its wednesday and i cant think of a clever blog title....

Writing this post on my front porch, enjoying the summer evening. I can hear kookaburras and crows nearby, and random hippies are walking on my street. There are lots of rose bushes at the base of the porch so it smells like delicious flowers. Cant believe how fast this week has gone by, its almost over and I'm wondering where all the time has gone.

Missing everyone at home a lot. You miss people, but there are certain times of day, or certain situations, or certain smells that make you miss them even more. I've probably said this already, but for me, being away from home has made me that much more appreciative of my family, manfriend, and friends. Love you all and miss you so much J

Don’t want to rub it in and brag, but my neighborhood is AWESOME! Sunday morning I walked down and had breakfast at this café called “Who’s Your Mumma”. You can smell the beach, the café had a great atmosphere and it all just felt so,…unlike anything you'd find in Utah lol. Noirin and I sat near the window and did some quality people watching, and I even got to pet a cute dog (made me miss my jonesy SO much).

 Sunday was also my new friend Emma's birthday, I went with her and we met her friends at a bar called the garden near downtown Perth. They call it a Sunday session, but it just means that everyone gets dressed up, basks in the sunshine, and drinks beer all day at a table with your buddies. The bar was outdoors with a lot of plants and trees (which was pretty casual) and then they had a DJ and a couple of video screens on the surrounding brick walls. Im a fan of music of all sorts, but I’d have to say that techno house music is pretty much garbage. Lucky for me, I was surrounded by good company and hardly noticed the music. There were about 10 of us and we sat around talking and laughing all afternoon. All my new Aussie friends couldn’t believe that we don’t use the term “fortnight”. I was like yeah, because it sounds like it should’ve stopped being used in the middle ages. To which they replied, well what do you use then? I said, two-weeks. Us Americans keep it pretty simple haha. Its amusing when you find little cultural differences like this that seem so odd and foreign.

Monday was pretty average, I headed back to work for more map making. This is where the magic happens:

I was hoping for an office or cubicle of my own, but since everyone is usually in the field, and office space is insanely expensive here, they just have a few workstations that everyone rotates through when they’re in town. After work while we were waiting for the cab to arrive to take us home,  I walked next door to the deli to grab a drink and got this bad boy:

Its a Coke can that says "Mate"! How rad is that? They had all sorts of other ones that said different people’s names, the one that said  “Mum” gave me a laugh. Anyway, after work we walked over to our new apartment and signed the lease. SO SO excited to have a place that I can make my home. It’s a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment, that is fairly new, fully furnished, and has two terraces that overlook the Esplanade park and fishing harbour. This is the outside:

It’s the perfect spot for Noirin and I, we cant wait to move in on the 29^th of this month!

I have been running in the evenings in an attempt to get rid of my Christmas-induced squishy bits, when I had the most brilliant idea! On days when I take a cab or ride the bus to work, I’d pack my gym clothes and just run home! That way, not only am I saving a trip on public transport, but I’m also getting my workout in. Love when that ole college education pays off….

So anyway, I ran home on Tuesday. Its just under 4k from work to home, but the hills and heat made it feel a lot longer. I hate running and working out with a passion. But, I always feel better about myself and life in general afterwards so I continue to do it J

So the accommodation I’m staying for this month is called Bellevue Cottage, and after all our crazy experiences here, Noirin and I have renamed it Hellvue Cottage lol. We are constantly tripping breakers, battling cockroaches (10-15 per day), sweating due to lack of a/c, and laughing at things that don’t work. Things that don’t work include, but are not limited to: two light switches, the backdoor, the stove top, the kettle, and the outlets in the bathroom. So as you can imagine, I am very grateful for the things that DO work. Aussies are always raving about, and eating meat pies, so I bought a meat pie at the grocery store and was microwaving it for dinner when all of a sudden we heard the biggest BANG come from the kitchen.

Yeah, I have no idea how the hell it happened but the microwave plate shattered lol. Wtf?

Everyday living here at Hellvue Cottage is an adventure. Currently wondering when the person who parked their car on the front lawn is going to come claim it. Soon I hope? Haha, so weird.

 I was getting paid to sit in a waiting room and facebook with shane (#winning). The doctor was a wingnut and found out I was part native American and jabbered on about early American history for like 45 min. At least at home you can spot the crazies and just avoid them. However, as Ive come to find out, crazy people in Australia blend in a lot better and are a lot harder to spot. Gonna have to step my game up. Anyway, once he got around to the medical exam I got a thorough once over with tests that I’m quite positive haven’t been used since the 1950s: color blindness quiz, the ole knee tap-a-roo, balancing with my eyes closed, blowing into a tube to measure my breath capacity, and sitting in a sound-proof booth wearing headphones and doing a hearing test.

The highlight was definitely the drug and alcohol screening where I was escorted into the “loo” by the RN, and observed while I pee’d into two small cups. Talk about stage fright. Peeing into a cup when you're by yourself is nerve wracking enough (I mean, if you accidentally spill and get some on you, you’re the only one who knows you fucked up) but the pressure was on with her there watching. Thank god I had no mishaps. After this experience ive decided that all drug tests should really be multiple choice. For example, have you a.) had crack cocaine in the last 24 hrs, b.) thought about having crack cocaine in the last 24 hrs, c.) are currently high as a kite, or d.) think drugs are bad mmkay. I bet they would have higher rates of passing, and its much less um, violating? Haha

After work today I walked down to the train station and got my SmartRider card! Its like a credit card that you load money onto, and can then travel on any bus or train by tagging on or off. Pretty stoked to use it. (Is this how I know I am a complete and total nerd? Getting excited by public transportation?)

My accent is totally getting F'd in the A here. The little voice in my head has started speaking in an Aussie accent lol. I notice it with certain words, like "grah-ss" instead of grass, and 'beil" instead of bill. And its getting even more jumbled up with Noirin's Irish accent. I asked her if she was going to put the groceries away, and it sounded like "are yuh goin ta put tha groceries awey". Just a heads up that I am going to sound like a ra-tard when I come. The mosquitos are out in full force and Im being eaten alive right now. Going to sign off and go inside. Cant believe any of you are reading this crap (or "crahp") I keep posting on here lol.