A Heavy Heart

While I don't actually feel like I have much to write about right now I figure a week has almost gone by again and I could come up with something for you all to read. Makenna's blog is much more entertaining and what she is doing sure sounds much more fun. I am however living and working so I suppose that is to be expected. I have our adventures paid for and were working on setting dates so then I will get to have my fun and do the cool stuff. The ironic part is that after being here for a while this city is totally a city that would fit Makenna more than me and here I am while she hangs out on the beach.  

Anyways, tomorrow is Anzac Day, a national holiday which I learned is basically the same as our Veteran's Day so there is no school which for me means no work! Not that I have any plans what-so-ever but it will still be nice to not have to work in the middle of the day. I also get paid on Friday! YAY! This is probably the best part of my week because I have been so broke that an actual paycheck is going to be wonderful. Even better, its going to go directly into my Aussie account which I have yet to use. This should help me pay bills, eat and maybe start making payments to my Grad school deposit.... damn that $500. It is extremely inconvenient right now.

Among my trivial rants and antidotes, I have very little to report but even less to complain about. Today, I read a blog from one of my classmates from High School. I can't stay we were close friends or anything but she was always wonderfully nice to everyone, athletic and smart. Her blog reported an update on her fight with cancer and that she was recently informed that it had spread and there was a tumor growing around her lung... she was told she may have only days or weeks to live. I can't even imagine what she is going through and it has weighed heavy on my heart all day today. Its made me take a moment out of this life I am living to simply be happy to be sitting on the couch... to know that I am healthy. I am living in Australia and I have so much ahead of me even if it is unknown and scary. I took a little deeper of a breath during my walk and embraced the rain that fell on my face. It makes me so sad to know that her life could be cut so short, especially someone who I looked up to and admired, and who is so young and has so much to give the world. She very well may be me or anyone else I care about. Life is so short and the older I get the more I realize that. I guess this blog is about more then sharing my adventures because today this is all I have thought about...If I prayed I think this would be a time I would, but instead I send positive thoughts and love out to her and her family. I suppose that is essentially what prayers are...

A bit of a Ramble

Crap. Time has gone by again and I have not blogged. I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen. Well. Since my last post I guess I still don't feel like anything very exciting has happened... at least nothing I would want to read about if I were you. Which you obviously are doing. I guess to try and make it slightly interesting, this week was my first full week of actually coaching the kids gymnastics. I have found it pretty enjoyable so far and although some of the groups are a bit crazy, some of the kids are really lovely. I do forget that children take a lot of effort. even to just keep them entertained for an hour it can be really difficult. And I continually think of SuperNanny and all the things I will not allow my children to get away with. It is still a bit hard to come up with really basic ideas to keep the little ones busy, but even by today, Thursday, I am feeling more and more confident in my coaching that coming up with ideas on the spot is getting easier. It helps the more I learn what the kids abilities are and then how to pick things they all can do. I must say, I could not be happier about hopefully getting paid soon because this job is pretty much my only income and I am more broke then a starving college student. Even worse, I am a poor traveler. ha.

I keep trying to convince Makenna to come visit me because at least there is more work down here and she is in similar financial crunch as me. Although, it is significantly colder down here. I realize I say cold and people don't think that's possible because I am in Australia, but as Bridie has told me, were not just in Australia, I am in Melbourne! It is completely different. Right now it is 50 degrees out and its 1am but it is also raining and windy today SO it feels much colder. Where Makenna is, I am pretty sure it is still in the 80s. I am liking Melbourne more though as I get more comfortable here but I also am excited to get to see other parts of OZ after I make some money.

However, now with grad school, my time here is going to be cut short. I have officially decided to accept my admission to Arcadia University this Fall, if I can manage to get them the paperwork in time from here, and therefore will be coming home around July 16th so I can make a variety of important events at home and then move myself across the country to Philadelphia. Talk about a big life change. But one I couldn't be more excited about. It has pretty much consumed most of my thoughts for the last week and I have weighed the pros and cons, but, like my dad said to me the other day, all we can do in life is try things and take risks. I have tried things in the past, and some have worked out and some have not. I tried my internship in DC, which was a total bust, but then I studied in Belfast and that was incredible. If this is what I am meant to do it will work out and at the very least I feel really good about attempting to take a step to start a career I have always dreamed about. If it turns out not to be what I need or want, then I will reevaluate my plans and try something else. Either way I will learn something along the way. What matters to me right now I think is change. It is the main reason I moved around the world and have ended up in Melbourne in the first place. Because I felt stuck. And I don't think just moving back to Issaquah is my answer.

Anyways, now that I have rambled forever, I am going to try and get some sleep. Tomorrow is Friday, so another weekend of work at the club and I may have a date next week. I will keep you posted if anything really exciting happens. Love and miss you all

Observations

Random things I have noticed about Australia: First, that they drive on the left side of the road, which is almost becoming normal to me now. BUT other things I have noticed that are also on the left and I would assume to be on the right are: some door handles and key locks, ( like the screen door is normal but the main door is opposite) and the power button on the remote. Also, the door handles inside are located oddly high instead of down lower where you would reach for them. very weird. I have also taken note that yes the bugs here are indeed weird. As previously posted on FB, the crickets here look like giant cockroaches and the cockroaches can be even bigger and grosser. However, the possums here are kinda cute. People here, specifically in Melbourne, have a very unusual taste in clothes that I would never wear. Kinda hipster, slut? And just ugly. yeah that too. They also all like that bad 'music' that if you know me you know i hate. that Techno/dance/dubstep crap. Unfortunately for me, I work in a club and every Friday and Saturday I am subjected to listen to it for five hours. This would be the primary thing that is making me consider looking for a different job, perhaps a more restaurant oriented one where the noise level is significantly lower. 

Shorthand is different here to, silly things like ordering a Jack and Coke they call a JD and Coke. I am pretty good at picking up on those things though and I usually get a giggle out of it when I have no clue what a customer is saying. I just smile and play lost American and they normally don't mind. I do like that I get to chat with fun people all night, that's probably the best part about my job. 

I suppose there are a lot more things I have noticed but at this moment I can't think of them. Apart from the fact that pre-paid everything is super common here and that rent is paid by the week. Apart from the music and bugs, I really am enjoying all of the other parts of being here and all the things that make it different from home. It is very different. The people are different, the culture, the food. I like it and its always nice to get a different perspective on things. I love my roommate, she is brilliant. And I love how smart she is. Last night we had like an hour conversation while watching The Voice about the 16th century all started off of talking about the National Anthem. 

OH!!! So I almost forgot. I was about to say how clearly by this post you can see that not a lot has happened this week. Mostly it's because I am really really broke so sitting around at home pondering life has been my main activity. BUT, pondering life has gotten much more exciting because if you don't follow me on FB, you wont know that I got into Graduate School!. It's at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania and its for a Masters in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. Basically what I have wanted to learn about forever. So, since I found out that I got in, I have been contemplating what to do, if I should go, and when that would mean I have to leave here by. It is looking like if I accept, I will for sure be changing my flights home because right now my flight home is set for the day classes begin which obviously won't work. I clearly have lots to think about on the subject and will update everyone when I make a final decision, but obviously it is the most exciting thing that has happened in a while. Even counting the fact that I am in Australia right now.

Mini Holiday

Somehow it is already Friday again....But looking back over the week I have had four days off to do whatever I want. My friend Andy and I decided it was a good idea to rent a car and visit the greater Melbourne area. Although we ended up really only needing three days, it was nice to get out of the city and we were able to do day trips to save us money on accommodation. We spent most of our time on the Mornington Peninsula which is only about an hour outside of where I live. Our first day we got a late start but just figured we would drive along the coast and see what we came to. We walked around some cute towns, got lunch and went to the visitor center which gave us a million pamphlets to look through. We walked through a couple national parks and just enjoyed the afternoon and then planned for the next day.

Tuesday was probably my favorite day. We started earlier then Monday which was good because we got to do a super fun activity. We booked over the phone for this Tree Surfing Adventure at the Enchanted Maze but they didn't have room until 3pm so we had time to kill. Randomly and accidentally stopped in Mornington (the town) and it happened to have a nice little street fair going on. It was perfect and super cute. We walked around for a while, got lunch, I bought Jess and Marek's soon to be daughter a cute present and I found a lady who makes homemade soap. Then we headed off to the trees.

At first, we felt super super foolish. No lies. We were pretty much two of the only adults in the entire place that were not there with or for children. The main part of the park, was maze's, set up for fun kid activities that as a kid I could appreciate and would have been awesome. As an adult we felt silly. Especially Andy who is 6'5" and obviously stood out. After an hour wondering around the park it was finally time to do the Tree Surfing. While we still felt stupid getting into the harnesses once we were on the course it was actually quite challenging and it made the age difference not seem like such a big deal. I am waiting for Andy to post pictures on FB so make sure to look there so you can get an idea of what I was doing. I cant actually believe some of the young kids could do it! There were five levels and it ended up being REALLY fun! Around the time I made it to the 5th level I was chatting with the guys that work there (cute to) and they told us that normally its all adults who do it, but since its school holiday, that is the only reason we were so outnumbered.  I did all five levels, Andy did 3/5 considering he is so tall and the course really was not made for him. Still, it ended up being tons of fun and the entire time all I could think about was that Chelsea would have loved it. Miss you Chels.

Anyways, after that fun adventure we headed over to Phillip Island to watch the Penguins Parade. It ended up costing 22 bucks to essentially sit and watch the water for an hour, but it did pay off because the penguins ended up coming onto shore a little later. It was pretty adorable to watch and we timed it well with sunset. Overall, the last couple days were totally worth it. Worth the car and the random adventures. It was fun and I am glad we did it because I think some of those will be the memories that stick with me. The crappy part is that now it is Friday again and I work again tonight. However, I desperately need the money so I won't complain.

Settling in

Hello again friends and family. My apologies for not updating for a while. The main dilemma has been because of my lack of internet and the great inconvenience of going to an internet cafe. Basically I am too lazy because I have been too busy. Which is a kind of a contradiction. I have been so busy that in my only free time I cannot seem to will myself into town to get online. However, I now have internet! YAY!

An update on life. To start I have officially been here a MONTH! Yup, a full month has passed since I got here and it has simultaneously felt super long and super short. Since my arrival I now have two jobs, an apartment (complete with a cat and dog), a couple friends, a new phone number, a pretty bedspread to make my room mine, and internet. Not a bad start. Since I last wrote about my new job not a whole lot has changed. I spent my first week at the school judging the gymnastics girls at their competition that also determines what group they are put in next term. It was actually quite fun and a nice introduction into the program and skill level so I can better prepare for actually coaching the kids. The staff seems pretty nice (young, but nice) and I really do love the director. I hope I can contribute to this program in my short time because I feel like it has so much potential and she is only just starting to turn the program around that was left in shambles from the last lady. The only bummer about this job is that I got hired, worked this last week and now the kids are all on holiday for two weeks. Essentially their spring break. It turns out that could be a good thing though because this last week since it was Easter, I worked at Electric four nights in a row. So after judging Mon-Thurs, I worked at the bar from 10:30-4:30am Thursday to Sunday. I could not be happier that today (Monday) I got to just sit around the house and watch movies. (10 Things I hate about you-good ol Seattle film- Miss Potter- Mean Girls and Salt. Productive day I know)

I started to not feel very good at work Sunday night and my throat has been sore for two days now which does not make me happy and is partially why I laid around all day. I have already started taking lots of my hippy medicine that I brought with me but I may go find an herbal shop later this week if I don't kick this thing in the next couple days. Also, interesting but Monday here is a holiday to. So even though Easter is Sunday, Australians get the following Monday as a public holiday as well. I must admit it is kind of a pain because basically nothing has been open since Thursday.