Mare

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Steve Brown!  Sorry I missed it... apparently they don't have WiFi on the beach ; ).

So I meant to mention I was going on a three day beach orientation BEFORE I left, and then the internet was down that morning and I couldn’t.  But that’s where I was.  I wasn’t eaten by a large fish or anything of that sort.

 

First things first.  Australian’s eat weird sandwhiches.  Secondly, Nick I don’t know Rob’s number or I would totally call him.  Thirdly, our Australian roommate (Danny) moved in and our other roommate (Sean) and Danny laughed at us when we asked about internet.  APPARENTLY we can have our pictures turned on, and we can upload pictures all we want, and check email all the time, but just be careful of how much we download….they thought we were being silly being as careful as we were.

 

So let the narration of the beach orientation begin!

 

NARRATION OF BEACH ORIENTATION:

 

Monday we got up at the butt-crack of dawn and walked our little bums with our huge bags down to “entrance 3” of Uni.  The rumor was the buses for our beach orientation would leave at 9 on the dot and they WOULD leave without us.  We waited.  And waited.  And then they came, and we loaded on, and waited.  And waited.  And then around quarter of ten we took off.  There was a guy in front of us on the bus  whose name was Johan.  (it’s said, however, like U-won.  Won being the won of won-ton soup and the like)  He is from Sweden and has been to more places in the states than I have.  Which is a bit embarrassing.  No one really thinks highly of us here, but can you blame them?

 

The bus ride was long and we finally got to Geelong, where one of the other campuses is and we herded into a lecture hall to see a presentation for exchange students.  We learned a few things about Australia.  i.e. in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s the Australian government decided the aboriginal people were not fit to be parents and they STOLE the aboriginal babies from their home and kept no record of where the babies came from or who their families were, and just recently the Australian prime minister made an apology for the government.  I’m sure there’s more to it but that’s all I remember.

I also learned that Australian’s tease when they like you, and when they say “just down the road” it could mean down the road or many many kilometers down the road…plus the lawn mower was invented here.

 

We found Long Island Matt from the plane there and he sat with us during the lecture.  Unfortunately we were divided up by colored wrist bands and he was not in our color so we were on different buses and things but we ate lunch together.  Lunch was….strange….

It was a sandwich with chicken, butter, cheese, cucumber, carrots and basically leaves.  I wasn’t a fan but I ate it. 

Dessert was a caramel koala….aka a Carmello shaped like a koala.

It was funny when Lindsay said "I heard Vegemite is sick." and Long Island Matt says "Oh really good then?"  Of course Lindsay meant disgusting.  It's funny how just a few states away things are different.

 

The next bus ride was even longer but we sat across from Jonas (who is from Sweden) and Stephon “just call me Steve” a German who was hilarious.  There were girls near us from California, and when Stephon heard that he shouted unreasonably loudly “CALIFORNICATION!....I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers….I don’t know what they are saying but I love it.”  He cusses and drinks excessively but he’s a nice guy.  Every time he wanted a picture he’d say “Take one for my mom, ya?”

 

When we got there it was hell.  Lindsay and I must have a curse or something.  We were all staying in different places.  We basically took over the small town “Lorne”.  Some were in the Comfort Inn, some were in tents, some where in the Lorne Hotel, and others were in the Cora Lynn Apartments.  We were in the apartments.  First we pulled up next to it and unloaded our things and stood on the street side and then as it turns out, they didn’t have our keys yet, so we loaded back up and drove to the Lorne Hotel so they could get our keys.  Then we drove back, and unloaded, and as it were they still (somehow) didn’t have our keys so we waited outside the apartments.  There were around 12 of us.  Finally they came with the keys and passed them out group by group.  Somewhere in there I dropped my sunglasses and they were stepped on and broken : (  Finally it was down to me and Lindsay and this small little Asian girl.  Byron (the man passing out the keys) says “okay so you are the ones without homes” and we said “no we have homes, see right here on our papers it says “Cora Lynn Apartments’.  APPARENTLY it was spelled differently and if we could just “pop up to the Lorne Hotel, they would check us in”.  So we drug our bags up this hill along the beach in the HOT HOT and getting hotter sun to the Lorne Hotel.  We went to the desk and she was on the phone but she handed us keys and pointed.  We thought she meant to go upstairs so we tried that.  When that didn’t work we came back down and she said “Do you have rides coming to get you?  It’s a bit of a walk down that way.”  If “just down the road” means a long way away, then what the heck does “a bit of a walk” mean?  We headed back down the hill along the beach in the already hotter and getting schorching sun and ended up where we started.  The Cora Lynn apartments.  Turns out they just forgot to pick up our keys.

We had missed the meeting about excursions to Sydney and Fiji.

We had wasted 2 hours of free beach time.

And Lindsay and I lived alone in (what was, I must say a gorgeous apartment) however, everyone else was mixed up and living with strangers and meeting new people.  Not that I don’t love Lindsay, but she isn’t new people.  She’s friendly though!

 

Dinner was again different.  Kuz Kuz?  Is that how it’s spelled?  And chicken that looked like lamb.  We sat with Boston Brad.  He’s going to New Zealand on his way home and he said he’d visit Mr. Tumnus’s house for me.

 

After dinner everyone was heading to the Pent House to “get smashed”.  The Pent House being one of the Cora Lynn apartments that is for sale and was being used to house some of the students from Deakin.  It was listed in the adds as around $600,000 and some college boys were throwing a kegger.  I don’t want to judge, but being in Australia, I feel like there is more to do than binge drink indoors. 

 

Lindsay and I headed to the Ba Ba Lu bar with Astrit from Denmark where there was a live band, and things kicked up a bit.  Granted we were tired and wore out from our trek up and down the town, but we had to meet SOMEONE.  I sat down and the first person I met was Alex who was wearing flannel in 30 degree (Celcius) weather.  He asked where I was from and I said “Ohio”.  His response was INSTANT and as strange as it was quick.  “YOU HAVE THE OHIO RIVER!”  I laughed because I couldn’t help it.  He is from California, goes to school in Idaho and is studying fishery, hence why he was most interest in the bodies of water from my home state.  He smiles so big when he talks you can barely see his eyes.  I asked him what someone who is studying fishery does and he talked for a half hour about all the wonderful things he wants to do/has done.  It was amazing.  I’ve never met anyone as passionate about their major as he was.  He told me about how he caught a Marlin three times my size and that he loves fly fishing but forgot his hat. I told him I used to fish with my Grandpa but that I don’t know anything about it.  Then he swore he was a “great swing dancer” and treated Lindsay and I to “lesson” each.  He wasn’t amazing, and admitted he had no idea what he was doing, but how many people can say they’ve swing danced with a fisherman from Idaho in Australia.

After that more people started showing up. 

Long Island Matt popped by and seemed thrilled to see us.

And we were introduced to the fisherman’s fisherman-friend, Reed who asked Alex “why he got so dressed up?” (in flannel?).  Incidentally, when Lindsay and I had walked down on the beach a bit earlier I snapped a picture of some guys fishing off the rocks and it turned out to be them.

I felt a bit creepy but told them anyway.

 

Jonas from the bus and Johan (U-won) showed up after that.  Mom, you’ll be pleased to know you aren’t the only one surprised to find a ladies-man can also be called a pimp.  I’m not sure how the conversation came up but Jonas was making jokes about all his girlfriends so I asked “are you a pimp?” and he looked shocked.  As good as his English is, it’s a bit literal.  “Do you mean, am I a man who manages whores?”

I laughed so hard I almost died.

We taught him and he loves it.  He gave us his business card since it had his number on it, and called it his “pimp card”.

 

The next day Lindsay and I got up really early for beach yoga.  We all made fools of ourselves.  The instructor would say “now bend over and do the sleeping dragon” or something silly of that sort and fold herself in half.  I just fell over.

The balancing ones I could do, but my leg just would NOT go over my right shoulder.

Not even with coaxing.

 

We decided to skip the hiking because we ran into Long Island Matt and Boston Josh on our walk to change our shoes.  The beach and friends just seemed 10,000 times better.  We found lunch first and Lindsay and I bought “mobiles”.  We bought Virgin Mobile phones because they were in a box “2 for $100” which was a great deal and then turned out to be “2 for $84 and free Virgin to Virgin” which is EVEN BETTER.

We can talk and text to each other for free which is really why we got the phones…and for emergencies and incoming calls and texts are free which means you are welcome to call it but it WILL cost a butt load and PLEASE look up on the internet what time it is.

My number is 0413 114 630.  You have to do some silly thing with a plus sign though to dial it….I’d look it up if I were you.

I’m happy emailing and things though….it seems all that much easier.

 

After lunch (which cost a fortune) Long Island, Lindsay, Josh and I went down to the beach and built a sand castle.  It was brilliant and huge and I even made a large sand boot.  To be honest it wasn’t supposed to be a boot….but that’s all it really could have been in the end.

I applied sunscreen generously but forgot my ears and my left foot.  It’s not to bad though.  Doesn’t hurt, it’s just a bit red.

 

At dinner, one of the advisors told me I wouldn’t be able to register without permission from my University….I freaked out a bit since I don’t have that.  By December, my Deakin advisor had said to just show up and choose classes then.  Thankfully another advisor said otherwise and I’m banking on what she says.

 

We meant to go back out after dinner that evening but I passed out from what I can only assume was a combination of jet lag, dehydration and sand in my ears.

 

Today (which is my Wednesday) we drove to the 12 Apostles.  It was very pretty but the bus ride wore me out and the roads were so windy I got a bit car sick.  They fed us strange sandwiches with beets on them and dessert which was cheesecake squares with lime jello on top.  I ate a bite of the sandwich and felt like I might die.

 

We came home to an Australian roommate.  His name is Danny and he’s a bit goofy but in the way you want someone to be.  He likes the theater, and movies ranging from Lion King to Batman Begins, he’s from Sydney and says things like “brilliant” a ton.  He stood in our doorway a bit and talked.  He asked if we’d ever had a mint biscuit and of course we said no.  He cussed a bit and tore off down the hall and came back with thin mints really.  Biscuits are cookies.

We took a trip up the highway to show him where Kmart is and he bought some things.  He’s terribly excited and everything and actually laughs when you make a joke, not just chuckles.  He actually throws his head back and laughs.

We all three kept making each other laugh with words we don’t recognize.

If I get into ALL153 (Reading Children’s Literature) like I planned, I’ll be in Danny’s course.  Hopefully the same time too. 

But that’s not the best part.

The best part is we are required to read “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” which is the British (and original) version of our Harry Potter and recommended to read Where the Wild Things Are.

 

In response to your blog….Jen’s baby #3 mom?  Where’s baby #2?  Am I missing something or is that a typo?

Everyone calls Australia “Oz”.  It’s particularly funny because there’s one guy from Kansas, Jeff, and people keep making the joke “You’re not in Kansas anymore.”

That’s terrible news about the church but hopefully it will turn out alright….

I can’t wait to hear that song Ellen….and Step Up 2?  Really?

I’m worn out and have a terrible headache.  The temperature dropped down to about 25 and the quick change in weather is causing the worst headaches.

 

I’m going to sleep.  I feel a bit better about things but tomorrow is class registration and that COULD be a nightmare.