hear them bells? them jingle bells?

so maybe there is some christmas spirit all the way in australia. at least my family was able to send some my way! rachel, a girl from home is also staying in surfer's paradise, merely a street away from jason and i. small world! she was lucky enough to have her parents visit for christmas. i went over thinking i was to pick up a bottle of mascera and $35. very pleasantly surprised, when i walked in the door, rachel's mom was holding my stocking! my tacky old teddy bear stocking from home. that, plus a bag of goodies which i haven't looked at yet. not until christmas! it was half me avoiding christmas spirit, and half the fact that is no christmas spirit, but seeing that stocking, regardless of what is in it made me really happy. i felt like i was at home with my family again.

today, we had some intense rain. on the brightside though, i was thinking that if that rain had been snow, we would have had the whitest christmas ever! the raindrops tonight were so huge, and reflected so much off the sky, it even seemed like they were snowflakes. pretty neat to see.

aside from receiving that awesome surprise, i was also commissioned to make a painting as a christmas present. mom, i haven't told you about this yet! one of my friends who i met last week, he found out that i did art. he wanted to have a skateboard deck painted for his friend and was having a rough time finding someone to do it. lucky for him, and lucky for me, i was able to do it. today was such an inspiring day. and yesterday as well. when i went to the mall/target, i also picked up 3 novels. i've been looking for some good reads this entire time to sit on the beach and enjoy, but there arent' any book stores in surfers. i was so excited to read (since i haven't properly finished a novel in over a year), that i read the entire thing, save 6 chapters, in one sitting. then i did this painting. the best thing about it, was that my commision-er, he paid for the painting, PLUS the supplies. now i have a decent set of brushes and tons of extra paint to use .. all while watching the office!

movin' on

today, my mother convinced me to venture out of town. i went to the next suburb south- broadbeach and went to the mall. most of it was outdoors, some indoors, but it was the biggest mall i've ever seen. i felt pretty at home because they had a target and a k-mart! plus, there were actually christmas decorations and even a santa to take pictures with! best part was the bubbles. it's an activity for kids. parents can dump their children off here, put them in bubbles, and the kids just have the opportunity to run around in hamster-like cages for an hour. good for parents, and great for kids! this might be better explained if you check out the picture below. my parents also gave me my christmas present early, and i got an awesome surf board! i can't wait to try it out! when i bought it, i realized that particular board was called the 'hott butt!' .. perfect for me!

ps: kelch, here's the bathing suit you bought me! i always wanted a zebra print one, i love it!

opposite view

jason and i were lucky enough to finally make a group of friends! matt, mark, gavin, tyler and anthony. we met matt one night last week at the bar, and got into conversation because he was also from canada. we got his number, and ended up hanging out just about every day since then! it feels good to have a good group because when you're bored and it's raining, sitting alone in our apartment is no longer the only option. four of them are from winnipeg and one is from cairns, an area in north-eastern australia.



yesterday, after a long day of accidentally getting sunburnt at the beach, we headed over to their house to hang out. they don't live far from us, but have a completely different view. from their balcony, you can see the river and a much better view of the buildings.

summer lovin'

well this year, i'm dreaming of a white christmas. but i think that stops at dreaming because it's not looking like we're going to get any snow here in surfers. it's hard to be glad to be here when i'm getting phone calls from family christmas' and i find myself wishing i was there instead, celebrating with everyone. but then, i look out the window and it's pretty easy to forget about being away. in fact, the lack of christmas decorating here really helps too because i barely even think about it being in four days. having such a different climate, not much spirit and an ample amount of distraction really makes it seem like it's not christmas at all. i think i have to work on christmas day, which is too bad, but at the same time, what else would i be doing? my family is across the world. lucky for technology though, it's easy to communicate. skype is awesome too. i wonder how long that will be free for?

a stroll down cavill

finally, an exterior view of our apartment building. looks pretty domineering in this picture! it's cool to live in a high rise though, and the elevator is super fast. in our building, we have two pools, and two hot tubs. but they're more like cold tubs because they're not heated. and the indoor one has jets that shoot right up to the ceiling .. probably not supposed to do that. besides that though, we have a sauna, tennis courts, a gym and a restaurant called santino's. santino's is cool because it's convenient, and they have good deals everyday. $2.99 breakfast and $10 all-you-can-eat pizza pasta for dinner. but i would advise anyone against ordering the aussie pizza. it has eggs on it, which is very weird.



cavill ave., surfer's commercial district. it's a nice little area, mostly vehicle restricted. on a typical night, you can find buskers doing magic tricks, playing instruments, or pretending to be statues. cavill also connects with orchid, the bar district. the clubs are large, elaborate and expensive. most places have a rather pricey cover charge of about $10, not to mention $8 drinks. so it's good to familiarize with the scene to learn about cheap nights at places like beer garden ($3 on tuesdays), or sin city (girls drink free on thursdays .. sorry, jason!). for the most part though, cavill ave., which is conveniently one block away from our apartment, is a great place just to go for a walk. i go there at least once a day just for something to do. there are always people around, and of course, you do get your weirdos, as every city does!



















like most cities are infested with pigeons, crows, and other dirty birds, australia has something a bit cooler to look after the garbage removal. here, we have ibis birds. there are some really neat looking ibis birds around, but not here. they're considered pests and the 'birds of brisbane.' they're goofy looking creatures with curved beaks and long legs. and they're everywhere!

finally!

after dealing with rain and wind for the majority of our trip, we finally got a couple days of sun! and i say a couple because it's now saturday and we're back to rain. but the nice weather was a decent distraction from christmas. of course, the spirit here is nothing like a north american christmas, where the holiday has gone well beyond what it's supposed to be. here, we see a few decorations here and there, maybe your odd christmas deal, but that's about it. that's good for me though! we may even have to work christmas. and speaking of work, we did get a job. in the same place as usual. it's a new restaurant called 'bizaar' opening up in a hotel just down the road. from what i gathered, it's a really modern style, fine dining. open concept layout, with the chefs making food right out in the open. it seems like it would be a good place to eat. or work i suppose, especially with the high australian minimum wage!

these red and yellow flags show the areas where you're allowed to swim. that's why, on the first day when i swam outside of the area, i got chased down by a rescue boat. it's a very small area, so you can imagine how concentrated it would be with people. also, we were confused to find out that the ocean opens and closes at certain times. you're not allowed to swim past 5pm, which is strange, because i was unaware that any one country 'owned' the ocean. but then again, there would probably be a lot of people drowning if they had no boundaries.

oh mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun ...

weather's been terrible so far. we've been driven to constant job hunting every morning. which probably is a good thing! i started my first day at a server at 'in flames,' a fish 'n' chips/burger joint. it's pretty easy. since there aren't tips here, waitresses aren't expected to do quite the same quality of work as they would in north america. it's hard to get used to the confused faces customers give when i come and ask how their meal is halfway through. jason and i had another interview this morning at a new bar that's opening later on in december. we're on break right now until we have to go back at 2:30 for a second interview, woo! but besides looking for jobs and staring at my computer screen, the rainy weather makes for limited activities. the forecast says it's supposed to continue until the end of the week. but with schoolies and rain leaving surfers at the same time, next week is sounding promising!

after our fridge looking like this:



... we finally figured out that it's much more efficient to buy a box of 'goon' wine, which tastes just as awful as it sounds! but with alcohol prices being inhumane, that's what we're stuck with. food's expensive too. we got groceries tuesday, and it's saved us tons of money. at places like mcdonalds, a big mac meal is only $6.95, which is about normal, right? but any other restaurants, you're paying way more than what we'd be used to. so this is what our home cooked meals look like: