Pictures of fruit

Woke up this morning and jetted off to work. Since I went to bed late Friday night after girls night out and then woke up early for the eternity long review session, and went to bed late again on Saturday night from the comedy show and woke up early for the morning tea, I was very tired today. I woke up and did not want to get up out of bed. I also had no motivation to do a workout. I went to work at took pictures of fruit for 5.5 hours. I was excited at first, because it was something other than data entry. But after a while it became a little mundane. We would place fruit on a plate, take a picture, and then take 4 measurements from the camera to various parts around the plate. We would take 5 pictures of the same piece of fruit at various heights to alter the measurements. It wasn't taking picture that was the hard part, it was measuring the same thing over and over again.

After work I went to the food microbiology review session that every one gave me evil looks for last week. Well, most of the class showed up so it couldn't have been too bad of an idea. I found it somewhat helpful. We also got out tests back from Friday. I got a 7/10. There was only one other person who got a score that high. So I was REALLY excited!!!

Then I came home and piddled around for an hour and a half until I was motivated to finish my 2,000 essay that is due tomorrow at noon. All I have left to do is list my references. YAY!!! Then I will get to start on my 2 essays that are due on Friday. Well, they are much shorter and shouldn't take very long to write.

That is about it. I know not much exciting.

Oh yeah, there is something I have been meaning to blog about for a while now. I discovered something about 2 weeks ago and I just kept forgetting to blog about it.

First, I need to write a short background story. When I was about 2-3 years old. Mom and dad would ask what I wanted to eat for breakfast. EVERY single day I would say "Baked Beans!" To defend myself a little bit, dad would make baked beans by adding in brown sugar to make them really sweet, no different than any kids cereal in my opinion. This has always been a funny story to tell everyone, especially the boys I would date.

Anyway, I was entering data from forms where people would take pictures of the foods they ate. A common breakfast dish is toast with baked beans on top and a fried egg on top of that. So apparently, I was destined to go to Australia because I eat their traditional dishes without even knowing it :)

Morning Tea

I woke up bright and early and ventured to a friend's birthday at their parent's house with their close family. They celebrated at 10:00am in time for morning tea. It was nice to venture out of the city and go to the hills. It was a small and quaint town called Glen Forrest. We ate gluten-free cake, mini beef pies, sausage rolls (similar to pigs in a blanket), and homemade pavlova (a baked meringue base filled with whipped cream and chocolate and nuts).

So needless to say we just skipped lunch since we were still very full from morning tea.

Once back in the city we headed down to the Fremantle farmer's market so I could buy fruits and veggies. We also strolled over to the Fremantle Prison so I could buy a souvenir, since I was unable to when I got the prison tour. I bought a magnet of a little prisoner that looks like he is climbing the refrigerator.

Came home and ate some leftovers and made a beautiful fruit salad for dessert!! YUM!! And then I worked on my 2,000 word essay that is due on Tuesday. I'm around 1400 words and calling it quits for the evening.

Economics Review Session/ Akmal Saleh

I woke up bright and early at 7:30am on a Saturday morning to go to an Economics Final Review Session. We have 1 more week of class and then a week off for studying and then 2 weeks of exams. I got dressed, ate breakfast and packed a lunch and snacks because I knew today was going to be a long day. The review session started at 9:00am. But we got there about 8:15am. All of the economics classes were going to this one review session. over 1,000 people were going to squeeze into a room that fit 200. That is why we got there early, to stand in line. Every 1.5 hours we would take a 5 minute break. Around 2:30pm (5.5 hours later) we had covered 10 chapters worth of material and there were still 5 chapters left. But the group of people that I know in that class Sophie, Sazryn, Sven, Piper, and Tomas and I all bailed. We just couldn't do it anymore. I was writing stuff down and I didn't even know what question we were answering. No worries we went backwards in the material so the hardest stuff was covered first, and the last 5 chapters were those that we learned at the beginning of the year.

I then went home and took a nice shower to further eliminate the stench of the Chinese medicine for my muscles. I think I was able to get rid of the smell completely this time. I then took a trip to the IGA and bought some milk, cheese, and yogurt. I was really mad that I had to miss the Farmer's market this morning for the review session because I am completely out of fruits and veggies :(

I then spent about 1.5 hours watching TV and letting my brain recover. Then I finished my reflection writing about my trip to Foodbank.

A friend had made some beef strogonoff for dinner and had too much. So I assisted them in eating it. Which is good because I really don't have much food. I was planning on making an egg sandwich for dinner.

I was able to scrounge up some people to go to the last show of the Comedy Festival that has been going on for the past 2 weeks. We went and saw Akmal Saleh. He was born in Egypt and moved over to Australia when he was 11. He was very funny and pretty entertaining. When we went before to see Michael Connell the tickets were $15 and it was a small venue. Apparently this guy is a big deal and his tickets were $36 and in a place called The Astro Theater (Very similar to Elliot Hall). We bought the tickets with about 30 minutes to kill before the show so we walked and found a nice ice cream place! By the time we got through the line we had to take our cones with us. So at least we got to eat ice cream for the first bit of the show. Kind of nice. Then came home and delt with internet issues until now, when I can finally post my blog. YAY!

Foodbank/ Girls night out

Woke up extra early and went to my professors office at 8:30 to get a ride to foodbank. We got a tour of foodbank for out Nutrition Education class. Foodbank is a place where grocery stores like Coles, Woolworths, and IGA can donate their extra food. Before they would have to pay a dumping fee, now they can donate for free and get tax benefit. The food is then sorted out and given to charities to pass out to those in need. It was pretty cool to learn about it.

We were done early and I got to go home for a nice 2 hour break before my test in my food microbiology lab. I think I did pretty well. As soon as I was done with the lab I busted my butt home and met up with Nicky and we took off to Chinatownfor a girls afternoon/ evening out.

We walked around and got some bubble tea. It is a fruit flavored tea with tapioca jellies at the bottom that you suck up through the straw.

We went and got massages in Chinatown. It was $15 for a head and neck massage. We sat on stools and they started hacking at us. The massage was 10 minutes but very nice. At the end the guys giving the massages wanted to put Chinese medicine on our backs to keep our muscles relaxed. I asked how much and they said $5. So we decided to go a head (they already opened up the packages and put them on our backs). They placed 2 patches the smelled like Icy Hot on our backs. They said to leave them for 24 hours and then switch to the other 2 patches still in the packet. They then tried to charge us $35! Turns out is was $5 per patch! So we said no and just paid for the 2 on our backs. We then walked around the rest of the evening smelling like inured athletes.

We walked around drinking our bubble teas after our massage and stumbled upon a public toilet that was completely automatic. Here is Nicky posing by the toilet.

Here is a video demonstration of the public toilet.

We then walked around and found different hair salons. The first place wanted $72 for a hair cut (no shampoo or style). The next place wanted $160. We then stumbled upon a place that only charged $48 for wash, dry, cut, and style. So I got my hair cut! It turned our really well.

This is some poor lady seated by the window. I just wanted to get a picture of the contraption on her head.

Before picture:

After:

We discovered a little Chinese convenience mart and bought some Chinese cream filled cookies called Hello Panda. They turned out to be AMAZING! So we will probably go back just to by more of them.

It was then time to get our nails done! Nicky got a buff and paint and I got a spa pedicure.

Our appointment was for 6:30pm but the guy was running behind and didn’t start on us until 7:00pm. We finished at 8 pm. Just in time for dinner!

We went to a pretty nice restaurant and got chicken and sweet corn soup, roasted duck, stir fry vegetables, steamed rice, and fruit for dessert. It was quite nice.

We then got a crazy idea for Nicky to get something pierced. She wanted to get her ear pierced but all of the piercing places closed at 9pm. So then we called it a night and headed home on the train. Overall a very entertaining evening.

I just got done ripping off the stinky patches. I now have 2 rectangles of smooth skin on my neck and shoulders (hey free waxing!). But the patches did leave some sticky residue all over the place.

Rainy day/ Greasy pancakes

Again, not much exciting happened today. Sorry I guess that is what you get near then end of the semester. I went to my econ tutorial this morning. I walked outside and though "it seems a bit cloudy" I made it to the edge of campus and it started raining. I decided it wasn't worth it to walk back (a decision I will soon regret). I had to get to the print shop before class so I could print off my notes. After econ (boring!!!) I then walked through the rain to my nutrition education class. We spent 2 hours learning that adolescent boys eat A LOT!!! That was about it. After that class I walked through the rain and cashed in a coupon for free coffee that I got for participating in a food sensory research project on grilled chicken. So I was able to cash it in for a Chai Tea Latte. It was delicious.

Then I went to me econ lecture, in the rain. After lecture I went to work, in the rain, and showed Katherine (another research assistant) how to work the program I've been using to enter the food records.

I then went home, in the rain, and studied for my food microbiology test that is tomorrow.

We did have our weekly pancake night! Suzie insisted on hosting it this week. Suzie really pissed me off tonight. First she insisted a week ago that she wanted to host pancake night. Then tonight she says "oh tonight is pancake night, I need 2 apples to make my pancakes. Kaylin do you have any apples?" She is such a tight wad. I know she didn't buy any apples because she knew that she could get them off of me for free. I was so mad because I only had 1 apple left and I gave it to her along with a pear as a substitute. The pancakes turned our pretty bad. She put way too much oil in the pan and pretty much deep fried them. They were also very floury tasting and bland. Then everyone came over and she commanded them to eat her nasty deep fried super oily pancakes and then sternly told them that they all have to do their own dishes bc she refuses! So I got up and started doing everyone's dishes (bc I live with her so I figured I should at least do it). I just though to myself that you don't host a party and then make everyone else clean! Then she started yelling at me for doing the dishes. I just told her that as the host you dont make people do their own dishes and that it was rude. She then said "Oh my it is 9:30...time for bed!" So I finished cleaning up and left all of her stuff out! There was so much oil that splattered everywhere that I was slipping on the floor! No worries, I left the oily mess. She can clean it up tomorrow when she wakes up.

UGH!! It just makes me upset that she insisted on being the host and then was so rude to everyone. She also complains all of the time about how dirty the kitchen is and tonight she left it a mess and refused to clean it!

Ok that was a bit of a vent. But I do feel better now. I love having so many roommates. (sarcasm).

Race Results/ Band in the Quad

Race results are posted! Well I received the email yesterday but forgot to put it in my post last night. So here is the link http://www.Marathon-Photos.com/scripts/event_entry.py?event=Sports/JRAU/2010/HBF%20Run%20for%20a%20Reason;match=6759

Too bad 1 photo is $29.95! So expensive. At home when we have 5K runs you pay between $10-$25 and get a free t-shirt at least. Here I paid $27 for the run and if I wanted a T-shirt is I had to pay and additional $40!

Anyway I got up this morning and decided to go to work instead of running. I worked for two hours and then went to the quad to eat my leftovers for lunch. Every Wednesday they have a band playing. So this time I remembered my camera and took pictures. They aren't that good. I'll have to go back later and get some better ones.

Then I took off to my econ class! That was almost exciting. I did learn to never purchase and small items from a coffee shop. They price coffee, cakes, muffins...etc with a 400% mark-up. it cost about 17 cents to make a cup of coffee and we pay about $5 for it. Same with the slice of cake. It costs about $10 for the entire cake and each slice is about $4-5 each.

Then I met up with a classmate to go over our study guide for our lab test on Friday for our microbiology class. Then I went back to work for an hour.

I did finally get home and was so tired of sitting on my bum all day that I did a kickboxing workout. I invited a few people to join but it was just me who did the workout.

After showering and dinner I did my econ homework. Whoo hoo! (sarcasm)

It did rain all day. It is supposed to rain this whole week. At least this weekend Perth is having a comedy festival so hopefully after my painfully long econ review session this saturday I will be able to enjoy some more comedians.

Post 100!!! Northbridge Walking Tour

This is my 100th day in Australia. Crazy!! I go home in 5 weeks! I'm not ready to go back. I love it here!

So I woke up this morning and my legs were sore. It took 2 days for my muscles to get stiff.

Anyway, I don't know if I have explained this before or not but the city of Perth is split into sections. Much like New York City with Brooklyn and Bronx. Today I went with my class to an area called Northbridge. It received this name because there is bridge over the river and this district is North of it. I know...super creative. We were to meet there. So I went with my friend Anna and a couple other kids from our class. Our directions were to meet in front of the Western Australia Art Museum by The Caller statue. We got there 15 minutes early and walked all over the place and could not find the statue. We even asked 3 workers and they had never heard of it. Turns out there was some heavy remodeling construction going on and the statue was covered up by a giant wooden box that had since been spray painted with graffiti. No wonder we couldn't find it. After finding our teacher and our tour guide we set off.

Our guide was John Aitken. He was a very nice and charming old man. I think he must have been in his 70's. He told us historic facts with a few side stories of when he was growing up as we walked around.

He took us around and described old buildings that weren't there anymore, and showed us areas, like where public hangings used to take place, that had now been built over or torn down. John has been involved in theater most of his life and he took us to a tine theater called The Blue Room. This was one of the very few historic buildings that has stayed up. The reason it could not be torn down was because there was a mural inside that was painted by someone famous (that I have never heard of before). But here are some pictures. It was really cool to see the mural. It is located back stage so only the actors (and people on this tour) get to see it. The mural covers all 4 walls and the ceiling of the room.

The ladder is not part of the mural. Workers were doing something up in the attic. If you look closely you can see that the mural incorporates a lot of famous actors, starts, characters, and play writes.

Yes that is the air vent coming out of the wall that is serving as the plane's front end.

This is a picture of the ceiling. It was just paint and a cardboard saw blade but still looks like an actual hole is getting cut.

He then showed us around some more and we went through Chinatown. I've been to Northbridge before but only on the main strip. If you deviate from the main road by 1 street you get Chinatown. I've talked my roommate into going with me on Friday for a girls day out. Everything is cheap in Chinatown so we are going to et our nails done, massages, authentic Chinese food!

This is some man in Chinatown's bike. Looks like he had a pet bird. This is the type of bird that commonly found all over. So it is unusually that it is trained as a pet (like us having a pet robin, or blue jay)

Oh yeah and John kept telling stories about boarding houses. He kept calling them boardies. He then mentioned a story about a mistress at a boardy who had a pyramid shaped diamond ring (pretty descent size) and when there was an issue with one of the "mugs" male customers she would take him outside to have a discussion and swing the back of her hand across his face and knock him unconscious and then call the cops to pick up the unconscious body. That was when it clicked for everyone that when John said boardy he was really saying "bawdy" which means a brothel. Suddenly all of his stories became much more interesting.

After the tour we went our separate ways. Anna stayed in Northbridge to participate in some alcohol study. She had to give feedback about alcohol advertisements. I went back to campusto go to work for 3 hours. Then I came home and made a fabulous dinner of garlic and parmesan chicken sausages and lemon and herb cous cous stir fry. Follow with a bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered shortbread cookies crushed and mixed into it.

Then I studied economics for 3 hours. Way exciting. I took a study break in the middl and watch the season finale of the 20th season of Survivor with Nicky and Gavin. It was actually pretty intense. They had been watching it every week. I would catch episodes here and there. So yeah, now I'm back to studying.

Numb Bum Day

Ugh!!! What a day. My legs are just fine from yesterday's run. So I did a kickboxing workout this morning. I got online and chatted with mom and dad and heard all about dad's amazing birthday party that I missed. I then went to work for 4 hours. My brain pretty much melted from lack of stimulation. I then ate lunch and went to my last food microbiology class of the year!!! Well we have a review session during our class time next Monday. It is hard to believe that next week is the last week of classes! YIKES!! I have so much stuff to get done before then.

After class I then went back to work for 2 hours. What a bad idea. My brain was complete mush! But I did work 6 hours today!!! Thats a lot of money!!! I'm excited!!! I reheated some leftover spaghetti at work for dinner. I was so hungry I took a big bite and burnt the daylights out of my tongue.

After work I finally got to come home!! I then socialized with my roommates for a while. Nicky's legs are very sore from yesterday's run. Suzie had her first day at work doing retail for a shop called Best and Less. So she was complaining about being on her feet all day. When I got home I contributed by complaining about how numb my bum was from sitting on it all day.

We then watched Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory. After that I went to my room with every intention of studying for econ but somehow found a million other more interesting things to do instead. So I guess I will just study double tomorrow.

Run for a Reason

Woke up bright and early at 5:30am today!!! I ddin't need to get up until 6:30 but I woke up excited like a kid on Christmas morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Nicky Gavin and I arrived to the race around 7:15am. Upon arrival we walked through a small park and I saw a family of black swans!

It was a bit chilly this morning and cloudy as well. I snapped a couple of pictures of us before the race but then we checked our bags and took off to the starting lines.

I got in the line for the 4.5K and Nicky and Gavin got in the line for the 14.5K. The start lines were on the same road but opposing each other. I was pretty cool when the buzzer started the race and all of the 4.5K runners ran past all of the 14.5K runners cheering each other on.

I ran up and down 3 MAJOR hills. I had nagging side cramps but nothing bad enough to force me to stop and stretch (thank goodness). After the hills we ran around the WACA (Western Australia Cricket Association) stadium and then finally entered the stadium and to the finish line in the middle. I sprinted my bum off for the last half kilometer and finished in 25 minutes. By the way 4.5K is about 2.7 miles. I grabbed a water bottle and fruit and did my stretches on the lawn. The weather was beautiful for running. It was cool enough to not break a sweat while running but not too cold either. After the hard run in it started raining just a little bit. It was a nice refresher. I went and collected my bag and then waited for Nicky and Gavin to finish their race.

Just to reflect, it was really nice to run today. I have never ran a race like that before. It was great because it felt good to run and know I could do it, to run with 10,000 other people at the same time, and make a difference by raising money for various charities.

I made my way towards the entrance of the stadium. It was pretty cool to see Nicky and Gavin round the corner into the stadium and cheer them on. They ran the entire way and held hands as they crossed the finish line and gave each other a big kiss. Unfortunately I was unable to get my camera out and turned on in time for their moment. They finished in 1 hour and 33 minutes!!!

We took the train back home (free for all runners for the day!) By the time we got back the cold weather had sunk in. So I had a giant mug of hot chocolate when we got back.

Nicky and Gavin chilled out for the rest of the day. I don't blame them because their legs were pretty jello-like. I went out to lunch with a friend and we ordered a tasting plate. This usually involves fruit, veggies, cheese, and crackers. Not this time. It was all deep fried greasyness. Not what you want after a run.

There is a coffee drive through place called MuzzBuzz. These little shops are set up all over the place. Today I decided that I wanted to get a re-usable coffee thermos from one of these places. We went to 2 different ones and neither had re-usable coffee thermoses in stock. So I will try again later.

Made my way back home and took a nice nap. Then I woke up in time for dinner. I made myself some hashbrowns, mixed veggies, and steak!!! For dessert I had what was left of the s'mores supplies.

Mike and Andrew got a hold of some sparklers and had an awesome idea to place the sparklers on a toy helicopter's blades. So then we went outside and lit the sparklers and tried to get the helicopter to fly. Didn't really have much luck with it flying but we had quite a laugh at the whole event.

Free persimmons, S'mores, playing in the rain

I woke up this morning and made biscuits and gravy!!!!! I had been craving them for awhile now. The biscuit recipe was not very good but the sausage gravy part turned out really well. My roommates like biscuits and gravy too. Afterwords I was going to go for a run but it started down pouring. Normally I would go ahead and run in the rain. I love running in the rain! But I didn't want my shoes to be wet for the race tomorrow.

I made my way to the farmers market around 12:30pm. It closes at 1. I went to the booth that gave me a discount last time. The guy recognized me and asked how The American was doing. I told him I was doing great. Last time he tried to sell me a fruit I didn't recognize. When I asked him what it was he said he had no idea and just wanted to get rid of them. So this time I asked if he knew what the fruit was yet. He still didn't. He claimed they were orange tomatoes. I informed him that they were persimmons. Since I could tell him what he was selling I asked him to give me a discount. So I paid $1 for all of the produce in my arms. 4 bananas, 5 oranges, broccoli, and a head of lettuce. Then after I paid I asked if he wanted me to take some persimmons off of his hands. He said take the whole box!! I ended up with about 15 persimmons. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I have looked up some recipes online for persimmon cheesecake, cookies, bread, and cake. Either way it should all be delicious !

After the farmers market it started raining again. I worked on my essays that are due soon and laundry. I didn't have any clean running clothes for tomorrow because I've been running twice as much lately trying to figure out how to get rid of my stupid side cramps.

I went grocery shopping for dinner and dessert. I made Philly Cheese steak sandwiches for dinner! And s'mores for dessert. I've been on quite a kick lately with American foods. At the store I discovered 3 things: 1. The french dressing is clear over here not red or orange, 2. There is no such thing as butterscotch chips (like chocolate chips) to bake with, and 3. Rice Krispies are called Rice Bubbles.



My roommates loved both the Philly Cheese Steak and S'mores! They were pretty good. I had to use a cracker called Nice. It is a regular cracker but instead of salt on top it is sugar. It was the closest I could come up with for a graham cracker substitute. Also Cadbury milk chocolate instead of Hershey's and flavored marshmallows. We have an electric stove, but we were able to find a candle and roast our marshmallows over it. We rented a movie called The Gift. It was pretty good. We popped popcorn and even took a break in the middle to run around outside in the rain because it was storming down so hard. One of the guys picked me up over his head took me back out. He ran around yelling that his umbrella (me) was crap! Then he put me down on my side straight into the wet and muddy grass!! What a punk! So I ran back inside and he followed me and I got a coffee mug filled it up with water and dowsed him!!! So now we are even!!

Earlier that guy had been explaining how he and his roommate have been playing practical jokes on each other all semester. So I stole Mark's joke on Sophie and we went over and stole the roommate's (Mike's) mattress. But we took all of the sheets and pillows and put it back on the bed so it looks like it is still there until he goes to lay down on it. We also stole of the shoe laces out of his shoes!

Then we went back and finished watching the movie. It was a very good very funny evening with great company.

Lazy Susan's Comedy Den

Woke and went straight to my Nutrition education lab. We learned about the traffic light system that they have in place for school canteens. Remember canteen equals lunch room. Dietitians went through all of the schools’ menus and determined what was a green food, amber food, or red food. If it is green it is fresh fruits and veggies, whole grain bread, white high fiber bread, lean meats and low fat milk, cheese and yogurt. Amber foods include regular milk, cheese, yogurt, popcicles, and chicken nuggets. Red foods are ice cream, chocolate, cookies, and food that are high in sugar or salt (like fries and pop). So it was kind of interesting to learn that there has been a huge push to ban red foods and to increase the school menus to as much green foods as possible. Schools can serve amber foods but only twice a week.

During my one-hour break I stopped in and helped Deb Kerr (the professor I’m helping in research) to take pictures of various fruits for a research project. I then took off to my microbiology lab and was the only one of my lab group (of 4) to show up. So I had to work by myself today. I also found out that we have a quiz next week! YIKES! We just had one 2 weeks ago!

I then returned to work for another 2 hours. After work I ran home and started making spaghetti for dinner. Nicky, Gavin, Andrew and I all took off around 7:30pm to go to Lazy Susan’s Comedy Den for a stand up comedy show! There were 3 comedians. The first two were a little dry, cursed a lot, and made a bunch of sexual references. The last one was the headliner of the show and was absolutely hysterical!

Here are some pictures of us waiting for the show to begin.

Here is a short video of the headliner Michael Connell.

While waiting for the show to begin we went downstairs to the bar and I asked for a Shirley Temple. The bartender disappeared for a while and came back and poured orange juice in a glass and topped it of with grenadine and a lime slice. Not it, but delicious! I went back during the intermission and asked another bar tender for a Shirley Temple. He leaned into me and said no one here knows what the f*** that is. So I told him it was sprite and grenadine. He then informed me that that drink is called a fire engine. Only in Canada and US is it called a Shirley Temple.

apples, chocolate, pancake/ practical joke night

Woke up and went straight to class. Our class that normally has about 20 people in it only had about 7 today because there was a nasty car crash that took out power lines that happened on the main road into campus today. So a lot of people were backed up in traffic. We got our quizzes back from last week. I received a 9 out of 10 on my econ quiz!!!! YAY!!! Then we went over the homework questions. I did what I could of my homework for that class and went in today with 3 questions. My tutor didn't answer a single one. I don't remember if I mentioned this before or not but my tutor looks exactly like a hobbit. He is chubby and has frumpy curly hair and a bit of a pig nose. He is a very nice guy he just doesn't know what he is talking about. So he makes me upset every time we have our class. I feel as if it is a complete waste of time.

I then took off to my nutrition education class. We learned about nutrition requirements for women who are pregnant. It would be exciting had I not already taken the class at Purdue. So again another class today that felt like a waste of time.

I had an hour to kill before my next class so I went over to the public health building to drop off a form for work. On my way to the office I followed signs that read "Do you like apples? Go this way" with an arrow pointing. It lead to the basement. I got to participate in a food sensory study for 20 minutes. I got to try various types of apples and give feedback on why I did or did not like them. Then I was rewarded with a giant lindt chocolate bar. That would be a Swiss chocolate bar!!!! Whoo Hoo!

Then I went to my econ lecture. It is so much more enjoyable with a giant chocolate bar beside me :)

I then went home and procrastinated as much as I could for about an hour and then sat down and started working on my 2,000 word essay for my Australian Studies class. I have to compare an aspect of Australia to my home country. Lucky, for me I have all of the tour guide books. They are making out to be great sources!!! All I need now is a travel guide for the US. Even though I was born in raised in the US I feel like I know more about Australia then the US on certain topics. Probably because I was eager to learn about Australia because I'm a tourist and I was forced to learn stuff about the US, so it wasn't as exciting in that context.

I then left around 8:30 I left for the weekly tradition of Pancake Night!!! Sven was supposed to make them tonight but her suddenly had class. I think he just wanted to get out of it. So Sophie cooked instead. So again we had crepes. Mom sent me a comic that I shared with my pancake group. The comic was of a dad in the kitchen who told his kid that he was making creepies. The kid said "I think you mean crepes" Then the mother pops in on the conversation and says "You haven't tasted them yet" Everyone got a kick out of it.

I was helping Sophie in the kitchen making the pancakes and they boys were running around the whole unit back and forth and back and forth. We sit down to eat the pancakes and afterwords Sophie looks at Mark and says "what did you do to my room!" Apparently in the past Sophie leave her card lying around the living room or kitchen. (This is the cared that you scan to get into your own room. The door automatically locks behind you so you carry your card with you everywhere). In the past Mark would see it and take it and go into her room and steal her desk chair and mirror. After pancakes she realized she had left it on the table and it was suddenly on the counter. So she storms off to her room and sure enough Mark had struck again. He took the chair, mirror, her mattress, and her light bulb!!! It was absolutely hilarious!!! We were all laughing so hard. Mark did put all of the stuff back in her room the way he had found it. But we all got such a kick out of it.

It made me sad because I can't play practical jokes on my roommates because they are all girls and would actually get pissed about it instead of laugh. So I told Sophie I would help her come up with a plan for revenge. She needs to act quickly because last week she came back from soccer practice and laid down on the couch and mentioned that she needed to shower. So Mark grabbed her ankles, Sven grabbed her wrists, and the other Mark ran and turned the shower on cold water and they through her in there clothes and all. So now she needs to get even for 2 jokes that have been played on her.

So after Sophie's room was pieced back together we sat around and chatted some more. Syazrin informed us that he gets up at 5:30 everyday. We asked why and he said it was because he had to pray. He is Muslim. Apparently they pray everyday at 5:30am, 12:30pm. 3:15pm, 5:50pm and 6:50pm. We calculated that out to be 1,825 prayers a year. We also found out that not only can he not drink alcohol (which we already knew) but it can not touch him. So if someone walks by and spills their drink on him and is not allowed to pray for 40 days.

So quite an eventful day. Going to bed now.

Fremantle Prison Tour

I went for yet another run this morning. I'm doing my best to train for this Sunday's Run for a Reason. I think I shall take a break tomorrow morning and rest. My foot was a bit sore after this morning. It still has not completely recovered from tearing up the tendons and ligaments back in December.

I went to work for a couple of hours and then took off to my econ class. After that I went to my group meeting. Our final write-up over the presentation from last Friday is due this Friday. So far we have 29 pages!!! So we proofread and edited it today. All we have to do tomorrow is assemble the appendix and we should be good to go.

I then came home and started on my econ homework. We are getting into some pretty hairy material. I wish I would have had time to read the whole chapter but I could only thumb through and try to figure it out. There is no grade for the homework. It is mostly so we get an idea of how well we understand the subject.

We took off and went to Andrew's place for a steak dinner. YUM! After dinner we headed out to the Fremantle Prison for the Torch light tour!!! Well over here in Australia, torch = flash light. We got there and they passed out mini flash lights for everyone in the tour to use.

Here is the entrance to the prison.

This specific tour is mainly meant for adults, only because they tell the really gruesome stories

that went on in the prison. Built by convicts from England after 1829, its limestone edifices housed convicts until it became a regular prison, and was only closed in 1991, still housing

criminals in stone floored cells, no real heating, running water or toilets in each

cell. The last person to be hanged there was Eric Cooke in 1962, from memory, for the

crimes of serial killing.

The tour was conducted by one guide, who had all these stories to tell, and whose

narritive was complemented by actors bursting onto scene, scaring the hell out of

everyone, only to scare us further with the realism of a character straight from the prison's

history. It was quite impressive, and added that extra depth to what could have been a standard

tour.

Here is a picture of the yard where some prisoners were allowed to roam. There is an area where a vegetable garden used to be. It was banned after some prisoners figured out how to make a miniature distillery in a pumpkin.

One of the stories told was of a man on death row in 1916, who

attempted suicide by detonating dynamite in his mouth. (no one knows how he got a hold of dynamite). This failed, resulting in his left side of his face and his lower jaw being blown off. He survived, and when the time came months later for his court-ordered demise, the executioner was hesitant about the success of the hanging since the man did not have a jaw anymore. The hanging was carried out, but as the floor gave way and then man fell the noose tied around his neck slid up over where the jaw used to be and the guy's head popped right off!

Here is the gallows where the all of the hangings were conducted. As you can see the executioner would pull the lever and the floor beneath the man on death row would open and the man would drop to his death.

We stood on the ground floor of the prison and all of the cells were located for the next three stories above us. In the picture there is a net. This is because a man jumped over the rail in order to commit suicide. So 23 years later a suicide net was put in.

Back in the day prisoners would also be sentenced to lashings. They would be tide onto the wooden easel thing and get whipped. Here is Andrew demonstrating how the prisoner's would be positioned for their lashings.

Here is the solitary confinement building. The prisoners were kept in tiny rooms with no beds in the dark for 23 hours a day. The walls were 1 foot thick so that they were in total silence and could not hear anything. The doors were all locked as this is the place throughout the prison with the most active haunting.

After the tour we all went to a Spanish cafe whose specialty was hot chocolate, so of course

I went for the chai latte, and shared a slice of cheese cake. I stayed away from the hot chocolates as I had been warned that they were the equivalent of melting an entire block of chocolate and serving it as a drink. A little to rich and thick for me I'm afraid.

Went back home and finished my econ. Now I'm heading off to bed.

What a work day!

So I went running this morning. I ran around the block. It is apparently 1.2 Kilometers. So I ran 4 laps to help train for my 4.5K run on Sunday. Unfortunately there were hills. Every time I ran down hill I got side cramps. But the moment I started running up a hill they went away. So as long as the entire 4.5K race is uphill I should be just fine. The distance is not an issue. My legs are not an issue. Just the stupid side cramps.

After running I got ready for my day. I also called and wished Dad a happy birthday! He turned 70 today!!! I was supposed to go out for a field trip for my Australian Studies class. An email was sent out that saying the trip was postponed until next Tuesday. Instead we were to going to watch the movie Australia. Since I have already seen that movie I skipped class. This is my first time skipping since I arriving in Australia and only my 4th time ever out of 5 years of college.

I finally made my way to the post office and mailed a package to the US. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to send dad's kangaroo leather belt because it is an animal product. So I will just try to sneak it in my luggage. It cost $73 to send it via airmail with insurance and a tracking number and will get to the US in 3-6 days. Or I could have sent it via ship freight for $46 with no insurance, no tracking number, and it would take 3-6 MONTHS. So I paid the extra $30 to make sure it gets there.

I'm so glad I did! I gave a presentation last Friday. The write up over the entire project is due this Friday. My group has been amazing at getting a lot of the stuff done before hand. There are three of us and there are 6 parts to the project. So naturally we each write up 2 sections. One of the sections I volunteered for was to write up the evaluation. I did not realize how much work that was going to take! I sat at my computer for 7.5 hours today writing up the evaluation. Apparently there were multiple sections of the evaluation that I did not know about. The team evaluation, the teachers evaluation, peer evaluations, self-reflections, and follow-up. Oh yeah and I had to write up our lesson plan.

So after that I pretty much just ate dinner (cous cous, hamburger meat, stewed tomatos and italian dressing all mixed up) YUM! and watched TV. I just let my brain turn to mush. It was pretty awesome. Then around 10 one of my roommates mentioned that we had a cleaning inspection tomorrow. AHHH! So I got off my bum and cleaned the living room because that was my assigned duty. Only problem this time is that Carmela is not here anymore so Nicky, Kristen, and I cleaned the kitchen (Carmela's duty this week).

That was pretty much it.

Oh yeah and this morning after running I saw an Asian lady riding a bike wearing a black and white fur coat. I was in a tank top and athletic shorts and she was in a fur coat. These people have such a skewed idea of what cold is. All I could do was laugh when I saw that.

IDAHO

International Day Against Homophobia!

May 17th is IDAHO day for Suzie and was a big deal for her. May 17th is also Norway Day (like our Independence Day) for my roommate Rikke. So there were a few festivities going on in our household today.

I woke up and went for a nice run. Run for a Reason is a charity fundraising event that takes place on Sunday. It is 4.5K. So I decided that I would run it with Nicky and Gavin. Well, they are going to run/walk the 14K race and I'm taking the shorter route because I'm still getting cramps in my sides when I run. As I did this morning after only 20 minutes.

After my run I went to my group meeting. We presented on Friday to second graders and we met today in order to go over the write up. I have a bunch of stuff to write by Wednesday. I then went to work. I checked my Australian bank account and I did get paid!!! yay!!! It was about $750 and they took out $150 for taxes! Luckily I should be able to get it back because I'm not in the country long enough.

I then went to my microbiology class. It was super cold in that classroom. Since it is a 2 hour class we normally get about a 15-20 minute break in the middle. I was planning on getting hot chocolate during the break to warm up. Today my professor decided that we were running behind on the material so we skipped our break today.

After class I busted my butt home because it had cooled off outside and I was still cold to the bone from class. I got home and Suzie and her friends were there. They had been on campus all day promoting IDAHO. They sold popcorn and sausages (sausage hot dogs) to raise money.

At 7:00pm tonight they had rented out The Tav on campus to host a fundraising event called BINGAY (like-BINGO) So I paid $10 for a ticket. So around 7 I took off and met up with Alyssa, Elizabeth, Matt, and Allie. I forgot my camera!!!! I was so mad that I did. Suzie dressed up as a guy, and there were drag-queens there too! It was quite funny because I passed some on my way there and one queen was trying to teach the other one how to go down stairs in 6 inch heels. I kind of chuckled to myself. So anyway, we sat down to play and before we started we were told to look under our seats for a token. I got one!!! So right off the bat I won a prize of 2 free drinks at a bar called Milkd and 2 coffees. Great I don't drink alcohol or coffee. So I guess I'll just go out with some friends and buy them drinks! But since I won right away I didn't not win a single time at BINGAY. But that was alright by me. We were entertained by performances both by drag-queens and drag kings (?) (girls that dressed like boys).

Overall a very interesting evening full of culture. But good fun. I was hungry and then went and got a chicken kabab. Kababs are Turkish sandwich/wraps. They are very good, but oh so unhealthy.

Wonderfully wasted Sunday

I woke up this morning and had quite a failed attempt at making a nice breakfast. I wanted french toast but had no maple syrup, biscuits and gravy but no baking powder, omelet but nothing to put in it. So I settled on potatoes, sausages, and eggs. I grated the potatoes for homemade hash browns, and cut up the sausage to add in and cracked the eggs over all of it. The potatoes cooked to slowly and never became crispy but instead of a giant glob of mush. So that is what I called my creation, mush. I poured ketchup all over it and it was pretty good.

I had plans to go to a coffee shop by the river with a friend but those fell through. That was all right though. It gave me a chance to work on an 800 word essay about my visit to the Perth Mint.

I did goof off for a while and had a nice "thinking" day. I just thought about life and experience some good intellectual thinking. I also watched a movie called Naked Gun. It was a comedy but it was a different taste than what I'm used to. Still good none-the-less.

I turned on my computer, got out all of my materials that I would need to start my essay and hopped on the internet and procrastinated for the rest of the day. I pretty much played some games online, read a lot of news, answered emails and downloaded and watched TV shows. I did break for lunch which included biting into a rotten plum that I bought yesterday at the farmer's market. I was sorely disappointed. For dinner I ate a leftover hamburger. Still pretty darn tasty!

I'm currently writing my blog as another form of procrastination! This essay is due in 2 weeks along with a 2,000 word essay. But since I have 2 weeks I don't really have much motivation to start on it yet. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow.

Chocolate milk hunt

I slept in, quite a bit. It was nice to just lay around in bed and think about things. I did eventually get up and ate toast and eggs. I watched Jessica Watson on the news. She is the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat unassisted. She was at sea for 210 days! She sailed into Sydney Harbor (Circular Quay), where Matt and I visited, around 1:30 today.

After that I got ready and went to the farmer's market in Fremantle. I wandered around the shops and bought a giant profitterole to snack on. This is a pastry filled with custard and topped with powdered sugar and chocolate! Delicious! I also bought dad a new belt since the original one I bought was too small. I think I have finally got everything I need to put in my care package home and will hopefully send it on Monday.

After I bought all of my produce that I needed I went out and wandered around until I stumbled upon a shop called Pure + Natural. I got a chicken sandwich with sun-dried tomato, avocado, bean sprouts, and cheese! It was fantastic. I also got a mixed berry smoothie. It is funny how at home in the US I get smoothies all the time in tropical flavors like mango, pineapple, and coconut. and now that I am in a tropical environment all I want it smoothies made with mixed berries. Of course the berries are not fresh here they are all canned or frozen and same back home with the tropical fruit. I'll get it sorted out one day. The pure and natural smoothie came with berries, ice cream, and milk. So maybe not as healthy as I had intended. All well.

Came back home and cleaned my room, did some laundry, and downloaded and watched 2 episodes of Castle.

I made hamburgers for dinner. The first/last time I ate a hamburger in Australia was when I was in Darwin with Matt and ate the GIANT hamburger with 10 layers of toppings on it. So these were much deserved tonight.

Me and some friends decided that we wanted chocolate milk and to play with sparklers around 10pm. So we set out on a hunt. We went to the IGA that was open until 10 (we arrived at 10:20) and then we wandered around for quite awhile just chatting away and telling stories. We came across a gas station and got chocolate milk. We continued hunting a bit more but had to eventually give up on the sparkler idea because nothing was open. Eventually we made our way back and watched part of The Wedding Singer that was on TV.

Maybe we shall save sparklers for another night :)

Fruit and Veg Voyage!

I woke up this morning and got ready to give my presentation of fruits and vegetables to the second grade classroom at Bentley Primary School. I went on to campus at 9:30 to meet with my group. Melanie was there but Emma was not. Turns out poor Emma had a flat "tyre" so we ended up waiting for over an hour for her to show up. Luckily it was Emma's sister who was the teacher of the class.

We eventually, got to the school and set up. We started our presentation at 11am. The kids were super excited about EVERYTHING. WE set up 3 stations. They learned about serving sizes with Melanie and went to Emma's station to try new fruits and vegetables and make a pirate face out of the fruits and vegetables. They came to my station where I picked 1 kid to be the pirate who was going on a 3 day voyage and the whole group had to plan 2 fruits and 5 vegetables for each day (2 fruits and 5 vegetables is the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating recommendations for kids at that age). I also informed them of Vitamin C and how it was important in order to prevent scurvy, the pirate disease. At the end the all of the kids came together got to eat their pirate creations. When there were left over green beans (raw) they went bizerk over them! They would do anything to ear a green bean. Weird I know. We apparently had quite an influence over them.

The kids were mostly good during the presentation but I did have one group of 4 that just would not sit still. I told them to sit on the behinds and cross their legs infront of them. I would turn to write a fruit up on the board and 2 were missing! They would just get up and walk around and I had to keep calling them back! Another one would just stand up walk to the board pick up a dry erase marker and start drawing on the board! I had to tell him to stop and go sit down abut 3-4 times! I looked up at another point in time and a little boy was sitting their quietly and then fell forward places his head on the ground, kicked his legs up and started doing and head-stand! I couldn't believe it! The kids all definitely had minds of their own.

Then we busted our butts to get back onto campus in time for our next class that was at 1. I was able to get home make and scarf down a quick lunch, change my clothes from professional wear into something more comfortable and dash off to microbiology lab.

After lab I came home and enjoyed not having to study for econ or prep for my presentation. I downloaded and watched 2 episodes of The Big Bang Theory. I then went and had chicken stir fry with an apricot sauce. I also made my way to Blockbuster and rented The Invention of Lying. I was told it was a very funny comedy. It was ok. But I probably wouldn't rent it again.

No pirate anything/ deformed pancake night

I woke up and studied a little bit more for my econ quiz. I got to class and it was one question that asked "Imports improve domestic economies and exports hurt them. True or False" I then had 20 minutes to pick a side of the argument, because it can be both true and false, and write as fast as I could. So I might have over prepared by a bit.

After class I went to my nutrition education class and learned all about breast feeding. Followed by an econ lecture that I probably could have skipped. It was really over nothing. The most productive thing I did in that class was draw a dragon in my notes.

After class I came home and worked out my finances for this past month. I spent a lot less that I had budgeted for myself. So I was excited to discover that.

AFter dinner I went to the mall for late night shopping that occurs every Thursday night trying to find pirate eye patches or bandanas or something that I can give to the kids tomorrow. I couldn't find anything. Well I found a lot of toy swords but that is the one thing I am not allowed to give them.

I came back in time for pancake night. It was Andrew's turn to cook them. Suzie dressed him up in her grandmother's apron! We all had quite a laugh at that.

He made American pancakes with chocolate chips inside of them. They looked rather deformed but were very tasty!!!

Car issues!

What a long and boring day. I woke up and went grocery shopping. I was out of bread, milk, butter, and cereal. So it was a little hard to eat breakfast this morning. After getting the essentials I bought Tim Tams (a delicious cookie treat) and various candy bars to send home in a care package. I came home and studied studied studied economics for my quiz tomorrow. I met up with a friend for a picnic lunch on campus. I guess every Wednesday they have a live band play in the big quad area of campus. So we got to eat lunch and enjoy some rock/punk/ independant music. Then I went to econ class where I was totally lost! Sophie said that when she learned the material that we went over today in high school it took over a month. Well I just learned it in 90 minutes. The teacher went so fast and I was busy studying for my quiz tomorrow that I did not go over in advance what we were learning today. So yeah TOTALLY LOST!

After class I met up with my nutrition education group to go over last minute details. We present to the second graders on Friday morning. I'm very excited. I miss working with the second graders at Cumberland Elementary school.

Then I came back home and did a lot more studying. I have given up. There are still a lot of concepts that I know I do not understand. But the quiz is 1 essay question and it is worth 5% of our grade. Once I discovered that I lost a lot of motivation to continue studying.

I then took a short break and watch a TV show with Nicky and Gavin called Psychoville. Yeah it was rather bazaar. I'm pretty sure I will have crazy dreams tonight. Then I did my econ homework that is due tomorrow.

I came back to my room and hopped on skype to find out my car will cost over $600 to fix!!!! I just thought it was going in for a 75,000 mile check up. AHHHH!!! Turns out the brakes are going, the left front half-shaft is broken and is therefore causing computer issues. My car can't start breaking now there are only 8 months left on payments!

Well that was my good news for the evening.

Strictly Ballroom, Netball round 2

I did not sleep well last night! The stupid cricket that has been my wall since the day I moved in chirps all night every night. Last night at 4 am he started chirping! Only this time it sounded like it was right beside my ear. It was so loud!!! As I laid in bed trying to fall back asleep I got a very sick nauseous feeling in my stomach for about an hour. So needless to say when my alarm went off this morning I hit the snooze a bunch. I did eventually get up and go to work for 2 hours and then went to class.

In my Australian Studies class the teacher had us split into groups and design a care package of 6 items that represented Australian culture. We then shared with the class. This took over an hour!!! We came up with some cool things like various native animals, foods, surfboard, boardies (board shorts), bad 80's haircuts like the mullet and rat tails, indigenous art, didgeridos, boomerangs, native plants, pictures of people walking around barefoot and what not. It was pointed out that Australia is the only place where guys wear board shorts for everything. Everyday clothing, going to the beach, going to class, working out in...etc. Its kind of funny to see it.

Then we watched a movie called Strictly Ballroom. For once we got to see a descent movie that wasn't based on stupid humor. Out of a 70-80 some odd people in the class I was one of 4 who made it all the way through the movie. It was about a boy late teen's early 20's whose parents were ballroom dancing champions and taught classes. He had been dancing since he was 6 and was tired of dancing the same steps. He wanted to bring in a new dance to the ballroom dancing world. His partner of course left him. So he found a beginner from his parent's class to train to be his new partner. In the end they did the new dance and were eliminated from the competition but the entire audience was on their feet yelling and cheering them on. Anyway, I liked it. Maybe because I was a Rhythmette at Benton Central or I just love to dance out at the bars and clubs.

After class I went back to work for 2 hours and then came home because I was so hungry. I ate a light snack because Nicky's netball team was down 3 players and they needed me to play. A team consists of 7 players. So you can see why it was so important that I play. I went and this time I did so much better than the first time I played. I was defense so no I did not score any baskets. But our team did win, by a lot! It was great fun.

I also received an update on Carmela's brother. The girl was released from the hospital and she is doing ok. Unfortunately, they found her brother's body. They were going to do the autopsy today to determine the cause of death. It is assumed drowning. I guess a group of them were partying and drinking all night. At 6 am he took off in a canoe with the girl. I don't not know what his blood alcohol content was but I assume after drinking all night it was pretty high. Therefore, his heart rate was low and the cold water didn't help along with his inability to coordinate his body to swim. It is quite a tragic story. He was only 18.

So then I spent the rest of the evening studying for my econ quiz/test which is on Thursday morning. YUCK! This time it is not multiple choice, it is essay AHHH!

Carmela's bad day.

Pictures are up for my Rottnest trip.

Slept in a bit this morning. All of that exercise yesterday from hiking, rock climbing, biking, swimming, and snorkeling took a lot out of me. After I got my butt out of bed I lounged around for a while and watch Indiana Jones. I hadn't actually seen it all the way trough before. Only bits and pieces from flipping through channels. I did make my way over to Subway for lunch. It was a $7.00 6-inch sandwich or a $10 foot long. I did get the 6-inch. I'm not sure if they have different sandwiches here or if Subway came out with a bunch of new ones lately and I didn't know because I'm over here. But either way it was filling and oh so good.

When I got back home I ran into my roommate Nicky and she informed me that our roommate Carmela no longer lived in our unit. She then proceeded to explain that Carmela's parent's called her last night around 11 and told her that her brother had been in some sort of boating accident. I guess he went camping with a group of people and at 6 am he and a girl went out onto the lake (this is in Canada) in a canoe. A while later the group found the girl washed up onto the shore and no sign of the canoe or her brother. The girl is in the hospital in an induced comma. Carmela booked a ticket home and left around 3 am last night. She packed up what she could. Her parents wouldn't really give her many details but she had a bunch of people commenting on her facebook page saying that they were sorry to hear... and that they give their condolences. Also since this took place in Canada the lake is too cold for her brother to really survive in for a long period of time.

It is such a shame that happened. It really stinks that there are only 4 academic weeks left until finals. Carmela is not planning on returning. She will have to retake all of her classes. The whole situation really stinks.

After that some other roommates came out and we had a descent discussion on the subject until I had to go to class. After class I came home and started working on homework. YAY!

Rottnest Island

I woke up at 5:30am to get ready to go to Rottnest. Yikes that was so EARLY!! Had a decently hearty breakfast and packed bags and took off to Rottnest Island. The ferry that take us there left at 7:30am. We rode on the Ferry and it was super bumpy and I got slightly nauseous. We arrived and it was supposed to be a pretty chilly day 22 C or 72F . It was chilly at first in the morning but we managed to tough it out until it warmed up. Ok I lied, we got hot chocolate and coffees to warm us up and a second breakfast. I had a nice blueberry danish pastry thing. It was perfect to settle my stomach. Here is a view out at the sea from the coffee shop.

We rented bikes and rode around for a while. We stumbled upon a lighthouse and then a nice little tidal pool area. We went to explore it and a giant wave came up and soaked my pants! Here is the light house.

Check out this video of the tidal pool area.

Here is another picture of a dead crab we found. We thought it was still alive until we poked it and it shell lifted up and exposed it organs. YUCK!

After that we discovered a nice hill of rocks and did some freestyle rock climbing. I was a smart one and wore flip flops so my rock climbing was very slow. But safe, no worries dad. We rode our bikes some more and found a nice spot to do some snorkeling. The waves were strong and the water was chilly but it was still a lot of fun. The strap on the snorkeling goggles that I borrowed broke right away. No problem I still brought my pair of competitive swim goggles so I just hooked the snorkel onto them. Turns out that the snorkel had a crack in it so I breathed in salt water!!! YUCK!!! We swam around a reef area and got to see a lot of fish. It was pretty cool.

From there on we never really warmed up the rest of the day. We did bike to the other side of the island and were going to snorkel at a shipwreck. But we decided to eat lunch first. Once we were done with lunch storm clouds came in!!! So we quickly got on our bikes and busted our butts back to the main part where shops and shelters were. It never did rain but the wind picked up quite a bit and it was blowing us around on out bikes. This picture does NOT do justice to how intense and how many hills there were. But it does show what this inside/ non-coastal side of the island looked like.

Here are some more beautiful views.

The shirt that I am wearing is called a Rasher. Yes we have them in the states but A LOT of people wear them over here. They are nice because they help keep you warm (why I wore it) and then protect you from the sun when you are snorkeling (also why I wore it). It's not mine, I borrowed it from my roommate Nickey.

Rottnest Island is called Rotto by the locals and it is full of Quokkas!!! What is a Quokka you ask? It is pretty much a big fluffy rat that is cute and is a marsupial. They also hop around. Here is a me with some mulch in my hand trying to get it to come close to me. Also a video of one hopping around.

It was a very nice day on the island. We caught the ferry back and then got Chinese food!! This was my first time eating Chinese since I left the US. Guess what? They do not have the same stuff as we do :( I really wanted General Tso's chicken but after a hard to understand conversation with the lady on the other end of the phone I ended up with honey chicken. So I had to try a new food. It turned out to be pretty good.