Wagwan, Wagwan, I'm sorry to have not posted in a long while, but nothing too exciting has been happening. Derek and I have been hanging out a lot, watching movies, playing chess, and cooking up some sweet food like kangaroos and muesli aplenty!

We FINALLY went surfing for the first time on Friday. I bought a 6'8" board from a shop for a pretty good deal, but Derek insists that he can get a used one that will work for him. We never surfed before and decided to forgo the lessons for now so I grabbed my board and Derek rented one and we headed down to the beach. After wiggling and pulling our way into our wetsuits we took off for the water hoping it wouldn't be too cold. We dove in and it was..... warm! A wetsuit is the most miraculous piece of material I have ever owned. You get in the water and feel like you are in a warm bath (minus your feet, hands, and face).

We swam out a little bit on our boards next to a surf school and took in the lessons from afar. Now I said I bought a 6'8" surfboard and if you don't know anything about surfboards that probably sounds like a good size. The guy at the shop told me it would keep me occupied for the duration of our stay in Australia so I said cool beans! The beginner one Derek rented was 8' and double the width of mine... needless to say it was a little difficult to maneuver mine for a first time in the water. The waves were decent side (we thought (later "we thought" will be explained)). We learned how to catch the waves correctly every now and then and tried to stand up. We probably got up for a second or two about two times each, but none the less it was fun!

Day 2 Surf: We awoke a little sore and decided to take to the waves once more. It was beautiful and sunny outside which was better than the previous overcast day so we headed down to the beach for round two. Derek rented a 7'6" board and we headed out. The decent sized waves we had seen the day before ended up being teasing beginner waves (which were good for our first day though). We walked out with our board through the water and the first wave came, I was holding my board on the side the wave was coming on. Bad idea. The wave came and knocked me back flat on my ass right between the two people walking out behind us. I didn't make that mistake again.

We spent some time out on the waves, they were huge! One after another they came crashing in and one after another we tried to ride them, falling and missing more than we got on them. We finally got better at catching the waves to the point that we were able to be in a position to stand up on them every time now. We got up a few times for a second or two, but every time I would wait back and watch Derek go I would see him, see the wave take him, then see his board fly up over the wave... repeatedly... and he would get up and turn to look at me... and I would laugh at him. It was fun! Eventually I was expending too much energy trying to swim out to the waves and stay out of the swim zone so I had to take a much needed break for a while.

Derek kept going then after we broke for a bit we went back out for another 20 minutes or so, but our arms were dead. The worst part about surfing is paddling out and expending all your energy to get out to a good spot. Then when a good wave comes you can't paddle with it to get on it because your arms feel like jelly and can't even move anywhere. But it's sweet!

Sunday we lay in bed all day nursing our muscles and then watched some movies and did homework. I built my prototype for a project in my design class which was a 3 story egg drop. We went to the hardware store and asked if the had fabric for a parachute I was putting on. They didn't but they had directions on where to go to get some. Ooo the Aussie directions:

Us: Where can we get some fabric?
Clerk: There's a store called spotlight at the junction.
Us: O, how do we get there when we get to the junction.
Clerk: (with hand gestures) Well, Here's Oxford street, you go one, two, and it's right down there.

I must be acclimating to being here because I thought I knew what he was saying and I arrived with no problem, so I must have somehow known exactly what he said.

Monday I met a couple friends down on the beach to surf with. There were zero waves. The waves were bigger going AWAY from the beach than coming in... so our stay was short lived. We got a few good ones in about an hour. I actually stood up and rode on for a good bit though and accidentally turned correctly by just trying to keep my balance. A 6'8" board is NOT for beginner's I am finding... but it will keep me busy for a while so I'm happy for that.

I finished my egg drop project and also read Doyle Brunson's Super System last week. Accomplishments aplenty.... That's all for now, I'll try to start updating at least every Tuesday (Monday in the states) from now on. We're going to see Ben Folds at the Sydney Opera House next Tuesday... wahoo!!!!