Elliott's Blogtastic Wonderland

Yes, I return once more to publicly pontificate for posterity! Today's topic: rugby. No pictures yet and there may not be. I forgot my camera when I went to the game. Can you believe that? Anyway, on Saturday I went to a game between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Sydney Roosters. In the last 19 games these two teams have played against each other the Cowboys have only won two. That being said, they crushed the Roosters 43 to 6. Needless to say, the crowd was excited. I was impressed at how much more exciting "footy" is than American football. The main difference is that there's no delay after a person gets tackled. Once they're let up, they roll the ball to a teammate standing behind them and off they go again. Not that they usually make it far. Each team has a line of men across the entire field, practically, so they can tackle people very quickly. Even so, I'm surprised at how long some people stay up with three other guys hanging off of them. Every once in a while someone on the end gets around the entire defensive line and just bolts. Rugby teams consist of two groups: one group is composed of very large, strong guys and the other is the smaller, faster people. I'm not sure of the terminology for these two groups, so bear with me. When the fast guys get the ball, they can take off like nobody's business, but they go down faster. The opposite is true of the large guys, of course, so it makes for an interesting game. Oops, running out of space. Oh well. Guess I'll leave it at that. It was a great game, with lots of shouting, etc. Spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 4:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the many geckos that show up at night around here. This one lives in the kitchen of Rotary BG block, by the exit sign. Everyone knows it, and if we had to choose a hall mascot, it would probably be him. Or her. Don't really know. Anyway, things are pretty quiet around here. I'm settling in to a definite routine. Thursday is laundry day, Friday is for grocery shopping, etc. I've actually learned to budget my grocery shopping better since coming here. I managed to get a week's worth of food for about 35 Australian dollars, fairly balanced diet, too. And if instant noodles figure highly, well, they did at home too. That leaves me with enough leftover money to eat out once in a while. There are some restaurants that I would really like to try. Some Thai, some seafood, some miscellaneous. I'll have to check the bus fare into the downtown area. Maybe I'll be able to fit in one night of eating out a week. Yet more routine, but a nice part. Things have been cooling off recently, which everyone is grateful for. Over 87 fahrenheit with 78% humidity? Not fun. And it's not even summer. Well, I'll be off. I'll try to update a bit more often. Ha! Yeah right. Spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 1:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I get this e-mail telling me about the new question, THE DAY IT'S DUE. Guess I need to be more vigilant on the actual blog question page. Ah well. No worries. Non-verbal communication? Well, squinting is big here. It's really hard to answer the second I get the question. Australians are pretty laid back, so gestures are at a fair minimum. I've talked to many a person who leans on things while talking, but that doesn't really mean anything. The smiles are usually wider than you see in the US, you get the feeling they mean it more. "No worries" is usually either accompanied by a single-shoulder shrug or a wave of the hand, dismissing all concern. Other than that, I can't really think of any specific gestures that are common. Then again, I should get out more, so I might edit this post sometime in the future. Sorry for the lack of photo, the question caught me off guard, and without my trusty Photo-CD. I'll make it up to you, I swear. Oh! I know! I'll give you a recipe I've discovered! Having visited an Asian supermarket, I concocted a mild peanut sauce out of chili paste, peanut butter, and soy sauce. Just mix the three together and you're ready to go. Great on instant noodles. And a little bit goes a long way. Speaking of going... Spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's the boat that took us out to the reef. Don't know if any of you were curious, but here it is anyway. I've received some complaints about my last entry and how I should get out and do more. Well, I'm sorry you disagree. I am a firm adherent to my principles and not likely to put myself in a situation where either those principles or my social situation here might be compromised. Plus, if the whole trip is about drinking, why should a teetotaler go along? I'd just end up sitting by the wayside, watching them drink. No fun. Edit: Also, let me point out that I don't have anything wrong with alcohol. My previous comments may make it seem like a moral thing, but I just don't want to drink. My friends drink, my family drinks, and I see nothing wrong with it. Anyway, enough about that. I got up early today, around six, and while I was taking out the dorm's kitchen garbage (almost forgot Sunday was my day), I saw the sun rise. The entire sky turned a brilliant orange color, the clouds looking like they were on fire. It was glorious. I also saw a large orb weaver making her web, a very neat process and one that isn't often seen. I didn't, however, take the chance to get a jumpstart on the day. I went back in and went back to bed until the cleaning crew woke me up at eleven. Yeah, I'm lazy. So, it's about noon here, so I think I'll head down to Focaccia's and see if they've restored the Tandoori Chicken on Coconut Rice to their menu. It was a real bummer when they took it off, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's some coral, and some fish. Enjoy. Anyway, here I am on a Friday afternoon with nothing to do. I went shopping this morning and ended up with three heavy bags of groceries. Not fun to carry. That, combined with the heat, pretty much wiped me out for quite a while. Most of the other people in the dorm went on a trip to Magnetic Island, so here I am. It's hard to socialize with the people here since most of their activities involve drinking. I see nothing wrong with alcohol, but since I don't drink that makes things very awkward. I don't want the pressure of people trying to get me to drink. For an example, one of the people who lives in Rotary passed me in the hall yesterday and asked "You comin' boozin' with us tonight?" Things such as that don't really inspire confidence in their acceptance of my choice. I may head down to the Strand later today and take a walk. There's a fair bit of cloud cover, so I should probably take my umbrella, just in case. I've seen a lot of Asian food stores around here, so I might check a couple out, if they're still open. I don't think I'll take my camera. Don't want to seem like an ultra-tourist. Well, I'll get going. Just giving you guys a heads up. Spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Dang, part of the picture got cut off. Oh well. This is the only picture where what I actually saw at the Great Barrier Reef matched the coolness of what I expected to see. The little squid were just zooming on past, happy as you please. I managed to get two shots of them, but this is the best one. The rest of the reef was surprisingly brown, apart from the blue of the water. Visibility wasn't too good, so this is my best picture. I'll try to upload others as well, but don't get your hopes up. Since the reef trip, things have been pretty quiet. Getting on with my classes (read five of the novels for my Australian Lit. class), shopping for food, that sort of thing. I'm amazed at how expensive some of the stuff here is. I went to get a book to read for pleasure, and the dang thing cost twenty dollars! Australian, but still. Fast food is also pretty pricey. A burger costs between five and eight dollars by itself, and a normal soft drink, that would cost 1.20 here, costs 2.80! I can see why the Aussies don't eat out much. One thing I find odd, given the proximity to asia, is that the ramen I'm used to, which is a Japanese company, doesn't exist here. The cheapest noodles are a Malaysian brand that costs 3.98 for 10 cakes, with no seasoning. The cakes are smaller too. And to think, in America you can get a 24 pack of Maruchan for 1.44, with seasoning packets and more packaging. I wonder if it's cost prohibitive to mail ramen... Oh well. Until next time, spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just got back from the Great Barrier Reef, a trip sponsored by the Student Union here at JCU. Snorkelling, underwater cameras, glass bottomed boat, lunch, I did it all. It might seem as if I'm rubbing your faces in it, but... well, I am. HA! Take that people-I've-probably-never-met! I kid, I kid. Anyway, they provided suits to protect us from the dreaded box jellyfish and blue-ringed octopus, and I got some really neat photos that I'll upload sometime next week. The first will probably be of the group of squid that I saw. By far the neatest thing. Apparently I missed the swordfish that some other people mentioned seeing. :( Anyway, the trip was lengthy and cost a fair bit, but I'd say it was worth it. Approximately. Figuring in the exchange rate. My lunch on board the boat consisted mainly of prawns. Whole prawns. Missing no part of their anatomy, right down to the eyes. Once I got used to peeling the little buggers, they were pretty good. I wish I had grabbed some sauce, though. They also showed a National Geographic film about the Great Barrier Reef during the 2 hour trip back. I never knew that coral had single celled algae growing inside of it that provided 90% of its food. You learn something new every day. In the interest of keeping this short, I'll fill you all in on the rest of the trip later. Oh, and the picture above is the view from the entrance to my residence hall. You can see the Rotary International House sign on the left. Well, spanish chair.

Posted by Elliott Randall at 2:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)