Lost In Translation...

I figure while I freeze in the rain waiting for the bus, now is as good a time as ever to update y'all on living in Australia.

So I'm going on a month of living here. Before moving I had set expectations of certain lifestyle habits I wanted to amend and adopt while living in Australia. One of my lifestyle habits I really wanted to change was to spend more time outdoors and less time watching TV. Living here and not owning a car, it's nearly impossible to not walk to most places. Also, with studying and being out and about, I've maybe watched an hour of TV cumulatively since I've been here. I used to consider TV a necessity, and now it's hardly an afterthought. I don't think you understand how effing huge that is for me. I literally used to justify to myself that watching TV all day was okay because I was watching CNN. It's really not okay. I will definitely be making a conscious effort to never let that happen again - there's a huge, bright, magnificent world out there folks! However, I still would have liked to have seen the last episodes of The Hills and The City and I really miss Locked Up Abroad. Don't judge me.

Random bird noises: So we have already discussed the "Wild Uni Turkeys" but while walking around my new hood, I've noticed some truly weird bird sounds. I now refer to birds by the sound they make. There's the "drop" bird - which makes the sound of a water drop in a bucket. Then there's the "whip" bird - yup, sounds like the crack of a whip. And I saved the coolest one for last, the "monkey" bird. Unless there are monkeys in Bardon, this bird sounds exactly like a monkey and it kinda weirds me out every time I hear it. It's very elusive, I've never seen what this bird looks like so for now I can only imagine a monkey face on a bird body. OR, there is the possibility that since OZ has wild parrots and cockatoos that mimic sound, it could be one of them making all these crazy noises. Shit, I might have just totally debunked my monkey bird theory. Hmmm... I'll try and find out and get back to you as I'm sure you're all very interested to know more about Australian bird calls.

Moving along, so I was in a club the other night and Lina just happened to run into her friend from class, Travis, who was with his roommate and friends. We all introduced each other and the following conversation ensued (to preface the story - Travis and his roommate met when they were kids, their families had neighboring farms. In Australia, it's not uncommon to grow up on a farm or know someone that did):

Travis: So, what college did you go to?
Me: Cal State Northridge
Travis: What's near Northridge?
Me: Chatsworth?!
Travis: What's in Chatsworth?
Me: I dunno, it's the porn capital of the world.
Travis: Oh really? Huh.
Travis' roommate walks up (I don't remember his name, so we will call him John)
Travis: Jillian, this is my roommate John. John, this is Jillian. She's a corn farmer.
Me: WHAT?!?! Wait, why would you think I'm a corn farmer?
Travis: Because you're from Chatsworth, ya know, the corn capitol of the world!

This entire interaction will never cease to be funny to me. While loud music was mostly to blame for this miscommunication, I can't help but feel a little bit of it has to do with the slight cultural difference. I'm fairly certain if this situation were to happen in L.A. there is no way someone would have mistaken me for any type of produce farmer.

I know my East Coast family would appreciate this segment of the post, but I guess you can tell by the pictures of what has re-entered my life once again. Yes, the good old clothes line! I was actually really excited when I first saw it, just brings back some of my favorite memories of all of us staying at the cottage on the Long Island Sound. Although, this clothes line doesn't have the fun pulley system like the old one, which takes all the excitement out of drying clothes. But you can't have it all, can you? I've occasionally forgot about my clothes drying and they've received a second washing from Mother Nature. Not only is it aggravating when that happens, it's incredibly counter-productive. However, I had a stroke of genius and got crafty with my space heater! Not just a space heater anymore, it is now a multi-functional device as you can tell from the first photo. Yes, family, this is what I'm doing in Australia. In case you ever say to yourselves, "Gosh, I wonder what sort of fascinating and wonderful things Jillian might be doing in that foreign land?!" Scroll back up, take another look, and marvel at photo #1.

We'll, it's official, my life is getting pretty normal here. But if you know me at all you know that really never lasts for too long. Just hang in there with me til November. I should be going to Thailand, Bali, and Cambodia with the money I'm supposed to be using to fund my education. Hopefully my trip will produce something interesting for me to blog about, but until then my life might be relatively normal. Sorry.

Missing all my loves residing in the surrounding areas of the corn capitol of the world,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Dilla, J-Bones, and sometimes Crab Cakes