What's crack-a-lackin :)

Ya know what's amazing? Rotary. They do the most amazing job with Exchange students. There is so much support for us and they do so many great things around the world. We are actually doing bake sales and what not to earn money for TWO shelter box's. A shelter box is a box that is full of supplies for people that have recently been involved in a natural disaster or just a disaster of some kind. One box can house like 500 people or something amazing like that. Coming on this exchange has actually inspired me to join the Peace Core. Wow, I know. And they are all volunteers which makes it that much more impressive. During the last week, Rotary did another amazing thing, they exhausted 13 foreigners :) All of the exchange students in the district got together and went on a trip around the District called the Mini Safari. We drove down the Great Ocean Road and spent the nights with Host families in different towns. The whole thing started in Bordertown where Sego (France) lives. There they held and "International Dinner" where the exchange students cooked food from each country and served it to all that came. It was a huge success. It earned all the money we needed for the first Shelter Box and allowed us to start working towards a second. Then we spent two nights in Mount Gambier, one in Portland, four in Warrnambool and one in Geelong. However, I was in Tasmania for till the 17 and did not join till the 18, the second day in Mount Gambier. Each Rotary club having a million fun things planned for us along the way. By the end of it, we were sleep deprived but on a huge high. Spending time with Exchange students is one of the best things EVER.

On the day that I joined the Mini Safari, we went paint balling. Which is pretty much the best thing ever. It hurts like hell, but is fun as. You get to wear these awesome masks and these cameo jumpsuit. This is me and Luce (Germany) in our gear, well part of it. ..we didn't have the suits fully on cause it was WAY to hot. Today it's meant to get up to 41 degrees C (roughly 115 F). I'm gonna melt. I got hit a few times. Once on the inside of the thigh, that left a massive welt, and once on my other leg. The damage was not nearly so bad :) I had a blast. There's just something about sweating from places you didn't even know you could and shooting people. . . haha

That same day, we went out for tea at an Italian joint. I shared a pizza with Johanna (Germany) This is just a hilarious photo of Camila (Brazil) as she was waiting for her food. It came about five minutes after everyone else had finished eating their's. . . Good times :)

Our next stop was Portland. That was a good one. We went sand surfing. Which was pretty much the most awesome thing ever, except paint balling that is :) There was this massive sand dune that we all climbed up and just stood on the top of cause we knew that if we went back down, we weren't coming back up. We stayed up there for a few hours and sang songs, did the macerana, and just chilled looking at the ocean.

The next thing we did in Portland was go to the beach. The waves were a decent size and we attempted body surfing, but most of us just failed miserably. Then we went on a Seal tour. We saw heaps and heaps of seals. And riding in the boat was SOO much fun cause it bounced over the waves. CRAZY!! This is me and Sego (France). Thought the photo captured the moment perfectly :)

Our next stop would be Warrnambool (not sure how to spell that one. . .) We were to spent four days here. On the bus ride from Portland to Warrnambool, we stopped at this slide. We then gave the two Rotarians traveling with us all 13 cameras and posed for this amazing photograph. I love exchange students!!!

The next morning, we went shopping. Sego was VERY excited about this. She's French and got dumped in a town with 3000 people and not so much as a proper surf shop. . . .Poor thing :) Charolett (Sweden) and I went to the 2$ shop (that's a good example of the different costs here. USA has 1$ shops, AUS has 2$ shops) and bought these dorky head bands that said Aussie Aussie Aussie on them, cause that was our thing. Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! :) Do you get the thing with Tassie now?? Anywho. . .

That same day was Camila's (Brazil) 18th Birthday. We went out for tea at a Pizza joint and got party hats. Then we went to the pictures and watched "Yes Man" with Jim Carry. I love him :)

Okay, so from left to right we have. . .Naoto (Japan), Sego (France), Meoko (Japan), Amanda (Brazil), Nick (Wyoming USA), Annie (Finnland), Luca (Germany), Johanna (Germany), Channie (Denmark), Camila (Brazil), Kevin (Switzerland), Charolett (Sweden) and Me (USA. . .duh).

Earlier that same day we attended the Warrnambool Rotary Club meeting. Because it was Camila's Birthday, Amanda who is also from Brazil taught us all to sing "Happy Birthday" in Portuguese. So at the meeting we sang it to her in English and Portuguese. As the exchange students, we got to take over the meeting. I got to be President and run the meeting. Good Fun that was. Apparently I've gotten half decent at public speaking, I have confidence :) or so one of the members said. . .
The next day we were meant to go to a shooting range and shoot pistols and clay targets. BUT. . . it was a total fire ban day so we couldn't so much as moe our lawn. . .Instead we went fishing in the ocean. We went down to this really pretty rocky spot, where you stood on a submerged rock shelf and fished off that. It was windy like you would never believe and it actually ended up raining. . . on a total fire ban day. . . This is Channie (Denmark)

That night we had a pool party and watched "Happy Feet", which is Australian by the way :) This is me, Luca (Germany) and Charolett (Sweden).

The next day we went down the Great Ocean Road and went sight seeing. We spent a bit of time in Port Campbell before continuing on to the Twelve Apostles. This is the second time I've done the Great Ocean Road trip, but it was a completely different experience with the Exchange Students. We just have so much fun together. This is me and Charolett (who you should have learned by now is from Sweden) :)

That night we played Tennis and walked around this market thing. It was there that I was talking to this booth owner and he didn't believe me when I told him I was from the US of A. He thought I was an Aussie. I can sound very Australia if you catch me saying the right sentence :) This is me, Channie (Denmark), and Luca (Germany). Don't we look cool :)

So for this entire trip we had a song. We taught each other to words and every time we were together we would sing it. Sometimes 5 times a day. The words go "We are one, but we are many. And from all the lands on earth we come. We share a dream, and sing with one voice! I am, you are, we are Australian!!" Pretty much our group in a nut shell. And I had a video of some of us singing it on the beach, but I couldn't get it to load. . .

Yesterday was Australia Day. January 26th celebrates the day Australia was settled by the British. Australia is still a commonwealth under The Queen of England. I was surprised to learn that. I got up at 5:30 AM so I could go help my Rotary club serve Breakky. Mostly I just watched the ceremony thought. They had some local singers sing patriotic songs like "Home among the Gum Trees", "I am Australian" (that's the song I was talking about), and "Beneath the Southern Skies". Then we had a Flag Raising Ceremony while singing the National Anthem, "Advance Australia Fair", which I can actually sing most of now :) Then we had three people become Citizens. One from England, one from Thailand and one from Afghanistan. Very Australian. The Scouts rose the flag. I went to a Barbi at my mates place and spent the day hangin with them.

Oh, and as a side note. It was 41 degrees Celsius today, that's roughly 108 degrees Fahrenheit. And I'm not talking about it being 108 in the car park (parking lot) I mean on the grassy field (cept all the grass is dead. . .), the car park is about 111 :). Every time you step out of an air conditioned building it feels like you've stepped into an oven and closed the door behind you. You sweat from places you never thought you could, like the corners of your eyes. And all you can think about is how hot you are. You can feel the heat of the Bitumen through the soles of you shoes and are seriously concerned about them melting. It sucks. But it's all part of the Aussie experience. And now when someone says it's "hot" back home, well, they have no idea. . .and tomorrow it's meant to be 43 AKA 110 on the grassy field. . .