Halloween!!! Be Afraid, Be VERY Afraid :)

So today was Halloween. No one in Australia gives a hoot about Halloween. Never in my life had I stopped to consider what Halloween is. Where it originated, how it came to be the way it is or why in the world us crazy yanks celebrate it. I've come to the conclusion that it's just a heap of fun. Full stop. I'm 16 and I still trick-or-treat and dress up. Just for the hell of it. I was a Zombie Bride this year. Never in my life would I have thought I would be a Zombie Bride for Halloween. I usually go for more original stuff, I thought I'd be an Ompa Loopa, ya know the orange guys from "Willy Wonka", but that took to much planning. The Zombie Bride was easy, Claude and I just went through their dress-up box and chose costumes for each other. She told me I was gonna be a Zombie Bride and I told her she was gonna be Cruella Devil from 101 Dalmatians. Pretty clever costumes for such late notice, we threw them together when we got home from school. Then went trick-or-treating around Kyby. And the weather was perfect for Halloween. It was grey and cloudy and gross. The wind was blowing just right and it would have been just like the weather you see in Halloween movies. If any of you get what I mean. . . Anywho. . . People in Australia don't do Halloween so no one had lollies, we got chocolate and biscuits instead. But hey, who's complaining?? As long as it tastes good right!?!?!? :) Here's some photos.

This is me and Cluade in our costumes. My face is pretty sick wouldn't ya reckon :) Claude did my makeup, I love that girl. I love being a kid. Cause back home I practically have to drag my sisters by the hair to get them to come trick-or-treating with me. Claude is just so willing. And enthusiastic. I love her to pieces :)

This is us at Aunty Lee's house. She was our first stop, she gave us biscuits :) Hooray for biscuits!!!

When we got back from our wonderful adventure around Kyby, we went a tad bit loco with the face paint stuff. . . Twas fun. Notice Claude's got one big L on her forehead and I've got like 20 million all over my face. I must be ten times the looser Claudia is, and that's sayin somethin :)

CFS Fire Parade

YAY!! Something intresting finally happened!! Well, that depends on what you call intresting. . .For Nazza, this was intresting. Today was the CFS Fire Parade. It marks the start of the fire season. Yup, that's right, the fire season starts in October. . .How strange is that?? Isn't is supposed to be winter?!?!?!? Na, who am I kiddin! It's freggin hot here! Yesterday was 33 again, today is just humid. Not the wet kind of humid you get in the eastern US but it's just. . . like the air is hell thick and it's still bloody hot. Or as Andrew says, it's pregnant :) I'm gonna melt :)

This is Smokey the KOALA. Not Smokey the Bear. We're in Australia, remember?? :) hahaha I found that particularlly amusing

This is a Fire Truck. Duh. Well, look at the front of it. It's flat. I can't quite remember what the front of big trucks look like in the US, how sad is that? But I can remember thinking that these ones were hell strange. I remember driving back from Adelaide the day I arrived and thinking 'wow, those are the strangest looking trucks I've ever seen'. Now they're just the norm.

This is just an ancient one. It's from Binnum. A tiny town some where past Kyby. I thought it was the coolest and deserved a spot on my blog :)

This is my host Dad Andy and Cluade. He is a Volunteer Fireman. Most fire services in Australia are volunteer orientated. The spaces between the large towns and the tiny ones are to great, so they need volunteers. YAY for volunteers :) But the thing is, once you get a criminal record, for anything what so ever, you can no longer volunteer for anything. Even if it's the smallest charge, you just cant' volunteer at all. That's not cool.

News Article

Naracoorte has a herald. WOW right? Nah, not really :) It comes out once a week on Thrusdays. Point is, I was in it. How exciting is that!?!?!?!?! YAY! :) The photo is just me in front of the sign at the school. Hence the "IGH SCHO" :)

HOT HOT HOT

So, yesterday was hot right?? Well I had no idea just how hot it really was until I looked up a Fahrenheit to Celsius converter. It was 33 degrees celsius yesterday. That's 94 degrees fahrenheit. That's the hotest of the hot in Durango. I used to tell people that it got up to about 38 in Durango cause I thought that that was about 89 to 95 degrees fahrenheit. Little did I know that that's really 104 or something like that. I'm so screwed when summer actually gets here. Cause you do get days where it's 40 or above. That's like 112. Although, yesterday didn't actually feel that hot. I didn't know what 33 degrees ment so it just felt like a summer-ish day. Not to hot though. But it was HOT HOT HOT (isn't that a song?)!!!!Anyways. . .back to my whinging :) And, just an F.Y. I, it's bloody October (in case you didn't know)!!! It's supposed to be getting COLD!!! But I reckon I'll get used to it. . . hopefully :)

The Nararcoorte Show and American Brownies

Today was hot. Full stop. End of story. But I didn't really notice cause I had been out in the heat all day at the Naracoorte show. It wasn't till after, when I popped into Subway to visit Gennaeve that I realized how bloody hot it was. I've got a lovely neck tan (. . . burn, what ever ya wanna call it) to prove it :) I went to the show with Nicola, Claudia, Ryan and Jacob. The last two are my host cousins and the first two are my host sisters. Later on I met up with a few friends from school. Anyways. . . I think we've already been over this, but a 'Show' is the Aussie version of a county fair. They bake cakes (packet mix mind you) and enter jars of honey to see who's the best. I entered a packet mix cake for my cooking class. It broke in half. . . and I had to frost it back together. . . Who knew you could ruin a packet mix cake?? :) There are rides and games. So I guess that makes it a carnival and a county fair mixed together. . . Righty-O, I went on a couple rides. At 7$ a piece I wasn't gonna do many. So I got on the 'scariest' one. The Kamikaze. I know I didn't spell that right. . . Nicola and I went on it together after we watched Claude and Jacob go. It just looked like so much fun. :)

I spent the entire time screaming, but that's half the fun of it. Nicola thought I was scared shitless but it was all and act. . .or that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night :) . . .The ride goes around in circles and you hang from your seat, completly upside down, for a few seconds at a time. Great fun it was. :)

Hey, ya know what I just realized? It's my Aunts Birthday here in Oz. But not in the US. Well not quite yet. . .Back to business. . . .I also went on this one called the. . .Skydiver?. . .was that it?? Anyways . . . Nic and I screamed bloody murder on that one two. For a laugh, ya know? Twas fun.This is a family portrait. Well, the half the family I went with. . .Nic, Ryan, Claude and Jacob (left to right) They're standing in front of the car part of the show. For some reason it's 'intresting' to look at old utes (pick up trucks) and semi's. . .don't ask me why :)

This is Nic and I eating Dagwood Dogs. They're Aussie corndogs, only the bread on the outside is seasoned differently. And they call ketchup "sauce" and it's thinner or something. And they put it on bloody everything. . .well not everything. . .that might be a tad bit of an exaggeration. . .just maybe. . .a little :)

And these are to brownies I made. Packet mix (they didn't break in half though). From America, arrived via mail several week ago. The brownies are half gone. . .we forgot to get a photo of me mixing it, so for all you know, Marilyn could have made them. . . but would this face lie to you?? Nah, never :) They took heaps long to make. They were in the oven for like an hour and a half. . .Those pants I'm wearing have got to be like 6 years old. They used to be white but now they're grey. And I think there is about ten holes in em. But I still brought them half way across the world. . . And that's my tourist t-shirt!!! But I'd say the tourist jumper is worse. . .blue with a ginormous Aussie flag across the front. It just screams foreigner :)

A Place Called Home

So, as you all know, I am going to be living with three or four host families during my exchange. My first host family is the Bartosek's. They live in Kybybolite. I will stay with them till the end of November. My next host family is the Evans' I will move in at the end of November and stay till March or so. I am not sure who my third and fourth host families are going to be, but I'll let you know when I do. Anyways, that means I have to pack up all the shit I brought over here PLUS everything that I've accumulated in the four months that I've stayed with that family and move four times. I have lived in the same house my entire life. This is a pretty big first move, halfway across the world. . .The thing is, it didn't occur to me that I would have to move everything four times this year. So I packed before leaving the US thinking that I only had to put it into my massive suitcase's once to get it there and once to take it back. WRONG!!!!! Anther thing that never occurred to me is how it must be to be the host family. To know that you have a complete stranger coming to live in your house for the next four months. And that you just have to hope it goes well. I have been very lucky in that I get on with both my known host families VERY well. Anyways, over the next year I'll have four bedrooms. A far cry from the one I've know all my life. Here is my first one.

It used to be Fran's room, so some of her stuff is still on the walls. Fran moved into Claudia's room and Claudia has been sleeping with Mum for the last three months. Thanks guys. :) Cause being able to have that little bit of privacy, being able to close a door, has made all the difference.

The Australia Map on my wall above my bed has been marked with permanent texter along all the roads I've taken on my many travels. There are dots in all the towns I've visited. It'll make it easier to remember all the great places I've gone. Oh and that's my St. Kilda scarf hangin from the top right bed post. It was the first game I saw, so now I'm a St. Kilda supporter.

Moving to four different host families also means that I will go through four different kitchens, four different lounge rooms, four different dining rooms, four different backyards and four different bathrooms. This is the kitchen out at Kyby.

And the Bathroom/toilet. They have this funny thing here where the bathroom is separate from the toilet. If I say I want to go to the restroom, they take me to the bathroom where there is no toilet. . . .the toilets are usually in a little, cut off cubical like thing in the laundry room or just a separate room next to the bathroom. You can see the toilet at the end of the hall in this photo, the doorway to the right is the bathroom.

This is the dining room. Where we eat out meals. In the Bartosek household, Monday night's Nic cooks, Tuesday nights Cluade cooks, Wednesday is tea at Dad's, Thursday Fran cooks and then Friday through Sunday is GYO (Get Your Own). Pretty clever if ya ask me. :) Mum does the wahing, cleaning and makes breakfast (happy??) :) And she's just awesome

School

I'm on a student exchange right?? Well, that means that I have to go to school. . . .bummer I know :) hehehe, nah it's alright. I meet people and it makes me more of a local. Rather than just going to live in a foreign country for a year and being a tourist ya know. I actually LIVE here. . . .Don't know where I'm going with this. . . .Anyways. . . Here are some photos of the things I see every day. Not so exciting I know but I thought all you people back home might find it a tad bit interesting. . .just maybe ya know?? :)

This is the bus that I take from Kybybolite (we already went over how to pronounce that so I'm not gonna do it again:) hahaha) to Naracoorte (same goes for that one). The trip is about 20 minutes long. All the buses look different here. No two are alike, much like snow flakes :) Some of them are even coaches. Like the thing you would take on a cross country trip. Anyways. . . I wake up at 7, well that's the time my alarm goes off. . .I hit the snooze button a couple times before actually moving. I catch the bus at 8, there isn't a snooze button there so I have to catch it at 8 every morning. And I get to school at 8:30. Class starts at 9 and just hip hip hooray from there on!! I mean who wouldn't be excited about 9 hours in a stone building??? :) These are all of the different buses.
This is our bus stop, it's pretty rad. I've whipped out the Vanna White pose :) It's got a couch in it. For when it rains ya know. Cause the last thing ya wanna do is sit on the cold cement when it's raining. Ya know, get your uniform dirty. That doesn't fly cause you've got to wear the same thing for a couple days. I've only got two shirts. . . :)
This is the lovely school hat I get to wear every time I set foot outside. Sexy I know :) It's a law or something. I have to wear it till the end of term 1 next year. That's till April or something. I'm eating an apple. . . Australia has amazing apples. Pink Lady. MMMMMM!!!!!!!!! :) They're magical.
These are our lockers. They look nothing like American lockers. And most people don't really use them. They aren't big enough for a backpack so there are school bags laying everywhere.

Oh!! And they have grass ceilings here!!! It's something to do with insulating the building or some shit like that. This is a photo of a classroom. You can kinda see the grass ceiling. They don't have fancy-pants desks here. Just tables. That are broken cause we sit on them rather than the chairs. What every floats your boat right?? :)

Righty-o. Well I've got to go. Catch ya. Hopefully my next post will be a tad bit more interesting :)

Tinie Tiny Animals and Big Dark Caves

So today I went out with Katrina. We visited this lovely lady on a farm and went Caving. I've decided that adventure caving is my new favorite thing. I used to think I liked rock climbing but now I know that it's caving that I love. I like being able to free-hand climb over and around rocks and explore tiny crevasses you never in a million years thought your fat arse would fit into :) Tis amazing!!!! And challenging. And sweaty. And Dirty. And AMAZING!!!! Anyways, enough of my ranting :) I didn't get any photos of that today but I will get them off the girl who had the camera in a couple of days. For now, I have photos of the tinie tiny animals.


This is the 40 gram sugar glider that I got to hold. It shit on me. I'm never washing my shirt again!!! Nah, just kidding. Although, I am still wearing the shirt. . .8 hours later. . . :) It was SOOOO cute. It felt so funny as it clung to my shirt and tickled my neck and sniffed my ear. The little guy in front is a baby wombat. He hasn't got any hair because he is supposed to still be in his mothers pouch. But his mother is dead so he lives in this little baggy. It was good fun. Still not as fun as caving though :) This is me holding one of the joey's she had as well as her other baby wombat. The wombat was perfectly content being held around the stomach like this. I found it strange cause, well ya know, I would be freaking out if someone was holding me 4 feet off the ground like that. But, hey, what do I know?? Look!! You can see the poop stain on my t-shirt!! :) Tis up near my neck on the right side.

Also, take not of how tan I am. It's October, aka very early spring. I'm gonna be half black by the time christmas rolls around!!!! :)

Adventure Caving

Yesterday was a good day. It was sunny, which automatically means it is going to be a GREAT day. I love the sunshine. I love to sit out in it and feel the warmth of it on my skin. To simply lie there and be happy. To let the Vitamin D course through my veins. It's one of my favorite things, aside from "when the dog barks, when the bee stings, these are a few of my favorite things. . ." Is that how that song goes??? Anyways, the point is, I like sunshine. Ironically enough, this post isn't about the sunshine. Or anything that even remotely close to sunshine. Its about a dark, not to mention a very small, hole in the ground called Blackberry Cave. And how much I liked this dark, small, hole. I spent two hours crawling around and getting dirty in said cave and might I say, it was the best way I could have spent those two hours. No matter how much I complained and moaned and groaned and grunted as my ass got stuck between countless numbers of rocks, I loved it. I love getting dirty. I love being able to move into small places, hugging my knees to my chest or flattening out completely on my stomach and wishing I hadn't had that chicken sandwich cause it went straight to my thighs. :) I love the adventure. I love the feeling of uncertainty as you try something new and the Adrenalin that comes along with it. And I LOVE the jumpsuits you have to wear. They were amazing. I felt SO sexy :) I love the laughter that came with it. The stories I will be able to tell and the memories of Marie's ass in my face. Ah, good fun it was.

I went with Fran; my host sister, Marie; a German exchange student, and Emma; a friend from school. I am going again tomorrow morning. I'm stoked!!!! :)

People, Places and Photographs

The town that I will be living in while I'm in Australia is Naracoorte. That's Nar-a-court. There are about 5,000 people living in the town of Naracoorte, the elevation is roughly 63 meters(190 feet). That is NOTHING compared to the ~2,200 meters (6,500 feet) of my home town. And there are roughly 500 kids at my school. That's years 8 through 12. There were 1,500 kids at my old high school and that was only years 9 through 12. I am currently living in a tiny town just outside of Naracoorte. It's called Kybybolite (ky-be-bo-light) or Kyby (ky-be) for short. It's two shacks and a footy oval. Or a couple houses (enough for 50 people) and a footy oval that HAS it's own footy team. Impressive, I know :) This first photo is of my first Host family's (the Bartoseks) house in Kybybolite. The window to the right is my bedroom.

This is a picture of Nicola and Marilyn on the Glenelg Pier in Adelaide. Nicola is my 14 year old host sister and Marilyn is my host mum. Nicola is applying for the short term exchange to New Zealand.

This is Claudia and I blowing bubbles with the chewy (gum) that my mom sent me from America. Claudia is my 10 year old host sister. I love having a little sister. It's amazing!!!!

This Fran feeding a wallaby. She is my 17 year old host sister (I'm the middle child for once in my life!!!! haha). She went on exchange to Germany last year.

This is a photo of my second host family's (the Evans's) house, they live in Naracoorte. I will move into this house at the start of December. They are the family that I went to Sydney with when I first got to Australia in July.

This is Karen in front of a cake shop in St. Kilda in Melbourne. She is my second Host mom.

This is a photo of Andrew and Lea on Manly Beach in Sydney. Andrew will be my second Host dad and Lea (19) is a veteran exchange student. She came to Australia from Germany two years ago and was coming back to visit the Evans's. This is Jacqulyn (20) and I on the Mordiallic Pier in Melbourne. She is my second host sister, she lives in Melbourne and is training to be a chef. She is also an ex-exchange student. In 2006, she went to Poland for a year. This is Duncan in the hotel we stayed at when we were in Sydney. He is 18 and and will be my host brother in December. He too went on exchange although it was only a three month exchange to New Zealand (the same one Nicola is applying to go on next year).

This is the big red bus that we took all the way to Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and back. It's roomie but somehow we managed to fill it up with crap. hahaha :)

This is a photo of my high school here in Australia. I thought it looked like a prision when I first saw it. Ironic isn't it?? :) It is called Naracoorte High School.

This is the creek that runs through Naracoorte. There is a path all the way along it. It's called the Creek Walk. It was put in by my hosting Rotary club. That first tree is a gum tree.

This is the main street of Naracoorte. I don't like the look of my town. I hate the overhanging things they have to provide shade. I guess that's because I come from such a beautiful place. But I love the Australian countryside. It's beautiful.

This is a post box. You can receive mail in a mail box at your house but you can't send mail out from it. You have to walk down the street to the nearest one of these. Everything to do with the Australian post office is bright red, so they aren't hard to miss :) This is a gum tree. They are all over the place in Australia. Their branches fall of in the spring and summer months.

This is kangaroo sign. They are placed along the highways to warn drivers of kangaroo crossings. It is in front of Mount Arrapilies near Horsham.

This is a paddock (field) on the outskirts of Kyby. There are lots of sheep here in Australia. I don't think I've ever seen so many bloody sheep in all my life :)

This is a mosaic on the back of a building near the Naracoorte Swimming Lake. The swimming lake is a giant version of an Australian outdoor swimming pool. It is only filled up in the summer months.

This is the church on the hill. I walk past it most times I go to the Evans house but it depends on which route I take. I was very suprised today when I went around taking all these photos of Naracoorte. I actually know my way around fairly well. I was very impressed.

This is a sign post near the swimming lake. They actually do that thing where the name of the place points in the direction it is at. I was very amused by this. Cause when there is a lot of places to go from that point, there are about a zillion signs on one post. It's quite amusing.

The Train Ride Home

Today I was my last day in Melbourne. I got up at 5:30 am simply cause I couldn't sleep till 6. Got on a train at 7:30, ate breakfast with Jacqulyn and got on a train. Then a bus, and yet another bus. It amounted to something like 9 hours of transit today. Getting up in the wee hours of the morning and then spending the whole day moving across a country is exhausting. My arms are shaking as I attempt to type out this blog. But for the enjoyment of my viewers, I will persevere!!!! Hahaha :) This is a photo of me and all my luggage at the Mordiallic train station as we waited for one of the many trains I would catch that day. It's roughly 7 am. I look unbelievably happy for it being 7 am. . . I am NOT a morning person. . . :)

On the final bus, I met a lovely old lady and her grandchildren. She is originally from Germany and now lives in Melbourne. I spent the three hour bus trip talking to her and her grandkids. The one one the left (Murphy) goes to school with my host cousin Jacob. He was in my blog from Mount Gambier. Marlie is the older lady and the one the right is Micheal. They were a very nice family and it made the ride home seem shorter. It was nice, cause bus rides are LONG!!!! :

Last night was amazing. Jacqulyn and I went out to the pier and laughed out hearts out about everything and anything. I love spending time with her. I can't wiat to see her again in December. This is a photo of me eating Bananas and Nutella on the pier. It was a wonderful way to spend our last night. I loved it.