Oops...

So...it's been way too long since my last post. Earlier this week I got messages from two different people asking "Is everything OK? You haven't blogged in a while." It's been getting harder to talk to people at home, now that the time difference is only 17 hours instead of 19 hours. Basically I am now one day minus 7 hours ahead, instead of one day minus 5 hours ahead which means that now its midnight at home in California when it's 5 in the evening here.

Life is really starting to pick up and get going. We've just gotten university ethics approval for one of our dog training projects, so I've been really involved in getting that up and running. I'm also grading student assignments for the course I'm tutoring, so that's been a big part of my life the past couple of weeks as well. In Australia, they call it marking - and I was really confused at first, but I think I've figured it out.

Speaking of figuring things out, I have a couple more interesting observations on Australia:

Courtesy of: abramowitzesdownunder.blogspot.com

• There aren't mail trucks. The postman rides around on a motorcycle with neon yellow sacks of mail (see picture).
• "H" is pronounced "hay-ch". Well enunciated. I probably wouldn't even have noticed if it hadn't been that every time I say I'm doing my PhD (pronounced pee-aich-dee), people do a double-take and then go "oh your P-HAYch-D".
• Ketchup is actually tomato paste - and tomato is pronounced to-MAH-to. Like when you say "to-MAY-to, to-MAH-to" but wonder who ever says to-MAH-to? British people, and therefore Australians.

I've also finally made it to the Asian grocery store in Bendigo. I was so happy to find Aloe juice and 沙茶酱 (Chinese satay sauce). I made Ma Po Tofu that evening and it actually turned out surprisingly tasty!

Yummy!

Meet Audrey

It's Easter Holiday, which is also mid-semester break. Students get one week off from classes, and the University is closed for Good Friday, and also the following Monday and Tuesday.

Turns out basically EVERYTHING was closed for Good Friday - including the grocery store...

Luckily, I have a small fuzzy warm monster to keep me busy the next couple days. This is Audrey, Pauleen's 4 month old Lagotto puppy who has come to stay with me and learn about life off of the farm. It's been a lot of fun having a puppy around - I forgot about all the crazy mischief puppies get into! Today, I went downtown to the pet store (which was luckily open for 4 hours this weekend) and picked up some rope toys and rawhide chews for poor Audrey who is teething and needs toys other than her stuffies.

So far, she's been rolling around on the ground chewing on her rawhide for over an hour. She seems happy, and I don't have to be upset at her for wanting to chew on the walls or bed frame!

I survived!

The last two days have been crazy, busy, and tiring -- but I came home to two great things!

Sage! Unfortunately my phone camera is
too slow for good pictures.

Yesterday morning, I left home around 6am for an Animal Ethics training day in Melbourne. The training program ended at 1pm, and Jess, Nick, and I went to Jess's house to discuss our current project and the next steps we need to take to keep on track.

I got to meet Jess's new bird, Sage, and her two foster baby ringtail possums - who were absolutely adorable.

This morning, I had a meeting with someone from the service dog training group to figure out what I need to do in order to get trained up as a puppy raiser. Certain some fun things to come from this!

I had tutes in Bundoora again today. It's always interesting to see how different classes can have such different opinions - maybe just because certain ideas get brought up first. I really enjoy challenging their thoughts, even though they might think I'm a little nuts. One of the hardest things with the tutes is getting my second class (from 3-5pm) to keep participating through the entire class time. It's the end of the day and we're presenting such thought-provoking things and asking them to discuss when people are having a hard time just keeping their brains turned on, let alone critically think. I want to say that's why my first tute is so much more enjoyable - but I had a little chat with my second class today and hopefully next time is better.

It's 3 weeks until I need to be down in Bundoora for tutes again, next time only for a single day so it should be less tiring. My two hour drive home this evening resulted in good things though. Got home and found that my American snacks had arrived, and I've received my first scholarship payment from the university!

Tada!

Things are looking good - and we have a long weekend coming up. It's Easter weekend so we get Friday - Tuesday as university holidays. I'll probably go hang out at Pauleen's for at least a couple days and do some training/play with her dogs... should be fun!

CAR!!!

It's official! Look at my beautiful new baby:

It's only got 2 doors, but that's fine. I only plan on having a dog in the back anyway!

Today, Pauleen and I took a trip down to Melbourne. She had a couple meetings with dog people and thought it would be good for me to tag along. It was a lot of fun and now I have lots to think about. As with everything related to dogs, there are never any concrete answers to anything. Everything you think just leads to more questions.

I also learned a little bit about service dog access laws here in Australia. I've been told that assistance dogs are allowed in all public places - which I assume doesn't include places like zoos and other specific places just like the dogs in the US, but there aren't rules about puppies who are in training for future service dog work. Turns out Australians are generally so nice and welcoming that it's just not a problem. We were talking to someone from a service and therapy dog training organization in Melbourne today and he said he's never had issues with public access with his puppies.

We might be working with that group in the coming months to set up some type of program here in Bendigo, which would be a really fantastic opportunity and lots of fun. In the mean time, I'll need to learn about their training and puppy raising. Lots of fun and exciting things to come!

Next week is going to be a bit crazy. Pauleen is going back down to Melbourne on Monday for a 3rd (?) year Psychology field trip, so I will be teaching her tutorial here in Bendigo. Then Tuesday I'm down in Melbourne for Animal Ethics training which the university requires before I can work with animals. I'll be staying down there for my tutorials on Wednesday. At least now I have a car so I can drive instead of having to deal with public transit.

Home.

It's starting. I'm starting to miss home.

It actually started over the weekend - when I had a sudden craving for Cheez-It Snack Mix and discovered that Australian grocery stores don't carry it, or even a snack similar to it! Blasphemy!

So today, after I started writing this blog post, I started searching for snack mix in earnest, and discovered Amazon.co.uk. UK Amazon ships Cheez-It Snack Mix to Australia!! Too bad it's about $26 Euros for a pack of 3 boxes - which is nearly $37AUD. Yikes...suddenly I'm not sure I'm missing snack mix that badly.

Outside of missing snacks and mommy's cooking, I miss my friends and family. I've made some great friends here, and had so many fantastic experiences, but I find myself wishing my friends and family from home could be here experiencing these things with me. My mama keeps warning that she will come visit sometime before I go back in September. I want her to come now and cook me yummy food (just kidding...maybe)!

On a lighter note, two nights ago Shu had some friends over for dinner and he made tempura and another tasty Japanese dish. So much food - and so yummy! I'm going to get fat living here...

It's officially Fall - I think, and the weather is starting to get cooler. The sunsets are really pretty right now too. Our rooftop is a pretty good vantage point.

The Milky Way

I had dinner with Shu, Elie, and Rico tonight. I made them roasted rosemary potatoes and carrots. So yummy...! Shu also made a Japanese dish - oyakodon. The name translates to something about parents and children, but what it really has to do with is chicken and eggs, not humans.

The rosemary was from the garden in our backyard. So good!

After dinner we climbed onto the roof to enjoy the stars. I tried playing with long exposures on my camera and got one photo that turned out half decent... It was tough getting the focus right since you can't autofocus at the night sky.

It was beautiful! Maybe I will learn to get better at taking photos - I think I need to get a tripod...

4 weeks down

Before I begin, as you may have noticed, I've added an "About Me" section to my blog! Feel free to check it out.

This week flew by in a flash. It was just the weekend and suddenly it's Friday night again. I'm guessing the week felt super short since it was particularly busy - and I was out of the office all day on Wednesday.

I had my second session of tutorials on Wednesday. We had a lot of fun discussing controversial legal issues surrounding human-animal relationships, and spent a good portion of the class arguing about whether animals are conscious or not. The Human-Animal Relationships class is fantastic, and the fourth year honours students I'm working with tell me it's the best course at uni. Lucky me! It was actually kind of funny. I told them that I needed to be in Bundoora for HAR tutes on Wednesday, and they assumed that I was taking the class rather than teaching it.

On Monday, I have a meeting with my team of PhD supervisors - sounds a little bit intimidating, but it's just Pauleen, Tiffani (who has been super nice and is also mentoring the fourth year students), Philippe (the brilliant man who knows everything about visual perceptions), and KC (a robotics/engineering man who I currently associate with Schmackos...). All in all a very warm and welcoming, not very scary (yet) bunch, so I'm looking forward to finally getting dedicated time for us all to discuss my research plans and goals here in Australia!

This is my very first weekend with no plans, so I have time to RELAX - and maybe get started on writing up a training manual... Not doing anything is very hard for me. Plus, what better way to feel less guilty about procrastinating on stats homework.