I LOVE MY LIFE.

Ahhhh hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I'm on the frontpage of the Flyers website for being in Australia. Check it:

http://flyers.nhl.com

AMAZING.

Aside from that, I suppose I have a few other things worth reporting. Yesterday was our field trip to the Aboriginal Culture Centre, Narana. I wasn't really sure what to think of it on the way there; we hadn't really learned all that much about Aboriginal culture, aside from some stuff about terra nulus, or the theory that Australia was an empty continent when it was first settled by the British in 1788, as well as some pretty heart wrenching stuff about the Stolen Generation. This was basically the period of time spanning the better part of the 20th century when the Australian government tried to "weed out" the half-castes, or half-white, half-Aboriginal kids. They went to Aboriginal communities and took the children from their families, and brought them to "civilization" in an attempt to force them to behave like white Australians. So yeah, I suppose it's not all Vegemite and kangaroos over here-- every culture has its dark side. But in an attempt not to get all political and preachy and start thrusting my own political beliefs on you, I'll go back to talking about the cultural centre.

We started off by talking with a guy named Norm, who was an active member of the local Aboriginal community. It was relatively boring at first, but then he started talking about hunting and the initiation ceremonies for different communities. Pretty fascinating stuff. He concluded his session by playing the digeridoo for us. AWESOME. Yeah, Alicia's interpretations in high school weren't entirely off. I found it to be excellent, though. After our little presentation, he took us a bit further around the centre, where we were offered a snack consisting of smoke emu and bread made from grass-- both considered Aboriginal delicacies. In the spirit of adventure, I tried both. The smoked emu was pretty gross, not gonna lie. But the bread wasn't bad, especially with a bit of jelly on it. We finished up our snacks, then headed outside to check out some boomerang action. I gave it a shot... not entirely terrible for my first try! It came back a few meters away from where I threw it. The technique is entirely different from what I thought it would be, but it's pretty amazing when you see someone who knows what they're doing throw it successfully. After our field trip, we returned back to campus and I hopped to the gym for a bit. A sub-par caf followed, then some bothering of a hungover British kid, and the start of our HOUSE marathon! SO pumped about it. We watched the first three episodes, while consuming lots of tea and chocolate. Tonite shall bring more, once Janis is done work. It was pretty nice getting a full night's sleep for the first time in a week last night.

And then, today, I woke up to an e-mail from my dad, informing me of the Flyers website business. Love it, love it, LOVE IT! Haven't really done much since then... I finished up the X-Files episode I started last night, and now I think I'll try and catch up on some of the reading I neglected while in Sydney. It's pretty violently windy out. I think I'll be okay staying cooped up in Evatt 2, listening to Frank, Dean and Sammy, and reading away. So, that's all I've got for you for now. Until next time...

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