I have the best friends ever!!

I'm in the midst of studying for finals, but this was so good I had to share. (Besides, I already wrote about it to a friend, so I can copy and paste.)


So... I've been studying medieval philosophy all day. I was getting a teensy bit stressed, and then I went downstairs at 4 pm to make dinner for my house (sloppy joes, homemade cornbread, fruit salad, and potato wedges). I knew I'd probably be downstairs and busy until at least 9 pm, 'cause we had a guest for dinner (my Aust. Hist. prof) and then we had a long meeting after. So I'm cutting up fruit for the fruit salad, and my roommate comes down and tells me that somebody left something for me on my desk, and that I should go check it out. soon. Well, we're right in the midst prepping dinner, but I manage to run upstairs for a minute, and what do I find?


A bouquet of Oriental lilys (they smell super good and are gorgeous... I think I just discovered my future wedding flower) and an 'anonymous' note that says, "Katie, Good luck on all you finals. I'm sure you'll do great! Love you!! <3 <3 ".

And that pretty much made my day. Such a random act of kindness, totally reminding me of God's love and that I have friends who love me (which this was extra special, because she knew that I'd never received flowers before), even though I may forget that sometimes. And that even though I worry about stuff, God finds a way to make it okay.

So that's my story. Have a wonderful day!

17 days

We have 17 days left. Insanity!! So... we just got back from our roadtrip up North. Super fun and super HOT! It was so nice. Now we're back to cold. But hopefully it won't be too bad. Now I guess I better study. Yes Mom and Dad, pictures are coming (not that there's too much to see scenery wise-- think of the drive between Burns and Bend). But we did see a lot of cool stuff and had a good time. Here's a video for now. It's at a place called Nature's window.

*Video's not working. Maybe I'll try again later. 'night.

P.S. I just got shampoo in my eye really bad and it hurts like a (unknown expletive or adjective describing a lot of pain). But good news: I'm not completely blind! :)

The rain has begun

I think after a month of this I will be ready to get back to summer in the states. Hard to believe, but I will be back on U.S. soil in exactly one month from today (for you guys-- yesterday for me). Things are slowing down and speeding up at the same time. I only have one more essay to write. Next week is our last week of classes, then we have study week (during which I am going on a road trip up North [yes, HEAT!!] and possibly another side trip to the desert with a couple of the girls). After that we have two weeks of finals. My finals are on Thursday/Friday of the first week and Monday/Tuesday of the 2nd week. I have 2 finals on Tuesday, but at least I'll be done. Then I have 3 days to do everything I want to that I haven't done yet. Then that Saturday I fly home. Absolute insanity. Anyways, here's a video from this morning, when the rain just started. I had to turn up my volume really loud 'cause I was trying to watch American Idol. But I had a bad connection so I just clicked on the thing on MSN. Very disappointing. The other dude should've won.

Happy Mayday!

1 May 2009
Happy May Day! A lot’s been goin’ on that I haven’t caught up with, but I’ll start with today and then try to go backward from there.
So… today is Friday. Yay! Day started out good. Nicole made hot brekky for us: eggs over easy, bacon and hashbrowns. Yummy. Then we had class, which was fine. Came back, I took a nap, and was out. Then went to tute. P.S. The drugs kicked in for this afternoon so I was able to breathe and my nose stopped running. Afterward made some top ramen and had a productive afternoon. Went to the campus library and got books for my medieval PH essay. Immediately after, left around 2:30 and didn’t get back til 5:30. I went to the Town Hall to get some info, but there was a psychic session going on, so I couldn’t check it out too much. Then I went to the Fremantle library, and was assisted by my new best friend  and found lots of good stuff about Freo for our paper. The only thing I didn’t find out too much about was St Patrick’s Basilica. I tried to go there, but it was closed (the church wasn’t even open so people could pray!) so I’ll just have to go on Monday. Then I came back, hitting up Woolworth’s along the way. It was an awesome afternoon, and I didn’t get lost! Tony picked us up at 5:45 for dinner, and we got to meet Sarah (the middle daughter) and Richard and their baby Tommy (21 months). I absolutely love them, and Richard is hilarious! It was very laid back, and fun. We had a genuine and authentic Aussie meal (lamb roast, veggies, including pumpkin) complete with homemade pavlova for dessert. SO SO GOOD! And I had mint jelly with the lamb; it’s actually pretty good. Elizabeth sent the last piece of pavlova home with us, so I’ll probably finish up the gloriousness tomorrow. (Sidenote: pavlova is named after a Russian ballerina: Anna Pavlova, I believe). I talked to Richard (surname King) a bit about journalism, since he’s a freelance journalist (and may actually have a review published in tomorrow’s The Australian. He’s originally from Britain, and met Sarah when she was in London. I said that it sounded like a romantic movie, but he said it’s actually quite common, and that all the Curtis women are with Englishmen…  And Tommy is absolutely adorable. He was showing off for us, but I couldn’t play with him because I didn’t want to get him sick. Oh, and then typical Katie conversation. My nose started running, so I asked Elizabeth where the tissues were, and she directed me to the bathroom. It was interesting that she said bathroom, because in Australia it’s always called the toilet. So when I came back I asked her what the appropriate term was. It’s toilet, but she’s used to people calling it the bathroom. Brooke and I explained how we never call it the toilet in the states, because that would be considered inappropriate, and we also call it the restroom or even the powder room. Then we threw in some other lingo. Elizabeth is used to calling it the loo. Australians call it the dunny, but that’s usually for an outside toilet. Then I asked Richard about water closets, and Elizabeth remarked that architecture plans always use W.C. to signify where the toilet will be. So, we just threw out all the names we could think of for toilet, essentially. It was a lovely conversation, very typical of Katie’s world (especially at the dinner table). Anyways, it was a fantastic evening and an incredible dinner. Then I got home and couldn’t breathe through my nose and it was running again. But Brooke found some more drugs so I’ll be sleeping good tonight…
It’s only 9:36 p.m. but my energy seems to have left me, so I think I may just get to bed early tonight and get some sleep. I’ll be productive tomorrow… right?
Oh, and when I came home from the Freo library, I found a note on my desk from Matt. (He came to pick up his journal). So… he was in my room when neither Brooke nor I were here. But he made the note prop up on my laptop, so kudos for that. ‘Night y’all.

P.S. Water goes down the drain clockwise. But not in a toilet...it just sucks it all down at once.

Reflections on ANZAC day (April 25, 2009).

26-04-09
Reflections on ANZAC day (April 25, 2009).
Yesterday was ANZAC day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp), so very similar to Veteran’s day in the U.S. I was able to find a schedule of events the night before, so I knew what I wanted to do. I did NOT go to the 5:30 am service at the war memorial (i.e. the monument), but I knew I wanted to see the parade and the ceremony and stuff afterward. We left a little bit after 10:30 and made it to the esplanade in time to see all the troops coming in from the parade. We just followed the sound of bagpipes. When we were walking up there, watching the troops come in, one of the diggers (what they call soldiers) was carrying an American flag, and I can’t even describe how I felt when I saw that. It was really special. Then we hung around for the ceremony, where the Mayor gave a speech, some kid gave a speech, and then they blessed the wreaths and raised the flag to full mast. Then they recited this ode:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. Lest we forget.

When the speaker got to the lines “We will remember them.” Everyone repeated it. Then he said, “Lest we forget,” and the entire crowd repeated that as well. It was very powerful. They ended by playing a recording of the Australian National Anthem. It started out softly, but then everyone joined in singing it, and it was very moving. The whole thing was pretty indescribable; I can’t really give a description of what I felt, because there are no words. Afterwards, we went up to some people to ask where to get an Australian flag, because we wanted one. I scoped out a few people, and then asked these two ladies if we knew where to get the flags, and they gave us theirs. It was really special. One of the husbands told me to take good care of his flag, and I promised I would. I was talking to the lady that gave me her flag, and she said, “We don’t mind Yanks, here.” So I was called a Yank, but not in a derogatory way. Then Laura and I went to the town hall to look at the commemorative material (where we ran into the couples again). They had stuff even from WWI, and it was really neat. Then there was free coffee/water and muffins outside, so we got hooked up with some of that. Then Laura and I went back to the esplanade to hear the country music concert. It was nice. My favorite was when one of the guys sang ‘Ring of Fire’, and then when all the artists got up there together and sang ‘Waltzing Matilda’. After the concert was over, Laura and I hit up the free coffee again and used the toilets in the Town Hall, before heading up to the monument. It was beautiful. Then we headed back via the footy game (which we didn’t go to). We stopped by the market, and I got 6 plums for $1 and 5 kiwis for $2. Then we came home, and it was 1:45 pm. We’d been out for a solid four hours—the whole time carrying around our flags. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a lot of ‘Without a Trace’ and writing a super long letter to Leah (8 pages front and back). We went to bed at 2 am. This morning we had brunch, and now we’re off to Perth. But I think I’m part Australian at heart, because yesterday was incredible, and hearing everyone sing the national anthem was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.

ANZAC Day

In most ceremonies of remembrance there is a reading of an appropriate poem.

One traditional recitation on ANZAC Day is the Ode, the fourth stanza of the poem For the fallen by Laurence Binyon (1869–1943). Binyon was the assistant keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum, and the author of several volumes of verse. For the fallen was first published in the Times (London) in 1914 and later in many anthologies of war verse. It was selected in 1919 to accompany the unveiling of the London Cenotaph and, like so many memorial traditions, passed into common use across the Commonwealth. Its use on ANZAC Day might have originated with the Queensland ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee, which placed it on the cover of a collection of sermons and addresses for ANZAC Day published in 1921. It was also used at the laying of the Inauguration Stone at the Memorial in 1929.

The most well-known lines are:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs/recitation.asp

TO BE CONTINUED

New Pictures!

P.S. Check out new pics on Picasa of Broome and Easter and a couple other things. And leave comments.

Please.

Sheesh people, communicate!!

Update: Post-Broome, Pre-Down South trip

We leave tomorrow for our trip Down South, so here's your update before we get back.

12/4/09 Easter Sunday
Happy Easter! To catch up a bit, Saturday we left for Broome, and that whole trip was INCREDIBLE! It’s recorded in my journal and I don’t feel that I could type it all here… so I won’t. Friday came, and I woke up on my own at 9:30, read my book in bed for a bit, ate some brekky, and got my history paper back from Shane. I got a 90%, which is a high HD (High Distinction--the highest letter(s) you can get; to put it in perspective, 78% is an A at UP), and I was super happy about it! Actually, everyone I know about in the house got an HD, so that’s pretty awesome. I watched two episodes of Lie to Me, so I’m all caught up again. I also wrote both my reflection of the Kimberley, and a rough copy of my news story, so that was very productive. Also, everything was closed for good Friday, so it was nice to just have a complete day of rest. Community lunch and dinner were provided, so that was awesome, and I got the recipe for chocolate pie from Grandma. Also, I got the EWC app from Stacey and filled it out and sent it in for a small group leader. So, actually, Friday was pretty productive I guess. Saturday was lovely; I woke up and read my book in bed. Later on, Matt called me on skype and asked if I wanted to catch up since he’s coming into Freo, so I say sure. He came over and hung out for a bit, and then he, Denysse, and I went to the E shed markets, and those were pretty cool. Definitely going back sometime. When Sue and I got home, I realized that I forgot to get my key back from Matt, so I called him on Brooke’s phone, and he said he’d drop it by after Church. So… while we were all downstairs for Nic’s birthday dessert, the yell comes, “Katie, your bf is here,” and Matt was at the doorway since he already brought my key back. Later that night I decided to bake both chocolate pies… so I did. Then we baked the gluten free chocolate cake as well, so that Laura and I could go to Mass at 11. Now to today: EASTER! I woke up this morning very excited, since it was Easter. I got up and got all pretty with my Easter dress and everything (which I am still wearing) and put in my brand new (real!) pearl earrings for the first time. Everyone told me that my Easter basket was super easy to find, but I had about 5 minutes before we were leaving for church, and my clue was “People still use these.” But, I just looked around a bit, and saw it blatantly sitting in the open space beneath the payphone, so that was cool. I’m so happy Nicole hid easter baskets; it makes it feel more like home. Then Laura and I went to Mass, and it was incredible! St. Patrick’s Basilica is gorgeous, both inside and out. Matt told me it has the biggest organ in WA, so that’s pretty cool. I think I may go there for Mass again. The organist was hilarious, ‘cause he was so intense, and he kept swatting at his music. Also, the priest announced an anniversary (40 years today) and gave them a special blessing… then he kissed the wife on the lips right after the husband did. But actually the (normal) priest got chest pains this morning, so he’s in the hospital while the higher up guy celebrated Easter Mass instead. Hope everything’s okay. After Mass, we came back and I facebook chatted with David for the next hour and a half or so. We had a really good conversation. I told him about the girl talk with Grace and Emily last night, and how I said I always figured I’d just marry David, and he said, “Well we’re already married.” After that chat it was about time for Easter dinner, so I went downstairs, and met James. He’s from Botswana, but has now achieved permanent residency in Australia. He’s really cool, and I learned a lot about Africa. The deviled eggs were amazing! Although, dinner didn’t actually start til 4, but it was so so good, and I was so full! We had chicken, lamb, potatoes and green bean casserole and salad. For dessert we had the pies, the cake, and carrot cake. The pie didn’t set to well; I think I should have boiled it longer, but it was still good. I got a lot of compliments. And lots of people went back for seconds! It was so yummy though, because I felt like I was eating Grandma’s pie, which was cool since I just talked to everybody at Grandma and Grandpa’s earlier today, including Ryan. After dinner, I just came up for half an hour, and then Laura, Denysse, and I were picked up by her host family at six and taken to his house. (The Bakers). He has a pizza oven in the shape of a dragon in his back yard, and it’s so cool! Even the nostrils light up! The pizza was amazing, and it was just an all around good time; kinda reminded me of family events with the Beaubien family. I liked Tim, who’s 13 years old (on October 31st) and in year 7. He’s a pretty cool kid, and he’s with the friends visiting from Melbourne for Easter. He seems pretty down to earth. He also hid all the easter eggs (just chocolate eggs) and then we went looking for them after dark. Then Hannah invited us to sit with all the ‘youth’ at the pizza oven. It was really cool to just hang out and talk with people our age. The scottish couple was pretty cool. The girl, Amanda, was pretty hilarious. Then Gabby and her boyfriend (Simon) were cool. She’s 20 and he’s 25, but she seems so much older! He kind of has a mullet thing going on, but it looks good on him. Then Hannah is just gorgeous and sweet and nice, and very toned. Her boyfriend is cute too… he kinda looks like Ben Affleck… only brunette. But we hung out there for a bit; I had a few sips of Bailey’s and left around 9:30. Now we’re back and I’m gonna watch House, but I just wanted to get caught up real quick. Over all, it’s been a really unproductive but lovely day (uncharacteristically warm) and a really good Easter.

Update--Pre-Broome

3-4-09
Oh goodness, so much to catch up on from the past five days… and yet, need to sleep ‘cause am getting up at 4:30 am since we leave from Broome tomorrow. So here’re the highlights. Monday: I got Ds on both of my philosophy journals, so that made me pretty happy (D is for distinction, so it’s GOOD). I came back from PH and started working on my project w/ Jami, and up pops this little skype bubble from Bass that says, ‘hello beautiful’. And it totally made my day. Nicole sent an email about the March Madness brackets, and I am STILL winning (by 20 points). Apparently I’m the only one who had all my picks alive for the final four, so we’ll see… There was other cool stuff, but here’s the best part: 2 boys, 1:30. Sounds like a title… or somethin’. So… Matt messages me around 7 pm and says he’ll come over Tuesday at 1:30 so we can work on our project (since we have begun meeting every Tuesday, in addition to Thursday class and the break). I don’t have any plans, so I tell him that’s fine. I realize Kendall doesn’t get out ‘til 2:30, but I’m like whatever, go ahead and come early. Later on, around 10 pm, I see Chris is on facebook (‘cause he had just written on my wall) and so I get on real quick to talk to him. So… I’m talking to Chris AND Matt is talking to me at the same time. Chris wants to talk at 10:30 pm his time Tuesday, so he asks, “Do you have class at 1:30?” **This is the exact same time Matt is supposed to come over**. So I respond “No, I’m actually free, but my friend Matt is supposed to come over at that time. I’ll just tell him to come an hour later.” And Chris was like “Sweet.” So I tell Matt to come an hour later, and he decides to come at 1:30 anyway and sit on my bed with noise-cancelling headphones. I tell him fine, whatever, come, but you are NOT going to be in my room during this conversation. So… the next day rolls around, class was cancelled (we got there at 8:30 and then found out, but it worked out ‘cause I got a lot of stuff done). I’m in mid-addressing my postcards, when a knock comes on my doorframe at 1:25. I look up, and there’s Matt! Thankfully, Brooke was here, so she could help entertain him somewhat. Meanwhile, 1:30 rolls around, and Chris and I start to talk, but we keep getting cut off ‘cause of the terrible connection in Villa. Matt is mocking me saying that Chris is ‘hanging up on me’. So… Chris and I are trying to have a conversation, Brooke and Matt are still in the room, the door’s wide open. Skype stops working, so we resort to facebook messaging and Chris decides to talk at 10 pm my time (which is 7 am his time). I tell him thanks for getting up so early, and he said that it’s ‘definitely worth it’. The next day was April Fools. The highlight of the day was the epic prank Cleos pulled on P&O. When all the St. John’s/St. Benz kids were in their evening seminar, some of the girls went over and stole all their chairs (plus pool balls and remotes and a couple shirts) and put them up on our balcony. I recorded almost all of it. But then… they didn’t come get it, so campus services made us return all the furniture today. But we kept the remotes and pool balls, although, last I heard, we may’ve had to return those too… I’m not sure. But hey, I mean we had their chairs for 2 days. But we’re locking our windows, our rooms, and our food lockers when we leave, so all should be well. Thursday was cool as well, very productive on the CO142 scale, with our new title of Flavour Child. Also, we got a D- on our presentation, so that was pretty sweet, although it’s only worth 10%. That evening, I got an email from Tony (of my ‘adopted’ family from Church; Tony and Elizabeth Curtis) inviting me to dinner sometime this weekend, and to bring a friend. So I brought Brooke. We got picked up tonight at 6 pm, and it was a total trip to ride in the front seat of the car, because there’s no steering wheel, and you have no control. Turns are really weird! We got there; they have a LOVELY house, rather, a villa. I was really glad Brooke was there. I passed up white wine in favor of lemonade (which is carbonated, but really good). For dinner, we had fish (which I decided tastes really good with lemon), the yummiest cooked potatoes, and salad. Then for dessert we had ice cream, berries, and a thin biscuit. Pretty sure it was the best meal I’ve had in Australia thus far. Homemade AND healthy! So that was tons of fun. And Tony gave us a tour when he was driving. They are making plans for a lamb roast, and for us to meet their family. Also, they said next time we come they’ll introduce us to some Aussie males, so we’ll see how that goes.

Because of Nathan and Pat (and the Parents)

Well, 'cause of such a quick response from Nathan and Pat (who was slacking in his threats), I'm gonna give you another post (actually, just 'cause I already wrote it in my journal and a lot happened last week). This is it for the next couple weeks. Next week I am in Broome, then it's Easter, then we're going down south, then I'm going camping then it's back to school. There may also be skydiving in there somewhere too...

Anyways, here it is, in all it's glory:
29-03-09
So, although I wrote last Saturday, it feels like forever ago. A LOT has happened. Monday came, I slept in, made pancakes (which I still have leftovers), went to class, came back. At dinner, Mische made banana oat muffins, and they were incredible! I ate two. There was also a tiny lizard in our kitchen. He was almost clear. Just chillin’ there, but then Liz took him outside. I don’t actually know that it was a him, but it just seemed appropriate to label it/him as such. Tuesday came, and we had class and then we had tut in the park. Oh yeah, Tuesday was my CRAZY day. We were supposed to go to Matt’s house to work on our project, but Lucy and Jacob couldn’t make it, so Matt, Kendall and I just worked in my room, which actually turned out better. I seriously got so lucky in meeting them. They’re pretty much my best friends down here, and I LOVE them. Around five o’clock, we had to start making dinner (spaghetti), so Kendal left and Matt and I went to make the spaghetti. Oh my goodness, so stressful! In addition to Matt, Lyndsey’s family was also there. It was really nervewracking in the kitchen, having Matt over my shoulder “What are you doing?” “Why are you doing that?” but it was all in good fun, and we were totally bantering back and forth. It was fun and stressful at the same time. But pretty much, Matt made the spaghetti and sauce, in all honesty. Wednesday was another day completely (duh). Lyndsey described me as a “vision in blue”: I was wearing my blue shirt, my blue shoes, and Corinne gave me a piece of gum that was also (incidentally) the same shade of blue. It was fantastic! I was also wearing jeans (and my underwear was blue too). Oh, and Lyndsey also noticed that I was wearing a blue hairtie too! I made Hannah take a picture (with the gum) ‘cause it was just too good. I also talked to Nicole when she said she was going to get the mail and told her that I’d been waiting on a letter from Leah for about a month, and she was like, “Maybe it’ll come today.” Lo and behold, when I got back from my shopping venture, there was not one but TWO letters waiting for me: Chelsey’s wedding invitation and Leah’s really long letter. For dinner, I finally used up my mince that I bought the first week we were here. I made a hamburger patty for the next day, and then made mince and potatoes for dinner, and it was so yummy! I also made frozen peas (which I ate the whole bowl) and drank a glass of milk with my dinner and it was perfectly lovely. Thursday was another crazy day. We spent all morning working on our project since we had to present that afternoon in tutorial. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t excellent. (Although, Simmon did say that he expects more of us and expects our newsletter to be one of the best if not the best newsletter). For the rest of the day, I did NOTHING (and continued on in that pattern until today—Sunday). I ate my Boost candy bar (which was really good) and was on facebook, and then I ate dinner (hamburger, fries, corn, Hannah’s dessert, ice cream, a plum) and watched High School Musical 3. After that, Laura came down and we continued the movie marathon ‘til midnight and watched Pride and Prejudice. Friday was nice because Nicole had hot brekky waiting for us (egg casserole). In class, Peta gave us the rundown for Broome, and then we took a walking tour of Freo and didn’t have tutorial. It was glorious! It was also Solene’s birthday, so we had cake at 12:30, and then at 6 pm we met at the Roundhouse and had some champagne (definitely would be better cold). Also, it was kind of weird because there was this group of Aussies have a fitness class or something directly behind us, and they were trying to exercise and we were super loud. Oh, and drinking in public is illegal… Oh, also, before that, we went to Bathers and laid in the sun and went swimming, and it was awesome! Brooke and I went to bed at 12:30. I was EXHAUSTED. And then I woke up at 11 the next morning. It was beautiful. We went with Grace and Emily to South Beach and I just read my James Patterson book for a while (it was super windy, so we just laid on the grass for a while). We came back for the triple birthday party and had a lot of dessert: strawberry cheesecake, apple crisp, and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. After that, the rest of the house started getting ready for the yacht outing, and Brooke and I kind of just took it easy. I watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop (hilarious! Incidentally, Nicole went and saw it in theaters the same day—I just watched it online—and she hated it), and then Brooke, Laura and I watched Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. Then, at 12:45 am, I was messaging with Matt, facebook chatting with Jami trying to figure out our presentation for Tuesday, and Denysse called me on skype and then came over. It was quite the night. I ended up going to bed around 2 am. Woke up this morning before 11 and read some in bed. Went down and had some Sultana Bran Crunch for brekky at 12:30. When I was down there, Anna told me that daylight savings time ended last night, so it was actually only 11:30. I got another hour back, and it was fantastic! I worked on CO142 reading for awhile, and then had a facebook chat/debate with Andrew Gill about the acronym afk meaning away from keyboard. It was lame, but fun. (Sidenote: last night Denysse tried to make an acronym for ‘save the date’ for her birthday –May 22: =STD. Hilarious!). Then we went to Tom and Sparkles’ house for the barby. They actually had a lot of booze available, but I had a ginger beer. We had yummy sangas or snags or sangers or whatever they’re called (sausages) and fruit salad and salad, and then for dessert we had ice cream with the bananas that you light on fire with brandy (I forgot what they’re called) and it was delicious! After a bit we left and came back home by way of the war memorial (or, as Matt just told me, it’s referred to as ‘the monument’) on High Street. I was only there for a few minutes, and then had to book it back for Mass, but I definitely want to go back there again soon. We RAN back for Mass, and made it there with a good 5 mins to spare. Oh, I knew there was something I was forgetting! Saturday, on the bus ride to South Beach, I got on the Cat on hit my knee on the seat. It hurt like a son of a gun, then there was a red bump, (randomly, with two red lines) and it hurt to bend my leg. It has since turned into a bruise, but I think you have to be a special kind of stupid to do that…. 

Comments?

So...
When I do remember to check this thing, I notice that there are not very many comments. And there's NONE on the last (incredibly long) post. I have a journal for myself, so I don't need to keep this one up if nobody's reading it. On that note, I will be out of touch for most of the next two weeks. But please, COMMENT! :)

My Weekend... thus far

22-03-09 2:12 am
Oh my goodness, SO MUCH to catch up on! Today was incredible, as was last night, so I think I want to start with those, since they’re still fresh, and then go backward and cover the other events. Okay, so, last night: we went bowling at this somewhat dodgy bowling alley about half an hour away from Freo. The best part was our bus. It was the most ghetto bus I have EVER seen, with some of the windows blacked out and green lights in the interior. It was also playing dance music pretty loud. We met Marco and Jocum (who told Liz he’d take us out by boat to Rottnest), and Kyle. The night went pretty well, I met some pretty cool kids (I think from UWA): Blair and Jess, Andy, Ben AKA Cracker, and Maddy. Ben was pretty cool (and 20) and I was chatting it up with him… and then his girlfriend came. But he was really good at introducing her to me right away, and was really nice about everything. I was actually winning for a bit, and actually tied with Andy for the 2nd game at 108 pts. Speaking of winning, I also got 14 out of 16 games for March Madness right, and am currently winning with my bracket (thank goodness Wisconsin won!!). So, after bowling (during which Kyle ripped his $180 pair of jeans, right near the crotch), Liz, Brittany, Brooke and I went out to the Orient with the guys (Sean, Jocum, Marco, and Kyle). Although, Brooke and I were the only girls for a short bit. Oh, and when we first got there, ALL the guys went into the bathroom. I think they were trying to fix Kyle’s jeans, but it was funny ‘cause when they came out I was like, “I thought only girls went to the bathroom together,” and Kyle responded, “In Australia the guys do too.” At about 11:30 we called it a night and left (‘cause Brittany and Brooke had surf camp the next morning). When we were leaving, the guys said goodbye, in a very special way. Let’s just say the Australian goodbye makes me say hello! Kyle did a hug and (kinda) kiss on the ear. Marco did a handshake and kiss on the ear (which I definitely felt). So… we got kissed TWICE. Came back, went to sleep… then Saturday. We went parasailing at 9 am and it was INCREDIBLE and AMAZING! Totally worth every dollar; I loved every second and was sad when they brought us down. When we first got there, we signed away all our rights… on a wet piece of paper with a pencil. At first I was like “Great, this is legit. Well, I guess that’s why it’s cheap.” And the harnesses were baggy (although I now know with a purpose). Also, they didn’t use locking carabiners. When Liz went up in the air she was holding on to her harness around that area and kept undoing her carbiners. Oops. Anyways, that was amazing. It was cool to go tandem with Nicole ‘cause you have someone to talk to (and it’s $15 cheaper). The guys in the boat would mess with us though, and slow down so we’d get dipped in the water and pull back up. The water was actually REALLY warm. And then we’d get pulled back up and our feet would be freezing, until we went and dipped them in the warm water again (which Nicole got pretty well dunked). So incredible. Then we came back and had breakfast. It was a lovely pre-brekky jaunt. I mean, isn’t that how everybody starts their weekend? Then I talked to mom and dad on the phone forever. Before we went to Cottesloe, we ended up watching some of the bball games for March Madness. It was close with Wisconsin, but I’m glad they pulled it off. Then we went to Cottesloe and looked at the sculptures, which were pretty cool. Although, overall, I’m not too impressed with the beach. I think I like South Beach more. We came back and made plans to go out to Thai for dinner. Mische made reservations. I think in that whole time I pretty much just watched the most intense Cold Case, and that was it. Oh my goodness though! Agent Jeffries got shot in the beginning. I mean, they were going by hour; it wasn’t even a cold case! It was sad though. Umm, then we went out to dinner at this really good Thai place. It was about $15 but it was REALLY good. I got Pad something that I can’t pronounce. Afterward, Mische bought Liz and me dessert at this chocolate place that I didn’t even know existed. And they gave us chocolate sauce with it, so I got dark chocolate sauce, and it was super yummy. I ate SO MUCH though; I’m pretty sure I expanded my stomach. That’s about the gist of it. Today was incredible, and I think I got a lot more out of it than I would’ve gotten out of surf camp.
As for the other days: uhh, a lot of stuff happened. Went to AQWA, wrote my 3000 page paper, watched Copycat, ate some good food, and essentially, I LOVE my CO142 group. Yeah. Okay, time for bed.

For the Parents

Form fitting: fitting to the form.

Some of what's been goin' on...

11-03-09
So I think I am not so good at this whole journaling thing, but at least I have my gratitude journal, so I can remember the best things from each day! So… highlights… let’s see. March 1 Paul Harvey died (or at least that’s when I saw it on MSN). I went to Mass that night and volunteered with Minisha and Patrick to play flute. They were going to try to find one for me, and I’ll check in with them this Sunday. My AL375 prof emailed me articles for our paper, which was fantastic. I worked out and did Carmen Electra/yoga pretty much every day last week with Denysse and Emily. March 3rd was the Commencement Parade, which wasn’t really all that cool… except the Samba band was fantastic! My favorite was the guy with the pierced nipples that was wearing a corset with light up hearts over his crotch. After the parade we signed our name in the book for our school. Denysse and I have been making dinner together pretty regularly. We had meatballs and instant potatoes, and pasta, recently we made impossibly easy cheeseburger pie (and Australia doesn’t have bisquick, so we had to create our own—and quarter the recipe) and it was really GOOD! Tonight I made spaghetti, a baked potato, and had salad—all on my own without ANY help. I was very proud. I’ve been kinda sick, but I haven’t been feeling too sick, which is good. It’s pretty much my nose and throat, but it’s not too bad. Friday night Denysse came in and told me that we were going shopping in Perth Saturday so that they could find me clothes that are form-fitting. Going out clothes. I ended up getting a top (that I actually REALLY like), leggings, and a black jumper. The jumper’s cool ‘cause it’s very versatile and can be worn with or without a top. It’s kinda short though, so I want to find some shorts to wear underneath… spandex or something. I also bought a koala holding the Australian flag, and some eucalyptus lozenges, which I am incredibly grateful for, because they have been really helpful in the past few days. Sunday was a pretty good day as well. We went sea kayaking, and then had a picnic and went snorkeling off of Penguin Island. The penguins are so tiny! I really liked snorkeling. I’ve made tentative plans to go to New Zealand with Jami. I may be interested in skydiving (tandem) but probably not… I don’t know.
Okay, and skype wasn't working, 'cause UNDA blocked it, but we have it working now (at least temporarily) so talk it up with me now (while you still can)!
Oh, and look for an updated album on picasa pretty quick here. Caversham and snorkeling.

Saturday: the Perfect day

Saturday was our big day. After the alarm in the building went off multiple times and woke us up in the morning, we left at 8:50ish and rode the buses to Caversham Wildlife Park. Oh my goodness. We saw so many cool things! There’re a lot of cool animals in Australia. There’s this bird that says ‘Allo. And we saw koalas, although they were sleeping, because they need to sleep for 18 hours. But I did pet one! And we fed the kangaroos. I love kangaroos! They’re so friendly (well, the domesticated ones), and would eat right out of our hands. They had white ones too (they’re not albino; they’re specifically bred to be white. The other ones are red and grey). A little joey even bit me (I don’t think he was happy that I was out of food). The turkey is ugly and gorgeous at the same time. But there was a really BIG spider in between the two fences between the turkey and us. AND I rode a camel! It was $4 AUD, so hey, why not? But in Broome, we’ll ride camels on the beach for an hour at sunset for $55, so I’ll definitely hit that up as well. We also saw dingos (which are not native to Australian), and took a picture with a wombat. Pretty much, Caversham was incredible. I think it would be awesome to work there; our guide gets to take home a little joey at night and take care of it. Afterwards, we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and filled up with free samples. I thought about buying some, but no way would it last 4 months! After coming back, we left about 20 minutes later for South Beach. It was perfect weather and South Beach was GORGEOUS. The water was incredibly clear, and it was perfect swimming weather. The water felt really good because it was so hot out. Nick caught a jellyfish, and we held it (it doesn’t sting); it was pretty cool. And felt like… jelly! Weird, I know… There were also fish that would swim by, and they blended in with the sand really well. I also got completely buried in the sand, and that was pretty sweet. Later that night, I got a makeover; it was like the scene in Miss Congeniality where her trainer/makeup dude leaves and all the other girls pitched in. Then we went out. It was fun, but I don’t think I’ll be going to Newport again.

Pictures are up!

Even though my parents did not say please when they demanded more pictures, I took pity on my brother and posted them in a web album so that my parents would not get a facebook. The pics are available here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krazykatiekoala

Pictures... geez

So you know what's funny? I'm not posting any pics with this post, but it's titled pictures, haha. Anywho, I have pictures. Lots of them. I took even more today. And I just got off the phone with mi hermano, Mateo, who told me to get Picasa, which I did, so that I could show y'all (AKA keep mom and dad off facebook). Unfortunately for you all, he had to leave 'cause he's goin' to N'Orleans for Mardi Gras, so I got it, but now I don't know how to share it with you all once I upload pictures to it. Which I'm not doing tonight 'cause it's almost midnight and I want to go to bed.

So... higlights:
1) Saw King's Park/Botanical Gardens
2) Went shopping, met awesome clerk lady whose parents were from S. America and told us that this is pretty much as hot as it gets, and that Aussie girls don't like Aussie boys 'cause they're too much like Crocodile Dundee, but that they like American boys, even though they're full of themselves. Guess it's just the whole foreign accents thing. We talked about accents too. She was pretty cool.
3) It was flipping HOT (upper 30 degrees, so somewhere nearing 100 Fahrenheit).
4) Brooke and I went to Bathers Beach around 5 pm and went for a swim in the Indian Ocean, and it was GLORIOUS. And I float! And we could see straight down to the bottom.

Yep, that's about it. Classes start Monday. Eek!

I saw God today...

For those of you wondering, that's the title of a country song. It's actually about having a baby, but no worries, that is NOT what I did today. :) I'm actually referring to my first trip to the beach since living in Freo. Although there was a lot of seaweed and it was quite windy, we still went in the water, and it was WARM! I guess that would be the Indian Ocean. Yes, it is a lot warmer than the Pacific. And just looking around, it was easy to see what God has made.

As far as the rest of today: Today’s volunteering was…interesting, considering that the bus ride took longer than the actual weed pulling, but hey, at least it’s a start. I liked hearing the bird lady talk about the ravens and how they’re so smart. When the people tried to shoot them, they only got one and haven’t been able to kill any since, because the birds recognize the person, their car, and that what they are carrying is bad. That’s pretty incredible.

We went shopping in the extra time, and I bought a cute top at Valley Girl (still cannot believe I bought a shirt from a place with that name) for about $10. Then Brooke and I went to Target, and I bought another (purple!) super cute top for what I thought was $9.86 (like it said on the tag) but ended up being $7.88. Yes! Academic orientation was pretty scary. Peta scared the heck out of me, and I need to make sure to switch my computer to Australian English spellcheck here pretty quick. Oh, and Mom: did I ever steal anything? I got asked that tonight when I was on "the hot seat" and couldn't think of anything.

For those of you who are wondering:
My schedule (and in Australia, they say it w/out the hard "c" sound, so it's shedule, rather than skedule) is pretty good. I have one class each day, for a total of 3 hours each day, although not necessarily all at the same time. Monday is my metaphyics, History of Philosophy: Medieval. I gotta say, that's the class I'm the least thrilled about (I'm not too big into PHL or medieval stuff), Tuesday has Theories of Communication, Persuasion and Advertising, Wednesday is my UD THE class: Anthropology: Human Be-ing within the Mystery of Christ. I'm super excited for that class, and the description sounds fascinating. Thursday is Print Media Analysis-- I think our class makes a newsletter for campus or something. Friday is our Australian History and Society class, which all the international (mostly American) students take together, so that should be another cool class as well. But anyhow, that's it, so there ya go! :)


I just put up a whole buncha pictures on facebook, and have been at my computer for the last several hours. I'm tired now though (it's about 11 pm) so I will try to add some pictures here soon. Mom, I will need your help identifying a musical instrument unlike anything I've ever seen with a haunting sort of sound. I'll put just that one up, then I'm off to bed. 'Night y'all.

First Freo update

So... here's a post I wrote on a friend's wall earlier today. It pretty much sums it up. Although, I have to make note of our chaplain, Fr. Gerry. Today, he told us that we could call him "Chappy G," and yesterday, at Mass, he was talking about Jesus being a "good bloke." Oh, I love Australia! But here goes:
Australia is AMAZING! We spent the last week in Sydney doing all the touristy stuff, and just got to Fremantle (Freo) a couple days ago. Today is our first day of orientation, and we spent the morning exploring Perth in our own form of "the amazing race". It was pretty awesome. Sunny and somewhere in the eighties... it is HOT! :) We have our awards ceremony around 4 pm (in about an hour), so then we'll get to see how we did. Umm, I don't know too many of the Portland girls really well, but yeah, I think it's a pretty good group. We also have 5 other girls from different schools living with us--including 2 from France. We also formed groups with kids from the other schools today for the race, so we met some of them--they're pretty cool too. Hmm, yeah, that's about it; probably more than you wanted to know. :) But I will say I'm glad it's all girls here (where we live): we don't have to dress up for the guys, and we get an extra bathroom! :)

Now to bed. We have 4 hours of volunteering starting at 8 am tomorrow!

Less is more... figure it out

Hey all, so I am now in Fremantle at UNDA. We got here today. Orientation starts Monday, then classes start the following week. Below is the last post of our adventures in Sydney. Just note that now that I'm here, the posts will probably become fewer and far between. Nathan, thanks for your support in that aspect, and the comic. :) Pat, talk to Nathan...

Take care guys, and keep me updated!

Friday the 13th (and day before we fly to Freo. Ha! Betcha thought I was going to say V-day):
This morning we slept in a bit. I got up and called my BFF… poor kid, I think it was a shocker and he wasn’t sure what to expect there. After a quick breakfast (muffin, cantaloupe AKA Rock Melon, and apple mango juice), we caught the free bus down to circular quay to go on a tour through the government house and then meet Shona and Brittany for lunch. Well, it started out as a slight rain, and then it DOWNPOURED (like Portland. And it was cold). But Brooke and I made it to the government house, completely soaked (in spite of my hood and umbrella—thanks Mom!) only to find that it was closed due to a formal event. So… we left and kept walking in the rain and wind to get to the café we were meeting them for lunch. When we went inside they were already there, so we ordered drinks to warm up (and by ‘drinks’ I mean they got coffee and I got hot chocolate). There were magazines that we could read while we sipped our drinks, so I picked up one of those gossip rags with all the pictures of celebrities on the front and declared, “I never read this! So I’m going to.” Shona saw what I had and retorted to my comment “The Gay Brigade?” Sure enough, I looked down and saw 2 chicks making out. So, I decided to ditch that magazine and switch to “New Idea,” which is Australia’s version of people magazine. After we ate lunch there, we went to St. Mary’s Cathedral and went to Mass—just because. It was gorgeous inside (and out)! I took pictures of the building, but it felt weird to take pictures inside such a sacred space… so I didn’t. We prayed especially for the victims of the Victoria bush fires. I’m sure you guys have heard about the fires. They’re not affecting us in any way, but our hostess told us that these are the worst fires Australia’s ever seen when she picked us up from the airport. She said that the roads were being treated as crime scenes because they were still finding people dead in their cars along the road. Also, she told us that there was talk of the fires being arson. That was a few days ago, so I think now they have suspects, and hopefully will be able to determine who did it, and charge them with mass murder and put them away for life. It’s really sad, so I donated $4 to the relief fund on the ferry ride to Manly the other day. Also, Mass was super short, and the Eucharist was really sweet. And there was no music. Afterward, we came back to the hostel to change and get out of the rain. We were going to check out Kings Cross, but nixed that plan. I think we’re going to run out and get dinner soon. I think we’ll just bring it back and watch a movie or something. Then I need to pack because we are leaving at 8:30 am tomorrow morning. We had some stuff come up with our shuttle from the Perth airport, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow, and I think we’ll be okay. All right, gotta go. Next update will be from Freo!

I hate seagulls!

Thursday, February 12th, 2009:
Today we woke up at 6:30, left at 7 am, walked an hour to this AMAZING café in the Rocks, where I got a ham and cheese croissant for pretty cheap. It was really yummy. J Then we went to the Opera House, and took our tour, which was INCREDIBLE! The dude who designed actually had no idea had they were going to build the sails. It was built in 1956, so that was pretty incredible for the time. You can also see a lot of the architecture. It was awesome. Afterward, Laura met up with us (she actually came to find me at the Opera House—I felt so special), and she walked with Brooke and I for a bit to the Royal Botanical Gardens. At the end, there’s the Government House, which is pretty much like a palace. Brooke and I are hoping to go there again tomorrow morning and take a guided tour on the inside. We didn’t go too in depth into the gardens, because our feet were killing us, so we cut it short and stopped by a souvenir shop in the Rocks (they sell authentic stuff, like kangaroo scrotums and crocodile jerky. Oh, and Lisa, I almost bought you a man… but then I didn’t) before getting a bite to eat. So… we were starving and wanted something cheap, so we decided to go to McDonald’s (after I bought a chocolate milkshake—definitely worth 4 bucks, tasted pretty much like chocolate milk). I bought a double decker bacon cheeseburger (or something like that) for $1. 95, so I was pretty happy. We went outside, and sat down (again, to rest our feet). I inspected it for pickles (which there were none of, God bless Australia) before I commenced eating. I took a bite and savored the incredible deliciousness of such an unhealthy food produced by a conglomerate company I do not support. As I lifted my burger back up for another bite, a freaking seagull suddenly swooped down, pretty much divebombing my face, and snatched my hamburger right out of my hands… and then proceeded to drop it on me, where it fell to the ground and was gone in about 5 seconds. There was ketchup and mustard on my leg, and on my khaki shorts I had planned (and am still planning) on wearing to Mass tomorrow at St. Mary’s Cathedral (no, it’s not Sunday, we just wanted to experience Mass there). I recall involuntarily screaming, but the whole event is kind of a blur. Yeah, you’re laughing (and apparently some lady walking by did too), but that’s just ‘cause it didn’t happen to you. So then, I had to go back inside (about a minute after I had just gotten my burger) and order another one. That I ate inside. It was then that Brooke and I just decided to go back to the hostel and chill for the rest of the afternoon. Which was really nice. I got on the internet (which is why you can read this), and talked to the padres and abuelos on skype. We had originally bought pizza for dinner, but then we realized that there was no oven for us to cook it in. The owners of the hostel bought it from us, which was really nice, and then we just got Dominos instead (and there were some delicious goods in there, and I’m not just talking about the pizza). ;) We watched some comedy (Jeff Dunham) and I think I’m about to call it a night pretty soon, after I arrange with the other girls to meet up tomorrow night for dinner. Anyways, that’s about it. Hope y’all are doing well, and I’ll try to put up some pictures when we have faster internet (probably in Freo). Take care!

Sydney

So... here's some stuff about the past couple days. More to come later (including the Opera House-- we went there today. Oh, and don't let me forget to tell you about the stupid seagull!)

Day 1: Met a lovely couple at the Boise airport—flying to New Zealand. Actually met the man first, and he said I could watch/join him when he went to the international terminal in San Fran, because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. J The lady at the desk was also very helpful and nice. While I was on the phone with my BFF reminiscing about the Super Bowl, he came over with his wife, and pointed out to her that I was going to Sydney. After I hung up, I decided to go and visit with them, ‘cause hey! I’m a Comm major. *Note, the guy was very clean cut, older, gray hair, kinda looked ex-military. So, when I went over to them, his wife and I started chatting, giving him a reprieve to read his book. J Her name was Sonya (pronounced Sawn-ya), and she was lovely. An ex-schoolteacher. She watched my bags while I made my final potty run, and jokingly said that they got ‘unruly.’ That’s when I knew I was talking to a teacher. J I actually ended up sitting in the row behind them on the plane, but on the opposite side, so we couldn’t chat. They had to run to make their connecting flight though, ‘cause they had about half an hour before their flight for New Zealand left. Hope they made it! As she was deboarding the plane, Sonya turned around and we waved goodbye to each other. So, Sonya and Mr. Sonya’s husband made a lovely start to the trip. When I got off the plane, there were SO MANY PEOPLE! The only place I could find an outlet was in the hallway, so that is where I’m sitting, which is nice because I have all this space to myself and it’s not crowded. J SFO looks pretty big, but I’ll explore it more when Brooke gets here. I had an hour to wait for her, but 20 minutes have gone by writing this, so not too much longer now (I hope). J I don’t want to pay for internet, so you will all get to read this after the fact. Katie Koala, signing off. 7:22 pm Pacific time, 2/8/09.

Day 2 (Feb. 10, 2009): I’m not sure what to write in my gratitude journal for Monday since we seemed to have skipped that day entirely. It is Tuesday, and I have only slept for about 3 hours total (on the plane), and am quite tired, but still have more time before we go to sleep. So far since we have been in Sydney, we got picked up at the airport for free by our hostel (which was awesome, although the wheels on my newest favorite blue swiss company bag are now broken, so I was kinda, well, a lot POed about that), we got to the hostel, discussed what to do, I got pooped on by a bird shortly after arriving, but whatever; we’re overtired anyway and pretty much apathetic. Brooke and I took a shower (we have our own room with Shona and Brittany, complete with our own facilities—that and the ride to and from the airport is totally worth it right there.) We went out to lunch; Shona and Brittany ate at Lindt Café (as in, the chocolate truffles), while Brooke and I ordered from a café next door. I got a homemade beef pie with a salad and chips (fries). It was pretty good. Afterward Shona and Brittany had to go get their stuff, and Brooke and I went to the Sydney Aquarium. I inadvertently forgot my camera in the room, so Brooke has all the pictures. We saw cool stuff like a dugong, a weed sea dragon (or something like that… it’s a pretty goober lookin’ thing), a platypus (those are AWESOME), a picture of a fish that can change sexes (called the Blue Groper), and Penguins (that are actually local to Sydney and live on the sand) among other cool creatures. Brooke and I ended up walking all the way back, so we got quite the workout, which, I guess was cool after an incredibly LONG plane ride. We’ve seen some pretty hot Aussies, but no connections yet. Now we’re gonna go to the supermarket and grab some dinner. We are supposed to have wi-fi available, but my computer can’t find it, so you guys will just get to read all these probably after we get to Perth. Over and out, 6:53 pm Tuesday (for the record it’s 11:53 pm Monday night for all the Portland folk). Now 9 pm (3 am Boise time): forgot to mention that the weather is rainy and blah. Kinda like Portland. Only warmer and humid.

Day 3 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009):
So… today was a big day. We did a LOT of stuff, and I got a lot to write about. First off, I slept really well last night. The hostel provides linens and a pillow, so I just slept with that (they’re clean), and was really comfortable just lying there with the comforter over me. Then, around 7 am, there were these 2 guys speaking in a language that I could not even decipher (meaning that I don’t even know what language it was). We went back to sleep… until the construction workers started working on pipes and sawing stuff outside our window at 8 am on the dot. We laid around for a bit more and finally got up around 8:30 after an excellent night sleep (we went to bed around 10:30 pm). We ate breakfast food that we bought at Coles (the supermarket corporation), and I had my apple mango juice and a blueberry muffin. Mmmmmm. J Then we left and caught the free bus to Circular Quay (I know, it looks like Kway, but it’s actually pronounced Key), where we took a ferry through the Sydney Harbor to Manly Beach—about ½ an hour away. Yesterday was pretty rainy and chilly, but when we were at Manly, the sun came out and it was incredible! We walked along the beach and enjoyed the soft sand (nothing at all like the rocky sand on the Oregon Coast!) We ate lunch at a little kebab place. Australian kebabs are more in the spirit of the style of chicken wraps; I actually had a piece of barbeque chicken pizza. Oh yeah, and when Brooke and I bought our daytripper passes to take the ferry, it was $17 AUD. I didn’t have a 20, so I stuck in a $50, and got $33 change—all in $2 gold coins (with one $1 gold coin for those of you who are mathematically minded). On the way back, Brooke and I sat on the top deck of the ferry—outside—and it was incredible! We also took about a bazillion pictures of the Opera House when we passed by it (but we’ll see it again tomorrow; we have a tour at 10 am tomorrow). The we split up, and Brooke and I went to the Rocks (an old part of town). We went to C—something, which was an old house of some prisoner dude guy. It had some old stuff, and I was pretty fascinated. Then we wandered around some more, and came across the Rocks Museum. It was pretty cool too. We went to a souvenir shop place and wandered into this store that has Aborigine stuff. We probably spent about ½ an hour there while a guy explained quality digeriedoos to us. I think Brooke may have been bored out of her mind, but I was absolutely riveted. Mom, I tried to get you one, but it’ll be about $200 US, +$80 to ship it anywhere in the world in 5 days. There’s no way I’m fitting one of those on the plane. You want to get one that is in the key of C sharp, D, or E. And they are completely natural—the termites do the work, and it’s made from a eucalyptus tree. The aborigines find them, and kind of carve out the bottom a little bit; you want it to be as thin as possible—that’s what makes the good tone. Also, sometimes they coat them in beeswax, and that makes it so that your spit and stuff travels through and doesn’t get stuck in the middle. He also told us that there’s 3 things you use to play the digeridoo: vocal chords, tongue, and ….? I forget. Lips maybe? And try to do circular breathing. The Aborigines created the instrument; it’s completely Aboriginal. The we caught the bus to Paddington, and got lost there for a bit. Oh yeah, and we randomly met up with Mollie Allers—twice. The first time we saw her, she had already met a guy who was hanging out with her, and she just got here at 8 am this morning! Then we came back, made spaghetti and Caesar salad, and now we’re watching Step Up, and we need to watch it on my computer, so I gotta go. Oh, and we’re also all sitting on the top bunk. Hopefully we won’t fall through! Then it’s off to bed ‘cause we gotta leave at 7 am! Oh, and we got a little sun today (as in sunburnt). Oh, and I bought a miniature boomerang from the guy that showed us digeridoos. Oh, and at the Rocks Museum, there was this recording that kept saying ‘Allo Sailor! And we also passed a guy today at Manly that said G’day. It was awesome! Okay, I really gotta go now. Laters!

Update, schmupdate

So... there's really nothing new. However, due to threats of consequences should I not keep up the blog (*cough*PAT*cough*), I figured I would write a lil somethin'. Mostly we are just waiting... in more ways than one. No, I'm not explaining. And a lot of you requested lots of pictures, so, just to let you know, I got a new digital camera yesterday. Yay! Now I just have to figure out how to use it. But I can take over a 1000 pictures (isn't that ridiculous?) so you shall have your pictures.

Umm, let's see, other stuff. Brooke and I have a tour scheduled with two other girls in our group to go see the Opera House next Thursday, and I am VERY excited! Sarah, I don't think it's going to work out to see the great barrier reef. :( Also, I'm kinda bummed because I have always wanted to HOLD a koala, and it is now illegal to do so in New South Wales (where Sydney is). In order to actually hold a koala, I would have to go to Queensland, and I would have to fly there, so that's kind of out of the picture as well. Oh well, I'll still get to see one and take a picture next to it.

Lisa (can I call you that?), I will see what I can do to bring you back an Australian husband. You know, I've actually had a number of requests for that commodity. Maybe I can start a business... but I need to find one for me first! And although I will share everything with you when I get back, that is one thing I might not share. ;) Uncle Bob, I guess I'll study... just since you asked me too. :) I think I can stay away from Keith Urban. Russell Crowe is pretty cool though. And Mel Gibson, he's not even Australian! (I just looked it up; his mom was, but he was born in New York. However he moved to NSW and lived there for a while. I'm not sure if he's still there or not). But no promises there; if I see Mel Gibson, and he looks amiable, I'm totally gonna chat it up.

And Laura, what was the 3rd place you were going to be?

4 more days!
Love,
Katie:)

The beginning...

So.... I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing right now. Kels just set me up with this blog to keep in touch with you all. I'm not a big blog person, so it will be interesting to see if I even keep up with my own blog. But to your left, you can see the inspiration that has inspired this adventure from the time I was about 1. Yep, long time coming. Anyhow, I have about 1 week until I leave for Sydney. Leave me comments so I know this is worth the effort. Yep, that's about it. Take care!

Love,
Katie:)