Christmas in September :)

So, back home in the states my family has been living their lives with out me. . .seeing as I'm here it's kinda logical. . .Anyways I just got my first package from them last night. That was SOOOOO exciting. It's like Christmas came early!!! It's almost as exciting as seeing your home town in a guide book and being able to read about it and think "Hey, I live there. . .I've done that. . ." It's amazing!! They sent me a ginormas bag of Skittles and even though you can get them here it still ment the world to me. Cause I love Skittles and they remembered that. Same goes for the Peanutbutter. It's my favorite. They also sent me a bunch of Ariel the Little Mermaid stuff. . . hahaha I've never heard that one before :) Hayley, my twin sister, sent me photos of a career camp she did earlier this year. This is exceptionally exciting because these are the only photos that I've gotten since I left. It's wierd because they know exactly what I'm doing over here because I blog about it. But I've got no idea what's going on back home. Sure I know that they're going to school and what not but I wanna know more. I wanna know how different life is for them with me gone. Is it strange to wake up and walk past my empty room every morning?? To only have to take one sister to school?? To come home and only have two other people at the house?? What's it like with out me there?? Anyways. . .these are some of the photos that they sent me This is Hayley holding some kind of reptile at her Sea World Adventure Camp. She got to spend a week doing behind the sceens stuff at SeaWorld. How fun!! I'm happy to know she had an amazing time. In every photo she is smiling and that's the best feeling, to know that she is happy. I love it.

This is Hayley kinda sorta swimming with the Dolphins. She is the one one the far right. It's funny how familiar the back of her head is. . .anyways, this was her favorite part cause she LOVES dolphins. This is what she want's to do when she grows up, work at SeaWorld as one of the people who do the shows.

YAY for packages!!! It was seriouslsy one of the best things to happen so far.

Beachport, Port MacDonald and Mount Gambier

We just got back from a weekend trip to Mount Gambier, Beachport and Port MacDonald. Beachport is the most amazing place ever. The water is this amazing blue-green color. It's just beautiful. But it is hell windy. The ocean is so powerful down there. The waves are massive. Never before have I really understood why people are intimidated by the ocean until I saw that beach. It is a perfect example of how powerful the ocean can be. Possibly because the wind/water is coming straight off of Antarctica. . . it is the southern ocean after all.

This is the Beachport Jetty (pier for all you yanks reading this), well the sign at least. Claudia and I were holding it because it was falling over. And we're just that strong :) The Jetty is one of the longest in Australia. It's a Kilometer and half to the end and another Kilometer and half back. Plus Claudia and I were skipping and singing most of the way so we definitely got our daily exercise :) Fun fun fun!!!

The Jetty is very skinny and rickety so I though I'd send Claudia in for a little swim . . .ah the good memories I'm creating with my host sister, traumatizing her is heaps fun :) Kidding, it was staged. I love Claude to much to throw her overboard. It'd be more likely that I'd be diving in after to save her :) She brightens my day and makes me giggle. I don't know what I'd do with out her :)

I got wet at this beach as you can see, I'm running from the water. Which didn't really matter because Claudia and I went swimming at the next one :)

Did I mention we were fully clothed??? You would think I would have learned :) Guess those damn yanks are slow learners?? Wouldn't ya reckon?? hahahaha Only problem is, I only packed one bra. . . .

We were going out later that night so I had to wear it again. . . meaning it had to sit out and dry by the fire . . . see what I mean, slow learners. . .or maybe I'm just a bit thick. . .either or :)

When we went out that night it was to a Taiko Drumming concert. We all got kind of dressed up and this a is a photo of us looking pretty. From left to right is Auntie Lee, Claudia, me and Marilyn. That's Host aunt, Host sister, Foreigner and Host mom :)

The reason we took this mini vacation is because Claudia and Jacob had a Karate Grading in Mount Gambier and the coast is very close so we made a few pit stops. Claudia and Jacob are now the proud owners of red belts. YAY!!!!

After the Karate Grading we went out for lunch at Fasta Pasta. Clever name for a spaghetti joint don't ya think??? Well they had this hilarious sign and amazing food. Loved it.

We also went to Shelly Beach, just another beach in Port MacDonald. It was really windy here as well but the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.

Marilyn, Jacob,


Claudia

and I. . . .

CAN FLY!!!!!!!

The wind was so Strong when we went to Beachport we figured that if we flapped our arms enough, we would be able to fly with the seaguls :)

Tim Tams and School

Tim Tams are the most amazing Australian dessert you will ever eat. They are chocolate biscuts covered in Chocolate and they are the best!!! Never come to Oz without trying them. To bad they don't sell them anywhere else in the world. If you have a specialty Australian shop anywhere near you, go buy a packet NOW!!!!

This is me eating Tim Tam Cheese cake, I don't usually like cheese cake but Tim Tams are so magical, they made me love it.

This is just a photo of me in my school uniform. It's blue. . . and I have mad red eye. . .

Adelaide

This is the giant pink pony that I won at the games at the Royal Adelaide Show. The show is basically a giant county fair only it's a really really big deal.

I got to milk a cow at the show, I even got a badge!!! At the start, before you got to the actual cow, they had you squeeze a rubber glove full of water, to get the feel for it ya know?? :)

We went to Handorf the same weekend we were in Adelaide. Handorf is an old German Settlement in the Adelaide hills. I love the Adelaide hills. If I ever moved back to Oz, I think I'd live there. It's close enough to the beach and the city but it's still kind of seperate and quite. It's beautiful.

This is just a pretty photo from Kybybolite (the town I live in) on the outskirts of Naracoorte (where I go to school)

This is the show bag pavilion at the Royal Adelaide Show. This is where you buy a bag full of junk and keep it as a souvineer, I bought a wonka one and I got a funky hat to go with it!!! :) It's very bright and full of people.

These are the jesters that were wandering around to entertain the kids. hehehe :)

This is the cow that i was supposed to help out with at the show. I went with the School's Ag department. They get to rais cows for about 6 months and then they take them to the Adelaide show to have them judged. Then they get killed and sent off to a butcher. . . I don't think I've ever seen someone get so emotional about a cow. . .

We went to Glenelg on that same weekend. It was a beautiful day, 28 degrees celsius. Amazing!!! Nicola and I didn't have any bathers so we went for a swim fully clothed. It was heaps of fun!!! This is Nicola (my host sister age 14) and Marilyn (my host mom) on the Glenelg Pier.

This is Nicola's Tournament of the Minds team in full dress rehersal. It's kind of like Destination Imagination. They were heaps good, but not good enough to win :)

Photos!!!!

We went to an Aboriginal center in Halls Gap and I pretended to make a fire at the grass hut. Hehehe

I went to a wildlife Refuge in Halls Gap two weekends ago. I got to pet a Kangaroo!!! This is a photo of me and my host sister Fran. There was even an albino one. I also got to pet some wallabies and I saw as koala, a wombat, some emus and a few dingos. It was awesome. Hilarious too because there was this deer that kept following us around as we tried to feed the roos. It would bite the bag in out hands. It was hilarious.

On that same trip, we took a drive in the Grampians. These are a perfect example of Australian mountains. They aren't mountains, they're hill. I live at an elevation that's higher than their highest mountain. It makes me laugh. This is me and my host mom Marilyn.

On our way to Halls Gap we stopped off at the Giant Koala. It's hideous and totally not worth your time. But I got a photo. :)

During this same trip, we went to Horsham for a Rotary meeting. I got to meet all of the other exchange students in my district. There are about 13 or 14 or us. It was very exciting to meet all of them and I can't wait to see them again in November :)

School and what not

Well, long time no post. :) Alot has happened since the last time I posted. Well, not to much compared to my previous adventures around Oz. In the last month, I've moved in with my actual host family and started school. After my trip around australia with the Evans, I came back to Naracoorte. I moved in with the Bartoseks on the 17 of August and I started School the next day. The night I moved in, Marilyn ( my host mom) put on a family dinner for me. We had lots of food and a pavlova for dessert. It was amazing. Although, Tim Tams are still my favorite Aussie dessert. I fell for the drinking your tea through your tim tam joke. Yes, I'm that gullable.

School is so far so good. I really don't like the uniforms, simply because none of it fits right.Oh well. I do like my classes. I'm taking English, Australian Studies, Art, Outdoor Education and high Maths. The people are nice and I think I've made some friends. I've also met some really really stupid people. I have been talking to them and said I was from America then say that I was from the United States and this is the reaction that I get "wait, are those the same thing?? I don't study the map. . . " YES!!! It's common sense!!! It's annoying. I also have this group of year 8s that follow me around saying 'dude' cause apparently Americans say that alot. It kind of like being a celebirty. I'm popular without even having to try. Not many exciting thigs happen in Naracoorte, so my being here is VERY exciting. Many of the kids here have never even left the Naracoorte area. The farthest they've been is to Mt. Gambier. That's only an hour away. That's the most shocking thing. To be 16 years old and never have been more than 500 Kilometers from your backyard. It's amazing.

Now to talk about travel. I went to Halls Gap in the Grampians for a day and got to pet a Kangaroo and see a koala and a wombat. It was great fun. That same weekend, I went to Horsham to meet all of the exchange students. That was amazing. It's going to be great fun to get to know them. I have many travel plans for the future. I'm going to Adelaide this from the 9th to the 14th of September for the Adelaide show. That will be interseting, well as intersting as cows and goats can get. . .