Today was our last day of classes! A very exciting which was expressed through a pint of Pipsqueak at Little Creatures (their logo – “Drink a Little”). I had two papers to turn in – one on Karl Rahner and another comparing the music styling of J.S. Bach and Chopin, so at least I had some variety to work with! Tomorrow starts the long weekend where I will be heading down south to Margaret River for a bit of a break. Next week is study week and then exams start on the 8th. I don’t have any until the 15th, but I do have two more lovely papers to write before then. Rest assured, I’ll stay busy.
It’s getting down to the wire here. We’re in that phase where there’s not a lot of time left in Freo and we want to get as much done as we can. I still have yet to visit the museums. But on the flipside, Nick and I created a variation of the game “battleship” to play on the beach which is quite fun. We’ll be very much utilizing our “study break” time.
I hope that everyone’s summers are hitting it off well! Our R.S.’s began passing out little space heaters here – I’ve been holding off and hope to make it all the way without one. I did pick up another flannel though but that’s just awesome.
Saw Star Trek – Awesome! And, on an impulse buy, got a trekkie sigg bottle. I’m so cool...
Take Care,
29 May 2009
22 May 2009
It's Raining Sideways!
The rain is finally coming in, and it's quite something. Great sheets of fat raindrops sweep through the city in what seems to be 20 minute intervals. Last night, it all culminated at around midnight when, combined with gusty winds, it was raining sideways. Today is chilly - yeah, it's 63 degrees out, but after having 80-degree weathe and adding the wind factor - cool day. I'm making good use of the rain jacket though and today after class an excusion to get some flannel is in order.
Take Care,
Take Care,
20 May 2009
The Tables have Turned
It's official, Omaha has beating Freo in higher temperature not only at night, but during the day as well. It's finally starting to cool off here. The rains started yesterday to much happiness for the Australians. We American students weren't quite as thrilled, being as now it's rainy and our summer is coming to a close. Sad Face. At least I get to wear my sweet rain jacket!
Take Care,
Take Care,
Badminton Tourney '09 - Australian Open
Final papers and final exams are fast approaching. We have papers due, comprehensive exams coming up - a general stress throughout campus. So on Thursday (my day where I don't have class) last week, my day was completely devoted to setting up and running a Badminton Tourney at the park down the street. It was epic! Dan, you better watch out come vacation time. Look at these skills:
They call me the prancer
You don't always have to face forward to be awesome
But, I do pull off an intimidating, "force-to-be-reckoned-with" power stanceEpic.
Take Care,
18 May 2009
End of the Line
This weekend four of us guys headed down to Albany, which is on the southern coast of Australia. We spent the weekend some hiking, tree-climbing, and the usual. We started out Saturday morning driving around the coast looking at various things the geology had to offer. Our first view of the Southern Ocean was at this little rocky spot that really showed the power and might of these waters. Waves were crashing into each other, forming bigger waves to crash into the rocks. The Southern Ocean is a turbulent one and we saw why.
There were a lot of granitic rock cliffs around where we went and they made some very cool landscapes. We went to the natural land-bridge where there is a large granite bridge going over the ocean. Pretty neat. It was very fun looking around on the rocks – we were about 150ft above the ocean and most of the rocks formed sheer cliffs. The water by the rocks was in a perpetual state of foam, not time to calm down.
After that we went to this place called the Blowholes. The water had cut its way into the rocks, so whenever a swell came in, air and water was forced through this crack, causing a sound similar to a whale blowing out of its blowhole (hence the name). When we were there, the waves weren’t powerful enough to send water out (it has been reported to spray up to 3 metres), but we did feel the air coming out and on some you could see a mist spray out a bit. Still very cool.
Saturday’s main event was our 10km hike out on an isthmus to a rock called “Bald Head.” The trail was bit difficult, as the landscape rose and fell quite often. But the trek was well worth it. To see the ocean on both sides and the vastness of the southern seas hit you pretty hard. It was very different from what we see out by Freo with the Indian Ocean. There were three huge tankers and a mistiness about the land on the other side. Next stop – Antarctica. A bit eerie, but a lot awesome.
The insects here were nuts! We saw caterpillars that would form lines of 15 or so and trudge along. There were a lot of ants and their anthills are something that you might think twice about kicking over. They were big! Oh, and I saw a bull ant, so cross that off the list of animals to see here. Bull ants are big nasty things that can not only bite you, but sting you as well (it’s similar to a bee sting). They look pretty cool though.
That night we spent in the quant town of Walpole. Population probably 30. After eating some dinner, three of us four decide to see the town and visit the local pub. We had no idea where this pub was so we started at the Comfort Inn which was right next door to the backpacker hostel. They pointed us in the right direction and allowed us to enjoy a beer while they were closing up. Cool People. So we find this pub and have a drink while talking to a few of the locals. We hear of this big party going on where everyone in the town is and, conveniently, where the bartender was going after her shift finished. Not wanting to miss out, we stay to close and her and her boyfriend take us up to this party.
The party proved to be quite an experience. It was a charity party for Doctors without Borders. A lot of people were camping out there so we, being the responsible bunch, drew a map and gave it to our sober companion back at the hostel telling him to pick us up in four hours. Great idea at the time we thought.
Anyways, the party was cool, we met some fun people. But it started becoming more and more obvious that there was no way out buddy was going to find us here, even in broad daylight. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. So much like we came to the party we left in similar fashion – waiting by the security checkpoint for a car heading back to Walpole and caught a ride home. Fun times had by all. It was quite a night and something that you don’t really plan for. Really experiencing small town culture here.
Anywho, come Sunday, our day was in the trees. As we began driving north back to Freo, we stopped at two places for their trees. The first was a Tingle Forest called the Valley of the Giants. You go up in a catwalk that is 160metres high and are walking amongst the canopy of the trees. It was quite a sight to see. Those trees are really cool. These trees are called Red Tingles and they are huge! They live to be around 400 years old, but if you look at only the bottom, you would thing they were all dead. Most of the trees were hallowed out at the base and big enough to stand in. Tingles get hollowed out by a plethora of reasons, but the outside layer is still alive. Truly remarkable trees.
Another remarkable tree is the Karri, which we visited next. These are some of the tallest trees found in Western Australia, and were used back in the day as fire lookouts. The tree we climbed was still used as a fire lookout during the summer months. It is 60 metres high and you climb it by using these metal spikes that were hammered in to the trunk. They spiral as you wrap around the tree and when you get to the top, you can see over the entire forest. I don’t know how to describe it, it was neat. Look at the pictures.
We hit up one more spot on the way home and that was a river known as the Cascades. It was this little rapid area in the middle of the forest where the water came out from springs. Very serene. Here is where we had some dinner and Nick got some sweet pictures in. He uses my hard drive as a back up so I think that gives me rights to his pictures. I’ll show you some, like this one:
The weekend was a very enriching experience. I think I would do it again in a heartbeat, but maybe have a bit more time doing it. The forest walks were super cool and the hike was humbling. I have a better understanding on how Greeks respected Poseidon, the ocean is powerful. I can’t imagine getting stuck in a storm out in the Southern Seas.
Now I’m back in my room doing some laundry. I have a music appreciation listening test tomorrow so I have my Baroque music going in the background (Brandenburg Concerto #5 – man that harpsichord solo rocks). School work is coming in no and the next few weeks are going to be busy ones. Only two more weeks of class! Wow, the time really does go. It’s still quite sunny and warm here – we should be in the middle of rains and cooling off but that hasn’t happened yet. None of us are complaining but I don’t think the farmers are too happy!
Take Care,
There were a lot of granitic rock cliffs around where we went and they made some very cool landscapes. We went to the natural land-bridge where there is a large granite bridge going over the ocean. Pretty neat. It was very fun looking around on the rocks – we were about 150ft above the ocean and most of the rocks formed sheer cliffs. The water by the rocks was in a perpetual state of foam, not time to calm down.
After that we went to this place called the Blowholes. The water had cut its way into the rocks, so whenever a swell came in, air and water was forced through this crack, causing a sound similar to a whale blowing out of its blowhole (hence the name). When we were there, the waves weren’t powerful enough to send water out (it has been reported to spray up to 3 metres), but we did feel the air coming out and on some you could see a mist spray out a bit. Still very cool.
Saturday’s main event was our 10km hike out on an isthmus to a rock called “Bald Head.” The trail was bit difficult, as the landscape rose and fell quite often. But the trek was well worth it. To see the ocean on both sides and the vastness of the southern seas hit you pretty hard. It was very different from what we see out by Freo with the Indian Ocean. There were three huge tankers and a mistiness about the land on the other side. Next stop – Antarctica. A bit eerie, but a lot awesome.
The insects here were nuts! We saw caterpillars that would form lines of 15 or so and trudge along. There were a lot of ants and their anthills are something that you might think twice about kicking over. They were big! Oh, and I saw a bull ant, so cross that off the list of animals to see here. Bull ants are big nasty things that can not only bite you, but sting you as well (it’s similar to a bee sting). They look pretty cool though.
That night we spent in the quant town of Walpole. Population probably 30. After eating some dinner, three of us four decide to see the town and visit the local pub. We had no idea where this pub was so we started at the Comfort Inn which was right next door to the backpacker hostel. They pointed us in the right direction and allowed us to enjoy a beer while they were closing up. Cool People. So we find this pub and have a drink while talking to a few of the locals. We hear of this big party going on where everyone in the town is and, conveniently, where the bartender was going after her shift finished. Not wanting to miss out, we stay to close and her and her boyfriend take us up to this party.
The party proved to be quite an experience. It was a charity party for Doctors without Borders. A lot of people were camping out there so we, being the responsible bunch, drew a map and gave it to our sober companion back at the hostel telling him to pick us up in four hours. Great idea at the time we thought.
Anyways, the party was cool, we met some fun people. But it started becoming more and more obvious that there was no way out buddy was going to find us here, even in broad daylight. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. So much like we came to the party we left in similar fashion – waiting by the security checkpoint for a car heading back to Walpole and caught a ride home. Fun times had by all. It was quite a night and something that you don’t really plan for. Really experiencing small town culture here.
Anywho, come Sunday, our day was in the trees. As we began driving north back to Freo, we stopped at two places for their trees. The first was a Tingle Forest called the Valley of the Giants. You go up in a catwalk that is 160metres high and are walking amongst the canopy of the trees. It was quite a sight to see. Those trees are really cool. These trees are called Red Tingles and they are huge! They live to be around 400 years old, but if you look at only the bottom, you would thing they were all dead. Most of the trees were hallowed out at the base and big enough to stand in. Tingles get hollowed out by a plethora of reasons, but the outside layer is still alive. Truly remarkable trees.
Another remarkable tree is the Karri, which we visited next. These are some of the tallest trees found in Western Australia, and were used back in the day as fire lookouts. The tree we climbed was still used as a fire lookout during the summer months. It is 60 metres high and you climb it by using these metal spikes that were hammered in to the trunk. They spiral as you wrap around the tree and when you get to the top, you can see over the entire forest. I don’t know how to describe it, it was neat. Look at the pictures.
We hit up one more spot on the way home and that was a river known as the Cascades. It was this little rapid area in the middle of the forest where the water came out from springs. Very serene. Here is where we had some dinner and Nick got some sweet pictures in. He uses my hard drive as a back up so I think that gives me rights to his pictures. I’ll show you some, like this one:
The weekend was a very enriching experience. I think I would do it again in a heartbeat, but maybe have a bit more time doing it. The forest walks were super cool and the hike was humbling. I have a better understanding on how Greeks respected Poseidon, the ocean is powerful. I can’t imagine getting stuck in a storm out in the Southern Seas.
Now I’m back in my room doing some laundry. I have a music appreciation listening test tomorrow so I have my Baroque music going in the background (Brandenburg Concerto #5 – man that harpsichord solo rocks). School work is coming in no and the next few weeks are going to be busy ones. Only two more weeks of class! Wow, the time really does go. It’s still quite sunny and warm here – we should be in the middle of rains and cooling off but that hasn’t happened yet. None of us are complaining but I don’t think the farmers are too happy!
Take Care,
06 May 2009
Dating with All the Speed and Ferocity that Only Two Minutes of Interaction can Bring!
Last night I went Speed Dating at UWA (University of Western Australia). Very interesting. You only really hear about speed dating in movies and I think that it is something everyone should check off their life to-do lists at least (probably no more than) once.
We showed up and signed in to a card suit (I was the Jack of Spades). They arranged us by suits and then gave us a card that had the whole deck on it. The idea was that after you talked to someone who you enjoyed chatting with, you’d take note of their card and circle it on your sheet. At the end of the night we turned in our cards and then they cross-referenced everything and sent out matches. Word is in, three matches (none Australian)!! Hizzah! With hindsight, I wish I circled everyone just to see how many I really matched with, that would have been a nice confidence boost. Oh well.
At the end of the night they gave us a nice bag full of educational pamphlets on sex and then, before leaving, I breathalised myself - .046 (legal limit is .05 here). Not bad. They have machines in bars and restaurants where you pay a buck to check your BAC. It’s a nice thing to know – something that U.S. pubs could pick up on. Just a thought.
Take Care,
We showed up and signed in to a card suit (I was the Jack of Spades). They arranged us by suits and then gave us a card that had the whole deck on it. The idea was that after you talked to someone who you enjoyed chatting with, you’d take note of their card and circle it on your sheet. At the end of the night we turned in our cards and then they cross-referenced everything and sent out matches. Word is in, three matches (none Australian)!! Hizzah! With hindsight, I wish I circled everyone just to see how many I really matched with, that would have been a nice confidence boost. Oh well.
At the end of the night they gave us a nice bag full of educational pamphlets on sex and then, before leaving, I breathalised myself - .046 (legal limit is .05 here). Not bad. They have machines in bars and restaurants where you pay a buck to check your BAC. It’s a nice thing to know – something that U.S. pubs could pick up on. Just a thought.
Take Care,
04 May 2009
ANZAC Biscuits and Grunting Tortoises.
Well, it’s been quite a while so let me try and fill in what has happened the past two weeks:
ANZAC Day was the 25th of April. It’s similar to our Memorial Day (ANZAC means Australia New Zealand Army Corps – The legend comes from World War I) but very much observed. The day started at 4:30 in the morning to go to the memorial service at the war memorial. It was a mostly silent service with one speaker and then the playing of the Last Post (equivalent of Taps). About 3,000 people attended the one in Fremantle with 30,000 attending in Perth. It was quite something.
The rest of the day was spent watching the parade and going to the park for music and food. I spent the day doing that and in the afternoon we went to the river for some drinks and barbeque. A very nice day overall, save for the being quite a bit tired.
That weekend was also the Nationals of Ultimate Frisbee. Nick, my Omaha buddy, was competing in them and they were in Perth, so we went over to cheer him on. Ultimate Frisbee is one of the strangest sports there is I think. It’s seems somewhat legit until they pull out the Frisbees. Then it just turns out to be whimsical silliness. It was fun to watch though and I’m sure there’s more to it than chucking a Frisbee (they’re called disks).
This past weekend I went to Perth to be part of a rally against drilling up in the Kimberly where I was at a bit ago. Afterwards we went to the Zoo which, I’m sorry to say, beats the Henry Doorly. They have Galapagos Tortoises! They’re HUGE! It was a very cool zoo and very active as well. I learned that a zoo is simply not just a zoo.
Footy practice has been going very well. Last week I hurt my hand (not during footy) so it was a bit hard to mark the ball. Coach tells me my job is to mark the high ones so I get to be the person jumping on top of others trying to catch the footy. We gave an official thank you to the club on Friday and I thought that the whole team was going up to say thanks but it was only supposed to be the captain. That left me up there standing quietly and looking silly. Oh well.
We have a little less than a month left of class here and then another few weeks of exams. It’s weird to think that schools out for most this week back in the states. I still have quite a bit. That’ll happen I suppose. Hope all is well there. This week’s festivities include a pup prance (way more awesome than a crawl) so all is well here!
Take Care,
ANZAC Day was the 25th of April. It’s similar to our Memorial Day (ANZAC means Australia New Zealand Army Corps – The legend comes from World War I) but very much observed. The day started at 4:30 in the morning to go to the memorial service at the war memorial. It was a mostly silent service with one speaker and then the playing of the Last Post (equivalent of Taps). About 3,000 people attended the one in Fremantle with 30,000 attending in Perth. It was quite something.
The rest of the day was spent watching the parade and going to the park for music and food. I spent the day doing that and in the afternoon we went to the river for some drinks and barbeque. A very nice day overall, save for the being quite a bit tired.
That weekend was also the Nationals of Ultimate Frisbee. Nick, my Omaha buddy, was competing in them and they were in Perth, so we went over to cheer him on. Ultimate Frisbee is one of the strangest sports there is I think. It’s seems somewhat legit until they pull out the Frisbees. Then it just turns out to be whimsical silliness. It was fun to watch though and I’m sure there’s more to it than chucking a Frisbee (they’re called disks).
This past weekend I went to Perth to be part of a rally against drilling up in the Kimberly where I was at a bit ago. Afterwards we went to the Zoo which, I’m sorry to say, beats the Henry Doorly. They have Galapagos Tortoises! They’re HUGE! It was a very cool zoo and very active as well. I learned that a zoo is simply not just a zoo.
Footy practice has been going very well. Last week I hurt my hand (not during footy) so it was a bit hard to mark the ball. Coach tells me my job is to mark the high ones so I get to be the person jumping on top of others trying to catch the footy. We gave an official thank you to the club on Friday and I thought that the whole team was going up to say thanks but it was only supposed to be the captain. That left me up there standing quietly and looking silly. Oh well.
We have a little less than a month left of class here and then another few weeks of exams. It’s weird to think that schools out for most this week back in the states. I still have quite a bit. That’ll happen I suppose. Hope all is well there. This week’s festivities include a pup prance (way more awesome than a crawl) so all is well here!
Take Care,
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