A Birthday Sort of Weekend

March 23, 2014

Thursday

It was one of the most beautiful days in Warrnambool since I have arrived and... I had class all day. In between classes I was working on homework and group projects. I managed to go do some of it outside for about an hour. The afternoon consisted of me sitting in front of the computer in GIS class. At least this time the program decided to like me. For all of you who don't know what GIS is it is Geographical Information System. It allows us to import information and make maps. It sounds great and everything except this program has an attitude and mind of its own. It will close, crash, and say no constantly. It is a miracle anyone ever gets work done. Luckily, I was able to get mine done with no trouble!

After class, I ran into Evan who was heading over to the uni bar for all you can eat pizza night. I decided I could use a break from cooking. For $5 dollars I almost ate 1.5 pizzas. It was great. I went home very full and ready to do some homework. The rest of the night was me watching all my online lectures.

Friday

When I woke up I convinced myself I was going to have a very productive day then I looked outside... It was a monsoon. The morning turned into catching up with people back home and sending emails. Then I had lunch and took a nap. I ventured outside after I woke up and shortly returned to my dorm looking like I had just jumped in the ocean with my clothes on. I was having trouble with the door and my housemate, Nick, came to my rescue. It turned into him laughing at me. After I dried off I sat a talked to my other housemates. We then decided to head over to NRas for the free food that was being provided for the building opening. We quickly turned around once we saw that everyone was dressed in suits and ties. We got a good laugh out of it though.

Later that night was the first birthday party of the weekend. Lachie invited me over to his birthday party, but I first had to get ready for the Glow Paint party that my housemates and I were going to later. Emily, my housemate, picked out my outfit a couple days before. She and I were busy getting ready up until I left for the birthday party. Here are some of our pictures...

The girls + Nick

 Our serious model faces

Emily and Me

I headed off to Lachie's birthday party and had a good time celebrating with him and his friends. Then Sam, the other guy housemate, came and picked me up on the way to the gal for the paint party. (There are 2 boys and 8 girls in our house). When we arrived at the gal it was pretty dead but then some of our uni friends arrived. 

Jake and Eric started to show off their dance moves and got everyone out on the dance floor. It was a great night of dancing and just have a great time with all my uni friends! One of Emily's friends gave a ride home after a quick stop at McDonalds. Just to let you know... it tastes the same as back home. We ended up staying up later just talking before finally heading to bed.












Saturday

I eventually rolled out of bed at 10. Nick had some how destroyed his phone, so I told him I would head into town with him in the morning. We ended up catching the 11:30 bus. He wondered off to look for his phone and I walked around trying to find the dive shop. I was unsuccessful and walked back to our meeting location. We then had to walk to another to store to ask about the phones. He got one and life was back to normal. Then we went to the $2 shop so I could pick up some cards. I also bought an Australian flag. Somebody gave me the idea of having all my Australian friends sign it as a souvenir to take home.

When we got back I did some cleaning and wash. And started to get ready for the next birthday party. I also got a cat nap in too. Ben's birthday party was taking place around tea time. His birthday was on Friday too. He came and picked me up and headed over to his house. We all sat around and talked while he started making dips and all sorts of yummy things. He also convinced his mom to give all of us girls a tour of her rose garden, while the men were working hard at the barbie. It was absolutely beautiful!

 Nelly the neighbor dog poking his nose through the fence to say hi

Killer the cat

What was for tea... well everything. Steak, lamb, chook, and veggies! Jenny made a wonderful salad and Ben's sister in-law Catherine made an amazing coleslaw. What was for dessert?... cake of course!

The cake was delicious! Jenny made the perfect birthday cake... we all had two pieces. After tea, the actual drink, we were all sleepy from all the food we ate. We said our good-byes and headed home. It was such a wonderful night of laughs and conversation. 

Sunday

I had to get up before the sun today. Sonia asked me to sing in church again so we had to get there a little early. We ran through the music and I felt a little uneasy because I really didn't know the songs well but she assured me her mom would sing with me. Well, her mom sang with me on the first one but after that she was helping another woman in church. I was all by myself. I ended up singing a solo for the communion distribution. I kept backing up from the mic but Sonia's mom nudged me towards it basically telling me I was doing fine and keep going. The rest of the service went smoothly. Afterwards, one of my favorite old ladies in the church came up and gave me a hug. She was excited. More people came up to me a kept asking who I was because they hadn't see me before. The retired pastor came up and asked if I had had an more incidents with snakes. I told him my housemate had found a brown snake in our house on Monday, but I hadn't seen it. He has officially nicknamed me the snake charmer. I guess it is kind of fitting since I play oboe. 

After church, it was time for coffee according to Ben. So we headed over to Cafe Lava. We didn't exactly get coffee... something better hot chocolate!

Here is the menu just for hot chocolates. I decided to try something I had never heard of. I got the Zabione- "From the traditional Italian dessert comes a warm and velvety, delicate cream which is especially satisfying in the colder months. " I was surprised at how thick the drink was. It was almost like a warm custard. It was very good though!

When I got back to uni it was nap time! I have fallen back into my Sunday routine of church, nap, and then homework. I finished up my homework just before tea time. Sonia and her family were so kind and invited me and Jenny out to her home for Sunday roast. Her parents live out of Warrnambool on a hobby farm raising sheep. It was absolutely beautiful!

Some flowers

Introduction to the birds. The brightly colored one is a Rainbow Lorikeet. He was showing off his dance moves before I started the video. I am not sure what species the other bird is... maybe a Rosella?

 This is Gino the kelpie sheep dog. The bird calls him sometimes

 On our walk to the fig tree we saw Galahs

The Fig tree

Before

After... It is such a beautiful color and tastes delicious!

The view of the farmland. 

So for dinner tonight... it was a lamb roast with gravy. The veggies on the side were spuds, pumpkin, and parsnip served with a glass of red wine. It was sooo good! Then for dessert it was an apple cobbler with fresh, real whipped cream. It was so wonderful being invited to the family tea. Afterwards, we tried to spoil Russell with a bottle of milk. He is a little old for a bottle and wasn't able to drink out of it. The milk ended up going all over his face. He still liked the taste though. He didn't want to leave me alone. This sheep thinks he is a dog. He comes to you and expects a good scratch and baas when you walk away. He also jumped up on me when I stopped scratching him to talk. He is ADORABLE! 

Sonia's Dad, Me and the big baby, Russell!

Sonia's dad just sold most of their sheep and are getting new ones this coming week. He said in a month some of them will be lambing. I am super excited because he said I could come help out when it is time. I may get to help bring a new lamb into the world soon!! 

 The Black Cockatoos we saw when Russell was getting a good scratch.

We went back inside and did the dishes for Sonia's mom and then had tea before saying our goodbyes. It was so wonderful to be apart of Sonia's family for the night. I guess they like to invite all the international kids from church over. They really make me feel like a apart of a big family. And they all keep spoiling me with great food. I think I am going to need to go for a few runs this week to make sure I can work off all the food I have been eating this weekend. It was such a wonderful weekend! I am so happy that I got to get all my animal love too!