Tuesday, 24 February 9:16 pm
We’re in New Zealand. And it’s cold.
I mean really cold. Like, pants-fleece-hat cold. Like, 14 degrees (what is that, like 50 degrees Fahrenheit?) cold.
It’s nice though. We left Straddie Sunday morning, and as we drove to Dunwich and the ferry I was saying, “bye-bye ocean, bye-bye beach, bye-bye koala crossing sign,” etc. When we got to the mainland we drove to W and C’s house, where W was cooking a delicious seafood feast for lunch (fish and chips [mmm mmm mmm!], seafood salads, fancy oyster things, yum yum yummy). We then headed for the airport, hung out in the sophisticated, comfortable terminal until our flight boarded, then got on the plane. Once we were all on and ready to go, the inevitable hour of technical problems started. This time, however, being that we were flying on Air New Zealand, we had an ongoing commentary and explanation of what was happening in the captain (“Captain Pringle” was his name) in a sweet New Zealand accent. Luckily, the airplane had those amazing personal touch-screen “in flight entertainment” screens, so we could watch movies while we were waiting.
The flight was about three hours once we took off, which meant we got into Christchurch at one in the morning local time. The customs agent was amazingly cheerful, which sadly we could not match. We picked up a rental car, then drove to the house we’re staying in.
Where we are staying is connected to a hotel next door, which has played Monopoly with the surrounding property and rents them mostly to visiting professors. It’s right across the street from the University, and the house that was free is at the end of the long driveway where all the houses are. The house is humongous, a four-bedroom (at least), 3-bath, two story house with a big, private yard. It’s amazingly well packed in here, and nice that we got the house on the end hence the privacy and space. There are houses around us, but there are so many tall, thick trees between that we can’t even see the ones behind us. It’s very comfortable, a little weirdly arranged, but nice.
I miss Straddie already. I miss the heat (what I was looking forward to getting away from), the beach, the sun, and the simplicity of routine. I miss the small-town, but I’m also excited to be somewhere crisp and cool, with 100 times as many people as Straddie and large grocery stores. Everybody here seems to drive very fast, and there’s a lot of traffic around the university (the term started yesterday, so I think many people are still moving in), which makes driving (and crossing the street to get to the university) scary and stressful. The night we arrived there was no other car on the road—a stark contrast to what it’s like during the day.
My mom has a very nice, large office on the top floor of the building with a wonderful view of the university and surrounding burbs. I think I’m going to work there most of the time rather than at home. Campus is nice also, and I’m almost starting to get a sense of where things are—every time we try to walk somewhere my parents follow me, and despite not sure if we’re going in the right direction we always end up in the right place. There are a few places to eat on campus (we went to an Indian place today next to the bookstore with a 40-foot long line of students trying to buy textbooks. The food was okay, but like a lot of Indian food here it was bland because of the lack of spicy-ness. Do the Kiwis have no spice tolerance at all?), and many about a 20-minute walk away.
Every time I look outside into our backyard, I long for the trampoline in my imagination. Our back yard is perfect for one, with the perfect spot over mossy grass under tall trees. It’s unreal how much I want one. I’ve been looking online for used trampolines, but can’t find anything (Christchurch has a Craigslist!), and new tramps cost upward of $1000 NZ, which is way more than my mom is willing to spend for something we’d only have for a month (I don’t blame her). My mom’s main contact in the department is looking into finding somebody with a tramp they don’t use, which is amazingly nice of him, and shows how desperate I am. It seems silly to so long for something material, but oooohhhh I want one so much!
I do think we’re going to be very comfortable here. It’s cold, but I’ll get used to that in a few days. Today I was wearing three shirts (one of them flannel), thick jeans, and a raincoat for most of the day (Christchurch’s weather is similar to that of Eugene, especially in the precipitation-area), and was still freezing. Tomorrow I may break out the hat and gloves. The problem is we didn’t really pack for fall weather, so although we have a few warm clothes I think I’m going to be re-wearing the same outfit every other day. Like a good Eugenian I was wearing my chacos without socks (I miss my Berkies so much! Chacos are amazingly nice for most things, but the just don’t compare to Berks for walking around town. Especially around campus). I really like university campuses, and university towns, so it’s nice having campus at the end of our driveway. I think it would be fun to rent bikes for a few weeks while we’re here to get around, but because of the rain and that everything is reasonably walkable that may be irrational. It’d still be really fun, though.
I should go to bed, it’s almost 10. I feel much less stressed here, for I’m not sure what reason. I guess because it seems like I have a huge amount of time to work. My dad leaves for Florida on Thursday, which means after that my mom and I will be alone in this big house for awhile. It’s going to be fun, although I’m going to miss my dad.
I’m really going to bed now. Good night.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Goodbye, Koalas.
Tomorrow we leave for New Zealand.
Although I'm very excited to go somewhere cool and crisp, I am going to seriously miss this place. I have a fondness for Straddie, for it's warm beaches, kind locals, and even the sticky heat. See, I even use the nickname tourists in love with the island who spend their summers in the houses they own here use.
Today we saw not only sea turtles, but what looked incredibly suspiciously like Manta rays. There were five of them, all together (peculiar, they're not social animals) just under the surface of the water in the gorge. After staring at the brown blobs we thought were more turtles for awhile, we became sure of their flat triangular shape and that they didn't ever come up for air. We also saw dozens of dolphins playing in the water, and at one point about 5 or 10 of them rode with giant waves, body surfing. They jumped through the side of the waves, and ended up very near a group of human surfers, who looked delighted to have dolphins riding the same waves they were. It was quite a sight.
We have to pack tonight, which I should be doing right now. I finished Jane Eyre a few days ago, so started reading Three Cups of Tea yesterday. I love it. The school books this year have been so much better than previous years-- I actually look forward to reading them. Last year we had two good books, Night by Ellie Weisel and the Samurai's Garden by I forget who, but this year almost every book I have thoroughly enjoyed. It helps the whole stress-case phenomenon when I actually enjoy doing the homework.
Love Actually finally was in the day after I posted the last post. It was pretty good, mostly just because it had the most amazing cast of all time who seemed like they were having an amazing time filming. We also saw a movie called Dear Frankie, which was sweet, and a movie called the World's Fastest Indian. Sounds like a strange, low-budget, old racist movie, yes? Well, wrong. It was very good. It belongs to W, who loves motorcycles, and who told us to watch it. The New Zealand movie was about an old Kiwi from Invercargil (we didn't drive through it in our camper, but were near it)who was a bike fanatic. The true story was wonderful, as it followed an incredibly sweet NZ man through his journey to the US and to Speed Week in the Utah Salt Flats, and the people he met along the way (everybody he met was charmed by him, including a LA drag queen, who the Kiwi had no reservations about). He was going to SPeed Week because he was sure he was going to break a world record for speed on his 40-year old bike made to go 55 mph that he had outfitted for 25 years, now capable of going well over 150 mph. Again, I'm not sure if you can get this in the US, but if you can it's a quite wonderful movie.
Oh, and you know that Australian movie we saw and loved, Hey, Hey, it's Esther Blueburger? Well, while we were starting it, I commented at how much one of the main characters looked like the girl from Whale Rider. Today, I was looking up the movie again, and saw that she actually was the main character in Whale Rider, which was her big debut. She was much older-looking in Hey, Hey, it's Esther Blueburger, which was weird because it came out only about four years after Whale Rider. She was quite good in both, if I do say so myself.
Well, I should get back to packing, or at least reading while my parents tolerantly walk around me doing most of the work. It's late. Well, not really, but we have to leave at 9:00 am tomorrow... Not so happy about that, but it's not that different from when we've been getting out of the house most mornings.
Good night, good bye, good.... hm. I can't think of another other than "riddance."
Although I'm very excited to go somewhere cool and crisp, I am going to seriously miss this place. I have a fondness for Straddie, for it's warm beaches, kind locals, and even the sticky heat. See, I even use the nickname tourists in love with the island who spend their summers in the houses they own here use.
Today we saw not only sea turtles, but what looked incredibly suspiciously like Manta rays. There were five of them, all together (peculiar, they're not social animals) just under the surface of the water in the gorge. After staring at the brown blobs we thought were more turtles for awhile, we became sure of their flat triangular shape and that they didn't ever come up for air. We also saw dozens of dolphins playing in the water, and at one point about 5 or 10 of them rode with giant waves, body surfing. They jumped through the side of the waves, and ended up very near a group of human surfers, who looked delighted to have dolphins riding the same waves they were. It was quite a sight.
We have to pack tonight, which I should be doing right now. I finished Jane Eyre a few days ago, so started reading Three Cups of Tea yesterday. I love it. The school books this year have been so much better than previous years-- I actually look forward to reading them. Last year we had two good books, Night by Ellie Weisel and the Samurai's Garden by I forget who, but this year almost every book I have thoroughly enjoyed. It helps the whole stress-case phenomenon when I actually enjoy doing the homework.
Love Actually finally was in the day after I posted the last post. It was pretty good, mostly just because it had the most amazing cast of all time who seemed like they were having an amazing time filming. We also saw a movie called Dear Frankie, which was sweet, and a movie called the World's Fastest Indian. Sounds like a strange, low-budget, old racist movie, yes? Well, wrong. It was very good. It belongs to W, who loves motorcycles, and who told us to watch it. The New Zealand movie was about an old Kiwi from Invercargil (we didn't drive through it in our camper, but were near it)who was a bike fanatic. The true story was wonderful, as it followed an incredibly sweet NZ man through his journey to the US and to Speed Week in the Utah Salt Flats, and the people he met along the way (everybody he met was charmed by him, including a LA drag queen, who the Kiwi had no reservations about). He was going to SPeed Week because he was sure he was going to break a world record for speed on his 40-year old bike made to go 55 mph that he had outfitted for 25 years, now capable of going well over 150 mph. Again, I'm not sure if you can get this in the US, but if you can it's a quite wonderful movie.
Oh, and you know that Australian movie we saw and loved, Hey, Hey, it's Esther Blueburger? Well, while we were starting it, I commented at how much one of the main characters looked like the girl from Whale Rider. Today, I was looking up the movie again, and saw that she actually was the main character in Whale Rider, which was her big debut. She was much older-looking in Hey, Hey, it's Esther Blueburger, which was weird because it came out only about four years after Whale Rider. She was quite good in both, if I do say so myself.
Well, I should get back to packing, or at least reading while my parents tolerantly walk around me doing most of the work. It's late. Well, not really, but we have to leave at 9:00 am tomorrow... Not so happy about that, but it's not that different from when we've been getting out of the house most mornings.
Good night, good bye, good.... hm. I can't think of another other than "riddance."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
More sand. And sun, And surf.
Monday, 16 February 8:32 pm
I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. Although I don’t have a good excuse, I do have one: I was too lazy to post at first, and then I started reading a long book that engrossed my every extra minute. We’ve also been watching movies most nights, which takes my time up after dinner.
The book I have been reading is Jane Eyre—I had never read it before, and got it in Brisbane with an idea to take up time on the island. It’s worked wonders, because it takes so long to read and because it’s so addicting. There’s something I absolutely adore about the language in books like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice—I love the long, colorful sentences and bluntness of writing. There’s also something marvelous about the goofy sappy romances taking hundreds of pages to develop. Jane Eyre is much more exciting than Pride and Prejudice was—I’m not sure if I like that better, although the slow, descriptive scenes and plot that I love is still true of Bronte’s book.
On that note, I saw Kiera Knightly’s Pride and Prejudice about a week ago. I loved it as I did the book, which a lot of was because of the story, but the movie itself was pretty good as well. As I said earlier, my mom and I have been watching a lot of movies. There’s a local DVD rental store, which he have been frequenting, and the people there by now must know us well. Since early on we have been asking for one particular movie (Love Actually) which has been checked out the whole time—ever since the first day it’s been over-due, and whoever is working there at the time texts or calls the person who still has it. A lot of people have told me to see it, and since I’m trying to watch all the movies on my list, I really hope it comes in. We’ve seen August Rush (sickly sweet and completely wonderful), Atonement (a little sad, but overall good), Wag the Dog (hilariously funny and incredibly upsetting at the end. If you haven’t seen it, you must), Big Fish (Tim Burton, so should be good, right? Well, it wasn’t that good—very cliché and the acting was horrible), What About Bob (very funny. It belongs to W, and is about a psychiatrist who’s patient makes him go crazy. Very very funny), Minority Report (I didn’t know Tom Cruise could pretend to act, but he does a pretty good job of it in this. My favorite part was one of the computer screens of the future, which was the size of a wall, and had gloves that one could put on that would let the wearer move windows around the screen at the twitch of a finger. The movement needed was almost exactly that of an iPhone [except minus the touch part], even though the movie came out years before Apple’s multi-touch interfaces did), and probably others I’m forgetting.
Tonight we watched an amazing Australian movie called “Hey Hey it’s Esther Blueburger.” It was wonderful—it was a movie about middle/high school, specifically cliques, which in the US is something to steer clear from (Hollywood High Schools—I shiver with the thought). Instead of being plastic-y and mean, however, it was sweet and genuine; a little meanness at times, but most of it wasn’t (and would it be high school without it?). The acting was pretty good, as was the direction. We didn’t understand some of it at the cultural level, although it was fascinating to watch—it at times was almost a comedy of manners (though not quite as painful), which made it fun to see the little Australian habits. There were some hilariously funny scenes, such as one in a family psychiatrist’s office (everybody was sitting awkwardly on bean bag chairs which the psychiatrist peeled an apple with a knife into a perfect spiral, no talking whatsoever). I’m not sure if it’s possible to get in the US, but if so I definitely recommend watching it. It helped it had a very good soundtrack (it even had a Missy Higgins song, which always is a good sign). Once I have high speed internet again I’m definitely going to look it up.
As of the island, it’s wonderful. Every day we take wonderfully beautiful walks/hikes, either on the beach, or farther inland (most of the walks are on 4-wheel drive roads, which means the ground is very hard to walk on. The dry sand is about the consistency of tapioca pudding). Those walks get very hot, because of the humidity and heat. After we get home from each walk we sit in front of the three fans we have trying to cool down. A few days ago that changed—it was the weirdest experience, because I was actually cold. It rained a lot those two days, and in the day got up to only 79 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is). It was freezing. That only happened twice, though—it is now hot again. I guess I shouldn’t complain.
The beach has been fantastic also—every afternoon we go swimming. It’s amazingly fun to play in the waves, mainly to try to ride them into shore. Most days it’s a little rough and current-y to actually swim in the waves, but a few days it hasn’t been (today, for example—the waves were huge where we were, but very little current—very fun). I’ve gotten very good at body surfing, if I do say so myself (there’s natural modesty for you, Socrates). There’s an ocean lagoon on the beach near our house that we swim at, which is better on rough days—some waves still break into it, but mostly it’s calm. I like the waves better, but the lagoon is better for actually swimming.
In the lagoon, my parents and I will spend hours playing Monkey in the Middle with a tennis ball. It’s weirdly addicting and fun, and except for a few bops in the nose or eye by the ball, it’s been pretty injury-less. It’s so much fun to throw it where both my parents could get it, and watch them fight for it. Maybe a weird sense of humor, but VERY amusing.
I got a haircut a few days ago. I was terrified before it—so scared there would be some weird Aussie tradition with haircuts, and I would do something completely wrong. As it turned out, it was very easy—the woman who cut it was very sweet, and it was fast and inexpensive. It’s a really nice cut too (again with the modesty), maybe even better than the ones I get in the States (I’m not sure I’d give it that, but it’s still pretty good). It’s so nice to finally have the hair out of my eyes.
Well, I should go to bed. I can’t believe I left my book for so long—the longest I’ve gone without reading it yet. I keep telling myself that after this book I’ll read the school books I have (which look good also), and I have to keep to that—if not I’ll never finish the work.
Goodnight.
I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. Although I don’t have a good excuse, I do have one: I was too lazy to post at first, and then I started reading a long book that engrossed my every extra minute. We’ve also been watching movies most nights, which takes my time up after dinner.
The book I have been reading is Jane Eyre—I had never read it before, and got it in Brisbane with an idea to take up time on the island. It’s worked wonders, because it takes so long to read and because it’s so addicting. There’s something I absolutely adore about the language in books like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice—I love the long, colorful sentences and bluntness of writing. There’s also something marvelous about the goofy sappy romances taking hundreds of pages to develop. Jane Eyre is much more exciting than Pride and Prejudice was—I’m not sure if I like that better, although the slow, descriptive scenes and plot that I love is still true of Bronte’s book.
On that note, I saw Kiera Knightly’s Pride and Prejudice about a week ago. I loved it as I did the book, which a lot of was because of the story, but the movie itself was pretty good as well. As I said earlier, my mom and I have been watching a lot of movies. There’s a local DVD rental store, which he have been frequenting, and the people there by now must know us well. Since early on we have been asking for one particular movie (Love Actually) which has been checked out the whole time—ever since the first day it’s been over-due, and whoever is working there at the time texts or calls the person who still has it. A lot of people have told me to see it, and since I’m trying to watch all the movies on my list, I really hope it comes in. We’ve seen August Rush (sickly sweet and completely wonderful), Atonement (a little sad, but overall good), Wag the Dog (hilariously funny and incredibly upsetting at the end. If you haven’t seen it, you must), Big Fish (Tim Burton, so should be good, right? Well, it wasn’t that good—very cliché and the acting was horrible), What About Bob (very funny. It belongs to W, and is about a psychiatrist who’s patient makes him go crazy. Very very funny), Minority Report (I didn’t know Tom Cruise could pretend to act, but he does a pretty good job of it in this. My favorite part was one of the computer screens of the future, which was the size of a wall, and had gloves that one could put on that would let the wearer move windows around the screen at the twitch of a finger. The movement needed was almost exactly that of an iPhone [except minus the touch part], even though the movie came out years before Apple’s multi-touch interfaces did), and probably others I’m forgetting.
Tonight we watched an amazing Australian movie called “Hey Hey it’s Esther Blueburger.” It was wonderful—it was a movie about middle/high school, specifically cliques, which in the US is something to steer clear from (Hollywood High Schools—I shiver with the thought). Instead of being plastic-y and mean, however, it was sweet and genuine; a little meanness at times, but most of it wasn’t (and would it be high school without it?). The acting was pretty good, as was the direction. We didn’t understand some of it at the cultural level, although it was fascinating to watch—it at times was almost a comedy of manners (though not quite as painful), which made it fun to see the little Australian habits. There were some hilariously funny scenes, such as one in a family psychiatrist’s office (everybody was sitting awkwardly on bean bag chairs which the psychiatrist peeled an apple with a knife into a perfect spiral, no talking whatsoever). I’m not sure if it’s possible to get in the US, but if so I definitely recommend watching it. It helped it had a very good soundtrack (it even had a Missy Higgins song, which always is a good sign). Once I have high speed internet again I’m definitely going to look it up.
As of the island, it’s wonderful. Every day we take wonderfully beautiful walks/hikes, either on the beach, or farther inland (most of the walks are on 4-wheel drive roads, which means the ground is very hard to walk on. The dry sand is about the consistency of tapioca pudding). Those walks get very hot, because of the humidity and heat. After we get home from each walk we sit in front of the three fans we have trying to cool down. A few days ago that changed—it was the weirdest experience, because I was actually cold. It rained a lot those two days, and in the day got up to only 79 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is). It was freezing. That only happened twice, though—it is now hot again. I guess I shouldn’t complain.
The beach has been fantastic also—every afternoon we go swimming. It’s amazingly fun to play in the waves, mainly to try to ride them into shore. Most days it’s a little rough and current-y to actually swim in the waves, but a few days it hasn’t been (today, for example—the waves were huge where we were, but very little current—very fun). I’ve gotten very good at body surfing, if I do say so myself (there’s natural modesty for you, Socrates). There’s an ocean lagoon on the beach near our house that we swim at, which is better on rough days—some waves still break into it, but mostly it’s calm. I like the waves better, but the lagoon is better for actually swimming.
In the lagoon, my parents and I will spend hours playing Monkey in the Middle with a tennis ball. It’s weirdly addicting and fun, and except for a few bops in the nose or eye by the ball, it’s been pretty injury-less. It’s so much fun to throw it where both my parents could get it, and watch them fight for it. Maybe a weird sense of humor, but VERY amusing.
I got a haircut a few days ago. I was terrified before it—so scared there would be some weird Aussie tradition with haircuts, and I would do something completely wrong. As it turned out, it was very easy—the woman who cut it was very sweet, and it was fast and inexpensive. It’s a really nice cut too (again with the modesty), maybe even better than the ones I get in the States (I’m not sure I’d give it that, but it’s still pretty good). It’s so nice to finally have the hair out of my eyes.
Well, I should go to bed. I can’t believe I left my book for so long—the longest I’ve gone without reading it yet. I keep telling myself that after this book I’ll read the school books I have (which look good also), and I have to keep to that—if not I’ll never finish the work.
Goodnight.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Sand, Sand, Sand. And more sand.
February 3 1:20 pm
Our second full day on the island. I love it here. Right now I am in "school," but taking a break because every single integration problem I try doesn't work. Even my dad is having problems with the ones he's helping me with (which, at this point, is all of them.)
So, I decided to post. Nothing else to do with my time, except maybe other homework, but that would be silly. Why work when I have a perfectly good excuse not to?
Yesterday was very fun. We took a walk behind our house on an old sandy dune-buggy road through the bush, which was hot but interesting. We then came back home, and I got started on homework, which was not that bad. I like a lot of the work I've been doing if I'm productive and I can actually _do_ all the problems, unlike math right now. The books in Lit are fun, the Spanish is fun and relatively easy, and the math is normally satisfying.
Ooh, I think D just figured out one of the problems. Be right back.
February 5 8:15 am
Sorry, much bigger break than I though I would have. D figured out a problem and after he showed me how to do it I got on a roll. After I finished the section I rushed to get ready for the beach. Sorry to choose body surfing in warm Pacific waves over blogging, but I have to have priorities.
Our days have gotten into a schedule-- the one we planned, in fact--: morning, we have coffee/hot chocolate/breakfast. Mid-morning, we take a walk somewhere. Mid-day, I work, D helps, and M does various things (such as grocery shopping, talking to P and T, and working). Afternoon, we jump into swimsuits and run to the beach (well, not quite that dramatic, but that's what I want to do). We swim for a few hours, then come home, make dinner, and go to sleep.
So not too many notable things. We saw dolphins and a sea turtle on one of our walks around town. That walk was actually very interesting-- we saw a surfing competition on the Main Beach. M and I love to watch people surf, so that was fun to do, but something about the hundreds of surf bums standing around in swim trunks waxing their board waiting for their heat, while giant speakers on the beach announced everything that was happening seemed just a bit peculiar. The waves were huge-- they looked at least four meters high. The surfers were quite impressive.
That night we had bugs for dinner. Okay, I'll pause while you read that sentence again. They were delicious-- their full name is Morton Bay Bugs, and are a local delicacy tasting and looking like small, round, bug-like lobsters. Oooh they were so good. We got them at a local fish shop, and ate them with melted butter like lobster. Mm mmm mmm mmm mmm!
Yesterday we drove to Dunwich. We always felt like it was so far away-- the big town on the other side of the island. Really, it is only about a 15 minute drive, but it still felt like a long way away. We planned to take a walk around a lake-- which we did, mostly-- but D forgot the map on the front seat of the car. The whole time we were there, there was a big group of kids-- maybe 60 of them, high school or early college-- with painted bodies on the beach of the lake. They were chanting bizarre things in formation, which seemed like somewhere between a team-bonding exercise and some unique tribal dance. We could hear them most of the walk. About 3/4 of the way around, we figured we were almost back-- but then the trail (which was actually a sand road) seemed to end. There was another little road with a short fence in front of it clearly to keep out cars, and we figured this was how to get the rest of the way around the lake. There didn't seem to be a path any closer to the lake, as it was marshy on that side, so we decided to take it. For about 20 minutes we walked on this road, the whole time M insisting it was going the wrong direction, and dodging (well, trying to anyways) the biggest spiders/webs we have ever seen. These things were huge-- the spiders themselves were about the size of my hand, and the thick webs were taller than me attached to either side of the road. Walking through them didn't feel like a normal spiders web-- the strings were so thick it felt like walking though fishing net. Anyways, eventually, right when we were going to turn around and walk all the way back around the lake, M saw a metal gate-like thing. By this time we were far away from the lake, and as we got closer we realized it wasn't a gate but an old wind mill, not moving at all but with big cords leading away from it (I think it was for pumping water out of a well, but obviously not working right then). A couple meters down the road, we saw a tiny stop sign, and then a field. We went to check it out, and we found ourselves in what looked like a golf course, with big old signs that advertised various companies. They looked like they were from about 1961-- and the rusted metal barrels hidden in the trees didn't help. The grass, however, was mowed, with that short fuzz-like greenery around the holes seemingly perfectly manicured. It felt like we walked into something from Spirited Away-- there were no people in sight, and everything seemed old, yet the grass was green and mowed-- very bizarre. After that we turned around and walked all the way back the way we came.
We have seen many animals while we have been here. Kookaburras are often laughing around out house, although I got semi- used to that back in Brisbane. For a few days we had kangaroo (who we named Billy) jumping around our lawn, eating the grass, and staring at us with green strands hanging out of his mouth every time we walked by. There’s also a vaguely resident lace monitor, who, appropriately, we named Lacey. On our lake walk I pointed out a baby snake (it was about six inches long, hissing it’s tongue trying to seem scary) and two giant walking sticks (either fighting or mating, we couldn’t tell). Today there are two Wallabies (either that, or they’re Padamelons—or just small kangaroos. It’s hard to tell) in our yard munching on the grass. As I said before, we saw dolphins, sea turtles, and giant spiders. There are many little frogs or toads hoping around, but none of them seem big enough to be a cane toad except a couple dead on the ground. There were also some tiny jelly fish in the water yesterday, but we didn’t notice them until we were about to get out. The whole time I (and my parents) kept getting little stingy spots on our bodies, and though at first I thought they were just my imagination or maybe a marsh fly somehow biting me (have I talked about those yet? They are these humungous flies that land on people, wait a few seconds, then take a giant chomp of flesh from your skin. The good thing is, if you catch them before they chomp and swat them, they either die or are stunned enough to squash. A few times they landed on my right thigh, and I slapped so hard I had a red hand-shaped mark on my skin for days.), later my mother realized we were swimming with tiny jelly fish. A little unnerving.
Well, I should go because we are about to go on a walk. I'll try to post these this afternoon.
Our second full day on the island. I love it here. Right now I am in "school," but taking a break because every single integration problem I try doesn't work. Even my dad is having problems with the ones he's helping me with (which, at this point, is all of them.)
So, I decided to post. Nothing else to do with my time, except maybe other homework, but that would be silly. Why work when I have a perfectly good excuse not to?
Yesterday was very fun. We took a walk behind our house on an old sandy dune-buggy road through the bush, which was hot but interesting. We then came back home, and I got started on homework, which was not that bad. I like a lot of the work I've been doing if I'm productive and I can actually _do_ all the problems, unlike math right now. The books in Lit are fun, the Spanish is fun and relatively easy, and the math is normally satisfying.
Ooh, I think D just figured out one of the problems. Be right back.
February 5 8:15 am
Sorry, much bigger break than I though I would have. D figured out a problem and after he showed me how to do it I got on a roll. After I finished the section I rushed to get ready for the beach. Sorry to choose body surfing in warm Pacific waves over blogging, but I have to have priorities.
Our days have gotten into a schedule-- the one we planned, in fact--: morning, we have coffee/hot chocolate/breakfast. Mid-morning, we take a walk somewhere. Mid-day, I work, D helps, and M does various things (such as grocery shopping, talking to P and T, and working). Afternoon, we jump into swimsuits and run to the beach (well, not quite that dramatic, but that's what I want to do). We swim for a few hours, then come home, make dinner, and go to sleep.
So not too many notable things. We saw dolphins and a sea turtle on one of our walks around town. That walk was actually very interesting-- we saw a surfing competition on the Main Beach. M and I love to watch people surf, so that was fun to do, but something about the hundreds of surf bums standing around in swim trunks waxing their board waiting for their heat, while giant speakers on the beach announced everything that was happening seemed just a bit peculiar. The waves were huge-- they looked at least four meters high. The surfers were quite impressive.
That night we had bugs for dinner. Okay, I'll pause while you read that sentence again. They were delicious-- their full name is Morton Bay Bugs, and are a local delicacy tasting and looking like small, round, bug-like lobsters. Oooh they were so good. We got them at a local fish shop, and ate them with melted butter like lobster. Mm mmm mmm mmm mmm!
Yesterday we drove to Dunwich. We always felt like it was so far away-- the big town on the other side of the island. Really, it is only about a 15 minute drive, but it still felt like a long way away. We planned to take a walk around a lake-- which we did, mostly-- but D forgot the map on the front seat of the car. The whole time we were there, there was a big group of kids-- maybe 60 of them, high school or early college-- with painted bodies on the beach of the lake. They were chanting bizarre things in formation, which seemed like somewhere between a team-bonding exercise and some unique tribal dance. We could hear them most of the walk. About 3/4 of the way around, we figured we were almost back-- but then the trail (which was actually a sand road) seemed to end. There was another little road with a short fence in front of it clearly to keep out cars, and we figured this was how to get the rest of the way around the lake. There didn't seem to be a path any closer to the lake, as it was marshy on that side, so we decided to take it. For about 20 minutes we walked on this road, the whole time M insisting it was going the wrong direction, and dodging (well, trying to anyways) the biggest spiders/webs we have ever seen. These things were huge-- the spiders themselves were about the size of my hand, and the thick webs were taller than me attached to either side of the road. Walking through them didn't feel like a normal spiders web-- the strings were so thick it felt like walking though fishing net. Anyways, eventually, right when we were going to turn around and walk all the way back around the lake, M saw a metal gate-like thing. By this time we were far away from the lake, and as we got closer we realized it wasn't a gate but an old wind mill, not moving at all but with big cords leading away from it (I think it was for pumping water out of a well, but obviously not working right then). A couple meters down the road, we saw a tiny stop sign, and then a field. We went to check it out, and we found ourselves in what looked like a golf course, with big old signs that advertised various companies. They looked like they were from about 1961-- and the rusted metal barrels hidden in the trees didn't help. The grass, however, was mowed, with that short fuzz-like greenery around the holes seemingly perfectly manicured. It felt like we walked into something from Spirited Away-- there were no people in sight, and everything seemed old, yet the grass was green and mowed-- very bizarre. After that we turned around and walked all the way back the way we came.
We have seen many animals while we have been here. Kookaburras are often laughing around out house, although I got semi- used to that back in Brisbane. For a few days we had kangaroo (who we named Billy) jumping around our lawn, eating the grass, and staring at us with green strands hanging out of his mouth every time we walked by. There’s also a vaguely resident lace monitor, who, appropriately, we named Lacey. On our lake walk I pointed out a baby snake (it was about six inches long, hissing it’s tongue trying to seem scary) and two giant walking sticks (either fighting or mating, we couldn’t tell). Today there are two Wallabies (either that, or they’re Padamelons—or just small kangaroos. It’s hard to tell) in our yard munching on the grass. As I said before, we saw dolphins, sea turtles, and giant spiders. There are many little frogs or toads hoping around, but none of them seem big enough to be a cane toad except a couple dead on the ground. There were also some tiny jelly fish in the water yesterday, but we didn’t notice them until we were about to get out. The whole time I (and my parents) kept getting little stingy spots on our bodies, and though at first I thought they were just my imagination or maybe a marsh fly somehow biting me (have I talked about those yet? They are these humungous flies that land on people, wait a few seconds, then take a giant chomp of flesh from your skin. The good thing is, if you catch them before they chomp and swat them, they either die or are stunned enough to squash. A few times they landed on my right thigh, and I slapped so hard I had a red hand-shaped mark on my skin for days.), later my mother realized we were swimming with tiny jelly fish. A little unnerving.
Well, I should go because we are about to go on a walk. I'll try to post these this afternoon.
Straddie :)
Monday, February 2 8:09 am
I don't have internet again, so I have no idea when I will be able to post this.
The last day I haven't talked about was Saturday (I think). That day was fun, and like every other day very unproductive work-wise. We started by the three of us driving into the jungle during the morning, which was beautiful. Right behind C and W's house is jungle, and just five minutes driving felt like it was out of suburbia and into the bush. First we drove through eucalyptus forests, where that was basically the only vegetation growing. We took a very hot and sticky but pleasant walk, and although didn't see any koalas as my mother was hoping it was still fun. We then drove a little further and took another walk that started in eucalyptus forest but partway through morphed to rainforest-- the whole way there were little green signs with cartoons or "Billy and Ranger Ruth," telling us everything we needed to know about what we were walking through. I had the feeling that this walk was one thousands of school children go on every year in class trips. The next walk we took was completely in the rainforest. As we got back to the car, I sat down in my seat and started to take off my shoe to dislodge the rock that had found a home under my foot. As I looked down at my Chaco-ed feet however, I saw many little black wiggly things on and around my feet/sandals. I shrieked a little, exclaiming "there are leeches on my feet!" I quickly tried to pull one giant on off the top of my foot, but it was so deep inside my foot I couldn't. My mom came over, gave some muttery shriek of acknowledgment that there were leeches on my feet and tried to pull the big fat one out. She managed, and to pull out the many others on my feet, then went on to get the leeches out of her feet (which weren't as many). Two places my feet were bleeding from fat leech's anti-coagulate, which proved very hard to stop. After a few band-aids, I continued to try to remove the remaining leeches from the car, mostly unsuccessfully. EVentually we drove on our way back to the house, admiring a few leeches still on the car (the really fat one from my foot was there most of the ride-- it was kind of unnerving knowing that it was so fat because it was filled with my blood .hat whole incident was amusing, because earlier that day I was thinking about leeches, and remembering one time walking in the woods that my feet got covered with them. I thought at the time that was in Oregon, but later realized it was probably the last time we were in Australia, probably even in the same area.
We got back to the house, was cooked delicious ravioli for lunch, then got to work. M and W talked work, and my dad helped me with some math homework looming over my head. We worked basically all afternoon, and although I felt vaguely productive I only got two math sections done. Bother.
That night we took out hosts out to Indian food, which was delicious. Two of W's kids were there also, who I talked to over most of dinner. They are making a movie together, and plan to go to the US once it is done as their treat for finishing. They asked many questions about the States, some very amusing. They asked about accents and cities, as well as many questions about LA, California in general, and politics. One question they asked was, "so, do you see famous people all the time? Like just walking on the street?" I said no, maybe in LA, but even then probably not. Dinner was yummy and fun, and after that we organized some to leave the next day and went to sleep.
One thing I've neglected to talk about to far is how interested everybody is in Obama (and US politics in general). Every person we meet we end up talking about Obama and the election, some people starting with a little reservation to make sure we really are Obama supporters. The people I was talking about over the Indian dinner even pointed out that whoever is elected to US president is really being elected to run the world.
The next day we had to leave Brisbane and head towards Stradbroke Island, which is the worlds largest sand island just east of the city. W and C were kind enough to let us borrow their vacation home here for three weeks, and they even took the barge over with us to show us around. It's beautiful here-- lots of beaches, eucalyptus trees, and jungly palms. The house is a little weird but charming, very close to the beach and with a big back yard. We're the last house on the street, so All around us is unbuilt-up bush. It reminds me a lot of the houses in the Cane Toad movie we see in Geography freshman year. It has the stone and tile one-story house close to the ground, the big yard full of slightly crabby grass, and behind it the trees, grass, and bushes. I haven't actually seen a Cane Toad yet, although I know they're here because they were purposefully introduced to Dunwich (the main town on the island). Anyways, yesterday (the day we got here), we got a little settled, got lunch with W and C, went grocery shopping, and best of all went swimming. The ocean right by our house is rough, but the perfect temperature-- cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough that there is no pain getting in. There was a little lagoon-y pool on the beach (which I assume is only there in between high and low tides), which we swam in because the ocean itself is too dangerous to really go swimming in. We saw many skilled surfers getting inside giant rolly waves and stay riding them for awhile. We went wading in the more shallow surf, body surfing some of the bigger waves in (which was SO much fun. The sand on the beach is pretty soft, so it didn't even hurt too much getting thrown against is by the waves.
Today we plan to take a walk (explore the bush behind our house, probably get lost), work for a couple hours, then go swimming today. I think that will be our plan every day-- walk, work, swim (with many meals between those). I should go now so I have time to work later.
Bye.
I don't have internet again, so I have no idea when I will be able to post this.
The last day I haven't talked about was Saturday (I think). That day was fun, and like every other day very unproductive work-wise. We started by the three of us driving into the jungle during the morning, which was beautiful. Right behind C and W's house is jungle, and just five minutes driving felt like it was out of suburbia and into the bush. First we drove through eucalyptus forests, where that was basically the only vegetation growing. We took a very hot and sticky but pleasant walk, and although didn't see any koalas as my mother was hoping it was still fun. We then drove a little further and took another walk that started in eucalyptus forest but partway through morphed to rainforest-- the whole way there were little green signs with cartoons or "Billy and Ranger Ruth," telling us everything we needed to know about what we were walking through. I had the feeling that this walk was one thousands of school children go on every year in class trips. The next walk we took was completely in the rainforest. As we got back to the car, I sat down in my seat and started to take off my shoe to dislodge the rock that had found a home under my foot. As I looked down at my Chaco-ed feet however, I saw many little black wiggly things on and around my feet/sandals. I shrieked a little, exclaiming "there are leeches on my feet!" I quickly tried to pull one giant on off the top of my foot, but it was so deep inside my foot I couldn't. My mom came over, gave some muttery shriek of acknowledgment that there were leeches on my feet and tried to pull the big fat one out. She managed, and to pull out the many others on my feet, then went on to get the leeches out of her feet (which weren't as many). Two places my feet were bleeding from fat leech's anti-coagulate, which proved very hard to stop. After a few band-aids, I continued to try to remove the remaining leeches from the car, mostly unsuccessfully. EVentually we drove on our way back to the house, admiring a few leeches still on the car (the really fat one from my foot was there most of the ride-- it was kind of unnerving knowing that it was so fat because it was filled with my blood .hat whole incident was amusing, because earlier that day I was thinking about leeches, and remembering one time walking in the woods that my feet got covered with them. I thought at the time that was in Oregon, but later realized it was probably the last time we were in Australia, probably even in the same area.
We got back to the house, was cooked delicious ravioli for lunch, then got to work. M and W talked work, and my dad helped me with some math homework looming over my head. We worked basically all afternoon, and although I felt vaguely productive I only got two math sections done. Bother.
That night we took out hosts out to Indian food, which was delicious. Two of W's kids were there also, who I talked to over most of dinner. They are making a movie together, and plan to go to the US once it is done as their treat for finishing. They asked many questions about the States, some very amusing. They asked about accents and cities, as well as many questions about LA, California in general, and politics. One question they asked was, "so, do you see famous people all the time? Like just walking on the street?" I said no, maybe in LA, but even then probably not. Dinner was yummy and fun, and after that we organized some to leave the next day and went to sleep.
One thing I've neglected to talk about to far is how interested everybody is in Obama (and US politics in general). Every person we meet we end up talking about Obama and the election, some people starting with a little reservation to make sure we really are Obama supporters. The people I was talking about over the Indian dinner even pointed out that whoever is elected to US president is really being elected to run the world.
The next day we had to leave Brisbane and head towards Stradbroke Island, which is the worlds largest sand island just east of the city. W and C were kind enough to let us borrow their vacation home here for three weeks, and they even took the barge over with us to show us around. It's beautiful here-- lots of beaches, eucalyptus trees, and jungly palms. The house is a little weird but charming, very close to the beach and with a big back yard. We're the last house on the street, so All around us is unbuilt-up bush. It reminds me a lot of the houses in the Cane Toad movie we see in Geography freshman year. It has the stone and tile one-story house close to the ground, the big yard full of slightly crabby grass, and behind it the trees, grass, and bushes. I haven't actually seen a Cane Toad yet, although I know they're here because they were purposefully introduced to Dunwich (the main town on the island). Anyways, yesterday (the day we got here), we got a little settled, got lunch with W and C, went grocery shopping, and best of all went swimming. The ocean right by our house is rough, but the perfect temperature-- cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough that there is no pain getting in. There was a little lagoon-y pool on the beach (which I assume is only there in between high and low tides), which we swam in because the ocean itself is too dangerous to really go swimming in. We saw many skilled surfers getting inside giant rolly waves and stay riding them for awhile. We went wading in the more shallow surf, body surfing some of the bigger waves in (which was SO much fun. The sand on the beach is pretty soft, so it didn't even hurt too much getting thrown against is by the waves.
Today we plan to take a walk (explore the bush behind our house, probably get lost), work for a couple hours, then go swimming today. I think that will be our plan every day-- walk, work, swim (with many meals between those). I should go now so I have time to work later.
Bye.
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