Halfway, already??

I can barely believe it -- only a measley six weeks until I'm headed home sweet home. What an amazing 2+ months its been already.. ahh!! Let's update on recent events:

Two weeks ago was our second study break of the semester, which of course was almost exclusively dedicated to participating in UniGames. For anyone I haven't explained this to, UniGames is basically an Olympics-style gathering of universities across the entire country representing a huge variety of sports, from footy to water polo to kendo to tennis. For me this of course meant basketball.

The team, whose first UniGames appearance happened just last year, was made up of nine ill-assorted girls. 6 Aussies, 1 Indian, 1 South African and 1 American; most of us around 20, 1 of us a 37-year-old supermom (who totally dominates by the way, she is 6'1 and AMAZING). Our coach was Vince Kelly, an intimidatingly large but incredibly gentle black man who played ball at the U of Colorado and professionally here for years. Somebody found him delivering mail and doing security around campus, asked him if he'd be interested, and voila! we have a legitimate authority figure. Now, Murdoch in general is considered sub-par when it comes to sports... all of our funding tends to go straight to the impressive vet program or environmental causes. So I must say it was rather a shock to the community when we girls went UNDEFEATED to win gold!!!!!! That's right friends and family - 7-0 (and one draw, boo, but we won't count that) to become the most successful Murdoch team at UniGames. Oww owww!!

As was expected the week was full of nightly parties hosted by various clubs in Perth, open only to those with UniGames participant passes. I'm glad to report that our team made much smarted decisions than most others, but we did have some excellent team bonding over a jug of beer or tequila shot. And Friday's theme, "Go For Gold," left us with no choice but to sport our gold medals out and about... I believe we received an equal number of stinkeyes as we did congratulations.

This week, consequently, has been an urgent catch-up for the studying I failed to do during study break. On top of that, I've been helping with the Quenda kids sports program in which 5-12 year olds are welcome to get dropped off with us for the day because of their current school holidays. A couple of us leaders spend sunny afternoons playing dodgeball and settling frequent quarrels and, in my case, learning how to play cricket from a team of 10 year olds. I have to say though that Australian kiddos are much better conducted when it comes to sports... while still competitive, there's little of the heartless demeaning for the last-picked or the screaming at the less talented that American kids are so keen on. These kids are quick to pick up on what's going on around them or new rules to be learned; they're very knowledgeable in all areas and generally a joy to hang out with. There are definitely still your standard troublemaking pair of boys, yes, but all in all its a pretty great experience.

I am so sorry, here, but I need to run home to shower and change before work... for those who aren't doing the math at home, that means my shift starts at 10:30 pm. Awful?? Sometimes it feels like it, but inevitably every single time I get to the bar and kick things off, it feels so much better. Everyone in the building is happy happy happy (of course they are, its a nightclub) and my coworkers are generally good company. If I'm fortunate enough to be scheduled on an upstairs bar, I get to rock out and shimmy to golden oldies of the 70's and 80's, all while collecting a decent amount of tips. Pretty great gig, hey?! Sooo I promise I will write again soon!

All my love to friends and family at home... I miss you all like crazy <3