Fisher Rugby!

Sorry it took me so long to get this up. My Internet ran out last Sunday, and I haven't been in Sandy bay during business hours for a week to get it turned back on. I should be good now until I depart Tassie though.

Last weekend was the big rugby weekend! We (John Fisher) played against Christ College. Unfortunately our rugby jumpers and shorts came in a week late; so, we looked like a bunch of bogans in our borrowed jumpers and mismatched shorts, (note the back of my jumper in the next picture - 1p) but we had an absolute blast!

Our girls' team had just enough girls to make a team, so we didn't have any substitutes when Tanya and Adelle got carried off the field. Christ had more than enough girls to make two full teams (why couldn't they just share?!), but for being only part of a team we put up one heck of a fight! We ended up losing by two tries, but we felt like we hurt enough Christ girls to feel victorious inside.

The John Fisher boy's team didn't have enough boys to play, so the game was forfeited a week before, but a bunch of the old boys came and played a game that was just for fun. The boys mopped the field with Christ. They played an awesome game, game and a great victory. It was a great day for sure! I felt really honored at the BBQ Sunday night after the game. I was awarded the 'Coach's Player of the Game ' metal. I thought that was really cool!
Of course there were a few boo-boos. But what would rugby be if no one got hurt?! I was a fortunate one who didn't get beat up too bad, but I bruised up my legs and back, and I buggered up my ankle a bit.

Well, this is the last week of classes. Man has time flown by down here! I don't think I'm ready to leave yet, but I guess I have a few weeks of hard work and tests left to change my mind about that still! Courtney and I are planning on taking a road trip around Tasmania next week. Hopefully that will be something worth another blog entry! Thanks for keeping up with me! I love getting comments from everyone on here!! Can't wait to see you all again!!!

Weekend in Melbourne

This weekend was absolutely fantastic! My mate, Slim and I went to Melbourne. We took off Thursday night for Launceston (a couple hours north of Hobart) and caught a flight to the mainland at 6 on Friday morning. We got to Melbourne and hopped a tram to St Kilda, a suburb featured in these first two pictures.
After a lovely breakfast (I had pancakes- SO good, and so rare in this country) we went to the beach where I saw a small field of Jellyfish. I started playing with them (only poking the tops) when I saw a HUGE jellyfish almost the size of a football. I played with it for a while and determined it would probably be best NOT to try and pick it up to throw at Slim. In the second picture you can see some of the dolphins jumping. There were dozens of them that went right along the coast line. It was so cool!

Friday night we went to a big place called the Crown. It was right along the river and had dozens of restaurants, a hotel, shops, and a casino that took 15minutes to walk across! Of course after our lovely Thai dinner we went to the casino and tossed away a few dollars, but between the two of us, we only wasted $8 in the penny machines.
Saturday was sweet! We got up and went to the Victoria market. It was really cool, but after walking down just two rows of stands we both realised how much lighter our wallets had gotten and how much stuff we had acquired; so, we took off to the train station. After a quick bite to eat we were off to the footie game! What a great experience!! The game we went to was an AFL (Australian Football League- it's Aussie rules football though, which is completely different from our football) game between Collingwood and Carlton. Those are the two most rivaling teams in the AFL so the air was tense, and the players were vicious! There was a HUGE fight after the first quarter amongst the two teams.
Adam, the young bloke in the picture here, said it was the worst fight he's ever seen in a footie game! Well, luckily, Collingwood (the team we were there to support) won, and we went to a bar for the rest of the evening to celebrate. There was a nice jazz band, and afterward we went back to Adam's where we were put up for the weekend. Our flight took off at 8:30am on Sunday, and we spent the rest of the morning driving back to Hobart. I spent the afternoon chilling with Courtney, and am still a bit wiped from the whole weekend.
Things with school are getting a bit hectic. I didn't realise until Thursday that I have a 2,000 word essay due on Friday, and I didn't find out the topic until today... whoops! I'll git 'er done though. We only have three weeks of class left and all of the projects (one for wood skills and four for audio recording) are looking a bit frightening being due so soon.
We have our first big rugby match against Christ this upcoming Sunday, and as a prop (the person who takes the ball first and whose job it is to bust through the defensive line) I am VERY excited to cream some Christ pigs (that is not derogatory, the pig is their mascot)!!!
Thanks for keeping tabs on me! I'll be sure to let you all know how the game goes! Wish me luck!

Back in Tassie

Not too much new is going on here in Tassie. Since we've been back it's pretty much been school work (yes I do do that every now and then... especially now that I have realised there are only a few weeks left in school and I haven't done my work yet) and hanging out. I had a few presentations this week in Audio Recording and Indigenous Studies that I think I did pretty well on, and we are finally starting to work with wood in woodskills.

I am on the John Fisher rugby team, and we have our first game against Christ College on May 20th. We've been training a few days a week for quite a while now, and I am absolutely in love with the sport! I find I am especially good at wiping people out. That is quite a bit of fun! Last Friday Courtney came to practice with me for a lack of anything better to do. It turns out Courtney enjoys hitting people just as much as I do; in one of the first tackling exercises she and the biggest girl on the team took me on, and quite effortlessly left me on the ground with a minor concussion. I played one more play before sitting out for the rest of the night... just long enough to come down on Courtney's head and give her a black eye. This picture is right afterward, but once she got up in the morning, it was a real shiner, and now, a week later, it's still all black and blue. I do enjoy pointing out my handiwork when we go places; I think it's something to be proud of... right?

I've been a bit under the weather this week. I missed a big blues fest that I really wanted to go to because I just couldn't get out of bed. But, I am doing a lot better now (so long as I carry a box of Kleenex and some throat lozenges and Tylenol).

Hopefully we'll get to go rafting again this weekend, otherwise I would like to go to a big Ag fest up north. I hope I'll have more news next time I write!! Thanks for checking up on me!