY
Today was another relatively uneventful day, except for one event (does that make sense). We had class in the morning. We learned about business differences between cultures. Being a business management student, I found this pretty interesting. After class, that’s when it happened. Bo and I were walking to the bus stop outside of the University we study at and I saw what I thought was a big red leaf floating down to the ground. I looked at it, watched it hit the ground and then realized that’s not a red leaf. That’s a $20 bill. (Insert cash register noise). Had this been America and had I not been studying abroad trying to pinch every penny possible, I would have stopped and made sure it wasn’t anybody else’s. However, this wasn’t America and I am a poor college student. So, I just picked it up real quickly and kept walking like nothing ever happened. Meanwhile, Bo was just staring at me in disbelief. I figure it is God’s way of helping me out. Right?
Anyway, after we made it back we went on a hill run. I have mentioned before the giant hill in the park we have across the street. The thing kicked my butt today. It was a good workout. After that pounding, I went back and did some laundry and started packing for my weekend trip (be proud mom). Tonight was Nick Birk’s turn for making dinner. He made a delicious cheeseburger casserole and Caesar salad. We were more than full.
With a full belly, we then watched State of Play (starring Aussie and my favorite actor Russell Crowe) and baked brownies. I know I have mentioned that the ovens here are terrible so we ended up with Chocolate Cobbler. I’m not complaining. It was a chocolatey mess of deliciousness. By then, it was time for bed. I can’t wait for this weekend. I probably won’t have the chance or time to blog until I get back so my next entry is supposed to hold you over until I get back. Hope you enjoy. Until then…
Cheers!
Anyway, after we made it back we went on a hill run. I have mentioned before the giant hill in the park we have across the street. The thing kicked my butt today. It was a good workout. After that pounding, I went back and did some laundry and started packing for my weekend trip (be proud mom). Tonight was Nick Birk’s turn for making dinner. He made a delicious cheeseburger casserole and Caesar salad. We were more than full.
With a full belly, we then watched State of Play (starring Aussie and my favorite actor Russell Crowe) and baked brownies. I know I have mentioned that the ovens here are terrible so we ended up with Chocolate Cobbler. I’m not complaining. It was a chocolatey mess of deliciousness. By then, it was time for bed. I can’t wait for this weekend. I probably won’t have the chance or time to blog until I get back so my next entry is supposed to hold you over until I get back. Hope you enjoy. Until then…
Cheers!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
DAY 27 AND 28: LETTING THE SUSPENSE BUILD
As far as days in Sydney go, these last two days have been relatively uneventful and I am going to try to be brief because I think my next entry will be a little more entertaining.
On Tuesday, I was able to do a lot of catching up to do since I had been busy most of the weekend. I spent the majority of the morning sending emails, posting blogs and skyping. It was a very relaxing and much needed morning. In the afternoon, I had a class about non-verbal communication. It proved to be pretty interesting as most of my classes have been. A group of us have learned that the best strategy for dinners is to have one room fix for a group of people. It’s cheaper and easier (minus the night your room is in charge). So on Tuesday night it was Bo’s room. He made a very wise choice and went with pancakes. It was delicious. We had our option of blueberry, chocolate chip or plain. I went with one blueberry pancake and one chocolate chip pancake. Job well done, Bo.
Today (Wednesday), I reported back to work. This week I am in sport programs. I will leave it at that. After work, it was our room’s turn to make dinner. Jeramey and I got a good a deal on some spinach and cheese tortellini and some frozen prawns at the grocery store. We whipped these up with some peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic and pasta sauce and made a pretty delicious meal if I say so myself (and I say so). The pasta was supposed to serve 8 people all on its own and then we added all the shrimp and veggies. There was enough food to feed an army – or 6 college males. Jeramey found a frozen apple pie for super cheap so we fixed that afterwards. Needless to say, we were stuffed. Someone is going to have to roll me off the plane when I get back.
Anyway, that has been the past two days. We received our email regarding the details of our Cairns trip this weekend. It got me even more excited. I can’t believe I am going to be scuba diving on THE (I hate when Ohio State does that but still) Great Barrier Reef this weekend – surreal. I’m sure you will get more information and pictures than you can handle so look forward to that. Until then…
Cheers!
On Tuesday, I was able to do a lot of catching up to do since I had been busy most of the weekend. I spent the majority of the morning sending emails, posting blogs and skyping. It was a very relaxing and much needed morning. In the afternoon, I had a class about non-verbal communication. It proved to be pretty interesting as most of my classes have been. A group of us have learned that the best strategy for dinners is to have one room fix for a group of people. It’s cheaper and easier (minus the night your room is in charge). So on Tuesday night it was Bo’s room. He made a very wise choice and went with pancakes. It was delicious. We had our option of blueberry, chocolate chip or plain. I went with one blueberry pancake and one chocolate chip pancake. Job well done, Bo.
Today (Wednesday), I reported back to work. This week I am in sport programs. I will leave it at that. After work, it was our room’s turn to make dinner. Jeramey and I got a good a deal on some spinach and cheese tortellini and some frozen prawns at the grocery store. We whipped these up with some peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic and pasta sauce and made a pretty delicious meal if I say so myself (and I say so). The pasta was supposed to serve 8 people all on its own and then we added all the shrimp and veggies. There was enough food to feed an army – or 6 college males. Jeramey found a frozen apple pie for super cheap so we fixed that afterwards. Needless to say, we were stuffed. Someone is going to have to roll me off the plane when I get back.
Anyway, that has been the past two days. We received our email regarding the details of our Cairns trip this weekend. It got me even more excited. I can’t believe I am going to be scuba diving on THE (I hate when Ohio State does that but still) Great Barrier Reef this weekend – surreal. I’m sure you will get more information and pictures than you can handle so look forward to that. Until then…
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
DAY 26: A MANLY PICNIC
I left one important detail out of my DAY 24 blog. Manly is a hilarious name for a town. Everything is the Manly Store, the Manly Café, the Manly Restaurant, the Manly Lingerie Shop (okay, I made that one up but you get the point). It’s pretty humorous especially to someone who has a simple sense of humor such as me.
God Bless the Queen and her inaccurate birthday. I love three–day weekends. Anyway, a group of us students had been talking about doing a picnic for quite some time but never actually gotten around to it. Today was the day. We had originally planned on going to Bondi Beach – a beach right here in Sydney – but changed our mind because many of the students hadn’t yet been to Manly. So back to Manly we went. Twice in three days. I guess you could say I am pretty….manly (refer to me having a simple sense of humor in the first paragraph). We packed PB&Js, some chips, some cookies and some apple juice and off we went. We had another gorgeous ferry ride. The weather has been awesome the last four or five days – a nice change of pace. We got to the beach, found a picnic table and had a delicious, beautiful picnic right there on the beach. It was a great idea and a great time to just hang out with some new friends at the beautiful beach.
The Manly Beach.
Ocean-front property anyone?
Some of the crew hanging out at the beach.
After lunch, we walked down to one end of the beach and just sat and relaxed for about an hour. I ended up taking a nap and it was awesome. There’s nothing better than taking a nap on the beach…well, maybe ice cream.
Refer to DAY 24 blog: We went back to that ice cream shop – The Royal Copenhagen. I love the place. I had another ice cream cone and again, it was scrumptious. This time I went with White Chocolate Caramel Fudge and Devil’s Chocolate. Fjdkn0[42mp (sorry, that was me wiping the slobber off my keypad). We did some more walking around and eventually headed back to the wharf. We had a great manly fairy (I know that was the wrong spelling but it’s funny to read) ride back at sunset and were very happy with our day and full bellies.
This program should include a personal nutritionist.
Pictures from the Ferry ride back
I came back, made use of the pool and gym, and then made some dinner. Although it was my second time to Manly in a three-day period, I don’t regret it at all. Unfortunately, I go back to the real world of classes and work tomorrow but I am really starting to look forward to my Cairns trip this weekend. I can’t wait. As for tomorrow, I have class and who knows what. Until then…
Cheers!
God Bless the Queen and her inaccurate birthday. I love three–day weekends. Anyway, a group of us students had been talking about doing a picnic for quite some time but never actually gotten around to it. Today was the day. We had originally planned on going to Bondi Beach – a beach right here in Sydney – but changed our mind because many of the students hadn’t yet been to Manly. So back to Manly we went. Twice in three days. I guess you could say I am pretty….manly (refer to me having a simple sense of humor in the first paragraph). We packed PB&Js, some chips, some cookies and some apple juice and off we went. We had another gorgeous ferry ride. The weather has been awesome the last four or five days – a nice change of pace. We got to the beach, found a picnic table and had a delicious, beautiful picnic right there on the beach. It was a great idea and a great time to just hang out with some new friends at the beautiful beach.
The Manly Beach.
Ocean-front property anyone?
Some of the crew hanging out at the beach.
After lunch, we walked down to one end of the beach and just sat and relaxed for about an hour. I ended up taking a nap and it was awesome. There’s nothing better than taking a nap on the beach…well, maybe ice cream.
Refer to DAY 24 blog: We went back to that ice cream shop – The Royal Copenhagen. I love the place. I had another ice cream cone and again, it was scrumptious. This time I went with White Chocolate Caramel Fudge and Devil’s Chocolate. Fjdkn0[42mp (sorry, that was me wiping the slobber off my keypad). We did some more walking around and eventually headed back to the wharf. We had a great manly fairy (I know that was the wrong spelling but it’s funny to read) ride back at sunset and were very happy with our day and full bellies.
This program should include a personal nutritionist.
Pictures from the Ferry ride back
I came back, made use of the pool and gym, and then made some dinner. Although it was my second time to Manly in a three-day period, I don’t regret it at all. Unfortunately, I go back to the real world of classes and work tomorrow but I am really starting to look forward to my Cairns trip this weekend. I can’t wait. As for tomorrow, I have class and who knows what. Until then…
Cheers!
DAY 25: USA, USA, USA, USA!
That was our chant. Our only chant. Not creative, not that much fun but effectively annoying to English fans who had an entire arsenal of clever, drunken chants.
So the US soccer team took on the English soccer team at 4:30 in the morning – a rivalry that dates back to July 4, 1776. Okay, so what if that had nothing to do with soccer? It had everything to do with USA vs. England. Plus, it’s a lot cooler to say.
Our group of about 20 got there at about 4:00 in the morning. It was cold, very cold. We were vastly out-numbered and vastly out-enthused. The English were going crazy and had tons of chants, which I still have stuck in my head. England was supposed to win the game rather easily. Then they scored a goal very early and most everyone thought the route was on. It looked like it was going to be a long day/morning/night depending on where you were watching. Us Americans don't roll over and die. We stand. We conquer. We eat an absurd amount of fast food (I'm thinking this was the pregame speech). The U.S. stayed in it and caught a lucky break when the English goalie let a shot bounce off his hands and trickle into the back of the net. The English outplayed us and probably deserved to win but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. The English have to just hate everything American. They’re like our red-headed step-child only they used to be our parent (think Kentucky family reunion – kidding).
The big screen in the harbor.
After Dempsey scored and a fist pump from someone.
Afterwards, I wanted to sleep and thaw. We headed back to the Apartment and I passed out for a couple of hours. When I woke up a group of people was in the middle of planning a trip to Paddy’s Market. I have blogged about this place once before but it’s your typical big-city market – tons of stores, tons of people, tons of trinkets and a little overwhelming. Reluctantly, I headed out with the group. We got there and a group of about five of us broke off from the larger group. We did some wandering around and had our fill. About 30 minutes after we arrived we were heading back out. We ended up spending more time planning and getting there than actually being there but oh well.
We came back and a group of us made some burgers that were delicious and then just relaxed. After about four days of go go go, it was much needed. I headed out to get some groceries at about 10:30 – everything gets cheaper late at night. It was actually really nice. I got some really good deals and didn’t have to fight all the crazy people. This might be a habit I bring back home with me – we will see. Anyway, it was an enjoyable day and I was excited about the Team USA draw. Tomorrow is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday even though it is not her birthday (thanks for that logic England) so I am not sure what is planned beyond the fact I don’t have to work. I will keep you posted. Until then…
Cheers!
So the US soccer team took on the English soccer team at 4:30 in the morning – a rivalry that dates back to July 4, 1776. Okay, so what if that had nothing to do with soccer? It had everything to do with USA vs. England. Plus, it’s a lot cooler to say.
Our group of about 20 got there at about 4:00 in the morning. It was cold, very cold. We were vastly out-numbered and vastly out-enthused. The English were going crazy and had tons of chants, which I still have stuck in my head. England was supposed to win the game rather easily. Then they scored a goal very early and most everyone thought the route was on. It looked like it was going to be a long day/morning/night depending on where you were watching. Us Americans don't roll over and die. We stand. We conquer. We eat an absurd amount of fast food (I'm thinking this was the pregame speech). The U.S. stayed in it and caught a lucky break when the English goalie let a shot bounce off his hands and trickle into the back of the net. The English outplayed us and probably deserved to win but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. The English have to just hate everything American. They’re like our red-headed step-child only they used to be our parent (think Kentucky family reunion – kidding).
The big screen in the harbor.
After Dempsey scored and a fist pump from someone.
Afterwards, I wanted to sleep and thaw. We headed back to the Apartment and I passed out for a couple of hours. When I woke up a group of people was in the middle of planning a trip to Paddy’s Market. I have blogged about this place once before but it’s your typical big-city market – tons of stores, tons of people, tons of trinkets and a little overwhelming. Reluctantly, I headed out with the group. We got there and a group of about five of us broke off from the larger group. We did some wandering around and had our fill. About 30 minutes after we arrived we were heading back out. We ended up spending more time planning and getting there than actually being there but oh well.
We came back and a group of us made some burgers that were delicious and then just relaxed. After about four days of go go go, it was much needed. I headed out to get some groceries at about 10:30 – everything gets cheaper late at night. It was actually really nice. I got some really good deals and didn’t have to fight all the crazy people. This might be a habit I bring back home with me – we will see. Anyway, it was an enjoyable day and I was excited about the Team USA draw. Tomorrow is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday even though it is not her birthday (thanks for that logic England) so I am not sure what is planned beyond the fact I don’t have to work. I will keep you posted. Until then…
Cheers!
DAY 24: FILM FEST AND DOING MANLY THINGS
All I had planned Saturday was the Sydney Film Festival at 10 in the morning but beyond that, I was looking forward to a relaxing day. It ended up being just that but I did much much more than just the film fest.
The day began with donuts. Dough. Nuts. Always a good thing when a day starts with donuts. Our movie began at 10:00 a.m. so the four of us that had tickets went to Baker’s Bun before hand and got a bunch of donuts we could eat on the way and during the movie. I love the place. The donuts are absolutely delicious. If everyone ate one donut every morning, the world would be a much better (and fatter) place – I’m convinced.
Bo making a very tough decision...If you can't decide, get 'em all. That's my philosophy.
Worth the trip.
The movie was called “Killer Inside Me” and was shown at the State Theatre. This place was not your typical AMC. It was unbelievable – 3 levels, incredible architecture and beautiful art. Just being in the theatre was worth the $15 ticket, which is a good thing because I’m not real sure the movie was. The main draw of the movie was Casey Affleck who was the lead actor in one of my favorite movies – “Gone Baby Gone” (if you haven’t seen this, stop reading, go to blockbuster, watch it, and resume reading – it’s that good). Two star actresses were Jessica Alba – always a plus – and Kate Hudson. We knew going in it was supposed to be a dark, twisted movie. That’s exactly what it was. It’s one of those movies that just make you really think about human behaviors in general. It’s hard to describe how I felt about the movie. I really liked the plot but I felt it was more graphic than it needed to be. I wouldn’t recommend it but don’t regret going to it at all.
I wasn’t sure I would like seeing a movie at 10:00 in the morning but it ended up working out beautifully. We walked out of the theatre to an absolutely gorgeous day. I was originally planning on just going back to the apartment and getting some work done but the four of us decided it was too good of a day to stay at the apartment complex.
Instead, we went on a walk with no specific plan or path. We started out by going to St. Mary’s – the largest Cathedral in Sydney. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any pictures inside but I got some of the outside to give you a thought. I was fortunate enough to visit many of the Cathedrals in England when my sisters were there studying abroad and this Cathedral was just as beautiful as those. Obviously there is not the same history in a 100-year old Cathedral in Sydney as there is in a 600-year old Cathedral in England, but architecturally, it was just as beautiful.
Stunningly gorgeous.
After St. Mary’s we headed through the Royal Botanical Gardens. These were also very impressive. It was a wonderful stroll through a beautiful park. It was impressive on a winter day, I can’t imagine what it looks like during the summer.
When we got through the park, we ended up at the Sydney Opera House. Don’t you just love going on a walk with no particular purpose and ending up at one of the most recognized buildings in the world? Oh wait, you’re not in Australia, you wouldn’t understand (sorry, I couldn’t resist ☺). So there we were no particular plan or purpose just kind of wondering what to do next. We spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry headed for Manly Beach. This is something everyone tells you to do while you’re here but we had not yet tried or planned. It was the best decision of the day – even better than the donut choice and you know it’s good if it’s even being compared to donuts! The 30-minute ferry ride was beautiful and Manly was awesome.
Part of an incredible Ferry ride.
Ditto.
The Royal Botanical Gardens
Manly reminds me a lot of Miami. The streets are lined with shops and restaurants and you are right on the beach. By this time, we had walked off the absurd amount of donuts we had ate or at least that was what we wanted to believe so we stopped for lunch…on top of a building. We ate at a restaurant that was actually a rooftop of a hotel there right on the beach. The view was awesome and the food (fried calamari and a bucket of shrimp) was delicious.
Just a little rooftop dining.
After lunch we did some more walking around and eventually ended up at an ice cream shop. I know what you’re thinking. Ice cream and donuts in the same day?!?! And the answer is yes, absolutely yes. I’m going to take advantage of my metabolism while I still have it. It was a great choice and probably the best Ice Cream cone I have ever had. It was a waffle cone that they dip the top of in chocolate and then I had two scoops – one was called midnight cookie (chocolate and brownie) and the other was Royal Copenhagen (honeycomb and butterscotch) they top it off with whipped cream and then they have all the caramel, chocolate and sprinkles in a dispenser that you can add on your own. It was heavenly – worth the ferry trip all on its own. After finishing the cone and making sure my heart was still properly functioning we headed back to the city. Fat happy campers.
The ice cream cone fell out of heaven and into my hand. yummmmm.....
I made some dinner and headed for bed at 10:00. We have a very early morning tomorrow. The U.S. soccer team plays England at 4:30 a.m. Sydney time and a large group of us want to go to Darling Harbor, home of FIFA Fan Fest, to watch the game. I’m sure you will get to read all about it. Until then…
Cheers!
The day began with donuts. Dough. Nuts. Always a good thing when a day starts with donuts. Our movie began at 10:00 a.m. so the four of us that had tickets went to Baker’s Bun before hand and got a bunch of donuts we could eat on the way and during the movie. I love the place. The donuts are absolutely delicious. If everyone ate one donut every morning, the world would be a much better (and fatter) place – I’m convinced.
Bo making a very tough decision...If you can't decide, get 'em all. That's my philosophy.
Worth the trip.
The movie was called “Killer Inside Me” and was shown at the State Theatre. This place was not your typical AMC. It was unbelievable – 3 levels, incredible architecture and beautiful art. Just being in the theatre was worth the $15 ticket, which is a good thing because I’m not real sure the movie was. The main draw of the movie was Casey Affleck who was the lead actor in one of my favorite movies – “Gone Baby Gone” (if you haven’t seen this, stop reading, go to blockbuster, watch it, and resume reading – it’s that good). Two star actresses were Jessica Alba – always a plus – and Kate Hudson. We knew going in it was supposed to be a dark, twisted movie. That’s exactly what it was. It’s one of those movies that just make you really think about human behaviors in general. It’s hard to describe how I felt about the movie. I really liked the plot but I felt it was more graphic than it needed to be. I wouldn’t recommend it but don’t regret going to it at all.
I wasn’t sure I would like seeing a movie at 10:00 in the morning but it ended up working out beautifully. We walked out of the theatre to an absolutely gorgeous day. I was originally planning on just going back to the apartment and getting some work done but the four of us decided it was too good of a day to stay at the apartment complex.
Instead, we went on a walk with no specific plan or path. We started out by going to St. Mary’s – the largest Cathedral in Sydney. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any pictures inside but I got some of the outside to give you a thought. I was fortunate enough to visit many of the Cathedrals in England when my sisters were there studying abroad and this Cathedral was just as beautiful as those. Obviously there is not the same history in a 100-year old Cathedral in Sydney as there is in a 600-year old Cathedral in England, but architecturally, it was just as beautiful.
Stunningly gorgeous.
After St. Mary’s we headed through the Royal Botanical Gardens. These were also very impressive. It was a wonderful stroll through a beautiful park. It was impressive on a winter day, I can’t imagine what it looks like during the summer.
When we got through the park, we ended up at the Sydney Opera House. Don’t you just love going on a walk with no particular purpose and ending up at one of the most recognized buildings in the world? Oh wait, you’re not in Australia, you wouldn’t understand (sorry, I couldn’t resist ☺). So there we were no particular plan or purpose just kind of wondering what to do next. We spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry headed for Manly Beach. This is something everyone tells you to do while you’re here but we had not yet tried or planned. It was the best decision of the day – even better than the donut choice and you know it’s good if it’s even being compared to donuts! The 30-minute ferry ride was beautiful and Manly was awesome.
Part of an incredible Ferry ride.
Ditto.
The Royal Botanical Gardens
Manly reminds me a lot of Miami. The streets are lined with shops and restaurants and you are right on the beach. By this time, we had walked off the absurd amount of donuts we had ate or at least that was what we wanted to believe so we stopped for lunch…on top of a building. We ate at a restaurant that was actually a rooftop of a hotel there right on the beach. The view was awesome and the food (fried calamari and a bucket of shrimp) was delicious.
Just a little rooftop dining.
After lunch we did some more walking around and eventually ended up at an ice cream shop. I know what you’re thinking. Ice cream and donuts in the same day?!?! And the answer is yes, absolutely yes. I’m going to take advantage of my metabolism while I still have it. It was a great choice and probably the best Ice Cream cone I have ever had. It was a waffle cone that they dip the top of in chocolate and then I had two scoops – one was called midnight cookie (chocolate and brownie) and the other was Royal Copenhagen (honeycomb and butterscotch) they top it off with whipped cream and then they have all the caramel, chocolate and sprinkles in a dispenser that you can add on your own. It was heavenly – worth the ferry trip all on its own. After finishing the cone and making sure my heart was still properly functioning we headed back to the city. Fat happy campers.
The ice cream cone fell out of heaven and into my hand. yummmmm.....
I made some dinner and headed for bed at 10:00. We have a very early morning tomorrow. The U.S. soccer team plays England at 4:30 a.m. Sydney time and a large group of us want to go to Darling Harbor, home of FIFA Fan Fest, to watch the game. I’m sure you will get to read all about it. Until then…
Cheers!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
DAY 23: MORE WORK, MORE PLAY AND SOME EXTRA CARGO
Well after a night on the town and about five hours of sleep at best, I still had to work on Friday (unfortunately, calling in sick is not really an option ☺). Two hours on the train and bus was a good way to make sure I was prepared for the day ahead. I finished a book that would highly recommend to anyone interested in a read about leadership. It’s called “It’s Your Ship: Management techniques from the best damn ship in the navy.” It was entertaining, thought provoking and well thought-out. Anyway, I got to work not sure what to expect since I was working in Operations again.
I worked with the lifeguards for the first half of the day. Let’s just say I look good in a Speedo. Okay, I lied I didn’t have to wear the “uniform”. Instead, I worked on cleaning their office and did some maintenance on the pool in the Plant Room – where all the chemicals and cleaners are put in the pool. Their PH levels were low which means nothing to you or me but I was just told to put some magic potion (technical term) in a big tub that I had seen done on my original tour of the Centre. Funny story (refer to No Pants Dance): My parents ended up shipping me two pairs of black pants so I could have more than one pair here. This was the first day I had worn the pants. So here I am pouring Bisodium Sulfate (magic potion) into this big ‘ol tank. I get it all in without getting anything on me, put the hose in to mix the chemicals, the water pressure is strong enough that it shoots out of the tub and sprays my legs and shoes with some of this Bisodium Sulfate. I don’t know what Bisodium Sulfate is for but I do know this BS is not for pants. For the rest of the day I had a white residue on my pants – maybe a speedo wasn’t such a bad idea. I had a good time doing all of this. It was a nice change to get out from behind the computer. This is one of the major perks of working in the sport industry and one of the major reasons I want to work in it.
My supervisor, Matt, came and got me after I was done with that project and he took me to their sports fields. They were very nice. Not quite “up-to-snuff” with a Big Ten University (by they way, I am totally on board with the Nebraska decision) but still very nice. They had an Aussie Rules Football Field, a Rugby Field, a Cricket Field (I don’t know what it is actually called) and a very nice soccer field that serves as the training field for Sydney Futbol Club. They also had some tennis courts including a couple of clay courts. It was nice to get outside on a beautiful day and see these facilities but most of all just get some time to pick the mind of my supervisor. He is a really interesting guy with a lot of the same interests as me. We had a good chat then went and got some lunch. I packed mine (in an effort to save money) but he stopped on our way back at this little café in a corporate park just off campus. Wrap your mind around this. This corporate park consisted of probably 7 or 8 buildings at the most, but accounts for about 5.5% of Australia’s GDP think about that…(allowing time for thinking)…okay, maybe this is just interesting to me but I’m a nerd.
The second half of the afternoon brought me the “They finally recognized I’m capable of legitimate contributions” moment. I met with the manager of the entire Centre and he gave me a small project. I finished it up much faster than he was expecting. While I was returning the project he asked ,“You wouldn’t happen to have any experience with event management would you?” Besides creating and hosting a golf tournament, hosting multiple School of Management Council events (shout-out: purdue.edu/smc) and being a part of hosting tons of Big Ten sport events, no I don’t have any experience. I think he might have known all of this and was testing to see if I really had the kahonas to say all of this. Obviously, I do. So we ended up talking for quite some time about a corporate Olympics they were hosting for one of their bigger corporate clients. More or less, he was struggling with this project and kind of handed it over to me and told me “figure this out”. I spent the majority of the afternoon trying to wrap my mind around all of the information and creating two proposals. Hopefully, this is something that I will get more ownership of and continue to work on. I headed home at 5 p.m. ready for a three-day weekend. But first…
… pretty much the entire Purdue group wanted to go out Friday night, so that’s what we did. I grabbed some delicious sushi for dinner at a neat little Japanese restaurant near our apartment. A lot of the restaurants here are B.Y.O. (bring your own). It’s a cool idea and creates a neat environment. Us three guys that went to grab sushi grabbed a six-pack before hand and took it into the Japanese restaurant. It was one of the better $15 meals I have ever had. I will be back and I will take pictures.
After dinner, we met up with the group at a very cool bar called Cargo Bar (http://cargobar.com.au/cargobar_about.html). The bar is located right on the water in Darling Harbor. We had a great time. It was great way to kick-off a 3-day weekend. On the schedule: Sydney Film Fest and FIFA Fan Fest. Looking forward to it. Until then…
Cheers!
I worked with the lifeguards for the first half of the day. Let’s just say I look good in a Speedo. Okay, I lied I didn’t have to wear the “uniform”. Instead, I worked on cleaning their office and did some maintenance on the pool in the Plant Room – where all the chemicals and cleaners are put in the pool. Their PH levels were low which means nothing to you or me but I was just told to put some magic potion (technical term) in a big tub that I had seen done on my original tour of the Centre. Funny story (refer to No Pants Dance): My parents ended up shipping me two pairs of black pants so I could have more than one pair here. This was the first day I had worn the pants. So here I am pouring Bisodium Sulfate (magic potion) into this big ‘ol tank. I get it all in without getting anything on me, put the hose in to mix the chemicals, the water pressure is strong enough that it shoots out of the tub and sprays my legs and shoes with some of this Bisodium Sulfate. I don’t know what Bisodium Sulfate is for but I do know this BS is not for pants. For the rest of the day I had a white residue on my pants – maybe a speedo wasn’t such a bad idea. I had a good time doing all of this. It was a nice change to get out from behind the computer. This is one of the major perks of working in the sport industry and one of the major reasons I want to work in it.
My supervisor, Matt, came and got me after I was done with that project and he took me to their sports fields. They were very nice. Not quite “up-to-snuff” with a Big Ten University (by they way, I am totally on board with the Nebraska decision) but still very nice. They had an Aussie Rules Football Field, a Rugby Field, a Cricket Field (I don’t know what it is actually called) and a very nice soccer field that serves as the training field for Sydney Futbol Club. They also had some tennis courts including a couple of clay courts. It was nice to get outside on a beautiful day and see these facilities but most of all just get some time to pick the mind of my supervisor. He is a really interesting guy with a lot of the same interests as me. We had a good chat then went and got some lunch. I packed mine (in an effort to save money) but he stopped on our way back at this little café in a corporate park just off campus. Wrap your mind around this. This corporate park consisted of probably 7 or 8 buildings at the most, but accounts for about 5.5% of Australia’s GDP think about that…(allowing time for thinking)…okay, maybe this is just interesting to me but I’m a nerd.
The second half of the afternoon brought me the “They finally recognized I’m capable of legitimate contributions” moment. I met with the manager of the entire Centre and he gave me a small project. I finished it up much faster than he was expecting. While I was returning the project he asked ,“You wouldn’t happen to have any experience with event management would you?” Besides creating and hosting a golf tournament, hosting multiple School of Management Council events (shout-out: purdue.edu/smc) and being a part of hosting tons of Big Ten sport events, no I don’t have any experience. I think he might have known all of this and was testing to see if I really had the kahonas to say all of this. Obviously, I do. So we ended up talking for quite some time about a corporate Olympics they were hosting for one of their bigger corporate clients. More or less, he was struggling with this project and kind of handed it over to me and told me “figure this out”. I spent the majority of the afternoon trying to wrap my mind around all of the information and creating two proposals. Hopefully, this is something that I will get more ownership of and continue to work on. I headed home at 5 p.m. ready for a three-day weekend. But first…
… pretty much the entire Purdue group wanted to go out Friday night, so that’s what we did. I grabbed some delicious sushi for dinner at a neat little Japanese restaurant near our apartment. A lot of the restaurants here are B.Y.O. (bring your own). It’s a cool idea and creates a neat environment. Us three guys that went to grab sushi grabbed a six-pack before hand and took it into the Japanese restaurant. It was one of the better $15 meals I have ever had. I will be back and I will take pictures.
After dinner, we met up with the group at a very cool bar called Cargo Bar (http://cargobar.com.au/cargobar_about.html). The bar is located right on the water in Darling Harbor. We had a great time. It was great way to kick-off a 3-day weekend. On the schedule: Sydney Film Fest and FIFA Fan Fest. Looking forward to it. Until then…
Cheers!
Day 22: SOME HISTORY, A HAIRCUT AND AN OLYMPIAN (MAYBE)
Thursdays might be my favorite weekday here. Check that, it is my favorite weekday. It starts out with class at 10:00 a.m. - perfect timing. It's not too early but at the same time it is early enough that you still have the majority of your day when it's done. Today's class consisted mostly of videos. We learned a lot about the history of the english language and then more specifically, the Aussie accent. For something that doesn't sound that interesting, it was pretty interesting. Pop quiz: What type of English did Shakespeare write in? The answer: Modern English. Yeah, that archaic gibberish that William used is actually Modern - I have my doubts. Apparently Old English refers to anything pre-1066 before the french took over. At that point in time, French was the main language in England. That era lasted for about 300 years and then Modern English (think Romeo and Juliet) became all the rage. The English language as we know it is actually mixture of many different languages that all sort of mixed together since the 15th century...or something like that. Much of the Aussie accent comes from the Cockney people of England. The Aussie accent was actually looked down upon until the 1970s. Before that time, the Australian media would actually import British on-air talent to avoid having any Aussie accent in their program. Weird, huh? Eventually though, companies started taking "risks" and using Aussies and believe it or not, it worked. Who would have thought listening to someone who talks like you would be more enjoyable than listening to a foreigner with a funny accent? Those crazy marketers and their earth-shattering ideas. I know it's tempting but please don't cite me on any of this - I hope my professor isn't a devout follower of Boiler Outback. As for you other followers - you're welcome. After countless (actually, I guess you can count since I've numbered every entry but that's not the point) blogs about food, coins, pants and other trivial details of my life, I figured it was about time to drop the "knowledge bomb" on my readers.
So yeah, after class I headed to the train station...but not to catch a train. A train station in Sydney is more like a shopping center with a train that happens to run through it. I went to the train station for a haircut. That's not a type-o. These "train-stations" have everything in 'em. There's high-fashion clothing shops, restaurants, shoe-stores, bakeries, butchers and yes, even a barber. About ten minutes and $30 later (another example of the outrageous prices here in Sydney), I had myself a fresh cut. The great thing about the 10:00 class - you go to class, get your "errands" done and still have time do whatever you want. I chose to spend this time working out. I hit the gym for a quick weight exercise, then the pool for some cardio, then the sauna to loosen the muscles, then finally the hot tub just to make sure I completely dehydrated myself (seriously though, I just wanted to run the jets on feet which are still sore from surfing).
Time for the food paragraph: For dinner I wanted something quick, healthy and cheap. The solution? A tuna salad wrap. However, I didn't have pre-made tuna sald. I actually made the tuna salad - impressed myself a little bit to be honest. Took some canned tuna, some onion, some green pepper, some tomato and some carrot, mixed it all together in a bowl with some salt and pepper, some light mayo and some honey mustard. Threw all of that on to a toasted whole grain wrap and had a delicious dinner with some grilled asparagus. It was awesome. My roommate Jeramey finished off what I couldn't fit onto the wrap and loved it too. And of course, washed all down with an ANZAC biscuit and some milk. Okay, that's it for the food for this entry. Now back to your original programming.
One of the Purdue students celebrated her birthday yesterday so a big group of us went out for the night. We started off at a really neat bar called the Argyle. It was really nice - two levels, very nice architecture and interior design, brick flooring and a glass box for the DJ that created an illusion like he was just floating. Well, we went there because you could get two-for-one cocktails until 8. You know the saying, "sounds too good to be true"? Yeah, this was too good. The issue was that one cocktail cost anywhere from $16-20. As far as I am concerned you are getting two-for-the-price-of-two-or-three OR two-for-the-price-of-32-Keystones-on-a-Thursday-night-at-the-Neon-Cactus but oh well, it was a lot of fun and a really cool bar. After hitting a couple more bars, we decided to hop in a taxi to get home. The taxi drivers here are all very friendly and you’re actually supposed to sit shotgun. I called shotgun, got in and tried making small-talk. I wanted to be friendly so hopefully he wouldn’t take advantage of a bunch of poor college kids. Naturally, I started by asking him his name. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to give it to me which began a 15-minute debate between him and I on the positives and negatives of him telling me his name. Obviously, I won this argument because not only was I right but even in my state, I was able to make a very good argument. His name was Kamel Chater and (according to him) he was an Olympian. I didn’t believe it – at all. Well, the next day at work I looked it up and sure enough, there was a Kamel Chater Olympic boxer for Tunisia – just as he had said. I can’t actually find any pictures of him but I guess I will take his word. It sounds much cooler if I can say I got a taxi ride from an Olympic boxer than if I say I got a ride from some guy named Kamel Chater.
Eventually we made it back around 1 or so, which gave me enough time for about 5 hours of sleep before it was time for work. It was worth it. I had a great night with some great friends. Until next time…
Cheers!
So yeah, after class I headed to the train station...but not to catch a train. A train station in Sydney is more like a shopping center with a train that happens to run through it. I went to the train station for a haircut. That's not a type-o. These "train-stations" have everything in 'em. There's high-fashion clothing shops, restaurants, shoe-stores, bakeries, butchers and yes, even a barber. About ten minutes and $30 later (another example of the outrageous prices here in Sydney), I had myself a fresh cut. The great thing about the 10:00 class - you go to class, get your "errands" done and still have time do whatever you want. I chose to spend this time working out. I hit the gym for a quick weight exercise, then the pool for some cardio, then the sauna to loosen the muscles, then finally the hot tub just to make sure I completely dehydrated myself (seriously though, I just wanted to run the jets on feet which are still sore from surfing).
Time for the food paragraph: For dinner I wanted something quick, healthy and cheap. The solution? A tuna salad wrap. However, I didn't have pre-made tuna sald. I actually made the tuna salad - impressed myself a little bit to be honest. Took some canned tuna, some onion, some green pepper, some tomato and some carrot, mixed it all together in a bowl with some salt and pepper, some light mayo and some honey mustard. Threw all of that on to a toasted whole grain wrap and had a delicious dinner with some grilled asparagus. It was awesome. My roommate Jeramey finished off what I couldn't fit onto the wrap and loved it too. And of course, washed all down with an ANZAC biscuit and some milk. Okay, that's it for the food for this entry. Now back to your original programming.
One of the Purdue students celebrated her birthday yesterday so a big group of us went out for the night. We started off at a really neat bar called the Argyle. It was really nice - two levels, very nice architecture and interior design, brick flooring and a glass box for the DJ that created an illusion like he was just floating. Well, we went there because you could get two-for-one cocktails until 8. You know the saying, "sounds too good to be true"? Yeah, this was too good. The issue was that one cocktail cost anywhere from $16-20. As far as I am concerned you are getting two-for-the-price-of-two-or-three OR two-for-the-price-of-32-Keystones-on-a-Thursday-night-at-the-Neon-Cactus but oh well, it was a lot of fun and a really cool bar. After hitting a couple more bars, we decided to hop in a taxi to get home. The taxi drivers here are all very friendly and you’re actually supposed to sit shotgun. I called shotgun, got in and tried making small-talk. I wanted to be friendly so hopefully he wouldn’t take advantage of a bunch of poor college kids. Naturally, I started by asking him his name. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to give it to me which began a 15-minute debate between him and I on the positives and negatives of him telling me his name. Obviously, I won this argument because not only was I right but even in my state, I was able to make a very good argument. His name was Kamel Chater and (according to him) he was an Olympian. I didn’t believe it – at all. Well, the next day at work I looked it up and sure enough, there was a Kamel Chater Olympic boxer for Tunisia – just as he had said. I can’t actually find any pictures of him but I guess I will take his word. It sounds much cooler if I can say I got a taxi ride from an Olympic boxer than if I say I got a ride from some guy named Kamel Chater.
Eventually we made it back around 1 or so, which gave me enough time for about 5 hours of sleep before it was time for work. It was worth it. I had a great night with some great friends. Until next time…
Cheers!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
DAY 21: DOIN’ WORK
First of all, I can’t believe it has been three weeks. In the words of Harry Carey…”Holy Cow!” Anyway, today was by far my best day of work. I actually did something that amounted to real work. My supervisor for this week and the next, Matt (talked about him briefly in my Day 19 blog), actually trusts me and gives me real tasks. Today, I started by doing a handicap accessibility report for the sport aquatic centre. What this meant, was he wanted me to evaluate how handicap “friendly” the centre is. This is in preparation for their evaluation that is coming up within the next month. He then wanted me to create some sort of report they could present to the evaluator. So I wandered around took some notes and just recorded what my saw. I actually think I noticed some things because my dad, who is a facilities manager, would always tell me small little nuances in shopping centers that he had to deal with. I created my report and he was very impressed. He said, “What the bloody hell do I owe you for this, mate?” which roughly translates to “This is the best piece of work I have ever seen…ever” okay that might be a stretch but he was impressed and I think it was the first words of encouragement I have heard since being there.
After that, I had an appointment with a cleaner that I set up on Monday. We needed a quote on some carpet cleaning. This wasn’t a vital assignment but it was nice because it was completely MY assignment and I had ownership of it and took care of it. I then did the exact same thing with a carpenter for some flooring for one of their locker rooms. Again, not a huge task but MY task. I did some other little tasks during the day but those were the major ones and it was a nice change of pace.
After work, I headed home and was starving. Naturally, I went to the grocery store. There is a small market in the front of the store that is owned by a Lebanese family. I will have to blog about it at some point. Perhaps, when I blog about the coffee shop I can kill two birds with one stone. The owner, Joe has gotten to know me because I am in there so often. They have all sorts of really cool foreign foods, which I really enjoy, and fruits and vegetables. Today, as I was just wondering around, Joe, who must be 6’6”, yelled at me “Jown yooo like hooomus” which means, “Jon, do you like hummus”. No, I don’t like hummus, I love hummus. Apparently, they have the best in Sydney. He said people drive all the way from North Sydney just for their hummus. They had a sample and I tried it. He was right – it was the best hummus I have ever had – absolutely delicious. He even gave me some Indian spices to heat it up just a little bit. Let’s just say Joe takes care of me. I got a container of Hummus, a tomato, a green pepper, and an entire package of Lebanese bread for $5.00. I think I have a man crush.
Well, I didn’t want to go through all of the hummus in one night so Nick Birck, one of my Purdue friends, and I decided to make chicken tacos. Obviously, they were delicious. I then had an Anzac cookie to wash it all down. Someone has got to try making those. If not, I am making them as soon as I come back. So this has turned into another entry about food. I am really sorry about that but it’s a big part of the Aussie culture…I think. Tomorrow should be a pretty relaxed day. Class, haricut probably, work out and then go out for one of the Purdue Student’s birthday. Should be a good time. Until then…
Cheers!
After that, I had an appointment with a cleaner that I set up on Monday. We needed a quote on some carpet cleaning. This wasn’t a vital assignment but it was nice because it was completely MY assignment and I had ownership of it and took care of it. I then did the exact same thing with a carpenter for some flooring for one of their locker rooms. Again, not a huge task but MY task. I did some other little tasks during the day but those were the major ones and it was a nice change of pace.
After work, I headed home and was starving. Naturally, I went to the grocery store. There is a small market in the front of the store that is owned by a Lebanese family. I will have to blog about it at some point. Perhaps, when I blog about the coffee shop I can kill two birds with one stone. The owner, Joe has gotten to know me because I am in there so often. They have all sorts of really cool foreign foods, which I really enjoy, and fruits and vegetables. Today, as I was just wondering around, Joe, who must be 6’6”, yelled at me “Jown yooo like hooomus” which means, “Jon, do you like hummus”. No, I don’t like hummus, I love hummus. Apparently, they have the best in Sydney. He said people drive all the way from North Sydney just for their hummus. They had a sample and I tried it. He was right – it was the best hummus I have ever had – absolutely delicious. He even gave me some Indian spices to heat it up just a little bit. Let’s just say Joe takes care of me. I got a container of Hummus, a tomato, a green pepper, and an entire package of Lebanese bread for $5.00. I think I have a man crush.
Well, I didn’t want to go through all of the hummus in one night so Nick Birck, one of my Purdue friends, and I decided to make chicken tacos. Obviously, they were delicious. I then had an Anzac cookie to wash it all down. Someone has got to try making those. If not, I am making them as soon as I come back. So this has turned into another entry about food. I am really sorry about that but it’s a big part of the Aussie culture…I think. Tomorrow should be a pretty relaxed day. Class, haricut probably, work out and then go out for one of the Purdue Student’s birthday. Should be a good time. Until then…
Cheers!
DAY 20: WARNING:
This entry is probably going to put you to sleep – sorry about that but after a weekend of surfing and a day of work, I needed a day like this. Let me start by saying this was maybe the best weather we have had since the first day we arrived. Perhaps a bit on the cool side but I can’t complain, the sun was out and it didn’t rain all day. I actually got to sleep in this morning. I still feel like my body isn’t completely adjusted and it might not ever be but I slept until 9 a.m. which by my “sleeping in standards” isn’t that late but that is the latest I have slept in my 20 days here. After a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast I hit the gym. I love working out in the morning – I feel like it sets the tone for the rest of your day. It’s refreshing. Fortunate for me, there was hardly anyone there (poor people actually having to work all 5 days of the week) and I was able to get a solid work out in rather quickly. After a shower, I headed to my café that I have come to know so well.
I really like this place and I will have to blog about it at some point. It’s a great atmosphere and the owner/chef/waitress is super nice. Everything I have had is delicious and it’s just a nice place to relax at. I spent a couple hours there catching up and having a delicious milkshake then headed out for class.
Today was another very interesting day of intercultural communications. We had an Australian linguistics coach guest lecture. She was pretty impressive. We learned about the Australian accent and even spent some time trying to imitate it by reading Australian Poetry. Our imitation went about as well as this woman’s Beyonce impersonation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j62olAmWY9Q). When we were done, I asked her if she could do an American accent. It was only fair; we spent an hour making a fool of ourselves, now it was her turn. She switched her American on and you couldn’t even tell the difference between her and us. It was very impressive.
After class, I came back to the apartment fixed another huge sandwich (refer to slamwich blog) and just continued relaxing. An uneventful day but a much needed relaxing day. It was bad for my readers, good for me ☺. I’ll try to keep you more entertained but until then….
Cheers!
P.S. RIP John Wooden. A wonderful man and leader we should all strive to emulate. I’m a little sad I’ve missed out on all the coverage that I’m sure has been superb. Anyway, here is an article by one of my favorite sport writers everyone should read:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5260677
I really like this place and I will have to blog about it at some point. It’s a great atmosphere and the owner/chef/waitress is super nice. Everything I have had is delicious and it’s just a nice place to relax at. I spent a couple hours there catching up and having a delicious milkshake then headed out for class.
Today was another very interesting day of intercultural communications. We had an Australian linguistics coach guest lecture. She was pretty impressive. We learned about the Australian accent and even spent some time trying to imitate it by reading Australian Poetry. Our imitation went about as well as this woman’s Beyonce impersonation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j62olAmWY9Q). When we were done, I asked her if she could do an American accent. It was only fair; we spent an hour making a fool of ourselves, now it was her turn. She switched her American on and you couldn’t even tell the difference between her and us. It was very impressive.
After class, I came back to the apartment fixed another huge sandwich (refer to slamwich blog) and just continued relaxing. An uneventful day but a much needed relaxing day. It was bad for my readers, good for me ☺. I’ll try to keep you more entertained but until then….
Cheers!
P.S. RIP John Wooden. A wonderful man and leader we should all strive to emulate. I’m a little sad I’ve missed out on all the coverage that I’m sure has been superb. Anyway, here is an article by one of my favorite sport writers everyone should read:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5260677
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
DAY 19: WILD GOOSE CHASE
6:00 a.m. is really early on a Monday morning after a weekend of surfing but I’m a workingman, I guess. Anyone found a job that will pay me to do nothing but travel yet? Waiting…waiting….k, didn’t think so. Today, I worked in the Sport Operations at Macquarie. It was a little bit better. Specifically, I worked in the facility operations. It was interesting because this is kind of what my dad does so I sort of felt like I was getting a little bit of what he experiences.
After spending the first hour changing addresses on contracts, I FINALLY did something of substance. I took a tour of the operations aspects of the facility. Matt, who is head of operations and used to work at the Olympic Park, actually asked me what I was studying and then we had about an hour-long discussion about the business operations of a lot of sports venues. It was refreshing and educational. In that hour, I learned more than I have the rest of the two weeks I have worked there. After my tour though, it was back to the mundane tasks. I had to find a quote for carpet cleaning, a quote for beach chairs and a quote for flooring. I got ‘em all and that was my workday.
A two-hour trip back and some grocery shopping (I hate shopping) and I could relax again. Dustin, who was one of the ones who got cut up pretty good doing cliff diving, cooked dinner for all of us who took care of him. After some fried chicken and mac n’ cheese (USA, USA, USA!) we played some euchre and called it a night. Overall, a pretty good day. Not much more to report. Until next time…
Cheers!
After spending the first hour changing addresses on contracts, I FINALLY did something of substance. I took a tour of the operations aspects of the facility. Matt, who is head of operations and used to work at the Olympic Park, actually asked me what I was studying and then we had about an hour-long discussion about the business operations of a lot of sports venues. It was refreshing and educational. In that hour, I learned more than I have the rest of the two weeks I have worked there. After my tour though, it was back to the mundane tasks. I had to find a quote for carpet cleaning, a quote for beach chairs and a quote for flooring. I got ‘em all and that was my workday.
A two-hour trip back and some grocery shopping (I hate shopping) and I could relax again. Dustin, who was one of the ones who got cut up pretty good doing cliff diving, cooked dinner for all of us who took care of him. After some fried chicken and mac n’ cheese (USA, USA, USA!) we played some euchre and called it a night. Overall, a pretty good day. Not much more to report. Until next time…
Cheers!
Monday, June 7, 2010
DAY 16, 17 AND 18: NO WORRIES AND LOTS OF MEMORIES
Family, friends, loyal blog followers, I would like to announce the beginning of my surfing career. I haven’t actually ran this by my parents but I’m sure they’ll be okay with me dropping out and just becoming a surfer. Right? Man, what a weekend.
It all began Friday with rain - lots and lots of rain. When I left the apartment it was just a drizzle and I thought for sure it was going to stop so I left my umbrella behind. That, as it turns out, was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. I made it to work in a light rain and managed to stay relatively dry. While at work, the rain really picked up. Some of my co-workers were shocked at the amount of rain. They obviously aren’t used to this amount of water and it showed in the city. There was rain flowing down the stairs into train stations, the drains were overflowing and people were building arcs (okay, I made that last one up but it crossed my mind). Meanwhile, I was still umbrella-less. By the time I made it back to our apartment I was soaked. It looked like I had been swimming. I was beginning to worry our surfing trip was going to be rained out. I love being wrong.
We got on the big green Mojo Surf bus at 6:00 at a bar (I love the way Aussies think). Half the students had just gotten out of a wine tasting class and most of the students were doing there own crash course on wine tasting. Let’s just say it wasn’t your typical coach bus experience (I’m gonna try to keep this blog as G rated as possible). Seven hours and many hilarious moments later, we arrived at Crescent Head National Park and it was still raining. By the time we got settled in and situated, it was about 2:30 in the morning – enough time for a nap.
At about 7:00I Saturday morning we were awaken by AC/DC blaring through a megaphone and surf instructors yelling at us – a pretty good alarm clock if I say so myself. We grabbed a quick breakfast and it was time to go surf. The beach we were surfing at was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. There is literally no sign of human life on it. It was pristine, just absolutely surreal.
I had surfed once before in Maui. It was a very enjoyable experience. We got a very in-depth lesson, went out with an instructor and one-by-one we would catch waves and try to ride them in - a very structured experience. This time, not so much. We had to go in two groups because of our size and I was in the first group. Now in the instructors defense, I am sure teaching a group of 50 college students (half of which are hungover) is probably there worst nightmare BUT we got a board about a five minute lesson and then they threw us out in the ocean. It was trial by fire; well water but you get the point. We were bouncing around being pulled every which way and even catching some waves. I rode one all the way in during our morning session and stood on many others. It was a great time. I felt like I had only been out for about ten minutes when they called us in to end our morning session. I couldn’t wait to get back out in the afternoon.
After a quick lunch, it was time to head back out and again, I was in group 1. We were all really starting to get the hang of it. For me, the hardest part was getting myself in position to take the wave. You really have to battle and Mother Nature is pretty strong. You can spend about 30 minutes getting to where you want to and then one wave hits you and you end up back where you started. It gets frustrating but is all part of the fun. I understand why you don’t ever see fat surfers. There really is no greater exercise in the world. Anyway, our afternoon session went by too fast and I wasn’t about to stop so I sneaked into group 2 and spent another couple hours catching some waves. It was a great and very tiring day but the fun had just begun.
Um okay, mom, dad, just skip to the next paragraph. Saturday night is a designated party night at the camp – instructors included. Um, trying to keep this g-rated, we had fun. That’s an accurate description. There were two different bonfires the main surf house was open and obviously, the beach was right there. It was an awesome atmosphere and it was all happening under more stars than you can imagine. It was beautiful. It was a great time. At one point, I wondered (stumbled) into the surf house where they were selling hoodies and photos and actually bought the last large hoodie they had. I then convinced one of the instructors that I looked so good in it, they should hire me to be a salesman and they did. So I got a new job. I stood behind the counter and acted like I knew what I was doing for a while and started calling all the instructors my co-workers. It was fun until they temporarily fired me but it was only temporary I’m sure I can get the position back whenever I want. Either way, it’s going on the resume. I then went around the rest of the night informing everyone that I worked there now and instructing everyone I ran into to look at the stars multiple times. It was a great night filled with lots of great (fuzzy) memories.
We finally crashed at well, I don’t know what time but it was late. On Sunday morning, the instructors were a little gentler waking us up. They knew we were probably still feeling the effects of Saturday night and they themselves were probably a little slower Sunday morning as well. Wow, I was sore. I could barely stand straight and my hips felt like they were made of cement but I had to loosen up there was still waves that needed to be surfed. After two bowls of rice krispies, two bananas, half an orange, a couple pieces of watermelon and a piece of toast, I was ready to go. You know, nothing like a light breakfast before being thrown into the ocean. Many chose to stay behind (sober up) but it was the learn-to-surf weekend not the learn-to-sit-around-and-do-nothing weekend so I headed on out. Again, I was in group 1. The ocean was much calmer on Sunday and it was easier to know what to expect. I jumped on my first couple of waves and stood right up. I even rode one all the way to the beach. However, Saturday had begun to take its toll and I was just physically spent. My feet were cramping and my shoulders were exhausted. There was no way I could stay out with group 2 so my surfing for the weekend was done and I don’t regret any of it - an incredible experience. I just have to figure out how to make a living out of being a below average surfer.
Some of us guys still had some time to kill and heard one of the instructors talking about cliff diving. Obviously, we were intrigued so we had him lead us to the cliff. Mistake #1. It was very small trail but absolutely gorgeous. The scenery was incredible. After about ten minutes we made it to the cliff. I thought he was joking. The landing area was very small and wedged back between two cliffs. I had done some cliff diving in Hawaii but there were no waves and a wide-open landing area. This was a bit different but off he went. He lived and now there were six of us guys standing at the top of the cliff with our manhood at stake. Um, yeah of course we all WANTED to do it but actually DOING it was tricky for whatever reason. One went in, two went in, and a third went in. Mistake #2. I was considering it at this point and a fourth was about to go in when all hell broke loose. The three guys who were in and the instructor were sitting on a rock at the bottom the cliff when a huge wave hit the rock. One of the guys missed the wave barely. The instructor at least had the instinct to go limp and let the wave take him. Two others tried holding on the rock. Mistake #3. After some serious worrying and about ten minutes they all made it back to the top of the cliff. One cut open his hand pretty bad and the other had pretty bad cuts on his feet, legs, arms, back and chest. It was a project getting them back to the beach but we did it and they are doing just fine (I think) now. They were very fortunate.
After a delicious lunch of burritos and chips and salsa (which was home made and delicious) it was time for the trek back. We’ll just say that the contrast between the bus ride to and from was night and day. We were all exhausted. My body is so very sore and my feet feel like they might just stop working all together but it was worth every bit of pain and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I really am extremely blessed and fortunate to have such an amazing opportunity and I just want to keep making the most of every single moment. It’s a great group we have and we are having a great time.
Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow so I hope you enjoyed your one interesting blog for the week. I just hope I can get my feet into my dress shoes. Maybe I’ll call in sick ;) I don’t really have any plans for this week but am looking forward to whatever Sydney gives us (likely rain). Until next time….
Cheers!
It all began Friday with rain - lots and lots of rain. When I left the apartment it was just a drizzle and I thought for sure it was going to stop so I left my umbrella behind. That, as it turns out, was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. I made it to work in a light rain and managed to stay relatively dry. While at work, the rain really picked up. Some of my co-workers were shocked at the amount of rain. They obviously aren’t used to this amount of water and it showed in the city. There was rain flowing down the stairs into train stations, the drains were overflowing and people were building arcs (okay, I made that last one up but it crossed my mind). Meanwhile, I was still umbrella-less. By the time I made it back to our apartment I was soaked. It looked like I had been swimming. I was beginning to worry our surfing trip was going to be rained out. I love being wrong.
We got on the big green Mojo Surf bus at 6:00 at a bar (I love the way Aussies think). Half the students had just gotten out of a wine tasting class and most of the students were doing there own crash course on wine tasting. Let’s just say it wasn’t your typical coach bus experience (I’m gonna try to keep this blog as G rated as possible). Seven hours and many hilarious moments later, we arrived at Crescent Head National Park and it was still raining. By the time we got settled in and situated, it was about 2:30 in the morning – enough time for a nap.
At about 7:00I Saturday morning we were awaken by AC/DC blaring through a megaphone and surf instructors yelling at us – a pretty good alarm clock if I say so myself. We grabbed a quick breakfast and it was time to go surf. The beach we were surfing at was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. There is literally no sign of human life on it. It was pristine, just absolutely surreal.
I had surfed once before in Maui. It was a very enjoyable experience. We got a very in-depth lesson, went out with an instructor and one-by-one we would catch waves and try to ride them in - a very structured experience. This time, not so much. We had to go in two groups because of our size and I was in the first group. Now in the instructors defense, I am sure teaching a group of 50 college students (half of which are hungover) is probably there worst nightmare BUT we got a board about a five minute lesson and then they threw us out in the ocean. It was trial by fire; well water but you get the point. We were bouncing around being pulled every which way and even catching some waves. I rode one all the way in during our morning session and stood on many others. It was a great time. I felt like I had only been out for about ten minutes when they called us in to end our morning session. I couldn’t wait to get back out in the afternoon.
After a quick lunch, it was time to head back out and again, I was in group 1. We were all really starting to get the hang of it. For me, the hardest part was getting myself in position to take the wave. You really have to battle and Mother Nature is pretty strong. You can spend about 30 minutes getting to where you want to and then one wave hits you and you end up back where you started. It gets frustrating but is all part of the fun. I understand why you don’t ever see fat surfers. There really is no greater exercise in the world. Anyway, our afternoon session went by too fast and I wasn’t about to stop so I sneaked into group 2 and spent another couple hours catching some waves. It was a great and very tiring day but the fun had just begun.
Um okay, mom, dad, just skip to the next paragraph. Saturday night is a designated party night at the camp – instructors included. Um, trying to keep this g-rated, we had fun. That’s an accurate description. There were two different bonfires the main surf house was open and obviously, the beach was right there. It was an awesome atmosphere and it was all happening under more stars than you can imagine. It was beautiful. It was a great time. At one point, I wondered (stumbled) into the surf house where they were selling hoodies and photos and actually bought the last large hoodie they had. I then convinced one of the instructors that I looked so good in it, they should hire me to be a salesman and they did. So I got a new job. I stood behind the counter and acted like I knew what I was doing for a while and started calling all the instructors my co-workers. It was fun until they temporarily fired me but it was only temporary I’m sure I can get the position back whenever I want. Either way, it’s going on the resume. I then went around the rest of the night informing everyone that I worked there now and instructing everyone I ran into to look at the stars multiple times. It was a great night filled with lots of great (fuzzy) memories.
We finally crashed at well, I don’t know what time but it was late. On Sunday morning, the instructors were a little gentler waking us up. They knew we were probably still feeling the effects of Saturday night and they themselves were probably a little slower Sunday morning as well. Wow, I was sore. I could barely stand straight and my hips felt like they were made of cement but I had to loosen up there was still waves that needed to be surfed. After two bowls of rice krispies, two bananas, half an orange, a couple pieces of watermelon and a piece of toast, I was ready to go. You know, nothing like a light breakfast before being thrown into the ocean. Many chose to stay behind (sober up) but it was the learn-to-surf weekend not the learn-to-sit-around-and-do-nothing weekend so I headed on out. Again, I was in group 1. The ocean was much calmer on Sunday and it was easier to know what to expect. I jumped on my first couple of waves and stood right up. I even rode one all the way to the beach. However, Saturday had begun to take its toll and I was just physically spent. My feet were cramping and my shoulders were exhausted. There was no way I could stay out with group 2 so my surfing for the weekend was done and I don’t regret any of it - an incredible experience. I just have to figure out how to make a living out of being a below average surfer.
Some of us guys still had some time to kill and heard one of the instructors talking about cliff diving. Obviously, we were intrigued so we had him lead us to the cliff. Mistake #1. It was very small trail but absolutely gorgeous. The scenery was incredible. After about ten minutes we made it to the cliff. I thought he was joking. The landing area was very small and wedged back between two cliffs. I had done some cliff diving in Hawaii but there were no waves and a wide-open landing area. This was a bit different but off he went. He lived and now there were six of us guys standing at the top of the cliff with our manhood at stake. Um, yeah of course we all WANTED to do it but actually DOING it was tricky for whatever reason. One went in, two went in, and a third went in. Mistake #2. I was considering it at this point and a fourth was about to go in when all hell broke loose. The three guys who were in and the instructor were sitting on a rock at the bottom the cliff when a huge wave hit the rock. One of the guys missed the wave barely. The instructor at least had the instinct to go limp and let the wave take him. Two others tried holding on the rock. Mistake #3. After some serious worrying and about ten minutes they all made it back to the top of the cliff. One cut open his hand pretty bad and the other had pretty bad cuts on his feet, legs, arms, back and chest. It was a project getting them back to the beach but we did it and they are doing just fine (I think) now. They were very fortunate.
After a delicious lunch of burritos and chips and salsa (which was home made and delicious) it was time for the trek back. We’ll just say that the contrast between the bus ride to and from was night and day. We were all exhausted. My body is so very sore and my feet feel like they might just stop working all together but it was worth every bit of pain and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I really am extremely blessed and fortunate to have such an amazing opportunity and I just want to keep making the most of every single moment. It’s a great group we have and we are having a great time.
Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow so I hope you enjoyed your one interesting blog for the week. I just hope I can get my feet into my dress shoes. Maybe I’ll call in sick ;) I don’t really have any plans for this week but am looking forward to whatever Sydney gives us (likely rain). Until next time….
Cheers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)