Returning Down Under :)

The second half of my adventure commences. As of today, the 16^th of December (for me) I have 238 more days in Australia and I intend to utilize every second for learning, fun, friendship forging etc. I have been back for a week so far and I have been busy settling back in while prepping for my Tasmania trip. I have met the latest addition to our crew, Tellu’s sister Emmi and she is an amazing girl. She is extremely nice and a wonderful addition to our Tassie Team. I am really looking forward to getting to know her more over the next couple months (she is

staying until April). I completed most of my shopping before I came back which resulted in some careful/ stressful packing and repacking of my bags in order to return here but I have to say that I am definitely prepared for my trip. Thanks mom, dad and KT for all your contributions to my gear!

This past weekend we (Al, Tellu, Emmi, Todd, Roman, Wade and I) all dressed up for the Casino

themed Thiess Christmas Party. This party, sponsored by Al, Todd and Wade’s work, was held at the Brisbane Convention center and was quite a sight to see. It was gorgeously decorated and the night was classy and entertaining. There was a stand up comedian, dancers, and a singer accompanied by a “Big Band” style band for the entertainment. We all had a great time dancing, eating and faux gambling and we all looked pretty snazzy if I do say so myself.

On Friday I turn 23 and I get the pleasure of waking at 3am to catch our 7am flight to Tasmania. I am not complaining in the least because I will get to spend the following two weeks exploring a new place with new friends :-D. Our trip has changed a bit since I posted the first itinerary. The Overland Trek costs $265 to complete in full and so our plan was to go backwards and only complete a portion of it so that we would not have to pay the fee. Unfortunately Todd has discovered that the trek is going to be more closely patrolled this year and so we will not be able to do our original sneaky plan. Instead we will still be hiking up Cradle Mountain (but not camping there) and then backpacking around a few other locations. I am not disappointed or concerned in the least about this change of plans. I am sure that Todd will take us to wonderful places and we will all have an amazing time no matter what!

The next time I write will be when I return from Tasmania! I will not have internet there and so you will all have to hold out to hear about my trip until after I return. Post- trip I promise to write several entries about my adventure! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, last few days of Hanukah and a wonderful New Year! Thank you for being so supportive of my adventures here! Catch you on the flip side (of 2010 that is)!! :-D

Post Thanksgiving... the eating continues!

It’s the day after thanksgiving and my mom, sister and I are once again baking in the kitchen. It’s not that we have more guests coming over, or that we didn’t eat enough yesterday (cause we did!) but just because one thing that the three of us love to do is bake… and eat of course : ). What is on the menu tonight may you ask?

Pumpkin bread from Trader Joes that our grandma swears is as good as made from scratch (and from the smell in the kitchen I will say that she is right) and oatmeal cookies with raisins, walnuts, and chocolate chips because who would want just one of those amazing mix ins? Don’t you worry, we had a well balanced lunch of thanksgiving leftovers after braving the Santa Anita mall for Black Friday (we went at noon, we aren’t crazy…)

Thanksgiving itself was really nice! Mom and I spent the day cooking with Jan popping in periodically when she needed a break from her homework. The night started out with a speaker phone cell call from my Sherry family.

It was so nice to talk to you all even if it made me more than a tad bit green in the face ;) The Vogler family (our Polish friends) joined us for

dinner to equal nine but of course we still had loads of extra food left over. I have to admit though… the baking is probably my favorite part of the day… and I charge a reasonable price so if anyone needs a cook next year! ;) just kidding… :)

Our pre- thanksgiving feast silliness:

My mom's famous apple crisp....

Flowers from my secret admirer that were a pretty popular discussion starter :)

My Berkeley Family!

I still remember that feeling when I visited Berkeley that first time. It was the summer before my senior year and my mom took me on a trip to get a feel for the schools that I would be applying to in the coming year. Dork that I am, I had a notebook with me and I rated each school and took notes about what I liked etc…. I remember that I gave Berkeley the highest rating from the moment we got there. I also remember second guessing myself quite a bit because Berkeley can be a bit grungy and the city-like atmosphere was extremely intimidating to me. I was so confused about why this school? Why this city? But as many people suggested, “you will just know when the place feels right.” Years later, this place still feels right and every time I go up north I feel like I am coming home.

I spent the last week in nor cal with my friends and Janey ;) and the week could not have possibly flown by faster! I spent a great deal of my time back in my old room from last year, now occupied by my amazing friend Steph.

I caught up with a ton of RAs and just felt loved and supported again. Don’t get me wrong,

I am having an amazing time in Australia and I am excited to see Tellu, Steff, Todd and the rest of the hiking crew when I return but I miss my California friends/family a ton when I am gone. The thought of being gone for another 8 months is kind of daunting!
While in Berkeley I did many things that I have missed: hiked the fire trial with Steph and Anna, went to Chipotle, got rained on, looked at new Cal gear, ran down college, cooked with Kristin and Dan, went to the RSF (the AMAZING gym at Berkeley), ventured into San Francisco, watched Will and Grace with my sis, north side with Madelein and just caught up/ reminisced with old friends. I am really excited because Steph and Anna and Steph’s boyfriend Mike are planning on visiting me in Australia in March!! Woot woot!! :)

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to thank all of my friends and family that have supported me thus far on my adventure (Australian friends included of course)! I am 1/3 of the way thru and I can’t wait for whatever will come in the future! You all have really helped me get through my occasional homesickness and blues. I hope everyone has an amazing thanksgiving! To conclude on a funny note (and since I couldn’t have said it better myself)……
Thanksgiving is America's national chow-down feast, the one occasion each year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty. ~Michael Dresser

Home!

I love the feeling when I come home. I love seeing my dog and discussing movies and sports with my dad while my step mom and I roll our eyes at my dad behind his back ;) I love talking to my mom for hours on end as we run errands and make dinner etc… I love coming home and seeing my bed or desk piled high with mail (Thank you so much Cheryl, Steve, Rick and Nancy!!!) Even the junk mail brings me so much joy! Man I am a nerd I know but snail mail is one of the most exciting things ever! Who knew I was so special and qualified for 15 different credit cards!! Ha ha…

Some other things I missed:

1) Toilet seat covers!!- I know that toilet seat covers are probably single handedly killing the environment with pollution but sometimes I am just too lazy to squat in a public restroom and toilet seat covers are, lets face it, a G-d send. Unfortunately, they are quite sparse in a great deal of the world but Americans with their uber intense concern about hygiene have put them everywhere. For once I say with pride… G-d Bless America…

2) Driving- I love to drive and I do not have the chance in Australia… nuff said--- interesting experience today when I drove again for the first time. I definitely had some trouble going to the correct side of the car/ thinking about which side of the road I should be on. Just some momentary puzzledness… imagine what would have happened if I had actually drove in Australia!

Things that I never appreciated before:

1) American electrical plugs- yes I know this one is kind of lame because of course my American appliances would work so much better here yata yata but it is AMAZING to plug stuff in without an adapter! I know it is a lightweight piece of plastic and metal but man that thing can be a hassle. I forget it and then my computer dies and I can’t turn assignments in and I have to say that “my computer died because of an adapter issue” which is probably the new age version of “my dog ate my homework.”

2) I CAN SPEAK AS LOUD AS I WANT!! – I did sort of realize that I don’t talk as much in stores as I normally do because I am nervous about people hearing my accent but this realization hit me flat in the face when I went into Trader Joes with my dad yesterday. I kept looking around to see if people were looking at me strangely for speaking and I don’t feel embarrassed or out of place! It is a pretty awesome feeling although now I am just one of the crowd again… blending into the background; and for now I am happy to do that. Blend into the background and enjoy my friends and family at home, with chocolate sorbet and cheerios of course ;)

Packing up my Australian life break...

I am currently in the midst of furiously packing up my room and packing for home before I return to the US on Tuesday. I am trying to sublet my room and so I am packing all my stuff away for the month that I am home. Anywhooooo in the midst of this tornado (the mess must get worse before it gets better) I get an email from my screen business instructor (the really huge project where I created a tv show). The email reads, “I just wanted to say that in ten years at Griffith I have never awarded a student 100% before, but your work was so impressive that is exactly what I have assessed your result to be. I could not fault it.
Well done.”

And that my friends, is how its done :) Ok back to packing, I just wanted to briefly gloat, ha ha ha. America here I come!!

xoxo

My calves are still in recovery mode... aka adventures at Barney

There is something immensely satisfying about carrying everything you need on your back. Of course there are downsides: the possibility of running out of food in the first day because you want to eat it all to reduce the load, the incredible weight of water that you just don’t think about, and excuse me for beating this already dead idea with a stick, the WEIGHT of a pack. I have to say, however, that my pack had nothing on my 40lb backpack that I used to carry around in high school and for most of college. SSSUUUURRREEEE they say that scoliosis isn’t caused by carrying heavy backpacks…… Sorry for focusing in so intently on this aspect of the bushwalking adventure but this was the aspect most foreign to me. The pack becomes a slightly bulky and offset extension of yourself and you basically have to learn to walk in a completely different manner to avoid falling over. Is it bad to say that it was the most interesting part of the trip? Ha ha

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the hiking part and the climbing aspects were the most fun but as some of you know, I would take a beach over a mountain any day. I do enjoy the exertion and the incredible views at the top but the beach and the waves are forever my idea of paradise.

I have this habit when I speak in which I start 5 sentences at once and never finish a single one. The reason is that my brain is moving much faster than my mouth and so my thoughts are flowing in my head without being expressed properly. Mom and most recently Todd have to say to me, “Deborah, finish your sentence” before I realize that I am not making any sense. If you could all just be in my head then you would understand how I can logically skip from talking about prunes to discussing the special features disc on a movie I watched recently. I feel like that is how I am writing these entries. Looking back I often realize that I am really bad at telling you what I did and really good at confusing you all by telling you my reactions to the events you know nothing about! Hence, I will try to be better at the recap portion starting now:

We started hiking Mt. Barney on Friday night after school/ work. Roman picked up Tellu and I and we met the other boys (Todd, Al and Jeff) at the dam that they all work at. From there we all piled into Roman’s car with the packs strapped on top. We looked like real adventurers :) That adventurous air stalled as we stopped at KFC, the same KFC that we seem to stop at quite frequently (Jan knows it, we visited it with her as well!). It’s pretty funny because I never ate KFC in the states (NEVER) but I have eaten it 3 times here… gasp… After KFC we put our hiking faces back on and headed to the foot of Mt. Barney. We hiked for about an hour and a half to camping ground 10 where we set up camp for the night right next to a softly flowing brook.We settled down for the morning and awoke as I usually do in Australia: to the sound of annoyingly loud and obnoxious birds. The birds here are on steroids and I am honestly afraid sometimes that my life will become a Hitchcock movie. After breakfast we hiked up to the saddle of Mt. Barney and exhaustedly set up camp. After lunch and a few minutes of resting we had the brilliant idea to climb to the top of the east/ west? peak. We completed that challenge fairly successfully despite minor setbacks like pouring rain and my slight fear of heights . Another amazing thing about bushwalking, food is oh soooo good.

The trip was extremely successful especially because it gave us all a taste of what to expect from the overland track in Tassie (except Todd, his taste buds are already saturated with bushwalking). I have a growing list of things I need to buy/ take and my self confidence has been renewed. I can honestly say that I think I can do this overland thing no sweat… well maybe with a bit of sweat, I will be hiking after all!

As an afterthought I have decided that my responses are much more entertaining than my laundry list of activities… I will try to spice it up : ) 11 days until I leave for the states… what oh what will I write about then? Guess we will just have to wait and see…

(Our crew from left: Roman, Todd, Me, Tellu, Jeff, + Al who was taking the picture)

Slight Rant...

I have been spoiled living in Berkeley; a place in which liberalism is a way of life. A place next door to San Francisco, a city rich with different cultures, religions, personalities, sexual orientations etc… Australia is white and I miss that diversity. This place has been a challenge for me; a challenge to explain why I am so adamant about my liberal leftist beliefs such as same sex marriage, pro choice, environmental issues etc… Sometimes I think that this debate is good for me because hell it is always good to see the other side of the coin and I am completely open to changing my own mind if I can be persuaded but most of the time the debate just makes me worried. I have been living in a Berkeley bubble which is far from perfect but the relative acceptance of people became the norm for me. Australia has jolted me out of that norm and I honestly don’t know what to do about it. Sometimes I think that everyone in the world just needs a big dose of RA classes. I mean I know that a lot of what they teach us in those classes can be seemingly pointless but it all come down to the fundamental belief that everyone is created equal and should be treated as such.

Now don’t get me wrong, most Australians are not outright racist (no more so than many Americans) but the pure ignorance here constantly frustrates me. (of course once again I could be talking about any place in the world but this is just my current experience...) Australia really is its own continent separated from the rest of the world by an ocean of literal and metaphoric proportions. Once again I don’t want to give anyone the impression that Australians are bad people or that they are cruel and heartless because they are incredibly nice, caring, generous people (ha ha there I go stereotyping) that have welcomed me graciously into their home. I guess, however that this makes it even worse in a way because why am I so privileged that they accept me into their society? The problem is that this is the case all over the world: societies that are accepting and backwards at the same time. So what can we do to increase awareness and decrease ignorance?- continue to engage in discussions and arguments about these hot button topics. And if they are educated on the topic and still have a close minded view? What then? Should I continually try to push them towards my liberal ideas or does that make me as close minded as them for not accepting their ideology?

Round and round in circles I could go… I guess for now I have to just stay true to my own beliefs and acceptance of all people while I continue to engage in these heated discussions. I have to say, however that I am looking forward to my break in a bubble when I go back to Berkeley in November :) Until then, I’ll just keep on truckin…

My Athleticism put to the TEST!!

I am far from a seasoned hiker and this weekend will be sure to put my athletic ability to the test. After class today I am assembling with my usual hiking/camping/ fun times group to hike Mt. Barney. We will walk 1 K tonight to the campground and then continue hiking all day Saturday and back by Sunday afternoon. I have no idea how long the trek is but Todd did little to quell my nervousness when he said to Tellu and I last night, “I was reading a website that said that it is for expert bushwalkers (hikers), some parts are in double black.” Now I don’t exactly know what double black means but I can tell you that it doesn’t sound too good… ha ha. And all this fun with a pack the size of a child on my back.

Don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to this trip and I will be sure to tell you all about it when I return victorious!

On a much more leisurely note: here are some pictures from two weekends ago when we went to Somerset Dam and I just barely managed my 180 ;) Todd always gives me a hard time about just taking pictures of nature instead of people so I threw in a good mix for y’all. Ok, off to class and then doom! ;-) Wish me luck!!

Roman prepping his car ---->

Jerry, our lovely frenchman :)

Todd being handy!

The lovely Tellu :)

SUCCESS!!!

“I couldn’t find anything at fault with your presentation”- my Screen Business teacher today after my presentation on my tv show “Expeditions in the Attic.” I have been neglecting you all mainly because I have been working 24/7 on this pitch package and presentation that I delivered this morning to my teacher and a TV producer that works in the Australian industry. Both of them loved my idea and thought that I should definitely try to make it a reality. :)

I said before that I would tell you all more about this show so brief synopsis:

Expeditions in the Attic centers around 12 year old Ty who is thrown back in time when she touches the objects in her attic. The first season explores Australian history as she meets 3 famous Australian historical figures through her past. The catch in the show is that she is only able to return to present day when she delivers the object to the rightful owner in history and learns something about herself.

This is the “hero image” or poster design that I created for the show (with my new Photoshop skills).

Anyways, now I just have a paper, a test, a presentation a few random assignments and two live TV shows to deliver in the next 3 weeks and then I am home free!!! The rest of that work can wait until Monday and I plan on spending a delightful weekend cooking/baking, wakeboarding on Saturday, seeing “500 Days of Summer” (I haven’t seen a movie in the theaters since “Harry Potter;” GASP!) and exploring a portion of the Gold Coast by car with Todd on Sunday (yay road trips!).

p.s. Short recap about last weekend- my wakeboarding skills are improving as demonstrated last weekend when I managed to do two 180s in the water and improve my stance (according to Todd ;) who is quite a champion). I have to say that I was quite proud of myself and it made even the incessant rain that day seemingly un-annoying. I also saw my first rainbow in its full arc entirety which was quite spectacular. Pictures of that and my other adventures to come shortly!

A Day in the Life

Well no one can call me lazy. I have developed a really nice little daily routine that I thought I would impress you all with. After getting up between 5-5:30 I go for a nice walk on the beach. I really must start bringing my camera with me because every morning the waves and sky are completely different. I have been itching to do another painting of the ocean and I could not ask for a better subject at my feet every morning. While I walk I listen to one of the multitude of podcasts I have attached myself to (This American Life, Kevin and Bean, NPR: Fresh Air, NPR: Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me). I highly recommend all of them and I have to admit that I am more knowledgeable about the American goings-on than I was when I was home… Ironic no?

Over the past few days I have noticed more and more jellyfish that have been washed ashore. I have also seen three stranded blowfish over the past few days. Imagine this: I am doing a little step/ dance move to try and not step on the various aquatic life at my feet as I listen to the antics of Peter Sagal and the other comic geniuses that make that show so entertaining. I cannot refrain from literally laughing out loud and so I am sure I look like a complete mental idiot laughing at myself while hop-skipping along the beach.

I am ashamed to admit that my first few hours after rising are probably my most adventurous and entertaining. After that it is a fairly monotone schedule of gym, school, studying, cooking dinner, hanging with Todd and going to bed by 10. See… I knew you didn’t want to hear about that stuff… its not Australian enough… well besides Todd :) But the first few hours… when I begin to wake up as I walk on the beach, THAT is an amazing feeling and a constant reminder of the reason I came to Australia and more specifically the Gold Coast in the first place.