So Many Wines and Lights

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

                Second day of class.  I was very happy to sleep in an extra 45 minutes this morning. Got up with no problem like normal and I’m a little nervous about being late somewhere with the buses so I left at 7:40 and got to north Sydney 30 minutes early so I went to a café.  Not as good as my one in Bondi, but it did the job.  My internship focus class for the first hour was boring. We talked about the different language, many of which I’ve already shared the differences in words.  Then we talked about some cultural differences in the work place and I have noticed some differences.  For instance there is less of a hierarchy it seems.  Many people aren’t worried or nervous to challenge those who are above them.  When at home I feel like people have the attitude of sucking up to the boss, always doing what told, not asking questions kind of thing.  Granted each work place will be different. 

                Wine class then came and it started off rough.  I failed my test, but then again everyone in my class did.  No one got over a 50 percent so it was pretty frustrating. At least now we know what to accept but it will definitely require more work than what I thought.  Our professor talked so much about how he understood that we aren’t there to jus take the class and he knows we want to do fun things.  He also talked about the only reason he was having tests is because the Purdue curriculum is making him.  Well if he said all that stuff why did he make the test so hard? Oh well, come next week I’m sure it will go much better. In the morning session we learned about how what to look for, talked about aromas, and taste wheels.  The day dragged on so much.  I think it was because I’m becoming accustomed to running around all day which helps wake me up.  Yet in class I just sit there in this warm room and drink tea the first half.  At lunch we all walked to a new food court that we were told is better than greenwood plaza.  It was so crowded with everyone on lunch and there were a lot of different places to choose from.  I got a turkey, avocado, sprouts, and cranberry wrap from monsieur baguette.  It was really good.  Im not sure in avocado are in season right now but they are all over the place.  People bring them to school and eat them on chips.  Maybe I just didn’t pay as much attention at home, that’s probably the case.

                Afternoon session of wine was long also.  We scored wines the whole time.  We got to try 9 different wines. It was way too much. I ended up only taking one sip of each and wasting the rest of it by pouring it out.  We had 18 bottles with just different scents we were supposed to try and recognize and I think puffing the air out of the containers one after another gave me a headache and then going and sniffing each wine just made it even worse.   We had a Riesling, Chardonnay, sparkling wine, light red wine, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, dessert wine, tokay, and a port.  I wasn’t really in the mood for wine today probably because of my headache.   The whole smelling and tasting thing doesn’t come easy to me either.  Some people pick it up and smell it and can recognize that oh yeah that’s fruity or that tastes like peach or what not.  Hopefully I get better at it. 

                After class I went straight home but stopped at coles to do grocery shopping since I haven’t gone since I got here.  I got some peppers – which later at self check out I couldn’t find peppers, which is because they don’t call them peppers they call them capsicums. But I also bought onions, (which for a bulk of about 8 was a dollar I got excited) mushrooms, spinach, ham, cheese, pasta, cereal, rice cakes, pitas (instead of bread) and probably some other things I can’t remember off the top of my mind. I found some weird things that I either never see at home or just don’t pay enough attention – custard apples, durian, chokes, and lime leaves.   

                I came home carrying the three very full bags to my apartment, unloaded it all and made dinner.  I made some baked pasta which the remaining I’ll bring to work tomorrow I’m sure, if the container will fit in my purse.  Then I went to Sydney’s vivid light show. It is absolutely amazing! I am so happy I went and I plan to go again tomorrow night.  It’s been going on since the weekend I believe and ends this weekend I think.  But they basically light up the whole city along the harbour.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHycEJthnHA this is a good link of what I got to see on the Opera House.  I saw the exact thing, it’s so sweet that lights do all of it.  But there were a lot of interactive things.  Such a huge tic tac toe board two people play on or bikes that when you cycle light up massive wings behind you.  There was an igloo that was lit up.  I found a fish from finding nemo. There was also this thing that when you screamed it lifted up this flaps that were covering bright lights.  So when a lot of people screamed it would get super bright.  There was a massive pink chandeliers hanging at the end of one of the docks that looked like it was hanging out over the harbour water.  All of it was just so cool and it is definitely something you can’t see everything in one night.  

Off to bed I have about 5 hours before I have to get up

Wipe Out

Friday, May 25, 2012

                My second day of work, it was interesting to say the least.  I get up fine in the mornings but I was starting to feel sick come Wednesday night and by Friday I was feeling it in my throat. I got to school fine, a little close on time but it was just because my second bus was running behind.  At school are three other interns.  Dorte is from Denmark and she has been there since February.  Emy is from Holland and she leaves this week.  Victoria is from Germany and Friday was her last day.  So since Emy and Victoria were leaving around the same time we had a massive food party before school started.  Victoria made this huge black forest cake, which I was told is a German thing.  I don’t like fruit in cakes really and the jelly sauce that comes along with that stuff, so I kind of forced it down. But Emy made these tiny drop cookies, they too were a Netherlands kind of thing. But the rest of the staff brought pastries from their favorite bakeries and breakfast quiche and scrambled eggs.  It was all so much food and my lunch was basically me snacking away at everything there.  I had a blueberry pastry that was so so good along with everything else I tried.  The day with the kids went well.  I had to bring my bag full of towels and clothes for the weekend to school cause straight from school I had to go into the city to where I was getting picked up for the weekend up north.

                I got to take a train into the city from Bondi which was a nice change because taking the bus over and over is getting old already.  There were 11 people from purdue who were doing the surfing trip and three other men who were from Switzerland who are backpacking for 3 months. They had just been in South Africa and after Australia are going to New Zealand.  They were my age but for some reason they looked like they were about 15. I didn’t ever talk to them but they just smoked cigarettes a lot and talked among themselves.  But we left Sydney at 5:30pm and the traffic getting out of the city was just insane. We hadn’t even gone a block in ten minutes.  Our driver – Jake played his music, what I guessed was surfer music since I didn’t recognize any of it but that could just be because I don’t know any Australian artists.  It was a 6 hour drive along the coast to Crescent head.  It was long but we stopped every 2 hours.  We watched step brothers and iron man, there was a probably 22 inch TV hanging up in the front of the van.  It was a semi scary drive because for a good 30 minutes we were driving on a dirt road that was throwing us around in the van and none of us knew the guy besides just meeting him.  We later joked that we all thought he was going to pull us over and kill us and leave us out there and no one was going to find us since it was out in the middle of nowhere and none of us had reception.  When we were leaving the city he taught us how to properly ask people how they are – you say how you going but it gets all mumbled together. And when we met people on the camp grounds they have such an even stronger accent than those in the city, making it that much harder to understand.  But we got there all fine around midnight.  As soon as I got out of the van I was freezing, I thought being six hours north I would have been warmer, nope.  All I brought to Australia was a sweater and a leather jacket and I only brought the sweater up north.  We set up a bonfire and all sat around the fire and were introduced to the other surf instructors.  They include Sam who was the cook, Rhys, Niclas, Dan, and then Jake who had driven us.  We went to bed late because we were into the talking and the heat from the fire.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

                We had been told 7 were going to be the earliest we were going to be woken up.  The guys got up and went and checked on the waves early around 6 to study them and then we were woken up at 8.  Breakfast was given to us which was nice, I had tea and some cereal and then a peanut butter and jelly.  I couldn’t give up the chance to have one since I haven’t had once since I’ve been in the states.  It tasted different but it was still good.  During breakfast we sat outside and learned about surfing.  We learned about rips and how to deal with them.   It was funny Rhys spent so much time talking about how dangerous they were and where to find them and definitely put some scare into us.  Then preceding that went on to say that we were going to use the rips to get out into the ocean.  We all just looked at each other like he was crazy.  Following that we just learned some basic rules.  He told us it’s not the getting up part that’s hard it’s the paddling out which I didn’t believe him at all.  After our learning session we all got in our swim suits and froze outside waiting for our wet suits.  Once we got in them we got our boards and make the hike over to the beach.

 It was about a 5 minute walk to the beach but half of it was up hill and the boards are fairly heavy.  My forearms got sore quick from carrying the board.  Once we got there we got in a circle and learned the proper way to stand up on the board.  It’s three quick movements that you definitely need to be flexible for.  Not having done much exercise or stretching my groin was tight after.   I was super excited and cold but ready to get into the water.  I found out quick that Rhys was right, paddling out is so hard! The waves were coming in about every 7 seconds so as you’re paddling you just get hit by this massive wave and the whole staying on your board but making yourself keep paddling out was so exhausting.  The waves don’t look big in many of my pictures but I promise you they were.  I would never get in that water to just swim without a board or some other kind of flotation device.  The waves were really strong and half the time I was hit with a wave it knocked my board straight into me and hit me somewhere on my body.  The actual timing of when to get up on your board is another hard thing to get down.  How most of the day worked was you paddled out and when an instructor was ready he held the board and waited for a wave.  I’m then told to start paddling and then they count to 3 and on 3 you’re supposed to stand up and right before 3 they give a big push on the board forward.  It’s hard to get up if you weren’t paddling fast enough so that’s why they push at the last second.  It’s odd you feel as though you’re paddling so hard away from the wave to get speed but at the same time you’re barely moving because the wave is sucking you in.  All to say my first wave was a good one, I almost got up.  But my second wave I stood up! It’s a very addicting sport.  In the morning session I had two amazing waves that I got up and stood there as the wave pushed me to shore.  The feeling is definitely an adrenal rush.  I felt bad, a bunch of us were paddling out and a girl from my school was in front of me when a huge wave came and she was taken back and her back went straight into the nose of my board.  I can only imagine how bad that had to hurt and for the rest of the morning session she sat on her board or on the beach.  It wasn’t until the afternoon when I had some bad falls.  But we got lunch first, made the hike back and had some sandwiches.  Once I finally and everyone got the energy we headed back to the beach.  Come afternoon the waves had changed so we had to paddle out farther to where they were forming. 

My first wave in the afternoon was the best one I had all weekend.  It’s such a great feeling and then the one after that I took on the wave by myself and got up with no push.  I had a pretty bad fall with the whole salt water up my nose and getting tossed and turned under with the waves and my leg rope tangling up my body.  After that I sat on my board out in the water for a while.  There was one large massive wave that everyone was about to get up on and I was planning on it too.  It looked massive so I started paddling out and started to get up and I was up for about 5 seconds before I saw Rhys in front of me.  I thought I was going to hit him so I just lost balance and then I was under the water and I felt a tug on my leg rope and realized my board wasn’t attached to me anymore.  A wave had taken my board out towards shore so I had to swim out to it.  It’s amazing how much the waves change the depth of the sand.  Where we catch the waves the water is shallow but then go towards shore and it gets really deep.  Of course where my board floated to was where it was deep.  I am pretty afraid of open water and not knowing what’s underneath me.  So as I was swimming not having anything to hold on to I freaked a lot and just tried swimming faster ha. I was extremely relieved once I finally got to my board which felt forever because waves kept pushing it further away from me.  After breaking the cord off my board I didn’t get much more waves.  I had to get a new board and then it took me over 5 minutes to paddle out past the waves.  By the time I got out there I was exhausted and frustrated that it’s so hard to get through them. 

The sun started going down and we all had to head back to camp.  Surfing is exhausting and then knowing you have to walk back with the board isn’t fun either.  We finally got a shower which was such a treat but they had to be quick because the camp didn’t have that much hot water.   After showering we had dinner which was delish.  Sam made steak, sausage, potatoes, and salad.  It was happy to get food in me to hopefully give me some energy back after losing so much out in the water.  we sat around the fire for the rest of the night.  As soon as that sun goes down it gets freezing out.  I didn’t manage to leave the fire much because I got cold quick.  I ended the night earlier than others but was in bed before 12. 

Sunday, May 27, 2012

                Second day of surfing.  We woke up at 8 again so I got some sleep in but come Sunday morning is when my cold moved to my head, I now had a stuffy nose and couldn’t breathe through it. Yet we all got up, a little slower than yesterday and made our way out to eat breakfast.  We were all stiff but still excited to try it out again.  The whole paddling thing again is just so frustrating but once you get out there it’s so much better.  We only had a morning session of surfing and for some time the other girls and I took pictures finally.  I don’t know if I would jump at another experience to go surfing but it was so much fun.  It’s such a great feeling to catch a good wave, but it takes so long to get a good wave and the energy expenditure is outrageous.  It’s amazing also what all the instructors know about the waves and how they come in and the correct places to be.  We headed back to camp carrying those heavy boards once again but for the last time and had lunch.  We finally left by 1pm and made the long drive back.  On the way home I tried Hungry Jack which has a very similar logo to burger king.  I had a chicken sandwich; it was fine, tasted like fast food that’s for sure.  I was absolutely miserable on the drive home with my nose and had no tissues, it was torture.  But finally come 7pm I was home.  I was in bed by 9 and the only reason I didn’t go to bed earlier was because I had to do a load of laundry. 

Monday, May 28, 2012

                Let’s see Monday was my first day back to work from the weekend obviously.  I woke up probably the worst I had been yet.  I packed my purse full of tissues for my trip to school.  I still got up fine I was just sluggish.  My first bus is supposed to leave my stop at 7:40am however it came early so by the time I got to the junction I was able to make an earlier bus.  I decided to stop at a café then before school.  I walked to a circled corner where there is about 4 different cafes.  I went to the closest one and extremely happy with the place.  I believe it’s called the sun café.  They have a little walk up window where you can order and my hot chocolate was delish.  I got to work at 8:15 and I sat in the staff room until the bell rang at 9.  I’m starting to recognize more of the kids and remember their behaviors.  My two teachers – Leila and Imp are there on Thursdays and Fridays, and then on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays my two teachers are Lelia and Leah.  I had yet to met Leah however she didn’t come to class on Monday so it was Lelia and a causal teacher.  One of the boys didn’t show up either so the load wasn’t as heavy.  It was a good day, nothing horrible went on, one of my boys spent most of the day asleep.  He didn’t want to wake up and didn’t eat anything all day.  We got to make beef stroganoff for the kids.  Only one of the boys was able to help, the rest stayed in the class.  But those who don’t have any dietary restrictions they enjoyed it.  I had some myself and it was good, we had rice with it and it was made with a packet.  In the afternoon we went into the hall and had dance time which went well.  I came home I was able to get on skype since Jeremy was awake in the middle of the night and was able to speak to him and then I went straight to bed without doing much at all. 

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

                So I woke up feeling much better, yesterday I went through three different tissue boxes in three classrooms.  Today I didn’t have as much as a runny nose, more just stuffed but still annoying.  I was a little better about getting around in the morning, but still was tired.  My first bus cam early again which is nice but still a little uneasy for me because I’m afraid to miss it.  Yesterday as I was leaving my apartment I was so tempted to just get a taxi to take me to school however it’s so expensive and I would feel bad about it.  The thought of it was nice though ha.  Since my bus was early again I was able to stop by my café and get a drink.  The man who makes the drinks looks like jack Johnson.  It’s unbelievable.  I don’t know if it’s just in my mind being close to a beach and constantly seeing people walk with their surf boards through Bondi. 

                Today was incredibly stressful.  Neither of the teachers in my class were there today so I had two casual teachers who knew less about the students than me.  Being around the boys for 3 days I had learned a lot but to be the one in the room who knows the most was overwhelming.  Plus I was on duty during tea time so I didn’t get a break until 1pm.  Come lunch I spent most of my time with my head on arm.  One of my boys is usually such a help and is never a problem, but today was a rough day for him.  He doesn’t like when anyone does anything wrong and I think not having a regular teacher there threw him off.  It was a long day for him and for me too.  I came home and got in bed right away and took an hour nap.  Im not sure how I got out and manage to write this all.

Places that have similar names as home

- cold rock (coldstone)

- spaghetti & co (noodles & co)

-wave chips (sun chips)

-sizing for women, a small is size 8 and goes up by 2 for tops

-sunnies = sunglasses

Hello Wairoa

Thursday, May 24, 2012

                Overall today was a good first day.  I looked up my bus route to see what times the bus was going to arrive this morning, and it turned out my first bus was going to arrive later than when my second bus departed from the junction.  This meant I had to take a brand new bus and figure out when I need to get off to get the school.  It all ended up working fine and the new bus drives me the length of Bondi beach so it was a pleasant view the last few minutes of the bus ride. 

I got school at 8:30am and sat in the staff room until 9 when students start arriving.  Most teachers came early and made their breakfast there.  Most of the students are picked up by taxis and dropped off at the school.  All the staff stands at the front door and as the students come we each take a student and guide them to either the top playground, bottom playground, or a game like room depending on their abilities.  It was overwhelming to see the severity of many of the students.  What also surprised me was how all the staff knows every student.  It would definitely take me a while to learn all 65 kids’ names and cases and I doubt I will by the end of these seven weeks. After all the kids arrived a school bell rang and I was showed to which room I worked in for the day.  I was in a classroom with two teachers.  There I had five boys who are high school age, most with some form of autism.  All the boys have no speaking abilities or can only say one word at a time.  We started off the morning with some classroom like things such as pointing to what day it is, the date, and what tomorrow will be.  Then we went out as a class to the playground.  They have chair swing that is geared towards kids with handicaps and a trampoline that is securely safe for those with fewer severities; of course only one person is allowed on at a time.   We then had tea time for the kids where they just had a snack or drink.  Following their tea break I was able to have my own while the kids go out again and play.  Throughout the week you are assigned three duties.  So for one duty you might not have a tea break because you are outside on the playground with the children.  Come next week I will be entered into the duty list and will have to miss a tea break of half a lunch 3 times during the week.  After tea we came back in and tried doing some more activities.  Much of what was planned never really happened due to just the kids running around. Two of my boys wear padded hats because they have frequent seizers throughout the day.  Watching one definitely was what made me realize the severity of the children in my class.  As a class we got to take a trip to Coles, the grocery store.  It was an adventure to say the least.  One of the kids loves to pick stuff up and throw anything, he was eyeing some bricks we passed on the way in like he wanted to pick it up and chuck it across the street.  But it was a fun trip, we picked up items because on Monday’s we make their lunch for the kids, with some help from them.  It was a fun expect for the rain.  It was a chilly day to begin with and then it had to start raining that eventually turned into pouring rain.  When we got back the kids ate their own lunches and then I got time to have my own.  I brought left over pizza from the night before and a pear.  After lunch we just did random things in the classroom, played music, some activities, mostly cater to what the kids ended up doing.  One of the kids likes to pinch and as I was walking him back from indoor play he grabbed my face and pinched me and it definitely stung but after he was smiling so it made me laugh.  I do have to scratches running down my chin I noticed though.  The kids are all definitely unique but I got to see everyone of the boys in my class smile at some point during the day so I enjoyed it.  

I made the horribly trip home in the rain and got off a stop too early but I got back to my place within an hour.  I came home and just ate whatever I saw basically which meant cereal, ice cream, and left over pizza. So healthy I know.  But then I spent some time at the pool tonight because I found out today is the last day it is open until July 2.  This is actually very upsetting because it is a really nice pool. After that I went to Coles because my bread had started to mold and I need bread to make my lunch tomorrow and to get a few snacks for the bus trip tomorrow. So tomorrow I am driving up north for a weekend of surfing.  There are about 15 people from my school going through a company that transports up there and home and sets a place up where we stay.  It’s nice since it’s only Purdue people as well.  I thought it was a three hour drive north, but then the women in charge told someone six hours.  So I’m not exactly sure but she did say that we will be the only ones on the beach.  So unfortunately I won’t be able to update the blog until Sunday night, that is if I’m not exhausted. 

Tomorrow morning at school is a staff breakfast.  I asked if I was supposed to bring something and a teacher said no but the next time I should bring double.  And then she clarified that what I should bring is American brownies.  Too bad I never make brownies from scratch; the box ones are just as good in my mind. 

Fun things

-hot chips = French fries

First Day of Class

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

                Today I had internship focus class from 9-10am. My wine class then starts at 10:15am and goes till 4:45pm with a lunch break from 1-2pm. It’s definitely a long day of class.  It’s about an hour bus ride up into North Sydney where I have class. To get there by 9 I left my place at about 7:40. Which I thought was leaving extra early just in case I didn’t get on the first bus.  However even with getting on the first bus, I got there at 8:45.  I wouldn’t want to get there much later in the future so it seems about 7:45 is when I’ll be leaving every Wednesday morning for class.  The internship focus class is taught by a professor at ACU.  She is nice and we just talked about leadership for the hour.  She gave us a packet talking about a theory of positive leadership and said we should be taking notes during class.  Which is easy enough but during class she proceeded to tell us what exactly to write down. 

                At 10:15 I met my wine professor.  He is also very nice, he has received two phds, one in microbiology and the second in education.  He is currently a professor at one of the sites of the university of western Sydney.  He told a funny story about a while back he had the opportunity to speak at MIT.  Preceding his seminar students came up to talk to him about the harbor bridge.  He explained that the students were amazed at the bridge that it must be so cool having a bridge that stretched across to New Zealand.  My professor decided to go along with the students and went on to say that yes it is very cool but it’s a three day drive across it to New Zealand.  I got a laugh out of that. For class I’ll have assessments every week on the previous week’s topics.  I will also have one reflective paper and a debate that also contribute to my grade.  Their grading system is a little different than ours.

Australian Uni	Approx Aus %	US Uni
7 = High Distinction H	85-100	A
6 = Distinction D	80-84 75-79	A A-
5 = Credit C	71-74 68-70 65-67	B+ B B-
4 = Pass P	60-64 55-59 50-54	C+ C C-
3 = Conceded Pass R	45-49	D
2 = Fail X & 1 = Fail Z	0-44	F

                Today we started off the first session with him talking about himself and the history of wine.   After lunch in session two we learned more specifically about Australian wine.  It was interesting because we started off learning about the history of Australia and how 11 boats of convicts were the first to land on Australia.  During the afternoon session we also got to have our first glass of wine.  The professor brought a 4 liter box of Chardonnay.  It was good and I enjoyed my glass.  I learned to always hold the glass by the stem and that Chardonnay has the taste of melon, buttery, and full. I was told this because I myself had no clue there was cantaloupe in it.  The box of it was plenty for the 17 people in my class.  The box equals out to be just a little more than 5 bottles of wine.   Much of the class was spent with my professor going off topic and talking about other things.  I learned that California makes up to 90% of our wine industry and that Oregon in the state that follows. In 1976 we won worlds wine tasting for both red and white wine.  We are also 5^th in world of the production in wine; however we are 36^th in consumption.  Australia is 19^th in consumption – they consume about 10 L of wine per head per year.  Italy and France consume about 60 L of wine per head per year. 

                The building we are in is a small building up on the second floor.  It’s a long table with water and glasses and lots of mentos mints in bowls for everyone.  We also have tea and coffee to drink all throughout class.  I probably drank four cups of tea, which I loaded with sugar.  We also had some biscuits which were nut free, egg free, and seed free.  They tasted fine when I dipped them in my tea.  Along with my class I get a day tour of the Hunter Valley.  It’s about 2.5 hours out and during the day we’ll visit about 4 or 5 different vineyards.  The professor says it usually works with him calling up different people he knows there and the best deals he can get.  He says he usually gets us in and we get a less touristy visit.  Yet he did say he expected us by then to ask intellectual question.  I have to miss the Monday we go on it however which creates a conflict.  Yet the way the school seemed it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a problem.  I’ve realized that Australia in general is very laid back.  No one is ever really in a hurry.  People like to enjoy their time and their tea.  Which is fine with me, just very different compared to the states.  I’ve always felt that while at work doing a job that you do a good job of it while also getting it done within a time frame.  Yet here people like to take breaks, enjoy talking among each other, and often get off topic.   However with saying that laid back doesn’t mean lazy, it is apparent that things are done well and thorough.

                I came home straight from class and got a quick snack and then decided to go for a run.  Class actually got out half an hour early so that was nice.  Sitting in the same class all day definitely is tiring.  I left for my run at 5:15pm. I ran down the street to cross the highway on the bridge to run around the park just next door.  As soon as I started my run I realized how dark it actually was outside.  I ran two laps around Moore Park.  In doing that meant I didn’t have to cross any streets, which is great for me because I am still having a hard time remembering to look right first then left.  You would think it would be easy but it is not! Not to mention cars don’t stop at all for you.  But running along the path in the park was scary at first. With palm trees on both sides of the path it blocks any kind of light so it felt even darker running through the trees.  Many people were riding their bikes home from work along the path.  Like much of many other cities a lot of people get around via biking.  They even have bike lanes along the highway.   I ran for a little under 40 minutes.  I was just happy to get out and done some kind of work out for the past two days.  I came home and made a pizza.  I threw mushrooms, peppers, spinach, and cheese on top of it.  It was good, but working the oven was a challenge.  Of course it’s in Celsius, but I’ve gotten fairly good at converting.   And then I don’t know what any of the icon mean.  I placed the pizza close to the top, yet after maybe five minutes I look at it and see that the cheese is almost all black.  I didn’t realize that the heat comes from the top of the oven compared to the bottom in my oven at school.  Oh well it still tasted good.

                I’ve been watching state of the origin all night.  I had no clue what it was besides that it’s huge. After watching I’ve realized that its New South Whales vs Queensland in rugby.  It’s been entertaining to watch to say the least.  There have been a couple fights but it’s still interesting to watch and I’m trying to get a better understanding of the game still.  As for tomorrow - it’s my first day at the school.  I start at 8:30am and I have to leave my place around 7am so it’s going to be an early morning for the next two days.  Commuting definitely drains me; I’m not looking forward to it. 

Fun things –

-Australia has these things called sorry days (also called national day of healing) where they acknowledge the original owners of the country because of a strained relationship with the aborigines. 

-it’s popular to have concerts in the hunter valley

-aussie spelling differences: harbour, colour, honour, organisation (which my computer tried auto correcting them all)

-Australia’s top 3 exports: wine, wool, and wheat

-they call a university a uni for short

Officially an Intern

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

                So I had my interview today at the school and it went successful.  I officially have an internship in Sydney.  I’m a freak about getting places on time.  So I left my place really early just to make sure I got there on time, which I did.  I walked to an organic café to waste some time and got a chocolate croissant.  I sat outside in the sun and enjoyed it. I got to the school and saw no way to get inside the gates to get in.  I ended up going to the gate where cars leave and had to lift the handle and walk in through there.  I was told I will get a key for the school on Thursday.  I got a tour of the whole school and saw some of the classrooms. During the tour I realized how important my key will be because every door leading to anywhere is locked to insure kids stay safe. It’s definitely going to be rewarding but hard and taxing at the same time.   To get credits for my internship I need to get 140 hours. Unfortunately the school goes on holiday in five weeks.  So the last week I am here I won’t work. Which sounds fun but it actually makes it hard for me to get my hours in.  As of right now I will be working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:30am-3:30pm. Which if I work the next five weeks I will get exactly 140 hours. However I’m working Thursday and Friday of this week so I will have an extra 14 hours in case I get sick.  Getting to the school by 8:30 will mean an early morning every morning.   I was at the school for less than an hour before I made my way back to Waterloo.   I then got to take my first nap since I’ve been here.   It was great. Once I woke up and got the energy to get out of bed I decided I should start working out again.  I brought my swim suit and cap with me so I went swimming.  The pool is across the street and then across the quad. All of a two minute walk.  The pool is very nice, a lap pool with room for four lanes. Two other smaller pool and a hot tub. The lap pool didn’t have lane lines but when I got there no one was in it.  Shortly after I started swimming I was like everyone wanted to join me.  There ended up being  6 other people joining me and not having lane lines made it hard to organize how to swim.  My shoulders are already sore from the swim, probably since it’s been forever since I last swam.  For dinner I made a quesadilla with green peppers, chicken, and cheese.  I’m excited to start class tomorrow. I have an internship focus class from 9-10am. And then my wine class starts at 1015 and goes till 4:30pm.  Hopefully the class will be entertaining and help time go by.  I haven’t really learned any new things facts, sorry folks. 

Here's the pool 

More Orientations

Monday, May 21, 2012

                I have yet to wake up to my alarm still.  I’m always so tired come early evening and try to force myself to stay up and then still every morning I’m waking up around 6:ooam.  As a large group everyone with an internship made it out to acu via bus.  It was a long and crowded bus ride that took about 50 minutes.  There we had the orientation.  It went over the basics, how to dress and act, don’t show up late, the internship isn’t just given to you, and papers to fill out.  All seemed like common sense to me.  We then had a travel presentation where someone came and talked to us about certain trips that are available to us.  They include Port Stephens Weekend, Great Barrier Reef & Rainforest, Learn to Surf Weekend, Hunter Valley Wine Tasting, and Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge.   I then finally got the usb that allows me to get wifi anywhere.  So happy to finally have it so I don’t have to run down to the café anymore.  For lunch I went to Greenbush Plaza and got a pizza at a bakery.  It was just flat bread with cheese and all kinds of veggies on it.  It was really good and the price of 4.50 made it better.  The bakery had tons of fresh made loaves to purchase that I might consider buying instead of the 99 cent loaves at the grocery store. 

                The rest of the day was free to do whatever.  I am in need of a slightly larger satchel/purse to hold my folders of papers that I need to bring to my internship.  So I started walking out north toward the city to see if I would come across anything.  I walked 45 minutes out and didn’t come across anything.  At that point I decided I should head back.  I spent most of the time just looking around and at the people I past.  I still feel like everyone looks me up and down and thinks I’m American.  I’ll have to get used to that one.  I’ll probably just munch of food for the night; I’ve had a pear and a cucumber so far.

                Tomorrow is my interview so hopefully all goes according to plan. I’m not sure if I’ll have the interview and be done for the day or if I’ll spend the day there.  Which ever happens I’m sure it will go fine.

Fun Things

-dongle = usb

-flat out = really busy/tired

-benches along the sidewalk face away from the street, so when you’re sitting your back is to the street.  Seems silly to me

Free Time Finally

Sunday, May 20, 2012

                Today was pretty easy day with little to do.  My main goal was to get up and take a trial run out to my internship in North Bondi.  I got up and went down to the café and caught up on my emails and daily things.  Unfortunately the weather today isn’t ideal.  Most of the day was chilly with scattered showers, luckily I got an umbrella before I came so I was already prepared for today’s rain.  I had spent much time trying to figure out how I will be getting out to my internship.  There is a helpful website, www.131500.com.au that you just plug in start and end destinations however not having a printer meant I had to try and picture the map in my head. 

                Today’s trip was a success, I got there no problem besides the unset feeling of did I miss my bus, was that my stop, or what street is this in my stomach.  I walk half a mile to bus 355 which takes me to Bondi Junction.  There I get on bus 389 that takes me about two blocks away from the school.  Sounds easy enough right? It took me an hour to get to Wairoa.  Yet I don’t think it will take that long come weekdays because the buses run every 10 minutes compared to them running every 30 today.  I’m sure come Tuesday when my interview is I’ll leave in plenty of time.

                While I was waiting for a bus to head back I was sitting at the stop and just saw a bunch of boys walk by wearing a wet suit carrying their surf boards heading to the beach.  Then at Bondi Junction I stopped and explored the area.  It is very similar to Watertower and Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  It is a large shopping area with some familiar stores I recognize, Quicksilver and Nike, mostly workout stores.  I wanted to go shopping so badly and buy clothes to help me fit into the city.  Everyone tells me I stick out as American because of how I dress.  Yet I don’t know how to get around that.  Right now all I would love to be able to do is to fit in and not scream American.  I thought shopping might do the trick but I didn’t end up gettinh anything. 

                I got back on the train for the second half of my trip home and walked back to my apartment in the rain.  I made scrambled eggs with onions, peppers, and turkey.  I put them in a tortilla for dinner. Which I stole the idea from Jeremy since breakfast is his thing and he’s made this for me so many times in the past.  His are much better; mine had a little too much olive oil let from sauté the veggies

                Tomorrow I go back to ACU for orientation on my internship at 8:00am. That’s about it, I’m going to end my day with some ice cream, head over to the café to post this, and then pick up some eggs from the store on the way home. 

Bondi Beach

Facts

-the city is full or turnabouts, no four way stops

-no one tips so…

-at a café or restaurant it is cheaper to get food to go because if you sit and eat it there they add usually 3-5 dollars more to the price of everything.

-they have socialized health care so they don’t paying for it

A Day Outside the City

Saturday, May 19, 2012

                I finished my Friday evening up with accordance to what I previously said I would do – catch a rugby game on the tv.  And might I add my tv in the apartment is super nice and large.  So my thoughts on rugby – I don’t get it. Things I do understand - 1. You can’t pass the ball forward, only laterally and backwards.  2. You can run or kick the ball forwards.  3. A “touchdown” is 4 points and a “field goal” is 2 points. 4. You have either 5 or six downs to get all the way down the field to score.  5. The ball can hit or bounce of the ground and be in play. 

                My day was extremely long.  I woke up and had the same breakfast as I did the day before.  Our bus left for our day of traveling at 8:00am.  We drove through traffic to our first stop, Sydney Olympic park.  On the way we crossed many bridges and I got to see so many boats rowing.  It made me so happy seeing just one thing that’s familiar to me.   I saw basically all boats, singles, doubles, fours, eights.  There seemed to be just as many dragon boats out on the water.  Shortly after we arrived at the park and it is very large.  It wasn’t the greatest stop, we only got to see the main stadium because everything is just so spread out and we were only there for 20 minutes.  Didn’t get to see the pool :/  in front of the main stadium was these poles where on each on are names of people who helped volunteer for the Olympics.  I looked through all the Br names and didn’t find a Brichacek. 

                Following the park we went to Featherdale, a zoo.  It was a lot of fun.  I roamed the zoo at my own pace and took tons of pictures.  There were so many birds! I tried to take a picture of a bird and then take a picture of the plaque that said what the bird was to help me remember in the future.  So many things in the zoo just jump out from the fences and roam the zoo.  Not to mention all the kangaroos roam free in the zoo.  I paid one dollar to get an ice cream cone filled with food and got to feed them.  One will just come straight up to you and look at your food and try to reach for it, and once you start feeding one, more will come.  They are such furry, soft animals.  There were also many koalas.  They’re boring in the sense that they don’t do anything, however they do wake them up and put them on a tree branch so you can pose with one, which I did.  They looked more annoyed when people are taking pictures and petting them. I saw a Dingo, Tasmanian devil, emu, ostrich, farm animals, wombat, and just so many different birds.  We were only there for about an hour and a half but I made it through I think everything. 

                We then made our way to a town called Leura.  This was an hour and a half away, something that I wasn’t too pleased about.  I feel like I spent the past semester on a coach bus traveling for crew so now any time spent on one I get either sleepy or crabby.  But we stopped at this time for lunch.  It was a cute downtown area and we directed to head to one café for a pie, but since I didn’t like the pie I had yesterday I hoped to get something else.  I stepped into four cafes before finally finding one I liked.  The first cafes I walked through all were just so expensive.  My final destination was Leura Gourmet Café and Deli.  I ordered a smoke salmon quiche and an apple and mango juice.  The quiche was delish and the juice was made with Australian fruit and it was good, a little thick but definitely did its job.  We all got back on the bus and headed over into the Blue Mountains.

                Our first stop was The Echo point.  It is just the edge of the cliff that allows you to see out into the Blue Mountains and a viewing point to see the Three Sisters.  I am unsure the story behind the three sisters and I’m sure I could look it up online but it’s just three rock statues sticking out form the cliffs, which is pictured below.

We got back on the bus after taking pictures and headed to where we hiked down into the mountains for an hour.  The hike was a lot of fun.  Most of it was a path worn down by everyone walking that only fit two people across.  Most of it was very steep and I was freezing the whole time being in the shade and that its fall here.  It was really pretty at all the life around in the mountains.  There are these large ferns that grow vertically with a trunk that they use to date the forest.  Some of the steps we went down were so steep I don’t know I never fell.  We saw many waterfalls and followed one down the father we walked. (the final picture posted) I thought walking down a path would be no exercise yet the constant contraction of my leg muscles as it the step below me to absorb my step definitely got tiring.  At the end of the path that we were on we took the steepest railway back up to the top.  It was just like a rollercoaster minus the speed.  Three other girls and I got the front row and it was a little scary going back up.  You are tilted forward it was hard not to hold the fence above your head to hold on.  I took a video as we were going back up and all it is is everyone in our group screaming, some found it more terrifying than others.  The horrible drive home was over two hours.  The movie Red Dog was put in for us to watch but I played my ipod and watched outside as we drove past.

 

Facts

-olympic park was built on top of waste, they flattened and crushed garbage hills and built everything on top of it cause it was the only place closest enough to the city with enough land

-taxi cabs have lights on top of them and when they are lit it means they are empty

-the blue mountains all used to be flat land but the mountains were made by the ground sinking in, why the tops of the mountains are flat and not pointed like other mountains.  

Tourist Kind of Day

Friday, May 18, 2012

                I finally fell asleep around 7:30pm but it felt so much later than that considering how early it gets dark here.  I woke up and got out of bed at 6:30am.  Almost 12 hours of sleep, which felt great.  I was the first one up so I got a bowl of cereal and juice – whole grain hoops and orange mango lemonade.  The cereal is similar to cheerios but when in milk they don’t get soggy, hardest cereal ever. But it wasn’t bad at all.  Once I finish the box I’ll have to try out something different.  I sat in our living room and looked out onto the patio where below is a major highway – it is loud, luckily our room doesn’t face it because if it did I can imagine that’s what would be waking me up every morning.  But on the other side of the highway is a large massive park, it includes a golf course.  But the sun came up and after I finished eating I headed down over to the café.  Wifi password hadn’t changed but I ordered a cappuccino – hmm I think most people know im not a coffee drinker.  The top was so foamy and I felt like it was hard to get the actual coffee liquid out from under the foam.   I think im just gonna try every kind of coffee drink there.  They don’t have drip coffee here in Sydney.  The list of options I have to try seem like so many.  But it is the cheapest thing on the menu – all coffee drinks are under 4.50 while if I wanted juice that’s 6.50.  (keep in mind the minimum wage here is 18.50 – great for them, unfortunate for anyone traveling here)  but I caught up on my emails and facebook.  8:50 is when I had to go down into the lobby to meet for my half day guided tour of Sydney. 

                So our tour was on a coach bus, and at first I was really upset and worried that we were basically just gonna drive by everything and just have the driver talk.  Our apartment is right across from a massive park.  I’m thinking that if I ran all the way around it it would be 6 miles.  I’m hoping to cross the highway and see a map that shows the different paths that I could use in the future for runs.  But we drove past the park and then in the park is the massive stadium for rugby.  It’s huge, size of soldier field and then right next to it is just as large, cricket stadium.  After we drove past that, we came up to bondi beach.  (which is pronounced bond-eye) I of course was saying it wrong.  But we were allowed out for twenty minutes - the beach is breathtaking.  The area around it is just filled of multi million dollar houses.  So many people were out surfing and the waves looked massive.  I saw someone paddle boarding – which is something I’m dying to do. 

If you don’t already know I’m working at Wairoa School (pronounced why-row-a) I didn’t seem to understand how they say it that way.  But the school is for children with special needs.  And lucky for me is in the Bondi area.  I could come down and eat my lunch on the beach, if I get a lunch break that is. But one of the CAPA staff members told me that Wairoa has an OT member and that I would be working with him or her when they are there.  She said they just aren’t there every day.  So it definitely sounds like I’ll get time with an OT, which makes me really happy. 

But after our stop to bondi beach we drove through the visually pleasing neighborhood.  Made a quick stop at this grassy area that at the edge you saw the whole city basically from the east coast of the country.  It was unfortunate because at the time bush burning was going on so in my pictures they aren’t too clear because there was a haze.  However it was still very pretty to see south and north Sydney with the opera house and bridge between the two.  The next stop was probably my favorite thing of the day we drove to the gap.  So its basically just the east coast of the country, where the land basically drops off into the ocean.  It is the place where most people commit suicide in the country of Australia.  But the cliffs are so high up so the drop to the ocean is very far down and there’s many rock below.   We climbed up along it and it was just  incredibly pretty, with the waves crashing into the cliffs and such.  Definitely depressing that people come there to die, yet the bus driver of our tour told us that a man used to sit there every night and over his lifespan saved 400 peoples’ lives.  Unfortunately he died last week…. 

After that stop we drove closer to the city, driving through Rose Bay where he said the houses cost about 25 million dollars.  And then through Double Bay where if you’re going to see anyone famous, it will be there.  I believe the next stop we made was this park where just across a short amount of water was the opera house and bridge.  Definitely a much closer view than when we were all the way on the side of the coast.  Its actually amazing how large the bay is that separates the harbour bridge from the water exiting out into the ocean.  But we could see tiny little people climbing to the top of the bridge. After that we got lunch, we went to harry’s, an iconic place to get the famous meat pies.  It is a pastry filled with meat and then topped with mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas.  I thought that sounds great, and it was at first.  The peas were more of a mashed cream peas, yet it tasted fine with the gravy and mashed potatoes.  But the meat, beef, was gross.  It was spicy and just not pleasing.  But it was an experience.  Following lunch, we drove for what seemed like forever.  We were driving to ACU, Australian Catholic University , where I will be taking classes in north Sydney.   The drive to get over there was forever in traffic in the city.  The campus is in north Sydney so we got to drive over the harbor bridge.  It took eight years to build.  I couldn’t see too much being in a large coach bus.  Yet we got to ACU and had a two hour orientation.  Hmm we just learned basics and such.  The whole calling thing is weird, like if youre calling someone in the city of Sydney you add 61 to the front of the number and drop the first number of the actual phone number I think? And they have this whole rounding up thing when you buy things.  Tax is already included so when I buy a coffee for 3 dollars that’s all it is. But yet if the amount ends in a 5 or higher they round up but if below they round down just because the smallest coin in a five.  And let me tell you about the coins – they are so annoying.  They have 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar bills.  But their coins – the smallest coin is 2 dollars and then as the coins increase in size the value goes down.  That has been one of my hardest things to get use to, when I'm buying something I feel so foreign having to look at all the coins in my hand and think what to give or try to find the value on the coin. 

After the orientation my roommate and I just basically ran out of there.  The group was going to head back together and take a bus back to the hotel, but her and I just started walking. We ended up in like a business district in north Sydney and underground was this large food, shopping, farmers market area.  We went though a bunch of shops and she bought some clothes.  It was definitely a lot more fun than traveling back in a group standing out among the locals.  Come time to get back home since we were hungry and had a challenging yet fun time.  Underground there was a large train station, so we decided to get on one.  We asked a person at the ticket window and she said Redfern to get to Waterloo.  So we looked to see which platform had the Redfern stop on it, we got on and that train took us back over the harbor bridge and we got off at Redfern.  Once there nothing looked fimilar so we went up to another train official and they just gave us some go straight, turn right, then left kind of directions.  And guess what we got where we wanted to be ha. I made dinner – sandwich with cheese, turkey, cucumbers, spinach, on bread.  Im hoping to catch a rugby game on the television, try to get to know the teams or something. Tomorrow’s plan – blue mountains, Sydney Olympic park, and zoo.  

Fun Facts

- Sydney is the 7^th priciest city to live in

- rent is paid weekly for them

- it is offensive to say “what”

- they have four different colors for trash cans, unsure what each colors means yet

- we talked to an older man behind the counter in a store and his thoughts on American football - for sissys 

First Few Days

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

                Of course the plane out of O’Hare was delayed, scheduled for 4:03pm my plane started lifting off the runway at 5:45pm.  No problems taking off and getting up into the sky.  After a little bit a movie was started, one for the money.  It has Katherine Heigel in it.  It was a cute movie, she is need of money and takes up a position as a bounty hunter and is caught in a case with past history.  It took me a while to get used to her talking in a Jersey accent.  It’s definitely not my favorite accent.  The movie ended and I open the window and see frost accumulating on it.  Definitely took me by surprise even though I understand why.  And then below me were mountains.  Which I love and I know Jeremy does too, and probably the only reason I tolerate those long crew bus rides to South Carolina and Tennessee, the winding driving through all the mountains.  And then there was the snow on the tops, another pretty site.  I sat on the plane for the remaining time with my headphones connected into the plane’s “new hits” radio station.  Which just like every other teen or young adult was perfect for me, no need to waste my iPod nano battery playing the same music.  My mom will be happy about the next thing I did – took out the Kaplan GRE Strategy, Practice, and Review book my roommate lent to me.  Let’s just hope the habit sticks up into the next flight if I’m not too busy sleeping or watching more movies.  I am positive I annoyed the person in the seat next to me since the arm rest in between us has my control settings of radio stations and volume.  I am constantly changing the volume of the music for each song, because I need just perfect loudness to semi tune out the engine and not too loud where I can’t hear myself read the book. 

Thursday, May 17, 2012

                Into the night and hit Sydney by morning.  Landing in San Francisco was no problem.  The international terminal was nice including the Coach and Burberry Stores.  Yet they didn’t have any fast food stops, only restaurants.  One was a deli like and the other a Mexican restaurant.  Nothing at the deli stood out that I would have enjoyed for the price of 12 dollars.  So at the Mexican restaurant I got pork quesadilla, with lettuce, pico, sour cream, and guacamole.  All of which was very spicy, but the quesadilla was really good and filled me up and was cheaper.   The gates for these international flights are so large for just one flight.  Which made my flight and everyone else on it look so tiny.  My flight has little to no one on it.  I am in a row that no one else was in.  So pretty much as soon as I could, I put all the arm rests up and laid out across the three seats in my row.  I slept for probably ten hours, all broken due to turbulence and readjusting.  I remained awake for the last three hours of the flight, which meant I woke up at 3 in the morning on Sydney.  Hopefully I stay awake the remainder of the day.  I got breakfast, French toast, it was fine, the bottom half slice had been burnt and gave more of a deep fried bite to it.  It also included fruit, melon, grapes, and pineapple, and a raspberry pastry.  I got off the plane quickly since there were so many little people on it.  Then followed the signs to baggage claim, easy.  Hit customs and was in line, all was going fine but the man in front of me was having some problem.  Visa wasn’t showing up and the code he had wasn’t working.  Wonder if he was ever allowed in, he had to go with some man in a suit.  I go through all that, get my suitcase and start walking to where my dad said was called the central meeting area.  Well it was a lot harder to find, felt like a deer in headlights.  I got my shuttle, man kept asking me where I was going.  Well I wasn’t really sure, but I showed him my papers and I assumed he understood.  Goodness did he drive fast, not to mention the whole driving on the left side of the road and the driver on the right side of the car.  He luckily dropped me off at the right apartments.  I get there and get sent to this little café called crystal café.  There I got some more breakfast, which for me probably was lunch but since it was only 7:30am it only felt right to get that.  I ordered bacon and eggs.  It came on two slices on toast, eggs scrambled, and with bacon on top.  Not just two or three strips of bacon, but large massive sheets of bacon, larger than the size of toast.  And then on the side it included a cute and tasty roasted tomato.  Of course no one’s rooms are ready and everyone is arriving at separate times.  But almost four hours later, we started a walking tour of the neighborhood. 

I live in Waterloo, on Danks st.  So we took a walk to the north-east direction up into Surry Hills.  It reminds me of the area where Katherine lives in Chicago.  Small cute houses all built really close together with café’s at the corner of every street basically.  There must be as many salons as there are café though that’s for sure.  So we just took the tour though the neighborhood and basically stopped at the library there.  It was very modern; the whole thing is glass with wooden shades that open or close.  We then got back on a bus and that took us straight back to the apartment.  Our transportation is free via train, bus, or ferry.  We finally got into our rooms and they are very nice.  You walk in and straight ahead is a room for two people.  Then if you go down stairs is where the kitchen, living room, and second bedroom is.  My roommate and I have already rearranged our rooms, hopefully to not get in trouble and have to move back.   But besides sheets we don’t really have a blanket.   But the closest is definitely big enough.  And the kitchen is extremely nice, plenty of room.  But as I can tell no 9x13 Pyrex pan :/ I always am using mine back home.  But plenty of big pots for the stove and basically anything else that’s necessary.  My roommates and I went out to aldi to do our first shopping trip.  I barely saw any brand names I recognize.  I tried to think of meals and things to make for lunches.  Eating out is probably one of my favorite things to do and is where most of my money goes normally back home, but everything here is just so expensive.  Mostly just got bread, turkey and chips for lunches.  Got pasta and sauce and cheese to make baked pasta, which will have to be made in two small batches in the 8x8 pan we have.  Two premade pizza crusts, so that will be a quick easy meal to just throw sauce and cheese on it and put it in the oven.  Some peppers, pears, clementines.  Until I get my usb drive that gives me wifi anywhere I have to wait and go to the café to send emails or check anything.  Until then we’ll see what happens.  Its 5:03 right now and its getting dark already.  Tomorrow I get a tour of Sydney just need to be ready by 8:50.  I ended the day with a glass of red wine, I believe it was called red jacket.  It was good my roommate offered me a glass, I had a hard time finishing it.  Usually when I drink wine the first few sips taste great and then after that it seems hard to get it down.  Hopefully that Australian wine class will help me get over that hump.  We sat and opened a bag of cookies I got.  They were chocolate cream in the middle of two biscuits.  Which Im pretty sure biscuits is the word for any kind of cracker or cookie here.  Oh yeah and I took a shower! Let’s see I took it at 5:30 am on Thursday may 17 eastern time and the last time I showered was Monday night. Ha! My hair was a grease ball. 

Fun things ive learned so far

-cars don’t stop for you

-footpath = side walk

-toilets have two different buttons – half and full flush

-most owners don’t use a leash for their dogs

-its night time come 6:00pm – yay for winter season, not

-STAY TO THE LEFT basically anywhere you go