Didgeridoo Lesson

Went to downtown Fremantle today with my friend Alyssa. We stopped in at a shop that sold aboriginal art, boomerangs, and musical instruments including Digeridoos!!! One of the gentlemen working there told us how Digeridoos are made. They Aboriginies find eucalyptus trees and knock on the branches and listen for one that is hollow. Termites are the real artists that eat out the middle of the branch. Once the hollow branch has been cut the base or the bigger end of the digeridoo is hand carved out just a little bit more. Wax is placed on the ring of one end. An authentic digeridoo would have designs carved or burned onto it. There are painted ones, but those are mostly found in souvenir shops. Here is a picture of Alyssa and I playing them followed by a video of the gentleman playing one. Just to let you know that when we played we didn't sound nearly as good as the guy did. It was a fun and educational experience. By the way, the plain simple digeridoos were $165. They only went up in price from there. The most elaborate ones were $965. So I did not buy one. I'm really tempted though. (I can't figure out how to get the picture in an upright position, sorry)

After that we continued on our way around Fremantle and looked at various souvenir shops. It was fun.

In Australian news, yesterday in Melbourne it rained, previously it was in a drought. It only rained for 1 hour but it was so much rain that the entire city flooded! The news clips showed people walking on the street in the rain trying to get to higher ground. The water was about knee height. Cars were getting stuck in the street because they couldn't drive through the water. There was also hail 10 cm big! It was insane. Today, the next day, because Australia is flat the flooding has spread over most of the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is located) I'm glad I'm on the other side of the country.

Also there was a 3 year old indian by who was kidnapped, thrown into the 'boot' of the car (if you don't remember the boot is the trunk) driven around for a few hours and then his body was dumped along the side of the road. I have been here for 18 days and this is the first crime that has been reported on the news. In America hearing something like that somewhat normal, sadly. Americans turn on the news and hear about robberies, murders, and rapes. Then other various stories come on. I understand why Australians don't want to go to America. They all think they will get shot and mugged.

In local (Indiana) news, Eric went home from the hospital today!!! It was also revealed that Rayelle is pregnant with her second child!!!! Yay!! For the record, I guessed that she was pregnant a couple of weeks ago, she just wouldn't answer me. I love you Rayelle, and congratulations to you, Kyle, Cole and Cory.