Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Beaches, Bars, and Books

This past weekend was awesome!

Saturday morning I got up ridiculously early and high tailed it over to campus for my first day of Sailing for Beginners! There are only 9 of us in the class, and 6 are American girl exchange students. We are learning how to rig and sail these little dinghies in 2-3 person teams on the Swan River. It was beautiful and fantastic and I started off the day getting wet pulling the boats out into the water. We don’t have to worry about the brown jellies (jelly fish) in the river, since, according to the teachers, they don’t sting in the water. He said the only way they’re dangerous is if someone throws one into your eye….

Promptly after class I hoofed it across the street to meet up with an exchange student group for a trip to Scarborough beach and surf lessons! Which was AWESOME. It was my first time FINALLY getting to the beach and I was beyond excited. I had to fight my cough (getting half-drowned by a wave does wonders for your nasal passages, btw) AND these ridiculous cross winds that were driving the waves into the beach at an angle, but it was so so so much fun. :D I got all the way up once and up on my knees a bunch of times. It was most fun when I managed to get an instructor to tow me out to the best depth (ie, above my head) and give me a good push when the wave came in. ;P The time really flew by, so I hope maybe I’ll be able to take another surf lesson, either soon or in the winter when the waves are better. We had a while to wait for the bus to come back and pick us up, so I hung out with the other exchange students (met another Canadian! :p) and found some pretty shells on the beach.
Whoo, being dorky in a wetsuit!
On Scarborough Beach, after surfing. Shhhhh, what wetsuit tanline, I have no idea what you're talking about..... >.>

When we got back to campus, I went and met up with my friend Nicholas, who took me on an excellent driving tour of the city, because he is awesome. ^^ We drove by so many places and he had so much information to share that it’s hard to remember all the interesting tidbits now, but here are a few things I learned:
  • As we were passing a stadium, Nicholas was listing all the sports played there: “… and hockey.” I said, “Oh, you mean field hockey?” (no indoor ice skating rink I had seen) Nicholas looked at me like I was crazy and said, “No, hockey.” This made me laugh because I know I’d get the opposite reaction if I was talking to a Canadian. :p No worries Kev, I still know to cheer for the Senators!
  • I got to see some more of Fremantle! The sound of the beach at night is amazing.
  • Even the beach grass wants to kill you in Australia; the goat-heads are bigger than a quarter here. o.o
  • Sand in your ear is not a very pleasant experience.
  • You can’t see the Big Dipper here!! I hadn’t thought about that at all before. ._. But now I do know what the Southern Cross looks like, and how instead of pointing to a star it points to an expanse of nothingness that is South. Thankfully Orion’s Belt is just as it is at home.
  • I now know where all the cool restaurants near campus are now, and I really like friend calamari and chips! (ie, French fries ;P).
  • Pro Tip # 8:Take tissues to the beach. All that salt water and half-drowning in big waves gave me a really fabulous nasal irrigation that just would not stop....
  • There is still sand in my hair and I’ve washed it like 4 times already. >:|

So, exciting adventures! ^^ Finally got back to the house somewhat late on Saturday, but managed to not sleep too terribly late on Sunday and so was able to get laundry and stuff done before I went back to the beach! This time with my incredibly nice landlord and his girlfriend, who took me and another son of his, Leonard (I live with his son Adam, but Leonard lives just a few kms down the road), to Cottesloe beach to see this awesome sculpture exhibit. Basically, there were these incredible, huge outdoor sculptures spread across the entire beach and grass above the beach. I didn’t have my camera with me for most of our wondering around, but I did get a picture of my favorite sculpture.
From the side
Looking in the small end.
Looking in the big end. ^_^ I like art that makes little kids smile.

Leonard and I also swam/bodysurfed for a while, until it started to get rather chilly, and I discovered that I can find big shells if I feel along the sand underneath the water. ^^The sunset over the ocean was definitely one of the best parts though. :D
Sunset on the Indian Ocean.
On Cottesloe Beach at twilight.
After the beach, Leonard took me to a pub to go see some friends of his in a band play a gig. :DDDD The band was fabulous, just the kind of guitar-awesome happy, folky dance music I adore. Oh and believe me, I danced! Like the complete, horribly sober dork I am, I had a grand time. ^_^ It reminded me of all the times Daddy snuck me into bars to dance to live bands when I was little (my dad can get away with just about anything, especially when I’m super adorable ;p). Leonard was a little more reserved at first, but he loosened up eventually, especially when the silly older drunk guys dragged us both into dancing to some good oldies music they played over the speakers after the band stopped. Thankfully/unfortunately, the bar closed early, so we ended up getting back early enough for me to get enough sleep to stumble my way through Monday with a semblance of studiousness. 

In other news, this makes me kind of embarrassed. :/ I wouldn't have known about this either, except an Australian friend of mine mentioned it. As "The American", I think I'm supposed to have a response or at least a reaction, but I can't bring myself to decide. If I were home, I'd be filled with anger at the stupidity of people, but for some reason, it's actually harder to hate the moronic among my "fellow countrymen" all the way over here on the other side of the world. I think it has something to do with the fact that, over here, no one cares or knows the differences between different "types" of Americans; I'm just American, same as the girl from North Carolina and the guy from Chicago, even though from our perspective we come from "vastly" different cities and backgrounds. Those differences that are so important to us in America -Southern vs. Yankee, city vs. rural, Republican vs. Democrat, West Coast vs. East Coast- none of that matters to anyone here, so how can I explain that I'm not like those Americans? Hmmm. Have to ponder that some more....

In other, much more silly news (sorry for the sudden change in emotion, but I like to keep things happy in this little corner of the interwebs), this is apparently the new theme song for the House of Awesome, aka, the friends I lived with last semester. Hint: my roommates are super awesome (thanks for the link!) and I'd bet all my other friends will also like this song (I certainly laugh out loud every time I watch it). :P Also, now that song is stuck in my head and I miss you all terribly.

Hugs!

5 comments:

  1. I can't believe those twitter statements. That is utter bullshit. The past is past, and a disaster is something that shouldn't be "appreciated" but I guess I don't really have to point that out to anyone that will be reading this. <.<

    Sounds like your having a lot of fun though. And two times now you have linked a song that will stay stuck in my head for at least a moderate amount of time. :/ lol at least they are good songs ^^

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  2. good to know Orion is keeping you company now, just about too late to see him here. xo

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  3. Whoops Sweetie, I put my comments for this at the end of "short and sweet". You will have to go find it there (it's kind of not short but maybe sweet)

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  4. Dont worry, deep down we know you are not like all Americans (or the generic stereotype thereof) for starters you have actually left the US to visit us, and you haven't hit me with a bible yet.

    However, the Aussie attitude of "taking the piss" means publically acknowledging this fact ruins all our bad jokes.

    -Thatcher

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  5. LOL! I do indeed love the beach photos ;p (I think I may need to try and find another bathing suit top..) and you should TOTALLY take me sailing sometime!

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