Duck Pond

We took a stroll down to the duck pond with our friend Ivan the other day (his other half was working).  The duck pond is located right behind the awesome community garden where we saw the nasty spiders.

I grabbed a handful of bread when we set out.  Welp, four pieces of bread was not enough for the greedy ducks.  Needless to say, our afternoon of feeding ducks was cut short after 10 minutes.

Next time we'll be prepared with an entire loaf of bread!

Dinner

Beets and carrot slices really compliment the patties, cheese, spinach and condiments.

Now that is a burger, with Aussie additions!

Explorations in the last couple weeks

So I kind of wanted to share some fun days we've had recently.  We feel as though we're working like dogs lately.  I'm going part time in June.  It can't come soon enough.  But we're still taking advantage of our days off to explore our surroundings.

Two weekends ago:
Clark and I wanted to walk down to Kareena park on Yowie Bay, which should have literally been a 5-10 minute walk from our apartment.  We got distracted along the way--at about minute 3--and found a community garden of sorts.  It was lush, verdant and beautiful.  And full of photo ops.  Of course we were prepared:

It really was a sight to behold...right in our own back yard!  We had no idea this place even existed!

Clark looking dumbfounded/special on a bench.  As I snapped this picture I told him to please stop making a stupid face and try to look normal.  He said not to look around or else I would see what he had noticed...

Oh. My. Goodness.  Why did I look around??

Massive spiders had spun webs spanning from the power lines to the bushes below.  So, so gross.  Scary and gross.  It was like seeing a poorly dressed and made up transvestite in Kings Cross.  I didn't want to look, but it was hard to look away.

Staying composed after envisioning a sea of giant spiders swarming over my body.

Clark had to find something to "wee" on.  Aussies don't say "pee."  They say "wee" which I find absurd.  You didn't "weed" your pants.  You "peed" your pants.  "Wee" just doesn't make sense in the past tense.

Clark's really proud of this one.  Just look at those reflections!

Had we known there was a duck pond, we would have been prepared with bread.

But ducks aren't that intelligent and they waddled right up to Clark's empty palm.

After we exited the gardens, we found this park.  I'm pretty sure we were at Kareena Park and this is Yowie Bay, the bay we had set out to find.

 However, at the time we weren't entirely sure if we were at the right park, so we got back on the main road and continued walking...

And came upon the Westfield Mall in Miranda...which was way, WAAAYYYY too far.  Hence the reason we are now quite confident we had initially found Yowie Bay.  Here is a wall of graffiti near the mall.  You're only cool if you have low cut dresses and fly with tuxedo clad men in helicopters.  We then had to ride the train back to the station closest to where we live; that is how far we walked out of our way!

This past weekend:
Clark and I rode the train into the city with our friends Joanne and Ivan.  We ended up going up the Center Point Tower to get a view of Sydney from a higher perspective.  

Before going up the tower I tried to get a picture of Clark, Joanne and Ivan.  Joanne tried to throw her legs up in a sort of kicking motion.  No one looks good here.

Forgive us for reflections in the pictures.  There were no open air observation decks, unfortunately. This part of the bay is just East of the Opera House and Bridge. On the horizon is the Pacific.

A rather dark photo of Joanne and I.  Clark and I are trying to limit our camera flash usage in order to teach ourselves how to take good pictures without using the flash.  But sometimes you just need a flash.  It would have been appropriate in this instance.

Sydney facing South.

Lovers.  Ivan used the flash for this one.

A short walk from the tower is St. Mary's Cathedral and the Archibald Fountain at Hyde Park.

Ivan showing us a picture as Joanne is taking a picture for us.

And she just didn't stop.  We started to feel a little uncomfortable with all the attention she was giving us with our camera...

The man is taking the bull-man by the horns.  Intriguing.

Like I mentioned above: intriguing.

Treetop covered pathway in the park.

Clark mounting, and riding, a cannon.

From Hyde Park we walked toward the Harbor where the botanical gardens are located.  We arrived just before dusk.  Photo ops were becoming limited.

Poor Clark.  All he wanted was a sip!


As the sun set, we started to hear all sorts of sounds from above.  Of course there were the gosh darn cockatoos, the most annoying bird ever.  But there was something else making noises that we couldn't distinguish.  We couldn't put our finger on it until we looked up into the trees. If you enlarge the picture, you will notice the black blobs hanging upside down in the trees.Yes, those are bats!

At dusk bats emerged from their slumber and just engulfed the botanical gardens canopy.  They were EVERYWHERE.  And it was so awesome.  These were not the little tiny bats we've all probably seen at some point.  These suckers (no pun intended) were massive.

If you can, enlarge this photo, too.  As you can see, the bats dominate the botanical gardens at night.  We can't wait to go back at dusk and witness this spectacle again.  So very cool.  It's a shame that the gardens close at 6 pm.  We could have stood there for hours just watching the bats.

We keep forgetting to bring our camera stand with us on day outings and trips, but Clark was successful in balancing our camera on a barrier.  Though far away, here is Sydney at night.

We are hoping to get back to the city in the next week or so to see Darling Harbor and maybe even the aquarium.  And of course, to see the bats emerge at dusk again!

Untitled

So it looks like Bin Laden is really dead, huh?  Go American military! Go Navy Seals! And even...Go Obama!

For all of you who find it inappropriate and a disgrace that America (and most of the rest of the world, mind you) is celebrating the death of one of the FBI's most wanted killers, get off your more righteous than thou pedestals and THINK OF WHAT THIS MAN DID TO THE UNITED STATES ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001.  I mean, if my family had been killed in any of those horrific acts of terrorism on that dreadful day, I would have wanted to personally hunt that bastard down.  I wanted to hunt him down anyway, I just never had the means to do it.  Or the knowledge, courage, etc, etc.

Thanks to our courageous Armed Forces, Bin Laden is dead nearly 10 years later.  And in my opinion, it is reason to celebrate.  If I were in D.C. when news broke days ago, I would have wanted to party with this dude, American spirit morph suit and all.  Gotta get me one.

(And by party, I mean stand back and witness the rallies in front of the white house.) 

I'm sorry.  I honestly didn't start this post intending on a Pro-American-celebration-of-a-terrorists-death rant.  I'm just sick of reading articles and reading damn facebook statuses that claim America's reaction (and even the killing itself) to Bin Laden's death is inappropriate.  I understand wanting peace, love and harmony; I want those things for the world, too.  I get Gandhi's "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" idiom.  But we took out a man who would have undoubtedly caused even more trauma and heartache in the future.  We can only hope and pray that his death won't lead to any future acts of retaliation by extremist groups.

I'M DONE.

Please continue to read my blog, I swear I'm not a crazy or fanatical American.  Just a relieved American, proud of the men who are risking their lives to keep our nation (and the world) safe.

Jarlsberg

As per usual, Clark and I were watching Man v. Food on YouTube earlier this evening.  I can't recall which episode, but like all the others it involved grease, meat and cheese.  This is a bit of our conversation during the episode:

Me: Mmmmm, I love Jarlsberg.

Clark: You've been there?

Me: It's a type of cheese.

(There was a mention of Jarlsberg cheese in the episode so I don't know why Clark suddenly thought I was mentioning the place.)

And here's another sample of our conversation at the end of the same episode:

Clark: I've tried to find his blog online.

Me: It's a VLOG.

Clark: A log?

(In Clark's defense, Adam Richman does have a blog.  But Clark was referring to not being able to find his videos online, and that's what made the moment so funny.)

I can't help but crack up as I type this.  I realize these comments won't be funny to anyone but us, but I am choosing to post them anyway. Poor Clark, he must have been tired from working all day...

ANYWAY

Lookie at what we found at the grocery store!  Bad habits don't die and/or go into remission when you move to a different country, I guess.

Best deal on the island for sure!  I don't know how I'll ever train for a figure competition in the future.  I love my sweets and my carbs so much.  My willpower is so weak when it comes to food.  

And thank you Mom Ellison for the Easter card!  Our first letter from across the ocean!  We were so excited to get mail that wasn't a bill or junk. I'm sad to say it was completely drenched.  Our mailbox has become a miniature swimming pool.  It has been raining almost nonstop for the past 4 days.

No joke.  Clark forgot his rain slicker at home and had to walk home from work in the pouring rain yesterday.  Poor fella.

So, Jarlsberg cheese.  Costco has it.  Check it out.  You won't be disappointed.  Just don't mistake it for a place in Norway. Take a lesson from Clark and know the context the conversation when you are discussing Jarlsberg.

"They let anyone in to that school, even poor people. I'll take Yale any day."

Guess which Ivy League school accepted me into their Family Nurse Practitioner program?  It's the school that let's anyone--even poor people-- in their doors and their classrooms.  That would be the University of Pennsylvania!  Philly here we come (in August)!

Clark and I looked up exactly where the University of Pennsylvania is on Google maps.  The title of this post is a review from Shaun, who left a thorough and descriptive review of the university on the Google maps page (two complete sentences!). His review cracked us up.  Go ahead Shaun and have fun at Yale with your entitled peers who haven't ever paid a cent of their own tuition.  You spoiled douche.  

I'm super stoked we'll be moving to the city of brotherly love! I'm trying to show off my acceptance letter but it's not working very well...

My letter of acceptance:

I'm already excited to hit up all the good restaurants that Philly has to offer, like Tony Luke's and Tommy DiNic's (both seen on Man v. Food).  And I'm excited to go back to school, too.

So I waited a while to post my grad school decision because I wanted to make sure I wasn't pregnant.  Not that a baby wouldn't be grand, but it would put a little wrench in our future plans and I probably wouldn't be able to start grad school in the fall.  The pregnancy test was negative, as usual.  You'd think after three years of marriage I would have this birth control thing down solid.  And that I would know my body well enough to know if a real change is occurring.  But alas, I take at least 6 pregnancy tests a year and every two months or so I freak out and think I might be pregnant.  Oh, the paranoia that comes along with marriage.

Sweet deals and random thoughts

Before we moved to Australia back at the beginning of March, Clark and I decided that we would survive with the 'bare minimum.'  We determined that we could do without furniture--all we would need is a bed to sleep on.  So like I've mentioned in a previous post, we live in comparable crack-house quarters.  A mattress on the floor with sheets and pillows.  Recently we've added a blanket to the bedding ensemble since it's getting a bit chilly at night.

Thanks to the generosity of church members in the ward we now have a sturdy solid wood table (Really nice in fact. I would love to take it back to America but I can't even imagine the shipping cost!) and a TV that probably will never get plugged in.  But man, the people are so giving/concerned here!  We have tried to explain to people that we are choosing to live as minimalists; we are both employed and could purchase items if we wanted to. Nevertheless, they continue to offer us items anyway.

Recently we have realized that we do want to have our friends over to hang out and maybe even cook them a entire meal of food.  Along the lines of our refusal to buy furniture, we also only bought the 'bare minimum' kitchen ware and utensils.  Two plates, two bowls, two mugs, and the cheapest utensils that our local Reject Shop (similar to Big Lots) had to offer. 

So now we're on a quest to get two more plates and two more bowls.  We're moving up in the world.  We recently bough a six pack of glass tumblers.  One already broke so we're down to five.  But they're kind of like real glasses.  Sleek and slim.

In addition to purchasing more dinnerware, we have realized that we need places to sit.  Without chairs our table has turned into a stacking table.  Everything goes on it.

So the other week at the Reject Shop we dug deep into our pockets, cringed, and bought two of the most beautiful camping chairs in all of Australia:

 Class, class, class!  Don't mind Clark's face, he was probably mad at me or something. And don't mind the clothes rack in the background. 

Now when we invite people over it will be BYOC- bring your own chair.  We'll supply the dinnerware but not the chairs.  We're excellent hosts.

IN OTHER NEWS...

**I want to boast about my silicone ice cube trays!  One of the main things I wanted this past Christmas was silicone ice cube trays because I always, without fail, crack the plastic trays trying to get ice out.  They were too expensive in the states (read: $12 a tray) so Clark bought me... you guessed it... more plastic trays.

Who knew I'd have to travel all the way to Australia, to the finest Reject Shop, to pick up these beauties!?  They were a steal and I'm so stoked on my silicone ice cube trays. Nothing says a cold drink like strawberry shaped ice in liquid!

**Easter is a MAJOR holiday here.  Not that it isn't in America.  We've got the Easter bunny and Easter egg hunts and the whole shebang.  But here...it's a public holiday.  Along with Good Friday.  That would never fly in America. We were shocked to learn that people get Good Friday and Easter Monday off from work (since Easter falls on Sunday).  I'm not complaining though, working public holidays is double time and a half here. 

**We are love, love, loving YouTube. Always have, but our love has become deeper most recently.  We can't access Netflix here. And we had to reformat our laptop to the Australian region in order to watch our Australian purchased DVDs.  Via YouTube we are catching up on our Man v. Food episodes and re-watching previous episodes from season 1 and season 2.  I can't get enough of Adam Richman and his food challenges.  Best TV personality, in my opinion.  Totally gets me pumped to move back East and try out all the places he visits!

**Just found out that--in addition to Clark having two bro's and their wives back East--my little brother and his wife will be moving to Maryland!  So excited that we'll be near so much family in the future!

**We just booked our flights to New Zealand in June.  We can't wait!  It's going to be cold but we're considering renting a camper van and touring the country that way.  It could be interesting...

And, I think that's all for today.  Happy Monday or Tuesday to you all, where ever you may be!