Some fancy sandwich things I made. More food photos are coming--because they're high-def, they take a while to process (low priority on boyfriend's work list!)
Whoa--I haven't updated in exactly a month! Sorry, everyone! I've been doing lots of boogieboarding and going to my boyfriend's paragliding spots, which means, lots of daytrips...
Here’s a little outline of my schedule, the last few weeks. On Monday evenings, I have Pilates classes, in an upstairs room of Randwick Girls’ School. Just a few months ago I was biking, but it’s illegal in Sydney to bike after dark and it gets dark at 5 nowadays. So I take the bus, or walk about twenty-five minutes.
On Wednesday evenings I have my one class of the week, China and Asia-Pacific Security. My teacher, a Chinese mainlander, is very learned but very hard to understand. He has a heavy accent and also uses a lot of idioms and colorful expressions: “two tiger one mountain” (referring to China and Japan), “Japan have second minds” (meaning Japan is of two minds about something), “don’t annoy the sleeping dragon.” He sprinkles them all over his speech. Unfortunately it just delays my processing time and I am very reliant on the class handouts to translate what he says.
Thursday mornings, I hop on my bike and head to Sydney Children’s Hospital. I’m a regular now, playing Scrabble with the teenagers, giving tours to visiting celebrities (the Bondi Rescue lifeguards were my favorite), getting puked on by babies and colored on by toddlers, gowning up to visit lonely infectious patients, walking restless siblings up and down the hallways while their moms grab a much-needed cup of coffee. I gossip with the nurses and go for half-hour tea and cupcake breaks with my fellow volunteers, mostly retired, loveable, bossy grannies. Moms in the ward have to beware of leaving their babies for even thirty seconds while they go to the bathroom, because just like those grannies who I used to make fun of, I will swoop in like a bee drawn to honey and snatch that baby up in my arms for some TLC (for them or for me? Does it matter?)
I’ve finally made some major progress on my papers and am getting ready for…a two week trip to Japan! That’s right, my boyfriend and I are going to Japan in less than a month. My furniture gets shipped back to the States in two weeks, and my Master’s thesis is due in a month and a half…everything seems to be wrapping up.
Speaking of coming back to the States, if anyone wants a last Australia present, speak now or forever hold your peace! So I can ship it with my stuff instead of having to carry it…
And finally, I’m going to start updating my blog again, as much as possible. For fun (okay, I admit it, in class the other night), I decided to compose this list.
“You know it’s winter in Sydney when…”
-- mangos are out of season; kiwis are in
--the surfers don their wetsuits
--in the Woolworth’s ads, the yummy mummies are cooking butternut pumpkin soup instead of prawn salads
--it gets dark at 5 and light at 7
--girls are wearing furry Ugg boots with their shorts and miniskirts
--the frangipani and roses have stopped blooming but the jacaranda, hibiscus, lavender, and birds of paradise have started
--new seasons of Underbelly, Masterchef Australia, and Sea Patrol are on air—but Bondi Rescue is gone til next summer.
And to top you off, here are some recent photos that we took while watching my boyfriend paragliding…
