Eating

My lunch: Ham, Cheese and Tomato Melt from "Oneness Café"   

The only interesting thing I did today was eat.  My morning on the beach started out sunny and warm but the skies quickly changed and it rained off and on.  Even through thick clouds the sun was incredibly intense, so the small showers were warm and actually pretty nice.

Some friends and I went to a café on the main street of our suburb for lunch, making it under the awning just in time for the biggest rain of the day.  The stores and restaurants are very different here in that the store fronts are all open to the street, I suppose like European cafés; it's fun to people watch and get the breeze from the beach while you eat.

Later, a few different friends and I went into Sydney for dinner at The Rocks.  After walking around for a little while we settled on the Glenmore Hotel, which has a rooftop area for eating and a really great view of the Opera House and city skyline.  I should mention a peculiar vocab switch here in Australia: you would stay the night in a Pub or a hostel, and drink and eat at a Hotel.  While some Hotels have rooms, you wouldn't get much sleep...

My dinner: Steak Sandwich from "Glenmore Hotel"
(sirloin, lettuce, tomato, cheddar, cucumber
and BBQ sauce on sourdough)
Note the view of the Opera House in the background!   

Now, after taking the bus back from the city and writing up this blog, I'm realizing that I have already been here two weeks and that classes are starting this week. U of M is starting their spring break and I haven't even started this semester's classes, which feels really weird.  I don't have class tomorrow, but Tuesday's two hour anatomy lecture will definitely be a snap back to reality...that is until I realize I can still just go down to the beach to study :)  However, I still have to buy the books to do the studying (and pencils and notebooks), so that should probably go next on my to-do list.  Apparently when I packed to come here I didn't remember that I was not just going on vacation. I plan to wing it for the first week and see which books I really need, then go from there.
Wish me luck!

Life's a Beach and I'm Just Playin' in The Sand

Ever since I arrived here, I can't seem to sleep in past 9:00 no matter how late I go to sleep the night before.  It probably has something to do with the sun that rises early in the morning along with the birds in the tree outside my window, but today I turned over to look out my window and saw the green leaves of the tree and just behind them, nothing but blue sky. Definitely a beach day.

One of my housemates and I decided to pack some lunches and take the 5K cliff walk from the beach near our house, Coogee Beach, up the coast to Bondi Beach, a popular surf and swim location for locals and tourists.  The walk was absolutely beautiful, passing by heaps of smaller local beaches and bays and was up high enough to catch the right amount of breeze.  The water was an unbelievable shade of turquoise and everywhere we swam it was clear to the bottom.  I caught myself thinking "Is this real life?" almost constantly, and I wondered what I had done to deserve days like this one.

Some of the scenery on the walk from Coogee to Bondi

The beach was packed with people, but it's not hard to tune them all out when you lay out your towel, put on your sunscreen (that one's for you, mom!!) and lay back to listen to the waves and feel the sand between your toes. We bought iced push-pops called "Callipoles" that are really popular here and soaked up the sun, talked, and watched people surf. My life is seriously good.

Also, the waves were gnarly. (Can you say "gnarly" in a sentence if you're not the one surfing on the waves??)  Growing up around Lake Michigan and Florida ocean waves, these were definitely the biggest I have ever seen and the surfers on them were all so good! I still can't figure out how they manage to miss hitting each other...there must have been at least 100 in the water at one time and 5 or 10 riding the same wave only feet apart. I'm hoping to take some lessons soon, so I guess I'll find out!

Later in the day, the tides shifted and the whole beach became a surf beach and no swimming was allowed past waist deep.  The lifeguards spent the rest of the time we were there coaching the people who didn't listen out of riptides and back to the sandbars.  They were also filming parts of a local show called "Bondi Rescue" which we're pretty sure is a low budget, cable access version of Bay Watch. In other words, most definitely worth finding on tv sometime.  Helicopters kept flying across the water, which wasn't strange until 3 of them went across all right next to each other.  We decided they were looking for sharks...I guess we thought that was the coolest thing they could possibly be doing.

Overall it was a perfect beach day, not a single cloud the entire day.  We're hoping for the same luck again tomorrow!

Breathing In the Blue Mountains

This morning I got up early, got on a bus to the Central Railway Station in downtown Sydney, met some friends and then took a 2 hour train ride into the town of Katoomba where the Katoomba National Park (The Blue Mountains) begins.  We got some lunch at a local place and then got on a tourist sightseeing bus that dropped us off at the beginning of a trail.  We walked for a little while and then got to the top of the "World's Steepest Railway" which we rode down to the bottom of the cliffs...it was basically a slow moving rollercoaster, but without seatbelts or restraints of any kind, and if the train were to all of a sudden lose its brakes...the tracks go right off the end into the valley. Needless to say we were not prepared for this ride.  We walked around some more (I can't really call it hiking since it was on a boardwalk) through the jungle around the bottom of the cliffs to the other side of the valley and then rode a cable car back to the top.  Here we took the SkyWalk across the valley...a glass bottom cable car with amazing views of the mountains and the Three Sisters (the big tourist attraction rock formation) from all directions.

The plant life on the mountains is dominated by eucalyptus trees which
give off a chemical that mixes with the air and creates a bluish
tint, giving the mountains their name.  The color is more evident on more
humid days, but it was gorgeous regardless! The rock formation to the left is
 the famous "The Three Sisters" whose names are Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo.

Once we got to the other side of the valley again, we hiked (real hiking: through mud and trees and waterfalls!) for about 5 straight hours.  We saw so many incredible views of the valley with the mountains as we walked the entire length of the "bushwalk."  This part was my favorite because it was just us on the trails (compared to before when there were a lot of limited mobility tourists and families).  We saw heaps (Australian slang word of the day!) of small waterfalls and a few big ones.  One of these is the Katoomba Cascades which provides most of the drinking water for Sydney and never dries up even during the worst drought seasons in Australia.  The trees and plants were, at the same time, both exotic and familiar and every time we came to a new look-out over the same valley with the same mountains, somehow it felt brand new and equally as breathtaking each and every time.  The path we ended up taking near the end of our hike took us along the whole waterfall/river where we jumped a few fences and got some really amazing pictures. Later, the same path took us around to the front side of the same waterfall and we got even more pictures. (Don't worry mom, nothing dangerous.)

At Bridal Veil Point with a beautiful view of the Katoomba Cascades.
For perspective, about an hour before this picture was taken, we were standing
at the top of the very same waterfall, then "bushwalked" all the way around!

On that note though, we also saw a search and rescue helicopter find a body (gossip from the locals nearby  speculated that it was a suicide, but others noted that the trails had been extra slippery lately and it could have been someone who slipped) and then bring them up from the very bottom of the valley, maneuvering through all the tree branches, leaves, etc. and then come back up to the hospital. It was fascinating and powerful to watch; definitely a prayer provoking experience and it made the rest of our hike a little eerie as we started to notice just how high up we really were!

The weather was beautiful all day with no rain and the perfect amount of sunlight through the trees to keep us warm but not too hot.  Even though we were hiking for such a long time (pretty sure we went about 10km overall?) I continuously felt refreshed by the fresh air which was the best air I've breathed in a really long time.

When we finally got back out to the road, we had missed the last tourist bus to the train station, so we walked there through the local neighborhoods (talk about serious OMG houses..) and made it in time for the 6:30 train.  We were so hungry that we got off at a random stop half-way back to the city and ate at the "Jazz Apple Café", a really small place where we listened to live folk music and played dominoes at the table.

We finished our dinners just in time and, sprinting back to the train station, we caught the next train, which was great because missing it would have meant waiting in this town in the dark for another hour.  So I left my house at 8:00am and am just now returning to my apartment at 10:15pm...another long but seriously eventful day. I absolutely love it here, but I love and miss all of you!

Animal Beat Box

Tonight my friends and I all went up to Sydney (along with about 40,000 other people) to see TropFest 2011, the World's Largest Short Film Festival.   The festival started in 1993 with one guy who wanted to show his film and 200 people showed up to the Tropicana café to watch.  Now 18 years later, over 150,000 people were watching live from large cities across Australia, with all the main events occurring right in Sydney in a park near the Botanical Gardens.  The free event is sponsored by celebrities (Nicole Kidman donated a few cash prizes), the Australian government and local companies and they even had a purple carpet.  I didn't recognize any of the people that they kept calling "stars" except for Olivia Newton-John who handed out the award for the winning film and was also a guest judge.

TropFest 2011 at The Domain in Sydney:
The films were shown on a three-sided screen in order to
provide all 40,000 people with a good view.

All of the films had to be under 10 minutes long and include somewhere in the film the TSI (TropFest Signature Item) which was a key.  It was hard to find the key reference in some of the films, but I thought that was an interesting thing to add and made sure that the films were made specifically for this event.  I liked the winning video a lot, but didn't think it should have won and when the director of it (the only non-Australian of the total 16) announced that he had spent only 4 days and $80 making the film, I knew that some of the other directors were feeling even worse about losing.  Winning meant a $5,000 cash prize and a round trip flight from Sydney to LA to meet with film executives.

The winner, from South Africa, made the film "Animal Beat Box" which was basically exactly the title...a beat box song created from animal names.  I hope the video is made available soon, because writing won't really work, but the main line was "dogs and cats and dogs and cats and dogs and cats" and the hook was "dolphin dolphin dolphin eeeeeeelllll" then later "llamallamallamallamallama"...While this was happening, pictures of the animals being named were popping up out of a paper maiche jungle....So while the other films managed to sum up current political issues or make powerful statements about humanity and love, this was the film (more a music video) that beat them all, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people were a little more than disappointed.

It was so great to be a part of a huge event like this one and experience a lot of modern Australian culture all at once. I'm definitely enjoying soaking up the big city life!

A Tourist In The City

      Last night some new friends (Ryan & Jeremy- Canada and Julien- France) and I tried to go down to the Coogee Bay Hotel, a local hotspot with a really pretty "beer garden" that overlooks the beach.  Turns out the Aussies actually care about and enforce one thing: dress code.  Since "neat casual attire" forbids guys from wearing thongs inside the building, we weren't permitted inside... (What is your facial expression like right now? Are you wondering why I went out with guys in thongs last night? Maybe it would change the story a little if I told you that here in Australia, thongs are flip-flops...) Anyways, so after we were denied entrance, we decided that Plan B would be to hang out at the water's edge and talk and listen to the waves. I can't help but be grateful for a life where my second-best plan for the night is hanging out by the ocean...

"Aussie Sunrise" from restaurant Pancakes On The Rocks
Buttermilk pancakes, Australian bacon, fried egg and grilled banana and pineapple

     This morning, that same group and I wandered into Sydney pretty early in the morning and decided to do as much of the touristy things as we could. We started by having breakfast by the harbour, which was amazing.  We went to a place called Pancakes On The Rocks which features pancakes or crepes in every entree from breakfast through dinner and offers a huge menu of specialty pancakes that taste more like dessert than breakfast. Ryan got a Devil's Delight which was chocolate pancakes with creme, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce, Jeremy got The Strawberry Patch which was buttermilk pancakes, vanilla ice cream and strawberries, and I, feeling really hungry and knowing I would be back (soon!) to try some of the others, got a breakfast sampler.  This is easily my favorite restaurant here so far...nothing beats really fluffy pancakes :)
       Afterwards we toured the historic area of "The Rocks," the part of Sydney where the first settlement was founded. It was kind of boring, so we didn't stay there long.

The Opera House and the Sydney skyline

Loving the fresh salmon sushi

       Next, we took a ferry from Circular Quay (pronounced Key) to Darling Harbour, passing under the Harbour Bridge and getting some great views of the Opera House. In Darling Harbour is the Sydney fish market, which had a ridiculous selection of fish, octopus, clams, mussels, lobsters, crabs, everything...and it was all so fresh...it amazed me that there were all these different yummy creatures being caught every morning and sold here. Within the fish market is also a bakery and a cheese maker. Basically it's a one-stop shop for what could be many delicious meals. At the sushi bar I tried (and loved!) my first piece of sushi ever, using chopsticks and everything, made from fresh salmon.

Fresh fish at the Sydney fish market

     On our way out of the fish market we saw a sign for a free "Planet Shark" exhibit at the National Maritime Museum.  Here we saw an exhibit about forced child migration into Australia, some Aboriginal art and traditions, and of course, the sharks.  We read about the shark tagging that has been happening in order to help maintain the Great White Shark's presence in the ocean. At this point I noticed the huge explanation about the most successful of these tags; a shark named Bruce tagged in April, 2004. (The movie Finding Nemo came out in 2003 and features a vegetarian Great White named Bruce. Apparently the movie inspired more than just my blog title...)  The exhibit made a big deal about how you're more likely to get struck by lightning than attacked by a shark and made comparisons between the number of deaths by chair or kite to deaths by sharks. That was only a little hard to take seriously since a professional diver just gotten eaten on the North coast a few days ago..

The Chinese Friendship Garden

We also went into the Chinese Friendship Garden, which is Central Park-esque in the manner that it is smack dab in the middle of a bunch of corporation high rises.  The Asian nations and Australia have close ties and this garden was meant to be a project that symbolized this bond.  Rocks that resembled animals were specifically chosen for the garden and there were lots of waterfalls and a really relaxing walking path.

Overall, it was an exhausting but fun day and I am so excited that I can go back whenever I want to see things I might have missed!

A Piece of Home

The day that I left the states, my dad gave me a mix cd.  This has become a favorite pastime of his as a self-proclaimed technology pioneer; making mix cds for the big changes in my life. They always have songs that seem to fit every emotion and calm every fear I’m feeling during those transitions and seem to be his way of saying that he and my mom are there for me and understand me more deeply than anyone ever has or will.  I just recently was able to get a chance to listen to this newest one, and it, just like the others, has left me in a curious state of emotions that I can most accurately call joyful sadness, where nostalgia, tears and an overwhelming feeling of security collide.

Here is the track list from the newest cd entitled “To Help in Finding Nemo”

Track 01: Sea of Love by Cat Power

            Tearjerker lyric #1: “Do you remember when we met? That’s the day I knew you were my pet.  I want to tell you how much I love you”

Track 02: Under The Sea (as heard in the Little Mermaid)

            No explanation needed really. I can only hope singing marine creatures sound this good at the Great Barrier Reef.

Track 03: Shark In The Water by V.V. Brown

            This would be a prime example of both my dad’s humor (let’s just say that The Discovery Channel has no shortage of World’s Deadliest Creatures episodes to film in Australia) as well as his unexpected and always surprising knowledge of pop music.

Track 04: I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone

            Not only an ASP song, but also highly appropriate following the record breaking destruction of this year’s monsoon/cyclone season in Australia.  Metaphorically though, I think you can all understand the deeper meaning, but maybe he was just starting to run out of water-themed song ideas.

Track 05: Something Beautiful by Great Big Sea

            Tearjerker lyric #2: “Every mountain has its bases that make you want to stop, on this so unwelcome journey from the bottom to the top. You’ve got to move along, I believe there’s something beautiful just waiting for you and me”

Track 06: One Day by Matisyahu

            I believe this song was meant to appeal to my passion for social change and making a difference.  I’m excited to find out how my experiences here in Australia will impact the mission work I choose to make a part of my life in the future.

Track 07: Day Dreamer by Donavon Frankenreiter

            When I was 10 years old my parents ordered a series of adventure mystery magazines set in different countries where a new country with new clues about what famous artifact had been stolen and by which cartoon thief, would arrive each month.  The day I completed the Australian book and sat in the basement with Emily reading the list of slang and practicing our Aussie accents, I knew I wanted to live there.  A few years later, when I learned “studying abroad” as the label for this experience, I started dreaming, and 8 years after that: here I am.  Looking back I feel incredibly proud of myself for giving myself the chance to become so dedicated to something and then eventually achieving it.  My intention is to make each day of these next 4 months something memorable.

 “Dream on, dreamer, dream all through the night. Dream on, dreamer, baby that’s alright. Dream on, dreamer, dream all through the day. Dream on, dreamer, baby that’s okay.”

Track 08: Don’t Worry About a Thing by Bob Marley

            A sweet and perfectly-timed reminder of a family inside joke and a song that embodies most of the culture here: “Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing’s gonna be alright”

Track 09: Lean On Me (hip-hop remix)

            Another ASP song and the wonderful message that I am not alone, even when I’m 10,000 miles away

Track 10: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by James Taylor

            Knowing that James Taylor is the artist that most easily brings me back to my childhood as well as the loving lyrics of this particular song, it’s easy to understand in what way this song holds meaning for me.

Track 11: Life In One Day by Howard Jones

            “Don’t try to live your life in one day, don’t go speed your time away.”

Track 12: Don’t Worry Baby by Beach Boys

            This one, being the second on the cd to mention not worrying with the line: “Don’t worry baby, don’t worry baby, everything will turn out alright,” is a prime example of how well my dad really knows me and my struggle with living in the moment, something I hope to be able to embrace before leaving Australia, as that is pretty much the mantra of the nation. Letting go and giving it up to God has gotten a lot of people to a lot of wonderful places in their lives and I am slowly learning to trust that I am now, and always will be, exactly where and who I’m meant to be. Life’s a lot less stressful that way :)

Track 13: Somewhere Over The Rainbow/ What A Wonderful World by IZ

            Similar to the explanation for Track 07, but also a song from a movie/musical that holds importance to my family.  Also probably the song that my dad and I would sing as a duet in order to become a YouTube sensation if I were still an adorable 5 year-old and he could play the guitar.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high and the dreams that you dream of once in a lullaby. Oh somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, and the dreams that you dream of, dreams really do come true.”

Track 14: Sailing by Christopher Cross

            “Just a dream and the wind will carry me” 

Mom & Dad- thanks for everything, XOXO

Arrivals

G'day from New South Wales! I have been in Australia for almost 3 days now and it has been quite an adventure...at times a little overwhelming. My housing is a townhouse in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney.  The house is a 3 story, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house.  The best part is the small jungle we have in our backyard; a patio with lots of native Australian plants.  My bedroom window looks right into a huge tree that always has new birds to see and HEAR in the mornings.

My flight over here was long, but not as uncomfortable as I had imagined. They had a massive selection of movies and games, a decent selection of meals (dinner, snack and breakfast) and I'm pretty sure nothing is better than watching the sunrise over the Fiji Islands from an airplane.

We have begun learning the slang and the customs and taking lots of touristy pictures like of the "bubbler" (drinking fountain) and the "rubbish" bins.  Getting used to people driving on the wrong side of the road has been interesting, but I have not been hit by a car yet! :)

My roommate, Amanda, and I went grocery shopping yesterday and were hit pretty hard by the prices...$9.00 for a box of "Frosties" (Frosted Flakes) or "Rice Bubbles" (Rice Krispies)...props to Kelloggs for the overseas exposure though! We found some good deals and bought what I think should be a few well-rounded meals, started learning the bus system, and then went to the beach for the rest of the day (a 7 minute walk from our house).

For the first day or so I was feeling a little homesick, but just yesterday after getting the groceries I really started to feel like this city could be mine.  We haven't gone into Sydney yet, but we have plans to do that this weekend. The weather has been warm, but kind of rainy. At orientation they told us that they don't consider it to be the hot part of summer until the steering wheel is too hot to hold.  We also learned about the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" in Australia where they support the underdog in any situation, and they openly dislike people who feel and act superior to others (the tall poppies).  Following this logic, waiters and waitresses get paid A LOT and they don't act as "servers" like they would in America.  You don't tip at restaurants, and if you have to complain about something, you must do it kindly and apologetically, otherwise they will ignore you and possibly spit in your food.

I now have my student ID, bus pass, and my class schedule so I'm starting to feel like a real student here. I'll be taking an intro anatomy class (with a cadaver lab!), a marine environment class (field trips to the reef), learning and behavioral psychology, and a geology/paleontology class where we go to dig sites in Australia and learn to work with fossils.  The campus itself is gorgeous; mostly it's like walking through a rainforest with courtyards all over.  It is divided into upper, middle and lower campus and with all the sets of stairs on campus it's pretty easy to figure out which part of campus you're headed towards at any given time...

Hopefully I will have pictures up to facebook soon, but I only get internet on campus so far since we're still working on finding an internet plan for our house.

Love and miss you all!

Aussie Bucket List

I was assigned my housing the other day so my official mailing/physical address for February 14th-June 28th is:

Carly Wheaton
1/39-45 Bream St
Coogee, New South Wales
2034, Australia

I will have 4 other housemates but my own bedroom. From what I have gathered on google maps, my house is only a short bus ride to the Sydney Harbor and to the UNSW campus (most Aussie students commute so there is limited on-campus housing) and only a TEN MINUTE walk to this beach (Coogee Beach):

-----

My Australian Bucket List:

-Hold a koala
-Snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef
-Make friends with someone who owns a boat. I think I'll start by looking for people with nautical-themed pashmina afghans..
-Visit New Zealand and/or Fiji islands
-Learn how to surf!
-Find myself in a scenario in which it might be appropriate to say "Maybe the dingo ate your baby"
-Study by the opera house
-Not study too much...but be able to be a functioning student again when I go back to UM
-Make friends with some Aboriginals and learn as much about their culture as possible, including some language
-BEACH
-Vegemite on toast
-Find 42 Wallaby Way and have lunch with P. Sherman.
-After looking up that last one and finding that there is no such street in all of Australia, I would settle for    getting a picture by a dentist's office somewhere across the harbor from the opera house.
-Perfect my Aussie accent and be able to fool tourists into thinking I am a local
-Take lots of pictures (still crossing my fingers for that digital photography class!)
-Mardi Gras in Sydney!
-Be taught by an Aboriginal how to play a didgeridoo
-Eat kangaroo pizza (highly recommended by a friend)
-On that note, will there be a kangaroo substitute for every meat dish?...McRoo anyone?
-Hike in the Blue Mountains
-Climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge
-Drive a 4WD through some part of the Outback
-Learn a new Aussie slang word everyday
-Get to know Sydney/Kensington/Coogee as well as I know Ann Arbor or Kalamazoo

Weather Update

Currently there is a Category 4 cyclone, named Cyclone Yasi, headed towards Northeast Australia. Although this is not the region where I will be, it is possible that the path could change and some of the effects could be felt in Sydney.  For the geographically challenged (not meant as an insult, this description formerly included me), the region where all the flooding has been going on is Queensland and this is the same region expected to receive the worst of the cyclone. The region where I will be living is called New South Wales and is directly to the south of Queensland.

Here are some links to the national weather services in Australia to stay updated if you're curious:

National Warning Summary
Current Tropical Cyclone Systems

It is being said that this cyclone will be on par with Hurricane Katrina and the most violent storm system that Queensland has seen in a long time. Please keep the Aussies in your prayers as they experience and recover from a second wave of devastating flash flooding within the last few months.  And since my long legs are hopefully going to win me an emergency exit row seat, let's all hope that I won't have to guide a plane through a waterslide exit on the runway of the Kingsford-Smith airport....