I am now a fan of Sheesha

Things are beginning to wind down here in Oz. The term is over and it's now study week/finals....I thankfully don't have any finals but I do have a bunch of assignments to do....One thing about being here is that it's made me appreciate the way of learning thing at Ryerson...it's the sort of if you don't do the readings it's your own fault instead of making us do reading journals that are total bullshit.

So lots of things have happened. There was a BBQ on Sunday that was a birthday/goodbye to exchange students that we leaving from my group of friends. However the highlight of the last 2 weeks was Sheesha!!!! A new place opened across the street from the residence and it serves good food but it also has Sheesha. I went with Lorenz, Michael and Hannah. Now here's where it gets kind of amusing-Hannah and Lorenz were the only ones to have ever had Sheesha so the two of us were brand new to trying it and damn it's cool...plus you look like the shit when you blow out a cloud of smoke. And what made that night even better is that we got back to the flat and a bunch of us stayed up talking.

The thing that I find interesting is that if I didn't live with these people I don't know if we ever would have met but I am happy that I did. I am gonna miss them but that just means the next big trip to plan is to Singapore which I will actually do.

I have to get back to doing my reading journal for English (BOOOOOOO!!!!!!!)

What's on

Res at Curtin is unique. I say that becuase unlike most other uni residence's that I know of they actually supply each flat with a television. Because of that you end up spending a lot of time bonding with roommates around the TV. In fact our lounge area coffee table has been used more to eat from than our kitchen table.

You would think that the fact that there is a TV and it means you don't have to talk that we wouldn't but that's not the case. There are three of us: Lorenz, Michael and myself who can manage to end up talking through more of the TV show than actually watching it. In our flat we even have designated times for different people to watch different things. Oh and the from about 500-630 there is news on pretty much constantly.

One show that the three of will even take a break from homework to watch is Rove Live. It's kind of like a talk show but it's only on on Sunday's and there are lots of regular bits. There is nothing like this on North American Television (the host Rove MacManus was on Leno a couple of weeks ago). He has different bits and on of the things is called "Hughesy Loses It" I couldn't find a clip of him from the show but I did find a clip of him from the Melbourne Comedy festival which is funny to.



Another bit that he has on the show is Petespace. I think after watching the clip it's pretty self explanatory. That being said some of the stuff might be topical to Australia but enough of it is funny.




There was also another comedian that was at the Melbourne Comedy festival who was flippin hilarious.....the end is the best. Anyway his name is Russel Howard and here's his bit.





One thing that I will miss about Australia is their ads. There is an Aussie beer company called Toohey's that has AWESOME commercials. The first one is just cool to look at and the second one is just weird but fantastic at the same time.








The last video is a truely amazing ad that I saw on television here. I am not going to say what it's for but when you watch it you don't even know what it's for until the end. I can say that I have never seen anything like it before on TV anywhere.

How can you not love Eurovision?

When I lived in England for 2 years I had the opportunity to watch a truely unique television program...what program is that? Well it's Eurovision. If you don't know what it is it's basically a song contest between European countries. Now most of the music is usually cheesy and the voting is political but this year there was a little bit of a difference in the fact that some of the music actually wasn't that bad.

In fact 2 of the artists I would actually listen too. Those two are the entries from Georgia and Turkey. In fact I have already downloaded some other songs by the turkish guy. I also liked Belarus but I don't know if I could listen to a lot of it. Since you can't actually see Eurovision on TV in North America I thought I would post some clips of the three performances that I liked. I am going to post the music video as well as the performance.


TURKEY - Shake it Up Shekerim by Kenan Dogulu

MUSIC VIDEO


EUROVISION PERFORMANCE



GEORGIA - Visionary Dream by Sopho

MUSIC VIDEO



EUROVISION PERFORMANCE (the sword fighting at the end is nifty)



BELARUS - Work Your Magic by Koldun

MUSIC VIDEO



EUROVISION PERFORMANCE



I have to admit that I watched both the semi's and the finals. I know that it's sad but it's something I haven't been able to do in a while. And I can also add it to the list of things that I have done here that just shouldn't be. Just as a side note Serbia won (it's an interesting song with an interesting looking singer) and it's definetely a different type of song to have won.

It's Sunday I am allowed to do next to nothing

In the last couple of days I have had a unique experience that I wasn't expecting. Now it wasn't something to do with Australia or Uni or anything like that...in fact it had to do with Facebook.

Now I will admit I am a fan of facebook to keep in touch but in the last couple of days 3 people that I went to elementary school with in Shilo, Man have gotten in touch with me. One of them I was messaging back and forth for a while before I realized that I remembered who she was...it was cool but it also kind of made me feel old but cool none the less.

Anyway, today was Sunday so of course everything was closed and there is nothing to do. So what did I do....I finished an essay and a half. But something happened while I was doing that...Michael scared the bejesus out of me not by doing something scary but by knocking on my door when I had my headphones on...he now joins the club with Meera.

So how did I top off a pretty dull day...well with a uniquely unproductive evening. Michael had been at a thing for his aussie rules football yesterday so today he was a combination of tired and hungover...so basically no energy. Our evening consisted of watchin Aussie Big Brother, Ugly Betty and Collateral. As boring as it sounds it was actually fun.

On that note I thought I would post some pics of my roommates so that when I talk about them you would actually know who they are.

So this first one is from Left to Right: Lorenz, Michael, Priyaa and Me.

And for the second pic from Left to Right: Me, David (not a roomate but is here enough that he could be), Priyaa, Meera, Hannah and Lorenz.

I discovered that 210 meant 210 minutes not 2hrs 10 minutes

So...I am at the point where I am counting down the months until I have to leave Australia. Now I know that sounds like I want to leave Oz but I don't really. I just came to the realization on the 1st of May that I had 2 months and a day until I left Perth which was sad.

Now that being said...I won't miss my classes and the university...which I have issues with. And to some extent I won't miss Perth. It is a nice place that I would probably enjoy more if I didn't live out in the burbs and had to rely on public transportation.

That being said I wouldn't trade it for Melbourne or Sydney cause everyone goes there and Perth is unique. Also if I didn't come here I wouldn't have had the opportunity to go up north to Exmouth and Coral Bay and have the opportunity to snorkel and swim with whale sharks. I have had experiences here that I would not have had if I was in Sydney or Melbourne.

Being in Australia and living on campus with the roommates I have and the friends that I have made has allowed to me sort of figure out what I might want to do. Now knowing me it's not a good idea for me to say that it's what I definetely, no other option want to do but at the moment and I forsee for a long time that I have discovered a new area within the entertainment industry that I would really like the opportunity to work in on the production side of things.

What is you might ask? Well if you have talked to me recently you know, but if not...well let's put it this way: I am probably the only person that goes on exchange to Australia and decideds that they would really like to work in India. That decision came from two (although technically three) places. The first one (or two) were my roommates Priyaa and Meera. SBS, which is a multicultural station here was playing Bollywod films on Sunday evenings in March...well they made me watch one and I was hooked.

The other factor was my independent research class where I am doing a massive research and production assignment of my own choosing. Well I decided to focus on the popularity of Bollywood films outside of India...and that they say is history. For me it was interesting reading all the journal, magazine and newspaper articles and reading the books and trying to understand an industry that I new very little about. Anyway through all of that I have come to appreciate them and can watch Bollywood films without comparing them to Hollywood fims. I also realized that I would really like to work for a couple of the production companies that are really successful and see how they run things. Now I know that's kind of weird but then again...that's me.

I even have a list of films in the back of my day planner that I have to see. And Priyaa and Meera have also helped me appreciate Shahrukh Khan...who honestly in the first film I saw I thought he was kind of shit and wasn't that attractive. Well I have since altered my opinion...he's definitely goodlooking...however with the acting...he's good as long as he's not crying...he looks like he's taking a shit and it hurts. That being said for those who don't know who he is I thought I would include a clip that I quite like. Mom prepare yourself...it's from the film that I am gonna make you watch. It's from Kal Ho Naa Ho...and mom you better damn well like it!!! See if you recognize the songs...it's something quite familiar.






See it's not that bad. Anywhoo...I will be posting more often cause I have more stuff to talk about.

So many countries...so little time.

So I know I should I be doing homework but I was researching my trip home.....it takes a lot of time to plan trips. Anyway I was looking at different website and there was one where someone had put up all of the countries that they had been to in the world. Then they put a list of all the countries that they wanted to go to with a list of 5 that were an absolute must. Well I thought I would do my own twist on that cause it's always kind of interesting to see. The thing was I couldn't pick 5 that were an absolute must so instead I chose 6. Please feel free to comment on this post.

Top 6:
India
Turkey
Jordan
Mauritius
Singapore
New Zealand

List of Countries that I want to visit
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Cook Islands
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Georgia
Greece
Iceland
India
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Libya
Macedonia
Mauritius
Mongolia
Morroco
Nepal
New Zealand
Norway
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Romania
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Spain (Andulsia)
Sweden
Syria
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Yemen

Where I've been
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Fiji
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Switzerland
United Kingdom (England, Wales)
United States

This post is long but it's worth the read...I swear.

So I was gonna post my pictures on here but I have found that it takes a really long time to get my pics up on here. What I have decided to do is post the pics on Flickr and post the link to see them.

Here is the link for the photos from my trip of Western Australia: http://www.flickr.com/gp/86172951@N00/fEykhE

There are descriptions of the photos although it would probably make more sense to read the blog and then look at the pics. Anyway let me begin.

DAY 1: Perth-Kalbarri

Well it was an early morning. We had to be at the bus for 7am and many of us had not seen that early in a long time. Our bus consisted of 3 Canadians, a Finn and 11 American’s but expect for one of the American’s they were all nice and friendly. Anyway our first stop was the Pinnacles which are rock formations that have taken a long time for nature to create however when you see them it just looks like fields of phallic symbols. You’ll see what I mean when you look at the pics.

We then stopped Jurien Bay for lunch, and while it was gorgeous there but again, like in Sydney, the Seagulls were insane. After Jurien Bay we headed to Hangover Bay.

One thing that was started on the first day was SPLAT. Essentially Lara, our guide wrote all of our names on a grid on the passenger side of the windshield and which ever square had the most bug guts at the end of the trip got the money that everyone put it.

After Hangover Bay we head to do Sand boarding. I only went down once and that was more than enough for me. The sliding down wasn’t the problem it was the walking up to the top that was hardest…just so not fun. The sun was starting to set but we made it to our hostel at Kalbarri. The funny thing for me was that Allison and Clea (the other Canadians) had never stayed in a hostel before so their reactions were priceless.

DAY 2: Kalbarri-Monkey Mia

It was an early morning. We had to be out for breakfast at 7am but we did it since we went to bed early the night before. After we ate the first place we went to was Kalbarri National Park where I ended up hurting myself and also completely realizing my fear of certain heights again.

I am not normally a morning person but Kalbarri National Park early in the morning is gorgeous. One of the places we hiked to there as Nature’s Window. You will see it in my pictures and recognize it as a common desktop on computers. All I can say is the view is stunning. From there we hopped back into our bus and head off to Shell Beach.

The beach is not made of sand but small shells and you can walk out at least ½ km before the water gets deeper than your thighs and then it suddenly drops off to be really deep. I walked almost all the way and when I was walking back to the shore I saw something in the water. I thought to myself “that’s a big rock” and I proceeded to walk towards it when it moved. It was a medium sized Stingray…how cool is that.

We ended the evening in Monkey Mia. Everyone on the bus was down at the beach with a drink and we watched the sunset. It was really nice. That evening there was an aboriginal show on. Some of the dancing they did looked so Jewish it was scary….just think Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof when he’s sings “If I was a rich man” and you’ll know what I mean.

Day 3: Monkey Mia-Coral Bay

The day started off with dolphins. The previous night Lara had given us some tips about how to get chosen to feed a dolphin but there was one thing that she didn’t say that I did that morning. I wore a bright yellow T-shirt that had something amusing written on it. Because of that I got to feed a dolphin…it wasn’t that interesting but I can now say that I have done it. I personally found the pelicans much more interesting.

After Monkey Mia we headed to an Ocean Park. It was interesting with the highlight being when Clea said that the Sea Snake felt like a purse…I thought it was funny.

After that was Eagle’s Bluff which is literally in the middle of nowhere and I took pictures to prove that (although I don’t think I posted them). The stromalites were next on the agenda. They are some sort of natural thing that happens, I just think they look cool.

We arrived at our hostel just as the sun was setting. After getting our rooms and having supper everyone on the bus headed down to the beach. The weirdest thing happened as we reached the beach, I remembered why the name of the place sounded familiar.

If you’ve seen the movie Contact and seen the bit where the Jodie Foster character sees here dad on a beach. While that beach is in Coral Bay. It wasn’t the exact one that we went to but it looked similar. A bunch of stayed on the beach and looked at the stars and decided not to be crazy and go swimming in the ocean at night.

Day 4: Coral Bay-Exmouth

Today was the first day of fun. After putting our stuff back on the bus and having breakfast we had to head to a shop near the coast to pay for what activities we were doing that day. Clea, 2 American’s and myself were doing a 3 hour snorkelling trip. However we didn’t leave until 1230 which meant we had 3 hours to kill so we went down to the beach. Now while were at the beach a couple of things happened to make me think the beach was cool.

First a BIG fish swam almost all the way up the shore near Clea and I. The other cool thing was a school of fish also swam close by too. Anyway after having chicken nuggets and fries we headed down to the boat. I’ve never seen water that colour before.

Now I have always liked the ocean but I’ve never understood why people snorkel. However after the 3 snorkels we did I have realized why. It’s like an alien world that is so beautiful and peaceful. While t he coral isn’t bright colours the patterns are amazing and there are some many different colours and shapes and sizes of fish. It was incredible.

After we had returned to shore and the group of people that did the eco-tour returned we headed off to Exmouth. The drive there was one of the most incredible one’s I’ve been on. There was amazing lightening to be seen out one window for a little while. The sunsets were incredible. Because we were in the Outback and above the Tropic of Capricorn it made the sunsets even more incredible. When we arrived at are accommodation the last bit of sun was disappearing.

The accommodations were cool. The place was a ‘holiday park’ and the things we were staying in were like small cottages but the were cute and a nice break from sharing a room with 8+ people. For our supper we were told to be there for 745 however it ended up being over an hour after then when we finally ate.

The reason for that is that the trip to Broome had something break on their trailer so we were carrying their stuff and they were bringing the fish (Baramundi) that we were having for supper. Anyway they arrived later than expected and then fish ended up being frozen. However that hour we had was great fun and waited without complaining.

Day 5: Exmouth

So today was the big day for me. I was going diving with Whale Sharks. It cost me $350 so I was thinking that it had better be good. We had to get up early. There were 5 of us going. Anyway after we had signed paperwork they sent us to get our gear and to my absolute horror we had to wear wetsuits.

After the boat left the shore we had to put on our wetsuits. One of the funniest and most horrifying experiences I’ve ever had. There is no way to get in one gracefully. After a couple of hours we still hadn’t seen a Whale Shark and we were wondering if we were going to see one and then we saw one.

The only thing was that because I am a slower swimmer I was at the back of the pack and people kept kicking bubbles in my face so the first time I went in I didn’t actually see anything. However the next 3 times we went in with the Whale Sharks I saw them and it was incredible. They were 8 meters long and it was incredible. On the way back we stopped for a snorkel and it was so nice to go into the water without a wetsuit on.

After we had returned to the dive shop we got back on the bus and head to Vlaming Head lighthouse for the sunset. It was beautiful and we got a good group picture.

Day 6: Exmouth-Farmstay

Today we started heading home. It was a very early morning-we were on the road by 630am. It was also the day that we were going to cover the most distance: 800km.

One of our stops was at the Tropic of Capricorn where we took pictures of ourselves under the sign. I refuse to post the picture of me under the sign cause I look retarded. Also when we stopped at a petrol station we got to see a Joey that had been rescued from it’s mom who had been hit by a car.

We were staying at a Farm that night. Now one thing that I haven’t mentioned yet that happens during the day in Western Australia when you are away from a Perth is the flys. The fly’s are insane and SOOOOOOO annoying and at the farm they were so many of them. We did a nature walk and we survived the flys to get good pictures of the sunset.

At the farm we were staying in the shearers quarters and it was a good 2 minute walk to the washroom. Now the washrooms were awesome…the stalls didn’t have doors instead it was shower curtains…I love it. Our supper that night was sooo good: Shepard’s Pie and garlic bread.

Day 7: Farmstay-Curtin University

Today we went to one place that thoroughly creeped me out: Hutt River Province. Essentially in the 1970’s this guy found a loophole because he didn’t want to pay land taxes to the Australian government. This loophole allowed him to declared war on Australia and because Australia didn’t respond he won de facto and thus his principality was created. Most people found it amusing and funny I found the place creepy, mainly because there was a religious aspect to everything.

Our last stop before Perth was the Riverside Animal Sanctuary. It was awesome. There were many different animals that we could feed. There were Joey’s, birds, alpaca’s, sheep, rams, a horse, a camel, a pony, an emu and an ostrich.

However there were two highlights for me. The first was that we got to touch and hold some snakes that were so cute. The best thing though was discovering a truly ugly animal that is so unique….that being the Chinese Goose. It’s ugly and funny at the same time.

After the sanctuary we were on our last leg home. When we arrived at Curtin a very eerie thing happened. On the radio was “All Good Things Come to an End” by Nelly Furtado…how weird is that.

I got home at 545ish…and that night proceed to go out and see 300 which is an awesome film.

Other pic albums:
I also have two other albums of pics.

One is of my time in Sydney: http://www.flickr.com/gp/86172951@N00/a0F3x4

And the other is of different pics around Perth: http://www.flickr.com/gp/86172951@N00/k4TNu8