May 14-16

Friday and Saturday very productive cafe homework days downtown incorporated with shopping and trying lots of new baked good treats! Added some posters to our room--to give it some color or col"our".

Sunday...I went upstairs..took a double take--thought this was a piece of chicken nailed to the wall---ohh no just a piece of bread..

Went to church with my roommate today--it was in a movie theater, luxury seats, live band, words to the tunes on the movie screen, the service was done via podcast (another location) on the big screen. Then we went to Central Station in Sydney hopped a train to Burwood to an Australian friend's BBQ in Cabarita Park. Met lots of new people; snagged some Thai for dinner. Drewbie arrives tomorrow 610am.

May 13

Thursday..jumped on a bus to Hyde Park for lunch then headed back to campus for class. Nice solo outing. Then after class had a group meeting..with some baking rainbow mini m&m cookies and brownie pie.

Watched a flick..then6 of us headed to Oxford St. around 830p for dinner to try a small "hidden gem" Japanese restaurant Don Don (http://www.bestrestaurants.com.au/restaurants/NSW-Sydney-dondon.aspx)
recommended by our Australian group member. We sat around for a long time..until it got too late and the place was closing (WE GOT THE BOOT). But went around the table trying to figure out what animal each person resembled.. some pretty solid animal comparisons that James conducted:

Me-Chipmunk, Squirrel on the "Skippy" PB jar
Nikita-Racoon, bird
Tanya-Sloth
Tom-Rabbit
Thomas-Rat from Charlotte's Web or Mouse from Cinderella

May 11-12

Tuesday... I almost crushed this little guy when walking home yesterday; I thought I stepped on him--so I stopped to double check. I figure I owed him at least a picture.

May 9-10

This weekend my roommate had a man friend visiting.. was a hoot and a holler..

Sunday.. today I am up early. Last night there was some commotion outside our window and my roommate came back and said there were large loaves of bread and gourmet baked goods on the street outside! I bundled them up and put them in a bag and today I feed my birds at the beach.. (still unsure how/why they were all outside). The beach go-ers love when I stir up the birds, especially when they are sitting eating their picnic lunches outside...but on a serious note the birds love me..check out this pick of them kissing my feet.

Also, headed down to Hyde Park again for another day of successful work at Starbucks.

Then headed up to campus in the evening to bake lots! We made lemon birthday cupcakes, lemon cupakes/muffins with chocolate chips,and some plain Anzac cookies. Anzac Day is a holiay here (April 25th). Little history for you in regards to the name: http://www.aussieslang.com/features/anzac-biscuits.asp (recipe on the webpage).

And the fourth thing we made was a giant chocolate chip Anzac cookie pie! We cut it in pizza slices and iced every other slice alternating between sugar icing with sprinkles and nutella spread! Delicious.. had to have my desserts with vanilla ice cream on top.

Another update: So now instead of people stealing my chow from my fridge (because I have a mini fridge in my room this is not possible).. they have moved on to my shelf stash in the kitchen. So here is the message I sent out to my house of over 20 people...

"Subject: Suggestion

Hey Myola:

Thanks to the super cool cat who took my raisins off my shelf and ate the entire box, minus 1.

I guess I am thankful that the thief has moved on from my FRESH fruit to my DRIED fruit.

But on a serious note.. if I were you I would have gone for my M&M stash or at least my massive supply of Orbit Gum specially shipped over from the United States.

GoodLuck, because the next time it happens I will personally hold hostage the entire mail supply and tariff each piece that comes to you."


Monday...kicking off the week for another day of volunteering at the children's hospital in the bone unit.

May 7-8

Friday ...

Saturday..Caught in the act: Crows chowing down on our pine cone bird feeders! Finally.

I snagged a mid morning "big blue" and jumped on a bus to Hyde Park where I stationed myself at the Starbucks from 1145-5pm. Almost completely my final for Business, Ethics, and the Law--which is due the day Drew leaves. This was a good environment change. I had the best time people watching and met some new friends. This Starbucks was crowded all day.

May 4-6

Yay more mail. Thanks Dad and Jenn:)

This week has flown by!

Wednesday..Cinco de Mayo had lots of salsaaaaa!

Thursday.. 1 class, 2 group project meetings.. tonight went out with two girlfriends. They refer to themselves as "brown" which isn't offensive in their culture (Indian--they are from Tanzania), but one studies in Canada. I had never had Indian food so we tried a restaurant in Surry Hills called Maya da Dhaba (http://www.mayadhaba.com.au/). I loved it! Very spicy and a change! Mukhawas is what they use as after meal mints.. it is a blend of colored spices and it's like have a mint.


Friday..Thanks Aunt Jenny for the mail!

May 2-3

Sunday was a summer day..I really don't think Australia's fall will ever come. I took a walk by the beach and opted out of doing laundry. No need my black trash bag isnt filled to the top yet. Watched some bowling.. in Australia the bowling is outdoors and you bowl barefoot. Tried a new cafe called Renato's for some carrot cake.

Monday: still no luck with the birds. Guess they'd rather be hand fed..I worked at the hospital today. They put me in the ward with all of the bone patients. Some had been there for years, others were in recovery. Lot of action: watched some Wii, did a little coloring, played animal dominos, built a few creations with blocks, sterilized some toys, cut some crafts up...

Drew arrives in 14 days for some crazy festivities. May try to get him to go skydiving---ya right.