Week 10: A Quarter Done

With the writing of this blog, Karl and I are officially one quarter of the way done with our Australian adventure. We'll be here 40 weeks for those of you who are mathematically challenged:) I wonder if 40 is supposed to symbolize something important. You know, 40 days in the wilderness or 40 years in exile kind of thing? I'm mostly kidding.

This was another week filled with fun stuff to do instead of school work. On Friday night, Karl and I went to the city to see Cirque du Soleil. It was so fantastic!!!! For anyone who isn't familiar with Cirque, it is a combination of traditional circus and a theatrical show. It was performed inside a big top, but there aren't animals or anything. Instead, there are two hours of amazing stunts and comedics done by an international cast of performers. I really need pictures to describe it, but like any other show, you aren't allowed to take pictures:( I will say that one of the most impressive acts was the final acrobatics act. The climax of the act was when a man was tossed up to do a back layout and land on the shoulders of another man who was on the shoulders of another man who was on the shoulders of another man who was on the shoulders of another man--that makes a five man stack! It was so cool! I can't really describe it.

On Saturday the fun continued when I got up and took an IQ test. One of our friends, Claire, is getting her masters in Clinical Psychology, so I was being the guinea pig. I was hoping that getting my IQ tested would prove my parents wrong and I would finally figure out that my IQ was not in fact a 12. But, today, Claire told me that she didn't get proper training, so my scores might be off. Hopefully, they're off on the high side:)

On Sunday, Karl went to practice, and I don't remember doing anything worth writing down. On Monday, however, I went with the Canadians to the biggest AFL game of the season. We had no idea that getting tickets to this game was such a big deal. After reading a couple of the 5 newspaper pages the next day that were devoted to this one game, I realized that the ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Core) game is a huge tradition honoring the men who died at Gallipoli 90 years ago in WWI. I just thought it was a big deal because of the teams playing and the fact that it was being played at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds) which holds 80,000 people. Only 70,000 attended our game. At any rate, I kind of felt like I was at a Quidditch match in Harry Potter because most of the fans wore wool scarves and hats with their team name woven in them. Kind of weird considering that it was almost 80 degrees outside. A guess it's pretty easy to see the English ties sometimes.

I guess the only other exciting thing to write was about the worm I almost ate yesterday. Karl had gotten our crackers out of our little cupboard, so I could have a quick snack before trudging off to class. I had eaten four or five saltines when a green little worm dropped onto the paper I was reading. I spit out my cracker and almost threw up. Today I started to not feel so good, and it wasn't until I was writing about my little green friend that I realized the connection. Laura, Derek, other friends in med school, has the worm poisoned me? Please, say no. I've already booked a trip to Sydney in July. I can't come home now.

But anyone who wants to visit, Qantas is having a sale in which you can fly to Melbourne and 3 other places for $999 before tax. Book before August 31. Sorry the blog was boring this week. I told you I wasn't feeling well:)

Britt

P.S. Check back for pictures from the game.
P.P.S. I didn't waste my time writing about our new adventures with the Immigration Dept. We've decided to just wait until they actually call us back like they promised this morning.