Takin' a sicky today

Hey mates,

How are all of my lovely readers today? Well, it's official. I am sick in Australia. I walked to the doctor this morning (a 7 minute walk, not bad huh?) It turns out my ears are pretty bad off from the plane ride almost 2 weeks ago, and my sinuses are acting up!! So, I got some nasal spray and anti-biotics and I should be on the mend shortly, I hope! So, as you can see, I am taking a sicky today, as they say here.



But, enough of that...I know you are all dying to hear about my intense weekend!!


We started off at Wendy's parents house with pizza and wine. Oh the wine was lovely...from Margaret River, a lovely winery about 2 hours outside of Perth that we'll go to on school holiday! We chatted with her parents and then her brother Stephen came over. That's when the talks about the current elections in Australia started up. As some of you may know, Julia Gillard is the current prime minister of Australia. Tony Abbott is up against her, and then election took place this Saturday. It was SUPPOSED to end by Sunday, but each candidate has an equal amount in the Senate, or something along those terms (I'm not very political, can you tell?) Anyways, as it turns out, it's a hung election. This hasn't happened since the 1940s here in Australia and the people of WA (Western Australia) have gone mad!! They may not have a new prime minister for another 10 days. AND...they may have to do the election over again! What a disaster.



Now, back to these pizzas. We used flatbread and then spread some sauce on. Each pizza was different. You name the topping, we had it. I ate pizza with olives, green peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, ham, etc etc! We ate pizza after pizza...just massive amounts! (massive is another big word here with the Aussies). The last pizza was Nutella with banana....absolutely delicious!! After dinner, Wendy's dad, Paul showed us some of his old Aussie rock records. What a trip that was!!




Saturday we got to the marina near downtown Perth for our boat ride around 9:30am. I met Wendy's friend David, and his family and friends. Before we got on the boat, we saw flocks and flocks of pelicans, it was amazing! (see picture above) The boat was a pontoon boat that David's father had made...very impressive! We had sausages on the boat, and everyone made fun of me for eating "hotdogs" and home with "ketchup" They just called it "tomato sauce" with a short a, not a long a in "tomato"...try saying it out loud for the full effect!



Then, we got to the yacht club. It was soo swanky, and I felt like I didn't quite fit in, but it was still fun! It was here at this yacht club that I saw my first footy game (Australian Footy League) on the big screen! The game was awesome...very rough and physical but so fun to watch! It is like a mix of soccer and rugby and with NO padding! These guys are so muscular and so tough. I was able to pick up on the game relatively quickly and learn some of the rules. After the yacht club we got back on the boat and David's family showed me some of the biggest houses in Australia....they were MASSIVE!!! I was exhausted by 8:00 so I went to bed as soon as we got home on Saturday.



On Sunday morning I went to Craigie Baptist Church. Everyone was so nice there and the music was wonderful. We learned about the armour of God (the breastplate of righteousness) It was nice to learn that we worship the same and one God all over the world. I can't wait to go back next week and hopefully make some friends there!!



After church Wendy, her friend David, and I took to the train into Subiaco (a town near Perth), to get to the Football stadium. It was here that I witnessed my very first footy game right in front of me! We got tickets from a teacher at work who is a season ticket holder. Sunday's game was the West Coast Eagles vs. The North Melbourne Kangaroos! It was awesome to see the pushing and shoving of the guys up close and personal! I got some great pics, and I will attach a few below! I am also attaching a picture of the eagle that they release in the grounds before the match starts since the Eagles were the home team. The eagle flew around, left the grounds, and we were afraid he wouldn't come back...but he did no worries mate!

























There's a good fight that's about to start there!!

Well, that's all for now mates...I gotta get some rest so I can get back to school and teach those kids!!