ABSOLUTE insanity!!!!!

Oh my god…yeah…this has been the most scandalous few days…EVER!
Warning…to the parents…do NOT read on if you don’t want to hear things…I know y’all get retroactive fear/worry…so, don’t read anything past the point I tell you to…unless you are sitting down. :-)

Ok…so, rated G stuff first…

I have decided that in my next life I want to come back as a sailboat…we went on a boat down the Paramatta river…and I was in heaven! Something about the wind blowing through your hair, the sky, the water, the sway…it was unbelievably glorious…
We took the boat to Blacktown, a few of us had a dinner of an ice cream cone and fries…mmm…then we went to see a performance in someone’s backyard…it was all about racism, and how we internalize it…never seen anything like it…it was possibly one of the most intense performances I have seen…left me stunned…

Then, yesterday, it was Australia Day (like our Independence Day)…we ended up going to “Invasion Day” which is the aboriginal form of the day…went to an all-aboriginal community, heard some amazing speeches, great music, fantastic food…almost cried, sitting there on the grass, looking around at all the people, all the families, they were all smiling so hugely and it was just fucking brilliantly beautiful…so much love that day, at a time when there are so many reasons for there to be resentment….amazing…

Later, we went to see fireworks down at the harbour…I LOVVVVVEEE fireworks…it was awesome…we walked all the way back home, we were being total goofs, some of us decided to climb this wall…I taught this boy, Richard (from England) how to skip…and all of us skipped back home…brilliant.

At the moment I have sand EVERYWHERE…in my ears, in my eyes, in my throat, in my teeth…We went to the beach today, and Yarrow and I had a wrestling match in the sand (lasted for about 15 minutes…intense..quite a workout)…and we made quite a ruckus, and quite a crowd gathered to watch us…I haven’t laughed so hard in a really long time…it was wonderful…we were both extremely competitive, and it must have been the most hilarious thing to watch…we both got mouthfuls of sand b/c we couldn’t stop laughing through the whole thing…when we had ice cream afterwards, it was unusually crunchy. Eee…But today at the beach was fun, we all did some topless sunbathing…it’s no big deal here, and everyone is really comfortable with everybody else…it’s nice how we can just be ourselves…when we were in the water, Yarrow Kerri and I took turns getting on each others shoulders and pretending to be horses and charing into the waves yelling “tally ho!”….it was brilliant! It was kind of hard for me, b/c I was the shortest horse…so we had a few close calls of horse drownings…;-)
It’s fantastic…yarrow and I just have a flippin blast together…she told me today that I am her “favourite”…and we just looked at each other, both went “aww”, and then couldn’t stop laughing for the next 5 minutes…she kerri and I are going to stay near the beach in a hostel for our week off…we are in love with Sydney… I don’t want to leave…I’m getting so attached and sentimental already. :-(

Today was amazing…started off with a BRILLIANT lecturer…an English professor from Canberra gave two lectures, and I was so excited about what we were talking about (it was ridiculous, actually…I was working on 3 hours of sleep, and hearinh him talk made me feel like I could run a mile!!!)…Marcy and Debbie (our two chaperones) kept on looking over at me, b/c they knew I was excited and I was smiling like a fool…but, goD! I LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE English…love words…love hearing about how people use them , what they have to say, what an amazing tool language is…I was seriously aroused throughout the entire lecture…my heart started racing…i’m sure my eyes were dilated…and what was absolutely insane was that when I first started doing research on aboriginal writing, weeks ago..i came across this phrase “black words on a white page” which struck me as insanely brilliant, and was an “eureka” moment…and believe it or not…our lecturer was the one who wrote that..!!!!!! That’s the title of his book…my jaw dropped to the floor, and I just kind of stared at him…I was furiously taking notes…everything he said got me thinking, and I went off on tangent after tangent…I felt like I was gorging on some kind of delicacy…it was sinful! LOVVEED IT!

afterwards we talked, and of course I babbled on about how amazing it was to meet the man behind the words, having had no idea! Talk about serendipity! Planned Happenstance (that’s for you Mary Lynne!!!!)….we both got really excited, and ended up accidentally ignoring the rest of the class, but we got so caught up in it…and he GAVE me his book…Walking out of that classroom this morning, holding that book, I was like a kid with candy…skipped all the way home. Total dork...but someone’s gotta do it!

Ok, let’s see, more rated G stuff…ummm..
Life is good…we go to the aboriginal camp tomorrow…I am sooooo excited…it is going to be amazing!!!

Ok..so here’s the stuff (dad and mary lynne) you shouldn’t read if you are weak of heart…

So…
Ok. No worries…it was quite the experience…I am in one piece…nothing too dangerous, mostly bizarre and slightly uncomfortable…

What happened is that Dain and I went back to Oxford street last night…went to Arq, which is the most famous gay club in the entire country (world famous apparently)…we got in for free, which was amazing, it was absolutely PACKED To the seams…almost got stuck in a revolving door, had a good laugh about that…then we saw the most hilarious drag performance I have ever seen…it was fantastic…the costumes…whew!

anyway…since it was just dain and I there, we had fun walking around at first, people watching and just taking it easy…we talked about travel and life and life-changing moments…anyway…so, as we were talking, people come up to us and start chatting us up…this girl (her name is Menya) comes up behind me with her friend, says, and I quote “you are hot, do you want to go into the bathroom with us?!”…talk about blunt…I was so taken aback that I didn’t know what to say…they spent a bit trying to convince me to have a three-way with them…Dain was just standing there smiling at me (he was not a real big help)…but they were both really nice, and we all got to talking, finally Menya’s friend goes off…Menya follows me around, I’m fine with just talking (well, shouting really), we talk about our lives, she’s originally from New York, she got married to an Australian transvestite so she could get an Australian citizenship…now she’s planning on going to paris to live…we had a good chat…then, when I’m standing there watching the drag show, this other girl decides to hit on me (the aussies are pretty upfront about these kinds of things)…anyway, Menya actually tells the girl off, then she literally pulled me through the entire club, walked me up to each girl that was there, pointed to each one, and telling me that I was hotter than each one…told me I could have anyone in the club, asked me, point blank, to pick someone out…I told her that that was completely ridiculous…but she actually took offense, and said that humility is overrated, and if I could pick anyone I should….it was one of the most awkward few moments of my life…have never felt so uncomfortable..i finally managed to get her to let go of my wrist, and attempted to go to the bathroom…BAD Idea…on the way to the bathroom, I got “befriended” by a pack of Irish gay boys who took it upon themselves to take turns hugging me and kissing me on the cheek and spinning me around…it was cute, they had lovely accents…but I had to pee…so, I go into the bathroom, as soon as I come in, everyone in there (about 20 or so guys and girls) look at me, point, and then gently grab my arm and pull me into this bathroom stall…so, there I was surrounded by 10 or so very drunk and friendly gay boys who told me I was beautiful and offered me some Special K (which is a hardcore horse tranquilizer)..then 3 of them proposed to me…I gracefully declined, (the proposals and the drugs) told them I had to get back to my friend, but before I left they insisted that I let each of them kiss me on the cheek, asked me what my name was, then started serenading me…finally I manage to get out of the bathroom (still having to pee), then Menya is there, waiting for me, then she pulled me to the middle of the dance floor and had me watch her give me a pole dance…apparently she used to be a stripper…and she definitely was really talented, it takes a lot of muscle….so I clapped for her…and we joked around, and things finally got somewhat normal between us…she ushered me out of the club, and we got some air, had an AMAZING talk about all kinds of things…then one of her guys friends came out, and he was so insanely drunk, I have NEVER seen anyone as drunk as he was…we both tried to take care of him, b/c he had gone into the convenience store down the street and was licking the merchandise and tried to stick his ass in the microwave…finally got him out of there, got him so water, and sent him home in a taxi…it was ridiculous…Dain finally came out, and I met the guy he had been eyeing, he was a real sweetie, and so we all chatted for a while…and it was actually amazingly chill and we had a good time just talking…Menya invited me to stay with her while in Sydney, or come along with her on a road trip up the gold coast…not going to take her up on either, but it was great fun to talk to her…strangers are perpetually amazing me…

so, had to wake up a few hours later for class (the amazing one) …and it’s been non-stop since then…now I have to pack for the aboriginal camp…I cannot wait…

went to a student travel office today, and practically drooled over all the pictures of all the places one can go to…I have determined that I need to make money for the sole purpose of going everywhere…I got incredibly excited…and there is talk of yarrow and I trying to make our way to Thailand…probably just a dream, but it’s nice to dream…
urk..so this is a pretty incoherent post…but so it goes…a lot has happened…and it gets hard to keep track of all of it…

but, whew…I have to head out…

on to more adventures…wooo…

I need a nap…oy!

mmm...art...mmboy!

ah, sigh...yes...
spent the entire day wandering around one of the huge art galleries here...loved it!!!!! It gets me soooo freeking excited to be surrounded by different modes of expression and creativity...almost electric.

looked at a lot of aboriginal art, contemporary australian art, some amazing photography exhibits....it was all breathtaking and got me itching to reach for my macro lens or some paint....urk...going to have to wait a while....ah, the suspense and utter anticipation....! excruciating...

there was this one painting that was of these two women sitting in this lake, their faces turned away from the viewer, and they were surrounded by all these flamingos who seemed not to notice that they were being watched...and for some reason i was completely fascinated by it...it was almost spooky...hard to explain...

there were a lot of disturbing photo exhibits, some actually gave me the chills...you don't run across that very often...amazing.

during lunch, sam, kerri and i wandered downtown to get some food...and we had an absolute blast...hair being blown all around, b/c it was beautifully windy (i love watching ppl when it is windy...it always strikes me as poetic, for some reason)

...we were surrounded by all these businessmen and women...and we were being total goofs...one of our quotes from that lunch was "cows....they linger." ....of course, this is completely out of context, but it kept sam and i laughing for about a good 10 minutes....kerri ended up getting a cup with 4 shots of espresso, a shot of Bailey's, and 8 packets of sugar...horrifying, even i'm not that hardcore when it comes to caffeine...goodness! I was happy with my bizarre smoothie that had tons of prickly pineapple skin in it...hmm...

we realized a lot of things here are chicken flavored...they have chicken flavored chips, chicken flavored salt...!! crazy!

after a day of amazing art, i walked around the city by myself...watching ppl get blown all around...i love being by myself, and just walking shoulder to shoulder with strangers...watched this girl take pictures of pigeons in the park for a while (so, she automatically is cool in my book)...watched strangers run into each other...watched people pass by each other and share glances that were not simply glances...listened to people talk...got smiled at by a baby. :-)
as i was walking, the line from a song kept repeating in my head...
"and on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone...and all you see is where else you could be"....

it made me think of how many lives we could lead, just by turning one way instead of another..all the parallel lives.....yesterday, on a whim, i decided to let chance take me...i was at an intersection, and pressed both buttons, to see which one would let me walk first, and decided that no matter which one it was, i would just start walking in that direction, and see where it took me...and i did, and it took me somewhere quite amazing...finally i settled down in the grass, and wrote...and was surprised (scared shitless, actually) when this wet tongue ran up my back and between my shoulder blades...it turned out to be a very friendly greyhound.....the dog's owner came up to me and apologized, told me that her dog liked to flirt with pretty girls...but assured me that she only licked the very special ones, so i should feel special...it was an interesting experience....wrote a little rambling vingette about it later...

i realized that i have a very tangential nature...well, i've realized this before...but the other night it hit me again...that my life is one tangent after another...and i wouldn't have it any other way.

i'll leave you with the last song lyric that just played in my ear...
"you shouldn't think what you're feeling.."

ponder!

scrawling...

i was sitting in class today...and was distracted by all these things that people had scrawled into the wood desk over the years...dated back to 1940...it's amazing to run your fingers over the words and imagine all the others who have touched them or read them...

thought i'd share a few with you...

"chicken..i like it fried."

"he realized he was the kind of man who was vulnerable to the sexiness of pity"

"delusional..who isn't?"

"forget about your worries now, we all make mistakes, you're gonna make it anyhow, 'cos you got what it takes...right?"

"he, i know you."

"thank you"
"fuck you"

"everytime you masturbate, god kills a kitten...think of the kittens!"

"doog tsixes---sexist good"

"hope spring eternal...springs get rusty."

"oh gee, he's up to my knee...no, he's up to my toe."

"broken man."

"sarah was not paying attention."

"Why not?"

....so, yeah...
actually, that last one.."why not?" was something that was said last night...my question had been "why?"...and the reply was simply.."why not?" ....made me think of all the times we ask why...and how often the answer is really only a simple "why not?"....

i think we like to overcomplicate things...funny that.

things are getting more than a wee bit complicated over here...as they tend to...the soap opera never seems to stop, more and more characters stumble into the scene, pushing and shoving against each other....new faces, new plotlines....no real stopping.....there are just short little commercial breaks, but it's never for long enough....you get fooled into thinking, "hey, maybe life is finally drama-free, relatively, at least"...and then other characters remind you that no, it's never going to be drama free....and although complication is an often beautiful thing...sometimes it can be simply overwhelming...urk.

sat on the roof last night...watching stars and lights...having some quiet alone time...which i haven't had enough of...wrote a poem about someone who keeps slivers of motel soap in their pocket---go figure...i was tired, so strange things happen. :-)

random note: they have shampoo and conditioner here that is made by Palmolive...which is that American brand of dish soap...i bought some for the novelty...and lo and behold, it feels very much like dish soap...oy, oh well...it's all part of the experience...hah!

anywhoo...I'm off to read some aboiginal short stories in the grass...in desperate need of shade and smoothie...mhm.

oh...ps...there are more pics up, now. Just click on the link "heather's pics" to the right...
there's a pic of a soggy koala....cute, uberly so!

cheers!

the blur...

So much has happened…
Don’t know where to begin… hmm.

Let’s see…since last I wrote…life has been insane/amazing (As usual!)…feels like a year has passed in the past few days…

Midnight Frisbee/introspective talks in the park, lounging in the grass, watching stars…cuddling on sodden blankets, talking to people about life…all the questions…laughing until morning…honesty…

Running across the street, soaked in the rain, losing my flip-flop in the middle of the intersection…watching incredulously as Aaron ran back into the street to retrieve it (he almost got hit by a car to get it, but he was grinning all the while)…happened twice…quite embarrassing, really…it didn’t want to stay on for some reason…had to take them off and walk barefoot…which I love.

All of us went to the Blue Mountains for the weekend…and ..it was….AMAZING!!!!!

Oh my my MY!
It is soooo effin’ beautiful up there…we went on several hardcore hikes that left us all feeling dead (sooo hot, and hours of uphill climbing)…but it was incredible…first day there, we went to this lookout, but it was misty, so we stared out into the mist, and it was beautifully ethereal and spooky…something about knowing that there is something out there that we can’t see that makes your jaw drop…

Then we went to this rainforestty area…saw “kissing trees” which are trees of different species who have fallen into each other, leaning, and now are fused together at the bark…thought it was terribly romantic…:-) …in order to get to this area of the rainforest we had to take this sky tram that apparently boasts the steepest drop in all the world…we were nearly vertical…gets your adrenaline going…loved it…and the air there smelled absolutely divine…I could not stop smiling…I was so ridiculously excited to be there…reminded me a lot of the Hawaiian rainforests…

Next day, we went to the Jenolean Caves…which were incredible (HUGE caves, miles of passageways, there were these underground catherdrals, and all you can do is just stare up and up and feel beautifully small and in awe)…then a few of us ballsy ones went for a swim in the absolutely freezing waterhole…we all climbed up these rocks and jumped off amidst the watching reptiles… and there was so much squealing and swearing and clinging to each other for warmth…some of the coldest water I have ever been in…it was amazing! Muscle spasms were had by all….and we could not feel our bodies for a while afterwards…intense!!

We all stayed in these cabins, and it was fantastic…free coffee…and compost toilets, which were cool…we all bonded over those, for sure. :-) Everyone got a lot closer over the weekend…dramas got a bit more intense…soap opera-esqueness...but everyone was smiling through it all…

Funny incident at dinner…there was this delicious chocolate desert with whipped cream and strawberries, and everyone was in heaven…but, apparently, those that know me know that sometimes I have a hard time hiding things, my face is pretty honest…so I happened to have this delighedl expression on my face, and Sam started to crack up, called it my orgasm face…everyone had to have a look…but I get embarrassed when people ask me to do things on the spot…so I made a goofy face, and we all called it the “anti-orgasm” face…for some reason, it was the funniest thing ever (you had to be there), and we all nearly choked on our food…yarrow spit out her tea, sam, krista, and kelly were almost in tears, hans made fun of me, and everyone around us kept turning around to see what all the fuss was about. Ah…reputations. :-)

We had a big party in our cabins…played crazy games…I sang an impromptu song about avocados (go me!i am so cool it hurts!)…had crazy talks…had a campfire…went out and stared up at the stars….i have never seen so many stars in my life….it was unbelievable…

At one point I had to run from the campfire back to the cabin by myself, and it was pitch black and misty and I could hear things moving in the bushes…and I had to skip and whistle happy songs so I wouldn’t freak out…I felt really dumb…and ended up sprinting back…

Stayed up til the wee hours of the morning…everyone shared stories and secrets and it was beautiful…. talked about our greatest fears, regrets, love...first kisses, etc etc...some people really opened up...Dain, the player of our group, usually just talks about the number of guys he's slept with, how unnattached he is, etc etc....but the other night, i asked him if he had ever been in love, and he got almost weepy and opened up to all of us, showing an entirely different side...it was amazing...

had fabulous tipsy talks with yarrow and kerri outside, standing up in my sleeping bag…listening to the night birds…there’s this one bird that can mimic the sound of a cell phone and a lawnmower… bizzareeee

the 17 year old aussie son of our biology instructor came along, and stayed with us…I had thought he was gay b/c he was definitely flirting with Dain, but then he got trashed and tried his best to seduce kerri and I, ended up falling on top of me, have a huge bruise on my arm now…he kept on trying to convince us that he was almost eighteen, and that we should take pity on him…then he stole my hairband when we wouldn’t comply…it was all quite dumb. He got lectured by a number of the other people in our cabin…everyone got pissed off at him...he was really embarrassed and apologetic at breakfast…and on the bus trip home we all had a good laugh b/c he kept on saying that he was lactating (he was refering to lactic acid), and he could not be convinced that "lactating" referred to something else...:-)

Yarrow designated me as her snuggle partner…so we shared a bed for the weekend and cuddled and had random whispered conversations about relationships and staying true to one’s self (so as not to wake up Caitlin who is such a sweetie), then we passed out, and woke up with lovely cricks in our necks b/c we hadn’t moved the whole night …but it was really nice to snuggle with someone and just chat and babble without anything having to feel forced or awkward…special.

We were all slightly hung over the next morning…and that’s when we had to go on our 5 hour hike that left us all panting…but it was amazing, we passed through several environmental biotas, arid deserty terrain to the rainforest (learned tons about the wildlife and the different organisms)…walked under waterfalls, slid down muddy hills, rock climbed mossy boulders, huffed and puffed over scorching desert…learned what to do in case of a snake bite (good to know…eee)…

then we ate lunch at this waterfall…and yarrow, kerri and I decided to get wet, no one had bathing suits, so we just stripped down to underwear or shorts, and climbed up the waterfall, several levels to it…all of it extremely slippery, and pretty damn dangerous now that I think about it…lots of people fell and got hurt…but chances must be taken, and it was soo amazing…we sat under the waterfall and just let it fall…then we lay out on this cliff and stared at the view…miles and miles of beauty, we all had a moment where we turned to one another and were boggled by the reality that this was our classroom…the blue mountains are incredible…very much like the grand canyon, but more rainforesty…and it’s blue b/c of all the eucaplyptus which release the oil into the air that turns it blue…and it is gorgeous!

Whew…there is soo much that I am leaving out...trying to condense it all..
But the bottom line is, the trip was flabbergasting…we are all more tightly bonded, we all shared so much of ourselves this weekend….I love everyone in the group, and there is constant laughter and inside jokes…all of us feel so hardcore now, since we managed to survive the insane trek that left us feeling like we were going to die out there…now everything feels like a breeze in comparison…I’m sure our muscles will be screaming tomorrow, though. Oy. Anticipation is great!

At one point, I was walking through the rainforest, and looked down at my shoes, and was struck by the thought that these shoes were going to take me to so many different places…places I have yet to imagine…then I thought about all the footsteps I have left to take before coming home, and how each one was going to change me in some way…it sounds terribly cliche, i'm sure...but it left me smiling and elated..so shush!

I have to run and get my groceries home…and wash the waterfall out of my hair…

Ah, life…not much else like it. Nope!

my god!!

Yeah…so….life is once again fuckingamazingunbelievableincredibleastounding!

I was walking back from Tranby (the aboriginal college), with oodles of books on contemporary aboriginal writing and poetry on my back, and smiling like a complete fool! Seriously, I smiled at EVERY SINGLE PERSON I PASSED…which was a lot….b/c it is a long lonnng walk. I was just feeling so giddy from the culmination of the past 24 hours or so…and was completely overwhelmed with undiluted happiness, feeling so completely alive and aware and in love with it all….

Passed by this 6 year old boy that was dressed up as spiderman…he looked so proud to be walking around in his suit with his fake pecs…it was so cute….superheros come in all shapes and sizes…:-)

Ahhh…spent hours in the aboriginal library, chatting it up with the librarian (I feel a special affinity for them now..since having worked as one…libraries excite me, I’m a dork, I know. And the smell of libraries and books…mmm)…I was the only one there, had the whole place to myself…and she and I talked about aboriginal writing and its metamorphoses, and we both got really animated and excited about it….and she was sooo insanely nice. Their library isn’t supposed to lend out any books, but she made an exception for me (b/c she’s awesome!!!!)…I’ve never felt so excited to walk out carrying an armload of books, felt like I had just won the lottery!

Today was intense…we had another aboriginal lecturer who was absolutely amazing…she was part of the Stolen Generation (which was a policy that the Australian government practiced in which they would essentially steal young aboriginal children away from the families, try to assimilate them into “white” culture, under the pretense that it was in the best interest of the child to have his or her culture, family, and roots completely ripped out from under them…) Absolutely unbelievable…incomprehenseible…

This woman’s story had me in tears, thankfully I was sitting in the back row…she was stolen from her family at the age of 4…she said she remembered looking out the back of the car as they were driving her away, seeing her mother crying and waving after her…she said she remembered wondering why her mother was crying…b/c she was too young to understand what was going on…she spent years in an orphanage, was sent to a foster family (the belief was that a white Christian family would be better for a child than their original “savage and uncivilized” family)…complete bullshit. She was raped by her “white, Christian, morally superior" foster father for years…no one believed her…they wouldn’t let her get out of the house…the foster mother knew but didn’t do anything…she would get beaten and not know why, b/c she didn’t understand the language and the culture of punishment…she kept on asking when she could go home…b/c she didn’t understand that this was supposed to be forever, that she wasn’t going to be allowed to see her real family…the government child services listed her as being mentally retarded b/c she hadn’t accepted the fact that she was not going home…when she turned 18 and was released from being a ward of the state, she returned home to her family…only to find out that her mother had died (as she became an alcoholic after all of her children were stolen from her)…she met her father a week before he, too, died…and the moment he saw her, he looked at her hands to make sure it was her (b/c she had been burned as a baby and had scars on her hands-----before she told this story, I was talking to her about aboriginal women writers and I had noticed her hands and was struck by how beautiful they were…so at the mention of this detail, it gave me goosebumps…) …..watching her face and her eyes as she told us her story, I could see how she has had to distance herself from her story…I can’t imagine having a life story that is like that, and having to share it over and over again, having to find words for your life that will always be hopelessly inadequate…jesus!!! The strength of people amazes me… and the resonance of loss is terrifying.

But, the everyday injustice that is still running rampant leaves me absolutely breathless…it is unbelievable…it is un-fucking-real! ….and the ways in which people try to justify it by dehumanizing an entire race, is an age-old story…we talk about learning from our mistakes, but we just seem to be doomed to repeat them again and again…

Whew.

Well...on a lighter note, last night, yarrow and I went up to the roof and frolicked in the rain…it’s amazing to have someone who understands and shares the excitement of all the small things that people usually scoff at…people came up and asked us if we were drunk, b/c we were just smiling and laughing and letting it rain on us…but, no..had to assure them that we were just high on life…for some reason, it’s a difficult concept for some to grasp. But oh well…we had a fan-fucking-tastic time anyway! It’s amazing to just stop for a moment, to let the rain fall where it lands…we spend so much time (metaphorically and literally) dodging the raindrops…occasionally you just have to stop and let yourself feel it.

Hah…also…yarrow was trying to take pictures of the gigantic bats that always fly overhead at night…and she had a flash on her camera, and it completely threw the bats off, and their flying got wacky… it was an amusing sight…but next time we’ll have to be more careful…don’t want to make the bats run into a tree or anything. :-)

Last night, Aaron and I watched “City of God”…second time I’ve seen it…but I was still in tears, and he was so sweet and held my hand to make sure I was ok (Which was made even sweeter by the fact that he is one of the shyest boys I’ve met, so I know it took guts for him to reach out to me like that….people are constantly amazing me)…and it was the most bizarre thing to walk into the other room where everyone was watching “The OC” which is about the most pretentious, narcissistic, superficial show ever…talk about dissonance..wooboy.

Anyway…I am happy…just went to an aromatherapy shop…smelled sooooo good, I had to go in…you know I’m a sucker for smells…I ended up buying a bottle of jasmine extract which smells amazing…and I was just reading the bottle, and apparently it is an aphrodesiac…didn’t know that when I bought it…but it made me laugh out loud…I had been wondering why the scent made my knees weak. ;-)

Anywhoo…I have to skedaddle…off to seduce a flash-dazzled bat!
muah!

random fact: there is no word in any of the aborginal dialects for "death"...it doesn't exist...life is seen as a circular path, not a linear one...i leave you to ponder the significance of circles....

final random tidbit:....it is the aboriginal belief that if you're listening and didn't hear something, then that means that you either weren't ready to hear it, or weren't meant to.

and here is a poem by an aboriginal writer that struck me with its quiet sadness and simple beauty...

Song
Antigone Kefala

I long to find you
in the uncertain silence
of my evenings
when darkness comes
and when the streets
are desolately empty
when nothing speaks
only my need of you.

whew...all in one breath!

Ok…so, we’re going to do this bullet point style…

--had the MOST amazing night last night…what could be more unbelievably perfect than going to a free jazz concert in the park…surrounded by thousands upon thousands of smiling and dancing people…hearing fan-fucking-tastic New Orleans jazz…being outside, under the stars…working your way to the front of the masses, being inches away from the stage…seeing the sweaty smiles of the musicians…dancing like no one is watching…seeing yourself up on the big screen since you had no idea that you were being filmed…incidentally being on Australian TV…getting all hot and sweaty from too much dancing and smiling, and then having it rain…getting soaked to the skin…having soaked conversations with complete strangers…getting the chills when everyone started singing together…watching everyone around me, not a sad face in the crowd (you can’t stay sad while listening to that kind of toe-taping goodness)…feeling so insanely happy to be alive!!!! I actually started to tear up, b/c I was so happy, and in that moment there was nowhere else I would have rather been.

It was amazing…I know I say that about a lot of things, since amazement is my metaphysical nourishment….but god…it was all so fucking PERFECT!!!!
We all walked back in the drizzling Australian rain…

A brief recap of the past few days:

Tried kangaroo….umm…yeah…was interesting. Wouldn’t make a habit of it.

--worst pickup line…while you are in the ocean, guy approaches you and asks “so, aren’t you afraid of sharks?” your response: “no, they don’t come in this close to shore…” his witty response: “I meant me.” Horribly terrible, but laughable, nonetheless.

---accidentally insulted one of the aussies that lives with us (a really shy, sweet bloke named Aaron)…he went to a dancing club with a bunch of us, but I could tell he was feeling really awkward, and didn’t really know what to do…he was extremely self-conscious, and was just leaning against the wall…so I pulled him with me onto the dancefloor and made a fool out of myself so he wouldn’t feel as awkward…was a total goofball…my friends started pointing at us, and when he noticed, he got all self-conscious again, and to try to reassure him, I told him they were just pointing b/c they thought he was cute…later, I learned that here in Australia, if you tell someone that he or she is “cute”, what you are actually saying is that they are “interesting but bad looking”…..oy. Had to do some major damage control once I learned what I had actually said to him…we had a laugh though…the slang here is hilarious…so far I think my favorite would be the term “bum fluff” which is defined as “the beginnings of facial hair on an adolescent”….ah, language is such a beautiful thing. :-)

…saw another car accident (the drivers here are ABSOLUTEY insane)…it was terrible….we were walking down the sidewalk, and saw this man get hit by a car (everyone here jaywalks, and it is nerve-wracking to watch, especially the kids, b/c they think it is a game, and the drivers NEVER stop for jaywalker, they just expect them to get out of the way in time…)…I hope he was ok (fingers-crossed), but all of us were shaken and almost in tears (b/c this man’s wife was crying and shaking him to try to wake him up b/c he was unconscious, and it was simply terrifying), and this skeezy guy came up to us and actually tried to hit on us (I could not believe it!!!!)…he asked us what pretty girls like ourselves were doing here…I asked him what the hell was he thinking, this man just got hit by a car, and was not moving, he possibly was dead, and he had the fucking audacity to try and hit on us….he said the guy was probably just faking it, ignored our looks of horror, and then just went on to ask me if I had a boyfriend and if I’d be interested in going out to dinner with him…I was so appalled and disgusted, I did something that I tend not to do…told him to “fuck off” and “grow a heart”…if you know me, you know I would NEVER say anything like this to anyone…but I was so so sooo furious at his insensitivity, and he was absolutely unbelievable…and this was one time that I didn’t give a shit if I hurt his feelings or not (pardon the language)…but, for fuck’s sake!? WHO does that?! Ahhrrrh! Ok, trying to let it go…but sometimes people just completely unhinge me with their callousness. Difficult for me to handle it gracefully.

On a funnier and lighter note…

---we got really realllllly drunk on Friday night (not belligerent, just goofy), had a fantastic time partying it up and club-hopping (most clubs here don’t have a cover charge, which is nice)…Yarrow and I started skipping down the sidewalk and waving at random people on the street as we were walking to Oxford street (which is the gay club mecca)…we all had an insane time…dancing the night away…being around tons and tons of people who were all decked out…at this one club, this one guy pulled Yarrow, Dain, Aly and I up on stage with him…so we all danced with everyone watching and cheering…good times! Everyone is unbelievably friendly…very safe street…tons of smiles and “g’days”…it’s open until the wee wee hours…and it is a ridiculously fun place…we all got back extremely late…and Yarrow and I (she and I have gotten to be really close, and we have very similar senses of humor…bizarre, as it were! We crack each other up all the time…)..so we came back and started trying to communicate with the bats from her balcony (we were still quite drunk, as they make their Long Island Ice teas VERRRRY strong here)…we must have looked insane, but ah well…so it goes! All of us had a blast…and I absolutely adore each and every person in our group…the friendships are very fluid…and I feel comfortable with everyone, and it is an amazing combination of minds and craziness! Never a boring moment…and funnily enough, drama has already taken hold. Figures. Oy! :-)

Then, on Saturday, a bunch of us took the ferry to Manly…and that was brilliant! I love ferries…it was a boo-tiful day…we went swimming and walked around and got dive-bombed by a bunch of seagulls…my wrists (of all places) got sunburned….the water was perfect…..but towards the end the lifeguards had to make the announcement that the wind had shifted and was starting t blow in the jellyfish…so, we got out of the water in a hurry, since I know how fabulous it feels to get stung. Ow. But it was a great tiring day….we do TONS of walking, here! Very healthy town….and we all find that we are starving ALL the time (literally)….and it gets to be so hot I take showers 3 times a day just to cool off, and I have to go to bed wet and in only underwear in order to get any sleep….the heat has also given me crazily intense dreams…and I have a much harder time sleeping in…those lovely vocal birdies!

I’ve spent the entire day doing research on Aboriginal writing, contemporary vs traditional oral methods….fascinating stuff…been looking at the concepts of identity and the creation and socialization of the element of the “Other” in Australian culture, and how that comes through in writing and poetry…the circularity of movement in the written word, the discourse and questions that arise from it, etc…it’s what I’m going to be doing my big research project on….so I'm all excited about it! Pumped, really!

Whew, boy!

Anywhoo…gotta get back to me work!
Peace!

random moments that are rarely random

last night i was walking downtown, and i saw this little boy with a plastic bag tied to a string...he was running in and out of doorways with it trailing behind him...and he had the biggest blue eyes i have ever seen...i asked him what he was doing, and he said he was trying to make it fly. He said he couldn't seem to run fast enough, and he was too short to get it off the ground....he handed it to me, and asked me to try...so i ran around the sidewalk at midnight with a plastic grocery bag attached to a string, finally managed to get it airborne, and he clapped and gave me this smile that melted my heart.....

then, i was walking, and it was extremely windy....all these leaves were caught up in this mini whirlwind, and it was picking up all these newspapers (so beautiful)...and it was swirling all around me....tiny leaves plastered in my hair, sand in my eyes....and then the newspaper ran smack into my leg, and then it got stuck in my flip flop, and i could not stop laughing and smiling...b/c life is like that. :-)

i was on the bus today, staring out the window (b/c i love to people watch), and this other bus pulled up along side us, and i caught the eye of this 80 year old man, and got a very naughty wink from him....it made my day. Very romantic.

life is certainly like that.
:-)

mmm..it is raining...i am soaked clear through, and it is WONDERFUL!!!

on a more sobering note...we were walking back from the beach today, waiting at a crosswalk, and we saw this puppy run out into traffic...this girl ran after it, almost got hit herself....i have the image of her calling to him, he looked over his shoulder, and almost seemed to smile at her (that way that dogs do)...his tail was wagging, and you could tell that he was so so happy right at that moment, expecting her to follow him......everyone was terrified, hoping that the cars would miss him...and all we could do was stand there and do nothing...terrible helplessness....he got run over, twice...and there was this collective intake of breath, and everyone's hands instinctivly went to their mouths, and no one could speak...

it shook all of us...that reminder of how fleeting life is, how precious...how instantly it can be there, and then gone...right when you turn to look over your shoulder and smile at someone.

....

but it is raining, and it is beautiful, and all so fleeting...and you still have to stop to look over your shoulder and smile sometimes...

"heather's the gutsy one...!!!"

Could life be any MORE amazing??!!!
These past 24 hours have been some of the most amazing 24 hours….talk about a total and COMPLETE turn around…I feel like life was just trying to prove some kind of lesson to me…and I love it!

Lesse…I’ve just been completely inundated with amazing craziness…

First I went to the supermarket and was kind of weirded out to see an entire frozen baby octopus in a bag…and they sell refrigerated pet food…I realized that I have been majorly craving cayenne pepper…so I ended up buying some (and felt kind of silly)…then I went back to the house and played a heated and somewhat dirty game of scrabble with some friends that led to fucking brilliant conversations and intense bonding…heard some rumors about me (which were interesting, and completely false…apparently everyone thought I was dating Luke, and thought that the reason he dropped out of Australia had something to do with me….definitely not true)

Then we went in search of gelato, and ended up going to the park and playing a hardcore game of frisbee …this tiny dog walked up to us with a small girl’s bathing suit in his mouth, no little girl to be found…had a good laugh…then, a bunch of the girls I was with started oogling this group of boys who were playing soccer…and someone had a camera, and tried to surreptitiously take pics of them so we all could get a better look at them…it was about the most hilarious and obvious thing ever..b/c we were cracking up, and then we all started doing dolphin impressions and must have looked like we were all on drugs, but we were just having a good time….

The boys, of course, noticed…and they started showing off for us, and then they took out their camera and took pictures of us….it was insanely bizarre…and all the girls with me were too embarrassed to actually go up to them and talk to them…so this went on for quite a while…and it was completely ridiculous…so I finally pulled them up off the ground and dragged them over to where the guys were sitting, so they’d get a chance to talk…and since everyone but me, apparently was too embarrassed b/c the guys were really good-looking, I ended up randomly starting up a conversation by saying “hi, so, we were taking pictures of you, and you were taking pictures of us, so we thought we’d come over and not be dumb and actually say hi”

…classic heather move. I figure, people are people..and if you want to talk to someone, you should do it, for goddsake…don’t just sit there giggling and taking pictures of them from 40 feet away. Sheesh. The girls were still embarrassed though, and since I didn’t care much, I decided to just talk to them like human beings…and thankfully I was able to be uber silly and break the ice for everyone…I figure making yourself look like a dork usually makes others feel like they can be THEIR true dorky selves too, and so it all works out for everyone! And it did…

we found out that they were all from Sweden…and, of course, my first response was “so, do you know what Swedish fish are?”…apparently, Swedish fish AREN’T from Sweden…they got really confused, and it was hilarious…especially when I explained to them that I had broken a tooth on one…so, I was just being a total goof with them, and then everyone got less nervous and finally started actually talking to each other and being more real.

this one boy, Stefan (who is 28 and studying graphic design here at Sydney) was holding a guitar…so I asked him to play us something…but he was missing a string and got kind of shy, saying that it wouldn’t sound good…I told him not to be silly and play something anyway, and he did, and it was beautiful! There were three other guys, Magnus (20), Bjorn (23), and Calle (21—the one the girls were oogling)….and they were all super chill and fun…We all got to talking, and then decided to meet up later to go to a bar (on a Monday night, with class starting at 7am the next morning…hmm)…So, we planned to meet back in the park at 10pm…

and walking back to our house, everyone was going “ohmigod, heather, I can’t believe you did that!!! Oh my GOD, you are sooo freeeking gutsy (oy)! How can you just talk to strangers like that?!!! Oh my god, you got us all a date with four gorgeous Swedish boys!!…how’d you do that?!” ….it was kind of ridiculous, and they were all squealing in high pitched voices which made everyone in the street look at us…but they kept saying “wow, we are in awe of you….teach us how to do what you do!”…RIDICULOUS!!! These girls make me laugh so so sooo hard. Love ‘em to death, and now we are all buddies…but they would not stop going on and on about it……and I had to assure them that I’m NOT gutsy…it made me laugh, having to explain to them that I’m not gutsy, that life is just short…and if you want to talk to someone, you should just do it…chances are, maybe they want to talk to you too…who knows.

So, we went back…they were all exited and got all spiffed up…I made some dinner (with TONNNNSSS of cayenne pepper!!! Yum!)..and had a bizarre encounter with one of the guys from italy that is staying at the house with us…his name is Massimo (how Italian can you get?!)…and he was embarrassed b/c he thinks his English is bad…I assured him that, hey, I was an ENGLISH major, and MY English is bad! …that made him less nervous, and we started chatting while we were both cooking..i managed to make a huge mess, which was fantastic! And incidentally I was cooking pasta! Muah……Then, out of the blue, I remembered that there is this little fantasy that I had about Italy that revolves around fireflies..and I had no idea if there were any fireflies in Italy…so I asked him, and managed to confuse him beyond belief…so I had to do an impression of a firefly…I flapped my arms and pointed to my butt and pretended that it was lighting up….he gave me this incredulous look, and then said “yes!! What you are, we have those!!!”…then he told me the name for firefly in Italian..and that made me really happy….my life is more complete now that I know Italy really DOES have fireflies! Wooo!

Anyway…so, later, we all walk back down to the park…now the ENTIRE group knows what’s going on, b/c the girls are gushing about how hot these guys are, and how gorgeous their accents are….and then they freak out, b/c they realize that we didn’t ask them their names, and they don’t know our’s..and oh my god, we are going to meet a group of nameless Swedes in a park in Australia, and oh my god, we are SOOOOO sketchy! ….then they were worried that we would be on time..and we couldn’t be on time, we had to be at least 3 minutes late…fashionably late, right…..hilarious!!!!!

So…we met up with zee Swedes, and had a blast at this bar that played an insane mix of music (including the hamster dance song!!!! How cool is that!!!) …Stefan and I had a fantastic conversation…talked about all kinds of things, the best we could….as he is still taking English classes…I find it amazing how you can open up to total strangers…that irrational feeling of trust you get with some ppl…I love it…makes it all worth it..! So…there were tons of us there at this bar, being silly and dancing around and talking and talking…everyone has decided that it is their mission to get heather to like beer by the end of the trip…funny..it’s going to be hard for them, though…I’m still a fan of the girly fruity drinks! I’d never survive in Australia on my own…hah!

Anyway…so, the girls were incredibly excited to be actually TALKING to these guys they had thought were completely intimidating and unapproachable (the lesson here is that EVERYONE thinks EVERYONE ELSE is intimidating!!!)…the boys were intimidated by us…figures! Anyway…alcohol, being the social lubricant, led everyone to extreme levels of giddiness…I got tons of drunk girls screaming “heather, you are SOOOOOO cool! Can I BE you??!!!” from across the room. Interesting experience, I must say….We must have come across as EXTREMELY annoying and loud Americans…but it’s all good. :-)

So, Stefan and I were playing it a bit more low-key, b/c we were really enjoying just talking to each other…we compared tattoos and life stories…talked about wrinkles and how exciting life is…talked about the kind ppl we had met when we traveled…all kinds of things..

I love how you can click with certain people…and it’s so interesting when that happens and you don’t really share a common language, /c it makes you realize how much we depend on language to communicate…and how sometimes language doesn’t matter all that much…b/c ppl, are, after all, ppl.

And it has always fascinated me to think about why I naturally gravitate towards some people…as an example…all the guys are interesting and fun (and make all my friends pant)…but for some reason, Stefan came across to me as the most genuine….and you can tell a lot about someone based on how they look at you…the ways ppl can look you in the eye, the ways you actually “see” somebody who is a complete stranger…and these are the ppl that I naturally feel comfortable around…being able to be yourself with someone, if even for just a moment, there is nothing at all like it. I also really admired the way that even though he was initially shy and embarrassed, he still played that 5 string guitar when I asked him to…and that is amazing, to me.

Also…he doesn’t come across as a player, b/c the other Swedes, though they are awesome guys that I have an easy time getting along with and chatting with, all seem to be aware of just how good looking they are…and it helps that they are being very obviously drooled over….but ppl that are trying to keep up a certain image that they feel they must project don’t interest or attract (platonically and otherwise, the rules are still the same) me in the way that ppl who are being genuine do. And you can TELL when someone is being genuine with you.

Ah…here’s a funny little anecdote from last night…
there was this HILARIOUSLY awkward moment when Stefan was trying to say how he had left his backpack somewhere….but he couldn’t think of the word, so he said “yeah, and I looked down, and then I realized that I didn’t know where my package was…”…needless to say, all us Americans with out dirty minds and slang cracked up…..he got red in the face and embarrassed b/c he thought we were laughing at him…but we assured him it was just that the word “package” can refer to something else…certainly not a backpack…so he asked me what it meant…and I was incapable of telling him (b/c I definitely was not drunk), and I was too embarrassed for him and for all of us…so Kerri finally chimed in and shouted “it’s a guy’s..(blank)” and points to her lap…Stefan then turned an amazing shade of red….and then finally was able to laugh at the whole situation…good times…

So, now we’re all going to go to Manley Island this weekend on the ferry and hang out…and Stefan is excited that we all live so close to each other, within walking distance…so we all might be going out later tonight, b/c we don’t have class tomorrow….

So, we all stayed up WAY too late….woke up bright and early this morning…we had an AMAZING 4 hours of class…went to this aboriginal college/resource center and our lecturers had me completely riveted….got me really excited and passionate…I stayed afterward to talk to one of the lecturers, and it was fantastic…he’s an amazingly dynamic personality and so passionate about his people..and he has a hilarious sense of humor and the BEST smiling eyes I have seen in a long long time…just looking at him made me want to smile…it’s contagious. Loved it!

So, I came out of class totally enthralled….and then, to top it all off, a few of us went to Bondi beach….and t’was brilliant!!!!! The guys from our program that came with us got all excited b/c there were all these topless women sunbathing, and so, they had us set up camp right smack dab in the middle of a whole posse of half naked women..and when we confronted them about it, they replied “well, duh, wasn’t it obvious?!”…precious moments. Our whole group is getting tight now…and it’s unbelievable…

And the beach was boo-tiful…the water was invigorating and had us all cussing/exclaiming a lot. :-) And there were all these little kids running around laughing, and it made me so so happy! Plus, when you walk barefoot on this sand, it makes the funniest noise (I kept on turning around and asking ppl if they heard seals, or if it was just me…b/c it sounds like seals barking…I kid you not!)

4 of us girls took a cab home, and on the way back fantasized about renting a house near the beach (b/c apparently the rent there is really low, go figure) and staying there for a while after the program ended…and then doing all of our traveling from there…ah, dreams.

Anyhoo…these past 24 hours have been a plethora of “wow, ain’t life funny” kind of moments…and my whole attitude from the other day has been COMPLETELY switched…we’re talking POLAR OPPOSITE!!!! I am suppppperrrr excited about all of it!!!! The people, the friends, the strangers, the accents. The genuine moments, the amazing aboriginal studies that get me all riled up and passionate, the sand that sounds like seals!!! Wooot!

And it cracks me up that now I have the reputation of being “THE GUTSY ONE”…and now, apparently, the mantra among my friends here is “life is short…no more chickenshit”…and they attribute that lovely little attitude to me…hah!

Too crazy…but you gotta love it..

Off to cook some more cayenne pepper!!! Mmboy!

the air here is so soft..almost like water...

What is really amazing is using a dirty frying pan. Last night, I made myself some dinner in a pan that had been used by some kids from Japan, and it was an extremely interesting sensation to taste their food in my own…it made me thoughtful. I suggest trying it sometime!


Our classes started today and we learned a lot about the archaeology and evolutionary theories of Australia…and some aboriginal background that was fascinating. Before showing us slides of aboriginal skeletons and artifacts, the prof. had to give this disclaimer, in case there were any aborigines in the audience, b/c apparently they consider it to be taboo to look at any pictures of their dead ancestors…and knowing this, it made it slightly creepy for us to look at the pictures…cultural dissonance is interesting.


An interesting fact…hobbits, in fact, DID exist (maybe not the kind that we think of). We learned that they are actually a type of hominid (about a meter tall) that lived a long long time ago. That threw me for a loop…I thought the teacher was joking…:-)

Also, the aborigines were the first bakers in the world.

It’s sad to be so far away from all the people I love…making friends is never hard (and the ppl on the trip are all amazingly cool and fun, and I have no problem getting along with them), but it is strange to be in a situation where no one really “knows” you…I sat on the roof late last night and looked up at the stars and felt melancholy for a good twenty minutes, which promptly changed to laughter as a giant cockroach ran over my foot, scaring the bejeezus out of me. :-)

Last night I met a boy from Israel (his name is Yan, which I think is a really cool name, and I stupidly told him so, to which he responded “heather, that’s not bad either, in fact, that sounds quite nice”) who is staying at our house, he’s studying engineering here and has never been to the US...we watched part of an American movie that featured ppl with southern accents, and he asked me if every state had their own special accent…I had to think about that for a bit, b/c it’s not really something you consider (but I guess it’s true)…a preview for “Underworld” came on, and I mentioned that I had seen it and that it was an awful movie, and he gave me this wide-eyed look as if I was possessed or something, and then I saw the date pop up for when it was due to come out (January 16th)…I had to explain that, no, I wasn’t crazy, but movies came out in the US before they came out in Australia….we watched tv for a bit, talking about where we were from…had a good laugh with him about the insanity of Australian commercials…they are so very strange…one of them showed this cartoon boy going whacko and milking a cow as if it were a weapon…and it was, incidentally an ad for a brand of shoe. Go figure.

Also met this girl from England who is almost scarily nice…she always gives us the biggest smile and “’ELLO”…talked to her about New Zealand, and other random things…we lost track of time, and incidentally burned a piece of toast, filling the room with a lovely aroma…but it made us laugh. It’s nice to bond over burnt pieces of bread. :-)

This morning, I woke up to find this strange lobster-like creature walking around my room…I stared at it for a while..it seriously looked like a mini albino lobster…bizarre.

Hmm…lesse, what else…oh, I am in love with ginger beer…tasty stuff. I really want to hug a wallaby. It’s rained twice here, and I seem to miss it each time. They have Plumeria trees and Mynah birds here (just like Hawaii) which is exciting. When you use a crosswalk here, the noise that is made to tell you when to walk sounds like alien lasers…kind of scary, makes you feel like you are in a videogame.

Gotta go do some research…and then grocery shopping…(produce is really expensive here…I had to pay $3 for a single red bell pepper…oy! And I can’t find any tofu!)
Anyway, I am off.

sand between my toes...

I am exhausted…been a long day…

Last night was amazing…we went to a local pub that had pretty horrible live aussie rock…the keyboard player thought he was being really hardcore and picked his keyboard up at the end and threw it down on the ground, and everyone in the pub just kind of looked like him like he was a wee bit off. But the night was fun…the place was hopping…the whole group went out and walked up and down the strip…lots of sore feet, but big smiles.

I love to spend time on the rooftop terrace we have..there’s this tree that all these bats like to have party time in. And these bats are HUGE! They look like small flying monkeys…from the roof you can watch ppl walk by…and we were lucky and happened to see a drunk aussie walk right under us and pee in the bushes, singing some off-key song with his Australian accent…beautiful moment. :-0 He must have been surprised to hear giggles coming from somewhere above him…probably thought he was hearing things.

Also..there was this huge freak out moment when we all saw this gargantuan spider (called a Huntsmen) on the wall in the laundry room…no one believed that it was real…the body was about the size of your hand, and the legs were furry. Gasping…comments ranged from “OMIGOD! it’s as big as an oatmeal cookie!” to “maybe it’s not real, maybe they painted it on the wall to scare us!”…but it was real, alright, and apparently these kinds of spiders crawl under our room doors each night and chill on the walls…a little unsettling, as I have never been too fond of spiders, especially the huge furry ones that look like they are on steroids. Oy!


We went down to Bondi beach today (the most famous beach in all of Australia)…and it was absolutely perfect! SO many ppl! Swarming!!
Insane rip tide…beautifully clear water…aussie lifeguards everywhere to make sure no one dies b/c the rip tides are ridiculous, will rip your swimsuit right off…and yes, the lifeguards really do wear those bathing caps, and yes, they DO look like what you imagine they look like…we went body surfing, and were all out of breath by the end. Met a group of nice Italians in the water…what I love is swimming and hearing all the different accents bobbing around next to you…quite an experience….

Someone stole my shirt while I was in the water, so I had to go all the rest of the day just in my wet swim suit top… but thankfully everyone was really chill and Australia is pretty damn hot, so it didn’t matter too much…but I was kind of bummed to lose that shirt…hopefully it is in good hands. And a shirt, is, after all, just a shirt.

We went on our bus tour, saw the sights…Opera House, Sydney Harbor (makes me think of “Finding Nemo”), the redlight district, the bridge (that apparently is lit up at night to look like a pulsing heart)…etc etc.

Our classes start tomorrow…so trying to gear up for that. Thankfully the University is just across the street…and there are ducks!!!! Woo!

Oy…my mind is mush right now, and I know that there are tons of things that I am forgetting to mention…urf.

But here are two interesting facts:
Prostitution is legal here…and if you want to have a fruit stand you have to have a college degree…

Ok, I am off.
I need a nap.
And I am still sandy.

Ah.I bet the spider on steroids is waiting for me. Hopefully he is of the friendly sort.

first day down under....

My god! Woooooot!
I am here…and it is absolutely flippin’ AMAZING!
All of us are jetlagged out of our minds (so I might not be too coherent)…but we had the swankiest plane ride EVER…they flight attendants were essentially throwing alcohol and gourmet food at all of us (who ever heard of wine at breakfast?), and they had the most unbelievable Kiwi accents….i was swooning…wanted to keep pressing the call button just to hear them talk to me. They were sososo polite, but hardly smiled (which was a bit disconcerting, they have a very professional attitude)…But, they call you “madam”…love it!

In the space of a day I have learned that I am a COMPLETE sucker for accents. Eee.

Talked to loads of aussies on the plane and in the airport…they are super friendly…and the ACCENTS!!! Woo! Had some interesting and random conversations that made me smile wide. :-)

It’s strange to be technically existing in the ”future”…we lost Friday…(makes me wonder what I would have done with that day…hmm) Curious.

The weather here is balmy at the moment…gorgeous breezes, the air smells like how I’d imagined Australia to smell like—I imagined the smell to have some sort of “accent”…:-) (but it’s going to get hot soon, apparently it was 113 degrees a couple of days ago…so this niceness won’t be lasting…damn!)

…the area we are staying in Sydney reminds me of a cross between Hawaii and Berkeley…so it is absolutely GLORIOUS! Just mosey on down the street and you are surrounded by loads of bookstores, little cafes and shops and markets…And there is thai food about 2 minutes down the road. Muah! And the coffee here is absolutely intense and delicious…I was in desperate need of caffeine. And this stuff is THICK! Mmm.

My kind of place!!!!

And the University of Sydney is right across the street, (where we’ll be having classes), and it is by far the most beautiful campus I have EVER seen! There are fountains, and parrots, and flowers, and trees everywhere…I can’t wait to lounge about in the grass.

What is kind of strange here down under is that everyone is EXCEPTIONALLY attractive (it’s almost ridiculous), all kinds of mixtures of ethnic backgrounds (those with aboriginal heritage are absolutely STUNNING! Some of the most beautiful ppl I’ve seen…)…and everyone looks incredibly healthy and happy (And tan, of course), and boy, are they smilers! Makes me happy…strangers will smile at you from their cars, or in the crosswalk, or from behind windows…it’s lovely. My favourite thing though, is that they have (on the whole) the BEST smile and eye wrinkles! I was talking to this one woman (who was telling me about this certain kind of cookie that she said I HAD to try..she got really excited and animated, and it completely made my day) and I could not help staring at her beautiful collection of wrinkles around her eyes and mouth…people here aren’t afraid to wear their lives on their faces. My kind of place!

Tonight a whole bunch of us are going out on the town, as it IS Saturday night! We’ve been warned NEVER to engage in drinking contests with the aussies or we might just die (in all seriousness…apparently the aussies have great fun trying to “tank the yank”, and they love to encourage you to keep drinking until you are comatose. So, we’re all going to steer clear of any contests…also we’re wary of looking the other way when we cross the street…apparently last year, two students (from another school) were crossing the street, it was their second day in Australia, and they ended up looking the wrong way, got hit by a bus, and died. Very sobering…after that story we took about 5 minutes to cross one intersection…lots of paranoid squealing and sprinting… as the drivers here are notoriously bad…so jaywalking is quite risky.

The place we’re staying at is this huge old house, we all have our own rooms, and it is fantastic! We’re certainly spoiled at the moment…we’ve been told that it is all downhill (in terms of accommodations and luxuries—like showers) from here…but I am looking forward to roughing it…I really really want to sleep under the stars!!!!! But don’t especially favour an encounter with anything venomous….

My favourite part of the house is the creaky stairs…for some reason, I’ve always loved creaky stairs…there are several other students from around the globe that are staying here, too…kind of like a hostel…they are all extremely outgoing, and boast several different kinds of accents, and everyone just chills on the couches, chatting and smiling.

There are all these parrots that live outside my window, when I got to my room I passed out for an hour (since I only got about 3 hours of sleep on the plane) and these birdies decided to have a singing/barking contest…woke me up (bolted straight up in bed) and I was so confused, b/c I didn’t know where I was….but they are very friendly (though noisy as hell), and they like to look in and watch me (a wee bit creepy, especially when they cock their heads and make this cooing noise)…I think they are just being blatantly flirtatious. And ah, as for flirtation…the aussies are OUTRAGEOUSLY flirtatious…though not in a creepy way, which is good…but they have no shame. It’s highly amusing…they are not shy, to say the least.

Well I have to head back to the house (in an internet café at the moment)…cook up some din-din for myself (NO VEGEMITE…oy!), and then we’re off to experience the nightlife.

Tomorrow we have a bus tour and get to go swimming…no complaints about that!

Anyway…to sum it all up…I am in a perpetual swoon, it seems…everything and everyone here down under is sooo beautiful…and the air, I am convinced, has a sexy accent.

There’s so much to say, but I better run, it’s about to get dark, and it’s not too safe to walk alone after dark…

Off and running!!!!!!! IN AUSTRALIA!!!! My god!!!!!!!!
*grinning goofily*

woot!

off!

hah...

ok..almost almost ALMOST gone!

my dad went crazy with the reflective tape...taping it to every possible surface...so, if anyone needs to know where heather is, just look for the shiny yellow tape-covered gal wandering off....i'm sure it will keep me safe. :-)

so, my pack weighs like twenty BILLION freekin' pounds...rubs my shoulders raw...it makes me feel like some kind of hardcore weight lifter, just trying to get it on...and getting OUT of it--now THAT'S a fiasco...tried to take it off, ended up falling over on my back like a beetle (did my dad's impression of Kafka's Gregor, from "Metamorphoses")...you can see some pics of Mary Lynne trying to help me get up...it took a while, kind of embarrassing...but we had a good giggle....

but hopefully, if i ever get in a life and death situation with an irate kangaroo or pissed off koala, and happen to be knocked over on my back, hopefully i will be able to jump spryly to my feet and sprint to safety. *fingers crossed*

so, i'm working on verrrry little sleep...but all is well...i hope not too much lucidity is required of me today....

i love airports, I love the feeling of transition and movement and reflection that runs rampant in them…..
one of my favorite things to do is sit in an airport with my headphones on, listening to music, and watching people (I think I could just watch people all day, no joke…we are far more interesting than we give ourselves credit for)...you will notice that people often walk to the beat of the music, even though they can't hear it...it's an anomaly, really.

All the things you notice…LOVE IT! What is also fun is keeping your headphones on, but turning the music off and listening instead to what people say around you….devious, perhaps…but it results in many a poetic moment. I promise.

gotta skedaddle…

here is the link to some pics.. just copy/paste, and let the fun begin!!!! muah!

http://lclark.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002045&l=4dc5c&id=31600226

or..there is a link off to the right....that say's "Heather's Pics!!!!!!"....click...pretty self explanatory, really. :-)

cheers!

in the wee hours...

so soon....

i am so insanely excited...

other side of the world... what a concept.

feeling a bit overwhelmed (in a good way, though) by the inevitability of change...of possibility...of all the moments that have yet to happen, but are lurking right around that proverbial corner...

i am going to walk face first into each one...

and it is going to be AMAZING.
it can't be anything but.

*rubs hands together in glee*

it's almost as if i am walking right on the heels of the words that are writing me...
does that make sense only in my sleepy/giddy mind? hmmm...
ah well.

coherence is overrated anyway. :-)

ah...life. yes, life. how addictive.

testing...

just to see if this is working...

*...fingers crossed...*