Divine Week Nine

First and foremost, some congratulations are in order. Congrats to Doug Wolfe and his new fiance Ayleen! Congrats to the newest Biological Tech at Barren River Lake, Tommy Crockett! Congrats to our Canadian friend, Melissa, who's volunteering at the Australian Zoo and hanging out with Steve Irwin and other famous people like Bette Midler. And finally, congrats to my cousin, Justin Long, and his band No Address! I hear that their first single "When I'm Gone" is about to hit the stores, and they've just filmed their first video in Mexico!

Second, I apologize for not writing on Wednesday. Karl and I went to a petting zoo in a town called Ballarat which is about 2 hours drive from Bundoora. By the time we got back and I got most of the reading done for my class this morning, it was too late to write. Pilates starts at 7:30 a.m., so I have to go to bed early on Wednesdays. (It's the only exercising I do, so I have to go.) The zoo was quite small, but I got to play with a 15 month old koala named Milton, so it was so worth it! We also got to feed lots of kangaroos. They were so lazy! Karl's updated the photo link with pictures of them lying on the hillside and some other stuff, too. I'd always pictured kangaroos standing up or hopping, so they looked quite funny. What was even weirder was the number of Asian tourists that wanted to take pictures with our friend Adrian's 2 year old daughter. I guess they like her blond hair more than the exotic animals.

Third, I hate public transportation. I don't understand it at all. Tuesday was Chris's birthday, and I had agreed to take a tram downtown to meet everyone to celebrate even though Karl couldn't go. It was dark by the time I got out of class, so the scariness of riding on the tram by myself for the first time was heightened. I got on the tram I always take, and I was surprised that not many people were on it. After about 20 minutes, I figured out why. In the middle of a dark, scary street I was told that it was the last stop, and I had to get off. I'm thinking "are you crazy?!?" But of course, I always follow directions given by authorities, so I got off. I wondered up the street to the next stop because it was a little bit better lit. I waited another 25 minutes with scary dirty guys trying to get my attention by yelling at me, and a second tram finally came. No big drama on this tram, but when I called my friend to see exactly where to meet her, she said they would be about a half hour because they were just finishing up dinner. No big deal, there are lots of people downtown because it was only 9 pm; I can walk around and get a coffee or something. At 9:45, Chris calls and tells me that they are still waiting for a tram, so it would probably be another 20 minutes or so. Did I mention that I hate public transportation? So, I try and call Karl for the 4th time, and he still doesn't answer. Thank goodness Carol who said she would keep her cell with her in case I was in trouble actually did as she promised, so I talked to her for a few moments before yelling at Karl for a few more. Anyways, I finally meet up with the group around 10:20, and we went to a cool, little upstairs bar called the Supper Club where we had wine and dessert as we sat on big couches and lounge chairs from the 1930's. Too bad that the last tram left at 11:45, so I spent three hours of my life waiting to hang out for an hour. That's okay, though, because on the tram ride home, I got to sit with several intoxicated, friendly characters that tried to impress me by showing me their bruised hands and ribs and then spreading this white paste all over themselves in an effort to relieve their pain. I can't wait until Karl gets a beer belly and then tries to show off for young, unsuspecting strangers on trams.

In other words, we love Australia. Just kidding, I really do like it. We went to the grocery on Monday to stock up because we hadn't been in three weeks. I got this really cheap juice called juice cordial. It looked so good that I wanted to have some as soon as we unpacked. I poured a big glass, and right as I was about to drink it, Carol asked me if I was drinking cordial. I said "yes, have you had it?" As she's answering "yes, it's concentrate," I'm beginning to drink, but luckily I stopped just as she said concentrate. I'd never seen liquid concentrate! What a great place this is!

One more short story and I'll be finished for this week. Because Karl and I are fat now, we decided to go on a walk to McDonald's with Carol on Sunday night for ice cream. We had almost finished our three mile walk, when our RAs met us in front of our dorm. They were frantic and wanted to us to go inside because it was dangerous. We thought they were kidding and laughed. They proceeded to warn us that men wearing black had been spotted carrying torches around our dorm. Karl and I were thinking, go inside? Are you kidding? If they're going to burn it down, I don't want to be inside. We're seriously freaking out but we notice that Carol is doing her giggle dance (she runs in place bobbing her head when she thinks something is really funny). In between head bobs, she manages to exclaim, "They call flashlights torches here! So, Karl and I join in the giggle dance and go inside.

Well, this upcoming week should be more exciting to write about, we're going to Cirque tomorrow, and I'm going on a wine tour on Sunday and an AFL game on Monday (it's a holiday). Hope the weather is as nice at home as it is here! Fall's my favorite!

Britt