And it wasn't for training!? I know, what the heck was I thinking. But, there is an explanation for everything. This weekend was great, and very different then most I've spent in Australia so far, which is encouraging in its own right to veer away from the many weekends spent at bars and struggling to awake in the morning to get on the bike or in the pool. I left you last on Friday, where I especially felt cheated by school to be in classes most of the day with some of the best weather of the week falling on that day. Friday evening and night were quite uneventful, but I got together with a friend down here from New York State, if not just to be able to speak full on fast, never wondering if they really understand what you mean, not cutting down on your vocabulary English with someone else. As much as I love all the Euros I've met, its a learning experience for us both really, for me to understand the intricacies of conversation with someone where English is often their second if not sometimes third language and after too much of it I feel like the world's biggest foreigner in an English speaking country. I still can't get over the fact that they can speak two or three languages though, I think that is just absolutely incredible. It really makes me feel cheated by my ease to be able to make it through the world on English alone, which really is quite possible because it has seemed to become the language that connects the rest of the world, Europe especially. But it increases in me a vigor to wish to pick up French again, and who knows when I'll find the time to do this but I really do want to, if not just to be able to understand those rare AM radio stations back home and TV5 and those other obscure channels that you find at the end of your cable.
So Saturday morning I rose early for a full day. I recently dropped one class in exchange for another down here. Research and Methods in Environmental Biology for Evolution and Diversity of Insects. Research was supposed to be my easiest class down here I'd assumed, and it ended up being my hardest. The teachers weren't all that impressive and the material was something that I know I'll have to just take again when I get home, so I figured I'd switch to something easier and not offered at Dalhousie. Cue Evol. and Div. of Insects. Two great professors, really excited about their class (which I think only has 13 students in it, which I think can help) and a supposed easier work load. In this class we do a collection project though, which will end up taking about 40 hours of extra school work to complete. We have to collect and properly display and identify at least 150 different species of insects. Aparently, actually finding them should only take about 1 day, but that would be someone trying hard and knowing what they're doing. On Saturday we went out as a class I found maybe 10 in a couple hours...lot's of work left to do. But I didn't really completely understand what I was doing, having never been to an actual class yet, and didn't really have my bug catching spirits with me that day. But after a switch in locations, I found quite a few more, and afterwards the professors brought us to a pub and treated us all to a pint or in my case, two. It was great, for the first time speaking with one of the teachers, Andy (they call all their teachers by their first names down here, and the profs encourage it) I actually felt like it wasn't me telling someone about Canada but someone asking me about Canada. I often notice that I talk about home and find myself wondering if whom ever I'm talking with actually wanted to know at all. So that was a great day that I didn't really have high expectations for, and I even got to know a couple of my classmates outside of just knowing eachother in class. Afterwards I met up with Simon to see a film at the cinema, Duplicity with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. Not that great, but not a waste of time, just nothing I'd really rent again.
Sunday I woke up even earlier to make it down to Simon's before Kim and Trine got into town. We were all headed to the Clipsal 500, the inaugural V8 Supercar Championship Series race in Adelaide. Its a lot like Nascar, being stock cars, but on a street course. To my knowledge, that only happens once a year in Nascar, but it seems is much more common down here. Although I haven't seen a Nascar race live, I definitely prefer the oval circuit than a city track, mostly because I would think most places you sit, you'll see most of the race. On a street course, you have to strategically place yourself (and we spent from 9 until 2h30 when the race started scouting locations) to have the best spot for when the race begins and runs its length. The day was still really fun though, and the weather couldn't really have been better. We did a lot of walking around and checked out different areas, and then settled down on turn 5 to watch the race. What Adelaide does great with Clipsal is to really make it a festival event. The race runs four days, one day of test racing, one day of poll placing with multiple cars on the track, then two days of racing (even after haven't it explained to me numerous times, I still have no idea how it works). But after each day they put on concerts and our night was cursed with two really crappy bands and two really good bands, and a heck of a fireworks display afterwards. The concert really made the day at the end, and was a great way to finish off the weekend. For viewing pleasure, I'm posting some videos that I took at the race, one of the actual race, one of the third band, The Getaway Plan, and one last one of the headliner, Wolfmother, and every ones reactions to being in front of the camera. I find that when you have a camera on people, they really just have no idea how to act, which just adds to the hilarity.
Wow, after trying to upload said videos, it looks like it'll take a really long time so I'm going to figure out a better way to do that. Add them sooner than later.
Inspire
12 years ago
