My First Footy Game!

Saturday night Simon, Ryan, Ben, his girlfriend Lauren, Ben's friend (John) Woody, and I went to the MCG dome to watch a footy (Australian Rules Football) match between Collingwood and Hawthorn. All the footy teams are historically from the various neighborhoods of Melbourne. The differences between footy and the NFL are insane. The footy field is like 2 or 3x the size of an NFL football field. In footy they don't wear pads, the average build is lean and muscular (so everyone is built like a wide receiver), they spend most of the time kicking the ball, and there isn't as much tackling- more like bodies clashing mid air. The ball progresses down the field in two ways: you either kick it (think punting) or hold the ball in one hand and punch it out with the other. At the end of the field are four posts: the two outside posts are shorter than the ones on the inside and if you kick it (the ball must be kicked in order to score) in between the two middle posts its worth 6 points (and loud raucous cheering), if you kick it in between the outside posts its only worth one point (and silence from the crowd if you're lucky...booing if you're not). It has four quarters like a football game and lasts about two hours. We had a lot of fun...it was mainly simon, ryan, and me watching the game. The other three got cold (it was probably about 50 degrees...) so they stayed in the bar area. Hawthorn (yellow and brown) completely stomped Collington (black and white) like 100-something to 50-something. I ate half a meat pie and Ryan and Ben bought me a Collingwood scarf (they thought i would like the colors better). I would love to go to another game!

The Past Few Days...

The past few nights have been filled with movies...simon and i have spent a few nights at home with his parents. We've watched Misery (great movie!!!), Boondock Saints (another great movie), Traffic, and Gacy (TERRIBLE MOVIE). Simon's mom trish has cooked up a storm in the kitchen- we've had chicken curry, some other spicy but delicious indian dish, chocolate caramel bars, and simon's dad made a polish chicken dish that was really good and then we had the night of the "bad choice". It was the Boondock Saints movie night and simon and his dad decided to cook crown lamb (extremely good) with another meat that i took to be like a lamb chop (steak?) kind of thing and various vegetables. It was later revealed, halfway through my "lamb chop" to be... goat. Simon thought it was very funny... it wasn't funny after his mom and i got done with him. Rich (simon's dad) got a mouthful from trish for not warning me (and her) before eating. Although...the goat jokes keep coming :(

Oh! on friday i went shopping with trish and her sister jo near St. Kilda, i think. We had a ton of fun, window shopping and trying on shoes that were still $300 on sale. Of course it always fun to look at all the really hideous clothing thats in stores and the people that wear it. After shopping we went back to jo's for tea and delicious belgium chocolates :)

HP6 and Kangaroos

Simon and I saw Half Blood Prince at 130 pm yesterday and I thought the movie was great! *Spoiler warning: if you haven't seen the movie or read the books you might want to read the kangaroo paragraph and come back to this one later....*I really hope David Yates has signed on to direct the last 2 movies because he did a great job with sticking to the book. Of course you have your random thrown in details and scenes that never existed in the books but I think its unavoidable. I've even gotten to the point where Dan Radcliffe's and Emma Watson's acting doesn't make me feel sad all day and I can actually enjoy watching them on screen. My favorite HP actor is Alan Rickman (Snape) because he's so absolutely perfect for the role that I'm convinced JK had him in mind while writing it. My favorite part of the movie was when Harry took the Felix Felicis potion and became almost like a Harry on marijuana- but it was very funny. He was slightly spacey and said odd things that were often accompanied by hand movements (pincers- finger waggling). Another really cool part was when Harry and Dumbledore were down in the lake and the Inferi were attacking (which looked really cool and creepy!) and Dumbledore did the huge fire whip thing that is featured on the cover of the UK edition of the book. I even cried when he died- despite the fact that I think Michael Gambon was a terrible Albus. OH!! and I loved the part where Dumbledore and Harry are in Dumbledore's office right after they discovered that Tom knew about horcruxes and Harry touches the ring on AD's desk. The ring makes some weird thing happen that only happpens when one horcrux recognizes another. They then cut to Dumbledores face and he's staring at Harry and its at that moment that we know (if you've read all the books) that he knows that Harry is a horcrux. It was beautiful.

On the way back from the movie (I've been on a Roo hunt since I got here) we decided to drive down to the small park by the end of simon's road where it is rumored to have kangaroos at dusk. Before yesterday I had only seen one and he was off in the distant bush. Yesterday, I saw a small (I called it a herd but apparently thats incorrect) mob of kangaroo. In that mob were two mama roo with joeys in their pouch! (If you look at the first picture-follow the mama's arm down, it touches the top of the joey's head) Simon had never actually seen one in the pouch so it was exciting for him also. The pictures are not exactly the best...they may seem a bit dark and fuzzy but they were taken at dusk and you can only get so close to them before they take off. It's like trying to take a picture of a deer. They can be a bit jumpy. Ha!

Tea at Jo's

Dinner was amazing! Simon's aunt Jo is a ridiculously good cook. The menu: roasted lamb, with potatoes, carrots, pumpkin (all roasted), grilled or seared onion, green beans, cauliflower with a light cheese sauce and a brown gravy for the lamb and potatoes. We had a choice of a red or white wine, and for dessert we had a melty brownie thing and a strawberry pavlova with chocolate shavings and a strawberry sauce to pour over it... basically we all felt completely gluttonous after the meal. And she made enough food to completely satisfy nine people....not bad at all. It was also decided that on saturday I'm going to my first footy game....I have no idea who's playing but I have been told that I will have my first meat pie...its kinda like how you HAAAVE to have a hot dog at a baseball game. Im hoping that it will be like a pot pie kind of thing, but the idea of a meat pie kinda weirds me out...we will see. So this week will be full of Harry Potter, a 21st birthday dinner (simon's mate), shopping with simon's mom and aunt jo, a footy game, probably a night in the city, and avenue Q! I'll keep you updated...and take lots of pictures...

Bits and Ends

Over the past few days Simon and I have driven in the Yarra Valley (pronounced like the name "Tara" only with a "y" instead of a "t") which is basically out in the country where the world famous Australian wine comes from, gone out to the city (Melbourne) a couple of times, and down to the St Kilda Pier, AND I FINALLY SAW A KANGAROO!!!! No picture though...he was off in the bush about 50 feet from me and as soon as he heard simon and i approaching he took off! They are ridiculously fast and make a funny thump-thump sound when they jump. Its a lot like an overgrown and mutated rabbit.

For the most part our day goes as such: we wake up sometime before 10 am, go out into the (freezing) kitchen lol to have breakfast and pour over the newspapers. I almost always have two slices of toast and a cuppa (tea), while simon normally eats leftovers from dinner the night before. We fight over the good pages of the paper and if his parents are present at the table I always win :) his mom has explicitly told him that he is "number 2" while I'm in the house :) hehehe. Then we kind of go off and do our own thing... normally shower, get on the internet, read, etc. Later simon and I will go for a drive somewhere while I take pictures like an asian tourist of all the things I see. When we come back for "afternoon tea" or lunch is often when we decide what we'll do that night. I think simon's mom trish is making lasagna for afternoon tea today :) which is very exciting....OH!! we went to the market yesterday...like the real deal, meat hanging from hooks, seafood on ice, bread baking from every corner, people shouting out their deals of the day and constantly trying to beat out the competitor in the next booth- type market. it was fabulous! I didn't even think to bring a camera but i wish i had...especially when i realized how badly I could gross christie out with the freshly beheaded meats hanging on hooks and such :)

I'm very excited for tonight... we going to trish's sister's house (simon's aunt Jo) for tea (dinner) and we're almost certain that the main meal for tonight will be roast lamb- which is delicious..i don't care what your feelings are on Mary, her lamb is yummy- and some other roasted veggies and such. Jo is Ryan and Ben's mom (the cousins simon is closest to) and they are a ton of fun to hang out with. Hopefully they don't gang up on me and have a battle of america vs australia...but when they do i stick to these points:

1. the NFL is much tougher than the AFL (australian rules football)

2. our president is waaay cooler than their prime minister

3. ...thats about it...other than that we argue over pronunciation of words lol

Warrandyte and Transformers2 (Sunday, July 5)

Yesterday Simon took me around Warrandyte (the town he lives in) to some of the little shops in the downtown village-y area and to see some of the bigger and prettier houses... On a side note: the driving here is completely insane! I've gotten over the fact that the wheel is on the wrong side of the car, but driving on the wrong side of the road...especially when facing on coming traffic litterally makes me cringe. And after like 3 days of being here I still close my eyes whenever we make turns...its a bit unnerving lol your instincts like scream that not only are you turning the wrong way but youre headed into oncoming cars. oh! and the roundabouts are nuts! I still haven't really grasped who has the right away and such... but basically, Melbourne's landscape consists of unending hills. Not necessarily in the San Fransisco sense where there are several very large hills but an infinite number of smaller hills. Most houses from the front appear very small until you see the side or the back of the house where its great size is revealed. Everything exists on levels (Mrs. Motley would be in level viewing heaven) and it gives you the sense that houses and buildings in the distance are moving and growing. One of the pictures I can't wait to post that goes along with what I mean is a picture from the deck off of simon's kitchen and the garden below. From his kitchen's deck door which is really a glass wall on the back of his house you see an unending expanse of varying browns and duller greens of the trees and the mountains that stretch to the horizon. Those trees and mountains look almost like rolling waves of water caused by the hills underneath. It makes you almost forget that civilization can be found from a window at the front of the house. The garden that his dad has been working on for years lies on four seperate levels...and the farther down you go the more jungle-y it looks.

The village of Warrandyte reminds me of a cross between the main street of Lebanon and downtown Edwardsville (by Bead It or Beyond Timbuktu). Its filled with busy boutiques and cluttered antique shops, a small bakery, a bed and breakfast, a few pubs, and small used book stores. We walked up and down the street for awhile (pics posted soon) coffee in hand, before leaving to go to the park to hunt for kangaroos :)... unfortunately we didnt find any although we only spent like an hour looking (it was a chilly 50 degrees lol but windy) so the kangaroo and koala hunt continues....

We met up with Ryan for dinner before the movie and sat in one of the mall resturants (the huge Westfield mall)..and it looked like a ritzy sort of resturant on the top floor of a chic building. It was amazing! One wall was entirely glass over looking the city and the resturant was filled with crazy modern shaped low booths that were on platforms of various heights. The food was good, not too pricey, but the service was pretty bad. You litterally saw your server like 2 or 3 times throughout the meal. After dinner we met up with like 6 other people to see the movie and the theater itself was nothing like i'd experienced before... the seats were like lazy boy chairs and the aisle infront of you was like four feet away from you... so if you needed to get up to go to the bathroom or something you could get up and walk out without making everyone else in the row stand up or squish themselves out of your way....you could stretch your legs out without hitting the chair in front... and the armrest folds up and out of the way.

oh and the movie was good too! :) A little long, but filled with edge of your seat action scenes...

The Disney Costume Party (Saturday, July 4)

On Saturday Simon took me around to two of the local malls...the first was a bit smaller and was filled with an open air type market in the center. It was kinda like a strip mall. The second was HUGE!! It was a Westfield shopping center (like west county in STL only like twice as large and brand new). The two malls taught me very quickly how much more expensive everything is over here. For instance, I really needed a curling iron. The one I purchased was the cheapest I could find and it still cost me 80 AUS dollars...so like 70 something of our dollars! I almost died of shock.

That night, dressed as Woody and Tinkerbell (pictures to be posted soon), we arrived at a party in full swing where Simon reunited with some old high school mates he hadn't seen in years. Among the costumes were several Woody's and Tinkerbell's, Snow White's, Incredible's, Alice's, a Mad Hatter, a Shrek and Ogre Fiona, Pinnochio (he was sooo cute in his lil red shorts and suspenders), Peter Pan's, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Tiger Lily (from Peter Pan- my personal winner for most original and creative), Aladdin, the human form of the Beast, the Queen of Hearts, Gisele, the Chesire Cat, Hades, Buzz Lightyear, and a few others. No one was brave enough to wear the little bit of clothing Jasmine or Ariel wears so there weren't any of those present lol. The birthday girl was Cinderella and her mother was dressed as the Evil Stepmother, her sister were dressed as the evil stepsisters, her bf was prince charming of course, and her very old grandmother was the fairy godmother (it was adorable). The party was fun...I danced with Tiger Lily and one of the Incredibles (basically girls in red bodysuits with little boy styled underwear over them and the logo on their chest with black knee high boots-it was cute) and had a melted purple daquiri. But everyone was really nice and we had a blast dancing...even Simon got out on the dance floor... and we left at about 11pm (the only part of jet lag that effects me is that I get tired pretty early).

update: kind of a mess of pictures...ill figure out some format later :)