Catching Up

---

Last weekend I went to a football game on Friday night with a couple of guys from the office. We took the train in, grabbed a burger and beer in the beer garden at Cricketer's Arms, then headed across the street to the game. This game wasn't as exciting - I was pulling for Melbourne, but they played horribly and lost to Richmond to give Richmond their first win of the season (after about 10 weeks of losing). Afterwards, we met up with a guy Dean knew from an ad agency he's worked with and went to the Richmond social club. Just hung out for a little while chatting - we missed seeing the players because they were just starting to come over when we had to leave to catch the last train out of the city back home. On Saturday I did a little shopping and bought some sweaters (apparently, I had forgotten how cold winter is while I was packing - plus the fact that I had to keep taking stuff out of my suitcase because of weight problems, and sweaters were some of the heaviest things I had). Sunday I went walking with Clara, Baci, and some friends along the beach, then took the rest of the day off to do some Bible study and watch movies.

Work is still going well. Met with Dean again last week and have moved on to the strategy and implementation plan. I had felt a little stuck and needed some feedback and suggestions, but I felt a lot better after our meeting. I feel like I have a clear direction to go in now. I'm supposed to conduct a workshop at the end of this week on our in-company relational database system. They've just recently gotten the system here in Australia, so I'll pass on the training I got in the NY office.

This past weekend I went to, yes, another football game. haha I'm actually really starting to get into it now that I semi-understand it. Friday night Essendon (the first team I went to see) and Melbourne were playing. I went with a guy from the office (Melbourne supporter), and we met one of the girls from work and her husband (Essendon supporters). So, I was a little torn at first about which team I was gonna pull for - in the end, I decided to give Melbourne another chance and cheered for them. It was another GREAT game - only a 2-point difference in the end! Melbourne lost, but they put up a good fight. I think, though, that my heart belongs to Essendon. The atmosphere at their games feels bigger, they've given me 2 very exciting wins, and after all, they were my first. I'll have to buy some kind of Essendon souvenir to take back home. On Saturday I went back into Melbourne to visit museums because the weather was supposed to be rainy. I visited a Pixar exhibit at the Australian Center for the Moving Image (interesting, but overpriced), the Ian Potter Centre (an art gallery that featured Aboriginal art - but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be - it all seemed too contemporary to me), some photo exhibits at The Arts Centre, and the Bunjilaka Aboriginal exhibit at the Melbourne Museum (did a pretty good job of explaining some of the history, culture, and art of the Aborigines). I didn't make it to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the classics (Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, etc.), so I'll have to do that later. Spent the evening checking out a few souvenir shops (haven't decided on what to buy yet) and strolling along the Yarra River while sipping hot chocolate. Sunday was a lazy day - slept in until 9, called home, and spent the rest of the day watching a movie and reading.

Clara is planning a "cook-in" (too cold to cook-out) dinner at home with a few of her friends tomorrow night for 4th of July for me. How sweet! Now if only we could shoot some fireworks.... Happy 4th of July, everyone!

---