From the sunbaked, missing the frostbitten

Well, so much and so little has happened in the past week that I really don't know where to begin. The Australian Adventure is past its honeymoon phase officially. School work has picked up, and I've certainly got my routine down pat of what days to go and buy groceries, where to run, even when to swim (if your workout isn't going to be done by 9am, wait and and go after because its really annoying trying to swim a program when the boom is being moved - when they're converting a 50m pool into two 25m pools). But although this may not sound the most positive, I am trying to look at it in a good way. This has certainly exposed to myself one of the two key lessons I hope to take away from my travels abroad. The first, the one I'm speaking of here, is that I am not one of those people that is going to have a job in another country. Many young people with today's accessibility and the overall glorification that being a Canadian citizen gets you currently, are thinking that life is best living and working elsewhere. This will not be me. I knew I was patriotic, but hearing about and experience other countries' cultures has really solidified my adoration for our great homeland (if only Canada could become a world power in football, I'd be set). Don't get me wrong, I am extremely enjoying myself over here, but I've also come to realise that I find it hypocritical to say how much you love Canada, but not be living there. This is not in any way stifling a travel bug inside me. I plan on visiting a lot of other countries in my days, but I will forever be a visitor I feel. Nothing speaks to me like the True White North.

The other thing I've learnt about myself and hopefully (emphasizing the hopefully) will take away from Australia is that when I make decisions spontaneously, I usually end up regretting them. This, although the lessons coming with less desirable implications, is a great thing to learn and can be very useful if I can just grab hold of myself in those moments and say Whoa! Think about this for a second! Here's hoping.

So the past couple days I've seen quite a few movies, as for the month of May a theatre in the city is playing movies for $6 (regular $12 or $14) and they're showing a lot of indie films, that's always a nice change. There's also a bar in the city that is selling Guinness for $5/pint, regularly $8. Its probably a good thing that I found this out halfway through the month (Its the beer of the month at an Irish bar I was known to frequent to in my more glutaneous days haha) and that most people don't like Guinness so I can't drag people out there. But, Saturday my friend Kim was really in the mood for dark beer and cigars, and we had my kind of night.

In other exciting and sad news at the same time, I sold my race bike. I put it for sale initially because the type of bike (Triathlon/Time Trial) was not suitable for the Adelaide region. These bikes aren't made for hills, they're made for going fast on the flats. The plan was to buy another bike afterwards, but it took close to a month if not more to sell, and being that I only have about six weeks left in Adelaide before I head out to where ever my adventure is taking me next, I decided it was better to hold off on buying anything new and am hoping I can grab some great end of season deals when I get back home in September. This is exciting because I made the sale (it was looking doubtful for a while) and sad because some of the best things that I've seen/experienced in Adelaide have been on that bike. The sunsets from atop the Norton Summit will be cherished in my mind until time slowly erodes their beauty. (Getting a little teary eyed...nah).

Well I think that's all the major stuff, except for the training update. With the bike on sale and a very interested buyer, I've stayed off of it to keep the mileage down and limit the risk of anything happening to it (I'm delivering it today at 17h00). But, if anyone at all is ever interested in getting a little more fit, I have found the thing for you. Visit www.swimplan.com. Its a free swimming program tailored to your own skills based on a few questions you answer at the beginning, and as time goes along and you improve, it recognises this and makes the program more suited to your growing skill set. I've done three workouts using the site, two different programs, and not only were the times that it wanted me to finish the sets reasonable, but it also really provides you with some motivation without needing a coach to be there yelling in your ear. The reason I even stumbled upon the program off of google was because I was lacking the get up and go in the pool for four workouts in a row, too many if you ask me. And given that you follow the program close enough, you're actually out of the pool in a reasonable amount of time. I was a sucker for resting too much and taking 1.5 to 2 hrs in the pool, and now I'm out in an hour after working harder and swimming that same distance. Best yet, it even tells you drills to do that'll help you out with your stroke. So, take advantage of this amazing opportunity to become a better swimmer for free.