martian gun crosswalk signals

http://youtu.be/KCNtKZATSeY

Here is a video I took so you can see what I was trying to describe in an earlier post about the crosswalk signals. Pew! Pew!

Rottnest Island

Yesterday I went to a small island called Rottnest off the coast of Fremantle, W.A. for my day off. It's about 10 km long and only about 3 or 4 km wide and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It was only about an hour and a half long ferry ride from Perth but it was like I was transported to yet another part of the world. Beautiful white sand beaches stretching out to this amazing turquoise water (don't go out too far though- shark bait. not even joking) and you could rent a bike and ride around for hours on these endless paths throughout the island. My favorite part- there are these marsupials that inhabit Rottnest called Quokkas and they are about the size of a raccoon maybe but hop around like kangaroos and look like a cross between an oversized mouse and a teddy bear maybe? I'm not sure, but they are adorable. They would be even more adorable if they didn't have fleas though, which i'm told they do, but apparently they are only found on the island. Nowhere else but they tiny island- how cool is that? The Quokka is actually how the island was named too because in the 17th century a dutch explorer discovered the island and mistook them for rats and called it "Rats Nest Island", or something like that. When I heard that I was skeeved out, but once you go there it's just a completely different experience. I wish I could take everyone I love to that island but it's so unrealistic. maybe i've been spending too much time wandering around on my own lately lol i think i'm starting to think like some crazy seeing-the-world-through-rose-colored-glasses nomad. Either way, if for any reason you find yourself in Western Australia (which you probably won't) you MUST spend a day a Rottnest Island. And you should probably buy a meat pie at the bakery there too. And rent a bike. And check out the pink lake. And.... okay, okay you get the idea.

Yes, please.

I need to hire a photographer to follow me around- it took about seven tries to get this shot

QUOKKA! Not a good picture, but you can get an idea...

G'day and Good on ya

coming to you live from Dome coffee shop

day 4 in Perth

So today I get a surprise day off since baby's grandparents have taken him for the day. The perk of being in Perth is that both sets of grandparents live close by and will presumably be taking the baby off of my hands here and there. As luck would have it, the weather is shit. So here I am at the local coffee shop again and I might as well tell you about yesterday.

Yesterday evening after the mom got home, I got out of the apartment and went on a run along Swan river, the main body of water in Perth that the city is built around. It's actually really pretty and there were tons of people out running, biking, and having outdoor boot camp-style fitness classes. Anyway, it was really scenic and the sunsets are beautiful here, so at the end of my run I sat on this swing at a playground in front of our apartment and watched a group of yuppies play cricket. They were all drinking and I was kinda watching trying to figure out what the hell was going on and then after about 20 minutes of weird looks, I realized I must have looked like some kind of stalker/sexual predator on the playground so I got up casually and walked around for 5-10 minutes before going up to the apartment. Awkward. Also, I never figured out what the hell cricket is all about.

Side note: just now it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to open the ketchup packet. Then it burst all over my stuff.

Here are some other things I've noticed or have forgotten to write about:

-the first day in the hotel in Sydney (within an hour of being in Australia) I got lost/locked in the stairwell
-there's a weird type of bird here that makes a noise I can only describe as a "human-like cat sound". it freaks me out every time because I like neither cats, nor humans recreating their sounds
-the sun here is INTENSE and you can get burned walking down the street. apparently, there is a hole in the ozone right above Australia
-the crosswalk signals here make really funny space gun sounds when it is time to cross the street. it's really funny and bizarre but I actually think it's a really good idea because even if you have ADD like me and forget why you are standing on the side of the road, it reminds you. and makes you laugh
-there are TONS of flies here. and they get in your face, eyes, mouth constantly. it's gross.
-American TV shows dominate Australian TV. Seriously, for every one Aussie show, they show 35 American TV programs. It would be great except for the fact that they are all a season behind.

obligatory photo of me in front of the Sydney Opera House

Swan River with my apartment building in the distance

this photo doesn't do the sunset justice



That's it for day 4, but it's only 11:30 am here in the future, so the day is young. and I, still a foreigner.

MIA>LAX>SYD>PERTH

Okay so I can't remember the acronym for Perth, but basically that was my itinerary for the past 5 days. Surprisingly, the flight to Sydney wasn't as horrible as I imagined it to be, even if it was the longest flight i've ever been on by seven hours. The double decker HUGE plane was slightly terrifying at first, but the Xanax reserve remained in my bag, unopened. I'm so proud. Anyway, Sydney was a BLAST. Such a great weekend with great people who played wonderful hosts to my whirlwind 48 hours in the city. I didn't want to leave but I didn't really have a say in the matter. Some highlights:

-eating kangaroo at an outdoor restaurant in Darling Harbor with fireworks going off right in front of us (it was like a dream)
-laying out a coogee beach
-the view from my hotel, Quay West, overlooking the Sydney bridge and opera house
-going out the first night at Oxford Art Bar (or something along those lines)
-cuddle puddle with new friends while skyping one C.L. (I won't use names on here, it IS the internet after all)
-botanical gardens behind the opera house

things that are lame:
-everything is SO EXPENSIVE
-it bears repeating, the cheapest bottle of vodka was THIRTY SIX DOLLARS
-weird "abbrevs" like "arvo" (= afternoon?), "ta" (= thank you?)
-bitchy Columbian chick at a hotel party being quite rude for no reason
-the HORRIBLE service at certain restaurants (if only they worked for tips...)
-THE FACT THAT I HAD TO LEAVE

Now I am in Perth and it doesn't hold a torch to Sydney. Mostly I am salty because I have no internet and even when I do, it's shotty at best. Although on the upside, while sitting at this coffee shop in order to get the internet, I had the nice surprise of finding out that iced coffee equals a coffee milkshake. Score.

The internet timer says I have two more minutes left though, so I guess it's time to leave. Greetings from the future! (get it? im a day ahead?)

thanks

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this past week! I was lucky enough to fly home last minute and surprise my mom on Thanksgiving morning. Originally leaving for Australia on Thursday, we postponed our trip for a week and my dad and I were able to pull off an amazing Thanksgiving surprise. I think it was mostly exciting since my mom tends to be on the nosy side, making it near impossible to surprise her. Anyway, Little brother and I came home from the airport around 11 AM with mom already in the kitchen prepping for the feast and I literally saw the color drain from her face as I walked in and said "Mmm, what are we having?". Yes, that was the best line I could come up with during the 2.5 hour flight. The aftermath went kind of like this: first shock (speechless, a first), then shrieking (I think glass shattered?), and finally hysterical crying which forced her to take a seat where she continued a combination of all three. The whole thing felt kind of comical since I'd only been gone 6 weeks, but it would have been my first Thanksgiving away from family so I guess that's a big deal. Definitely thankful for that opportunity and am SO thankful for my wonderful employers who allowed me that luxury.

The rest of the trip was a whirlwind of food, wine, family and friends. But mostly wine. Wish I could have seen everyone but it just wasn't in the cards this time.

This year I am thankful for everyone in my life. Yes, really everyone. Everyone I have encountered has ultimately led me to where I am now (and where I'm about to go) and that's a pretty exciting thought. And although I don't always see you as much as I would like, and even though I'm horrible at keeping in touch, it does not mean i do not love you and think of you often. i am thankful for every experience, every laugh, and every love. Hopefully the important ones know that.



On another note, Australia TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!

Well, Friday really.

But I leave tomorrow!

here we go again

A lot of things have changed in the past few months and consensus is that i should BLOG about it. What a novel idea. I've come to think that perhaps I'm useless at blogging as told by the complete lack of my doing it at all, but like the subject says, here we go again.
The BIGGEST change is that I'm back in Ft. Lauderdale, but this time i have a JOB (yay) and it's a completely different situation from last year, thank god. I am a nanny for an absolutely adorable 2 month old boy and currently we reside in Ft. Lauderdale but are headed to Australia very soon! Florida has been a completely different experience this time around and I find I actually love it here. Funny what a whole new mindset can do to your life experiences. I haven't gotten to go to the beach as much as I would like because each weekend without fail it is cloudy and/or raining. Womp. Womp. However, my work situation couldn't be more perfect because I am living with the mother and baby and we all get along superbly. I can imagine living where you work would end up horribly in many cases but I find myself very lucky. We also live in an amazing home in a much nicer part of Ft. Lauderdale which may be part of the reason I like it here so much better this time around. Definitely don't have to worry about bed bugs here. (see older post) Plus, I get a fair amount of free time to wander around and explore the area so I don't feel cooped up inside the house. Other than that, life here is pretty quiet and the baby calls all the shots. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to talk about once I make it to Australia, but for now- Adios.

note to self:

...when looking at future living accommodations (if i ever leave my childhood bedroom) make sure the sun hits the front of the house. It must look really weird to my neighbors across the street that I am busy scraping ice and snow off of my parents' front porch while their yards show no trace of precipitation. Oh, and I'm in shorts.

happy birthday?

you know what's awkward? When you post "happy birthday" on multiple peoples' facebook walls in a row and they all show up on your newsfeed together. If you're like me, depending on how well you know/like said birthday-er, you add particular emphasis, i.e. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" or the lesser, "happy birthday" (sometimes emoticons even get thrown in there for added bonus). But nevertheless, anyone can look at your wall, see your messages to the others and then its painfully obvious for the (facebook) world to see who you like better. Usually I go back to my wall and delete each post from my newsfeed in a desperate move of paranoia, so unfortunately I can't give you a visual of just how awkward it looks. I thought for a minute that maybe I am just crazy and paranoid, but I just spent about 10 minutes trying to find an example of this on friends' walls and much to my dismay, I couldn't find a single instance. Hmmmmmm. Either I am extremely generous in sending birthday wishes, or I'm not the only person who is conscious of the awkward successive "happy birthday!"'s.