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I am staying at Les and Annette's gorgeous two story house. It's all dark wood, and glass... very classy. Mum and Erin arrive from the States, and go upstairs with Les and Annette, and they give Erin a day long roller skating lesson. While they are all upstairs, they have me house-sit their puppy, Sassy. I go upstairs to my bedroom to go to the bathroom, but when I enter my room, Mike and Sean are there, going through my jewelry. They keep picking up necklaces and holding them against my throat. You guys were apparently looking for the 'best' necklace. I go back downstairs and sit on the front porch with Sassy. A while later, I hear the upstairs door open, and Les, Annette, Mum, and Erin all come back downstairs and everyone is excited because now Erin knows how to roller skate. Les starts to make dinner, and Mum goes to help him.
Fast forward to next scene. The house is the same, but now it is owned by Ron's mum, Margaret. There is no sign of Mum, Annette, Les, or Erin, but Margaret still has Sassy. I have just arrived at the house from overseas, but for whatever reason, I'm not allowed to stay in the house. There is a tool shed like thing out back, and that is where I put my bags and papers and stuff. I house sit again, while Margaret is upstairs. She is gone for the whole day, and then it becomes night. I go out to the shed to get some homework and bring it back to the house, and while I'm gone, I leave the back door open. I'm only gone a couple minutes, but while I'm gone, 4 feral cats get into the house. Sassy starts to bark ridiculously, and that triggers the return of Margaret. She comes down the stairs, and Sassy is still barking, and we scare the cats back outside. She starts screaming at me, cause apparently, the cats come in with a really stinky armadillo/skunk like thing, and now it's in the house, and if it sprays the house will be ruined. Enter a man I assume is Margaret's husband. He goes to the kitchen and finds the creature in the cupboard, and turns to Margaret and I, standing in the doorway. He tells us that yes, there is a creature, yes, it already sprayed, and it's also the worst smelling kind. Margaret is livid. She screams at me, asks me how I'm going to fix this, how much money do I have, how am I going to make reparation? She tells me to get out. Margaret's husband gets me a bag, and tells me to pack whatever can fit in the bag. I go to my shed, and pack my homework, some blankets, and some food. The husband comes outside and hands me a passport and a map. I put them on the top of the bag. I leave the house via a field out back, and start walking along the side of the shed. A little 12 year old girl, who looks kind of like Natalie Portman, comes running out of the bush wearing a red dress. She looks at me, then runs away again. I follow her.
Hand over hand. Watching your feet. Tight shirt. Numb toes. White flakes floating all around, settling in your hair, in your eyelashes, down your throat. Going higher, getting farther away from everything. A moment's irritation, aimed at the rope between you and the wall. Sweaty palms, slick hands. Your breath starts to hitch. Your muscles start to tighten and cramp at inopportune moments. Your foot slips and your rhythm goes. Catch yourself. Your body screams. Hair in your face. Look up. How far? A moment, to regain desire, edge, drive.
Go.
Wow. Two days into classes, and I'm ready for a weekend. In a nutshell:
9 am - Brain, Behaviour, and Evolution
9 am - General Relativity and Cosmology
9 am - Other Worlds
10 am - Barbarian Europe and Byzantium
10-12 - Ecology and Evolution
11 am - Microbiology
11 am - Ciceronian Rome
1 pm - Archaeology and Society
1 pm - Other Worlds Practical
2-6 - Molecular Biotechnology
2 pm - Advanced Astronomy
4-6 - Arabic II
6-9 - Ancient Egyptian Religion
This was my schedule for today (Tuesday). Monday was just as bad, but subjects were things like Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, International Trade and Finance, and Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
Obviously, since I don't have a time-turner, I had to pick which ones to go to. This means that all the ones I couldn't go to I was trying to find the prof. for, to talk to him/her and pick up a syllabus.
Won't give you a blow-by-blow, but some things to note throughout the day:
--Physics profs are crazy whether you're at Mines or in Australia. My general rel prof told us how some guy got drunk, his friends threw him into a train carriage, he woke up the next morning and felt like playing a game of pool.
--The prof for con and evo genetics can read lips. I was talking to a girl asking her when the class technically started, and the prof came over from the other side of the room and answered me. He's a goofball, but I like him.
--The Hieroglyphs prof vaguely resembles a door post in speech and mannerisms. Except he's German. You guys remember Uwe Greife's accent? German, and then he tried to learn American English? Imagine someone with the same German accent, but now with an Australian accent. OMG.
--I got to hold up a rubber ball representing Jupiter for while. This poor rubber ball seriously needs to be retired. It has done its job.
--In micro, there were about 10 of us sitting in a room until 20 after the hour (class was supposed to start on the hour). I finally asked the room at large if anyone had a computer and we could look up the prof's number and call her to see if she'd forgotten about us. One of the girls in the class mentioned she had heard about another section of micro in another building. So all 10 of us unanimously decided to up and herd ourselves across campus. We found our class, but missed the majority of the lecture. Apparently, we were in the room we're going to be in the rest of the semester. But the first day we were meeting in this other room. No one knows why the 10 of us missed this information. Shrug.
--I wear my Mines sweatshirt in some odd defiance/unwillingness to conform thing on my new campus. People look at me and wonder...
--I have finally met two people that are potential hang-out buddies. One of them, Emily, is in my micro class, and was one of the lost 10. She also does the outdoors-y thing, which is exciting. The other, also Emily, I met because I was carrying too much stuff around and I threw paper on her.
I'm going to stop typing now, because I hurt and want to go to bed.
Oh! Mum and Erin just arrived in Oregon. They got there safely, and are in the new house tonight. Things are busy. Sadly, I cannot perform my daughterly duty and call to check in on her. Yet another drawback to being halfway around the world... But I thought I would let people know she got there, and life is moving on.
Love to everyone.
And fond thoughts.
And quirked eyebrows.
Me
Yay! I've spent three of the last five days on campus, running around in the cold rain, but now I have classes to attend! I've successfully signed up for my semester classes, applied for my overseas health insurance card, moved into my apartment, met my flatmates, and received my campus ID. And in between all this running around, Annette and Les took me touring.
The best place to begin, I suppose, is at the beginning.
Last Friday: First day of orientation! Sat in a lecture hall for over three hours, listening to a hoard of different people talk about why their campus group or organization is worth joining. GLP, volunteering, exchange programs, how to enrol in my classes, who my advisor is, why MQ is great, being an international student, the food on campus, etc. Lots of paperwork, lots of compulsory clapping. Afterwards, free barbecue!
Saturday: Trinity's 4th birthday party. Almost 50 people in attendance. 15 kids ranging in ages from 9 months to 9 years. Lots of prearranged games (go fish, treasure hunt, face painting, etc.), lots of food, lots of noise. I was elected cook for the day and got to avoid most of the people I don't know by staying in the kitchen and preparing all the food for the first hour or so of the party. Was a mermaid party. Lots of blue, lots of cardboard fish.
Sunday: Relaxing after the party of the century. Eating lots of leftover food from the party. :) Annette and Les tok me to Bondi Beach, right on the coast, looking out over the Pacific. We ate breakfast, meandered across the beach, saw some shops. Then we went to the South Head cliffs, saw Rose Cove, and Castle Hills. Lots of touring and pictures. And we went to a koala park!! We got to see all the creatures native to Australia, including, but not limited to, wombats, dingoes, dingo puppies(!), koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, wallaroos, wedge-tailed eagles, all sorts of parrots and echidnas. And penguins! I got to cuddle a koala and a whole mess of grey kangaroos. The koala was smaller than I expected, and smelled really good, actually. Apparently they smell good because of all the eucalyptus they eat. And the kangaroos were really very soft. I always thought their fur was coarse, but it's quite fine. And the tail is really one huge muscle. I know they use them for balance and stuff, but it was kind of amazing. Pictures will follow in a few days! Check facebook!
Sunday night was my first night of orientation for my apartment complex. Sat in a big room with 100 more people I don't know and listened to more people talk about more cool groups. But at least they were advertising fun activities to participate in. Apparently, throughout the semester, there will be trips and stuff, such as a cruise on Sydney harbour, a weekend in the outback, a toga party (?), an organized drinking game night (?), and something called Foreplay and Conception Day (???). Get ready for some fun activities!
Monday (today, 28th): Stayed in my apartment for the first night ever last night. Was very cold, cause the apartments don't have heating. Four blankets and a very small Alyssa ball later, I was asleep. Only to be rudely awakened in the small hours of the night by my flatmates, who apparently spent their first night in Sydney out drinking and partying. Two girls from Michigan, a guy from Texas, and some other guy. Woke up this morning, went to the fridge to see how my small food stash was, and, lo-and-behold, my small food stash had become even smaller. *Clears throat* Haven't tackled this one yet. That's ok.
Anyway, got up this morning, ate some stuff, went to academic advising at 9. Had to listen to another guy for about an hour, while he explained to us how we are supposed to enrol in classes. Then we were let loose to interpret and create our class schedules for ourselves. I was there until about 1:30. All the classes I wanted to take overlapped, and no one would sign me off on overlapping classes. So I wandered around campus until someone helped me figure out my schedule. Apparently, a couple of the classes I want are offered externally (which is like an online course in the States). So I've signed up for some online courses, and the rest are in my
schedule. But I have a schedule! Thus far, I have Immunobiology, Animal Function and Physiology, Microbiology, Bioethics and Biotechnology. I'm planning on incorporating Evolutionary Ecology and Arabic in there as well.
So, ya. Lots of listening to people, lots of planning, lots of animals.
And no you guys. Miss the lot of you.
Love.
"Come on, a single person in a queen size bed, and no sex? You don't need to wash the sheets." Annette OM, in response to a laundry query.
Greetings from down under!
I am safely ensconced in Sydney, currently residing in Annette and Les Mulder's home. I have a duna, and my own BIW. The morning birds look like jewels hanging from the trees, and there are other birds that look and sound like velociraptors. Slept for about 10 hours last night, and am already yawning. It is about 2:30 on Saturday afternoon for me, which means it's about 10:30 on Friday night for you guys.
We went to a breakfast place this morning, a chocolate cafe called Fink. The most amazing hot chocolate you've ever had, and you can get chocolate in any form for any of the entrees.
We've taken walks amongst the eucalyptus, driven across the Sydney harbour bridge, seen the opera house, and then I was terrorized by the guys with tales of the deadly funnel web spiders that will move into my bed during the wet season. They have a standard poodle named Sassy who seems quite taken with me. I have arrived in Sydney a week before an event called World Youth Day, for which the Pope and 140,000 Roman Catholic church people from all over the world will come invade Sydney. It is winter here, which means it gets to maybe 25 F during the night, but still warms up to about 65 during the day. I've met the neighboring family, Fiona and Anthony, and their kids, 4 year old Trinity and 9 month old Deisel. They are very cute, and Fiona took me to a shopping center to try and keep me awake. I had to stop by an electronics shop and get a new adapter. I brought one with me I thought would fit, but it didn't. Sad. Les was very helpful and took me to a place that he knew had adapters. Only AUD$8! The money here is slightly smaller bills, but they're made of plastic, and have clear bits! And there are $2 coins, which is awesome. Les made Indian food for dinner, and it was a meal to rival Robert's cooking skills. There were 13 people...
We are now listening to some of Les' music, and the song that just played was called "You Remind Me Of My Favourite Underwear".
I miss you guys already, but I know none of you were expecting anything different. Especially from me, of all people. Been talking to some people, and some have found tickets to AU from US for about $1300. I will send you the link later. And I've been looking at tickets to NZ, and I can get to and from NZ for about $300! W00T!
Lots of love from halfway around the world (Holy crap!!!)
I was staying with Ed and Meridee Cecil in the townhouse, but for whatever reason, they couldn't communicate with each other or be on the same floor. And they were both dying. Meridee was supposed to be having a stroke that killed her, but it was planned, and Ed has some debilitating disease that was supposed to kill him in the next couple of days. I was in the kitchen with Meridee, and moved into the next room to set the table, but I heard Meridee fall, and the silverware she was carrying scattered all over the floor. I went and put her head in my lap, cause I was sad, and cried on her, but she was already dead. So I moved downstairs to tell Ed, and he was looking up at me from the botom of the staircase. He asked me "is she gone?", and I nodded. It was obvious he was sick. He didn't look well. So he went to his computer and started playing a bomber/spaceship game. When he started playing, Mike, Ron, and Andie showed up, and all of us had our own computers set up and we were playing this game with Ed. To beat some level, we all had to simutaneously put ID cards into our machines, but we lost, because Ed had disappeared. I went to the garage to find Ed, and he had tears running down his face, and was putting on a bomber jacket type thing. He handed me his cell phone, got in his car, and drove away.
Scene change to Michael Young's office in some office building. Somwhow the cell phone Ed had given me was a key to Michael's office, and I had broken into the office with Ron. Michael had a HUGE stash of daily planner insert pages. The guts to peripheral brains. And Ron and I were there looking at all this, and deciding what would help, when Michael showed up. He was in a suit and told me I could take what I needed, cause he was going to a play and wouldn't need tham anymore.
Scene change to me amongst lots of people I don't know, filing slowly into theatre seating. Some play is about to start, and I am going because I think it will help take my mind off the Cecils. I am still sad that they are both effectively gone, but I am not ready to tell anyone what has happened. The seating is like that in a gym, with bench rows, rather than individual seats. I sit on a bench, and no one sits around me. Then Mike shows up, and he's wearing an outrageous hat with 'Raevsky' embroidered acrodd the top. And he has his bike, but somehow has put it in his backpack, which he has with him. While putting away his bike, he pulls out a muffin tin, the kind that has 12 little miffin holes, but only one hole has a muffin in it, and the container is made out of plastic. He sees me, walks over to sit by me, but places the plastic muffin tin with its single muffin between the two of us on the bench. He smiles at me, but neither of us say anything. Then the play starts. About 3/4 of the way through the play, they start talking about a blueberry muffin, and it becomes apparent that Mike's muffin was brought as a prop. There is some girl sitting directly in front of Mike, and she turns around and gets Mike's muffin out of its container. She turns back around to face front, and in so doing, moves the muffin (which is blueberry) over her head and in front of Mike's nose. Whithout letting the opportunity pass, Mike leans forward, and tries to bite the muffin as it goes by. He misses, and the muffin continues to crowd surf, passed from hand to hand, all over the theatre. Mike uses his finger to eat the crumbs left in the muffin tin. The muffin makes it to the stage, and the play ends. The audience rises, and we begin to file out of the theatre. Mike and I leave together, but we still haven't spoken a word to each other; I am still sad over Ed and Meridee, and Mike doesn't want to intrude by asking me what is wrong. The hall to get out of the theatre becomes the main hall in Alderson, on the CSM campus. I have found a quarter on the ground, and stop to pick it up. When I stand again, Mike is exiting through the side door of Alderson. I am sad he did not say goodbye or anything, but then it I realize that is the only way out of the building with a bicycle. I continue walking down the hall by myself, but find three more quarters, and then a quarter and a nickel, then a smattering of pennies strewn about the ground near to the front door. I look through the glass to outside, and it's dark, but I can see Mike, Ron, Andie, Sean, and Eric playing with a red light up frisbee. I go though the door, about to tell everyone what happened to Ed and Meridee, and everything dissolves.
