Elrahal [transl.] The Wanderer, Explorer

Captain's Log: Final Entry

2009-11-20T04:23:00.003-05:00

So, this is it.

I leave tomorrow morning for New Zealand. This is the last post from Australia. Everything's packed except for the computer, and that's going away after I finish this.

It has been an amazing semester. A few important things to say; I'm going to miss the people i've gotten to know here much more than i thought even a week ago. Also, i definitely learned more about myself in these past 4 months than anything else. Sure classes were great, and I can follow the financial reports on the news now, but living on my own in a totally new city without knowing anyone has provided greater lessons than can be achieved in any classroom/lecture hall.

This is a picture of me from the diving trip, getting out of the water, and is quite how I feel. While I have had an amazing time down under, It's going to be very nice to breath easy again, at home.

Fish Rock Cave

2009-11-11T18:30:00.006-05:00

Last weekend, we were finally able to go diving at Fish Rock Cave, and it was spectacular. Saturday was very stormy, the 40 minute boat ride out to the cave got a bit rough at times, but it was perfectly calm underneath the water. We dove twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday, the weather was a lot better on Sunday though, which really helped the visibility underwater.
They were the deepest dives i've ever done, a little over 30m (about 100 feet), we had to do decompression stops on the way up. That deep down, it truly feels like another world.

At Fish Rock, there are two dive sites, the cave itself, and the shark gutters. We did the shark gutters first both days, and that was both very scary and beautiful. Basically, at about 32m, there is this long corridor of sand with two 'walls' (more like what a riverbank would look like) running down the sides. The sharks (big, 6-7 foot grey nurse sharks) would just cruise down the center of the corridor. Basically, we'd descend down one of the sides of the gutter, and then so long as we didn't make much noise, the sharks would come right up to us, at some points i could count 7 or 8 swimming around. Luckily, the two guys I was diving with had cameras, so here's me with some sharks in the gutter.
This one shows just how many sharks we'd see come by in packs at a time, and how close we were

Here's one of me (in the distance a bit) just amazed and looking around, there were more sharks behind the big one.

After the shark gutters we dove through the cave, which was also, pretty scary and amazing. We started at the deep end of the cave (i suppose its more like a tunnel) which was about 25m deep. It was absolutely pitch black, we each had flashlights, and the tunnel was so narrow we could only go through one at a time, and at most times I couldn't have spread my arms out. We saw some really odd looking fish and crabs in the cave, the best part was that it opened up and out at the end, with a really big opening. From inside the cave, the light from outside created numerous silhouettes of all the fish and sharks in the opening of the cave, this is the best picture of it that we got.

And finally, I've got to include this one because it reminded me so much of Finding Nemo, we found a few sea turtles, and they really do look like they're just chilling, lazily swimming around. Plus, its one of the few clear pictures of me that one of them got.

Boo Stormwater

2009-11-01T18:02:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, that awesome scuba trip I was looking forward to so much was postponed. There were really heavy storms north of Sydney last week and all of the stormwater drained near the dive site, bring along a lot of sediment and dust and made the visibility less than 4 ft. The Dive shop realized it wasn't going to be worth going up at all, so they moved it to this weekend coming up, hopefully the weather will comply.

Classes are officially over, we're currently in StuVac (study vacation, kinda like reading day. but for a week) I get to dedicate this entire week to the study of Macroeconomics, a class i didn't need to take, but (rightfully) thought would still be useful, and it definitely was. It's just also not as straightforward as I had previously thought. After that is Political Economy, another one I thought would be useful (it was less useful than macro, but still really interesting), and then finally Critical Thinking, literally the day before I fly out of here. For Democratic Theory we only had a final paper, which I turned in last week.

The tree in the quad has finally bloomed, letting everyone know to start studying.

I also went to the beach over the weekend, and did a really nice walk down the coast. This is from one of the outcroppings of land.

T-Minus 1 month

2009-10-21T18:40:00.003-04:00

As of yesterday, I have one month left in Australia. It is a sad, frightening thought, although I am ready to head home. The large tree in the quad has bloomed, signifying the beginning of when people should begin reviewing for their exams. I'll get a picture of it today, it's quite stunning. I only have finals left, and have slowly begun to put outlines/other study materials together to prepare. It's also beginning to get quite warm, it really feels like summer now.

DAY 9
This was our last day out. I was lucky enough to be uncomfortable in the middle of the night, and when I woke up to move around, I was rewarded with the most beautiful sky I had ever seen. The moon had just set, so the only light was from the stars. The sky was so clear and dark that I was actually able to see the Milky Way, a thin, cloud-like glow stretched across the sky. We visited a Meteorite site on the way back to Alice Springs, it was sooo cool. There were three craters because the meteor split on its way through the atmosphere. We only walked around the craters, we couldn't go in them. We spent the final night Alice Springs, woke up the next morning, and came back to the real world.

This is first light at our final camping site

It took me way longer than I expected to tell that story, I haven't been very good about updating on here (clearly). With only a month to go, I'd better get on it.

Lecture Theatah

2009-10-14T18:08:00.004-04:00

It's currently week 11, and we're quickly approaching the end. People are starting to prepare for exams, and in two of my classes I have no further assignments except for my exams. The other two have work due this monday, and then that's it until the final. Except one of them is just a final paper, which is nice, I prefer that to sitting down in an enormous lecture hall and taking a sit-down exam. They're not self-scheduled here...

DAY 7
Now last night, it rained. This was something way different compared to the sprinkle we got the night before. It legitimately thunderstormed on us. the wind was very loud, and the thunder is different way out in the open where there's nothing for it to bounce off of. It was very loud and rolling, almost like a wave of force while you're trying to sleep. Luckily, the swags were pretty waterproof, so nobody woke up soaked. A couple had minor leaks, thankfully I had a bit of water collect down my feet but that was it. Today we also went to the Uluru cultural center and spent some time learning about indigenous culture. We took a walk around Uluru (about 9k), it was absolutely breathtaking. It's no wonder that it is considered a sacred place to the indigenous people. We then drove a little ways away to a sunset viewing area, where we could see the rock in front of us as the sun set behind us.

DAY 8
We woke up really early this morning so we could see the sunrise over Uluru. It was a little difficult, but very very worth it. We then went to the Valley of the Winds. Its a bit of a walk from the road, but we eventually got a tall, narrow valley that actually had trees and brush growing in the bottom because all of the water that fell on top of the cliff sides would drain down to this one area. Also, all of the wind was funneled through this area, so when we walked through it, the wind was strong and pretty much always there. Because of the echoing walls and trees, the wind made it almost sound like the valley was breathing, it was very beautiful. We camped out in the bush again, but we really wanted a fire, so I grabbed a shovel, drew a circle in the ground about 4ft in diameter, and started digging. It wasn't so bad, once you get through the top layer, the dirt is mostly soft, it was actually pretty fun. This day definitely deserves two pictures...

And this is the fire pit I'm mad proud of doing myself....

Schoolwork...

2009-10-10T19:00:00.005-04:00

This past week has been pretty intense concerning schoolwork. It's the final wave of papers and quizzes before finals, which start in a few weeks. It's shocking how quickly this semester has gone, it's tough to believe that i'll be starting week 11 on monday.

DAY 5
We started the day after a cold, cold night by going to Tnorala, a meteorite site. The crater was two kilometers wide, and maybe half a kilometer high. It was really cool to walk inside of it and look around, quite amazing. We spent alot of today in the cars, covering distance. We had a pretty relaxed afternoon at Kings Canyon Resort, basically a place for campers. There weren't any rooms, just sinks and bathrooms around big patches of open area for you to sleep. They had a pool though, and we had a really good time swimming and making fools of ourselves. There were dingoes too, just roaming around the campsite. They warned us not to feed the dingoes because they're trying to keep them from coming around, at one point one got into camp and stole someone's granola bar. This was the view for the vast majority of the drive.

DAY 6
Last night it actually rained on us. In the Outback, where it very, very rarely rains. Luckily, it was only enough to wake me up, it wasn't too much. The swags are pretty waterproof, and after the rain woke me up I pulled the flap over my head and was ok for the rest of the night. We did the Kings Canyon walk today, which is a long walk around the rim of an enormous canyon. It was beautiful. We also visited a place they call the 'Garden of Eden'. We had to climb down the canyon to get to a little corner of it where all the water collects and supports some amazing wildlife in this tiny sheltered oasis. We drove some more in the afternoon, and had a rest stop over some salt flats. The salt flats, plus the clouds from the rain last night, plus the sun made for one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Adjusting

2009-10-06T00:29:00.003-04:00

It took some real effort to get back into doing work today. As in, I only did what was absolutely necessary not to fail. Everything seems a little fake, a little manufactured. I really don't want to forget how amazing the trip was, but I have to keep going with what's going on now.

DAY 3
Another really cold morning, but this time it was easier to deal with. I had to wake up in the middle of the night because my arm was asleep, and as i was gazing at the stars drifting back to sleep, i saw a shooting star! It was beautiful, momentary, and left a smile on my lips as I fell asleep. We went for a walk along Serpentine Gorge, and I climbed up a scaly rock face for a better view. Then we swam at a place called Glen Helen. This was easily one of my most significant experiences. We (just Nick and I) had to swim across this gorge to get to the other side, so we left our cameras back with everyone else. When we got there, it felt like no one had even stepped foot on the sand. There were ducks, storks, long grass, a soft breeze, I easily could have been standing in the middle of a discover channel documentary.

DAY 4
This morning a few of us woke up extra early to climb a little hill before the sunrise. It was way more than worth it. We also saw two wild bulls fighting each other, probably over a mate. Today we also went to Redbank Gorge. This swim was beautiful, frightening, and really really cold. Nick, Sal, Andrew and I went ahead first, swimming and climbing our way through the canyon. The walls had been eroded for so long they shone with light, and the water was perfectly still until we got there. This is a picture of the beginning of the gorge. We didn't get to the end, it seemed like it would go forever. Easily, again, I felt like i was in an episode of Planet Earth. I couldn't believe I was seeing and experiencing something so beautiful.

Back under a roof

2009-10-04T19:11:00.004-04:00

What a trip. I got back last night, and actually had a bit of trouble adjusting to artificial light and walls. There's no way I could possible convey what the trip was like through a blog and some pictures, but I'll try. I think I'll feature two days of the trip at a time, seeing as I took over 500 pictures and wrote a lot of pages in a journal

DAY 1
We started the day at the Alice Springs hostel, meeting everyone and getting packed up in the trucks. We had an SUV, a pickup truck, and a 'troupie', kind of a modified outdoor van. We visited a watering hole near Wallace Rockhole, a small town that we camped outside of for the night. We slept in 'swags': a sleeping bag in a canvas bag with a light pad underneath

and this was the little oasis we visited

DAY 2
You hear about the desert getting cold at night, but until the breeze literally pulls the breath out of you its so cold, its tough to understand. the best thing about the swag is that you can pull the flap at the top over your head, although it was still absurdly cold. We made bookmarks at a dot painting class, and then went swimming at a watering hole in a canyon. The water was cold, but also very very fresh. We did some 'Bush' camping for the night: literally drove off the dirt road, found an open area miles away from anyone (literally, there was a person for miles around) and set up camp.

THE OUTBAAAACK

2009-09-23T00:39:00.005-04:00

This past weekend I went scuba diving on my own. It was really cool to kind of map out my route to get to the dive shop, and then went on a little adventure to get there on time. Turns out, a good number of the trains were out of service (something i learned later i could have found out on the internet). So the relaxing morning trip i was hoping for was a massive, chaotic mess of jumping on buses because that old guy said it was the right one for where i was trying to go. nevertheless, i found my way to the dive shop (albeit a little late). I took a picture of Central regardless, just because it looks really cool on the inside

Also, this morning i woke up to a very frightening sight. There was a red/orange, very vibrant glow coming from outside. There was a massive dust storm this morning, where you could barely see across the street and had to wear a mask or some sort of mouth covering. luckily, i didn't need to leave the apartment until later in the day, when it had calmed down a good bit. I tried to get some pictures, but they weren't really able to capture the eerie effect, this is the best one i could come up with. it also gives you a little view into my room, so there you go haha.

here's a link to some better pictures by the sydney morning herald
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/environment/dust-turns-sydney-sky-red/20090923-g0tw.html?selectedImage=0

and now, to address the title of this post...i leave tomorrow for the OUTBACK. I'm taking a weeklong camping trip out into the middle of the driest continent in the world, and i'm really really excited. so don't worry if there aren't any blog posts for a while, there isn't even cell phone service out where we'll be. it should be amazing though, and i'll have plenty of pictures to barely be able to show what it was like.

Cute Pictures

2009-09-19T08:52:00.004-04:00

So, considering it has been a pretty normal week, and considering I took over 150 pictures at the blue mountains last weekend, I figured I'd include some of those along with an update on life in Sydney.

It has begun to really get warmer here, just today the sun was out and it easily got above 85 degrees F. The sun is very very strong here, for some reason there is a significant lack of ozone above Australia, so it is a normal part of the morning procedure to put sunscreen on. I haven't been very good about it because I don't burn very easily, so I don't have to worry so much.

I have also recently discovered Penguin Books. Evidently they are a publishing company that takes really good books and sells them for 9.95 each. I got The Art of War last week, and after finishing that, just picked up The Age of Reason by Sartre. Penguin is really selective about what they publish, so you can basically be guaranteed you'll get something good, plus I've read Sartre before and am a fan.

Ok so to the pictures. First the koalas. Koalas sleep for about 20 hours out of the day, in cute little fuzzballs in eucalyptus trees. We were at a zoo last week and one was awake and looked at me in a very piercing, wise way. So i took a picture.

There were kangaroos, goats, chickens, and other generally tame and cute animals just roaming around the zoo freely as well, and that was really cool. We had a good time with this nice goat that liked to be petted.

Lastly, this is one of my favorite pictures of the trip. We were walking by the peacock pasture when of the males decided to present his plumage and really try to show off. It was quite a show, the colors were absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, none of the females paid much attention. Tough luck man.

The BLUIES

2009-09-14T07:44:00.005-04:00

So this past weekend we (the Arcadia group) went on our little excursion to the Blue Mountains, and it was amazing. Turns out, there was a heat wave this weekend, which meant that in the Blue Mountains, it was perfect. On Saturday, we learned how to throw boomerangs (deceptively difficult, but quite rewarding too), and did a bushwalk to some really beautiful views of the Blue Mountains.

For those who are wondering, the Blue Mountains were in fact blue, the when the sun refracts off of the eucalyptus mist that is released by its leaves, there is a soft, deep blue that bathes the mountains. Its the kind of thing you don't see right in front of you, but when looking down the valley, it was quite apparent. I also bought an AWESOME hat, because not only does it look great, but i think it'll help a lot when I go camping in the outback in a few weeks.

This is me, with my new hat, in front of the blue mountains. You can see the blue a little bit, once the sun set a bit more it got a lot stronger.

On Sunday, we stayed in the Blue mountains, but went ABSEILING! I didn't know what that meant either, apparently, that's what australians call repelling. We started on some medium sized boulders, just to get the technique down, and then repelled down an actual huge cliff. Like the really big cliff you imagine when you think of people repelling.

This is me just going down one of the training abseils. It looks big, because it was. I couldn't get pictures of myself going down the big one because there wasn't anyone at the bottom i could give my camera to.

I did however, get a picture of the group leaders setting the big cliff up for us, it gives you a good idea of just how far down this one was.

Routine routine routine

2009-09-05T08:38:00.005-04:00

So, as you probably can guess, I have settled into a routine here in sydney. It definitely feels more like I live here rather than I'm just visiting, which is a comforting feeling. Uni is beginning to demand some sort of accountability for the 6 weeks of classes i've been taking so far, which means the first big round of tests and papers have been due/are due soon. This leads to a lot less fun adventure things and free time. I did however, make teriyaki steak the other night, and currently have chicken marinating in the fridge. I really would have never guessed that I'd get this into cooking. I did also get to go to a rugby match today, it was between Sydney Uni and some other club, whose name I don't remember. I didn't get to stay for long, but it was really cool to see a game live. I need to do better about taking a picture a day, the trouble is that I'm running out of things to take pictures of. If there's any sort of request out there, let me know. I'll include a picture of some decks of cards and sunglasses in case someone wanted to see that.

This is the steak, teriyaki sauce, and minced garlic I used to make teriyaki steak. It was really really good, I cut the steak a little thin, so it ended up cooking a lot faster than I was expecting.

This is from the rugby game. We found some nice grass space to watch it from, the grandstand was pretty full, plus it was very nice to sit and relax in the sun. The rest of the field is to the right, this is basically near the southern half of campus. Plus they have a moonbounce, and I wanted to make sure to get a picture of it.

And finally, here 3 decks of cards (we play a good bit of solitaire/assorted card games in the apartment to pass time here and there), plus my sunglasses in the background, on our kitchen table.

Work

2009-08-30T18:56:00.002-04:00

So it has been quite a while since I have been able to update the blog, work has been picking up a good bit lately (all of the first tests and papers happen around the same time). Also, ramadan has definitely tired me out, I'll get home after an afternoon of classes and just want to sleep. And unfortunately for the amount of work I have to do, that is exactly what I do.

I do have a nice picture though, there are these really cool chairs on the southern campus that i like to relax at, they're really nice for just sitting in the sun and reading.

Legitimate Cooking

2009-08-25T06:57:00.007-04:00

This past Saturday, being the first Saturday I didn't have to go SCUBA diving in two weeks, I had a lot of time to try something I had wanted to for the longest time. Instead of immediately rushing away from morning practice, I had time to take some pictures of the boathouse/the view from the dock, and then walk over to the fishmarket, get something cheap, and cook it for real.

The boathouse here is directly on the water, with the dock extending from it onto the water. The bridge in this picture is the Anzac Bridge, which I row under every morning we go out.

This next picture is of the boathouse itself, from the very far corner of the dock. So here I'm standing with the water behind me, looking up at the boathouse. Evidently the top floor is a very very formal restaurant (actually called The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay), which I would like to try at some point.

After practice on Saturday, I went to the fish market. The coolest part about it is that I could actually see the fish market from the boathouse, here it is in the distance, it's the blue flat building. This picture is from the dock, but to the right, as opposed to the left where the Anzac Bridge is.

Finally, when I got back to the apartment from little adventure I was ready to cook. It was still early, so I did some research and went out and picked up all of the little various ingredients for the recipe I found. The guy at the fish market recommended I get Rainbow Trout for a first time fish cooker. I took his advice, and decided on a Macademia Orange Honey Trout (with potato) recipe. If you think it sounds delicious, you should have tasted it. These are all of the ingredients before I started cooking. The orange juice in the background was just for me as I prepared/cooked.

And this is the finished product. Boiled potato with chives, and the fish with the macademia orange honey sauce poured on top (plus of course, more orange juice). From here on out, every new saturday is going to be a new fish and a new recipe. At least that's the plan.

I'd normally be much better about posting for the blog, but its been a long week, plus tomorrow is my first test of the semester, and I've been spending a lot of time making sure it goes exactly how I like. The good thing is that it's in Critical Thinking, which I think I have a pretty good grasp on, so hopefully it'll be a good confidence boost to start the wave of tests and papers coming up soon.

Busy busy busy

2009-08-21T06:55:00.007-04:00

This past week has been quite busy, which is the big reason for not having posted here in a while. I do however, have some more good pictures.

Earlier this week (Sunday) I completed my SCUBA certification, I am now a certified open water recreational diver. I'm trained to go up to 30m deep, any more than that and they recommend taking extra courses because of the extra difficulties that come with that kind of depth.

This is the dive site where I had my final dive before being certified. It was pretty interesting jumping off the cliff (on the left) into the water, and then to get back you had to wait for a big wave to pick you up and literally drop on a protruding rock (on the right)

This is a picture of my certification card that enables me to rent equipment and book dives. Not a great picture, but it was after a day of diving and my face hurt. The card is on my very official DiveLog, where I keep track of my dives, equipment rented, etc so I always have my most current info at hand.

This is a picture of lunch I had a few days ago, something I felt looked really cool and deserved a picture for sure. Its basically a pasta with garlic chicken and tomato sauce, with some cheese and water.

As for Wednesday's picture, I thought the view from my window would work best, especially considering someone put up a Canadian flag outside their door. They may have taken down since then, it rained a bit today.

And finally, and most recently, this is a picture from when I was preparing to study for Macroeconomics. I had a lemonade, plus I found a really nice spot in the quad to sit on a mini-wall of sorts and read, while I could overlook the big tree.

I don't know if that's a picture a day, I have more on my computer though. I'll try and be better about it, tomorrow I plan to go to the Sydney Fish Market really early in the morning (straight after crew practice) to get some of the top of the catch, plus hopefully it won't be too busy.

OCEAN DIVE

2009-08-15T08:03:00.005-04:00

The title of this post definitely deserves to be in all-caps because of how amazing it was. I went on three, 40 minutes, beautiful dives in Gordon's Bay, a bit north of Sydney. Today was our skills test, so we had to show the instructors how we could remove and return our face masks and regulators (the thing you breath out of). But it would be too easy to show them how to do it on land, we had to sit on the bottom of the bay (a good 10m deep) and remove our gear and put it back on. It was scary, but now if it ever happens on accident I feel very prepared and able to fix any problem underwater.

Yesterday, all I did was go to class, nap, eat, and go to sleep. For some reason, I was extremely tired, so I took the day off from doing anything exciting. For this reason, I figure today will have two pictures instead of one, to make up for not having one yesterday. This one is of the coast that we entered the water from. The narrow, somewhat flat area near the middle is where we walked in. It was actually pretty scary because the waves would go from small to big really quick and if you didn't kick hard (really hard), they would knock you backwards and into the rocks. Quite the exciting rush.

And of course, I can't spend all day in a SCUBA outfit and not take a picture. The gear is literally close to 30-35 kilos (close to 70 pounds), and in the picture you can't see the enormous air cylinder strapped to my back. The face mask came up a little high, we're going out diving again tomorrow, to a nicer site, maybe then I'll make sure to take a picture where you can see the foolish grin that anyone has after exhausting themselves scuba diving.

Speaking of foolish grins, a funny thing that happened in the water was that we came up to a school of long, skinny silvery fish. The entire school were just drifting together, somehow all the same distance from the fish around them. I thought it was so cool that I was seeing them up close that I started grinning, and the grin shifted my face mask and filled it with water. Luckily, they taught us a really cool method of blowing out of your nose and holding the mask at the correct angle to clear it.

Tomorrow, a new dive, more pictures. Plus, certification. So probably, more dives.

Trifecta

2009-08-13T09:37:00.004-04:00

This post is going to make up for the last few days that I haven't been able to sit down and make a proper post. It's not going to be too long, but I've some interesting new pictures (one for every day, remember?) that I thought I should put up.

So back at Davidson, my favorite place to sit down and knock out a good 4 or 5 hours of work is the 'stacks', in the basement of the library. Basically its one floor of dense, high bookshelves that muffle out all noise and make for a great study environment. This picture (for Tuesday) is of the library. The library is the terraced building on the left, while on the right, are the stacks of Sydney Uni. You could fit the entirety of Davidson's library in just that section at least 3 times. It's also a very intimidating building up close, it is quite massive.

This next picture (from Wednesday) is of the lecture hall my International Econ and Finance class is in. You could probably fit all of the juniors at Davidson in this room. As you can tell by the pictures I've been taking and writing about, I'm still adjusting to the ridiculous size of this school.

And finally, for today, I was sitting outside waiting for my Critical Thinking class to start (I had gotten there a bit earlier than I expected), when I saw this really interesting gargoyle, right next to stained glass, framed a bit by some sunlight. Alot of the older styled buildings on campus look like this all over, basically the buildings here either look very modern (library, stacks, etc), or very old, oxford/cambridge style buildings (great hall, courtyard, etc)

Rhythm

2009-08-10T07:13:00.003-04:00

So today wasn't terribly exciting, I had a really good row this morning at practice, classes went well (well just the one, Democratic Theory) I found a new place to eat lunch, its a really nice patch of grass hidden around the main academic building.

Other than today being a bit more low-key than usual, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Today's picture is of the inside of the Quad (the main academic complex that I was so obsessed with photographing earlier)

Fun little fact about myth and lore on campus, they say that if you haven't started studying for your finals by the time the big tree in the picture above blooms (it turns bright purple), then you will fail.

Regulate the regulator

2009-08-09T06:07:00.003-04:00

So today, I actually got to breath underwater, which was amazing. setting aside the near 100lb system you need to wear to do it, today just blew my mind. I'm absolutely exhausted though, again it was a whole day of learning and practicing. next weekend however, we are going on ocean dives! on both saturday and sunday! luckily, I don't have too much reading before I can just get in bed and sleep smoothly and solidly.

This is all of the gear I had to put on (in very specific order and manner) before getting in the water. I only used the cylinder directly to the left of the fins, the other three cylinders were for other people, but all the rest of it was on me. Next weekend hopefully I get a picture with inside of all of the gear, unfortunately as soon as i took this picture my battery ran out.

SCUBA duba doo

2009-08-08T06:30:00.002-04:00

Today was probably one of the most exhausting saturdays i've had in a really long time. I had morning practice, which went well, until i accidently flipped my boat (a single, so luckily i didn't involve anyone else in my mistake). And Blackwattle Bay, in Sydney Harbour, in Winter, is cold.

After that, i had my first day of SCUBA training. We did a lot of snorkeling, swimming around (in some more very, very cold water), and SCUBA theory. Now i get to sit in my room and finish my reading for classes. Tomorrow's another day of SCUBA training, it should hopefully be more fun than today was, I think we actually go into the ocean tomorrow.

As for today's picture, I really wish i had something related to practice this morning, or to messing about in SCUBA gear all day...so this is a picture of the guarantee that came with the face mask i bought...in italian. Evidently, the guarantee is only valid if you use the mask in Italy. Oh well...

Sustenance

2009-08-07T09:13:00.002-04:00

I did some more cooking today, so that's what the picture of the day will be of, what i've cooked. Except that this is more than putting rice and water into a rice cooker and flicking the ON switch, I feel like I've actually COOKED this time.

First, I bought some chicken breasts. Then i cut them up in about 1inch cubes, and put them in a frying pan over some olive oil and fresh minced garlic. By recommendation of one of my housemates, i made sure to heat the oil and garlic before adding the chicken, so they browned quite well. and they came out amazing. just enough garlic to taste but not to overwhelm, and cooked just enough to be moist but not raw.

I had some of those, with rice (of course), for dinner. then, later in the night, with nothing to do, i figured I'd do some more cooking. A week ago, i bought some sweet potatoes because I knew I'd end up doing something with them. So i washed, cut, and peeled them. Boiled them, buttered them, cinnamoned them, and mashed them. Also, came out perfectly. (near perfectly, there's still room for improvement)

So this is the chicken in a tupperware, just as I'm beginning to boil the sweet potato cubes.

Very Merry Merewether

2009-08-06T09:32:00.003-04:00

It is a little late here in Sydney, but I'm glad I'm able to put up today's picture in time to keep with my picture-a-day promise (two days and running so far)

I thought this view was really cool, its from the courtyard inside the Merewether building, which houses most of the economics courses. I had gotten there a little early (I have to leave my apartment a good half and hour before my classes to get there on time to get a good seat), so I took a picture.

Nice Rice and Spice

2009-08-05T08:05:00.003-04:00

This post is going to be about food (mostly). Wonderful, awesome, home-made food. After some exploration, I came across a rice cooker. Immediately excited, I bought a 5 kilo bag of rice for 8 bucks, and cooked just 3 cups. it was maybe a fifth or sixth of the amount of rice in the bag. 3 cups of dry rice came out to a lot, a lot more rice than i expected. it has lasted me SIX dinners! I also bought pre-cooked, pre-flavored tuna from the grocers, little tiny cans for 1.50 each. just heat up a bowl of rice, mix in a small can of tuna, and voila, you can have 6 dinners for less than 12 dollars. I'm going to experiment a bit more with the rice cooker, evidently you can also cook vegetables, chicken and fish in a rice cooker, with the rice. I can only imagine how good that will make the rice taste. I've got to get through this batch first though.

I found a little local-owned lebanese restaurant down the road, where i can get a healthy tub of hummus (home-made, freakin delicious hummus) for just 10 dollars. which is 8.25 american. that, with the great pita bread i found at the local grocery store, makes for the perfect midday snack. I also have been buying hands of bananas two at a time, one decidedly less ripe than the other, so when i get through the good hand, the other one has ripened.

I started a SCUBA certification course, and they gave us a textbook (really, a thick textbook) and the first chapter basically said, if you die scuba diving, you're an idiot and deserve to. The entirety of personal safety and responsibility is put on the diver, but it was a little disconcerting. I'm really excited to get into it and breath underwater.

All of my hand and finger callouses are beginning to rebuild, now that i've been on the water at least a few times. im starting to get the hang of this sculling thing, it's a lot of fun. The only that's not so fun is how the boathouse is two miles away from where i live, so my warmup before practice is leaving the apartment early and running there.

I was relaxing under a tree the today, and figure i'd take a picture. one of my housemates suggested I take a picture every day, and post it with a caption. So I'll start today, with this one. I'm also taking a picture of myself with my webcam every day, and at the end of the semester i'll make a video out of the pictures. I think the effect'll be cool, i've seen some other people do it before.

Chilling at Darlington Campus, University of Sydney

Library/Rowing

2009-07-31T19:48:00.004-04:00

So the two things that took up most of my time last year at school have reached me here in Sydney. I have found a nice study spot in the library, and I went for a nice row this morning at 5:30 with the club team here.

This is the view from the study carrel i used, it was a bit too distracting, so my reading took a little longer than i expected.

Other than that, it felt really, really good to get on the water again. Being on the club team here feels like im playing JV basketball at Chapel Hill. All of the elite rowers (Varsity) are ridiculous, their average 2k times are 6:04, over half the team have competed or are on the olympic teams of whatever country they're from.

The coaching is really great too, all of the club coaches used to coach the bigger teams, and now they're maybe doing some sort of community service, helping us out. I just have a feeling that this'll be a ridiculous experience. Also, every month the national admin for rowing hosts a 5k time trial (in singles) at the olympic course in sydney, and the coach said that by the next one, i might be able to get in on that.

The only issue is that the rowing site is about 1 mile away from campus, so last night, i went out to target and got a batman skateboard. the path is pretty hilly, so it came in handy most of the time. Here's some pics

A sweet rack

2009-07-28T08:51:00.005-04:00

Basically, making a drying rack, given you have a fitting patio gate, is quite easy. just start in the corner, and continue making parallel lines to as many as you please. I ended up using all of the string, so i have quite a bit of area for drying. Check it out.

Another really cool tidbit, i went on a campus safari a few days ago, and learned something really interesting about the Physics building on campus. Here's a picture of it.

There's actually a reason it dips down like that in the middle of the building. Haven't figured out why yet? Turns out the Dean lives on the other side, and didn't want his view obstructed by the Physics building, so they hacked out just enough so he can see the sports fields.

And finally, another picture of the main classroom building here at Sydney. This building makes me want to constantly take pictures of it, it is just beautiful. I'll have other angles and pictures of the interior courtyard soon, no worries.

New Drying Rack

2009-07-26T04:37:00.002-04:00

So, laundry, along with many other previously taken-for-granted-by-myself services, is quite expensive. So i thought to myself, how can i make this process cheaper? I'm already getting a great deal on the wash+detergent, so drying was left. instead of paying for a machine to dry my clothes, why not let nature do it? then i realized, i'd need to buy a drying rack. or maybe not. maybe, just maybe i thought to myself, i'll make one. So after spending $7 ($6 american), at a hardware store, i had some sufficient twine and clamps. 15 minutes on our patio, and voila. a drying rack. I took pictures, but i haven't uploaded them, as I'm currently in a cafe using their internets.

On another note, classes start tomorrow. I still have no clue where any of my classes are, I tried going around campus today, but all of the buildings were closed. So I know which buildings my classes are, tomorrow morning i'll just have to get there early to figure it out. I've also gotten a much better understanding of Rugby League, Union, and Aussie Rules Football, the three big sports here.

More pictures, plus instructions on how to make your own sick drying rack coming soon.

PICTURESS!!

2009-07-24T00:25:00.003-04:00

so I wrote this whole huge multipage explanation of my airplane ride over here, but now it just feels like its been too long to put up and make it interesting. SO, i'll put up on of my favorite pictures of campus. the campus is enormous, i'll take more pictures soon, this is just a little taste. it was a bit dark, so you'll have to forgive that. this is one side of an enormous rectangular building, with a sweet quad in the middle.

Here

2009-07-21T01:14:00.002-04:00

So I'm here, but its tough adjusting. Internet is very difficult to come by, as surprising as that may sound. I don't have much free time yet, orientation and class enrollment takes a ridiculous amount of time at a school this size (close to 40,000)

I'm somewhat getting used to all the cars being on the wrong side of the road, it took me almost being run over a few times to really get it. When i have more time, i'll definitely elaborate more on the craziness that has been my moving in over the past few days.

2009-07-13T21:36:00.002-04:00

Heading out tomorrow morning. It took me forever to pare my suitcase down to the 50lb limit, i might have broken the scale by how many times i dropped my suitcase on it.

Regardless, with my 49.6lb bag, a backpack, and ticket to australia, i'll leave Charlotte tomorrow morning none too soon.

keep in touch those of you who read this!

The Waiting Room

2009-07-10T22:36:00.002-04:00

I feel like there's a conspiracy behind every dentist/doctor's waiting room. No matter what time you get in, they always make you wait at least 10 minutes. I was 10 minutes late to a dentist appointment, and I still had to wait 10 more until the dentist was ready. Im not complaining, I just think that you're never actually getting the time you sign up for when you get an appointment.

Restaurants are much better than this though. Maybe its because there's no established waiting room with old homemaking and gardening magazines.

I feel like I'm stuck in a waiting room now in fact. Not much more than a group lunch and spending one more Saturday night up in Davidson until I head out Tuesday. Laundry on Monday...cant forget to hit that up.

Last Day

2009-07-10T00:30:00.002-04:00

Today was my last day working with Matt, another thing coming to an end before I head out for a semester abroad. It was a really good time, and I feel like I not only learned a lot about getting one's hands dirty (somewhat) in law, but it was good to keep busy these past few weeks before I leave.

Just this last weekend now. Gotta clean up all the loose ends and pick up anything i need (at least, anything I remember I'll need)

Top Gear, seriously, is the best television show I think I have ever seen. The filmography, score, all of it fits so well and is amazing. Every episode blows my mind, and not a single one fails to make my heart race, my mind marvel, and laugh at the same time. If you aren't familiar with the show, I can give you a wholesome guarantee that you cannot watch an episode, and honestly not enjoy it, and want to watch another one.

Soon...

2009-07-07T22:54:00.002-04:00

Soon, there will be adventures abound for the capturing in photo and text form. Until then, just wait i guess. Less than a week now.

Classy Glassy Centerpiece

2009-07-05T23:39:00.002-04:00

A very, very cool centerpiece/party trick that's sure to impress. The night before the big dinner/party, make a few water balloons, and hang them by the knot in your freezer. make sure you have a bit of air still in the balloon, so the water freezes with a flat surface on the top, and can be stood up after frozen.

Two ways to go about removing the ice. First, you can wait until the outside layer, but not the insides, of the balloon are frozen. You can only figure the timing out by practice. When I tried this today, I left the balloon in for close to 3 or 4 hours, and a good half inch was frozen, with the interior still water. I havent gotten it fully frozen yet, but there are currently a few water balloons in the process, that i'll leave for a while.

If you poke a hole in one that hasn't fully frozen, and drain all the water, it makes it look like a glass pear, very very cool. I don't really know what you could do with these, centerpieces, maybe freeze objects in the balloons with the water, cool ice if you're making punch for a party, im sure there are creative types out there with ideas.

Grand Champion

2009-07-04T22:11:00.002-04:00

I don't know how to make this exciting, all I did today was complete MarioKart Wii. All gold, all tracks. It took long enough, and was really anti-climactic. The credits rolled through, and it bounced me back to the Main Menu, and that was it.

I've also been going through my room and mentally taking note of what I'm going to take with me. 9 more days now, and i head out. I printed out the itineraries today, they make it seem like im leaving sooner.

Tomorrow will be an adventure. I will make sure of it. It will be exciting and unpredictable and absolutely perfect for blogging.

The Market

2009-07-03T23:33:00.002-04:00

Now I can't put any personal experience to this, but were trips to the market, at some point, as much a social as a business/shopping trip? I could see it, I guess. If you knew the vendors, the regulars, you could go to the market to catch up on recent news and lives of friends as well as pick up fresh fruit and other necessities.

I'm not trying to make a social commentary, but today I went on a little adventure in a shopping mall, less than half a mile from my house, and was able to get everything I need, while not saying anything substantive to another person the whole time. how is it i can head to the mall and experience alone time? and it it works? maybe im just one of those strangers that seems annoyed when you ask him for the time. sometimes.

a good deal of shopping down, and only 10 days to go.

Battle Royale

2009-07-02T21:34:00.002-04:00

It was dinnertime. It was sit down with the family over spinach, rice, and kafta time. I didn't know how quickly kafta would become kafka.

This cockroach was magnificent. I mean truly, it was beautiful, in a shiny, glistening, grotesque way. I could count the spines branching off of each leg segment. I could see the long, curving antennas sweep over the underside of the food pan, where it was motionless. My mom and my sister left the kitchen, as I stood there, designer sandal (my sister's) in each hand. It was me and the bug.

I slowly moved everything in the area away, leaving just the pan on the stovetop and two empty counters framing it. My nemesis continued to taunt me, too close to the food to assault with bug spray, and at too odd an angle to straight on attack. I knew the designer sandals just werent going to cut it.

So I grab the knife sharpener. Its got the handle of a knife, but has a metal cylinder instead of the blade for sharpening. I grab it by the metal, ready to wield it as a club. I knew that this would be useless if the cockroach moved onto the counter, for the counter is the domain of a large surface area, light weapon. Like a designer sandal. This needed to take only one hit. And it did.

A sharp, quick sideways swing at the pan, with the designer sandals at the ready, and it was gone. Not actually gone, its remants ended up on the stove, and some legs made it to the floor. It had nothing on me.

Other than that, only 11 days until the real adventure starts, Australia.

Real First Post

2009-07-01T23:01:00.000-04:00

Alright, so I know it works and how it works. Not so bad, I think. It won't be easy living up to the promises in the 'about my blog' section or whatever, but I think I'll do fine for now.

First things first. What I've learned today...ah yes. Today I learned how to set up labels in a word document. Yes, boring, but new nonetheless. Im learning a lot of new, technical things working with Matt in the office, skills I'd never really learn in the classroom at Davidson.

Well I dont want to overdo myself on the first post. More later.

First Post

2009-07-01T21:34:00.000-04:00

Let's see how this works.