Surf’s up: Today (Saturday 14 February 2004) I had my first surfing lesson. Guill (shown here with me before the lesson) and I tried to go last weekend, but we somehow couldn’t find the school and went 4-wheeling instead. This time we arranged to go to the Anna Bay Surf School at One Mile Beach. We got there just in time for our 10 o’ clock lesson, which was a group lesson with 6 or 7 other people, three of whom were under the age of ten. Warren and Amy, the instructors, had to tell us all about oceans and waves and rip first, and then we got on with the fun stuff. First step of the lesson was learning how to paddle out to the waves, sit up on the board, and spin around to catch a wave. With my wonderful sense of balance and grace (yes, I am being sarcastic—I believe the best description I’ve heard is that I’m “the most uncoordinated athletic person you can find”—thanks, LJ), I was the first to fall over while trying to spin myself around on the board. We practiced catching waves lying down, which I could handle. Then we came out of the water and practiced standing up on our boards while on the sand. I wasn’t too bad at standing up while on the excessively stable sand, but in the water was a whole different story. I don’t have any pictures of my valiant efforts, but I know it had to be pretty funny to watch. I didn’t do too badly with catching the wave lying down, but standing up was a serious issue. Anyone who’s skied or mountain-biked with me might guess what my biggest problem all day was: staying way too rigid and tense. I just couldn’t relax and just go with the flow (no pun intended). The other real problem I had is that I wanted to stand up slowly from the lying down position, but that’s not the way to get up on a board. I think I might have been getting it towards the end, but my arms and legs were getting so tired that I just couldn’t stand up anymore. On my very last try, in shallow water, I did manage to stand up for a whole three seconds, which was pretty exciting. I really liked Warren and Amy (no, LJ, Warren did NOT try to pick me up). They were really encouraging and helpful. The surfboards we used were soft, made out of the same foam-type material that boogie boards are, with rounded noses so we wouldn’t hurt each other. It’s a good thing, too, since I think every student ran over someone at least once. I really enjoyed it and I think I want to try it again, although I don’t see a career as a professional surfer in my future.

Injuries from my first attempt at surfing: Slightly sprained left index finger, board rash on the back of my right knee, sunburn on my face and my legs and arms where the shortie wetsuit cut off (heck of a noticeable farmer’s tan—well, burn—since the wetsuit was longer than my shorts and skirts), re-pulled right quad on the first attempt to stand up.

Tim-Tams: Tim-Tams are chocolate biscuits (cookies) made by the Arnott company. They come in many flavors, from double chocolate to caramel-filled, which are the ones I tried. I have to say that upon first taste I wasn’t that impressed—at least not enough to understand why every American who’s ever been here is in love with them—but then when I tried them with a tall glass of milk (thanks for the suggestion, Melita) I understood why everyone loves them.

Australians are sappy romantics, too: On Valentine’s Day, I went to nearby King Edward Park (a nice grassy valley that overlooks the ocean) to watch “Ever After”, the Cinderella movie starring Drew Barrymore, at the Cinema Under the Stars series. The weather was perfect for an evening movie outdoors—not too hot and not too cold, with no chance of rain. Before the film began, some guy (I’m guessing he must have been a radio personality or other known person, since the people around me seemed to recognize him) got up before the crowd on a microphone and proposed to his girlfriend. A chorus of “awwww”s went up from the crowd, as should be expected on Valentine’s Day for a public wedding proposal.

We beat Duke!: Sorry for those of you out there who care nothing for ACC basketball, but I think it’s awesome that we won. I think it’s even cooler that John B. called me to tell me (thanks for suggesting it, Dessari). For a few sweet days, NC State is on top of the ACC in the standings. And in a year that 5 teams, none of whom were NCSU, started the season in the top 30. What an amazing thing. I was beginning to worry that I’d have to leave the country for every b-ball season, since we’ve been playing well since I left, but John told me that we’ve won all the games when Daniel and Alli haven’t gone to the game, so I think I’m safe. Okay, yes, I’m being superstitious, but I can’t help it—I can’t believe that it’s actually our skill that it allowing us to win. J Editorial note: Boy does it SUCK that I didn’t post this right after we won. Now I have to be unhappy about us choking against Clemson.

“North American ringer”: Not sure that I ever thought I would be described as such in regards to Ultimate, but that phrase was uttered by one of the women’s players here at the Uni on Sunday night. Using that phrase to describe me means that they’re still pretty new to the game of ultimate. I seem to have more experience at ultimate than any of the women on the team, both in terms of years of playing and level of competition. That thought is both scary (I don’t want them to depend on me too much) and exhilarating (I’m not sure that I ever expected to play with an organized women’s team and be one of the most experienced players). They said I could play with them in Aussie Club Nationals even though I can’t make many of the practices or tournaments. Funny, this reminds me of a conversation I had with John Falconer (prof at CU) before I left. He asked if I was coming here to play for the Ultimate team here, and I told him no. Guess I was wrong.

The invasion has begun: The undergraduates are returning to the uni after summer break. Things are getting crowded and hectic here. Suddenly there are tons of clubs at booths in the Union for O-week (orientation week—more of that Aussie fascination with abbreviations) and the campus is swarming with 18-20–something year-olds. On a good note, the return of the undergrads means that I can scam free food and stuff from all the activities starting up this week. Plus the ultimate club is having their welcome BBQ next week. No matter how long I’m at uni (in school or working there), I’ll never get used to the abrupt change from the deserted summer campus to the crowded fall one.