Footy!

Ok Australia is a pretty calm place, people are laid back, and very go with the flow, but then they play/watch footy all that goes away. It is the most intense sport in the world! It’s 80 minutes of constant running around, running into each other, and throwing/kicking an odd shaped ball (kinda like a rugby ball). It’s amazing! There are tons of clubs (teams) and the season goes from March until the end of September and games are constantly on TV, you could easily watch it all weekend. The scoring system is a little strange, you either get 6 points if you get the ball through the middle posts and 1 if it goes through the posts on the sides. You can run with the ball, but you have to bounce it ever few steps, you can throw it or kick it, but if you kick the ball and someone catches it before it hits the ground then no one can tackle them. Also all the ovals (fields) are a different size, which is crazy, but pretty cool, and they are oval shaped. This is my basic understanding of how the game works, so hopefully I am right, and if not someone correct me. You can also check Wikipedia for more clarification.

It is very popular in my house, although we are divided in our support. Half (2) of us support the East Coast Eagles and the other half the Fremantle Dockers (my team), which are both Perth teams. So when we watched the derby the other week, where the two teams played each other, there was much gloating when the Dockers won. There continues to be lots of gloating as the Dockers keep doing better than the Eagles, go team!

(the second half of this was written later)
Footy is now over and culminated in the ever exciting Grand Final, which is like the Super Bowl, but the commercials are not as good. Last Sat was the Grand Final and it was the Collingwood Magpies vs. the St. Kilda Saints (I think, not so sure about everyones mascots). And it was intense. The first quarter St. Kilda was down and through to the second it looked like they were out, but they must have gotten some crazy pep talk during half time because they came back pretty strong. In the final quarter they catch up and tie with Collingwood and in the last 10, and definitely the last 5 it's pins and needles to see who is going to win as it's either a goal away or tied. And it ends in a tie! for the first time since 1977 and the rules on this are ridiculous. There is no overtime, no shoot out, rather they have to play again. The whole game the next week. Which is ridiculous and all the players are most unhappy. Which is understandable, they put everything in it only to be told to do it again. Lame, but kinda exciting as a spectator. Anyways, the rematch was this weekend and it was most depressing as Collingwood blew St. Kilda out of the water. But yay footy!

Australian Politics: My Vague Understanding

So the other week (about a month ago) Australians Prime Minister was a man named Kevin Rudd, or more affectionately K-Rudd. Then magically he wasn't and instead the Prime Minister is now a woman named Julia Gillard. Was there an election? Was it the natural changing of leaders? Did he die? NO! Apparently the changing of Prime Ministers is not a difficult thing and can happen a couple of ways. First, and how it was done here, starts with the fact that Australians do not vote for an individual, but rather a political party. This means that if the political party does not like how the PM is doing their job, they can vote in a new PM, who I think asks for the job. If everyone agrees, or the current PM accepts defeat, then BOOM! new PM. That's what happened here, and it was super weird. The other way, which I think is amazing, is that, because Australia is a British Commonwealth, the Queen of England can decide that she doesn't like the Australian PM, will call up and say she doesn't like him/her and Australia HAS to get a new PM. Crazy, right? I love it, it's hilarious.
Elections are super weird here as well and tied to how long a PM has power, which is tricky. They are in control for 2-3 years at a time. 2-3 you ask? Why is it unknown? Well it's unknown because the PM gets to choose when the election happens after their first two years. This has it's advantages because you don't have to listen to election craziness for that long. Also everyone has to vote. If you don't vote you get fined. Which I think may be a good thing especially when right now the two people running for PM aren't that great and I think that no one wants to have to pick, so if people didn't have to vote they wouldn't.
Really the whole thing is quite strange, but definitely interesting to watch.

Kalgoorlie

So I went to this crazy place called Kalgoorlie, which is a mining town 8 hours drive outside Perth. It’s in the middle of nowhere. It was the weirdest trip I think I have ever been on. I went into it only knowing one person, so it was a bit of a chance that I would get along with the other 6 people. All the people I went with were really nice, fun people, but it was still a crazy trip. It was four days in a small van, it looked like a car, but no it was a van! It wasn’t tall enough or have enough space in it to be a real van, but it fit all of us, so it wasn’t a car. Should you put 8 people in a van/car that size? No! It’s slightly inhumane. There was definitely not enough space and I spent most of it in the back, which was my choice because I don’t like being in the middle, but it was a bad choice.

While we made it to Kalgoorlie in one day, we spent the whole trip getting in the car, driving around in the desert/outback/bush for extended period of time, getting out of the car for maybe – maybe – 30 minutes, and then getting back in the car. It was like training for the circus to drive the clown car. However I saw some pretty cool things. There was Lake Ballard, which has no water and instead has these crazy statues spread all around it and Wave Rock, which is a giant rock that resembles a wave and although it doesn’t sound cool, it was.

We also took pictures of everything. Everything. Every small town, sign, food stuffs, it was crazy. I feel like a hypocrite because I love taking photos, but I am a terrible tourist, I have little patience for tourist photos. Although I am glad the trip was well documented by someone.

I am glad I went, it was an experience, and now I never need to go back there.

I Say/Eat the Funniest Things

Apparently I am a constant source of entertainment in my household. The other day it was my housemates birthday and her parents bought her a cake. So I am eating a slice of cake and thinking that I am thirsty so i go and grab a glass of milk. This inspired shock and awe for those around me. The Australians had never heard of milk with cake before, it is now a constant source of amusement. The phrase 'ice cream bar' was introduced today, which is also hilarious. That is new for them. 'Lame' and 'jelly' are also slowly infiltrating their vocabularies. Jelly may not sound like it's weird, but here 'jelly' is what we call 'Jell-o' and jam is the only thing you would put with peanut butter. Really it's my eating habits that provide the most entertainment. I found bagels, they're a creepy blue color (they are supposed to be blueberry) and that freaks the housemates out, and the peanut butter with bananas. Also my mom sent me a box of Lucky Charms (go Mom!) and that introduced marshmallow cereal, which they all found to be tasty. We are going to have American Food day soon, it will be good, and probably quite an adventure.

Margaret River

So we had two weeks off school only four weeks into the semester, which is officially called a "study break", so what did I do? I went on two trips. The first was 5ish hours south of Perth to Margaret River, home to 158 wineries and a handful of breweries. Oh, and some pretty beaches. It was a random trip decided on 5 days before we left and the third person joined on the day before we left. On the way down to our campsite we stopped at a brewery called Occy's and a winery that I don't remember the name of as it wasn't that great, but I know it started with an F. Our campsite was pretty cool, although we failed miserably at lighting the fire and ended up borrowing someone the fire of two surfers, until we realized that ours had magically lit. We went back and played cards with another surfer who called us by the names of our respective countries (America, Canada, and Norway). The next day we planned on driving to some wineries and possibly checking on the beach, but ended up on a wine tour (with Wine for Dudes) instead. Our tour guide was this funny New Zealander and the group included some people from England, Ireland, and some other part of Europe that I can't remember. We went to five wineries, one that had a brewery attached, a cheese place, and a chocolate factory. They were all pretty good (and I'll add the names later) it was a good day. At then end we went and watched the sun set over the beach and drank a bottle of Wine for Dudes brand wine, which is pretty good. The next day was more wineries, a lighthouse, and a really awesome section of beach called Sugarloaf Rock. The next day we drove to the Glouchester Tree and the Jewel Caves. In the caves we went really deep underground and at the tree we went 61 meters up a tree on a ladder system made up of re bar stuck into the trunk of the tree. We were followed up the tree by a school group, which makes it harder to get up when they are all yelling about how high they are and not to look down. It was good. We stayed at a different campsite that night and then the next day went on the Tree Top Walk in Walpole. It is this bridge system suspended on posts between the trees. Then we went a looked at the crazy tall trees that grow with gaps in the middle that are in the pictures from the last post. We were supposed to stay another night, but it was cloudy so we didn't want to go to the beach so we went home. It was a really good trip and this is a pretty brief overview. But I suggest going to these places if you ever get the chance.

Not so Much an Update, but Pictures!

This was a beach near Walpole, Western Australia. It was a good sunset and we then made dinner on these weird electric outdoor barbeques that are in parks. And there were kangaroos hanging out near us too.


This is a giant tingle tree, they just grow like this with the middles out. This was down in Walpole, Western Australia.


Me and a kangaroo! I got to feed it and pet it, they are cute. I like them.

Not the Wrong Bus, but Not the Right Bus Either

So I have learned some new things about Australia this week mostly dealing with how they talk. Australians like to pluralize things, like the word math. To them it's not math it's "maths" and yes the 's' is on purpose. It's really awkward because I now spend a long time wanting to correct people or I have to stop myself from looking at them funny. My second example is Lawn Bowling, which is not actually called Lawn Bowling, but rather it's called Lawn Bowls. Which makes no sense, in any context. Also, on a note about lawn bowling, it's the most ridiculous sport. You are on this grassy field with a bunch of balls, one of which is small and white. You roll the small white ball to the other end of the field and then try to roll your balls as close to the little white one as possible and closer than your opponent. The thing is the grass is short and the balls move really fast and curve a lot so you have to throw them very lightly, which is harder than it sounds. I am a terrible lawn bowler, but luckily the person I was playing against had never done it either and wasn't Australian so had no particular attachment to the sport (which may or may not have originated in Australia, but I'm assuming) so we changed the rules. Our rules are that you have to hit the little white ball with the bigger balls and it doesn't matter if they stay close to it or not. I won, but only because I was the only one who it, which I only did once out of 10ish rounds. Lawn Bowls is dumb.
Other weird things Australians do to their words is add the letter O to the end of words they have shortened. Like 'arvo' for afternoon, or changing the name Dan to Dano, and there are more that I can't think of. It's very odd. But I do love listening to them talk. One more, that the trunk of a car is called the boot. Which leads me to wonder if Australians understand the expression 'junk in the trunk', just something to think about.
So my lesson from this weekend is to pay more attention to what bus I take and the route said bus takes. My friend and I took the bus to Fremantle (which is cool town on the coast) on Saturday and when we looked at the bus schedule we saw that there were a couple options that involved two buses and one that involved one bus. So we took the one bus route thinking it was the best. It wasn't. We then proceeded to spend two hours on the bus, which is a really long time, especially since we were starving. At one point we filmed ourselves lamenting our inability to think things through. We did eventually arrive at our destination and ate some fish and chips and got to wander around for a bit with our other friend who had managed to take a reasonable bus. I now want to live in Freo (which is short for Fremantle and another example of the adding of the O). It's on the water and a good place to hang out.

Australian Birthday

I'm trying to remember what I have done in the past week. I bought furniture, which makes my room look more like a place someone would want to live and I met the other people in my program. There are 12 of us and only maybe 6 of those people are full time. Everyone else works and has kids. There are two other international students, although I think only one of them actually counts as an international student as the second one has now moved to Australia. I think you only count as international if you have to go back at then end of your studies.
On Friday I went out with a friend to the biggest bar ever. There is a large inside with two bar sections and a wrap around patio, then you can go through the restaurant bit where there is another outdoor section with another bar and a section for private parties. I was huge. I also learned why drinks here are so weak, which is because they actually measure out the alcohol. It's very strange. Also there is no tipping here, which is hard to get used to. I feel cheap for not doing it, although then I remember how much I just paid and don't feel so bad.
I have yet to get hit by a car, which is a bonus, and I am starting to get used to the direction of traffic, but it's a rough change. I've started biking to school, which works out well because it is so much faster than walking and I don't think I get that much sweatier. Which I am also getting used to, I swear all I do is sweat and drink fluids.
I went back to the beach for my birthday and it was lots of fun. I also ate panckaes, and they were delicious. Although the bacon was weird. It was kinda a strip, but then got wideer on one end, it freaked me out a little. And my friend ate his with a fork, which is weird. Back to the beach, it was packed and we would go out and play in the waves when it got too hot and then sit on the beach until we were dry and then go back in. And I saw the sun set, it was pretty. As well as entertaining as everyone who was in the water stopped and looked at the sun too, everyone just watched it. My friends alos go the guy at the restaurant to writee "Happy Birthday Jessie" on a plate in ketchup for it, it was pretty awesome. My housemate gave me cupcakes and some scratch tickets and I have won $12.
Classes started this week and I have spent 12 hours in the same room with roughly the same people talking about sex. So far it's been good, but we haven't really started classes, it was a lot of introductory stuff. That's it for now.
Except that there are no bagels in Australia, or at least not many, so I really want a bagel now.

A Pet Kangaroo! or I Pet a Kangaroo!

I pet a Kangaroo, and a koala, and a wombat! They were awesome, and kangaroos are cute, so I now kinda feel bad for eating one. Although they are tasty. I went on a tour on Saturday where we went to a winery (at 930 in the morning) and then to a chocolate factory, then to the Caversham Wildlife park (where playing with all the animals happened), and the to the Aquarium (where we got to touch sea life and see sharks! It was a very good day, but I was super tired after. We got to feed kangaroos at the wildlife park, and they would hop after you for food, but not for very long, they are lazy. But it was exciting, I feel a little more like I am actually in Australia.
When I got home (and wanted to take a nap) I went and bought a huge bed (it's queen sized, which really s quite big) from a Canadian who is moving to Barbados. He tied it on to the roof of my roommates car for us with the small amount of rope we found (which was better than us almost using tape for rope) and we set off. Too bad we didn't tie the front of the mattress down so the wind pushed it up on the freeway so we had to open the sunroof and I had to hold it down until we got off the freeway, it was intense. After getting it home I went out to an art show where I met some of Perth's graffiti artists.
The night before I had gone to this other art show where a guy would give you a manicure (if you got there early enough to sign up) in exchange for a secret. It was cool, but we had to wait until 10 to get in for free. Plus I got to type on a type writer, which should come with directions, but that was cool.
Monday was the first day of Orientation with Australians, but nothing really exciting happened, but I did go buy sheets, I have really moved up in the world in terms of home comforts.
Yesterday I went to the beach for the first time, it was super nice. It was a little cloudy, but it gave some nice moments of it not being too hot. The water is pretty and the sand is so nice. It takes a while to get there, but it's worth it.
Today was the day all the clubs come out and try to convince you to join, I don't think i remember half of the places I signed up at, but we'll see. They also give you a lot of free stuff, most of which I will probably never use.
Sounds like it was busy, but I've spent a lot of time relaxing too, which is nice. And I joined the library, which is awesomely less than a 5 minute walk from my house, where they let you check out puzzles, which is fantastic, so I am now working on a Harry Potter puzzle.

I Have a Home! (But Not a Bed)

So this week has been kinda crazy, while at the same time, it doesn't feel like I have done much. I have done some more exploring around Perth and have now been to Fremantle (which is to the west on the water). On Friday I went to a show in this awesome round room in a brewery and ate a kangaroo burger, which was pretty good, as was the show. I also looked at two rooms that day, one that I liked and at the second I was creeped out by the girl because she wouldn't look at me. It was really weird. I also got to take the bus and the train, which was fun. I was welcomed to Australia by three men going to a rugby game I talked to on the train. One of them also asked me if New York City at Christmas was a good idea, I told him it sounded like fun. I also got signed up for classes, which is good. I only have four, but it's going to be a lot of work.

Over the weekend I wandered into Kings Park and saw a wedding and learned the perils of everything closing early, because everything closes super early here. During the week it's around 5 or 6 and the weekend is the same, if the place opens at all. That is going to be a huge adjustment as I am used to things being open until 8 or 9 or staying open 24 hours. I'm going to have to learn to plan my shopping experiences. Apparently there was a vote a couple years ago on whether or not things should stay open longer and everyone voted against it because (and this is what the guy who told me said) Australians are lazy. Good to know.

Sunday I saw another room, which is super close to campus and with people I think I can live with, so I now live there. I moved in on Monday and am now on the hunt for a bed, as the floor isn't all that great a place to sleep. On Sunday I went back to Fremantle, although I took the train and met a nice British guy who helped me get off at the right stop and find my way, which is good, otherwise I would have been very lost. I met up with some people and after eating we wandered around Fremantle and I was welcomed to Australia by another random person on the street who heard my accent and decided to say hi. We (the people I was with, not the random man) went to an arcade and played a weird game where you throw balls at a screen and then used our ticket to buy foam planes that we threw around in the park. It was a good day.

Monday was the first day of orientation, where we got sung to and met the other international students in our courses and our heads of program. I am the only international student in my program, although there is rumor of another but no one has heard from them in a while, so who knows if they are coming. I learned that all my classes start at ten because the teachers are "shit" in the morning (this coming from one of my teachers). Classes sound like they are going to be good and I am looking forward to starting them.

Not much otherwise, although I think I am going to get hit by a car because I don't look the right way before crossing the street and this whole car coming from thw other way thing is going to take a bit.

Everyone Here is Really Friendly (or One Day I Will Acdept a Ride From an Ax Murderer)

This was my second full day in Perth and it was much more eventful than I expected. I got a cell phone, which worked out well because I already had one, I just needed a plan. Alas, when I brought it back to the hostel it wouldn't charge and I had to go back. Turns out the charger only works if you hold it at the right angle with part of the back cover off, it was very confusing, and took way too long for him to admit that I would need a new charger. So I was then sent 50 meters (which I now know about how long that is, since I walked it) and got a charger from a different phone company, because the first didn't have it. It was a lot more work than I would have liked.

After that I called some of my potential roommates/landlords to set up times to view their places. The first gave me directions and right after we had set up a time and I was about to leave to go figure out the bus system she called and said she would pick me up, rather than wait for me to possibly get lost. Fantastic! So she came and got me and I got my first ride in an Australian car sitting on the wrong side while being driven on the wrong side of the street. It's kinda scary. It'll take a bit, but I'll get used to it. Her place was ok, but I'm not sold, although it is really close to school. She was then nice enough to drive me back, and drive me onto the bit of campus she knew how to get around.

My next viewing was in 2ish hours and I figured I would give myself an hour and a half to get there. I walked down to the train station, asked the info desk how to get where I wanted (learned that I need to buy a good map book) and wandered off. Then i went back to try and get a student discount card, which I have to get stamped by school and bought an all-day ticket. I then walked to the bus station with schedules in hand and waited for the bus. At this point I had about a half an hour to get to the house and the bus wasn't going to be there for another 20 minutes so i called the woman I was meeting with and told her I was running late. She offered to come pick me up. Fantastic! But I bought a bus pass and wanted to use it, but oh well I would use it on the way back. The house was nice and furnished, but there would be 6 people living in it and I'm not sure I want to live with that many. We'll see, I have a little time to think about it. She then drove me to the schools campus where I had decided I would walk around for a bit before going back on the bus.

The campus is huge! I wandered aimlessly and then walked decidedly over to the art school bit where there was and open door I walked into and discovered the painting department. Mostly empty except for two guys hanging out, one painting and one drawing. I stopped and talked to them until the one who was actually allowed to be there had to go, meaning that we all had to go. I walked out with them because apparently at Curtin in order to leave a building you need a passcard, because otherwise you get locked in, it's weird. I then learned that in schools the locking in is normal, I think it's weird, normally people want you locked out, not it, but whatever. So here I am about to wander back to the bus stop when one of them offers me a ride back into the city. Fantastic! Except that I have now bought a bus pass for nothing. But I met people and hopefully made friends, which is fantastic. I then went on this weird adventure to the guy's old work, which is full of lots of drama and people getting kicked out of buildings by cops, it was all very strange. However, it was interesting, and therefore worth it, despite my still not using the bus. I will try again tomorrow. So what I have learned from all this is that people are very friendly and don't trust me to use the bus and that if I am not careful one day I will get kidnapped, but until then getting rides from people I have only talked to for a minute or so has worked out really well.

Otherwise yesterday I just walked around Perth and discovered that their traffic lights are weird for pedestrians. Instead of people crossing with the direction of traffic every goes at once while the cars wait, it's super weird. Sometimes one walkway will go, but mostly it's everyone all at once and the light makes this weird sound and then clicks until it starts flashing red, it's kinda intense. I also think I bought mini pancakes in a bag today, they were good with my bananas and almond butter, and discovered that they may not have bagels in Australia, but I will keep looking, as I really like bagels. That's all for now.

Train? What Train?

You all may remember that I said I was going to be taking a train from Sydney to Perth? Well my friends, train sounds remarkably like plane, so you may have misheard me. Or I waited to long to buy a ticket and am now in Perth 3 days earlier than I expected. A little disappointed, but now I can get a place to live and figure out the bus system before there is anywhere I have to be.

My flights were uneventful except for having to pick my luggage up after every flight, all four of them. And my stuff weights quite a bit, my big bag weights 57 pounds to be exact, which is way heavier than I would like it. My last flight was the only one where anything interesting happened. The flight attendants played quiz games with us and the man sitting next to me spilled wine one me and then told me that I would never leave Australia because I would love it so much and that I will marry an Australia, because that is was foreigners do. Good to know.

I made it safe and have a hostel and now just need a phone and a place to live. Will write more later, but my internet time is up.

I Lost Monday

I made it! Or at least part of the way, so this is just a quick post to say I survived and that I missed Monday the 8th and went straight from Sunday the 7th to Tuesday the 9th, which is really weird. Now I need to go find a place to stay and get a train ticket. Wish me luck!

Ok, Ok, I Know it's Going to be Different

I am fully aware that just because two countries speak the same language doesn't mean there won't be lots of things that make them different. I'm just saying that because I didn't have to learn a foreign language to go to school makes it feel like the place I am going is not that far away, or all that foreign. I think if I were going to China or Germany I would be more concerned about the trip.

Although yes, I am freaking out. This whole packing up my life and moving thing is a little frightening. I have managed to accumulate a lot of stuff and getting rid of it, or feeling like I have gotten rid of it, is hard. I'm almost there and will spend a good chunk of the next week finishing it all off. Otherwise I just need to buy my train ticket, buy up lots of powdered Gatorade, and pack whatever stuff that I feel like taking, and hop on the plane. At which point I will probably still not realize I am moving to Australia. Hopefully that will kick in sometime before I get off the train.

For now not much else, just seeing how much stuff I can manage to do in 10 days. Wish me luck!