Above: Top left: Stopping for a quick snapshot amidst our wrestling shenanigans. Top Right: The gang from our trip up the coast- visiting our house from The Parklands and Newcastle(... words from a GREAT song I hear in Sydney all the time; I'd consider it one of the theme songs from our trip)
Since the return of my epic trip, I must say its been quite an adjustment. I missed all of the great people that we spent so much time with, and it was back to work and classes. Work (besides the people I work with) has become less enjoyable and school is, well, it was always less than ideal. I have four more large papers to write and then the semester is over!
Anyway, let's get to the past week's events! Last Sunday was Anzac Day. It's a HUGE Australian holiday, and the premise of it is that it is a memorial/remembrance of fallen war veterans and a celebration of what was actually a defeat for the Australian military. BUT from what I gathered from the locals is that it is a day where Australians drink heavily from the morning and into the night and play a gambling game that is illegal every day except Anzac, called "Two-Up." I was really excited to see what this 'forbidden' game was all about. So we headed to the Australian Hotel late afternoon and saw the crowd outside playing Two-Up. To my surprise, it was actually one of the simplest and lamest games I had ever seen. Someone stands on a stage and flips two coins; while you stand in the crowd and bet with someone that has the same amount of cash as you. For example, I had 5 dollars so I grabbed someone else with 5 bucks and betted with them. You call heads or tails and the other person calls what you didn't. And yes, it's as simple as it seems. If its heads and you called heads, you win. And vice versa. I guess when everyone's drunk, you don't want to make things much more complex than that. I'm pretty sure I won at least 2 times. yesss. But then we asked someone why it was illegal, and he just responded that the government doesn't make any profit off of it. hilarious.
So the evening went well, and we actually randomly ran into some of our friends from the trip that live a couple hours away, they decided to stop into Sydney for the day. So that was refreshing.
The other day I stepped out onto the balcony and the maintenance/landscaping man struck up a conversation with me. He asked how I was enjoying Australia and living in our new townhome. Of course, I love it! And I told him of how it was a million times nicer than our former mold infested apartment. He was shocked. But we covered a lot of ground in our chat; such as the economy in Australia and how its following the lead of America. He's mad that they are being issued stimulus checks, because he knows how it didn't boost America's economy at all. We talked about the job market, and I expressed my concern with finding a job in either the US or Oz. He advised that if I were to come back to Australia, I should switch fields from journalism to personal fitness. He said that this area was here to stay... that there is no shortage in job opps in fitness clubs or PE teachers...he said Australia has surpassed America as the fattest country (I find that hard to believe), and they're obsessed with the show 'The Biggest Loser'. He said I could just go back to school and be done in about 2 years... hmmm interesting. Is it too late to consider a career change? His name was Sam. Nice guy.
So this might come as a surprise to most, especially myself, but I've picked up a little bit of cooking!!! I used to hardly make bagels correctly, and I constantly eat lean cuisines, but this semester I've learned to cook ground beef for tacos, grilled chicken on the skillet, AMAZING wraps (Roly Poly better watch out) and eggs (scrambled and omelets)! I laugh because I don't really know why I never cooked, I just always had it in my head that I couldn't. And now that I've started... I really enjoy it! When you finish a dish correctly (and it's delicious) you get such a sense of satisfaction! AND I've grown a strong liking for tuna. It's SO cheap... so that's what I bring to lunch pretty much every day.
The highlight of this weekend was that we had some of our guy pals from our trip come down from Newcastle on Friday night! We decided to have a party at our 'palace' and it was a real hit!!! I love house parties because you're guaranteed to know most, if not all the people, it's cheap and just easier! I got to wear my slippers, so I was pumped!!!
However, I got in a bit of a wrestling match because one of my friends, Kevin, made fun of Arnold! He said something about how all the people carry muskets and rifles, so for some reason or another, I tackled him!!! It got pretty intense that we flipped over the couch! No serious injuries though...just a bit of a sore arm haha. But I had to defend where I grew up! And Barack Obama just went there, so clearly it's a pretty established place!
Last night we stayed around and watched American Gangster with a couple of the guys from the Parklands. It was a pretty chill night...which I needed.
Today (sunday) it's supposed to be back to work... Kelli and I have a presentation in our PR class tomorrow. It's about technology and how its used in PR...bleh. I think I'll just bribe the class with candy (Caramel Koalas--they are the BEST) and hopefully it'll get us the grade. :)
That's all for now!
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