My hostel has been overrun by a large group of 35+ Aussie men. This particularly affects me because they are lodging in rooms all over my floor and more specifically I am convinced that the loudest of them live right next door to me, on the other side of the thinnest wall ever built by man. Seriously, Pyramus and Thisbe would have been thrilled to have this wall, I am not. Various comments throughout the day have been loud, but forgettable, mostly describing smells and intentions of getting laid. My personal fave was a guy that apparently did get laid (thank goodness I was asleep) and was singing the praises of our rickety bunk beds because his own top bunk did not break. the main irritation of these men is that they choose to be loud during inconvenient times, apparently they were all supposed to get up around 8 am, but at the tender ages of 30 and 40 had not yet developed the responsibility skill necessary to set an alarm. The ONE man in the group with this skill can bang on doors really loudly, and shout, to wake everyone in a 10 room radius up, but not his incredibly hung over mates. I don't know why you chose to interrupt my not so peaceful or settled existence here at the Canberra YHA, Aussie men, but please leave, as soon as possible.
But the main event of yesterday was that a lot of long term stay people checked out of the YHA, leaving me with fridge AND pantry space. Unfortunately the kitchen itself sucks and about four out of twelve burners in the kitchen actually work, so it's usually very crowded. But I at least have room to keep food like yogurt here refrigerated, and I made some lentil soup yesterday during a lull that I plan to reheat throughout the week (although it will taste much better once I go and buy some salt from the store, they do not stock it for their guests)
In other news, my soon to be roommate Mani came by to hang out with some friends last night, and that was fun because her friends are such a mish mash. half of the table was dressed in black and chain smoking, and then there were three buff guys that were dressed in bright red, yellow, and blue t shirts.
As far as crew goes, I am on the 'fun' team of people that just show up to row, and am not in the more competitive part of the club, so what boat I end up driving and with whom will probably depend on any given practice.
Also notable, my good friend is thinking of taking a road-trip over spring break and cannot decide whether to go through the southwest towards Oklahoma and see the pretty on the way or drive up the northwestern coast, any thoughts? Feel free to post opinions here; I would change my poll, but you guys have two or three more days on the great pancake debate!
Speaking of pancakes, Courtney brought these to my attention, someone with a better kitchen than me, make them immediately and get back! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/poppy-seed-pancakes-recipe.html
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Laid Back Down Under
Last night I spent a leisurely time in the internet cafe, posting here, chatting with various persons on skype, emailing clubs, etc. All of this was because it was raining a lot outside, and I had a barbeque to go to at 6, or so I thought. At 5:30 I went upstairs to get my map and head out, and I discovered that the barbeque was actually at 5! I finally biked there, and it started raining again about 5 minutes after I left, and I got slightly lost so by the time I got to the barbeque to meet these crew people, I was completely soaked. Luckily for me they had started late, and there was plenty of sausage left to go around. I've eaten sausage more times in the past week than I had in the previous six months, but Aussies really love to serve them at barbeques.
Anyway, after showering and changing, I ended up meeting some of the crew team at a bar to play pool, hang out, etc. When I arrived, they were already pretty drunk, and one guy was icing his lips. That's right, icing his lips. Apparently they had decided to do flaming shots, and instead of blowing the flame out like any sane person, he just poured it down his throat like a normal shot. Needless to say the night from there was entertaining, and long, and waking up at 8 for my 9 am art orientation was quite difficult.
I rolled out of bed and figured I'd go to orientation, which couldn't take more than an hour or two, then grab breakfast. I met Pending, one of Courtney's friends and a fellow painter/art student who does these cool deadly cartoon teddy bear paintings in front and we went inside to be orientated. (as a side-note, i had never met Pending before, and someone who looked vaguely like him wandered around the front of the art building looking lost for about 15 minutes, I am convinced he was just trying to mess with me)
When I grabbed an orientation schedule, I realized that art orientation was going to take ALL day. We met the professors, had a coffee break, listened to presentations from art organizations, had a barbeque (with organic sausages this time), and then toured the art building and painting studios. There was a huge hail storm and flood last year, and as a result lots of depts have state of the art equipment now. the photo lab has individual cubicles for each person and a conveyor belt that develops color photos!
After the tour one of the professors, Peter, brought us to the university house and got us some beers, then the dept head came over and brought some more! The teaching staff is very laid back and Ruth, the dept head, already said I could go on field studies trips (meaning I will miss 9 days worth of class).
After my epically long orientation I came back to the hostel and hung out with some of my friends there, and Pending came over from campus. After some interesting conversation with the bar regulars we went to meet my roommate at a club with a random guy (he bartends and wants to own his own bar, and for me to not have a boyfriend, thank God Pending was there!) we met at the hostel. There I witnessed:
--My first barfight (nothing serious, just some guy causing a fuss and getting owned by the bouncer)
--Tons of people dancing to Tina Turner, awesome
--The most disturbing music video I have ever seen. Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the song, but it involved a guy dancing in his underwear, and then when I looked back, he had no skin and was ripping off pieces of himself and throwing them at women, who thought this was the coolest thing ever
--food available after 5 pm, in the form of bad pizza that stands sell to drunk people (the aussie version of ghetto dogs)
Anyway, after such a ridiculous night I am ready for a relaxing weekend! I might even explore steaking out a space in the communal fridge I found at the hostel, although it is full to the brim at the moment...
Anyway, after showering and changing, I ended up meeting some of the crew team at a bar to play pool, hang out, etc. When I arrived, they were already pretty drunk, and one guy was icing his lips. That's right, icing his lips. Apparently they had decided to do flaming shots, and instead of blowing the flame out like any sane person, he just poured it down his throat like a normal shot. Needless to say the night from there was entertaining, and long, and waking up at 8 for my 9 am art orientation was quite difficult.
I rolled out of bed and figured I'd go to orientation, which couldn't take more than an hour or two, then grab breakfast. I met Pending, one of Courtney's friends and a fellow painter/art student who does these cool deadly cartoon teddy bear paintings in front and we went inside to be orientated. (as a side-note, i had never met Pending before, and someone who looked vaguely like him wandered around the front of the art building looking lost for about 15 minutes, I am convinced he was just trying to mess with me)
When I grabbed an orientation schedule, I realized that art orientation was going to take ALL day. We met the professors, had a coffee break, listened to presentations from art organizations, had a barbeque (with organic sausages this time), and then toured the art building and painting studios. There was a huge hail storm and flood last year, and as a result lots of depts have state of the art equipment now. the photo lab has individual cubicles for each person and a conveyor belt that develops color photos!
After the tour one of the professors, Peter, brought us to the university house and got us some beers, then the dept head came over and brought some more! The teaching staff is very laid back and Ruth, the dept head, already said I could go on field studies trips (meaning I will miss 9 days worth of class).
After my epically long orientation I came back to the hostel and hung out with some of my friends there, and Pending came over from campus. After some interesting conversation with the bar regulars we went to meet my roommate at a club with a random guy (he bartends and wants to own his own bar, and for me to not have a boyfriend, thank God Pending was there!) we met at the hostel. There I witnessed:
--My first barfight (nothing serious, just some guy causing a fuss and getting owned by the bouncer)
--Tons of people dancing to Tina Turner, awesome
--The most disturbing music video I have ever seen. Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the song, but it involved a guy dancing in his underwear, and then when I looked back, he had no skin and was ripping off pieces of himself and throwing them at women, who thought this was the coolest thing ever
--food available after 5 pm, in the form of bad pizza that stands sell to drunk people (the aussie version of ghetto dogs)
Anyway, after such a ridiculous night I am ready for a relaxing weekend! I might even explore steaking out a space in the communal fridge I found at the hostel, although it is full to the brim at the moment...
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
SCHOOL OF ART
Today I don’t have much news to report, but this is a lazy Thursday afternoon and so I find myself with some spare time. Namely I am waiting for clothes to be dry and don’t want to leave the premises for fear that some other very small girl will want to take my clothes.
I went to the art building today to work out my classes, but before I go into that I’d just like to say how excited I am about the art building itself. It’s a huge white building with a clock tower that has huge silver letters that say "SCHOOL OF ART," a piece of abstract sculpture in front of it, and a very retro feel. It reminds me simultaneously of an old transistor radio and a train station because It is very wide at the front entrance and there are virtually no other buildings round it. It also gives me this feeling because there are stripes and geometric decorations that remind me of futuristic designs people made in the past, if that makes any sense. I’m thinking I’m just going to have to take a picture.
Each area of study has its OWN WING in the building! Coming from a building that is mostly owned by an architecture school that sometimes lends us studio space and where each area of study gets one or two rooms, this is fantastic. I walked down an entire hallway of studio space with huge windows and easels, and I am very excited for class to start, except that painting doesn’t start until Wednesday. (For those of you who were worried about all of my extracurriculars, I have one four hour class per day, and that’s it, and the one on Monday doesn’t start until 2. If I can work the system correctly though, I might be able to have two classes Tuesday and none on Monday, yay for weekend trips!)
Anyway, the reason I went to the building in the first place is that I’m trying to work out what other class I should take. I’m taking 8 units worth of painting, 4 in art theory (it’s called Cool Old Masters, can’t wait!), and I have 4 units left over for ‘complimentary studies.’ My choices have been narrowed by necessity (I thought of ceramics, but having to ship clay home would be terrible) to life drawing or ‘field studies.’
No one except for the professor of field studies seems to know what field studies actually are, and he is pretty bad at explaining himself, which probably perpetuates the problem (unintentional alliteration I assure you). As near as I can tell, ‘Field studies’ is a class where you take field trips to remote areas, sometimes visiting aboriginal land to be ‘inspired’ by your surroundings, and then you make art in whatever medium you desire based on that inspiration. This sounds good to me except that I would have to take it instead of painting, or with painting, because the complimentary form of this course seems to be more of an independent study type of thing.
Anyway, I’m off to see if I am allowed to do an independent study in field studies, if my professor is even around, (I think I saw his office the other day, and he seems to be the piles of everything especially books absolutely everywhere type of guy) since I will be taking a few caving trips and weekend trips of my own that I can draw material from. (Caving is exactly what it sounds like, by the way, climbing through caves. It is usually very wet, muddy, cold, beautiful and fun) And yes, I would be a coxswain for the crew club here; they seem pretty excited about it as I think they are very short of coxswains right now. Right now I’m leaning towards joining, because it’s a fun way to meet people, etc, but they do have all morning practices, which should be interesting.
PS. I wrote the above earlier and just got back from visiting with my professor. I am going to enroll in field studies, which involves 3 5-day field trips to a town called Tumut and surrounding areas, plus camping. This class has no scheduled class time, I just check in with him periodically and paint and take any other trips on my own time.
I went to the art building today to work out my classes, but before I go into that I’d just like to say how excited I am about the art building itself. It’s a huge white building with a clock tower that has huge silver letters that say "SCHOOL OF ART," a piece of abstract sculpture in front of it, and a very retro feel. It reminds me simultaneously of an old transistor radio and a train station because It is very wide at the front entrance and there are virtually no other buildings round it. It also gives me this feeling because there are stripes and geometric decorations that remind me of futuristic designs people made in the past, if that makes any sense. I’m thinking I’m just going to have to take a picture.
Each area of study has its OWN WING in the building! Coming from a building that is mostly owned by an architecture school that sometimes lends us studio space and where each area of study gets one or two rooms, this is fantastic. I walked down an entire hallway of studio space with huge windows and easels, and I am very excited for class to start, except that painting doesn’t start until Wednesday. (For those of you who were worried about all of my extracurriculars, I have one four hour class per day, and that’s it, and the one on Monday doesn’t start until 2. If I can work the system correctly though, I might be able to have two classes Tuesday and none on Monday, yay for weekend trips!)
Anyway, the reason I went to the building in the first place is that I’m trying to work out what other class I should take. I’m taking 8 units worth of painting, 4 in art theory (it’s called Cool Old Masters, can’t wait!), and I have 4 units left over for ‘complimentary studies.’ My choices have been narrowed by necessity (I thought of ceramics, but having to ship clay home would be terrible) to life drawing or ‘field studies.’
No one except for the professor of field studies seems to know what field studies actually are, and he is pretty bad at explaining himself, which probably perpetuates the problem (unintentional alliteration I assure you). As near as I can tell, ‘Field studies’ is a class where you take field trips to remote areas, sometimes visiting aboriginal land to be ‘inspired’ by your surroundings, and then you make art in whatever medium you desire based on that inspiration. This sounds good to me except that I would have to take it instead of painting, or with painting, because the complimentary form of this course seems to be more of an independent study type of thing.
Anyway, I’m off to see if I am allowed to do an independent study in field studies, if my professor is even around, (I think I saw his office the other day, and he seems to be the piles of everything especially books absolutely everywhere type of guy) since I will be taking a few caving trips and weekend trips of my own that I can draw material from. (Caving is exactly what it sounds like, by the way, climbing through caves. It is usually very wet, muddy, cold, beautiful and fun) And yes, I would be a coxswain for the crew club here; they seem pretty excited about it as I think they are very short of coxswains right now. Right now I’m leaning towards joining, because it’s a fun way to meet people, etc, but they do have all morning practices, which should be interesting.
PS. I wrote the above earlier and just got back from visiting with my professor. I am going to enroll in field studies, which involves 3 5-day field trips to a town called Tumut and surrounding areas, plus camping. This class has no scheduled class time, I just check in with him periodically and paint and take any other trips on my own time.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Yay for group activities!
Last night I walked about 40 minutes to Dickson, which was, according to my freshman friends, close by. I was able to pick up and join the ultimate frisbee summer league of Canberra, which is a really fun laid back league to teach newbies to play. Despite some confusion as to pick rules (they don't go by UPA here) and the fact that I had to wear sneakers and slipped all over the place, I had a great time, and at the end we cheered the other team with actual hip hip hoorays. I now have a standing invitation to play on Tuesdays for their team, the Sultans of Fling. Plus the captain gave me a ride back to save me from walking, so all in all, a good night.
I know that those of you who live vicariously through me will be disappointed when I say that I did not go to the rubix cube party. I thought about it but in the end i realized that with the exception of one red skirt my entire wardrobe is black, white, brown, and navy and I did not want to trade any of it at a party.
I went to the celebrated Market day at ANU today, and I am now a proud member of the ANU Caving club, and a soon to be member of the ultimate disc club, should they ever surface. I'm also thinking of joining the crew club here, as there are only morning practices (no two-a-days) and I would only have to do it a few times per week. Regardless, starting tomorrow with the crew welcome barbecue I am officially slightly more busy than I was.
I've also acquired a bike, helmet, and lights so that I may traverse Canberra quickly and legally.
I do plan to go out tonight with some people I met at the hostel, and seeing as every college student in town will be out it should be quite the experience!
I know that those of you who live vicariously through me will be disappointed when I say that I did not go to the rubix cube party. I thought about it but in the end i realized that with the exception of one red skirt my entire wardrobe is black, white, brown, and navy and I did not want to trade any of it at a party.
I went to the celebrated Market day at ANU today, and I am now a proud member of the ANU Caving club, and a soon to be member of the ultimate disc club, should they ever surface. I'm also thinking of joining the crew club here, as there are only morning practices (no two-a-days) and I would only have to do it a few times per week. Regardless, starting tomorrow with the crew welcome barbecue I am officially slightly more busy than I was.
I've also acquired a bike, helmet, and lights so that I may traverse Canberra quickly and legally.
I do plan to go out tonight with some people I met at the hostel, and seeing as every college student in town will be out it should be quite the experience!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Ending on a good note
So, today was pretty depressing.
First, I didn't really want to get out of bed, even though all of my roommates got up early and seemed chipper. I finally went and got some breakfast/lunch from the grocery store and read a bit while I ate it and then prepared to go to enrolment (no I'm not wrong, even though firefox spellcheck thinks I am, that's how it's spelled) on campus.
After having my visa checked I waited in line for an hour to have advisement on my classes. the line moved really slowly and where the line ended were rows of chairs. every time one person was served, everyone in each row moved over one seat, and the person at the end took a step forward to join the next row. except someone, i don't know who, messed all of this up by sitting in the wrong order in one row so that every time they moved it was the wrong way and the person at the end had to struggle though a row of people to make it to his/her new spot.
Luckily, I had brought something to read in line, but in my book I'm reaching the climax of the plot and I almost can't read it for how painful I know it's going to be. But it is rather good so I keep going. I didn't finish all of my stations until about 6 in the evening, having begun them around 2:30, but in the end I got my ANU student card. (actually i'm incredibly relieved because ever since my housing mix up a little part of me has been really worried that they wouldn't let me into the school either)
Anyway, on my walk home, there was nothing open to eat again except for sit down places. during the week, apparently, everything closes at 5:30 (including the 2nd largest shopping center in the southern hemisphere) and cafes only stay open till just after lunch. In searching for a place to eat, however I found a used bookstore, yay! I looked on the shelves for a while but the selection was not vast and a lot of the books were by australian authors or i had read them. I finally asked the two proprietors if they could recommend something either light or funny as I have just read D.H Lawrence and Ayn Rand and I needed a break; for the next 15 minutes two aussie intellectuals fussed over what I should read and promised that if i didn't like it, i could return it the following day. I have solved my book problem for now as I think they will buy my old books and give me plenty of recommendations for new ones.
I still hadn't solved my food problem, and since there are no subways or baja fresh open after 5:30, i got some instant noodles from the grocery store and carried them to a table to read and eat. As i was sitting though, one of my roommates, a british girl who's been living in the hostel and working for about 3 months, invited me down to the bar for drinks. Since I had forgone dressing in an 80's costume and going to an orientation party by myself, this seemed lovely. I spent the rest of the night watching an informal pool comp (the pool rules are very different here) and chatting with this girl Hannah, my friend Scott, and their circle. there's lots of intrigue and not so secret crushes in that bunch so between them, the pool, and a corona, i had a pleasant evening. (apparently aussie beer isn't very good so I went with something that reminded me of socal) There was one small guy in pants with pockets everywhere that was hilarious to watch because he was SO intense about the game, he had brought his own cue AND extender and was wearing a backwards newsboy cap and a ring on every finger. If it had been LA I definitely would have pegged him as a frustrated musician/actor. He kept using his chin to direct his shot, got his whole body in position, and chalked the cue incessantly but he wasn't doing very well, sadly, so he was back to publicly making out with his girlfriend before long, which wasn't nearly so entertaining.
Anyway, it seems as if I am destined to make only friends that do not, in fact, go to my school and do party past midnight every night of the week, (and apparently my roommate has a propensity for taking men back to the room she shares with 3 others at all hours, but I will endeavor to like her until this happens) but I am content as I have finally had some silly social activity.
Miscellanea:
I just ate an orange without a paper towel, and it is indeed pretty difficult
I hadn't eaten instant noodles in three years before today and am confident I will not again for five
When one and two dollars come in coin and you are never confident enough in your familiarity with the currency to give exact chan, your wallet gets REALLY heavy
American apparel ads can be very disturbing, beware
When it's 9 am my time, it will be 2 pm in LA, 10 pm in Edinburgh and 11 pm in Budapest, anyone wanna conference call on skype sometime soon?
First, I didn't really want to get out of bed, even though all of my roommates got up early and seemed chipper. I finally went and got some breakfast/lunch from the grocery store and read a bit while I ate it and then prepared to go to enrolment (no I'm not wrong, even though firefox spellcheck thinks I am, that's how it's spelled) on campus.
After having my visa checked I waited in line for an hour to have advisement on my classes. the line moved really slowly and where the line ended were rows of chairs. every time one person was served, everyone in each row moved over one seat, and the person at the end took a step forward to join the next row. except someone, i don't know who, messed all of this up by sitting in the wrong order in one row so that every time they moved it was the wrong way and the person at the end had to struggle though a row of people to make it to his/her new spot.
Luckily, I had brought something to read in line, but in my book I'm reaching the climax of the plot and I almost can't read it for how painful I know it's going to be. But it is rather good so I keep going. I didn't finish all of my stations until about 6 in the evening, having begun them around 2:30, but in the end I got my ANU student card. (actually i'm incredibly relieved because ever since my housing mix up a little part of me has been really worried that they wouldn't let me into the school either)
Anyway, on my walk home, there was nothing open to eat again except for sit down places. during the week, apparently, everything closes at 5:30 (including the 2nd largest shopping center in the southern hemisphere) and cafes only stay open till just after lunch. In searching for a place to eat, however I found a used bookstore, yay! I looked on the shelves for a while but the selection was not vast and a lot of the books were by australian authors or i had read them. I finally asked the two proprietors if they could recommend something either light or funny as I have just read D.H Lawrence and Ayn Rand and I needed a break; for the next 15 minutes two aussie intellectuals fussed over what I should read and promised that if i didn't like it, i could return it the following day. I have solved my book problem for now as I think they will buy my old books and give me plenty of recommendations for new ones.
I still hadn't solved my food problem, and since there are no subways or baja fresh open after 5:30, i got some instant noodles from the grocery store and carried them to a table to read and eat. As i was sitting though, one of my roommates, a british girl who's been living in the hostel and working for about 3 months, invited me down to the bar for drinks. Since I had forgone dressing in an 80's costume and going to an orientation party by myself, this seemed lovely. I spent the rest of the night watching an informal pool comp (the pool rules are very different here) and chatting with this girl Hannah, my friend Scott, and their circle. there's lots of intrigue and not so secret crushes in that bunch so between them, the pool, and a corona, i had a pleasant evening. (apparently aussie beer isn't very good so I went with something that reminded me of socal) There was one small guy in pants with pockets everywhere that was hilarious to watch because he was SO intense about the game, he had brought his own cue AND extender and was wearing a backwards newsboy cap and a ring on every finger. If it had been LA I definitely would have pegged him as a frustrated musician/actor. He kept using his chin to direct his shot, got his whole body in position, and chalked the cue incessantly but he wasn't doing very well, sadly, so he was back to publicly making out with his girlfriend before long, which wasn't nearly so entertaining.
Anyway, it seems as if I am destined to make only friends that do not, in fact, go to my school and do party past midnight every night of the week, (and apparently my roommate has a propensity for taking men back to the room she shares with 3 others at all hours, but I will endeavor to like her until this happens) but I am content as I have finally had some silly social activity.
Miscellanea:
I just ate an orange without a paper towel, and it is indeed pretty difficult
I hadn't eaten instant noodles in three years before today and am confident I will not again for five
When one and two dollars come in coin and you are never confident enough in your familiarity with the currency to give exact chan, your wallet gets REALLY heavy
American apparel ads can be very disturbing, beware
When it's 9 am my time, it will be 2 pm in LA, 10 pm in Edinburgh and 11 pm in Budapest, anyone wanna conference call on skype sometime soon?
Saturday, February 16, 2008
We're gonna need a bigger blog
Last night I finished painting, skyped a bit, and headed out to dinner with no hope of anything but my usual yogurt (raspberries and crème if you were wondering), granola bar, Nudie (this is like naked juice but way better) and bread with Nutella. I was ecstatic, as you can imagine, when I saw a world culture appreciation stage on the main city walk just a block from my home. On the stage were two Hispanic women in tight white pants and silver tube tops singing Gloria Estefan, and surrounding them were booths selling foods from all over the world.
I discounted anything that required a plate and fork as to messy (ie thai, chinese, etc) and was exited to see and Australian food tent. To my dismay, the Australian tent had been combined with the Mexican tent, and so instead of having both kinds of food, they were simply coupling Mexican food (nachos) with Australian beers (which are nothing to write home about, although I suppose I just did). *face turned up to the heavens, and shaking one fist* Will I never taste Australian food? The answer of course is that I have, but it is exactly the same as American food, sigh, oh well.
I finally settled on an empanada, but alas either I have been spoiled by Empanada’s Place in Culver city or Australian Chileans do not know how to make them, because it was not very good. What else was I to do then but go back 45 minutes later and try something else? I finally got a bratwurst on a Kaiser roll with saurkraut of course and a small beer (I do not know how people drink it in pints, I stomach feels full at just the thought) and it was DELICIOUS. I’m beginning to think that my favorite foods I have here are going to be non-Australian, but whatever. I sat with my sausage and beer, a little Gloria estefan in the background reading a book of short stories for adults by Roald Dahl called Tales of the Unexpected; almost all of them involve weird people, death, and dismemberment. In other words, they are as morbidly fascinating as his children’s books, but deal with adult topics like adultery, gambling, and murder.
When I finished this it was only 8 so I thought I’d have to go back to the hostel and find my friend Scott to play pool or dig up another book (I am down to 2, and the next used book sale is Thursday!) I entered my room to find a new roommate, and since we clearly both had nothing better to do I invited her to get coffee. We went to Starbucks and chatted about majors, hometowns, family, etc. She actually added sugar to the hot chocolate, which was incredible. She’s from Malaysia and she told me that in order to get a decent job there you have to have at least a masters degree, and that even to work in a factory or something you have to have a bachelors, and we think the job market in the US is competitive. After about an hour it was clear that we had exhausted conversation and so we went up to bed; in fact, I think we used up our conversational quota for the next few days because we haven’t spoken at all today, she’s eating instant noodles and watching some Indian action movie right now, all I can hear are the sound effects and grunts of people who have clearly just been punched.
Well, today I finally went for a run.
There were two main factors that instigated this activity, one that I am really bored. Deki has left town and all of my roommates are the quiet loner type (not that I can really criticize these traits, since I have them, but the problem is that since ALL four of us are the quiet loner type we sit and read and watch movies and don't socialize) Two,
Sorry, I completely lost my train of thought because one of the cleaning women just came up and started complaining to me about how the hostel has booked some rooms completely full and left some empty. A lot of it was mumbled and she spoke softly anyway like there was some sort of chance of her being overheard so i don't really know what the matter was, but she talked for at least 3 minutes without any interruption from me. Eventually she paused and waited for me to say something; I haven't really been able to follow her argument at this point, so I made an attempt at a sympathetic noise and she shuffled off.
Ok, I know I just started a paragraph earlier about how I'm lonely don't know anyone, etc etc, but I will completely contradict myself and complain here about being hassled. It seems like when I do make attempts to be social they don't work out, but when I am content and entertaining myself people feel the need to interrogate me. Just now, for instance, I was talking to people on line, a delicate process because of the time differences involved in communicating with Tennessee, California, and Scotland. I had headphones in, and I had started a blog post, what about this position says 'yes, I know the way to the pool' or 'please tell me how the hostel that has made me move rooms for no reason has problems with its booking process' ?
The same thing happened to me on Saturday when I went down to the lake to do some watercolor sketches. I'm pretty weak with watercolors and composition, so I thought I'd get some practice, but literally every five minutes a tourist would come up to ask me about myself or what I was painting, or they would just sneak up and watch over my shoulder (which makes you self-conscious i can tell you), or took a picture of me (without asking my permission). One woman actually sat down next to me on the ground and started asking about the composition, and then a bus-load of japanese tourists showed up.
So needless to say today when I had finished my run and shower today i grabbed a sandwich, dubbed a BLAST by the local bagel shop with the intention of doing some research for my fellow bacon lover Sonya: BLAST stands for Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado (or avo at the aussies call it, I swear they would fit right in in socal with all of their abbrievs) Swiss cheese, and Tomato.
I took this toasty piece of deliciousness to a nearby park (there are SO many parks here it’s amazing) along with a new book to pass the by Ann Raynd (Sp?) called We the Living. It’s this incredibly depressing book about how terrible communism was for the bourgeois and tragedy hangs over the plucky and brave 18 year old heroine so that it’s almost painful to read on because I know something awful is going to happen and there’s no guarantee it will be resolved. It has moments of brilliance though, so I keep reading like the crazy masochist I am, but at the same time vowing that I will never, under any circumstances, read Atlas Shrugged.
Anyway, I get all settled in the shade (yesterday I got sunburned), reading, and finally when I am at perfect peace with my depressing book, what happens? My phone rings, and what do I do? Naturally I LEAP for it, and it is my parents calling me from Skype, what a nice surprise!
After I chatted with the folks and read that book until i was incredibly depressed I did what any red-blooded bored American would do. I went shopping. Actually, I needed a padlock for my locker at the hostel and just HAPPENED to see these shorts on sale.
ANYWAY, the point of me relating my shopping is this, friends romans, countrymen, i saw, for six dollars, a hot pink straw trilby hat; it is mildly amazing, but the though of having to transport it is daunting, especially since no non-hellions will understand. what do you think, comrades, yay or nay?
I discounted anything that required a plate and fork as to messy (ie thai, chinese, etc) and was exited to see and Australian food tent. To my dismay, the Australian tent had been combined with the Mexican tent, and so instead of having both kinds of food, they were simply coupling Mexican food (nachos) with Australian beers (which are nothing to write home about, although I suppose I just did). *face turned up to the heavens, and shaking one fist* Will I never taste Australian food? The answer of course is that I have, but it is exactly the same as American food, sigh, oh well.
I finally settled on an empanada, but alas either I have been spoiled by Empanada’s Place in Culver city or Australian Chileans do not know how to make them, because it was not very good. What else was I to do then but go back 45 minutes later and try something else? I finally got a bratwurst on a Kaiser roll with saurkraut of course and a small beer (I do not know how people drink it in pints, I stomach feels full at just the thought) and it was DELICIOUS. I’m beginning to think that my favorite foods I have here are going to be non-Australian, but whatever. I sat with my sausage and beer, a little Gloria estefan in the background reading a book of short stories for adults by Roald Dahl called Tales of the Unexpected; almost all of them involve weird people, death, and dismemberment. In other words, they are as morbidly fascinating as his children’s books, but deal with adult topics like adultery, gambling, and murder.
When I finished this it was only 8 so I thought I’d have to go back to the hostel and find my friend Scott to play pool or dig up another book (I am down to 2, and the next used book sale is Thursday!) I entered my room to find a new roommate, and since we clearly both had nothing better to do I invited her to get coffee. We went to Starbucks and chatted about majors, hometowns, family, etc. She actually added sugar to the hot chocolate, which was incredible. She’s from Malaysia and she told me that in order to get a decent job there you have to have at least a masters degree, and that even to work in a factory or something you have to have a bachelors, and we think the job market in the US is competitive. After about an hour it was clear that we had exhausted conversation and so we went up to bed; in fact, I think we used up our conversational quota for the next few days because we haven’t spoken at all today, she’s eating instant noodles and watching some Indian action movie right now, all I can hear are the sound effects and grunts of people who have clearly just been punched.
Well, today I finally went for a run.
There were two main factors that instigated this activity, one that I am really bored. Deki has left town and all of my roommates are the quiet loner type (not that I can really criticize these traits, since I have them, but the problem is that since ALL four of us are the quiet loner type we sit and read and watch movies and don't socialize) Two,
Sorry, I completely lost my train of thought because one of the cleaning women just came up and started complaining to me about how the hostel has booked some rooms completely full and left some empty. A lot of it was mumbled and she spoke softly anyway like there was some sort of chance of her being overheard so i don't really know what the matter was, but she talked for at least 3 minutes without any interruption from me. Eventually she paused and waited for me to say something; I haven't really been able to follow her argument at this point, so I made an attempt at a sympathetic noise and she shuffled off.
Ok, I know I just started a paragraph earlier about how I'm lonely don't know anyone, etc etc, but I will completely contradict myself and complain here about being hassled. It seems like when I do make attempts to be social they don't work out, but when I am content and entertaining myself people feel the need to interrogate me. Just now, for instance, I was talking to people on line, a delicate process because of the time differences involved in communicating with Tennessee, California, and Scotland. I had headphones in, and I had started a blog post, what about this position says 'yes, I know the way to the pool' or 'please tell me how the hostel that has made me move rooms for no reason has problems with its booking process' ?
The same thing happened to me on Saturday when I went down to the lake to do some watercolor sketches. I'm pretty weak with watercolors and composition, so I thought I'd get some practice, but literally every five minutes a tourist would come up to ask me about myself or what I was painting, or they would just sneak up and watch over my shoulder (which makes you self-conscious i can tell you), or took a picture of me (without asking my permission). One woman actually sat down next to me on the ground and started asking about the composition, and then a bus-load of japanese tourists showed up.
So needless to say today when I had finished my run and shower today i grabbed a sandwich, dubbed a BLAST by the local bagel shop with the intention of doing some research for my fellow bacon lover Sonya: BLAST stands for Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado (or avo at the aussies call it, I swear they would fit right in in socal with all of their abbrievs) Swiss cheese, and Tomato.
I took this toasty piece of deliciousness to a nearby park (there are SO many parks here it’s amazing) along with a new book to pass the by Ann Raynd (Sp?) called We the Living. It’s this incredibly depressing book about how terrible communism was for the bourgeois and tragedy hangs over the plucky and brave 18 year old heroine so that it’s almost painful to read on because I know something awful is going to happen and there’s no guarantee it will be resolved. It has moments of brilliance though, so I keep reading like the crazy masochist I am, but at the same time vowing that I will never, under any circumstances, read Atlas Shrugged.
Anyway, I get all settled in the shade (yesterday I got sunburned), reading, and finally when I am at perfect peace with my depressing book, what happens? My phone rings, and what do I do? Naturally I LEAP for it, and it is my parents calling me from Skype, what a nice surprise!
After I chatted with the folks and read that book until i was incredibly depressed I did what any red-blooded bored American would do. I went shopping. Actually, I needed a padlock for my locker at the hostel and just HAPPENED to see these shorts on sale.
ANYWAY, the point of me relating my shopping is this, friends romans, countrymen, i saw, for six dollars, a hot pink straw trilby hat; it is mildly amazing, but the though of having to transport it is daunting, especially since no non-hellions will understand. what do you think, comrades, yay or nay?
Friday, February 15, 2008
Notes on Food, and Miscellanea
How're you going? as my aussie friends would say...
In my humble opinion, one of the most important and exciting things about being in a new country is trying the local cuisine.
Up until now, since I dislike sitting by myself in restaurants, and most of them are italian or thai, (i.e. there are no 'Australian' restaurants for me to explore), I've reverted to Lena and my patented Italy cheese and sausage picnic diet. This is actually going quite well for me as there is ready access to Nutella (in a squeeze bottle, no more messy hands), good cheese and bread, and plenty of parks for me to eat them in.
Also, since Canberra is apparently a huge cafe culture, I've been sitting outside at tables a lot and eating sandwiches. All i can say is, Australians REALLY like mayonnaise, and on a bagel with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado it is not too bad; in fact it was delicious and snaps for Sonya making me crave bacon.
Anyway, aside from my sausage roll on the train, I hadn't had any really australian food, until last night. Deki, or Deon as he goes by here, invited me over for dinner at his house. He picked me up at my hostel and his sister and three friends were in the back, leaving me with shotgun (on the left side of the car, really trippy). He has a video screen in the shotgun visor that plays music videos! Anyway, it turns out it was his sister's sweet sixteen and about a thousand macedonian people were there, including almost the entire dancing group I watched earlier this week.
Everyone was really nice and funny and there were mounds of food, pretty standard but delicious potato salad, chicken wings, sausage etc. (people Really like sausage and chicken here, there are tons of chicken burger places, and i have seen almost not beef burger places, but I digress) Then came dessert, with three different renditions of happy birthday, and three rounds of hip hip hooray; the pet bird, Deon's best friend who he adamantly defends against his friends, even screeched a bit. I asked for a small piece of chocolate cake and Deon's mom without asking put something very gooey on my plate from a Tupperware container. Apparently what i'd been given was not a trial for the meek, as many of Deon's friends told me they never ate them because they were so sweet and rich.
Imagine a churro, fried doughnut thing with crispy outside and soggy middle, that had been literally soaking in a container full of what seemed like simple syrup for an hour or two. It was epic, sweet, and I only finished about one bite. I have to look up what it's called and let you know later, but it was basically instant diabetes (that's for Wheelsy) in a tiny syrup covered golden brown little debbie snack cake form.
Today i am back to yogurt and sandwiches (they have the BEST yogurt here, it;s amazing) as i am still recovering from my first traditional aussie food experience, but i will keep you posted.
Miscellanea
For those of you who made it this far, I OFFICIALLY have housing, I move in with Michael and Manny in two weeks. I met Manny last night, very sweet and instantly let me know about all of the personal drama with the ex boyfriend, but nice anyways.
Cheers mates
In my humble opinion, one of the most important and exciting things about being in a new country is trying the local cuisine.
Up until now, since I dislike sitting by myself in restaurants, and most of them are italian or thai, (i.e. there are no 'Australian' restaurants for me to explore), I've reverted to Lena and my patented Italy cheese and sausage picnic diet. This is actually going quite well for me as there is ready access to Nutella (in a squeeze bottle, no more messy hands), good cheese and bread, and plenty of parks for me to eat them in.
Also, since Canberra is apparently a huge cafe culture, I've been sitting outside at tables a lot and eating sandwiches. All i can say is, Australians REALLY like mayonnaise, and on a bagel with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado it is not too bad; in fact it was delicious and snaps for Sonya making me crave bacon.
Anyway, aside from my sausage roll on the train, I hadn't had any really australian food, until last night. Deki, or Deon as he goes by here, invited me over for dinner at his house. He picked me up at my hostel and his sister and three friends were in the back, leaving me with shotgun (on the left side of the car, really trippy). He has a video screen in the shotgun visor that plays music videos! Anyway, it turns out it was his sister's sweet sixteen and about a thousand macedonian people were there, including almost the entire dancing group I watched earlier this week.
Everyone was really nice and funny and there were mounds of food, pretty standard but delicious potato salad, chicken wings, sausage etc. (people Really like sausage and chicken here, there are tons of chicken burger places, and i have seen almost not beef burger places, but I digress) Then came dessert, with three different renditions of happy birthday, and three rounds of hip hip hooray; the pet bird, Deon's best friend who he adamantly defends against his friends, even screeched a bit. I asked for a small piece of chocolate cake and Deon's mom without asking put something very gooey on my plate from a Tupperware container. Apparently what i'd been given was not a trial for the meek, as many of Deon's friends told me they never ate them because they were so sweet and rich.
Imagine a churro, fried doughnut thing with crispy outside and soggy middle, that had been literally soaking in a container full of what seemed like simple syrup for an hour or two. It was epic, sweet, and I only finished about one bite. I have to look up what it's called and let you know later, but it was basically instant diabetes (that's for Wheelsy) in a tiny syrup covered golden brown little debbie snack cake form.
Today i am back to yogurt and sandwiches (they have the BEST yogurt here, it;s amazing) as i am still recovering from my first traditional aussie food experience, but i will keep you posted.
Miscellanea
For those of you who made it this far, I OFFICIALLY have housing, I move in with Michael and Manny in two weeks. I met Manny last night, very sweet and instantly let me know about all of the personal drama with the ex boyfriend, but nice anyways.
Cheers mates
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Next Great Apartment Debacle
Well, I spent most of yesterday in orientation, which for those of you who were wondering, was just as bureaucratic and mostly useless as the orientations we have in the states. I really only learned a few things of note:
1. There are zealous Christian groups here as well, this particular brand was handing out symbolic water
2. I can't register until Monday and then I have a whole week of 'getting to know each other' activities before school actually starts (albeit 80's themed activities that involve a lot of free food and a rubix cube party...)
3. I potentially have exams from june 12 to june 28, which might ruin my entire trip this summer, but hopefully the art program here is as slacker as the usc one and doesn't have exams.
4. ANU has a frisbee team (yay!)
I also spent most of the evening looking for apartments and learned that this is basically the worst time to look because ALL students need apartments and parliament is in session so all of the interns and stuff need housing as well. Great.
Apartment 1: Living with Michael and Manisa (Manny)
I met Micheal, who was really funny and seemed extremely keen on the idea of me cooking; he asked extensive questions about what i liked to make, etc. the place had a little yard, a nice kitchen, and a living room with tons of windows, but the downside is that the room isn't free until march 3-6. As I gave Michael my phone number (I now have a mobile, but it's kind of a drag cause i keep wanting to call people from home) he showed me a typed list of people that his roommate i hadn't yet met had made up for him to fill out when he met people. He looked at it kind of exasperatedly and said 'I have to rate you out of ten' apparently Manisa is very organized and wanted him to record his impressions.
Apartment 2: Katie
Young professional woman looking to rent out a room; she was ok i guess but i got a weird vibe from her and she said repeatedly that she didn't want to share food.
Apartment 3: Actually a house I would share with Jane, a portly 40's woman who really reminds me of my old boss Nancy, and a German post-grad named Antje who sends very terse emails and reminds me a lot of what I think Sonya will be like in about 6 years. ok place but it will be demolished in May and I will be homeless again...
Shortly after my meeting with Jane, I saw that I had voicemail, It was Michael telling me that I was the G-O, which I'm assuming means I am his top choice. I'm meeting with Manisa tonight, and if all works out I'll be living there in two weeks.
Keep your fingers crossed for me, folks, I'll keep you posted.
1. There are zealous Christian groups here as well, this particular brand was handing out symbolic water
2. I can't register until Monday and then I have a whole week of 'getting to know each other' activities before school actually starts (albeit 80's themed activities that involve a lot of free food and a rubix cube party...)
3. I potentially have exams from june 12 to june 28, which might ruin my entire trip this summer, but hopefully the art program here is as slacker as the usc one and doesn't have exams.
4. ANU has a frisbee team (yay!)
I also spent most of the evening looking for apartments and learned that this is basically the worst time to look because ALL students need apartments and parliament is in session so all of the interns and stuff need housing as well. Great.
Apartment 1: Living with Michael and Manisa (Manny)
I met Micheal, who was really funny and seemed extremely keen on the idea of me cooking; he asked extensive questions about what i liked to make, etc. the place had a little yard, a nice kitchen, and a living room with tons of windows, but the downside is that the room isn't free until march 3-6. As I gave Michael my phone number (I now have a mobile, but it's kind of a drag cause i keep wanting to call people from home) he showed me a typed list of people that his roommate i hadn't yet met had made up for him to fill out when he met people. He looked at it kind of exasperatedly and said 'I have to rate you out of ten' apparently Manisa is very organized and wanted him to record his impressions.
Apartment 2: Katie
Young professional woman looking to rent out a room; she was ok i guess but i got a weird vibe from her and she said repeatedly that she didn't want to share food.
Apartment 3: Actually a house I would share with Jane, a portly 40's woman who really reminds me of my old boss Nancy, and a German post-grad named Antje who sends very terse emails and reminds me a lot of what I think Sonya will be like in about 6 years. ok place but it will be demolished in May and I will be homeless again...
Shortly after my meeting with Jane, I saw that I had voicemail, It was Michael telling me that I was the G-O, which I'm assuming means I am his top choice. I'm meeting with Manisa tonight, and if all works out I'll be living there in two weeks.
Keep your fingers crossed for me, folks, I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Changing 20 years worth of instincts
“Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” ~ Charles M. Schulz
I have no idea what the date is at home, but I'm going for a record breaking two posts in one day here, mostly because I have nothing else to do and it's already tomorrow somewhere else, maybe, I dunno I get confused. I was all excited because I bought a phone, but then I realized that I need an address with which to activate it, so i have another useless phone in my bag in addition to my US one. I got a portable external hard drive, finally, so my poor computer can breathe easier. I really need to name it after I've put it through so much, any suggestions Erin or Courtney?
Anyway, things I've learned here:
1. the things that are the same are WAY more startling than the things that are different. I went into Target today, in the 2nd largest mall in the southern hemisphere, and walked past a Starbucks, Baskin and Robbins, and Borders books.
2. Books are way expensive here, and most of them are from the US anyway, like Stephen King for $30. I don't know what I'm gonna do, I'm down to my last book. (Kudos to Lena for recommending Lady Chatterly's Lover, it was seriously awesome)
3. I have never heard of the US spoken of with more revere than i did when i spoke with my cleaning lady today. The messy roommates are gone, their mess and smell are not. I got rid of food and bottles, but i have to get my other roommate, some guy named Scott judging by his papers, (I thought i booked a single sex room, but far be it from me to call my large hairy goateed roommate anything other than a woman) to sort out his stuff from the stuff they left behind. Anyway, she said she had wanted to go to the states since she was 5 and see Disneyland and the Rockies; having lived right next to both of those I filled her in, but I think talking to her made me appreciate home a lot. And air freshener, the angel brought me air freshener, life is good.
4. the Americans that come down here and rent cars are CRAZY; I don't have sufficient instincts to be a reasonably safe pedestrian much less drive. I'm ok with crosswalks and stuff, but i almost ran into about 5 people today because everyone walks on the left side of stairs, doors, and major walkways but there are just enough people meandering on the right to confuse me.
5. Knowing someone here is AWESOME; I had lunch with Deki today, and he showed me around ANU. He's doing traditional Macedonian dancing around the center of town tonight so I have something to do and I'm super stoked.
Ok, must go socialize and find my way downtown, yay for orientation tomorrow!
Getting Down Under
G'day everyone! I'm finally starting a blog because i realized that the sheer amount of people I have to keep in touch with completely outweighs my willpower to email. Feel free to post or email me with any of your news, but anything about my general status will be available here, at least for as long as I can make myself keep blogging...
So 14 hour flights aren't as bad as i thought, the redeye is definitely the way to go because you can sleep on the plane and wake up in the morning in another country. Even with about 7 hours of sleep, I got to watch The Bourne Ultimatum, which was disorientating, 3:10 to Yuma, which was excellent, even on a tiny screen, and most of The Darjeeling Limited, which was....confusing.
After landing I met some nice people in customs, changed some money, and got on a train. The ride was amazing because the scenery in Australia is beautiful, hilly, and much greener than i expected. The compartment was kind of cold and i caved and got some sort of sausage roll from a guy who was almost exactly like Wallace from Wallace and Grommit; when i asked what he recommended he said, "Well, all I really have is pie, and sausage rolls. Sausage rolls are nice..."
(read this in a sad wistful tone)
I am currently residing in a hostel because I have no housing currently, (long story) and so after a week and a half of being a bum with no place to live I am now in a hostel indefinitely with three REALLY messy people. Seriously, some of you know that I lead what I will graciously call a cluttered life, but there is food, clothing, and various media and toiletries everywhere. the only empty space in the place is my bed, the storage closets (why can't they use those?), and of course, the trash can. They also came in wasted at 3 in the morning to have a ciggie out of my window, bouncing up and down on my bottom bunk just in case they weren't loud enough to wake me up. Thankfully one of their sober friends found them and made them go to her room; thank you random amazing sober British girl staying at the Canberra YHA, I love you.
They're sposed to leave today so hopefully i will either have a cleaner room or find somewhere else to live. I currently am exploring options like: a two bedroom apt with an older Chinese woman and kitten, a four bedroom house with 3 male uni students, sharing a bedroom with a Chinese girl, becoming a hobo and sleeping in the library, we'll see.
Anyway, it's finally getting sunny so I'm off to explore my school and make sure i can find orientation tomorrow. More later, Cheers!
So 14 hour flights aren't as bad as i thought, the redeye is definitely the way to go because you can sleep on the plane and wake up in the morning in another country. Even with about 7 hours of sleep, I got to watch The Bourne Ultimatum, which was disorientating, 3:10 to Yuma, which was excellent, even on a tiny screen, and most of The Darjeeling Limited, which was....confusing.
After landing I met some nice people in customs, changed some money, and got on a train. The ride was amazing because the scenery in Australia is beautiful, hilly, and much greener than i expected. The compartment was kind of cold and i caved and got some sort of sausage roll from a guy who was almost exactly like Wallace from Wallace and Grommit; when i asked what he recommended he said, "Well, all I really have is pie, and sausage rolls. Sausage rolls are nice..."
(read this in a sad wistful tone)
I am currently residing in a hostel because I have no housing currently, (long story) and so after a week and a half of being a bum with no place to live I am now in a hostel indefinitely with three REALLY messy people. Seriously, some of you know that I lead what I will graciously call a cluttered life, but there is food, clothing, and various media and toiletries everywhere. the only empty space in the place is my bed, the storage closets (why can't they use those?), and of course, the trash can. They also came in wasted at 3 in the morning to have a ciggie out of my window, bouncing up and down on my bottom bunk just in case they weren't loud enough to wake me up. Thankfully one of their sober friends found them and made them go to her room; thank you random amazing sober British girl staying at the Canberra YHA, I love you.
They're sposed to leave today so hopefully i will either have a cleaner room or find somewhere else to live. I currently am exploring options like: a two bedroom apt with an older Chinese woman and kitten, a four bedroom house with 3 male uni students, sharing a bedroom with a Chinese girl, becoming a hobo and sleeping in the library, we'll see.
Anyway, it's finally getting sunny so I'm off to explore my school and make sure i can find orientation tomorrow. More later, Cheers!
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