Sept 12-22 - Ordinary World

Yes, sadly, I can condense two weeks into one entry. Here are some highlights:

Mon12: Had my first trial day at the restaurant Mosskito. It's motto is "Think Big" and they arent kidding! The plates are huge and heavy and topped with food. You definitely get your money's worth! The place itself is in Clifton Hill, a suburb near to the city about a 30min tram ride away. Kim, Runa, and I all went, but they only ended up wanting one of us to stay to train that night and so I went first. The other girls came back on Tuesday and Wednesday. The atmosphere is cool. The manager I worked with is a bit of a pretty boy and slightly high strung... everyone else is cool. I worked about 3 hours of actual running food time and got the job.

By the way, it was my 2month anniversary of being in Australia.

Tues13: Changed my mind about my research question and rewrote the last of my essay and took it to turn in to my tutor. New question: WHY are adults reading Harry Potter?

Wed14: Had a presentation to give... turned out I was a week early in having it ready. Got to chill out in class instead.
Premi and I went for dinner in Fitzroy area - about a 40 min tram ride. Ended up at a place called Mamma Vittoria. It was excellent. We had mussels to start. Premi had a white fish in a lemon cream thyme sauce and I had a ribeye with veggies that was super yum. We ordered a vanilla caramel custard for dessert and it was so good we ordered a second one. Then I had a glass of lemoncello. Fabuloso! It was supposed to be my birthday present to him, but when he found out that I had tried to pay while he was in the toilet... he got upset and was adament that he pay. So what's a girl to do??

Thurs15: Work night #2. Liked the manager I worked with on this evening better. People were super helpful and nice. The table numbers can get a bit wacky and my wrists got so tired after holding all the heavy plates. Not sure how I'm going to make it!

Fri16: Cooked Asian feast with Premi for his cousin, cousin's girlfriend, and the usualy Lankan suspects and Kim. Served up chili prawns, chicken stir fry (that was sooo good!!) and veggie omelets (which believe me were Asian in style). It was all very good! We went to the grocery and Lankan store to buy the supplies beforehand and two things happened: 1- I lost my keys to my room and the building (which I realized after we left and then went back and fortunately someone had turned them in at the grocery store and 2- We saw a rainbow that made a complete arch. It was beautiful. I dont know that I've ever seen one make the complete arch and it was incredibly vibrant too. Makes me wonder what someone, like Premi, who is colorblind sees when they look at a rainbow. All I know is that it was a really cool and wished I had my camera with me at the time.

Sat17: Happy Birthday to MOMMY!!! Worked at Mosskito again. I was sooo pooped by the time I left I was thinking NO WAY I can do this. But I ran food all night and it was very busy. I get my own tables next time.

Sunday18: Rested.

Mon19: Turned my Media Map entries in. Go see them here. Go to the Media Map - Community - Festivals and Events and then read Asian Food Festival, A Taste of Slow, and Motorola Melb Spring Fashion Week (and yes, the type on "journalist" is getting fixed).

Tues20: Class. Blah.

Wed21: Class. Then caught up with Kim to hit the city to meet some gals at a pub called The Stork. Had dinner and a drink there before heading back for our regular Wednesday night place. Our band guys werent playing, instead there were these other guys who were good, but a bit scary looking. We didnt stay long. I spent most of my evening searching for accommodation in Sydney for New Years while writing emails back and forth to my sister for her input. Let's just say...it was not looking good.

Thurs22: Holy cow...midday I FINALLY found accommodation within a non-budget breaking price range! Emailed my travel lady and booked our tickets. Spent a lot of time working on itinerary stuff for sis's visit. Also got stuff out for Tazzy trip. I'll be gone for the week, starting tomorrow night, to Tasmania. It's SPRING BREAK TIME!!!!


Premi, Kate, Pris (Cham's GF), Cham (Premi's Cousin) taken Sept 16

Sept 11 - Aquarius

Grad House hosted a brunch, so I got my first pancakes in Australia! Oh how I have missed them!

Kim and I had been wanting to go to St. Kilda, so we grabbed the tram to St. Kilda Beach to hit Acland Street. St. Kilda used to be somewhat of a hippie haven on the beach, and it still maintains a good part of that charm. The shops are pretty cool and I spent way too much time in this place called The Apothecary...I think? I cant actually remember. It was one of those small boutiques that had good smells and lotions and potions... and I think I met my first self-proclaimed "girly boy" who I just adored for his help. If I could have a job there...I would take it!

Anyhow, the weather was not so cooperative so the photos I have do not do it justice.

Sept 9 - Bhangra

Went to meet Kim in the city after class. Another housemate, Runa, came too so we could find some jobs. After a couple hours of jumping on and off the tram on the way from the city toward the school, we all went in to a place called Mosskito to ask about jobs. The manager said to come back on Monday at 5 wearing black for a trial night. So pretty much after that, we stopped at a few more places, but then went home because it was Bhangra night (put on by the Indian Students Associateion) at the Eagle Bar. Manjit, Kim's roomie, was going to be dancing for it - in a real, live, choreographed number!

When we got back, everyone was already getting dressed to go and everyone was getting dressed to go. It was a fun night out!

Kim, Runa, Manjit, Me (you can see my darker hair now)

Sept 8 - Hair

Woke up this morning and went with Kim to the city. She had to go to work, but I went to check out the place she was working at and had some lunch there. I had passed a hair salon on my way to Lygon St (Little Italy central...all the pizza and pasta you could want) and decided it was time to get my hair done. I asked some questions of the girl inside and decided I liked her and the other staff... so I sat down. Rebecca colored my hair and Keith cut it. It took my entire afternoon, but it's not like I had anything going on... it was just so nice to be pampered and they were nice. We had a good chat and I left looking nothing like I did when I went in. My hair is dark again between the gold highlights, instead of the golden honey brown that I had in between. People seem receptive so far... it's just SUCH a change. I'd put a picture up, but I dont have a good one. I should have taken one as soon as I got home when it was all pretty and fixed(since it's been a bit since then and it doesnt look anything like what it can bc I rarely fix it). I'm sure you'll see it somewhat in the next couple posts...

Sept 5-7 - Bionic

Monday: I turned in my essay for my research class and then hurried back thinking I was going to go out with a couple of the girls, but it just didn't happen. So instead, I played rugby for the first time with some house folks for two hours! Then Kim, Manjit, Udeshika, Sahani and I went swimming at the rec centre. Big day for sports!

Tuesday: Oh my golly I could not move! All that running and swimming put me out of commission. We were all laughing at eachother that afternoon as we hobbled around complaining of being sore.

Wednesday: I met with the graduate diploma advisor about what to take next semester since the course lists were out. It was a very short meeting because I got lost and went to the wrong building and so showed up about 10 minutes late, but it only took 5 minutes to chat anyhow. Dont know that I left there feeling any more informed other than understanding what the coding means.
After my classes, I had plans to meet Kim in the city for dinner with some other American students she knew. We ate at The Elephant and Wheelbarrow. It's your typical English Pub (with a sister pub in St. Kilda) with its decor and food and beer. Everyone's food looked great. I ordered the grilled chicken breast wrapped in pancetta over mashed potatoes with asparagus and hollandaise. It was good, but WAY too salty. I left with my tongue burning from the salt - and I can't blame it just on the pancetta. The others mentioned theirs were a bit on the salty side as well.
We left the NJ people to go to Father Flany's for the live music and drink specials. Kim and I got there early and got a booth and settled in. We had some nice drinks, some good conversation with Robi the drummer/backup singer, and met some other LTU folks there. Robi says to check out his band RadioDogs. Their single is on there - BIONIC.

Aug 28 - Contact

I volunteered to be a host for La Trobe's Open Day. Basically, unlike the way our unis at home do prospective visits, the schools here just have one day a year and any interested party comes for that one day. They have tents set up where bags are handed to each student which includes a campus map and local transport map; various campus publications; housing, scholarship, and financial aid information; and information about sessions being hosted by the faculties on campus. The student (and family) then has the opportunity to walk around campus and visit faculties, get information on their degree interest, and see what our campus is like.

So at 8:15 I headed to Contact on campus to get my Open Day t-shirt (which we got to keep) and sign in for the day and then headed to my tent where the group was already stuffing bags in preparation for the 9:30am arrival of visitors. We had the North entry and it was a busy entrance! It was also a beautiful day. The event ended at 4:30 and despite a nice little lunch packed for us by the school, I ended the day starved and pooped! We did get handsomely rewarded for our contribution, again unlike my Hendrix ambassador days with no pay, with $110 worth of campus bookstore vouchers. That will pay for next semesters books and materials, as well as a book for fun along the way too.

Aug 27 - Brickhouse

I woke up this morning with a feeling that I just wanted to get out. This, of course, did not happen at the break of dawn, because by the gathering of an outing partner and our readiness did not completely take effect until after lunch. So Kim and I headed to the Smith street outlets and the Fitzroy area of cafes and shops.

It took us about a 40 min tram ride to our stop and we traveled along the streets, going in and out of shops. I found one shop with promising items, but had no desire to try on and I wasnt really out to buy... I was just out! Kim, by 5:30, had purchased 3 pairs of shoes. They were good deals and looked cute on her, so good for her. I just didnt feel the need to buy anything at that time.

I found a local mag with information about the shops and cafes and noticed there was a tapas bar called Bebida (means drink - in espanol) with happy hour from 6-7. So we headed there and started off with a pot of tea (pre-6pm) and ordered some food. The food was just so-so, but the atmosphere was good. It was really cozy and small, and along with 3-5 others, had the place mostly to ourselves until 8 when the live music started. It was just two guys on the guitar and they brought their groupies, so we took off soon after, having had 2 mulled wines at $2.50 each.

From Bebida we walked a couple blocks to Father Flanigan's. We were told by the security at the door to watch ourselves because it was all primarily booze buses, 21s (21st birthdays here are a big deal, though there is no advantage to turning 21 -as in, no new priveleges unlike our 21 with alcohol), and hen parties (bachelorettes). He was not kidding. We cued up for the loo and had one drink while listening to the regular cover soloist (he's good)... but then we got the heck out of there! I kept getting bumped into, stepped on, and one girl even had the audacity to look at me in her drunken state and just drop her glass off her table and onto my foot! I hate drunk people!

So Kim and I walked to the tram stop to head farther into the city. It was only around 9pm and she had a friend hosting a house party in town. I called Aidan for some directional advice and we we grabbed the tram to one stop and another tram to the stop closest her house. And man, we did it right! We stepped off the tram and her house was RIGHT there! A couple other people on the tram were headed there too, so in we went.

The house was cool - it's pretty much the same style as most of these houses in the city, especially in that neighborhood - Carlton area. The turn out was pretty good, but I was done drinking and instead just started chatting with people. We met some cool guys, and we even met another American there who had come to LTU on a study abroad and liked it so much that after he graduated, he came back to do his masters in zoology. He's apparently researching cod fish and he claims to not like fish. Pretty funny.

By 11:30 I advised Kim that in order to catch the necessary trams back, we needed to get a move on. So off we went. We had some waiting to do at each stop, but we made it back just a little more than an hour later.

Aug 26 - Baby, baby

Called JG when I got back from class and we ended up talking for a good hour1/2. After she and I had our chat, I called H who had some news: the water in LR is contaminated with baby potion. How dare she be preggers while I'm gone? Grrrrr!
So after my three hours worth of chatting, I went to play cricket in the back yard and then left to meet Trisha in the city.

We met up at 7 at what was to be the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale (I think?), but I got confused on my directions and so waited at my stop and she came to find me at Swanston and Bourke. From there, we went to have a drinks at The Trader Bar which is a bar where drink prices fluctuate at "market value". So we started off with a wine for $7.20, but then the market crashed and we got another glass for $4. After our drinks, we went to some little Italian place a block away and ate our wine buzz away. There was some misunderstanding with the price of our food. This place just had chairs at the bar and chairs facing the mirror and it was a tight squeeze. So we arent talking upperscale. I could have sworn when the guy said the price he said it was over $40, but what he was trying to do was add in his head and I heard $15 and $28 and freaked thinking one of us just ate a $28 plate of pasta! But it was more like $15 + $13 = $28. Shhhheeeeesh! hehe We made it to one more place - Three Degrees. It had a decent atmosphere and a very central location. That brought us back to our tram stops... when I waited on the WRONG side of the track for about 5 minutes, despite knowing which direction I was headed. I was just on the US side of the road. Oh well. I dont think Trisha noticed from her stop.

The tram ride home couldnt have been more strange... to shorthand it (which still is kinda long) - a middle eastern guy got on and was acting strangely... drunk, eating a couple Hungry Jack (Burger King) burgers and being rude to passengers, but in a very strange, staccato tone. He was wearing a backpack. And I know we were headed to the burbs at a non-rushhour time, but a family got off the tram after his first odd outburst. The rest of us just looked at eachother with that - what is going on and should we get off too or do something or tell someone??? - look. I was so freaked out that I messaged Premi back at the house and asked him to come meet me at the tram stop. The guy fortunately got off about 15 stops before mine. I think my release of breath was pretty loud as I saw a guy down the way grin ... but it was the same look of relief and understanding of this shared experience. When Premi and his friend met me at the stop, he was laughing at my freaking out, but my thought was... if I were a suicide bomber, I'd go get drunk and have my last meal (not Hungry Jack though, but it was right on the tram stop where he got on) before I blow myself and others up.

TGIF? More like, thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday.