Australia Week 2
Saturday 18th July 2009
Emily had to go to netball at about 8.30 this morning, she’s so busy, she’s umpiring a game, then coaching, then playing, then coaching again and then playing a hockey game!! I went on facebook and msn for a wee bit and caught up with Hazel and Rachel and got to e-mail home etc. Still in bed at 11.30 watching She’s the Man but Deni’s still asleep so I’m not that bad!! 1 o’clock and I still haven’t got up!! Finally up and showered at 1.30. We had a lazy breakfast and watched an old movie, The Time Machine We then went to see Emily play hockey, after her million games of netball. She was already exhausted but was playing Ladies for her club. Some of her team-mates seemed a little old to be playing hockey but they seemed to play ok. Emily got hit on the ankle so we took her home to heat up. It was so cold my feet have to defrost and my hands can barely type. As we left the score was 3-0 to the other team L Had dinner of tomato pasta and apple pie just before the Saturday night game of Aussie football, the McDonald’s team, Collingwood, were playing. It’s a cross between rugby and football but it’s basically throwing and kicking but there are four goal posts and you have to punch it out of your hand instead of throwing it. They were playing Hawthorn who were better from what I could see but I couldn’t really tell. Emily and I were falling asleep on the sofa so we departed at half time and I watched some of St Trinian’s on Henry. We’re heading to Melbourne in the morning and are getting the 7.30 train L so it’s a very early start.
Day Six
Sunday 19th July 2009
Woke up before the crack of dawn this morning to get ready for the trip to the big city. The train left at 7.15, it was a…retro train!! It was pretty old and rickety but it got us there. The journey took about 2 hours and 20 mins but it didn’t seem as long so that was good. The landscape on the way to Melbourne was flat land grass and trees, flat land, grass and trees, the odd village but more flat land, grass and trees. I did see a wallaby jumping beside the train which was cool. We could see the city in no time and there was a great view of the skyline which would have made an excellent photo if we weren’t moving and the trees weren’t in the way L I think I got a couple though, it looks like most other cities with skyscrapers but it was still photo worthy!! We disembarked the train at Southern Cross which is a magnificent, huge station in the city centre. It has recently been refurbished and has a big squiggly roof and lots of oddly shaped shops but it’s pretty cool. We wandered up the street with the intention of catching a tram – very San Francisco – but they aren’t very frequent so we just walked instead. It was just as quick and we could take in the sights. They have very logical street names that go up the block King St, Charles St, Queen St, Elizabeth St… J we turned down the one after that to find some souvenir shops but they didn’t really offer much that was very nice so I just purchased some post cards. Had breakfast in Starbucks and I had a blueberry bagel which was a cross between a muffin and a bagel but it was really good and just what we needed!! We then found a Country Road which is a gorgeous shop which sells really nice clothes and bags and home wares and all this really nice stuff. It reminded me of Zara but maybe a little more pricey!! Being Sunday, though, it didn’t open until 12 o’clock so we wandered around the other open shops in the area. After Country Road we walked back to the station and went to the shopping centre DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) which had tonnes of clothes shops which were really nice and a food court where we had sushi for lunch. I was looking for the Ugg boots but there are so many rip off brands in Australia it’s actually impossible to find the original but they are apparently available in the Airport. We were starting to get sore feet and pretty tired so we stopped for a coffee and my second blueberry bagel – was going to get a doughnut for the train but stood in the queue for ages and nobody even noticed I was there so I gave up deciding I was not going to pay them any money!! We hopped on the 3.15 train home which was much busier than the morning but a more comfortable train. About an hour in to the journey we swapped vehicles to a bus which was actually more comfortable and didn’t take too long and we could admire the sunset on the way. It was almost dark when we got home and we were exhausted. We had some dinner and watched Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging as Emily had never seen it and then were in bed really early again.
Day Seven
Monday 20th July 2009
Slight shock to the system again this morning getting up very early and the prospect of school again. The two days of weekend made it feel like summer again and I almost forgot that I’m actually going to school. The girls from St Georges had their first day having arrived on Friday night. They are named Fern and Hannah and it is so good to have people with the same accent and that you can talk to about Scottish things like Highers although we’re avoiding the subject so far!! Had double art first thing which is so different. They do different topics like self portrait, digital art, photography and they make comics!! There is a large art room with huge desks and I presume lots of art supplies but I couldn’t actually see anything apart from very big bottles of paint. Next door there is a computer room with over 20 Apple Macs because they have all the best drawing programs but it’s really cool. There is also a graphics room but I didn’t venture that far. Hannah and I didn’t have much to do so we went outside and had to take pictures of ourselves with the camera at arms length. We just felt really stupid so only took a few and went for a wander. We passed the lake on the way back where some year 11s were, I think, doing Biology but there were two guys in wellies and green waders chest deep in the lake, it was an intriguing site… we then played about with the pictures on the computer, turning them purple and blurring the background which was a fun waste of two periods J After recess we had double sport, the best morning J, which is just PE for the whole year. We split into boys and girls, they played Gaelic football and we played four corners soccer which is just football with four goals, in the corners surprisingly, but the aim is to not have goals scored against you, not necessarily score the most!! We were split into Houses, Ryall, Fairley, McLennan and Dunlop and I went with Em in Ryall which is yellow. There were too many to all play at once so we had two teams and we swapped on after every goal. I think I played ok but I really just ran after the ball and saw what happened, unfortunately we came joint third but that’s apparently better than Ryall’s usual results which was good. It was suddenly lunch time and the morning had gone very quickly. We took advantage of the lunchroom’s heating up service and had the other night’s pasta Bolognese nice and warm for the amazing price of 50 cents. The afternoon consisted of Maths where they were doing factorising which meant I didn’t really have to concentrate but they did it a different way so I was confused as to why you needed the long complicated procedures!! We ended the day with I & E which was just more about the Victoria Education system and how to get into university, I’ve heard enough and am pretty sure I could find my way to Melbourne uni after two classes so might just catch up with my history during that class. We went to netball training after school which was really hard work and none of Emily’s friends were there so it was a bit quiet but the exercise was good. Emily and I made a white chocolate mud cake when we got in which was soo tasty and we had it for pudding after our fish. I am definitely taking the recipe home, it’s delicious. All the sport had worn me out so I headed to bed after watching Wild Child which Emily’s dad and brother surprisingly sat the whole way through!!
Day Eight
Tuesday 21st July 2009
I was up at 6.30 I was showered, dressed and hair done and was eating breakfast when I remembered that Emily had an appointment with the doctor about problems she has with her knee so I didn’t even have to get up that early and could have had an extra hour in bed but it was too late so I caught up with the morning news in Victoria. We arrived at school about 10 minutes before the end of first period so I took the opportunity to take some photos of the school in all its colour and million buildings!! I then went to Science where we learned about acceleration, it was great… J Made my lunch order at break and had the usual trek between lockers and finding people to chat to. I went to the library to do some history work but there was a class going on and I kept tuning into what the teacher was saying instead of Hitler’s time during the First World War and there were so many mile long names of constitutions and parliament regimes I will need to sit down and read it with Wikipedia at the ready next time!! Lunch was good, usual sitting outside and chatting but there was a promotion for an East V West contest by the Year 12s (I believe it‘s what side of Shep you live on but no one is really sure!!) which involved dancing and trying to better each other at it but it was pretty funny to watch. The afternoon was the same as Monday just switched around so had another hour of explaining how the Victoria education system works and some more factorising but they were both alright. We caught the bus to the Aquamoves sports centre to go for a swim with Emily’s friend Dillon. The pool was packed with swimming club in 5 lanes and lessons in two so we were left with only two lanes. I opted for the “slow” lane as my swimming strength is lacking slightly at the moment. There is also a kids pool with a baby slide and a hot tub but we were energetic and just swam. I think I swam about 600 – 700 metres which wasn’t too bad in 40 minutes but Emily swam a kilometre which was impressive for her second time swimming in ages. She did used to go to a club and she said they would swim 5 or 6 km a night, it sounded awful. We saw some of them later on, it looked pretty intense… Shane, Em’s dad, had parent teacher interviews so he picked us up in his dinner break and headed back to school. We ordered in a pizza for dinner and had home-made wedges which were just like the ones we have at home J Eating while we watched Bones and Castle, murder detective shows but not half as creepy and terrifying as the kind we get!! We also watched a funny quiz show – Talking bout your generation – which brings together three generations of people (not related) and ask them lots of questions basically but it was quite funny and their final task was to stamp on buckets of grapes and see who could produce the best tasting wine!! WE also flicked on to Dance Your Ass Off, an American weight loss program which is a cross between fat camp and strictly come dancing – good entertainment though!! I think it was the latest I have stayed up the whole time I’ve been here but was asleep at about 10.30 after watching a bit of Sex and the City and completing my diary.
Day Nine
Wednesday 22nd July 2009
The late night did not do me good, I felt very tired this morning. Nonetheless got up, dressed and fed before heading off to school. Getting so fed up of my locker being a hundred miles from everybody else I’m having to plan ahead and take out everything for the morning so I only have to venture to the Maths building at lunchtime. A day of doubles today, double English where we started reading the Merchant of Venice and translated speeches from it. I much preferred our versions of the book where we just read the English translation that was already given but I survived. I was glad I had done it before and had some idea of what was going on!! Then double maths which are not two words I like to be joined together. I asked Emily when the class finished after what felt like ages and we still had an hour left to go. However, we filled the time with hangman and noughts and crosses They are still doing factorising and I apparently go round the long way but it makes so much more sense so I’m just avoiding getting confused by sticking to my way!! Then lunch which was a welcome break from the intense subjects of the morning. Final double of the day was Geography which was more low key and I sat at the back and chatted to Abbi, Emma and Rachel while answering 5 questions about Melbourne Docklands which was actually quite interesting as I know nothing about it and we’re going on a field trip to actually see it for ourselves so the time passed quickly enough. Em had netball coaching for grade 6 but thankfully we were in the sports hall so it was much warmer. It finished at 5 and we got a lift home before a quick turn around and out for dinner. It was just Emily, Shane and me and we went to Sebastian’s which was a lovely restaurant in the town centre. We had just sat down when we caught a glimpse of the school principle, it turned out there was a board meeting in the function room just behind our table so there were teachers coming in and out talking to Shane and Emily and I was being introduced, it was slightly embarrassing and I felt bad having chosen to go to the place where half the school staff were eating but they soon sat down for dinner and we didn’t see much of them afterwards. I had salmon and scallop ravioli which was really tasty and a giant waffle with warm chocolate sauce, macadamia nuts and amazing vanilla ice cream but it was so much that I could only manage half but it was so delicious!! We ate while discussing accents and how Australians are so lazy that they shorten every word and trying to explain the difference between an Irish and a Scottish accent – quite a large one I’d say but to outsiders it’s apparently hard to tell!! I was also given a full account of why World War One started as I was explaining how my history homework had not made any sense but I have been filled in sufficiently J We got home just after half past eight and all headed to bed pretty sharply. There is something about the winter and Australia that makes everyone very tired although I’m yet to figure out just what it is… I sat on Henry for a little while and got to chat to Tweety for a bit which was awesome J
