week 4!

Already week 4 if you can believe it!  

This week started off pretty uneventful.  I started looking at cars since my roommates are getting jobs all over town, making it a lot harder to get around.  I looked at one car Monday evening, but was not overly impressed.  For starters, the guy was the owner of a store in Stocklands (like a shopping mall) called "No Diggity".  I try not to be judgmental, but when your shop it called that I can't help myself.  I disregarded that little factor momentarily and went out to have a look at the car.  My first observation was the giant naked lady sticker plastered across the back windshield.  Oh-so-classy.  In addition to that the inside was extremely messy; looked nothing like a car that you would show people if you actually wanted to sell it.  He basically just opened the door and let me look inside.  Didn't offer me to take it for a spin around the car park, didn't try and tell me about it's features, and didn't bother to show me any important documents.  Nooo thank you.  I politely asked a few questions and snuck out as soon as I could.  Next car please....

Pause.  Before I go any further in the week I want to take a minute to describe the "malls" here.  They are similar to malls in the US, with clothing stores and such, but they have grocery stores, target-like stores, and bottle shops (liquor stores) inside too.  Most of them have butchers, chemists (drug store), and posts offices as well.  It's more of a "one stop shop" as opposed to a "shop til you drop".  Just a little tid bit for you.  Okay, resume......

Later this week was the day to celebrate of my freckles....St.  Patrick's day!  I had uni all day, which left me no time to cook corned beef and cabbage. ;-)  I did, however, have time to look at another car after school.  I loved this car.  It was a small, clean car being sold by a nice couple.  They presented me with all the safety checks, registration, and papers that were needed.  They seemed like they were a trustworthy couple, unlike Mr. No Diggity.  I took the car for a little spin (which I was a tad nervous about, seeing as it was a manual and I hadn't driven a manual on this side of the road yet) and really bonded with the little blue beast.  It was a bit weird at first to shift with my left hand, but I adjusted quite quickly.  The weirdest thing about this car was that the blinker was on the left side and the wipers were on the right side, just like in th US.  It's amazing how easily your brain switches over when you hop into a drivers seat on the right side of the car.  You feels as if you've been driving that way for years, until you go to turn your blinker on.  When I first started driveing here I turn the wipers on instead of the blinkers, and now that I have adjusted I had the same problem with this car.  Nothing that can't be adapted to though.

After my test drive I was flying high with love for that car.  So it was back to Wulguru to celebrate St. Patrick's day with my roomies.  No green beer for me this year, I opted for goon (boxed wine) and midori!  It was mmm mmm good!  Lindsay had to work that night at a pub down the road so the rest of the house decided to head down to where she works and chill with her for the night.  Not without putting our festive attire on though!  We thought about going to town for a Guiness (even though I'm not a fan) but we figured people would have been drinking since the morning, and that we probably wouldn't have that much fun.  We had a  lot of fun visiting Lindsay.  We shared a jug of (non-green...boo) beer and waited for her to get off.  Once she was off it was back to the house for a quick swim before bed.  It's too cold to swim at night here now, which is such a bummer!

The next day, thurday, I looked at another car.  It was the same price as the one I looked at yesterday, but it was 3 years older, in worse condition, and had no power steering.  The girl selling it was great, really nice and friendly, it just didn't compare to the other one.

Later that night we decided to check uni club out since Lindsay actually had the night off.  We got there around 10pm and it was dead.  Literally the slowest I have ever seen it.  I don't know if people were too tired after St. Patty's day or what, but it was pretty ridiculous.  The Jagermeister people were there, which was kind of fun.  Chris and I had a shot of jag and got to have a go at a guitar pick toss.  I won a guitar shaped bottle opener keychain.  It's pretty sweet if I do say so myself. :)  Uni club picked up a little bit but it wasnt it's normal atmosphere, so we headed home.  

I had planned to keep Friday as a low key night since I had no plans, but when I got home Emily invited me to join her and her boyfriend, Graeme, to tag along with his college (dorm) pubcrawl.  One of the clubs in town was hosting a heaven and hell night and Graeme's college was allowed free access in, 2 hours earlier than anyone else.  They get really into their themed pub crawls here but since I hadn't been planning on going, I had no outfit to wear!  In a last minute effort I decided to wear my lab coat....because if you have ever been stuck in a 3 hour lab/prac you know it is pure hell.  It turned out to be a really fun night.  We started at the Consortium, where the heaven/hell event was going on, and then Emily and I hopped around on our own.  I'm sure we looked strange apart of the rest of the group since I was in a lab coat and she was dressed as a devil, haha.  That didn't stop us from dancing the night away at the Shed, Molly's, Bully's, and Mad Cow though!  It was a blast!

The next day was spent cyclone proofing our house!  The path of Ului was unclear, but it was potentially going to hit Townsville.  So, in preparation, we moved everything loose from outside and flipped all tables. We live about 8kms from the shore and are up on a hill, so there was really nothing to worry about...but just in case!  That night we spent inside awaiting the hyped up cyclone.  Emily's sister was temporarily living with us so her, Em, and I played a game called fishbowl (it's like catch phrase, pictionary, and charades all in one) for awhile.  Chris' brother, Anthony, and his friend, Rogan, joined us later for a big group game of fishbowl.

The next day was spend enduring the "vicious" cyclone....pshh.  There wasn't a drop of rain in sight nor a hint of a breeze.  All that hype for nothing.  I guess it's better that way, but I was hoping to experience a cyclone!  Maybe next time...