Gettin Better

I got my meds. The doctor visit was kind of interesting. I was really pissed that I went to what I thought was a doctor place but was actually a pathology place. Then I called up all the medical centers I might need to go to and found one that could see me within 2 hours of calling them. The catch is, its extremely japanese centered. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but all the forms were all asian characters with tiny english subtitles. It was all rather ammusing. I expected an asian doctor as well but to my surprise he was pretty darn white. Turns out I was right. I had a sinus infection. I took my prescription, got my meds, stopped by a pizza hut to try out aussie pizza hut (which was delicious) and then headed home. I took last night and this morning lazily and just tried to recover as the meds did their trick. I'd say I'm somewhere around 80% back to normal as of writing this so I'm almost all better.

School strike tomorrow so I only have to meet up with my group at 2 and don't have my 11 o clock class. Hopefully I will be feeling well enough to work out before I go tomorrow morning.

Sickness sets in

I have a sinus infection and it is incapacitating me. I get to try out australia's healthcare tomorrow instead of class. I will recount sunday's adventure at a later date.

Tasty

So first off, sorry for the delay in blog posts. I was busy with mundane day to day life including studying and honestly nothing special had happened. That is, until yesterday. Yesterday was a tasting at work. Most of the menu was cooked up for the newer staff and shared so that we learned what they tasted like. They started with the entrees. The Peri Peri Prawns were really good but very spicy. The bbq wings where 3x cooked with steaming, frying, then grilling and the blue cheese sauce they were served with was amazing. There were some other ones I didn't like as much liike the boerewores which is a tradition african sausage. It tasted pretty tough and dry from what I''m used to.

Afterwards the salads came out. The only thing worth noting is the biltong which came on the house specialty salad. It is akin to beef jerky except not dried as heavily. It is extremely good. Its like the potato chips of the meat world.

The entrees came out. They didn't cook all the different steaks because that would be silly but they did cook a steak to share, beef ribs, lamb ribs, pork ribs, chicken breast, portuguese chicken, beef skewer, salmon skewer, giant prawns, lamb shanks, and maybe a few other things I might've missed. The portuguese chicken was delicious the marinade made it very rich flavor. The lamb ribs were probably the best tasting ribs as well as the most tender. The beef ribs were a bit tough and the lamb shanks were really underwhelming.

Then dessert rolled out. They was apple rubarb crumble, chocolate fondant, chocolate platter, pecan pie, and maybe another one. The crumble was so delicious but I guess I'm partial to appley stuff having been raised on apple pie.

At the end were were quizzed on our food knowledge.. It was pathetic. The manager got really pissed off how little information we retained. So now the next few weeks we are being heavily quizzed in briefings before our shift.

After tasting I went around sydney for a little bit. I went back to work at 5. It was along day. A very loooooong day. We probably had the largest shift we've ever had on. Close to 25 people on the floor. The restaurant also observed earth hour and dimmed the lights at 8:30 pm. At the end of the day, this one asian girl with slightly poor english was telling me as we were polishing silverware that she is a bit suprised to see how I work harder and harder when we get bust but still keep smiling and keep positive. She said it put her in a good mood too. I really took that compliment to heart. I always think that positive moods are infective and its good to see I can infect people.

Another day downunder

Sorry for the scarcity of updates. When nothing to peculiar occurs there isn't much I can do about it. Sunday I was exausted from work monday I had school. Today I had work again.
On other notes: I switched to a half protein half carb style of shake to test whether I see better results. After 2 work out sessions I already feel more energetic when I'm exercising and I don't feel quite so wiped out either. Down side is the shakes taste like I'm drinking Lucky Charms marshmallow mix. But results are showing. No six pack yet but maybe before June rolls around I might have a nice one. :)
Hair is growing back. All the multivitamins I'm taking also make hair/skin/nails grow faster. No tan yet but I haven't been burnt. Then again I haven't been to the beach and chilled yet... I reaaaally need to do that before the weather gets too cold. :(

And now I smell like booze.

Work today was a bit long. I wanted to work out but it was crazy hot out. I got some productive things at home finished. Annie and I are planning out our trip to cairns. It is subject to change but as of right now its a 4 day trip involving: shopping, scuba diving at the barrier reef, horse-back riding/ATVs, and island hopping.

So I didn't finish with work till 1:45 am. Saturdays last SOO long its crazy. I have a headache from being dehydrated and I didnt take my vitamins yesterday or today, so that didn't help. I did alot of polishing silverware in hot water with vinegar. A group of 21 women were having a Hen's night, which is a bachelorette party. They bought alot of wine they didnt like so there was lots left over. I took one of the good ones that is normally corked. I put a kind of fitting cap on it and saran wrap. When I got to the bus stop I kind of forgot it wasn't leak proof and laid my pack down. And about 8 ounces spilled into my backpack. Fortunately my work clothes in my bag soaked alot of it up. Unfortunately the clothes on my back soaked up the rest.

So I end up today smelling like vinegar, soggy fries, and expensive chardonay for tonight

bar night

I had plans to go out to a bar with the 2 people from my robotics team. A swiss guy named Raphael and a michigan girl who was likely going to bring her aussie boyfriend. Girl didn't come out. I met up with Raph at 9pm and he brought along one of his kiwi friends. (Who was very illegible btw). We first went to some bar called Pontoon Bar in Darling Harbor cause we heard there were pool tables. It was also one of the top 10 bars of Sydney. And we did find a pool table; there was one; as in one; off in the corner separated from everyone else. After a game, Raph had some girl texting him for all of us to meet up at some "dance" club called Ivy. After hopping the bus all the way over to the Rocks we wandered around trying to find it.
As we walked a bus pulled up to a red light called "the discobus". It was basically a gutted city bus with a dance floor installed and everyone inside looked very drunk. When we got to the Ivy it was packed. It took 15 minutes to find Raph's friend. It turns out the girl is from Purdue! Except she's a dumb spoiled sorority girl, who is staying here on "daddy's money". She was bragging how she couldn't believe she has spent $5000 in the last month. A good chunk of that she said was on alcohol alone. Bravo. I'm sure you'll make "daddy" proud. After 2 hours of boring talking and nothing else I decided to just up and leave. So I did. I grabbed a cab to my bus stop and bussed home.

Bars in Sydney are pretty lame.
You can't get drunk because bartenders aren't legaly allowed to.
Nobody was really dancing at the dance club.
Pool tables and other activities are nearly don't exist.
Oh and taxis cost more because of night-time tariffs and bus run once an hour.
no fun at all.

Lots of new stuff

Hats off to my dad on his 50th b-day!

Thursday was a very loooong day at work. I didn't get out until 12:30 and I missed the last bus home so I had to call up a very sleepy Fae to come pick me up. While I was waiting another kid missed the last bus as well. (the timetables had tiny astaricks next to them indicating they didn't run on thursdays). As we talked a bit I offered him a ride home. Turns out he was a friend of a contestant of So You Think You Can Dance Australia and was on his way home from celebrating with her. She was voted off last week. This kid was only 17 though. Half the people here graduate high school at 17.

I heard back from Purdue about my grad program.... Bad news.
"My name is Dr. Mark Garrett and I am the Graduate Programs Coordinator over here in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. You are receiving this email because you have applied to one of our graduate programs here in the Weldon School. I wanted to let you know that you are currently on our Waiting List for admission into our program. We have received a total of 264 applications to our PHD program along 125 applications to our MS program. Thus far we have admitted 21 people and are waiting to hear their decision as to whether they will accept our offer."
So 389 applicants and only 21 are getting accepted.. My chances look very dire. I am still waiting to hear back from IUPUI.

Tuesday

Work today. It went pretty well. I am enjoying it more and more as I get into the swing of things. Likewise, I enjoy when we are appropriately staffed. nothing too fancy goin on. My book STILL hasn't come in for one of my classes. But its not that big of a deal. I won't be able to do tomorrow's assignment but they lowest 2 of 10 are dropped anyways.

It was really hot today so I stopped by and got a gigantic slurpee before work and it was delicious. :)

Dance frusterations

I was looking forward to dance for the past 3 weeks. I get there at 7:20 (10 minutes early) and ask where it is being held. They look at me like I'm crazy and say "did you sign up for it?" I tell them I was hoping to sign up for it and wanted to see what it was like. They then proceed to explain that it is a gym sponsored class and that I have to pay to go in. Not just pay, but pay cash. Of which I had none nor was I really expecting to have to pay immediately. I assumed there would be some sort of introduction or something. But no I was not allowed in to just watch even. so I had to go home. What a waste of my time.

and I can't wait for annie to come in may :D

Sunday cut short

I got asked to come into work today. It took a fraction of a second to say yes. Why? Because it Australia sunday means time and a half. Thats right. So I make nearly $30 an hour on sundays. That is so awesome. I mean, once I can accept tips it will be even more awesome but still $30 over 6 hours is a ton of income.

I wanted to pull up a card from the pile of observations I've noticed. Alot of Australians seem to be a bit hypocritical as a society. Allow me to elaborate. There is the Sydney Bridge, a massive bridge that spans the harbor, and is located near the Opera House. You can walk across the top arc, but you have to wear gray jumpsuits so you don't distract drivers.
Ok that makes sense
But then you go through the much busier inner city traffic and there are ads everywhere including on the monorail that has these bright colors and flashes across your field of vision. That is WAY more distracting then tiny blips of color climbing a bridge.

There are other examples I could prolly find but its late and I have to wake up for class in 6 hours...

Family Time

Today, I went with the family to see ALL of the family. It was someone's birthday. I can't recall all of the names. The food was reaaaally good. Alot of Phillipino food. The fresh prawns were a bit intimidating with the heads still attached. They had these AMAZING desert called cathedral windows. It was a bunch of different blocks of colored jello in condensed milk.
I chatted up with people for a little while. Alot of people asked about Victore and how I knew him and what I was doing here. After dinner I went to hang out with the kids. There was me, fae, jaime, and this other dude then 8 kids at around the age of 15 and below. They were playing Modern Warfare 2. After a while we played some street fighter 4. I got to wow the kids by pully off crazy tricks and combos and being unbeatable.
host family pics
host family pics
host family pics
host family pics
host family pics

Oh yeah and I shaved my head for leukaemia :P
HAIR GONE

Work and Workout

I had to work today. It was quite a bit easier on me then the saturday was. My role was supposed to be Runner, which runs food, drinks, and checks bathrooms. It got really difficult because we were understaffed. The bartenders got behind on dishes so I got put in to help. I really didn't mind. I really hate running. It is a really miserable experience. I haven't quite gotten the hang of holding on scalding hot plates with fumbling rags. I have a suspicion that I was using the wrong rags. But anyways, the bar was easier but I didn't get out until 11:45. I was so parched I grabbed a mega-size slurpee from 7-11 and drank the whole thing. I wasn't paying attention and missed my bus so I had to get the next one that dropped me much further away from home. That sucked. Lesson learned.

Oh and on my way home, I decided to take the bike path because it was a more direct shortcut. Yeah.... not doing that again. It was super SUPER dark because of the woods and I always felt like something was going to jump out at me. Fortunately the phone I got has a built in LED flashlight. Nothing fancy but enough to get me home.

Also I have been working out with lots of determination. When I got here I weighed 72.5 kilos. I want to hit 80 before I leave. I want to look good enough that maybe once in a blue moon I get a compliment instead of never lol. I am already at 74 kilos but the first few are the easiest so I need to keep at it. I also am doing abs very often so maybe I might be able to tone up abit. Classes tomorrow and sleep for now.

Another Monday

UGH. Man getting up today was rough. AND I got on the wrong bus so I was 30 minutes late to class. Thats ok though, the class was starting 20 minutes late so I was only behind by 10. I'm afraid today was rather dull. It was really hot though. I started my english class and we discussed grammar. It seemed a bit silly. For some reason (probably because I've been working out alot) I was reaaaally tired physically today. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow. I work again at 5:30.

2nd day of work....

Saturday was the second day of work. I had to take a RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) class in the morning. It was 6.5 hours long and basically talked about how its the waiter's responsibility if the patrons get drunk and break things. 2 guys got drunk and were throwing rocks off a bridge. Did they get in trouble when the killed a woman on her way home from picking up her kids? No. The bartender did, because he should've known that too much alcohol might make people do stupid things, and Australian's are really just children who need their hand held when they drink. It's so backwards.

On one hand I agree that the bartender shouldn't be pushing drinks on to people past their limit. But on the other hand, where is society's sense of responsibility? If a girl gets drunk, wonders off into a dark alley and gets raped, it's the bartender's fault and now he has to pay ALL of her bills. If a guy gets in an accident drunk driving and is now a parapalegic, well now the bartender has to surrender 20% of his wage for the rest of his life. It's retarded how irresponsible Aussies are.


Ok now about my 2nd day. It was miserable. It was really really really busy. And people were not exactly angry with me but they were being very urgent and doing it very loudly. I didn't appreciate the managers though. I liked thursday's manager, but saturday I had this large woman who always looked at me and was like "DO THIS!" even though I already had 2 other things that other leads told me to do. It was really tiring. A 4.5 hour shift felt like8 hours. I was exausted and it never let up until I left.

I think I'm going to relax today (sunday) and workout, drink some lemonade and study. It's nice weather today but it may rain later.

First day of work

Today was the first day of work at the Meat and Wine Co. It was a very bustling experience. It was by far busier than any other restaurant I've been in (save for grand Lux). I worked from 3:00 to 8:30. There was a lot of training. We talked about different aspects of the business. Then I got free dinner. Then I was off to do work once the patrons began pouring in about 6. I was a host's assistant, which means I help people to their seats. More than that though, I have to patrol the restaurant, counting tables available, clearing tables that are empty, resetting cleared tables, and polishing silverware. It was a bit crazy for a first night. But I can't complain THAT much. I am getting paid about $19.00 an hour (more on the weekends). And after training is over I will get tips too. Some Americans still tip, even though it isn't expected of them to.

I have to get my RSA approval for alchohol very soon.

Here are pics of my walk to and of Darling Harbor.

Off the bus
Darling Harbor Entrance from city
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 1
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 2
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 3
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 4
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 5
Imax and Meat and Wine Co Zoom-In
Whales on my walk
Foot Traffic Bridge
Car Traffic Bridge and Trees
Harbor at night 1
Harbor at night 2
I guess some kind of discotek in a building that is supposed to look like the bow of a boat

School day 2

Today was a bit more interesting. One of my classes today was "Whiteness beyond color". A study of the way the world treats the "norm" as white. Australia is a particularly study source due to the extent at which they try to create a nation that is "homogeneous in culture and race". Today we learned about programs that still haven't been entirely dissolved that crush the Aboriginal people. Like the U.S. kind of did with Native Americans but 3x worse. The government can STILL take children away in the guise of "humanity" in an attempt to re-educate them that Aboriginal culture is uncivilised and wrong. In the U.S., Natives are recognized as a sovereign people. Sure the U.S. didn't always hold up their end of treaties, but here in the U.S. Aboriginals are not considered real people. Legislature treats them as objects or things the state has to take care of like flora or fauna. It was pretty eye-opening.

The class was also invited to happy hour at the campus bar (yes alcohol is allowed on campus, and is even sold by it). I stayed for about an hour but everyone was either from Italy, France, or Germany. It was interesting to hear all the different accents... for about 15 minutes. The same small talk over and over is soooo boring. "Hi you are? Nice to meet you! Where are you from? That's really interesting! What are you studying? Yea I totally know what you mean."
rinse. repeat. snooze.

Birds

These are one of the birds that makes noise in front of my window in the morning. These guys are noissy, but they aren't the squawkers. I haven't been able to get a pic of the squawkers. This bird is only 4 feet from my window. It's THAT close.

Amusing things:
Teacher says:
"In the 1980s, the U.S. was one of the best manufacturers in the world. Nowadays countries like Germany, Japan, and others are currently booming while the U.S. is lagging behind. How do Europeans and Japanese differ from the U.S.? What do they have that the U.S. doesnt?"
Student: "Healthcare!!"

(the correct answer is that robotics shifted to those countries but that isn't as funny"

Teacher is introducing an important specific type of robot we are to get accustomed to using:
"This is a SCARA robot. SCARA stands for Selectively Compliant...... blah blah blah. I forget this every year."

First day of School

Today was frusterating. And tiring. I had trouble sleeping (excited? lots of stuff on my mind?) and didn't actually fall asleep til maybe about 2:30am. I had to get up by 6:30 so I could get ready for school. Ok I don't know if many of you know but I'm an 8 hour sleeper. If I don't get my 8 hours, I'm going to be broken for the rest of the day.

The bus ride to school wasn't that bad, I arrived right when I needed to and made it to Robotics. The class was a 3 hour long lecture and I fell asleep cause I was so tired. I used my skates to get around campus. It was pretty enjoyable and they have good skating pavement

After Class I went home because my second class doesn't start till next week and I wanted to get a nap in before ballroom later. So I get back, sleep, Hurry up to catch the 5:55pm bus back to campus (nearly missed it). I get all the way there thinking about food the whole way because I slept to late to eat. When I get to the UniGym (as seen above) I find out that ballroom doesn't start for 2 weeks... I was so mad. I went to get McD's (it was a campus McD's was service was terrible) then got on the bus and came home. I more or less took an hour and 15 minute bus ride to get McD's and turn around to come back. I was pretty mad.

I ended up staying up until 1:20 am so I could call Purdue and check on my grad school status. They told me it could be another 2 weeks before they finalize the list of applicants.