Home is where the heart is...

Spending time with Maddie’s and Lucy’s families in Melbourne and Sydney got me thinking about what it means to be at home. I had such a terrific time with those lovely individuals and families that welcomed me into their lives. It wasn’t one thing in particular, but more so their hospitality as a whole that made me feel at home. This is something I am having a hard time articulating. Basically it was rejuvenating to be in that setting again, surrounded by the family dynamic - the love.

In the past year I have lived in many places –Bodega Bay, California; Meadville, Pennsylvania; Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania; Townsville, Australia and I have spent a week each in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Sydney and Melbourne and am about to head to Jakarta for two months. All of this moving around has caused me to question the idea of a home. Don’t get me wrong, my home is with my family in Pennsylvania, but when you are travelling around so much away from home, I have realized I am beginning to create a “home” wherever I go. Some of the things one gets in a home-setting are love, comfort, support, and happiness along with a home-cooked meal now and again. Allegheny College, for example, has become a second home to me. The more I think about it, the more I realize that Townsville too has become a home for me; a place where I have began planting roots and feeling as though I do and have always belonged. When this feeling of settling down happens the friends I make become my immediate family, my dormitory becomes my bedroom and living room and my home-cooked meal come in the form of questionable dining-hall food prepared by a sweaty, angry chef named Steve.

They say home is where the heart is. Well, based on the different directions my heart is being pulled and the places and people I have fallen in love with, home to me can be a few different places –I wouldn’t have it any other way.

At Home at Home Masquerade Ball

No, no, it actually was at home at home, not just at home. You might have assumed that something called At Home at Home Masquerade Ball was (1) a masquerade ball (you’re so smart) and (2) most likely organized by the Redundancy Society of Repeating Redundancy. The evening was in fact organized by the social representatives at the Combined Catholic College and was a planned evening of Venetian mysteriousness and masked fun…held at home.


Everyone got dressed up in their finest attire, I adorning a nice sport coat and slacks, completed with a gold, silver and black mask and slicked over hair (without curly hair I am invisible!). Dinner was served to us at round tables set in a clearing marked by tiki torches and flamboyant, over-sized purple and silver balloons. Elegantly draped white lights were woven above us connecting the trees in a spectacle of ivory glow that illuminated our masquerade festivities. Just like the original Venetian party goers, we had a “nice” dinner served by the kitchen staff, an open bar (clutch), DJ, and dance floor…classic Venetian, no?

The night was an absolute blast. It was so fun to see everybody dressed up and having such a good time.

Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary

Last week I finally caved and did what every American international student does while studying at JCU—I went to the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary. Billabong houses native Australian animals, including koalas, wombats, echidnas, kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, kookaburras, dingoes, and crocodiles (no, these animals did not walk out of a Dr. Seuss book). I went with Katie, a friend of mine. We spent the first part of the morning walking around. My favorite was the dingoes, they were so pretty and even though they looked so domestic, I know they could have destroyed my face.

There were “shows” beginning at 10:30. First was at the koala exhibit. A bad-tempered, really pessimistic, and overly dramatic handler told us about the marsupial, how stupid they apparently are, how much we waste our time and money with them, and why he thinks they are too pampered. I don’t care what he says that unreasonable, childish handler, those koalas are adorable. If you paid $16 you could hold one and get a picture with a koala –I saved my money and just stood by the koala and got my own picture. Next on the program were the wombats. Same handler, same story. Wombats are distant relatives to koalas, however, this part of the animal family seems to have developed a rather aggressive food addiction, chubbed-up a bit, slept more and morphed themselves into what looks like an overstuffed hybrid of a koala, gopher, and porcupine…they are so cute. I did the same thing as with the koala, just sat next to it, pet it and got Katie to take my picture. The thing could barely stay awake in the handler’s arms (unless you tickle its toes, then it just lackadaisically “moves” its appendages).

Before the crocodile show I got to hold a bearded-dragon, shingleback skink and stand next to a beautiful eagle named Malikite. The crocodile show was stereotypically Australian –Steve Irwin style. There was steak hanging on the end of long poles, screaming handlers, jumping crocs, you know, the Aussie thing to do. Billabong was totally worth it—even if it was a mild tourist trap, I successfully avoided it, enjoyed myself, and saw some incredible Australian fauna.

Groovin the Moo

Sunday, May 2^nd, a music tour visiting only five cities in Australia rocked up to Townsville with a mix of alternative and rock bands –Groovin the Moo 2010. I had bought my ticket for this all the way back in February when people were freaking out with excitement. It was totally worth the hype. The festival was meant to last from noon to ten at night. Boyd, Maddie, Brooke and I rocked up around 2:00pm. We couldn’t have asked for better weather: clear blue skies, not too hot, sunny with a slight breeze. Perfect! And the atmosphere –I have to admit, this was my first music festival and I prior to my arrival, my imagination conjured up the spectacle of crazed fans storming ever closer to the stages, crowd-surfing hippies and the smell and sight of wispy smoke from seemingly illegal substances wafting above my head. What I experienced was a much milder version of my expectations and overall it was a terrific day.

My favorite acts included Miami Horror, Tegan and Sarah, Vampire Weekend, and Spoon. There some really creepy performances, aka Empire of the Sun, whose backup dancers wore masks that resembled porpoises or marlin or some other marine creature whose presence at a music festival, let alone a public space, was most undesirable…funny, really really funny, but unnecessary. GTM was a really awesome blend of Australian, Canadian and American music ranging from up-and-coming artists to well known bands. I definitely have been able to add a few more bands to my “favorites” list.

America Day!

Unlike July 4^th, Thanksgiving, and National Eat a BigMac Day, the America Day I am referring to was celebrated on my last Saturday in Sydney, Australia. “How strange?” you might ask. No worries, friend, let me explain.

I met up with my American friend, Rachel, early in the morning and we caught the ferry from Circular Quay in the city across the harbor to Taronga Zoo. We spent the morning and early afternoon exploring the massive zoo set on a rather steep hill sloped that so no matter where you are, the Sydney skyline is acts as a backdrop to the animals. I have to say, it is one of the nicest zoo’s I have ever visited. The enclosures were spacious and the animals were active. My favorites were the baby elephants, the otters, platypus, and Ralph, the emu.

Ralph received a name because he was extra special to Rachel and I. We walked into this sort of isolated part of the zoo when all of a sudden this massive emu was sort of just walking towards us (emu’s are huge, just smaller than ostriches). Ralph proceeded to be absolutely infatuated with Rachel’s long, curly hair and the two spent the better part of ten minutes circling each other, eyeing each other up. When we walked to the wombat enclosure just down the footpath, Ralph followed us. The entrance to the enclosure was through this little rock tunnel and just as we were approaching it, this woman came walking out not paying attention. When she saw us with a giant emu following, she literally screamed and turned around and ran…awkward. Anyways, we bid Ralph a fond farewell. Two thumbs up for Taronga.

After our animal adventures, Rachel and I caught the ferry to the famous Manly Beach. We had a late lunch of fish & chips and walked around the boardwalk and checked out some markets. By this time it was beginning to look a bit rainy. We hopped back on the ferry and headed back to my hostel to prepare ourselves for the evening.

The conclusion on America Day was a rugby game at the Olympic Park between the Brumbies and the Waratahs. We had received tickets because Lucy’s dad is a season ticket holder but was unable to go to the game. The stadium was massive –a holding capacity of 100,000—but held only about 40,000 fans. I have to admit, the game was a bit sluggish and slightly boring to watch….I prefer AFL heaps more. It was good to see, however, and I am glad to have the chance to experience such a different sport’s culture. Rachel and I had such a great day!

The Blue Mountains

So basically I discovered one of my favorite places in the world at the end of my lecture recess: the Blue Mountains. I know what you are thinking. "Blue, how can mountains be blue?!" Fear not my inquisitive compatriots, the mountains only look blue because of the eucalyptus trees. But for the sake of me sparing you the science, the mountains are blue. I did a group tour on my first day there. If you know me, and if you don't know me then you will know this about me by the time you finish reading this sentence, I hate tour groups (pretty anti-climatic, hey?). Just the whole hustle and bustle, the jockeying for position, fighting for that perfect Kodak moment spot, the cheesy tour-guide jokes - I am over it. Additionally, if you read my little blurb about Canadians (now heightened after Montreal knocked the Penguins out of the playoffs) then you already know how frustrating people can be in these tours, especially those annoying neighbors to the north. Short story made shorter, I got to see some cool things, learn some fun stuff, and yeah, it was nice. The day got 100x better when I got to my hostel...as cheesy as that sounds.

In the past two years I have stayed at 16 hostels. To put into perspective of how much I enjoyed the Katoomba International Youth Hostel in the Blue Mountains, it comes in ranked on my power-rankings at number 2. It was awesome. An epically huge kitchen, sitting room, couches and chairs everywhere, the nicest most helpful people at the reception area, my room was cleaner than clean (there were two of us staying in a room for six people), and it had a really nice veranda...WITH a fountain. On Sunday night I went to K-Mart (no judging) to buy a fleece and beanie because I was cold and had walked from the Tropics of Townsville to the moderate climate of Sydney to autumn in the mountains. After my shopping "spree", I went to a grocery store to get the food to prepare my own dinner for the first time since January. I was stoked. I had spicy lentil soup with beans, bread rolls, cheese, strawberries, and milk. Delicious. I literally spent the entire night after catching up on my journal. It was extremely relaxing.

Monday was spectacular. I woke up at 7:00am to pack up my stuff, check out, and eat breakfast (raisins here are called sultanas...therefore I had sultana bran - how exotic?) I had laid out what I will refer to as the "epic hike". It was epic for a number of reasons. First, it was meant to take between 5 and 7 hours. Second, because calling it the "mildly entertaining and slightly physically draining hike" would be an injustice. So, I began my "epic hike" in the direction of Ruin Castle. The hike took me down a valley through temperate rainforest, eucalyptus groves, boulders and scrub and massive fern beds. It was a perfect day - clear blue skies and cool. It took me about three hours to get to the Ruined Castle which is actually not a castle but rather a large rock formation that resembles the decrepit remains of ancient stone towers...ish.

Funny story. Once I actually made it to my destination I couldn't actually figure out how to climb it which as you can imagine was quite disappointing. I could just see and could hear two people standing on top of it so I figured there had to be some way to get up there. I tried everything. I began climbing each side of this monstrosity of a boulder literally running into a dead end on each attempt. Finally I did some fancy climbing and popped up near the top. I startled the people who were up there. Lucky for me my sudden appearance did not cause one of them to stumble off the edge because that would have for sure have put a damper on the mood. They got a good chuckle though because apparently there was an "easy" way up that I had not seen. That, and it was a small tunnel thing that I couldn't have fit in because of my large back-side....skipping ahead. The view was incredible. Once the people left I was up there just sitting on this small rock standing vertical in the center of the Blue Mountains. It was breath-taking.

I did the long hike back to the hostel. Because this blog post is beginning to look more and more like a bad chapter out of one of Bill Bryson's travel books, I will jump to the end. I made it back alive, stuffed myself with cheap delicious donuts, showered and caught the bus back to Sydney. Thanks for listening.

Americans Abroad: Rant 2, Part Canada

I have discovered something here in Australia; the truth about Canadians. You probably read the title of this post, "Americans Abroad, Rant 2..." but in all honesty this post goes out to all of those Canadians who generally have made me angry over my duration here in Oz. First off, this excludes the French Canadians because I love them, they are entertaining, and they speak French. It is the others I have my problems with.

For example, when I was having the time of my life snorkeling on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef I met "Pop Culture Canadian". There were about seven of us who stayed after dinner to chat the night away and we represented five or six countries. "Pop Culture Canadian," however, proceeded to dominate the conversations talking mainly about all of her favorite movies and how she couldn't wait to go home so she could stuff her face with donuts and drink "real coffee." Child please. She then went on to tell me "I lived under a rock" because I, the American, did not know any of the movies she was raving about (no one else didn't). When she asked if I actually had television and movies back at home I said yes, but I actually have a life. What. A. Bitch.

Our second example hails from Vancouver and I had the unfortunate luck of being in the same tour group as the "Chatty Canadians" my first day in the Blue Mountains. These two blonde pieces of work literally did not shut up the entire day. They talked over the tour guide, talked over the water falls, hell, I think they even tried to talk over themselves the stupid ditzes. I tried to convince one of the other blokes in the group to push one of them off a cliff but he thought I was just joking...such a shame.

In summary, Canadians are just like Americans except without the label. This makes them even worse because even though they still come with all of the annoying tendencies, people meet them and are like "you are from Canada?!?, that's so cool." This is what is wrong with the world.

Sydney

After my escapades in Melbourne I caught the one and a half hour international flight to Sydney (don't ask why it was international...) on Wednesday. I was staying with my friend Lucy and her family and she was there at the airport to pick me up. We spent Wednesday seeing the main harbor. I saw the "old" part of the city, the Rocks, walked across the Harbor Bridge, saw the Opera House, you know, saw the sights. The city is absolutely gorgeous sprawled out over a harbor in the shape of a large flowering plant rooted in the ocean and branching off into tens of hundreds of inlets and bays eventually stemming northward along the Hawkesbury River. Every vantage point is breathtaking. Here is a "Best of Sydney" list (not in any particular order):

1. Seeing Avatar in the world's largest IMAX theater. Spectacular is an understatement.
2. The hour(ish) long hike from Covelley to Bondi Beach along cliff tops and hidden beaches covered in white sand.
3. Learning about "Surviving in Australia" at the National Australian Museum. The exhibit had everything from poisonous animals to Aboriginal lifestyle and culture to dinosaurs. My kind of thing.
4. Climbing the Harbor Bridge! 437ft above the harbor and I could see from the ocean all the way west to the Blue Mountains (close to a two hour drive!). The climb took about three hours all together but was one of the best things I have ever done. Sydney is a beautiful city but it is even more beautiful when you can literally stand on top of it and look down on it. Clear blue skies and a light breeze made it the perfect day to do this.
5. Watching the sunset behind the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House from the Royal Botanical Gardens.
6. Getting my class on and going to the Opera House for a performance of the Silver Rose. It was my first ballet and I loved it. I actually saw a show in arguably the most famous performance space in the world and oh yeah, I got a "student rush" ticket. Thirty bucks for a seat on the balcony, dead-center. Clutch.

Victoria

It has been far too long since I have blogged...I am ashamed, having such a good time and not telling anyone about it. I suppose I can't have my birthday cake and eat it too (I feel as though I just misused that cliche). Enough of the fluff, I have a lot of posts for your viewing pleasure. First stop, the state of Victoria, Australia. Over lecture recess I went to Melbourne and stayed with two of my friends down there. Overall it was an awesome trip filled with beautiful scenery and welcoming people. It actually reminded me a lot of my summer in Bodega Bay - the atmosphere and the landscape are strikingly similar. Okay, here are a few highlights from my adventures:

1. My friend Lachy and his family took me to a Australian Football League game in the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. Also known as Australian Rules, the game is a hybrid of soccer and rugby. I couldn't help but feel, and don't judge me, like Harry Potter when he went to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weaselys. Thousands of people adorned in their teams colors, flags, scarfs, congregating to spectate a sport I knew nothing about but was excited to learn. The MCG holds over 100,000 people and is a massive oval. The game is fast-paced and extremely entertaining. It only took about twenty minutes for me to catch on to the rules of the game...although, I will refrain from sharing them with you via blog. If you are interested, ask or Wikipedia creep it. I will post a video link. These guys are ridiculous! Check it out, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx_nZhqfx68&feature=related (you will have to copy and paste it into your browser).

2. I stayed with my friend Maddie and her family for my last two(ish) days in the city. Maddie was a great tour guide and we saw both the "tourist spots" and the "local spots". My personal favorite was our trip to St. Kilda which is a nice little suburb in the city right on the Bay. We had a nice lunch of sandwiches right on the beach and then walked around a bit and had the most amazing ice cream I have ever had.

3. My last full day in Melbourne, Maddie and I drove south along the Mornington Peninsula. If you can picture Melbourne as sitting on top of a big circular bay. The Mornington Peninsula would be the right side of the circle, then there is a narrow gap that leads into the ocean, and then the western half of the bay leads back up to Melbourne or farther west to the Great Ocean Road. Anyways, Maddie and I drove down the Northern Californian-esque landscape, along the cliffs and through the fields. We stopped off at a national park and hiked for a bit, saw a lighthouse and then grabbed lunch in Sarento. We caught a ferry across the bay to the other side and drove back to Melbourne. It was a beautiful day full of great views and good company.