honey, im HOME :)

i survived my first australia day!

...turns out its pretty much like the 4th of july, just without all the terrible music by toby keith lol. noirin and i spent the first part of our day at the beach, as you do. i love basking in the warm sun, sand in my toes, music on the ipod, with the sound of waves crashing in the background. its pretty much heaven

my new friend tony called and asked if we wanted to come party (btw, when i use the term party, it usually just means hanging out, but i find that the term party rolls off the tongue a bit better, and makes it sound like i'm up to something WAY more fantastic (e.g., coke and hookers lol) than just hanging out). i figured, its a holiday, and the more the merrier, so we joined em at south beach for some casual frolicking. we were having a great time when it dawned on me that i was spending australia day with ALL irish people lol. not that i dont love my new irish friends, but its a bit like celebrating cinco de mayo with some germans.

we went and met more irish folks for beers at a mansion near the beach (honestly, whose life am i living right now?) and listened to triple j's hottest 100 countdown. i guess this music countdown is a pretty big deal, everyone votes and its a day-long tradition/ordeal. not complaining though, got to listen to some great music. this song was voted no. 1. its slightly depressing as songs go, but since i am a melody listener and not a lyric listener, i quite like it! the video is really cool, if youre bored (which you obviously are or else you wouldnt be reading this...) check it out below

we left the irish folks and headed to a bbq with more new friends, all archaeologists, two of which just happened to be real aussies! can tick that one off the ole list...things to do: celebrate australia day with aussies....CHECK! :)

wrapped up friday work with some map making and more training. i got up to go get more coffee (because computer trainings are horrifically dull and somehow induce an extreme sleepy-fied catatonic state) and found this guy on my screen when i got back

ahaha archaeologists and their damn indiana jones humor. it turns out, that the indy fascination is not restricted to nerds in america, but has also infected nerds in australia. there is no known cure.

after work we dropped off the bond (silly aussie term for deposit) for our new apartment! this is me with a set of the keys in my hot little hands! no really, it was 41 C (105 F) and my hands were quite literally hot....and sweaty.

since i dont have much money yet, and dont really know that many folks, my weekends are slightly dull. but we made the most of what we had at ole hellevue lol. turned on the tv and noticed this little gem

yeah, thats the aussie channel 12 on a network named eleven. lol WTF? the guy at the tv company deserves a high-five for that one. SPAZ! flipping though the guide and decided that god must love me, or i've racked up some serious good karma points because sex and the city was on, and it was the final two episodes of the series #winning!

love carrie bradshaw! noirin and i were totally empathasizing with her being in paris and not knowing anyone and kinda hating it, then big comes to rescue her and the whole episode has a fantastic ending that leaves you all warm and fuzzy inside (any guy reading this is probably vomiting in their mouth right about now. to which i say, you just dont understand the carrie love...or are a heartless bastard. take your pick lol).

didnt get to hold on to my warm fuzzy feelings for very long because my party was crashed by a cockroach. damn hellevue!

 however, noirins ensuing drunken shenanigans on trying to catch the roach were highly entertaining! (there was screaming (on both our parts) and jumping and throwing of things lol...)

we dont kill the roaches. we trap them and then put them in our recycling bin. dont ask me why. its just what we do. so anyway, its pretty usual for me to wake up in the morning to several bugs trapped under glasses and mugs. this guy got to party under a wine goblet in our dining room...see?

hope he gets recycled into something nice.

saturday was ungodly hot, so we escaped and spent the afternoon at the norfolk hotel. i got to try the most DELICIOUS cider EVER! it is strawberry lime flavored and quite possibly the most refreshing beverage one could ever have on a summer day.

my last night in hellevue was uneventful. thank god. i was waiting for a surprise wombat infestation or for the roof to collapse lol. i spent sunday morning chatting with my best friends allie and kate (love Love LOVE seeing my girls, even if it is on skype! brings me back to reality and makes me happy), and finished my internet fix with a nice chat with my pop. he tried getting indy to look at the camera...lol it was a disaster

indy can hear my voice, but his pea brain cant seem to comprehend the webcam. i love getting to see my dog, but it makes me sad. however, its nice to know he's getting lots of love while im gone. yeah dad, im referring about all those times you give him ear scratches and talk to him in a sweet voice when you think nobodys around. im on to you ;)

loved talking with you dad and miss you every day xo

after skyping, i packed up and said goodbye to hellevue. i'll see you in hell?

(yeah, she's flipping off a house. but it totally deserved it)

arrived at the new digs! walking in the door instantly lifted my spirits and for the first time since arriving in australia, i felt at home :) how fantastic is this place?

loving every minute of my new house! cant wait to get all the little touches to make it mine: dirt, trowels, bones....haha, kidding. but some photos of friends and family are definitely on my list.

and in 10 days, 11 hours, 53 minutes, and 45 seconds i'll get to see this handsome guy

he's the dreamy one on the left with the scruff <3 (i provided clarification just in case some of you thought i might be talking about weezy-pants...).

and yes, im aware that the photo is upside down. technology has bested me again. damn.

cant wait to see you my love and give you kisses! friday the 10th cant come fast enough xoxo

flashback friday

yep this is the first of the flashback posts. im totally ripping the idea off of my good friend, and blogging guru, janetha gallegos (she does a fantastic fitness and lifestyle blog that if you havent stalked it yet, check it out here). flashback is what it sounds like, its me poking around the dusty corners of my brain and fishing out fantastic memories.

being so far away from home and living in such a fantastic location (honestly, who moves to australia?) got me to thinking about all the other great places i've been lucky enough to go. in 2005 i went with two of my best friends to europe. hands down one of the best experiences ive ever had.

england:

@ trafalgar square looking towards big ben

@ buckingham palace

went to my very first pub EVER here. it was called the elusive camel, and im totally pumped that they have a webpage (im not just strolling down memory lane, im googling it! BOOYA)! london was fantastic, if i had to live in any foreign city besides where i am now, i'd for sure go to london.

france:

@ arch de triumph

@ notre dame

@ eiffel tower

@ the rue de la foulerie looking towards chartres cathedral

france had the BEST food. except for that one time they gave me a hamburger patty with no bun and fries with no ketchup. rotten french bastards ;)

italy:

@ the basilica di santa maria del fiore (duomo) in florence

 @ the basilica di santa croce in florence

@ the ponte vecchio in florence

@ torre pendente di pisa (leaning tower lol)

@  the basilica of san francesco d'assisi in assisi

@ st. peter's basilica in vatican city

@ the colosseum in rome

@ the pantheon in rome

@ the trevi fountain in rome

@ pompeii with vesuvius in background in naples

 

italy was one of the most fantastic places. loved every minute of it. if you havent been, put it on your list! we were standing outside st. peters and asked this old italian woman (who knew nothing about digital cameras) to take our photo. she held the camera the wrong way, and basically took a photo of her eye. when we pointed out that she needed to switch the camera around, her daughter that was nearby burst into italian and kept yelling "ay yai yai mama mia!" lol it was SO funny. i also mightve developed an addiction to gelato. ice cream is totally cool for breakfast, right mom?

greece:

@ the caryatid porch of the erechtheion on the acropolis in athens

@ the parthenon on the acropolis in athens

so everyone has a favorite place. i have two. i'll save the other one for another post, but this place, delphi, is MAGICAL, and has made my list of favorite places. maybe its because i knew its history, and knew how lucky i was to visit and be a part of it. 

this is a jamie history lesson:

delphi was home to an oracle during the 8th centry bc (for all you non-nerds out there thats about 2,700ish years ago). a temple was built here and supposedly the god apollo would speak prophecies to the head priestess. all sorts of folks, including kings and war-lords, came from all around to hear prophecies from the oracle (badass right?). well as it turns out (thanks to modern science), the temple was built atop a crack in the earth that was releasing noxious gasses, and the head priestess was huffing all this toxic gas and getting tweaked out of her mind...which of course resulted in her rambling like a crazy beeyotch (aka delivering prophecies). HOW COOL IS THAT?!

so when i actually got to go to delphi and visit the remains of the temple of apollo i was in total awe. i know the oracle can be explained by science, but there is definitely something special about that place. and i recommend everyone experience it for themselves :)

@ temple of apollo in delphi

the greek islands are great, mykonos was beAUtiful! if someone would like to give me a squillion dollars, i would definitely own a home there.

@ the island mykonos in greece

greek men were pretty interesting too. i recall five of us girls going out to a nightclub, and being literally CHASED home by ravenous greek men. the best part of the night was watching our landlandy (a feisty old greek woman) beat the crap out of em with a broom, all while cursing violently in greek. it was fantastic.  

i went to germany, switzerland, and turkey as well, although i cant seem to find any of my pictures. damn. i sometimes forget how lucky i am to have had the opportunity to go these fantastic places, and am feeling very thankful right now. life is way too short to not get out there and see the world. i definitely havent seen it all yet, but im doing pretty good so far :)

field frolicking

its official. im an aussie field virgin no more!

...although it is the worst heat wave in western australia since 1933 and thats the week we choose to have our field training haha.

headed to a quarry site to do some hands on field training

lets just say our walk in was prefaced with "oi, watch out for tiger snakes they'll get yeh. oh yea and keep an eye out for roo ticks. leetle buggas go for yer sweateh moyst areas" (thats me typing with an australian accent lol). thank cheesus we didnt see any!

the archaeological record here in australia is totally mind boggling. in the states i rarely see sites older than 6,000 years old, although the record goes back 14,000ish years; here, you can encounter sites going back 60,000 years. my pea brain is still trying to comprehend it (its almost as crazy as me trying to convert kilo grams to pounds or liters to gallons. sure glad all of that is reliant on my non-existent math skills...fark!) anyway, sidetracked...

this is what an australian prehistoric lithic site looks like

and for all you who dont know what the hell a lithic flake is, click here :) at any given time walking around out in the desert youre bound to come across a mangled animal of some sort and their associated bones. in my experience its usually juicy deer bits like this

but today i got to see my first set of kangaroo bones! it was nerdtastic :)

so even though the archaeological record here is 4x older than what im used to (which is BADASS), the stone tools themselves arent extremely impressive, and are very few and far between. thus, every lithic flake is treated like its a tool (measurements, photos, the works). for my american archaeologist friends you realize how ridiculous this is lol. for everyone else, youre probably stumped and want to look at more pictures. how about this one of an irish girl standing in front of a eucalyptus tree silently cursing the 43 degree heat?

on our way back out we hiked past the swan river. it was quite purdy, but im definitely not brave enough to get into aussie water yet (got sharks attacking people near the beaches, stands to reason that a croc was probably laying in there waiting to munch hungrily on my legs. its only logical?)

p.s. apparently crocs and gators arent the same thing. ive been using the term interchangeably for years. woops? came home and consulted the wise prophet google, and found out they are different in the following ways:

1. ) Shape of the jaw— Alligators tend to have wide, U-shaped, rounded snouts, while crocodiles tend to have longer, more pointed, V-shaped snouts.
2.) Teeth—The fourth tooth on the lower jaw sticks up over the upper lip on crocodiles, so you can see it when their mouths are closed. In alligators, this fourth tooth is covered up.
3.) Habitat— Crocodiles also have special glands in their tongues that can get rid of excess salt, so they tend to live in saltwater habitats. Alligators have these glands, too, but they don't work as well as the crocodiles', so alligators prefer to live in freshwater habitats.

who the hell knew?

got back to the car and was given a refreshing rehydrating beverage. i had a giggle that it was called "staminade". WAY cooler name than powerade! although maybe "gator"-ade wouldve been appropriate? (oh god, that was a terrible pun on the aforementioned croc/gator convo)

a successful first foray into the field i say! cant wait till february 20th when i get to head out on my first 12-day session.

noirin and i got dropped off in west perth so we could get to the immigration department before they closed (which is at 4:00pm. who the hell can get anywhere before 4:00 pm? totally ridiculous. but thats neither here nor there). in order to do anything here you have to have a squillion forms of personal identification. needed to get a visa sticker put inside my passport. why you might ask? i need it so can finish filling out my tfn documents so i can get paid. i also needed it to get my drivers license, however, in order to get that i need like 4 other forms of id!...including an age card to prove i'm me. $25 and 5 business days later, i'm halfway there

i posted this photo on facebook when i first got the card, and got so much shit for my signature. my favorite comments were: "you sign your name like a bar code.  hahaa" and "is that a signature?? dear god.". who knew people were so passionate about penmanship? lol. hopefully after i promise to give my left ovary and a urine sample to the australian government i'll get my drivers license before the world ends in december.

anyway, just want you all to know that not having a car is liberating!....and a huge pain in the ass haha. had to take a bus, this train...

...and walk for 2 k's to get home. but at least i get to see some great stuff along the way. i got to see my bus driver honk at a jafi who was blocking the road, got to see the beautiful indian ocean from the train, and saw a fight between two hammered bogans on my walk home (if you clicked on the link, read the second definition, although the first one is quite funny. and while youre at it, look up the word "paunch". it provided me and my norwegian friend tonje with about 15 min worth of quality entertainment. "you sir! show me your paunch!" lol).

gearing up for my first australian day tomorrow. woohoo for dingos and emus!