whoo so much to dooo so little timmme (and wifi)

So here's a blast through version of the past 4 days, sorry I have been slacking we have just been awfully busy!

18th Sept

We had class in the morning about sports and white history with regards to the wars and immigration and such australian matters. We also learned about compulsory voting laws and how that creates and increased democratic involvement from the people. For lunch we snuck in some quick noms at a dim sum restaurant and panicked a bit because we were heading to parliament really soon after.

So we arrived at parliament in due time reading to go into the local state's (New South Wales) question time (which is the most fun part of governments of all time. I also think that america should adopt this policy as more stuff would happen if we actually bothered to question our actions in government).  For those who don't know what it is it is a time for the opposition and the party in power to ask the premier and his cabinets any questions which they find important (though this usually ends up being a dissing of the each other). The opposition that day seemed to find great issue with several alleged helicopter rides taken by the minister of health who happily avoided the question whilst promoting her own work and dissing the opposition for asking stupid questions. Of course they were angry and yelled in protests and most people were given strikes for being too loud and obnoxious (which was absolutely hilarious to the rest of us). The party in power even used props at one point to diss the opposition with a credit card with one of their faces on it which was forcibly removed as that is apparently against the rules. To say the least it was fun! I didn't take any pictures so sorry about that.

Then we went on a run and the view was pretty!

19th Sept

Today we had class once more and learned about australian modern culture and perception with sports and figures and music. They seem to adapt and want to be accepting of everything that could possibly come up. Then we found ourselves at the barracks museum again ( I was right in predicting that we would be back. But I already posted about that so no need to bore you again.

We then trekked across the city (we walk SO much) to the rocks which is a cool little sailors town. There were some cool stories about how they shipped someone in liquor (to preserve him) and then drank that liquor in celebration (ew). But it was quaint to walk around the newly decorated yet old style buildings with hte constant mixture of old a new in a cool urban centre. It was then time to walk home and do gelato once again (which has become a favourite activity of ours!)

20th
Today was beach day! So we boarded a bus and headed to bondi, the famous surfing beach! At first, we were given some information on the history of surfing and life guarding and patrolling. Teh beach has lots of riptides (including one call the backpackers one because a lot get stuck in it), which reuqire a lot of safety patrolling. So there are lifeguards and volunteer patrollers who work at the beach for their love of the place and the safety of those of want to join.

Then we went lawn bowling (which is very similar to bocce ball) on the grassy lawns. We were instructed to not dent the grass and to ensure proper bowling technique. The trick with lawn bowling is the fact that the balls are weighted on one side so they curve towards the end of the roll, which requires more strategy and skill than just tossing around the bocce ball.

After that we had free time at the beach, so of course we went into the rough tide! It was exciting waves as we caught and were rumbled by a few. Seeing as spring has only just begun the water was a little on the chilly side, but that's okay! I caught some waves, watched the surfers, inhaled some sea water, and drank some hot chocolate. It was quite the day!

We then headed to a rugby match when we got home. It was the Sea Eagles versus the Bulldogs and as the bulldogs colours were blue (my fav) and they scored the first try, I decided to root for them. After buying my scarf at half time, the Sea Eagles had a major come back and I was beginning to worry that my scarg might be the wrong colour. But after overtime (which is sudden death) the bulldogs scored a drop kick and we were victorious!

21st

Today we had a free day so we went to the zoo! We saw all the cool australian animals including, wombats, wallabies, echidnas, platypuses, koalas, kangaroos, and many other marsupials that are cute and nocturnal! Luckily, we saw a joey in a pouch of a wallaby which was pretty cool. We also got to see elephants doing tricks for a trainer which was cool and he discussed how the elephant understood both thai and english words for the same command, which means he is basically smarter than me! haha. It was a fun day and I thoroughly enjoyed watching and seeing all the unique animals we hardly ever get to see elsewhere in the world! Also, the platypuses were just adorable in the way that they swam around in the dark ( and was nice to see as they are a childhood favourite of mine). Also there was this pretty iconic view of the giraffe against sydney harbour which was pretty stunning!

This is a photo from our run which was pretty gorgeous!