So I meant to post this on Thursday, but here goes. The short version: Wednesday night I went out to dinner and BEER with my new FRIENDS which caused me to be very bleary-eyed during my Thursday morning run, where I saw a beautiful RAINBOW over the lake and close to home, a flock of COCKATOOS :-).
So more details - I've been getting work done this week, which has been good. I still feel like I should be more productive, but it's going well! I have been making dinner at home and stopping at the grocery store on the way home every few days which is nice. Wednesday, 2 friends and I decided to meet up and go to dinner. So one is a guy from the program who's been my roommate for the last week - name's Micah and he's cool. A world traveler, so we have tons to talk about. He's getting his PhD at Colorado in Computational Biology, but he has a CS background. Other is Nancy - a 21 year old not in our program, but here on an internship - a senior at a college in Connecticut interested in psychological, especially with kids. So we decided to be adventurous and bus up to a difference Canberra neighborhood (where none of us had been) and try a Chinese restaurant called Jimmy's that was recommended to us. So we had fun! We got a bunch of dishes and shared them - a peppery beef dish, a chicken dish, a seafood medley dish (with shrimp, white fish, squid and scallops and snow peas), and Chinese broccoli. Everything was really tasty! And we had some interesting conversations - about travel, about water activities (Nancy rows and Micah scubas), about grad school, about American individualism. No shortage of conversation :-). It was fun! Nancy is still young from my perspective - just learning to drink and all. But she's a cool chick. We went to Wig and Pen - a Microbrew beer pub after dinner that was recommended to me. I loved it! Nice atmosphere and I got a chocolate elderberry stout which was dessert for sure! We continued our lively conversation and Micah ended up treating us to dinner, and a 2nd round of drinks (which we didn't want). So I don't know the % alcohol of my beer, but it must've been strong because I was definitely feeling it on our chilly walk home that night! But I felt happy - I was hanging out, checking out Canberra, and had friends :-).
Thursday morning, however, was painful becuase of Wednesday night. So I didn't go to bed until 1am (we got home earlier because Canberra shuts down early, but I was being self-destructive here). Anyway, I had a phone meeting with my US collaborators at 7! So dehydrated and bleary-eyed, I got up for the meeting, which went well. I contemplated going back to bed, but was awake, so just went for my 8K run around the lake... Well, it was TOUGH that morning. Sure it was windy, but really the problem was me :-). I had to walk a stretch, but I made it even with dehydration and not feeling the best. But what saved me - above me there were blue skies, but to the east and west were very dark scary clouds. So when I rounded the 2nd bridge over the lake and came back on the north path, I saw a beautiful rainbow appear. Made me just smile :-). And just in a mini park behind my house I saw a huge flock of cockatoos! Literally like 30. I was complaining to Steve that I never saw them - they see them as like pigeons - nuisances - they are all over ANU. But I was happy to see them! Unfortunately didn't get a picture. So even though I felt like a snail during the run, I actually made good time home.
So let me just say I like going to work here. I get up at 7:30 every morning, and do some kind of exercise before work. Then I get in by around 10. When all 3 of us (Steve, my mentor, and Daniel his grad student) are in, we go for awesome coffee across the street - sometimes grab a delicious muffin too. Then lunch is at 1 - Thursday we got gyros from the union and Fridays the guys always go to a sushi place on campus. Steve is right next door and pops in to see if I need help - without micromanaging. So, it's a nice atmosphere! And everyone is friendly. The building shuts down at 5 - you have to have a key to get OUT of the building too! And around then, or 5:30 is when Steve goes home. I've been staying more like till 6:30 or 7, but that's really late here (everyone else has gone home way earlier). But I like the good internet at work :-). So, it's a nice routine! Thursday I actually gave a talk to our department about my work - basically the talk I gave at the conference a couple of weeks ago. Even though no one else does my kind of research, it went really well - I got a lot of good questions (people were actually thinking about the work and all), and it was fun! I feel more and more confident every time I do this.
So Friday morning, got up and swimming was the exercise! I talked to Nancy who loves to swim, and we met at the nice Olympic pool just down from my house at 8 to swim. Swam close to an hour, and it was awesome! 50m pool, so a long longer than I'm used to, but nice facility. And the water feels warm (which makes me feel slow), but it's winter, so it's nice that it's warm. I mean the pool itself is inside a bubble, so it's heated, but yeah.
So, good week! Although I have to say for some reason Friday I got lonely. There's a couple of things about being here... For some reason everything reminds me of someone. I get reminded of the people I love all the time. Eating pepper reminds me of Ryan :-). Seeing Steve's kids reminds me of my sister's kids. Swimming reminds me of Maria, and running of Christine. Eating dates reminds me of Negin. So many little things! Eating gyros and going to the market last weekend - that was Mom for sure. So, anyway, I'm just saying - I can't some being reminded of all of you. And even if I don't live in the same town as you - I miss you! My friend Maria told me that's a sign of loneliness, and maybe it is. I feel a bit sad now because Daniel and Nancy are in Sydney for the weekend. Micah and I went to a neat movie last night, though, so I feel sorta social :-). We saw Mongol - the movie about Ghengis Khan. And I have my new roommate Jet who moved in. I'm going to go hike in a bit, and meet Steve at the Botanical Gardens tomorrow for lunch with his family. So there are things. But I find that Canberra itself is a city to live in. It's not like New York where I'm bouncing from activity to activity, or where it's known that there are 1000 things going on right now. I am not a tourist here - I live here. Which is what I prefer. But, without my people - I get lonely just living isolated from everything.
But there are things to look forward to - I leave for a long weekend in Sydney on Wednesday myself. And the following week/weekend will be in Melbourne. So more adventures are on the way! No worries :-).
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Nomad once again
Periodically I get excited about travel - about wonderous places to see, about adventures yet to be had, histories and cultures to discover. I was so not in that itchy "need-to-travel" state when I left for Australia to be honest. I wanted to be home. New York hadn't worn off yet. But, apparently being here has peaked it again - my wanderlust :-). I have a conversation or 2 with people about their travels, and I can't wait to go there myself! Exploration! So here's where I really want to go (because making lists excites me):
Mongolia - just had conversation about this place with people over "cake time" - sounds fascinating in its remotely
Egypt - history - need I say more?
Bali - my cousin went here and I am just fascinated with their shadow puppets. Will try to go there while I'm down here :-).
India - eventually - it'll be difficult to go here, but it's a must
Israel - so much history here, too, and an interesting part of the world
Turkey - awesome wares and food/drinks!
Eastern Europe - really need to go to Prague and Vienna, and I've love to see Bucharest and other cities (maybe Belgrade?) around there :-).
Ireland/Scotland/Stonehenge - I'd love to see this part of the world - so green!
Casablanca, Morocco maybe? You can guess why :-)
Central America - Belize (awesome scuba), Costa Rica, maybe Panama, Guatemala, etc.
Ok, that's my current list. Of course there are other possibilities, but these are highest right now. And sometime I'll probably have to break down and see Japan and all that too. But we'll see.
So if you are interested in any of this - tell me and sign up to go with me! I'm available anytime - especially if companions volunteer :-).
Yay nomadic life!
Mongolia - just had conversation about this place with people over "cake time" - sounds fascinating in its remotely
Egypt - history - need I say more?
Bali - my cousin went here and I am just fascinated with their shadow puppets. Will try to go there while I'm down here :-).
India - eventually - it'll be difficult to go here, but it's a must
Israel - so much history here, too, and an interesting part of the world
Turkey - awesome wares and food/drinks!
Eastern Europe - really need to go to Prague and Vienna, and I've love to see Bucharest and other cities (maybe Belgrade?) around there :-).
Ireland/Scotland/Stonehenge - I'd love to see this part of the world - so green!
Casablanca, Morocco maybe? You can guess why :-)
Central America - Belize (awesome scuba), Costa Rica, maybe Panama, Guatemala, etc.
Ok, that's my current list. Of course there are other possibilities, but these are highest right now. And sometime I'll probably have to break down and see Japan and all that too. But we'll see.
So if you are interested in any of this - tell me and sign up to go with me! I'm available anytime - especially if companions volunteer :-).
Yay nomadic life!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Good on ya - settling in to Canberra
Hey all - My first few days living in Canberra have been wonderful - at least after I have been able to settle in. So much to process! I will try to share some...
So I had 1 more day of orientation which went well. We went to the National Museum of Australia in the afternoon (very neat architecture) and had a very exuberant guide tell show us through the "Native Australian" and aboriginal exhibits which were awesome! I really am intrigued by that part of history here. They have been here apparently for like 60,000 years. And their customs were very impressive. An interesting and adaptive people! Especially with their fishing, headdresses, possum furs, boomerangs, tools, etc. Beautiful art. Then we walked about a bit, and had our farewell with the orientation with drinks. Went to a pretty good Thai place, then to the Uni pub for some night entertainment. But we went home early - 9:30 ish. Maybe it's the fact that the sun goes down at 5 or everything closes early, but there's not much to do here at night!
So the next day the group left, and I got picked up by Steve to go drop bags at my new apartment! So nice to actually have a stable place to stay - a place to unpack suitcases. Went to work the rest of the day, then met up with a guy in the program who's my roommate for the first week (until his housing opens up), and we walked around and went to decent Malaysian food. Then got some groceries (only place open past 5 or 6pm in the very proximate mall) on the way home.
Friday was awesome - I went on my first long bike ride in Canberra! So yes, it was chilly and rainy, but it was beautiful! I said this place is like a big park, and I rode down to the lake (past the famous War Memorial), and then entirely around the huge lake - all around the city and Parliament buildings, then out west through forests and dams were you don't see much but nature! It was a long, but wonderful ride. But I had to keep reminding myself - stay to the left! Although it is scarier when you are trying to cross roads then when you are just on a nice track :-). Over 23K later, I was able to come back home! Felt great :-). On the walk to school, I tried to find a mobile phone which was very frustrating and I had no luck. But then at work, my mentor had an old mobile phone with minutes on it to give me, so yay! And plus he set me up with internet at home - bought me the modem and everything. He's been great to me... Funny things here - receiving calls on the mobile is free, and texting is way more common. Calling a cell phone is more expensive than calling a land line. Also on the internet - I have a 3GB per month plan meaning that you pay per MB! So I'm conscience of how much time I'm on. But I do now have Skype - my name is "JennBSartor" so I encourage you all to get that if you want to talk to me. Anyway... Friday night went to sushi dinner with Steve (mentor) and family which was nice. He has 3 small children so they dominate the interaction. But we did a sushi train which was fun for them! And I thought of you, Mind. Then did some errands on the way home - went to "Big W" - Walmart without the stigma :-).
Saturday woke up and did some Kung Fu which was very nice. Then got ready and went out to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve - a 45 minute drive from Canberra. Weird to be in the "drivers seat" - I felt very close to the left curb and kept wanting to adjust mirrors :-). But beautiful countryside. Although we saw (still) a ton of the fire damaged area from the HUGE devastating Jan 2003 fire. And we passed some astronomy and space stations. So, I saw the 2 animals on the coat of arms in the wild - the kangaroo and the emu!!! So neat. We tried to see koalas on our hike, but they were hard to see. Then we went to a park and had a picnic lunch of sausages and all. So tasty! Did I mention how awesome Steve's been to me? So, came back to the city, and was feeling down so I went across the street for a walk in the mall. Even on Saturday everything closed at 5! But I did do some more food shopping to make some tasty omelets for dinner - my first cooking experience in my new apartment. Oh yeah - did I mention my 2 balconies and the built-in electric blankets on the bed? So awesome!
So today - went for an 8K run - again around the lake which I love. Went over the 2 main bridges in the city that form a triangle where the apex is Parliament. Good run. And one of my favorite new Australian sayings is "Good on ya" - which is what Steve said when I told him I did the run (one he used to do all the time). Fun times. Then I rode down to meet Steve for AFL - the Football game between Sydney Swans and Melbourne Demons. But first, on his recommendation, stopped by the neat Glassworks building and Old Bus Depot Markets on the way! Neat to see them blowing glass, although I've seen it before. And hte Markets were fun - I tasted a lot of awesome foods - they love curries and chilis and hot sauces and sweet dips and dates and figs and the like! And some fudge too. We don't seem to have Turkish Delight in the states, do we? And had some really awesome Chili Wine! Mostly to be sipped, but fun :-). And there were artsy/crafty booths that I wandered through - fun, but I didn't buy anything. Then I met up with the big gang, and went to the football game! The stadium was huge, but the game was low-key. The sorta didn't care about searchign my bag, and everything was pretty informal. You could bring in anything but glass (food, anything). So, Steve brought us a bunch of small meat pies which apparently are an Australian favorite! And some chili chocolate for dessert - yum. But the game itself - we all were routing for the red Sydney Swans (cheering - routing means having sex with apparently). The game is really fast-paced and high scoring. Altho there's tackling, that isn't the main thing - people just move the ball from person to person fast and run a lot. You can volley-ball hit to each other or kick, and goals are made by kicking through big tall polls. But Sydney won in the end with over 100 points (goals are either 6 or 1 point, so they scored a lot!) to around 70 for Melbourne :-). So it was fun. Everyone was allowed on the field afterwards to run around and kids brought their footballs to kick them around. So, it was great! And Steve's friends were all very nice. Another saying I love is "no worries" - they say that all the time (maybe I apologize a lot). So I biked home over 3 miles back! I do love this city :-). We decided it's not as exciting as Sydney or Melbourne, but it's a good place to live.
So, general thoughts - I love having a home where I can be comfortable - I really need that. I need exercise too, of course :-). The weather here - I'm getting used to it. Friday was rainy and Steve said that was abnormal because it's dry here. When the sun's out during the day, the afternoons are quite nice and feel pretty warm, but it's chilly in the morning, and pretty darn chilly after the sun goes down. Aussies LOVE LOVE their sprots. We have about 10 TV stations, and 5 of them at all times are showing some sport - cricket, AFL, Rugby Union, Rugby League, tennis, etc! There are birds here everywhere - parrots, kookaburra, cockatoo, swans, magpies. They are beautiful.
OK, I think I've written enough. I'll put some pictures up maybe tomorrow when my internet is not limited :-). G'day! Goodnight to y'all actually :-).
So I had 1 more day of orientation which went well. We went to the National Museum of Australia in the afternoon (very neat architecture) and had a very exuberant guide tell show us through the "Native Australian" and aboriginal exhibits which were awesome! I really am intrigued by that part of history here. They have been here apparently for like 60,000 years. And their customs were very impressive. An interesting and adaptive people! Especially with their fishing, headdresses, possum furs, boomerangs, tools, etc. Beautiful art. Then we walked about a bit, and had our farewell with the orientation with drinks. Went to a pretty good Thai place, then to the Uni pub for some night entertainment. But we went home early - 9:30 ish. Maybe it's the fact that the sun goes down at 5 or everything closes early, but there's not much to do here at night!
So the next day the group left, and I got picked up by Steve to go drop bags at my new apartment! So nice to actually have a stable place to stay - a place to unpack suitcases. Went to work the rest of the day, then met up with a guy in the program who's my roommate for the first week (until his housing opens up), and we walked around and went to decent Malaysian food. Then got some groceries (only place open past 5 or 6pm in the very proximate mall) on the way home.
Friday was awesome - I went on my first long bike ride in Canberra! So yes, it was chilly and rainy, but it was beautiful! I said this place is like a big park, and I rode down to the lake (past the famous War Memorial), and then entirely around the huge lake - all around the city and Parliament buildings, then out west through forests and dams were you don't see much but nature! It was a long, but wonderful ride. But I had to keep reminding myself - stay to the left! Although it is scarier when you are trying to cross roads then when you are just on a nice track :-). Over 23K later, I was able to come back home! Felt great :-). On the walk to school, I tried to find a mobile phone which was very frustrating and I had no luck. But then at work, my mentor had an old mobile phone with minutes on it to give me, so yay! And plus he set me up with internet at home - bought me the modem and everything. He's been great to me... Funny things here - receiving calls on the mobile is free, and texting is way more common. Calling a cell phone is more expensive than calling a land line. Also on the internet - I have a 3GB per month plan meaning that you pay per MB! So I'm conscience of how much time I'm on. But I do now have Skype - my name is "JennBSartor" so I encourage you all to get that if you want to talk to me. Anyway... Friday night went to sushi dinner with Steve (mentor) and family which was nice. He has 3 small children so they dominate the interaction. But we did a sushi train which was fun for them! And I thought of you, Mind. Then did some errands on the way home - went to "Big W" - Walmart without the stigma :-).
Saturday woke up and did some Kung Fu which was very nice. Then got ready and went out to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve - a 45 minute drive from Canberra. Weird to be in the "drivers seat" - I felt very close to the left curb and kept wanting to adjust mirrors :-). But beautiful countryside. Although we saw (still) a ton of the fire damaged area from the HUGE devastating Jan 2003 fire. And we passed some astronomy and space stations. So, I saw the 2 animals on the coat of arms in the wild - the kangaroo and the emu!!! So neat. We tried to see koalas on our hike, but they were hard to see. Then we went to a park and had a picnic lunch of sausages and all. So tasty! Did I mention how awesome Steve's been to me? So, came back to the city, and was feeling down so I went across the street for a walk in the mall. Even on Saturday everything closed at 5! But I did do some more food shopping to make some tasty omelets for dinner - my first cooking experience in my new apartment. Oh yeah - did I mention my 2 balconies and the built-in electric blankets on the bed? So awesome!
So today - went for an 8K run - again around the lake which I love. Went over the 2 main bridges in the city that form a triangle where the apex is Parliament. Good run. And one of my favorite new Australian sayings is "Good on ya" - which is what Steve said when I told him I did the run (one he used to do all the time). Fun times. Then I rode down to meet Steve for AFL - the Football game between Sydney Swans and Melbourne Demons. But first, on his recommendation, stopped by the neat Glassworks building and Old Bus Depot Markets on the way! Neat to see them blowing glass, although I've seen it before. And hte Markets were fun - I tasted a lot of awesome foods - they love curries and chilis and hot sauces and sweet dips and dates and figs and the like! And some fudge too. We don't seem to have Turkish Delight in the states, do we? And had some really awesome Chili Wine! Mostly to be sipped, but fun :-). And there were artsy/crafty booths that I wandered through - fun, but I didn't buy anything. Then I met up with the big gang, and went to the football game! The stadium was huge, but the game was low-key. The sorta didn't care about searchign my bag, and everything was pretty informal. You could bring in anything but glass (food, anything). So, Steve brought us a bunch of small meat pies which apparently are an Australian favorite! And some chili chocolate for dessert - yum. But the game itself - we all were routing for the red Sydney Swans (cheering - routing means having sex with apparently). The game is really fast-paced and high scoring. Altho there's tackling, that isn't the main thing - people just move the ball from person to person fast and run a lot. You can volley-ball hit to each other or kick, and goals are made by kicking through big tall polls. But Sydney won in the end with over 100 points (goals are either 6 or 1 point, so they scored a lot!) to around 70 for Melbourne :-). So it was fun. Everyone was allowed on the field afterwards to run around and kids brought their footballs to kick them around. So, it was great! And Steve's friends were all very nice. Another saying I love is "no worries" - they say that all the time (maybe I apologize a lot). So I biked home over 3 miles back! I do love this city :-). We decided it's not as exciting as Sydney or Melbourne, but it's a good place to live.
So, general thoughts - I love having a home where I can be comfortable - I really need that. I need exercise too, of course :-). The weather here - I'm getting used to it. Friday was rainy and Steve said that was abnormal because it's dry here. When the sun's out during the day, the afternoons are quite nice and feel pretty warm, but it's chilly in the morning, and pretty darn chilly after the sun goes down. Aussies LOVE LOVE their sprots. We have about 10 TV stations, and 5 of them at all times are showing some sport - cricket, AFL, Rugby Union, Rugby League, tennis, etc! There are birds here everywhere - parrots, kookaburra, cockatoo, swans, magpies. They are beautiful.
OK, I think I've written enough. I'll put some pictures up maybe tomorrow when my internet is not limited :-). G'day! Goodnight to y'all actually :-).
G'day from OZ (written previously)
I'm reinstating this journal for my new adventures - in OZ! Australia, that is :-). Sorry it's been awhile since I've written in general - the spring was very busy for me. I got my paper into that conference which was awesome! I gave the talk in Tucson on June 8 and it went super-splendidly - I got best presentation award for the 2-day conference! Wow - kudos to me! That was wonderful. And on May 25 I completed my first triathlon - a sprint one that took me only an hour and 40 minutes! I was so proud :-). So some great accomplishments... And I made a trip to see my sister in SLC in May which was very fun. Then, on the way to Australia, spent a weekend in San Fran with Ryan to see the WHOLE family and celebrate Gram's 90th birthday! It was very special and wonderful time. I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. But... now on to OZ!
I left San Fran at 10:47pm on Sunday June 15th. And I made it to OZ, down under, Tuesday morning at 6:25am - at least to Sydney! The flight was uneventful and
actually not bad at all. I tried to stay up for the first several hours -
watched "The Bucket List" and read my new book "In a Sunburned Country".
Somewhere in there was dinner. Then passed out after that for 3-4 hours, and
woke up a bit for a snacky sandwich and stayed up for an hour, then tried to
sleep again - only made it about 3 hours until they turned on the lights and
served breakfast. So I was up for the rest of the flight. Customs was fine,
collected bags, got sniffed by a dog (my bags), went through quarantine, then
transferred to the domestic terminal (which is quite a drive away!). Sydney
was rainy and chilly. Then boarded short flight to Canberra where I passed out
again, but woke up to get my biscuits (cookies). I looked at the back of the
package and instead of calories it reported energy in kJ! Have to figure out
that conversion... Then was met by a nice government car and did the short
drive to the ANU campus/Australian Academy of Science. They let us check in to
our "Uni House" and shower which was lovely. Then my goal was just to stay
awake all day which I succeeded in!
Joined the group where they were having morning tea :-). Yum coffee. We went
to the Old Parliament for a nice lunch, then did a big tour of the New
Parliament House which was really cool. We actually went into the House of
Representatives where they were doing Question Time and boy is that racey!
Everyone "whinges" and "carps" and points fingers and talks out of turn and
accuses the opposite party of idiocy (lots of booing and here hereing). Very
entertaining :-). The Australian people are so open and nice! While Canberra
is not the most exciting city, I will enjoy being here I think for the outdoor
stuff, but boy it's chilly - especially at night! I saw in a paper the low
this weekend is 1 (celcius of course). Oh, but there are cockatoos and possums
everywhere :-). I walked around ANU after dusk (5pm right now) to have the cold
air help keep me awake! Then we enjoyed a nice Indian dinner. And though I got
a bout of homesickness briefly, I do have a bunch of friends from the program
already - we are talking about potential trips to the Great Barrier Reef one
weekend and NZ after the program, so that picked me up a bit! And I met my host
and he already had plans for me for this weekend - a football (but not as I know
it) match and a hike/picnic with his family. So - I might just make it! Altho
I do have to get used to it being winter, and get used to the time. I had some
very tired moments, but now I've made it to 10pm (7am Austin time), so I think
I'm allowed to go to bed finally! Yippee and Halleluyah.
That's it - more orientation tomorrow, then I am at work starting Thursday and I
will move to my actual housing! Wish me luck...
I left San Fran at 10:47pm on Sunday June 15th. And I made it to OZ, down under, Tuesday morning at 6:25am - at least to Sydney! The flight was uneventful and
actually not bad at all. I tried to stay up for the first several hours -
watched "The Bucket List" and read my new book "In a Sunburned Country".
Somewhere in there was dinner. Then passed out after that for 3-4 hours, and
woke up a bit for a snacky sandwich and stayed up for an hour, then tried to
sleep again - only made it about 3 hours until they turned on the lights and
served breakfast. So I was up for the rest of the flight. Customs was fine,
collected bags, got sniffed by a dog (my bags), went through quarantine, then
transferred to the domestic terminal (which is quite a drive away!). Sydney
was rainy and chilly. Then boarded short flight to Canberra where I passed out
again, but woke up to get my biscuits (cookies). I looked at the back of the
package and instead of calories it reported energy in kJ! Have to figure out
that conversion... Then was met by a nice government car and did the short
drive to the ANU campus/Australian Academy of Science. They let us check in to
our "Uni House" and shower which was lovely. Then my goal was just to stay
awake all day which I succeeded in!
Joined the group where they were having morning tea :-). Yum coffee. We went
to the Old Parliament for a nice lunch, then did a big tour of the New
Parliament House which was really cool. We actually went into the House of
Representatives where they were doing Question Time and boy is that racey!
Everyone "whinges" and "carps" and points fingers and talks out of turn and
accuses the opposite party of idiocy (lots of booing and here hereing). Very
entertaining :-). The Australian people are so open and nice! While Canberra
is not the most exciting city, I will enjoy being here I think for the outdoor
stuff, but boy it's chilly - especially at night! I saw in a paper the low
this weekend is 1 (celcius of course). Oh, but there are cockatoos and possums
everywhere :-). I walked around ANU after dusk (5pm right now) to have the cold
air help keep me awake! Then we enjoyed a nice Indian dinner. And though I got
a bout of homesickness briefly, I do have a bunch of friends from the program
already - we are talking about potential trips to the Great Barrier Reef one
weekend and NZ after the program, so that picked me up a bit! And I met my host
and he already had plans for me for this weekend - a football (but not as I know
it) match and a hike/picnic with his family. So - I might just make it! Altho
I do have to get used to it being winter, and get used to the time. I had some
very tired moments, but now I've made it to 10pm (7am Austin time), so I think
I'm allowed to go to bed finally! Yippee and Halleluyah.
That's it - more orientation tomorrow, then I am at work starting Thursday and I
will move to my actual housing! Wish me luck...
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