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!