KOALA!

Its now 12:58am on Sunday morning. I am very sad since I just discovered that my web cam will not work with the programs I set it up for. I was so looking forward to being able to talk to my family and Tim, but at this point its not possible. I am planning to look into other options. We found out today that you can get a new sim card for the phone for like $10 which enables it for international and local use and then you do a prepaid deal. That is seeming like a decent option since we would like to be more accessible to the folks we are working with here.

This morning after breakfast Hilary and I took a hike in the conservation park near where we are staying.

The scenery in the park was amazing. We even saw our first, second and third Koalas. The first two we saw hiding from the heat under a walking bridge.

Our hike ended up being 2 and a half hours. On the way we met a very nice couple who had lots of info to share about the animals we were seeing and hearing. When we got back it was just enough time to clean up before lunch. Unfortunately it still wasn't impressive. After lunch we got ready and did some research on the bus system. There is a bus stop right outside of where we are staying and we waited there for some time for a bus. We took it into the city to head to a shopping area. We were successful thanks to a bit of help from some of the other students on the bus.

We had been told about a store called the Reject Shop, which is supposed to be like a discount shop, and wanted to check it out. We were about to get a couple basic things, like air fresheners and fly swatters. Of course, we didn't want to spend much money so we found other says to amuse ourselves.

At supper time we called Helen and she came to pick us up. She invited us for supper at her house. We had what she described as a classic Australian meal which involved a couple lettuce salads, including one with a green called Rocket, potato salad, cucumber salad, meat/cheese/rolls, and such things. It was a perfect meal for yet another hot day. We decided to go see a movie and chose Gran Torino. We arrived right before it started and had to split up because the theatre was full. The movie was interesting and I liked it. But I found myself truly concerned for the first time about the images of US culture that are portrayed to other countries. It was very different at the end of the movie because where as in the US everyone instantly gets up to leave, people stayed through all of the credits and left at a leisurely pace. Helen and her husband brought us home and here I sit, finishing up posting. But now, It is definitely time for bed. Good night!

Moon Bathing

Right now it is almost 11:30am on Saturday. On Friday we ate breakfast here. I tried to continue to try some of the other cereals. I am finding they are mostly the same concepts with a twist. Yesterday I tried what looked like raisin bran, but it also had like dried apricot or something. Good, but I still liked the Cocoa Krispies. This morning I tried one that is like a golden grahms king of thing. They had sausage out this morning, which I tried a bit of out of curiosity. I am finding that I am VERY glad I don't eat much meat as the meat here, especially at the place we're staying is not very good. It doesn't help that it doesn't taste the same at all, even to someone who eats lots of pork etc. They make spectacular white rice though! I can't remember if I've explained that the majority of the other students living here are asian international students, and the chef/cook is from hong kong. It is interesting to see that group of students line up for food and pile it on their plates when we are not exactly fond of it.

We got picked up about 10am to head to the Magill office, our "home base", for our first day of our field placement. (We've learned that this is the correct word for what we are doing here. We've been using internship, but that is used mostly for medical students here.) We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a little cooler than the day before, but still above 100 F. We spent time doing some mailings and getting accustomed to the office. It is a wonderful atmosphere. There is no sense of a hierarchy in the office. Everyone works together to get things done. When we were mostly done with the mailings we brought out a map to give us an idea of where the places that things were being mailed to were located. We've come to realize that it is true that Adelaide, where we are located, is really the only city in the state of South Australia. Here the population is about 1,158,259 people. Most of the other places are what we would consider towns. We ate lunch with all of the staff in the kitchen. The building is a house on the property of a church that they've converted to an office. After lunch we worked on a couple more tasks before Helene offered to take us to get money exchanged and take a quick trip to Kmart to get any things that we need. They don't have Wal-mart here, but there are Kmarts and Targets. They rate about the same with the people here as they do in the U.S. By the time we got back from the quick trip the work day was over. We came back to Hosanna Heights for supper and then Helene picked us up and took us to the beach. It is so hot here that people don't go during the day. They wait until the sun has gone down. Most of the Helene's family joined us. Her son Jeremy stayed home to take care of the house. Their home doesn't have air conditioning so in order to keep it somewhat cool they must open it all up when a gully breeze comes through. We also have a hunch that he wanted to watch Cricket on TV. We had difficulty finding a parking space at the beach because of all the people that had come out. We walked down and found a spot to set up shop on the beach. Immediately the 3 Americans pulled out our towels and set up to "sun bathe." Helene and her family found this amusing since the sun was currently setting. It one event that helped me realize that sometimes I find myself just going through a routine of what I'm expecting. I have to be aware of that here where things are done quite differently sometimes. We headed into the ocean where it was cool. For the first time in 3 days I was cool while being outside! We played around and tossed a tennis ball, even after we couldn't see it anymore. Hilary and Morgan (the other two girls I am here with) had gone in to lie on the beach so we decided we should go look for them since it was dark. At first we couldn't find them anywhere, which included our stuff since we were counting on finding them to find the belongings. Then suddenly we crossed pathes as they were walking the opposite direction down the beach. I was extremely frustrated at first that they'd left the belongings alone. They said they'd told us that they were going for a walk, but we're pretty sure that they were talking to a different group they'd mistaken for us in the dark. Helene assured me, though, that it is safe to leave belongings unattended on the beach. In the end it was ok since we found our things and they were all accounted for. We took a series of pictures of us laying out on the beach trying to dry off in the moon light. It is a good thing that Helene and her family know we are tourists and have accepted that we will take lots of pictures. Even of the beach at night. The picture on the right is Klaus, Helene's husband, whom I didn't even realize was in the picture I was trying to take of the moon reflecting on the water (since it was so dark) until it was too late.

Gnocchi...pronounced "Ga-nya-key"

It is about 7:30am on Friday where I am now.
Yesterday was amazing. After I wrote last I had breakfast, which included Aussie Coco Krispies. They were the only recognizable cereal out of 5 or so available. There were things to make lunches out, which will come in handy. The weather here is the hottest it has been in 70some years. We have been told that when we arrived on Wednesday it was the hottest ever. It was 45.something Celsius, which means around 117 Fahrenheit. Yesterday only got to around 44 C I believe. I spent some time sitting outside reading, in the shade.

The trees near this are the trees that I have been told to look for Koalas in. The heat is bringing them down from the hills in search of water. The trees in the background of the first picture below are the Eucalyptus, of which the Koalas actually only eat leaves from about 3 kinds. The other picture is the view from there of more of the campus.

Around lunch time Helen, our site director/connection picked us up. We went to a supermarket to get some sandwich fixings, which she called salad things. Fresh fruits like peaches, nectarines, and peach-arines are in season here and they are delicious. We went to the office to meet some of the other staff and eat our sandwiches. When we were finished eating the power went out. Which we discovered is pretty much expected because of all of the power being used for air conditioning. Apparently sometimes they block power intentionally because of this. Helen used this time to take us to some of the other offices which are all over. We met lots of different people that we will be working with. We also started to hear the first bits about what we'll be doing. For example, we will be attending 2 camps, one as a participant and the other as a group leaders. Almost everyone that we met offered suggestions for things to do, and some even offered to take us to do them. It was amazing.

We went out to eat with Helen, her husband Peter, as well as Helene (a co-worker) and her family (husband and 3 children). It was wonderful. We ate at a rather nice Italian restaurant. After reading through the menu, I chose an item called Gnocchi. Most of the table participated in a discussion over the correct pronunciation. We came up with something like "knocky". When the waiter took our order, though, we discovered that we weren't quite right. He pronounced it "Ga-nya-key". After our meal, Helene and her family offered to take us to see the lights of Adelaide. We headed up to Lofty Mountain, which is really the Adelaide Hills that border Adelaide. On our way up, we saw our first Kangaroos.

When we reached the top we waited for the sun to set and then were able to see the lights from all of Adelaide shining. There is an effect of the lights that make them appear to be twinkling. Supposedly the only other place where this effect happens is Los Angeles.

Helene took us back to Hosanna Heights were all 3 of us almost immediately crashed. It was a long day, but quite amazing.

afterthoughts

Its Thursday morning here. Our only morning to sleep in for a while and of course I am up by 6:30. I ventued to find the showers this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find they are in far better shape than the bathrooms. I discovered later last night that a possible reason for the shape of the bathrooms is that we share them with the gentlemen that stay on this floor. Exciting....

I thought I'd use some of my spare time to take a couple pics of my room and put them on here in case anyone is curious. I'll be sure to post more pics as I take them. The web site for the place we are staying is http://www.hosannaheights.com/

Its the final airport... *sung to the tune of "its the final countdown"

We have officially arrived in Adelaide today. We left Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Monday and arrived here in Adelaide, Australia today (Wednesday). Who knows what happened to Tuesday. We had some excitement with our luggage because one of our flights was changed, but all in all it ended up ok. All of our luggage arrived and everything actually went fairly smooth. We got a bit of a driving tour when we got here. The first thing that stood out about the different place was the driving on the opposite side of the road. The city seems to be fairly spread out, but promises some great adventures. One that I am particularly excited about is visiting the habitat of the Fairy Penguin. These penguins are only like 16 inches tall and are native to this particular area. There is also an animal reserve I hope to visit where I might be able to hold a Koala, which by the way are apparently like squirrels here. I've been told to just look for them in the trees around the campus we are staying at. We are staying at a place called Hosanna Heights. It is mostly a nursing school, but provides housing for students. There is a large percentage of the folks staying here that appear to be asian. We have been warned that the food will often be asisan cuisine. The rooms are modest but will definitely work for what we need. They even have sinks in them. The bathrooms, though, leave a little to be desired. Tonight I went on a walk to check out the surrounding area, which seems to be mainly residential. I am extremely tired after all of the traveling and new information I have been fed today. Tomorrow we head to the main office of the organization we will be working with to get introduced around. Thats all for now...