Matt's Birthday!!!

Today was Matt's Birthday!!! Again, he woke up bright and early and waited over an hour for me to wake up. We got up and then went grocery shopping for breakfast (because I was out of food) for a picnic lunch at the beach and for dinner and snacks for tomorrow. After shopping we went to Cottesloe beach with Nickey, Gavin, and Haylie. We played with Nicky's footy ball at the beach and taught Matt how to "hand it" (hit it out of one hand with a closed fist of the other hand) and how to kick it. Next, we all went into the ocean and swam around. The waves were pretty descent. We had a picnic lunch followed by Matt and I building a sand castle and then swimming some more. We had a ton of fun at the beach. It was great!

Came back from the beach and Matt and I each took 20 minute showers trying to get rid of all of the sand that we had acquired from a hug sand fight (that Matt started). We packed for the rest of our vacation. We leave at 5 am!!! To get to the airport for our plane that leaves at 7 am!! We will head to Broome for 4 days, Darwin for 3 days, and finally Sydney for 2 days! I have no idea if we will have access to the internet so I may or may not be able to post each day.

After packing, I gave Matt a tour of campus. He seemed to think it was pretty cool. We came back and made dinner and then watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. When Suzie came home from band practice she made mini Pavlovas for Matt's birthday. It is pretty much a cooked meringue shell that you put cream inside and then layer with pieces of fruit. We put passion fruit, kiwi, banana, and berries on ours. They were delicious (and SUPER sweet). Matt and I are headed off to bed since we have to get up so early.

Penguin Island

Matt and I woke up and early this morning. Well, he woke up around 5 am and then graciously woke me up at 7 am. We then made American pancakes and took off for Penguin Island!!! This is when we first got there. The Island is in the background. We had to take a ferry across. We were hoping to go kayaking around the island, but it turns out that we would have had to rented them through a tour company located over an hour away. So we just walked around the island instead. It was a very small yet neat island. It is a group of islands actually that are all part of a nature reserve. Only one of the islands allows humans on it. The island itself contains paths of boardwalks. We had to stay on the board walks and were not allowed to travel off of them. The island was completely covered in sea gulls and pelicans.

Supposedly there were 2,000 penguins on the island, but we didn't see a single one. Turns out they are nocturnal. So they weren't out. We did get to see 10 captive penguins that were orphaned as chicks or injured and then hand raised. Fully grown they were about 12 inches tall. Here is a cute video of them swimming around.

There are caves on the island were aboriginies lived. Later around 1800's a few poor people had to sell there homes and move to the island and seek shelter in the caves. Here is Matt by the caves. I'm just in a funky rock that had a tiny cave carved into it.

We went on a Sea Lion Cruise. The boat took us around to all of the islands. It was cool to learn about and see the different islands up close. We were lucky and got to see 5 male Sea Lions!!! 4 were on the beach asleep and one was playing in the water. Here is a picture.

We walked around the island and eventually settled at a spot on the beach. We were surrounded by very NOISY seagulls. And then a skink came up to us. A skink is a fat and long lizard that looks a lot like a snake with feet. Matt picked it up. (We were told in advance they were harmless.) At this point in time my camera battery died. So I can not show a picture of the skink because I took the picture with the disposable camera. Sorry.

Later, we moved to another location around the island, the side with waves, and went for a swim. We brought the disposable waterproof camera with us and took a few pictures. We also brought our goggles. When we swam near rocks on the ocean floor (6 feet below) we could see all of the bright and colorful fish. It was pretty exciting.

Matt and I came back and discovered that his feet and ears were burnt and somehow my arms and back got burnt. Not sure how considering we were both wearing SPF 50! But I guess we didn't re-apply enough. Once back home we took showers and then fell asleep for 2 hours! Whoops! I was going to give Matt a tour of campus but it was dark when we woke up. Ate dinner and then did a load of Matt's laundry. Tomorrow is our last day in Perth and then we are going to head out to Broome the day after that.

I just thought this was gorgeous!

Matt arrived today!!!

Didn’t fall asleep until 2 am because I was so excited about Matt coming! He called and woke me up around 7 am. I couldn’t go back to sleep because I was so excited. Got up and took a shower and got dolled up. Went to campus and printed off my homework and tuned it in. Came back and made a nice sign to hold up for when Matt arrived at the airport. Matt’s flight was delayed 30 minutes, so we were going to pick him up at 12:30pm. He called at 12:25pm and said that he already had his luggage and had gone through customs. So we rushed to get there. I told him I would call him when we got there. We got there and I was unable to call his phone for some reason. We walked all over the place and couldn’t find him anywhere. Eventually I went to the customs official and asked them to page Matt. The guy asked when his flight came in and I said that it had landed at 12:15pm. He said that they had not received a flight since 11 am. He then asked where he was flying-in from. I said Sydney. He then informed me that I was at the WRONG airport. I was at the international airport, and the flight from Sydney was domestic. I didn’t even know that there was more than one airport! So we then had to rush over to the other airport. We eventually were able to pick him up at 1:15pm. Poor Matt had been waiting for an hour! I walked in and found him and we hugged each other for a very long time. It was surreal. It took awhile for it to sink it for the both of us that he was actually in Australia!

After we got home, Matt took a shower and we ate lunch and then unpacked the suitcase that was completely covered in shampoo! Someone didn’t want to go out and buy a ziplock bag. He regrets that decision now.

Matt brought 9 boxes of Girl Scout cookies!!! Soft green sheets! So I can get rid of my expensive yet very scratchy ones. 2 boxes of Little Debbie brownies, a box of Nutty Bars, and a box of Twinkies. I hate Twinkies but they are a very American thing and my roommates wanted him to bring Twinkies so they could try them. My roommates decided that the Twinkies were WAY too sugary sweet and gross.

We then went to the mall and bought groceries for tonight’s dinner and had a list for a bunch of other things. We got to the mall at 4:45pm thinking that it closed at 6:00pm. Turns out it closes at 5:30, but we didn’t figure that out until 5:00pm so we had to run around quite a bit throughout the entire mall. Poor Matt was super tired, jet lagged, and his whole body felt as if he was still on the plane.

We came back home and I made Pumpkin Hot Pot. It is ground beef with celery, carrots, onions, and tomatoes mixed in. This is poured into a casserole dish and then boiled pumpkin that has been mashed up it spread on top. All of this is covered in crushed up crackers and finally baked in the oven for 30 minutes. I thought it was delicious and Matt ate all of the meat.

Then we watched Zombieland with my roommate Nickey and her boyfriend Gavin. Well The three of us watched it, Matt fell asleep within the 5 minutes.

Real quick, adding in that I was getting ready for bed and needed to ask Suzie if I could use one of her eggs in the morning for pancakes. She said yes and then I noticed a small gecko climbing on her door. So I picked it up in my hands and it JUMPED out of them. That little guy jumped a lot for how small he was. I ran around and showed everyone that is still here (all other roommates left their breaks). Here is a cute pic.

Prepping for Matt's arrival!!!

Slept in an hour later than I had intended. I set my alarm (on my phone) for 9 and it went off at 9am according to my cell phone's time. However, somehow during the night my phone went back an hour and I actually got out of bed at 10 am. So I missed the first half o f the day. I planned on going to the shopping center to buy food for when Matt get here and some other miscellaneous items. Turns out the mall is closed all day on Sundays. Same with Target and Kmart. Everything is closed on Sundays. So I will have to get up early and do my shopping before Matt gets here. Once her arrives he is not going to feel like going shopping. He will probably want a shower and to go to sleep.

So I talked to Matt until 2:00pm when he finally go to board his flight in L.A. Poor Matt. He works with explosive chemicals for a project at Crane Navel Base. So it took him 3 hours to get through security. He set off alarms, had to get interrogated by TSA officials, security guards, managers, and then finally they called in a bomb technician who gave him a card for clearance. So hopefully that card will help speed things up for when he tries to go through customs once he gets to Australia. He arrives in 11 hours!!!! I'm super excited!!!!!

After that I had a pretty lazy Sunday of doing laundry, cleaning my unit, and completing another homework assignment.

I went over to my friend Andrews place and we made chocolate chip cookies and watched Get Smart. It was pretty funny. I then came back and wasn't tired. Probably from a combination of sleeping in too late, excitement that Matt is coming, and a sugar buzz from the cookies. So I watched some late night television. Turns out it is just like late night American T.V. All of the commercials are about wild girls, if you know what I mean. The good news is that I didn't see a single informercial! Overall still very excited about Matt coming tomorrow and still not tired. But I will try to get some sleep in.

Hilary's Boat Harbor

Today I went to Hilary's Boat Harbor with through my housing unit. I hung out with Nickey and her boyfriend Gavin. It was a very pretty place. We had to take the bus from the 70's again. We got there ready to go to the beach, the aquarium, and the shops! Turns out it was really really windy. And not that warm. We were all wearing tank tops and shorts and probably should have been wearing pants and sweatshirts. We were pretty unprepared and cold. We went to the aquarium and it was too expensive so then we went and saw the shops and bought a bunch of stuff on sale (a real sale this time). I got a cute dress, some Aussie board shorts, a bracelet, and candy imported from England for Sophie's gift (she was born and raised in England and then moved to Singapore for the past 8 years.) We also discovered, a really cool water park and high ropes course near the end of the trip. We are very excited about it and plan on going back to do those activities.

After we came back I baked a lemon cake from scratch for my friend Sophie because it was her birthday! Then made a card for her as well. I did finish one assignment. I have 2 left to finish before Matt gets here. He leaves today at 6:45 pm from Chicago. He should arrive at 12:05 pm on Monday. Anyway, went over to Sophie's and surprised her at her door. As soon as she opened it we all started singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of our lungs. Her face turned bright red immediately. As soon as we got inside there was a knock at the door. There were 4 guys who were sitting outside on the other side of the courtyard and ran over to wish her a happy birthday and gave her hugs and then left. Everyone loved the cake. I was relieved, because it was my first time ever baking a cake from scratch. I normally use a boxed mix. I also had to make the icing from scratch. She loved the bracelet the Nickey bought her and went ecstatic over the candy I got her. We then played "Bullshit" their version. I then taught them the American version, which is much more fun. After that we played SPOONS which became very aggressive and dangerous very quickly, but we all had a good time. Last, we were taught a game called Turrets. The dealer will go head to head with one person at a time and make their way around the circle of people. They hold the deck of cards and flip the one on top onto the table. Whatever the card may be, you have to take the first letter of the card and say a word. (If the card is a 3, then you would have to race the other person in saying anything that begins with the letter "T") Same as if it were a Queen, race to say something that begins with "Q." You can NOT say the number on the card, and you can not repeat any words. Whoever loses would then take a drink. This goes on with the dealer vs each person all the way around the circle and then the deck os passed on to the next person. They would then go all the way around the circle. But we, honest to God, did not drink alcohol. We just wanted to play the game. Then we came home. Getting ready to head to bed.

Friday night out!

Went to 2 labs today. The second one, microbiology, I had a quiz in. I studied very hard for this quiz. It was at the end of the 3 hour lab period. After everybody has been stressing all of lab waiting to take the quiz and getting extra studying in between experiments, it turns out it was an open book quiz. I feel that I kicked-butt on this quiz. I didn't even need the open book. No worries I double checked all of my answers with the book just to make sure. Then came home and did a kickboxing workout with my friend Andrew. He seemed to have survived it all right.

After that, Andrew invited me to go out with him and his buddies. It was his friend Brendan's birthday. It was a lot of fun. First we went to Belgian Beer Cafe. It was a very chill environment with lots of very fancy beers that I have never even heard of before. Then we went to a very upbeat dance place called Carnagie's. Once that place started getting too crowded we moved to some, place that I never got the full name of, but I think the others called Exie's. That place was decently empty and played the most depressing music. I kind of sucked all of the life out of everyone. Then came home and am very ready to go to bed.

homework/ pancake day!

Had an economics quiz this morning. I don't think I did very well. I studied a lot for it. I read all of the chapters, read over all of the notes, re-did all of the homework problems. But the stuff that was on it I did not recognize. I had no idea how to do it. So I was a little bummed out for the rest of the day. After that had another class followed by a group meeting for a presentation that we are preparing for 1st and 2nd graders. Followed by another class and then 3 hours working on a paper.

Took a break for dinner, studied for my quiz in food microbiology tomorrow, and then went over to Sophie's and we had pancake night again! We are making it a goal to have pancakes every Thursday night. By pancakes they are really crepes. I ha my usual of nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), bananas, and vanilla ice cream. I did try one that was sprinkled in sugar and lemon juice. It was pretty good but I liked mine better. Now, I'm home and Im studying for my quiz a little bit more before I go to bed.

It has been a very busy week. I have one quiz left and one paper left to write before Matt gets here. Yay! He comes in 4 days!!!

Food Sensation

Today I went to the Food Bank with my friend Anna. We did this as an assignment for class. Once at the food bank we met up with 2 ladies; Gemma and Vanessa. The project was called Food Sensations. The food bank does this for low income areas as an educational tool for healthy eating. We all traveled to Belmay Primary School. There we worked with the kids and reviewed the food pyramid. After that the kids split up into groups and made healthy snacks. They made pizzas, wraps, mini sandwiches, yogurt vegetable dip, and peach and yogurt parfaits. The kids were really great and had such a fun time with everything. It was a very fun experience.

The school is very open. You enter the school and then enter a courtyard in order to access the classrooms. The courtyard is one big square where kids go for recess. Everyone brings a lunch from home. And they eat it under a big shelter.

They hang their book bags up outside of the classrooms.

From 3:30pm until 9:00pm I prepared for my dietetic internship interview with Sarasota Memorial Hospital. I think I over prepared. But, I was really nervous. I think it turned out really well. I'm very excited about it and very relieved at the same time.

Aboriginal Dance

The internet was still out this morning so I had to go to the library and get on the internet there. Around noon today our internet was fixed. Went to my aboriginal studies class. We had Aboriginals come and do a dance and teach us about their culture. There names are Paul, Carl, and Eugene. It was pretty cool. Here is a video of their welcome dance.

Here they are only wearing white paint. They wear three colors white, yellow, and red. The paints come from oka rock. They drop water on the rock and it mixes with the powder on the rock to make paint. They wear red paint for daytime spiritual dances (usually children) and white and yellow paint for spiritual dancing at night (adults). Men can only dance with men, and women can only dance with other women. Here is a picture of the 3 different rocks.

They also taught us about their weapons. The boomerang is a throwing stick. They told us that every body has a throwing stick in the beginnings of their culture (Africa, China, etc) but the Aboriginies are the only ones that created one that came back. The boomerang is designed for hunting. So you throw it and if it catches the wind it can go up to 100 kilometers and hour, 10 revolutions in a second. So you do NOT catch them when they come back because they will cut off your fingers. You just let it hit the ground first. Even though they hunt with the boomerang their primary weapon is a spear.

They also believe in 6 season (1 every 2 months). We are currently nearing the end of Banaroo (the hot season) and tribes will start getting ready for the winter season. They will prepare bookas (kangaroo pelts, as seen in the video).

Here is a series of pictures where Paul is making a knife to cut skin a kangaroo. First, you heat the end of a stick in the fire, Then you press gum powder on top of the warm stick. Next, you put the stick into the fire and the powder turns into and instant tar. Repeat this a few times until the end of the stick has a good amount of tar on it. Last, you press in a piece of sharp rock (you get this from banging rocks together until a piece breaks off).

The powder, by the way, is made of gum from the Belga plant, charcoal, and kangaroo poop. They would make this powder and export it overseas because if you throw a handful into the fire, the fire get really big for a moment. The powder is highly flammable. It was sell as gun powder.

Native aborigines are MUCH darker than these people here. The pure natives look like black people straight from Africa. Only Africans have hair that is very kinky. Aborigines have straight hair that is black or brown sometimes. These natives have either a white grandparent or a white parent of some type.

At the end, they had a few students volunteer to do a dance with them. First is the emu dance and second is the kangaroo dance. I'm not sure if they are actual dances or if they just wanted to make everyone look like fools.

Crazy Wicked Storm!!!10

So woke up this morning and according to weather.com it was thunder storming in Perth all day today. But actually it was quite sun shiny all day. Until after my class let out at 4:50 pm. This was my 2 hour lecture and we got out 10 minutes early. It takes me about 7 minutes to walk home from this class. On the way home I think I was sprinkled with 20 rain drops. I walked in the door to my unit, said hello to my roommates who were home at that time... and then KABOOM! All hell broke loose. The sky turned green, golf ball sized hail came down, lightning so bright it hurt my eyes, thunder so loud every one jumped every time it cracked and the wind was howling. We lost power for awhile. It came back on about 30 minutes later. But the internet did not come on for another 4 hours. Then the rest of my roommates came home. One of them saw lightning hit a tree beside her and the tree split in two! Another had a class that you have to swipe your ID card to get into and swipe to get out of. So she actually got stuck in class for an extra hour until the power came back on. Last I knew 4 buildings on campus had flooded including the library and the student center. From the first of the year on Perth had received 0.2 mm of rain and that was on February 7th. Today they received 35.4 mm of rain. So quite a bit. Here are some pictures during the storm and after the storm.

After that we watched the new and I guess Obama's health care something went through? was approved? I'm not sure because my roommates wouldn't be quite and I couldn't hear it. There was also no internet so I couldn't look it up either. Then one roommate, asked what I thought of the health care plan. I said that I could not give an opinion because I was not informed of what exactly was going on. (That is a partial truth and the other half is that there were about 6 other people in the room and I hate discussing politics, especially when I don't know what everyone else's views are) She then proceeded to tell me that America's problem is that there are too many people and that Australia's government can take care of their people because it is the right size. It was very hard, but I nicely said that it is not the size of the population that is the issue. Anyways, that discussion was going to go nowhere good, very quickly. So I went to my room and cleaned it and re-arranged it. So now I have space and don't have to squeeze between my desk and my bed. But my door only opens half way because the bed is in the way. All well.

I was able to get on the internet at 10pm last night long enough to access my blog site and start writing and then lost connection. So I'm able to post now only because I am at the library (11:30 am the next morning) where they have wireless internet. Turns out EVERYONE lost internet so the library is quite a mad house. I'm so glad I have my own laptop and don't have to wait in line for a computer.

I guess the storm made the national news. I'm safe and fine. No worries. Will post again tonight. But I'm safe.

Bought a Clock/ Maybe rain

Yay Sunday. Lazy Sunday. Slept in. Did homework. Studied economics with Sophie. Then Sophie and I went to the Fremantle market today so I could buy cheap fruits and veggies. It was pretty fun. While there I bought a wooden clock made from a jarrah tree. The clock has beautiful knotwork and is in the shape of Australia. It pretty nice. This clock is for Matt to give to the doctors and nurses who helped with is mom. I'll have to let Matt make the final call on whether he wants to give it away or get a different clock. I also tried to find AAA batteries but was unsuccessful at the market. I shall venture to the mall tomorrow for the batteries. They are important because I have an economics quiz this week where I will need a calculator, and I also have a phone interview with Sarasota Memorial Hospital for a dietetic internship. The lady with whom I spoke told me to make sure that I have a calculator near by. I think I will need it for calculating BMI, and calories for various weights and ages of people. When we came back from the market I watched the movie RENT with my roommate Suzie. Its kind of a sad musical. So now I'm in a weird mood after watching a movie about gays and lesbians drug addicts with HIV. So tomorrow morning there is supposed to be a thunderstorm. It was supposed to be all day today. Then was pushed back to 8 pm and now has been pushed to tomorrow morning. We shall see. If it does rain that will be the first time since I have been here. How crazy, almost 5 weeks with no rain. And yes that is normal here.

Footy Match

Went to the Pheonix Demons footy match against the East Fremantle Sharks today. It was a lot of fun. They are minor league teams with a crappy stadium but it was free. I took some video of the match. It is quite a rough sport. There are no helmets, pads, not any type of protection. Not even shin guards.

Here is the Demon mascot. I personally think it looks like a french ice skater. French because of the creep mustache, but that's just me.

So the Pheonix Demons are in black and red and the East Fremantle Sharks are blue and white. First one of the referees (in yellow and black) will bounce the ball on the ground as hard as he can so it will bounce straight up into the air. Then players jump and grab or tip it like in basketball. In order to pass the ball to another teammate they hold the ball in one hand and have to hit it with a closed fist with the other hand or drop kick it to a teammate. You can only run 15 meters with the ball and then you have to bounce it (like dribbling in basketball). Players can tackle, trip, fight, and do whatever it takes to get the ball from each other (similar to American football). The only thing they are NOT allowed to do is push on the back of another player.

There are 4 poles at each end of the field. In order to score the ball has to be kicked between the poles. If it goes through the 2 middle poles (the tallest poles) the team scores 6 points and they do another bounce off in the middle of the fields (like in soccer, where they start in the middle after each goal). It it goes between a set of an outer pole and an inner pole the team scores 1 point and the referee will throw it in backwards over his head and continue play.

18 players from each team are allowed on the field. There are 6 referees. The game is played in 4 20 minute quarters. It is a very fast paced and intense game. There was a point where two players jumped up for the ball and cracked heads and both fell backwards and laid there while the game continued.

The concessions stands are called "Canteen"

After the game came home and met up with some friends to play Uno, Taboo and watched The Italian Job.

I apologize for the fuzzy videography. I didn't realize that it was fuzzy until I got home. But you should be able to get the gist of it.

Dead Friday Night

Another long day. 6 hours of lab. Whoo Hoo! After class I pretty much chilled out in my room, did homework, and then watch transformers. The commercial breaks here are just as bad as at home if not worse. They turned a 2 hour movie into a 3 hour one. And yes the commercials are much louder than the TV show. I have plans to go to a footy match tomorrow. This is Australian Rule Football. It is a minor league team, but it is free. So I'm not going to complain. I'm very excited about it. I will take some footage. Hopefully, someone will be able to explain the rules to me so I can pass them along to you.

Pancake night

Had a bunch of boring classes today. Afterword, I worked on homework and then met with my friend Andrew for dinner at The Tavern. I had a pizza. It was really good. The crust was very soft. The pizza here is about the size of a dinner plate and it is meant for 1 person. So I guess it is like and adult size personal pan pizza. It is different because they do not use mozzarella cheese, they use their own cheese called Tasty. Same as American cheese for us. It is still very good and flavorful.

After dinner I came home and really wanted some dessert. So I made buckeyes (peanut butter and powdered sugar mixed together dipped in chocolate)! Obviously, no one here has every heard of them before. They turned out really well. I have never made them before so it was a bit of an experience. Everyone who liked peanut butter enjoyed them.

Then Nickey (my roommate) invited her boyfriend Gavin, friends Sophie and Shazyrin over and we made pancakes. Now keep in mind Nicky is from South Africa and Sophie is from England. So these pancakes are not like ours. They were pretty much exactly like crepes. We all put different things in them. Nicky, Shazyrin, and I put Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), banana slices, and vanilla ice cream in ours. Sophie put lemon juice and sugar in hers. Suzie put a chocolate frosting and golden syrup in hers. Golden syrup it best described as honey and maple syrup mixed together. You can only get golden syrup in Australia. The crepes were all very yummy!!! It was a pretty good night.

In Loving Memory

The whole day today was quite a blur. A very sad day. Matt's mother, Kathy Auter passed away at 6:10 am on Wednesday March 17th. She was a very lovely and kind hearted woman who will be missed by all. Please pray for her, her family and friends as they find their way through this difficult time.

Dear Lord,

Watch over a loved one tonight,

Blessed savior from above,

Guide her through eternal light,

Into thine arms of love.

Amen

Ned Kelley

Woke up this morning to hear that Matt's mom is in the hospital. Last I knew she came out of surgery fine and was getting settled in a room in the ICU. After that my day was just kind of slow moving. I did go to my Australian Studies class and learned about facts and myths of Australia. Then we watched a movie starring Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom about Ned Kelley and the Kelly Gang. Ned Kelley was Australia's first outlaw. I'm not entirely sure what was going on in the movie because the movie was quiet, the people behind me wouldn't be quiet, and the accents of the actors were very thick. So I think there was a crooked cop that wanted to date Ned Kelley's sister. She said no and then her brother stepped in to defend her and then there was a warrant for his arrest because the cop claimed that Ned Kelley tried to kill him later on after the bar brawl. The cops came to arrest him and Ned hid in 'the bush.' So they arrested his mother and sentenced her to 3 years hard labor. They declared Ned Kelley and the Kelley Gang all outlaws. This meant that anybody could shoot them without any questions asked. So then Ned Kelley and the Kelley Gang set out to rob banks, and cause mischief, and tick off the police. All of the people supported the Kelley Gang and helped hide them and defend them from the police. In the end, a friend ratted them out (because the reward was $8,000 a head, the biggest reward ever offered at that point in time, which was 1840's) and the police came and a huge battle started... and then we ran out of time and I have no idea how the movie ends. This is a 3 hour class. It is a 2 hour movie and the teacher gave us a 25 minute break in the middle. So I blame her for poor time management.

After class I went with my friend Arielle to go job hunting. We ran around Fremantle and passed out resume's for waitressing positions. It doesn't look promising because we are exchange students. This means we are only here 4 months, can only work up to 20 hours a week, we are not certified under Australia's standards to serve alcohol (we can get certified for $75, but it is not on our resumes), and have a different schedule of classes every day. But the minimum wage for a server is $19/ hour. So I thought I would try to make some extra money while I could.

Came home and made beef stroganoff from scratch. I usually make it via Hamburger Helper but that does not exist over here. It actually turned out quite well. Called a few people to try and get something together for St. Patty's Day (which is tomorrow). It is really not a big deal over here. There is 1 Irish Pub in the entire city. So we are going to try and go there. Just depends if we can figure out the bus system and if the busses run past 8pm.

One last kick; They have Strawberry Shortcake the character from books, movies, and dolls and her friends. But not one Aussie actually knew it was a dessert. I find that funny.

Official start of internships!

Woke up this morning and did laundry. Then I went with Suzie to the shopping center to buy groceries. I bought a bunch of fruits and veggies yesterday but I also needed things like yogurt, meat, granola bars, etc... Anyway came back and finished my laundry and then went to class. I did discover a chocolate covered wafer cookie thing called Gaiety. It is like a fat piece of Kit Kat bar. Except better. Now that I have discovered these I think I'm going to get fat. They are delicious. I also made another thing of strawberry shortcake and shared it with some more of my roommates. I didn't realize it was just an American thing. My roommates from South Africa, Australia, and Norway all really loved it. I did buy vanilla ice cream today to put on top of the shortcake. On Wednesday it will be St. Patty's Day. I asked around to find out about festivities and it turns out it is not a big deal here. I learned of 1 Irish pub downtown that will have a band and drink specials but that is about it.

Last bit, I received a phone call today from a head of the dietetic internship program at Sarasota Hospital today!!! She called to schedule a phone interview!!! I'm very excited and yet nervous. It will be next Wednesday at 9:00 pm my time. If anyone has tips on how to prepare for a phone interview please let me know. I'll take all of the help I can get.

Queen Mary 2

Lounged around for awhile and then did a kickboxing workout. Then I went out with my roommate Suzie to Fremantle. The Queen Mary 2 cruise ship came into port today. It is the second largest cruise ship in the world and dumped off 3,000 people into the port city. So there were special events going on in the city. There were more vendors at the market, and many more street performers than usual. So Suzie and I went shopping. I got mom a stylish hat, the second graders little koalas that clip onto pencils, an oven mit (because I have burnt myself a couple of times this past week), and a couple of aboriginal painted dishes. Then we caught the tail-end of the farmers market and I got a ton of fruits and vegetables really cheap!!!! because they would rather sell them cheap instead of loosing money. I got 4 quarts of strawberries for $5!! Normally, they are $5 for 1 quart. So I made strawberry shortcake tonight for dessert after dinner. Turns out that this dessert does not exist here so my non- American/ Canadian roommates tried it and then they fought over it! That made me feel good. At least I can bake shortcake and smash strawberries for a scrumptious dessert.

Caversham Wildlife Park (lots of pictures!)

I woke up bright and early after Beach Bash to go to Caversham Wildlife Park. It was totally worth it!!!! I was a little skeptical of the busses. They came straight out of the 70's and smelled so bad. We had to ride them for an hour each way.

When we first got to Caversham they took us in to go see the farm show. We learned about how the use Australian Kelpie dogs to heard and drive the sheep. Then we got to see a sheep shearing demonstration, Learned how to crack a whip, and milk a cow. Shearer's get paid $2-3 per sheep, they shear about 150-200 sheep a day. The "fleece" (wool) that is shaven off is sold for $20 each. Then they are made into $1,000 dress suits and things. Also pictured, are very cut little lambs. Yes wer have them at home, but I couldn't resist.

Then we got to wonder around the rest of the park. I mostly hung out with a girl named Melonie. She is from Canada. We got to pet koalas. We were informed that they sleep 18-20 hours a day, so they are mostly sleeping in my pictures, and that they are NOT a bear. So don't call them koala bears because every Aussie gets upset. Also, when you pet a koala you have to use the back of your hand, and only pet their backs. Their coats kind of feel like wool, soft and a little stiff. I was fortunate enough to get a video of one walking (which looks really funny) and then jumping into a tree!

We also got to feed kangaroos! And pet them too! They were so cute. And extremely well tamed. I have so many pictures but I can't post all of them. At the end Melonie and I wandered towards the back of the feeding area and found a very tiny and very cute kangaroo.

Here is such and adorable picture of Melonie with the kangaroo. I wanted to get a picture like that too. I knelt down beside him I said to Melonie "I hope he doesn't bite me" and as I did my long hair swung and I think he thought it was attacking him. So he instantly clawed and attacked my head. I have a small scratch next to my eye, and my ear was pretty red. Don't worry it was the ear with 3 hoops in it. Melonie snaped the picture right after it happened and only got me jumping away. I tired to get my picture and chickened out, hence the horror look on my face. Then we stood up to walk away, took 2 steps, and he jumped up and attacked Melonie's arm. All of the other kangaroos were really sweet. Just this one was not. I think he was mad that we were leaving and that we ran out of food. Here is the series of events.

Next, we got to see and pet a wombat. I did not realize how gigantic these creatures were. I always though they were small like an opossum's size. But they are about knee height and 2-3 feet long. They are about the size of a medium-large dog. This is a full grown man holding one. We were only allowed to pet its legs. It kind of looks like a cross between a bear and a rodent.

Here are a bunch of animals. Everytime I post, I write it up and place the pictures and label them. Then when I submit the post it gets all screwed up. Hopefully, you will be able to tell which animal is what. Here is a Dingo. It came right up to the fence and Melonie said she wanted to pet it. I then had to tell her "Do not put your hands in the Dingo fence, it will bite them off. The fence is electric for a reason."

Next is a kookaburra. I tried to get a video of it "singing" or laughing like a old creepy witch. Whatever you want to call it. But I was unsuccessful. Here is an emu. The picture doesn't show it very well but their heads are very blue. The oil they produce is used in a lot of lotions and creams because it is very good for the skin.

The tasmanian devil is sleeping. But I'm told that when they make noise it sounds like the devil laughing and in the sun their ears turn bright red.

Here is a black footed rock wallaby. Wallabies and kangaroos are different. The guide said it was the size of the thighs that made them different. They looked the same to me.

Here is a quokka. Still don't really know how to pronounce it. Kind of looks like and extra fluffy rat.

Here is the Australian Shellduck. It is actually quite colorful. And a picture of a black swan since I have not been able to get one yet, and it is very important to the city of Perth.

This is a long-nosed potoroo. Didn't even know it existed. Just took the picture because I thought the name was funny.

I took this picture for my brother Todd. This is a male and female pair of Gang Gang Cocatoos. I just thought they were pretty and thought of you and Alicia, the only people I know who have pet birds.

This is me doing my best Steve Irwin impression at the souvenir shop. What do you think? I want one of those hats....but they are $92!

After Caversham Wildlife Park we went to Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Turns out it is a factory but we only had access to the shop part. So I didn't get to see any chocolate being made. And the chocolate they had was rediculously expensive. I'm not just saying that because I'm a frugal college kid. It was between $15-30 for a box of 7-12 bite size chocolates. Also $25-40 for a hollow Easter Bunny. And no they were not that big of chocolate bunnies either. But across from the chocolate factory was a winery. So I took some pictures because I have never been to a winery and I thought it was pretty scenic.