morning visitor

many people who know me would say that i am not a very squeamish person and can easily handle disposing of the occasional bug that finds its way into the house. i also have no problem whatsoever with pretty much anything that crosses my path in the great outdoors (spiders, snakes, mice, etc etc). i will admit, though, that i am not as used to the bugs, lizards, etc of australia, which i believe are generally bigger than their counterparts in north america. anyway, it's usually just when things from the great outdoors find their way indoors to surprise me out of context that i succumb to that stereotypical female reaction of screaming at the top of my lungs. so, as you're probably guessing, that in fact happened first thing this morning (before even making my coffee!) when i was about to fill the brita water pitcher in the sink and found a little gecko (like the geico gecko!) doing laps around the sink (i obviously startled it out of its gecko slumber). jason quickly came to the poor fella's rescue and tried setting it free outside the kitchen window, at which point the little guy actually gave jason's finger a bit of a hug and tried to resist its return to the cold morning air. it was quite cute, actually.

i also thought i'd attach a few pics of the new car, which we are absolutely loving! we're already planning our first road trip for this weekend up the coast...

new baby, new car!

in case anyone is actually still checking this blog, i thought this was an opportune time to get it back up and going. we have now been back in perth for a week, after our travels to the U.S. over the past 6 weeks. i'm still gathering all the pics from our time in Minnesota and Baltimore, but you can find most of them on this picasa web album. i also have a few pieces of great news:

- first and foremost, my new nephew, anderson clarence stark, was born yesterday, july 31 at 9:21am (central standard time, U.S.A.) and weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long! heidi (mom) and the baby are doing very well. jon (dad) said that big brother jackson (6 yrs. old) was very interested in anderson right from the start and had fun getting a surgical mask and gloves from the nurses to help "examine" his new baby brother! here is the picture jon sent us just today (i'm sure more will follow soon - right, jon?)

- our second piece of news is... we just bought a car today! we are so excited about this purchase especially since we have been totally reliant on public transportation and/or friends picking us up over the past 6 months, so this will surely bring our quality of life up to a whole new level. we are mostly looking forward to having the chance to get out and explore the area beyond perth that we've heard so much about. the car is a silver 2005 nissan x-trail (a small/mid-size suv, complete with 4wd). it only has 23,000km (~15,000 miles) on it so it looks and feels pretty much like a new car!

- second semester is off to a good start so far, too. i'm taking only two classes right now: one is 'educational policy & practice' and the other is 'global english: current issues in TESOL' both of which are going to be very interesting and keep me plenty busy over the next 12 weeks. in addition to these classes, i will be writing my major paper (a shorter version of a thesis) which, if all goes according to plan, should be done by this november.

i will try to keep this updated more regularly now, so keep reading!

a simple saturday

those who know me well, know that i'm always a fan of keeping things simple and low-key. so, i was especially content during this week where i find myself jason-less (he's in san francisco for a conference) to have a saturday that was simply lovely. it started at this adorable little cafe, tarts, for a breakfast with my friend meg and another girlfriend of hers. ever since parting with my beloved neighborhood coffee/wine bar, metropolitan (in baltimore), it has been difficult to find anything that comes even close to filling its shoes. but i have to say the food, ambiance and (most importantly) coffee was impressive at this unique spot. in addition to serving breakfast and lunch, it also sells artsy cards, gifts, soaps and fun little treats! ok, so it may be a little more favorable to the females than the males, but i think the food and coffee still draw a mixed crowd of folks. alright, so i'm done with the restaurant review now, but the lovely day continued as meg and i went and hung out at her parent's house. they live in one of perth's nicer suburbs that i hadn't been to yet - it has one of the best views of downtown perth from across the river. for all you celebrity stalkers, it also happens to be heath ledger's old neighborhood - we even saw the new house his dad is building! after some good chatting time with the parents and reading the paper, we then went and saw a funny and entertaining french film, "mon meilleur ami" (my best friend). i have had great success in seeing plenty of french films here - this is the 4th one i've seen since in the 4 months i've been here. if you're interested in french film as much as i am, here are the others i've seen that you should check out: "dans paris" (inside paris), "la tourneuse de pages" (the page turner), and "familia," a french-canadian film. it's great that a city as small and isolated as perth still has such a strong appreciation for culture. well, that brings my summary of the day to a close. ahhhh, i wish all saturdays could be this delightful!

bikes and marks

since i have been slacking on the day-to-day updates, i thought of a few exciting things that have been going on with us in aussieland lately:

1) we bought bikes last weekend!! yes, we are now proud owners (and sort of acting like obsessive parents) of a nice pair of 'malvern star' mountain bikes. it was a bit of a splurge purchase, but considering we don't have a car and we've been talking about getting bikes since i arrived, we decided it was time to go for it. we couldn't be in a better location for bike paths, either. even on our way home from the bike shop, we went "off-roading" on one of the several dirt paths in king's park. then last tuesday, we went for a longer ride along the river and through some of the swanky neighborhoods of perth's western suburbs. as the range rovers, bmw's and volvo suv's passed us on the road, i was proud to sport my own "green" set of wheels.

2) although the semester is almost over, due to the nature of the assignments in my classes being mostly evaluated at the end, i hadn't received any marks (grades) yet...until last thursday. in my educational leadership unit, i was very pleased to receive marks and feedback for the first two assignments - a presentation i did earlier on, and an annotated bibliography. maybe it's just because the grading system is different here that I got so excited, but it certainly was a good feeling to see that all my hard work this semester seems to be paying off!

3) while jason worked a tough schedule over the weekend, spending thursday, friday and saturday night doing sleep studies and the following days sleeping, i had the pleasure on saturday of having breakfast with my friend/classmate meg at an oceanside cafe with two of her teacher friends (and their husbands) who each just had a baby about a month ago. it was great to get to know some more people here (meg has been wonderful for connecting me up with many of her friends), and take in the beautiful autumn morning by the sea!

that's really about it for the main happenings around here. i am pushing to get my final assignments well underway so that when my friend lauren (from baltimore) arrives a week from friday, i can take the time to really show her a good time here in perth!

sydney sightings

after the easter weekend in the wilderness, we headed for sydney, where we stayed with some great friends of ours, jo and magnus. they have just returned to australia after living in london for about 3 years. in fact, we even had the wonderful opportunity to visit them in london last year, and then they also came over to the u.s., so we showed them around baltimore, washington d.c. and new york. they live in an ideal spot in sydney now, a short walk from coogee beach (this is taken from the rooftop deck of their building).


since i only saw a quick glimpse of sydney on my first visit a few months ago, we made a point of going back to the harbor and having a closer look. last time, we walked around the area near the harbor bridge, and saw views of the opera house from there. so this time we started at the ciruclar quay and walked along the opposite side of the promenade to the opera house. it's such an awesome experience to see such major icons of cities up close (i had the same feeling when visiting the eiffel tower in paris!) - you just can't help but snap tons of pictures to try to capture the moment! from there, we went for a quick stroll through the peaceful botanic gardens.














we then took a ferry through the harbor to manly - a touristy area near the north "head" of the harbor (supposedly they used to quarantine people there upon their arrival to prevent the spread of diseases...). the ride through the harbor was equally as enjoyable as our visit to manly, as we passed the kirribilli house (the prime minister's private home, away from canberra), fort denison (was used to protect the harbor and once served as a prison), and watched all the sailboats racing or simply enjoying the beautiful, breezy day. once we got there, we followed the crowd from the harbor to the oh-so-manly(!) beach.














this photo actually has a funny story that goes with it. as we were walking away from the beach, i looked up and saw a message in the sky (a few minutes before taking this) that read, "marry me ange!" we all stopped and stared at it for a minute and i thought, "wait a minute... could that "g" and "e" possibly be another "n" and "a" written badly??" magnus, who was walking on my left and knew what i was thinking, said, "well? aren't you gonna say 'yes'?!" i turned to jason and yelled out an enthusiastic "yes," but quickly realized that it wasn't really intended for me since his enthusiasm didn't really match mine. awwww. we all had a good laugh, but i couldn't help but wonder if the message had actually been seen by this "ange" girl. i'm all in favor of creative proposals and everything, but how much would it have sucked for the guy asking if she had been in the bathroom or something at the time it was written, and missed it?!

well folks, that's it for the trip recap - i have a feeling, that with all the family and friends around sydney, newcastle, and catho, we will be back there again soon, which is good because each time we're there, there's always more that i'd like to do and see!


as for life back in perth, this first semester seems like it's already wrapping up and i have more than enough work to keep me busy through to the beginning of june. we were happy to watch our western force play their 2nd to last match at home last night (another big win) which means the atmosphere there next week will definitely be crazy as the season draws to a close.

country to camping

although it's a bit overdue, i have a few pictures that i haven't had a chance to put up yet from our trip a few weeks ago to sydney and various other places north of there. this first selection is from easter weekend. we met up with jason's mom (& co.) on friday near the little town of gresford - it was a very wet day, but we were still able to get a tour of the farm that they have (they just bought 100 more acres to add to it!) and we met their seven very friendly horses. it was too wet to go riding this time, but hopefully next time, we'll get a chance. the area was absolutely beautiful with its green rolling hills, valleys and rivers. the horses sure seem to love it!

easter saturday brightened up and we checked out the gresford easter fair. it was small town culture at its finest with various stands for bake sales, crafts, local food/wine products and so on. we even entered our names into the cow pie drop contest - whoever's number the cow drops its pie on wins! the billy cart derby races were by far the highlight for everyone to watch. every kid had their own creation, but obviously some worked better than others! the race started at the top of this hill and had to make it down the hill to the flags first (without going off course or tipping!).


from gresford, we drove to pumpkin point and met up with jason's dad's side of the family where all kinds of friends and relatives were gathering to celebrate corynne's (jase's stepmom's) 50th birthday. we had a great party that night complete with lots of great food, drinks and dancing (and only a few minor accidents). the "block" as they call it is a peaceful piece of land on the karuah river, owned by about 5 couples (including jase's dad and corynne). from all the stories i heard over the weekend, they sure do have lots of fun when they're there.

easter sunday was a bit of a shock after the wild night all the grown-ups had, but the kiddies were up at about 4:30am, ready for the easter festivities to start. jason made a delicious easter breakfast for us on the campfire and the kids had a great time doing an egg hunt in the woods. here are j's cousins kids after the hunt, showing their excitement for the number of chocolate eggs they now have! little ruby (front, in pink) collected all the red ones - how cute is that?!

i was well aware that there would perhaps be some wildlife around us at pumpkin point, since it is a very rural area. i don't know if i was quite prepared for a lizard of this size to pay us a visit, though! it's body was about 3 feet long, with a tail just as long! i was told that goannas are pretty common to the "block" and aren't too dangerous, so my curiosity and fascination made me follow this one around for a while until it finally escaped up a tree.

later, we had the opportunity to feed a kookaburra (unfortunately it wasn't sitting in an old gum tree)! i quickly found that it was a pretty picky eater, and would only nibble on fresh fish (as opposed to the stale crackers i initially offered it).

to complete my little australian wildlife safari, i decided to take a walk on our last night there at sunset to see if i would come across any kangaroos. i didn't get a chance to catch any of them on camera (they move so fast!), but i saw several of them when they stopped to look at me, and i heard even more as the ground made a strong thumping sound when they hopped away from me!

as i'm writing this now, i'm nursing a cold that seemed to come out of nowhere this past week. actually, i just finished taking an intensive one-week course on qualititative research methods - when told my mom that they compressed a whole semester's worth of class into a week, she says, "well, no wonder you're sick!" i guess it has been a crazy couple of weeks here. so, i will attempt to get some more pics up here tomorrow from our time in sydney, but for now, it's back to the couch!

good times, good times

weeks seem to be flying by lately! not too much has been going on - pretty much just the usual. i've been staying busy with classes and enjoying getting to know more of the people in them. one of my classmates, meg, that i worked on a presentation with a few weeks ago has been nice enough to invite me out to meet some of her friends lately, and she's also showing me some fun, new spots around perth. as many of you know, girlfriends are really important to me wherever i find myself in the world, so it's great to finally be making some here! jason was in new zealand for a conference last week - he came home pretty wiped out after being forced to spend each night socialising with colleagues til the early hours of morning! i can't say i feel too sorry for him, though - it sounds like he had a good time. we attended another western force match on friday - their 3rd straight win now at home! this week is the final week of class before our two-week study break. jase and i will fly back to sydney this friday and spend easter weekend camping with his dad's side of the family, then we'll have the rest of the week to visit more family and friends in and around sydney. i can't wait!!! have a blessed easter everyone!!