Field Trip #2

So luckily I was able to go on my second field trip with another class this weekend. I even managed to wake up on time. We left JCU at 9am and headed for the salt flats. Uncle Rusty was our tour guide (btw, if you've ever seen Nim's Island he's in it) and he told us some history of the area and explained how Aboriginal people lived. While we were standing there a kangaroo hopped across the flat.

After a while we got back on the bus and drove down the road a bit. We stopped on the side of the road to learn about some of the plants. Uncle Rusty showed us paper bark and these sandpaper leaves and soap trees and he explained how they used them. He also showed us a fig tree and we ate some fresh figs, they were pretty good.

We moved on to the next stop which was an old Aboriginal camp with a little cave. We had to walk through four foot high grass to get to the cave. When we got up there we saw some of the rock art that is thousands of years old and Uncle Rusty explained what some of it meant and talked about other stuff too. Apparently Robert Towns, who Townsville is named after, was actually a terrible person and he murdered Aborigines and did awful things. Yep.

Our next stop was lunch. At a gas station restaurant. They gave us sandwiches which were actually pretty good and some fries and these tiny little juice boxes. I enjoyed the sandwich, but really that's all I get to drink? I payed $65 for this trip and I don't even get a full size drink? Oh well, at least I had a water bottle with me.

After lunch we went to our last stop. It was kind of a long drive and a lot of people fell asleep, myself included. Once we got up into the mountains we had to get out and walk a little ways. We were on farmland and there huge cow pies everywhere. At the end of the path there was a round area where no trees grew. This was where the Aboriginal people used to do their dances and rituals. Up ahead was a gigantic rock formation called Turtle Rock. We went up and inside the little cave area where we saw more rock art. There were also burials in this cave and some bone pieces were scattered about the area.

Uncle Rusty told us about his own life and about bringing groups of young people camping in the area and about working with Jodie Foster on Nim's Island. He also told us some of the Dreamtime stories about why the crow is black and why the owl only comes out at night. He says it is bad luck to see an owl in the daytime and if you do it means a death in the family.

It was a really interesting day, but very exhausting and by the time we got back to JCU (3:30) I just wanted to go to bed.

A Day at the Beach

Today the International Student Center organized a beach trip for all the international students. Since it was a free trip to the beach with free food we were all over it.  Unfortunately, the weather today was less than perfect for the beach, it was cloudy and cold. But it was still a fun day and we learned a lesson in coconut-ing.

When we got to the beach they made us play games to get to know people that we will likely never talk to again. We played this tag game that involved spinning around in circles and running through a crowd. It had the potential to end very badly but luckily everyone survived. Then they had us just talk to random people and introduce ourselves and stuff. After that they finally set us free to enjoy the beach.

The first thing everyone decided to do was eat the food that was set out on tables. They have so many flavors of Doritos, I didn't see any cooler ranch ones though. Also there were these little cakey cookie things covered in chocolate and coconut and they were so delicious.

After eating we walked along the beach for a while. It was kinda chilly for swimming and it wasn't sunny enough to tan so we just walked and found awesome shells and coral and some other unidentifiable objects. Then we went and climbed one and a half awesome trees.

There was a conservation park next to the beach so we went for a walk through there. We followed the path up and around the park and down to the other, more rocky side of the beach. It was eerily quiet for some reason. As we were walking along we found a coconut. It was still in its husk and we have no idea where it came from (perhaps it was carried by a swallow?) so we grabbed it. Chris freed it from its fibrous casing as we headed back to base camp. When we finally got to the actual coconut it was leaking this nasty, grey, oily, horrid smelling slime so we tossed it. But not before getting the smell all over our hands. It was disgusting and we couldn't get it off.

We walked back to where everyone else was and Chris played frisbee with some people while we waited for the buses to bring us back to JCU. As soon as we got back we washed our hands in an attempt to unstinkify ourselves. It wasn't entirely effective but it helped. And for future reference, if you want a coconut, get it while it's green.

Also, I have put up a new album on facebook, so you should check it out.

Field Trip #1

Yesterday I had my first field trip for my Linking Indigenousness class. We met at 9am in the JCU Main Oval, which is a field. An Aboriginal man called Uncle Rusty came and talked to us about Aboriginal culture and demonstrated some weaponry and showed us how to make a fire with sticks (which took him less than a minute). Afterwards we got to try everything for ourselves. I got to throw some boomerangs and even a spear. It was pretty awesome. A couple of guys from my class spent a long time trying to start a fire and eventually they got it going.

In the afternoon we had to find our own way into the city to go to the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre. My tour was to start at 2:30, so I caught the bus around 1:50. By the time I got to the city it was almost 2:30 and I still had a 5-10 minute walk ahead of me. I hurried over to the cultural centre and made it there just in time. We spent about an hour hearing about Aboriginal history and looking at weapons and art and stuff like that. I put some pictures up on facebook.

After that I decided to hang around the city for a while and go in a few stores since they are actually open on Fridays. I bought myself a didgeridoo. It's just a little one though, I couldn't afford a full size one, but it's pretty awesome. I haven't tried playing it yet, but I will probably fail cause they are not easy to play. My last stop for the day was Woolworths (because I can't not go there). I just bought some snacks, including a Mars Bar (which is a Milky Way if you don't know). Why do other places still call them Mars Bars? Are we the only ones who call them Milky Ways? Whatever you call it, it was delicious.

Today I was supposed to have my second field trip. Unfortunately I am an idiot. I set my alarm for 7pm instead of 7am and I woke up at 9:00, just in time to miss the bus. They are doing this field trip again next weekend so hopefully I will be able get on that trip (and wake up in time), but it could be full. If it is full then I am out $65 and not doing too well in the class. I am so mad at myself for being so dumb, but hopefully it will workout.

More Stuff

Since Christopher thinks I'm not going to write anything, I have decided to prove him wrong. So here's some writing.

My classes have been good so far, nothing too exciting though. This week I painted a picture of a coffee mug in Illustration. In Australia Through Time and Place I've been learning about archaeology in Australia. Last week I had my first workshop for my Linking Indigenousness class. It was all day (9am-4:30pm) and we did some group activities and stuff and learned about Aboriginal people and the colonization of Australia and all that good stuff. Next Friday and Saturday I have field trips for that class so I will let you all know how those go next week. Also I have my online class (Medical Anthropology) where I listen to podcasts and contribute to a discussion board. Its pretty interesting, and the lecturer seems to be obsessed with cyborgs.

So, like Chris said, we went into the city yesterday. It was really weird how dead it was. There were hardly any people and nothing to do. The only places that seemed to be open were restaurants and Woolworths.

This past Tuesday I worked. Yep, like a job. It was just a one day thing and it was the easiest job ever. I had to walk around these two parking lots once every hour (12-5) and write down the license plate numbers of all the cars. Once I finished each round (which only took about 15 minutes) I could just relax until the next hour. It was pretty boring, but at least I'm getting paid. Of course this had to be the day that it rains. It didn't rain at all for the first few weeks we were here and then as soon as I'm stuck outside all day it decides to pour.

Well, I think that's about it for now.

Stuff

Sorry for not writing anything since forever (Wednesday), we'll try to write more, but there probably won't be too many interesting things to write about. It'll mostly be updates on classes and stuff, random thoughts on australia, or weird things that happened to us. So, onto words.

Classes have been like normal classes nothing too interesting yet. In Digital Imaging we're still just playing around with photoshop, in Illustration we're just playing around with water color, in Criminology we're talking about the criminal justice system, and in my film class, we've watched the Matrix and Metropolis.

Aside from classes I've been playing ultimate frisbee on Wednesday nights. It's intramural, with about eight teams playing against each other every week. I'm on Team 8 (our name is still pending) and we won our first game last Wednesday in a landslide victory, 13-3. We're good, and we'll be even better once I get my cleats.

Saturday Emily and me decided to go into the city to what there was. We left after lunch around 12:30 and got into the city a little after 1:00. The city is pretty big, we walked around for about 2 hours and still didn't see everything. One thing we found out is that almost everything was closed. And the shops that were open were either starting to close or closed within an hour. Apparently on the weekends most things close at noon. It was really weird since we were used to stores being open very late on Saturdays. So we either have to go into the city in the middle of the week, or wake up really early on the weekend. Speaking of waking up early, it seems like Australians like waking up as early as possible. Every morning our roommates are already up before 7, even on the weekends, which is weird.

Today is the University's "Open Day" which is when you go to visit the school. Instead of getting tours all throughout the year, they have it on one day only. So there's been a steady stream of tours going through our courtyard for the last 3 hours. It seems to be over know, but every time I thought that another tour went by, so we'll see. And that about wraps up what's been going on for the last half-week, at least for me, Emily might write something else. I doubt it though, I bet she won't. If she doesn't I'm going to call her funny names.

Random Thought

My bathroom smells strangely of tuna fish...

Australia v. America

Australia wins at:

• Shopping carriages (all four wheels move)
• Tim tams - Most delicious cookies ever. Seriously.
• Instant noodle cups come with forks and the veggies are separate
• Minimum wage is $15/hr
• Metric system makes more sense and is more widely used than the stupid way we measure things
• Animals - Koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, cassowaries, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, kookaburras, and all those other crazy awesome animals
• Accents (duh)
• Attractiveness - There are no ugly people (well, no ugly young people anyway...)
• Chip/snack flavors: Moroccan spiced chicken and lemon, sweet chili and sour cream, lime and black pepper, prawn....
• Electrical outlets have switches so you can keep things plugged in without wasting electricity
• Pretty money (refer to previous post)
• Slang: "I'm going to my rellies for Crissie to open some prezzies before brekkie."
• Intensity of road signs (Give way, keep left unless overtaking)
• Friendliness - Everyone is nice

America wins at:

• Internet is unlimited and uncensored
• Orange soda (in Chris' opinion) because it doesn't actually taste like oranges
• Prices, surprisingly are much more reasonable, especially for sweets and drinks
• Non-poisonous/safe animals (obviously)
• Liberal arts - you are allowed to take classes outside your major
• Phone numbers are less confusing
• School food/dining halls have more variety and they actually tell you what you are eating
• Store hours - In Australia the mall closes at 5 on Saturdays and as a general rule everything is closed by 7 
• Candy tastes better, has more variety, and is cheaper
• Money ($1 bills are much more convenient than coins)
• Not having Vegemite
• Shaving cream for women... we have it
• Old Spice... we also have this
• O-zone... and this
• Eating - America is the world champion