All Night Long

I was up all night last night and no it wasn't for a fun reason. I was finishing a paper, a very long, involved paper. Today my eyes feel like sandpaper and it was so hard to get up to turn in the paper after 2 hours of sleep, I think I must just be on some adrenalin rush at this point, don't know how I haven't fallen over yet. Anyhow I finished at 6am, have no idea how coherent the paper is but the important thing is that it's done..one more paper to go and that's it..masters degree here I come. Let the celebrations begin!

World Record Holder Here!

So I never thought I'd set a world record for anything but hell you just never know what might happen after you wake up in the morning. Yesterday I was at the Paniyiri festival (huge greek festival in Brisbane), little known fact outside Australia it has the biggest Greek population outside of Greece. You get tired of hearing it though, it's an often repeated fact here, especially that Melbourne is the largest Greek city outside Greece. Anyhow I was one of the many, many dancers in last night's successful world record attempt for the world's biggest zorba dance! Yep there were nearly 2000 of us, all with linked arms and doing the zorba for over 6 minutes, it was good fun. As we know I'm about the least coordinated person on the planet so I really did have to keep repeating the instructions for the dance over and over again in my head but it worked and was really great and I didn't fall down or lose the grip on the shoulders of the man next to me so all in all a success. Also I did have some Mythos (greek beer) and ouzo and see lots of hot greek-australian men so a great time was had by all!

Sweet!

Today I started my job with Fosters and can I say I couldn't be more pleased. First of all I have my dream schedule start time of 10am, which allows me to get those extra zzz's in the morning. Next and best of all found out this morning when I was getting the grand tour that there is a bar on the premises, not too far from where my desk is turns out and it opens at 4;30pm everyday and drinks are you guessed it FREE! Unfortunetly I'm sick and so no drinkies for me but one day I shall be well and then 4;30 here I come. Also my co-workers are pretty funny, rough as guts Aussies for the most part. Kylie (yes there are lots of Aussies named this) who was training me was telling me that when I run across wine orders to highlight them so they "stand out like a dog's bollocks", cracked me up. Then my boss says hope you don't mind cursing and carrying on, we find it helps to pass the time. Should be interesting, and my time today went by fast even though I did feel like someone had my head in a wrench b/c of this damn cold!!

Just in Time

Today is my birthday and I have a cold, so I was still aslep when the temp agency called me at 950 am and asked if I could make it to an interview at 11am. Sure I said even though I didnt wanna get up because I do need a job. So I jump up run to use my roommates computer to see where this place is on the map, only to go through a super frustrating experience because well her laptop is french and little known fact but the french do not use the same keyboard we do, the letters are arranged differently,instead of qwerty they use azerty, which means i kept typing in things wrong and I was in a super hurry!! I managed half running to get there on time and the interview went great and before I made it back to the bus stop I got a call offering me a job with..Fosters Australia(no one does drink fosters here but they make lots of aussie beers, wines and spirits that people do drink), yes I now work for that most Aussie of beer companies..I feel this will round out my full Aussie experience...Happy Birthday to me!

And the Adventure continues...

Big news in these parts-- I got a job in Japan! So looks like in September I'll be moving to Osaka. Can't wait should be a really good time. I will be sad to leave Australia though, after spending about 2 years here I've really grown to love it and totally wouldn't mind living here for good one day. But the adventure must continue, time for me to explore a new place on a new continent, hopefully giving me another perspective on this great big world we live in. In the meantime though I plan to enjoy the sunshine and good beer and try to see as much as I can before it's time for me to go :)

The Fuzz

So last week was fun, we had the threat of an immigration raid on the house because of my landlord and his damn kiosks!! Anyways I got a phone call and had to run home and basically had 30 seconds to grab stuff from my room. Why did I have 30 seconds you ask?
1. Immigration had already turned up to one of the kiosks looking for 3 of my roommates who were working illegally so they thought they'd be looking at the house next.
2. My landlord was burning all his business papers in the bbq outside and I didn't want to be implicated because I was in the house.
3. Due to a crazy theory told to me by my grandma I felt like I should get my passport before it was seized and used to "blame god knows what on me"

Anyways so I ran in grabbed my passprt and my photos and ran out to my friend's waiting car and then I was free. You know why I was free because at that moment I really was okay with never seeing any of my other stuff again, I was just glad to be outta the situation. Yes it would have really sucked to lose it all but you know there are worse things..such as being put in immigration jail somehwere in the outback.

Needless to say 3 of my roommates left and now my landlord is determined to only hire legal workers, so 2 british backpackers are moving into the house tomorrow..let the fun and games begin again.

P.S. yes I am considering moving but dammit I've only got 5 weeks of school left and it's just too much to even think about at the moment, at least I know all the incriminating evidence has been burned.

This is only a test...

Well I'm convinced the last 2 months has been a test, a test to see how much one can take before they want to quit school. The fact that I only have 5 weeks left until my masters is finished is just mindblowing. I have wanted to just quit and get a full time job so many times in the last weeks because I'm so sick of having no money. It's like I'm in a science experiment to see how long a person can eat two minute noodles and not develop some weird skin rash or keel over from malnutrition. I'm really making a concerted effort not to get a negative attitude but I think it's too late at this point. However I keep reminding myself that I'm in a place I love, I love to wake up to the sound of the kookuburas every morning, walking along the river to get to school (there's always the nicest breeze no matter how hot), being so close to some of the most awesome beaches in the world (and thank god they are free), and most of all to all my great friends I've made here who try to feed me meals and keep me halfway sane.

We've come to this conclusion..

I've discovered that I don't
1) Listen
2) Pay attention
These are two things that you get yelled at for when you are 10, yet still I have trouble with these things..it has become apparent on several occasions, most recently yesterday when I was interviewing for a job. We had to do an excersise, we'd be given a topic and had 15 seconds to think about it then talk about it for 45 seconds. So when it was my turn she says..describe your ideal pant..or I thought she said pant but of course I'd been tuned out of the conversation then came back in and heard something about pants. Turns out she said pet, describe your ideal PET! Oops..sorry miss wasn't paying attention.
This is only one example of many where I wasn't listening and/or paying attention, another one is the time I tried out to be on Wheel of Fortune. Of course we had to play a mock game and of course when they called on me I said a letter that had already been picked, why? because I hadn't been paying attention that's why. Dammit how do I cure myself of this!!!

Slow Poke

Sorry been absent a bit lately, I've been running around interviewing for jobs, taking mid-semester exams, etc. I've got this week off but am working on some projects I have due after the break, 4 papers in 2 weeks..yep that's the stuff of dreams people.

In other news..I'm thinking of going to Japan after I'm done with school, just interviewed for a job yesterday and it went well. Am not really bothered to go and live back in the US when I'm done here and am really keen to keep on travelling so hopefully it all works out for the best. Also still no freakin' money from school and it's cramping my style in a major way. I'm trying to keep myself away from the New Zealand idea because after all I've only 5 weeks of school left until I've got a masters, would be a shame to quit now.

Itchy Feet

So it is now Week 7 of school and still I haven't received the living expenses money I get from the US Gov't, supposedly it will be put in my bank account by next week. You would be surprised how one can live on NO money for several weeks. It does help a diet plan, even if you have to eat noodles and spaghetti all the time, it's not like you eat lots of it. Anyways I'm 2 minutes away from applying for my work visa online to go and pick fruit in New Zealand..2 minutes people..with the bond money from my place I'd be able to get a plane ticket and have money for about 3 weeks..until I got paid for my fruitpicking or working in a ski resort..yep..I have to convince myself everyday to stay put!!

Where it stops nobody knows..

One summer I decided to stay at A&M and go to summer school (of course I ended up dropping out of my classes and just working b/c they were too early in the morning) but nonetheless I was in College Station the whole summer. One of my friends was doing an internship so I subleased his room, and moved in with the 2 guys that were living in the house. There were several issues in the apartment some being: there was trash everywhere, 2 pomeranians always in makeshift cages that one of the guys was watching for his girlfriend, sometimes one of my roommates would think it was funny to wake me up by pounding on the door with a golf club, and worst of all Rush Hour (the movie with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker) was always being played on a loop.
Fast forward to my current household and guess what there's a movie that's played on a loop..Half Baked, I can hear the entire movie at least once a day and most days twice, last night it seemed to be on a loop until at least midnight..honestly people I know you are stoned but damn, download another movie!!! Also it shows no signs of stopping since we got 2 new roommates Monday night, both of which are total stoners..I keep telling myself patience is a virtue.

Bring back the TV!!!

About a week before I moved into my current house the TV exploded, which is rather unfortunate. Because of this we've had no TV for a few weeks and will hopefully be getting one soon, as soon as my landlord is done building the kiosk. Due to the lack of television all of us are --gasp-- forced to talk to each other every night for hours on end b/c well there's nothing else to do. One can only read so many books in their room (I read 2 last week) before they'd rather have some human conversation. However the normal topics of conversation are always totally out there. Here is a partial list of things that I've spent hours of my life talking about in the last week:
Whether or not it's legal to have a monkey in Israel
The monkey that attacked Itzic at a temple in Thailand
The diseases monkeys carry
How Itzic can get someone an illegal monkey in Israel if they have enough money
The home countries of all the women Dan has slept with (he's trying to sleep with someone from every country--a whole other conversation)
Why Asian women aren't easy (this is a favorite topic of Dan's which has been discussed several times)
Dan's 3 step plan for sleeping with a woman
The best way to build a kiosk
Why selling skin care products is the best job for picking up women
Why the French are so prone to hysteria (we've had a French girl Juliet move in)
The French film industry
Why American women are easy (a topic I was endlessly grilled about by Dan)
The best places in America to pick up women
The best stoner movies
Comic books made into movies
The bitch lady from the property management company
Finally the most common topic:
When are we finally gonna get a new tv!!!

Build a Kiosk and they will come...

Alright so the Israleis are working on the plan for Dead Sea skin product domination and they have branched out on their own and hope to have stands in 10 malls by the end of the year. However this past week they hit a hitch in their plan, the first mall told them that they could have a spot but they would have to provide their own kiosk. Since they don't want to pay money to rent one they have decided to build their own kiosk. Mind you none of them have built anything like this before and so they went on a scouting trip to malls to take pictures of kiosks as a sort of guide. Then it was to the hardware store to buy hundereds of dollars worth of timber and then of course tools, because well they had no tools. Right now the major construction project is going on in the garage, I fear this will only end in tears.

The Dark Horse

The Dark horse captured on film at the party, he's very brooding.

I'd like to buy a vowel...

Alright so I've blogged before several times about the norwegians. Here's the thing there are 4 of them, all hot who all have class together and are roommates, they are in 2 of my classes. Anyways Lars (my fantasy boyfriend) is widely believed to be the hottest of the 4, although now a dark horse has emerged to perhaps take the crown. I use the term dark horse here mostly because he's the only one of the 4 that's not blond. His name is Trygv, yep that's right there aren't any vowels in that, so I've taken to calling him no vowels. I've never spoken to no vowels before last night, normally I just kinda wave and then go talk to Lars. Well last night Lars wasn't out and so the 3 remaining hot norwegians were out together. Here's how my first conversation with no vowels went (some background: I'd had maybe 2 vodka lemonades already, no vowels was carrying an umbrella even though it wasn't raining, I went up to the bar to get 3rd drink and he was the only other person waiting)
Me: I guess you're a man who's always prepared (I point to umbrella)
No vowels: What?
Me: You brought an umbrella that was very prepared of you, in case it rains
No vowels: Rain yes, it might be wet
Me: What?
No vowels: I don't like to get wet in the rain
Me: No I don't like to get wet in the rain either
(It's at this point I realize..wit and charm would get me nowhere with this man..we are struggling to have an even basic english conversation)
No vowels: Are you having a test?
Me: What? No, I don't have a test, do you have a test?
No vowels: Yes I have a test tomorrow
Me: I hope it's not early..since you're out
Anyways I could go on and on this conversation was PAINFUL and lasted about 15 minutes. However I did talk to him later and it was a bit less painful, not much but a bit, baby steps. I really do think though that he may take the crown, because I saw him in boxing class earlier..Lars is really gonna have to step up the game to keep his spot.

Fun with hats!

As usual there were Guiness hats to be had on St. Patrick's day and yes those are balloons tied to my purse, I walked around with them on all night, Dr. Pritchard medicine woman (who's not pictured--b/c well I forgot I had my camera half the night and hardly took any pics) was nice enough to nick them for me from the bar. Incidently that Guiness hat Damien is wearing and then I'm wearing is the last one the bar had so we were lucky!

Strike you down!

Last night was a wonderful St. Patrick's day, fun antics to be had all around. My friend Nigel's new roommate who just moved here from the UK told me a great story about her previous run in with a Texan. Apparently this guy came to work at their lab (she's a smartie only 26 and working on a study to cure alzheimers--got sponsored to come to Australia to do so..I like to call her Dr. Pritchard Medicine Woman), anyways so medicine woman meets Texan at lab, they hit it off, one night all the lab rats go round the pub for drinks...same old story, medicine woman gets plastered and sleeps with Texan. Here's where it gets interesting she says that at like 8am--she'd only had 2 hours sleep and Texan wakes her up and starts preaching saying that god is going to strike them down for what they did last night and that they sinned, etc. Medicine woman says it was the worst morning of her life..she just wanted to go back to sleep and perhaps barf and try to forget the previous night but nope she got woken up for a sermon. This is why she now is afraid of people from Texas, can't say I blame her.

Funny Stuff

This is hilarious, it comes from the website McSweeney's Internet Tendency (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/) which has lots of great articles on it..check it out if you haven't already!

THE SLOWAND PAINFUL COLLAPSE OF A RELATIONSHIP OVER THE COURSE OF A WEEKLONG VACATION AS EXPRESSED BY THE NAMES EACH PARTNER GAVE THEIR DIGITALPHOTOS TAKEN DURING SAID VACATION.
BY MATT HULTEN
- - - -
Monday
Matt.jpg
Carrie.jpg
IloveMatt.jpg
IloveCarrietoo.jpg
Squirrel.jpg
DidMattjustwasteapictureonastupidsquirrel.jpg
IthinkCarrieisangrythatItookapictureofasquirrel.jpg
MattissnappingpicturesofverminwhenImsittingherewearingthemostadorablenewskirt.jpg
Carriewillnotletthesquirrelthinggo.jpg
Tuesday
ImreallyhopingtodaywithCarriewillbebetterthanyesterday.jpg
MaybeIoverreactedandIshouldnthaveyelledatMattforthesquirrelthing. jpg
IreallydontlikedancingbutifitwillmakeCarriehappyIllmakeaneffort.jpg
HeresMattpretendinghesprainedhisanklesohedoesnthavetotakemedancing.jpg
WeareinthefreakingBahamasandallMattwantstodoischeckhisfantasyfootballscores.jpg
Wednesday
IfIcanjustmakeitthroughtodaywithoutfightingwithCarrieIthinkwecansalvagethistrip.jpg
MeintheoutfitMattsaidmademelooklikemymother.jpg
IdontknowwhatIwasthinkingwhenItoldCarriethatshelookedlikehermother.jpg
IfCarriedoesntshutthehellupaboutgoingdancingImgoingtokillmyself.jpg
MattsayshesgoingtothehotelbarbutIknowhesreallygoingtoastripclub.jpg
CouldCarriesbathingsuitbeanysmaller.jpg
Thursday
OnlyfourmoredayswithMattandthenIcangohome.jpg
WhydidntIjustgotoVegaswithmyfriendsinsteadofcomingtothishellholewithCarrie.jpg
ImstartingtoforgetwhatIeversawinMatttobeginwith.jpg
Mattisapparentlycontentspendinghisdaysdoingnothingbutgettingdrunk.jpg
ImprettysurethatguyjustgrabbedCarriesass.jpg
IfIseeMatthitononemorenineteenyearoldImgoingtovomit.jpg
Carrieisopenlyflirtingwitheverythingontwolegsrightinfrontofme.jpg
Friday
IdistinctlyrememberCarriesayingthistripwouldbegoodforourrelationshipbutIdontrecallhertellingmeitwouldbetheworstweekofmyentirelife.jpg
MattisdrunkagainandIthinkhemightverywellhaveaseriousdrinkingproblemthathesbeenhidingfromme.jpg
SomeoneshouldtellCarriethatwhenshedoesbodyshotsoffaguytenyearsyoungerthanherselfitsnotcuteitspathetic.jpg

Saturday
HeresCarrieandthebastardshesprobablydoingbehindmyback.jpg
ThecouchisgoodenoughforMattandifhethinkshessleepingwithmehesoutofhisdamnmind.jpg
IveseenhomelessmenwearingnicerclothesthanwhatMatthasonrightnow.jpg
CarrieisprovingherselftobeevenmoreofashamelesswhorethanIoriginallythoughtwaspossible.jpg
JudgingbythewayhehashandledhimselfonthistripitsnowonderMattcantholddownasteadyjob.jpg
Carrieiswearinganotheroutfitevenaprostitutewouldbeembarrassedtobeseenin.jpg
Sunday
IhopeIvemadethisweekasmiserableforCarrieasshehasforme.jpg
IthinkweshouldseeotherpeopleMatt.jpg
ThatsfinebymeCarrieIllsendyouabillforyourhalfofthetrip.jpg
YoucangotohellMattyoucangostraighttohell.jpg

The Kibbutz

So I've offically been living with the Israelis for less than a week and it takes a bit of getting used to, they have been pretty good about trying to speak english when I'm around so that I can be part of a conversation. I have to say though I woke up this morning to an Alanis Morisette song blaring in hebrew. A bit about my roommates, downstairs it's just me and Itzic, who everyone calls Izzy, he told me to call him Easy because anything I need just ask him and he get it--EASY! He's always saying easy..it's funny the other day I asked him if he had a couple of extra hangers and he goes and gets some from his room and when he hands them to me he says, "See--EASY!" Also Easy found a bicycle pump for me so that I could inflate the balance ball I bought. He'd never seen one before so I had to explain what it's use was and demonstrate for him..then he says how much money you think people pay for this thing, and I said well I paid $12 and he shakes his head..maybe I could sell these things--he's always looking for business opportunities and he even told me, "people say we jews are always trying to make money but it's true it's all I can think about day and night, making money..it's my life". Him and my landlord Tomal have been friends since they were little and are partners in selling Dead Sea Skin products. They hire Isralei backpackers to sell them in malls here. Right now there are 4 such backpackers that live upstairs, all of them just out of the Isralei army and travelling. All they do is sell skin products and get stoned..which is alright I suppose when you've spent the last 3 years getting rocks thrown at you and shot at.

It's a Small World After All

Alright so in my last post I said probably after my Australian foray was over I'd have lived with people from 20 different countries, anyways so I decided a list was in order. So here is the list of the countries where people are from that I've shared a house with at one time or another in Australia (I've lived in 3 places, about to be 4).
England- Scott, Laura, Gemma, Melanie, Mad Mary
Ireland-Danielle, Conor, Enda
Germany-Jann, Sebastian, Toby
France-Ben
Italy-Valerio
Finland-Lilly
Korea-Joy, Sarah
Indonesia-not sure his real name but we called him the possum b/c he would always go hide in his room
Canada-Marc, Rafael, Joanne, Kelly, Amanda
Australia-Nigel, Colin, Warrick, Dylan, Jack, Crissy, Tim
Sweden-Oskar
Brazil-Fabio
Scotland-Adam (to be fair I only saw him when he came to pay rent and that one time he came home just to have a massive fight with his girlfriend)
Fiji-Gunnar
Israel-Names TBA since I'm moving in today

So looks like I'm at 15 and counting..there's still a room free in the house I'm moving into so we could be adding another country to the list and it's possible I've forgotten a country, I'll have to think on it.