31 Days of Christmas

 

Day 1: 8 o'clock

Helen and I are on our way to the Christmas Market :)

[you didn't really expect more from me at 8am did you?]

 

 Day 2: Peace

Now, before you go telling me that this is piece and not peace first take a moment to understand that this is no ordinary cake. This is lemon cake, the same lemon cake that my grandfather taught to my mother and that she passed onto me. Making this today did bring me peace and provides a calming taste of home.



 

Day 3: Something I Held

Meet Fish and his soon to be new friend

 

Day 4: Black and White

Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina was the first thing that I thought of when I saw that today was 'black and white' and although I did not find time to watch it today I still felt that it was a suitable picture

 

Day 5: Looking Up

 Looking up and out to enjoy the view from the road after meeting BJ (the horse Helen rides) and watching her riding lesson

 

Day 6:  From where you live/your country

This picture was taken where I live, but the objects in the picture are from my country. Thanks Mom!

Day 7: Stars

 

 

I've never done one of these, but have always thought it sounded fun. I'll do my best to update this post as often as I can/as often as I remember.

I spy

Ian took me to the zoo last weekend and we had a GREAT time. He is definitely the best and has been spoiling me rotten recently. Not going to post all of the pictures since the animals are pretty much the same as last time, but here are some that were a bit different.

I spy something... Green

 

 

I spy something... Round

I spy something... Trying to get into the trash?

 





 Oh gosh, I've been caught

 

What? Maybe I wasn't done with those veggies yet.

Almost there... so close... if only this shell would stretch a little bit more...

 Birds. Awww and they're friends :)

Prepare to meet Duckbird [Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh DUCKBIRD (like batman, only cooler)]. This may look like a duck, but it's in a tree like a bird [yes, ducks are birds... like a normal bird that belongs in a tree]. It also waddles like a duck, but makes chirping sounds like a bird [a tweet tweet bird, not a quack quack duck]. The aviary was closed the last time we were here and I am very glad it was open this time. So cool!

 

 

Hello there

The Last Three Months

I know I have been a bit out of touch since being back in Melbourne, but things got pretty busy here. Seems like I haven't really done anything, but write papers for months now. It is such a relief to be done with that for a few months. I had one intensive early in the semester, my semester long class had a lab that ran for a few weeks in September, then from the last week of September until now it has been back to back classes and papers. Some of the papers I was able to do early, but I basically had one week for each assignment that should have been give two weeks worth of attention. Plus, I had intensives during this time which meant even less time to work on assignments. A friend linked this a little while back and I couldn't help, but laugh because it was completely how I felt working on that last paper (Sorry for the language Grandma and Grams). I started working on the stupid thing, but just couldn't get motivated to stick with it. Panic set in, cried a few times, pulled myself together, cried some more, and got the thing done and submitted.

Okay, on to the more fun stuff about life.

Ian and I took a day in September to go to the Mexican Festival. It was... well... less than impressive and didn't feel very Mexican either. I'm not an expert on Mexican cuisine, but there should not be white rice in a burrito. Guess if I want Mexican food the way I think it should be then I'm just going to have to keep making it myself. When I win the lottery I think I might open a Senior Frogs here; I think it would do well (plus I'm dying for a veggie burrito and a crisp meat). Darn, now I'm hungry. Anyway, at least we were able to take some time to go out. We haven't had a whole lot of time for much.

Wow, looking back on it this semester sucked. Was too busy to do anything :(. Went out with friends a few times which is always a good time. The people that are in my program are awesome. We all get along really well and have a great time when we get to hang out away from studying (we have a good time studying together too, but it's just not the same as relaxing with a beer). It's a great group and we all do our best to keep each other on track with everything going on.

Helen invited me to go with her and a friend to the Melbourne Show (it's like the fair). It was so much fun and we all had a great day. Luckily no one really wanted to go on any of the rides, but we all wanted to spend time in the petting zoo.

Derp Derp

Hey...Wait...I've got an itch that needs scratching!!!

Awwwww

We know we're fabulous

Awwwww part 2

 

Kind of random, but here are some pictures that I took when Ian and I went to Albert Park. It wasn't the nicest of days, but it was still nice to get out.

I have had a few small personal achievements over the past few months as well. When we first moved into this apartment I decided I was going to make full use of the oven (not knowing if our next place will have an oven) and I have done just that. Cheesy scones were my first delicious creation. They were really easy to make and were really yummy. Of course, not everything has to be made in the oven.

These are fresh crepes with an apricot compote filling. My favorite filling is still nutella, but these were pretty good too. My current “project” has been my ultimate goal. Today I made pie crust from scratch WITHOUT a pastry blender. That’s right I did it the old fashioned way with two butter knives. And (after some swearing) I was even able to get it rolled out (using a clean tequila bottle) and placed nicely in a pie tin. Now I just have a do a little prebaking, let it cool, and it will be ready for some French silk pie filling :D. Mom sent me recipes in the box I got from home the other day and I couldn’t wait to try them out. Don’t worry, the pie crust recipe made enough for two pies so there is an apple pie in the works too. Apples are cheap right now too so I got some at the market today. Might start off easy and make a crisp first though.

I know, my life is super exciting; I go to school, do school stuff, and when I’m not doing that I’m cooking, doing some sort of crafty thing or playing whatever video game has my attention for the week. So glad to finally have some time to do things I want to do for a while.

So, what’s next? I need to register for classes for next year and get my research project lined up. I am also going to try to find work/volunteer experience doing something animal related for the summer. My back-up plan if that all fails is to become a beach-hobo. Either way I’m sure things will work out J. Again, sorry it’s been so long since the last update, but I should have more time now to get out and do things worth telling you about.

Back in Melbourne

As promised I am still keeping the blog going. A few people have asked about it and I’m sorry there hasn’t been anything new in quite a while. Ian and I had to leave Australia for a bit to get out visas figured out. With us both in school we both needed to change over our work and holiday visas to student visas, but we couldn’t do that from within Australia. Yes, we probably could have gone anywhere, but it was nice to get to go home for that time.

We were home for about a month and a half and had a great time catching up with everyone. I went on a lovely bike trip with friends (friends that are more like family). That was a wonderful adventure and I can’t wait to do it again. We went down the Hiawatha Trail and then Chelsea and I went back up it. Victory was ours J. We also caught up with friends and family at a few extremely fun barbeques; the perfect way to spend another summer.

We are back in Melbourne. It’s been a crazy few weeks, but things are finally starting to calm back down. We are in a new apartment in a different part of the city, but we really like the location. It’s close to just about everything so we almost never need to pay for public transportation; we just walk. Classes are back up and going and are keeping us both busy, but not too busy to still get out and do fun stuff.

I have officially been to a Footy game, also known as Australian Football. My friend Helen had tickets and invited a bunch of us that had never been to a game to go with her. It was a lot of fun even though it took me most of the game to figure out what was going on. Basically, the person that has the ball can only move 15 meters before he has to pass the ball onto another player (preferably on his team) or bounce it on the ground and keep going. Passing can be done by kicking the ball to another player or by ‘handballing’ it to another player (the ball is held in one hand and the other hand is used to punch the ball toward another team mate). There is no throwing allowed. Then add in that the ball is not round; it is kind of oval shaped. This makes bouncing and passing the ball a bit unpredictable.  Players are paired off like in basketball or soccer. Here’s where the game gets a little confusing (this part might be wrong, but it’s all I know).

The player with the ball is trying to get rid of it; if they keep the ball for too long they are likely to be tackled; once tackled they have to get rid of the ball or there is a turn-over to the other team. The players doing the tackling are trying to keep the player with the ball from being able to pass it; that’s how they win possession of the ball for their team.

Goals are made through four goal posts and the ball has to be kicked through. If the ball goes through the two inner most post the team gets six points. If the ball goes between an outer post and an inner post the team gets one point. For those of you that might like more official rules (Matt) I attached the wiki site for it, but there is probably lots of information on the AFL (Australia Football League) website as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football                                  http://www.afl.com.au/

It was a great game even though Helen’s team (the Essendon Bombers) lost. It was a lot of fun spending time with friends and I hope we can do it again sometime. Maybe next time I will be better at following what is going on too.

Other than that there isn’t really a whole lot going on. I won the battle of the shoes today and replaced my NB’s that I have worn for a couple of years now with some Pumas. I really wanted some new NB’s, but they just don’t offer the same selection down here as they do back home. I could have ordered them online, but by the time the shoes are paid for and the shipping to my parent’s house and then for the shipping here it just didn’t seem worth it. Plus, I’m running out of bandaids to protect the part of my heals that are getting eaten by the plastic core of the shoes. They lived a good, long life and will be missed.

Well, I think that’s all for now. I’ll try to post regular updates on things going on with life and school. Thanks for reading J

Oh, I made fish and prawns for the first time and it was delicious.

Before the game

Essendon banner

The field was huge

North Melbourne banner

North Melbourne 100

Essendon 76

Final Score

 

Shoes :)

Market Museum Zoo

I promised you more pictures and here they are. There were quite a few that I hadn't put up yet so I decided it would be easier to just put them into a video. Please let me know if the video doesn't play.

The market is bigger than it looks and covers an area at least the size of a football field if not more. It's big!

Didn't take a lot of pictures at the museum, but as you can see the dinosaurs were my favorite part.

The Melbourne Zoo is the last part (and the majority of the video). We had a great time that day.

All of these events did not occur on the same day, but it was easier to just put them together in the one video. Hope you enjoyed watching.

Random Post #1

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. March was really busy with lots of things going on with school and life. Nothing really new to report, but here are some fun pictures that you haven't seen.

Melbourne from the river just before dark. Ian walked down the river with me and this was the fantastic view we got on the way back.

Different day... same river. A goose I think (I never was very good at learning bird species). Anyway, this cute big guy was waddling down there to get a drink.

Funny statue

 Really tall tree outside the Melbourne Museum

Gardens on the way to the river

Flinders Street Station

One of the main train stations in the city

Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Fountain at Royal Botanic Gardens

Stained glass ceiling in the international section of the National Gallery of Victoria

This is really pretty and there is nothing in the room so everyone can stand, sit or lay however they want to see it.

Pine cones

Cones were on this tree

Beautiful field of grass or toxic algae bloom?

I'll give you a hint... you don't want to swim in this.

This tree was covering the ground in these little needle-like things. It looked pretty cool and I think is the closest thing this ground has ever seen to snow. 

It was like the ground was covered in little hairs.

I have more to share, but I thought this would keep you all entertained for a little while at least. My trip to the Melbourne Museum, some gorgeous sunset pics and more will be posted soon so check back soon.