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Published: March 9th 2008
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March 3-7 Monday was rather uneventful- I only had one class, but it was Australian Labor Day, so most places were closed and I couldn’t run any of the errands I had planned to run. I went to Cottesloe Beach for a while. It was rather uneventful.
Tuesday I had 8am MicroEconomics, and then nothing until my first Invertebrate Zoology practical (why do some classes call them practicals, and others simply call them labs?) at 5pm. So I set out to run errands, and during a random walk waiting for the bank to open, I found a vet clinic. So I went in, introduced myself, and shortly thereafter watched a dog ACL surgery. So this semester hopefully I will be able to gain valuable experience/hours and perhaps even that elusive veterinarian recommendation needed to apply to vet schools. Invertebrate Zoology will no doubt be my hardest class, by the way.
Wednesday introduced me to Herpetology, then I had a double dose of Invert Zo- a lecture followed by my second practical of the week.
Thursday I had MicroEcon, then my first Australian culture class seminar. This is going to be an interesting class. Our lecturer (they don’t really say professor much
Playing on the Pilon
Is that thing a pilon? Well, people were climbing on it, in any case. around here, it’s all “lecturer” or “unit coordinator”) had an Aborigine come in and tell us a small part of the Dreaming, which is a sort of creation story that also has their laws and beliefs interwoven in it. I will have a lot of reading to do for that class. But I think I'll learn alot in the process. Then I found out Tommy More was trying to start a softball team, and so I immediately joined. I was also the only one to show up for practice at 4pm. Hopefully Saturday’s practice will be more populous. On the upside, I sort of like my crazy sports uniform - especially the socks. :-)
Today I had 2 classes, bought a unit reader for my Aussie culture class, and signed up for internet on campus. Here it seems that if you go over 10MB a day on campus internet, they charge you. But since I may need to use campus computer labs from time to time, I thought it best to sign up anyhow. I also need to track down the guy who runs the computer lab at Tommy More so that I can get my username and password, but
he is very elusive.
Tonight I will be attending an AFL match - Aussie rules Football League. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s popular here. I expect to find some sort of cross between American football and rugby. (Note: At some point I also want to see a cricket match if there is one in Perth. That’s really big here too.)
Later that night: The AFL match was fun. We rooted for the West Coast Eagles (navy and gold) who played Essendon (a team from around Melbourne). I took lots of pictures of the players in their stubbies (short shorts) running and jumping and tackling. I think I understand the basics of the game now. To create AFL football the Australians borrowed from every other major sport known to mankind. They have a vaguely football-shaped ball and tackle each other, like in American football. They sit in dugouts and have umpires, like baseball. They punt the ball to each other and have to kick the ball to get a goal, like soccer. They do a sort of tip-off and occasionally bounce the ball like a dribble, like basketball. There is a lot of jumping and trying to
spike the ball out of the opponent’s hand, kind of like volleyball. And finally, there are four goal posts and the fans wear scarves, like Quidditch. So, yeah.
March 8 Today was rather uneventful. I took a walk around a mostly-deserted campus in a last ditch effort to identify birds and take pictures. While doing the latter a security guard approached me. I was rather anxious until he started chatting merrily about cameras and how he wished he took more pictures and how he could’ve worked at a prison for more money but he likes the pretty campus, etc. I also wrote my paper on the diversity of protists. Then I whittled away the afternoon until softball practice. I was speculative about the turnout, but it wasn’t horrible- seven people this time. Only three of us know anything about softball.
March 9 So I’m getting really tired of all the partying in my block. This one fake-tan/ fake-blond girl has parties in her room every other night, and people are constantly talking and moving in and out and slamming doors. Last night this went on until 4:30am. Those people got to sleep until noon (or later) today. I had to
West Coast Eagles mascot
John said it was a wedge-tailed eagle, the biggest eagle in WA. be up at 8am. I’m not a happy camper right now.
I'm happier about the two games we played. I sort of took charge because it seemed like no one else was going to. They didn’t have proper scorekeeping sheets, so I had to make one up to the best of my ability. We weren’t playing on a real field, so that was another dodgy bit. I was trying to keep track of hits and outs and runs while simultaneously trying to explain some of the finer points of the game (e.g. the dangers of running when a fly ball is hit and there’s no one behind you on base). I think some people appreciated it, but I think those people who had had a smidgen of prior experience sort-of resented my coaching and maybe thought I was being a bit bossy? I don’t know. We won both our games, though. Maybe next weekend I’ll be a bit more laid back, since now the newbies have actually played a game.
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