Australia.was.EPIC.
We ate a lot, did a lot, saw a lot, and took it at our own pace!
Highlights from Sydney:
*Our first dinner (of course it's about food) at The Rocks was this awesome rocket, date, pecans, and pear salad that had GIANT chunks of blue cheese (which we should probably have not eaten all of as it was pretty rich and we paid for it later) * Best night of the trip: going out dancing at Selena Club which was at the Coogee Beach Hotel, dancing till 3am and then running directly across the street and riding the waves (in our clothes...no worries) in the Pacific Ocean- SO FUN! * 2nd best day of trip: Riding on motorcycles with our friend Michael and his bud all throughout the northern beaches of Sydney and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge! We had famous meat and veggie pies and Magnum bars: honeycomb and this new Brownie one in case you were interested... *
Highlights from Tassie (Tasmania):
*Some of the best food!: first meal there was at Machine Cafe (well-known bc has good food AND you can wash your unmentionables!) where I had grilled haloumi cheese for the first time- my gosh it was heavenly. there was also free salmon samples at this Salmon shop as Tassie is famous for their salmon (among SO MANY other things- they have just the right temperature so they can grow a variety of things that other places can't....ex. poppy seeds!) * Best day of trip: We did a tour out to Wineglass Bay, Freycinet Penisula and National Park, The Friendly Beaches, and more! It was so fun to be in the park and listen to the sound of the wind, we went into this cave our tour guide had found which was SUPER cool * Cascade Brewery- Oldest Brewery in AU...really fun, found some extra tokens so that made it more fun! * Tasmanian Devil Park where we saw some ravenous tassie devils get fed...in general they're pretty stupid but sure love their raw meat * Got some awesome Jumpy photos! * all in all just had a really fun time enjoying ACTUAL winter weather!*
Highlights of Melbourne (prouncounced Melbin that is!)
* I think the St. Kilda Music Festival was by far our favorite- they have this festival all along the St. Kilda Pier and have ALL different kinds of bands/entertainment come and perform at random bars/shops in the area- SO COOL! One corner was legit Jazz, one corner acoustic Michael Buble, another 90's rock music, and then our favorite was this hippy style band called ** freaking awesome! We were dancing mid-day with a bunch of other awesome people! PLUS that was the day we had dark chocolate fondu for two which included churros, the spanish donut- MY GOSH* Outdoor Cinema in the Royal Botanical Gardens- it was a bit chilly but it was still cool, just had to drink wine to stay warm * Ate Kangaroo here too with the family we stayed with! surprisingly good!* A cooking class- which we thought we'd be at our own stations but it ended up being just us watching this guy while we all sat and drank wine...which we actually ended up preferring!*
Thursday, May 24, 2012
First Blog Post Peace Corps...
When I first returned to America after serving two years and three months as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I found there were two common questions people typically asked:
'How was it?' & 'Do you feel changed?'
Excuse me while I check out reality for about 3 minutes trying to figure out how in God's name I would answer these. 3 minutes later....'Umm soo, yeah man..' How do I share 2 years and 3 months worth of outrageous experiences with someone who probably can't relate in too many ways and also will probably be checking out of this conversation if I talk more than 2 hours? After much pondering, I came to my soundbite: 'It was the most challenging yet rewarding two years & three months of my life thus far. I went on a lot of adventures, met a lof of truly wonderful people who I someday hope to help. But for the time being, I am enjoying just being in America.'
It's been almost a year now since returning and it's definitely been a whirlwind, like everyone says it is. I think each person is different, though, and experiences different challenges at different times in different ways. I think my challenges have been with this slump of an economy & employment. At first it was not knowing what I wanted to do and just needing a job. Then it turned into having too many great ideas of what I could do but not knowing how to achieve them as they are WAY out there and not on your typical path. I've now arrived at the path of just needing to fix my 'right now' situation and that's what I've been working on at present.
And after being back for almost a year, I've more often gotten the question, 'Are there things that bother you about our society?' The answer is most definitely YES, but it's a weird, mixed feeling. I love America and it's amenities; I truly value things like fresh running water, AC, cars, etc. but what I don't love are people who DON'T appreciate them. People just don't even know...
There's also something random that has REALLy stuck out in my mind & I often find myself thinking about it: Makes me sick...
For one, America has WAY too much advertising with a focus on clothes. But what I really hate is when they exploit locals from developing countries in magazines for these clothes. When I look at these ads, I immediately start thinking 'Where did the locals come from? Were they near a local village and these Americans just popped in for the day with their nice white teeth, expensive clothing, and nice cameras? Did people have to put off their daily lives (of probably very hard work) so that they could stand with these random, beautiful people smiling as if they know them??' AND I think what bothers me most of all is that most people in other countries don't SMILE like Americans do...so did the camera people have to tell them to show their teeth like Americans do!? It's so weird to think about how the elements of this photo came together. AND more than likely, that women's clothing was probably not culturally appropriate. Every other girl in that photo has her shoulders covered-- so get it together. Lastly, I think my favorite part of these photos is how in some/maybe all of them...the models seem to be leaning away from the people...It's like I can see them thinking, 'ewww these children probably have diseases.'
And honestly...it's probably true...sadly.
Cheers,
Courtney
'How was it?' & 'Do you feel changed?'
Excuse me while I check out reality for about 3 minutes trying to figure out how in God's name I would answer these. 3 minutes later....'Umm soo, yeah man..' How do I share 2 years and 3 months worth of outrageous experiences with someone who probably can't relate in too many ways and also will probably be checking out of this conversation if I talk more than 2 hours? After much pondering, I came to my soundbite: 'It was the most challenging yet rewarding two years & three months of my life thus far. I went on a lot of adventures, met a lof of truly wonderful people who I someday hope to help. But for the time being, I am enjoying just being in America.'
It's been almost a year now since returning and it's definitely been a whirlwind, like everyone says it is. I think each person is different, though, and experiences different challenges at different times in different ways. I think my challenges have been with this slump of an economy & employment. At first it was not knowing what I wanted to do and just needing a job. Then it turned into having too many great ideas of what I could do but not knowing how to achieve them as they are WAY out there and not on your typical path. I've now arrived at the path of just needing to fix my 'right now' situation and that's what I've been working on at present.
And after being back for almost a year, I've more often gotten the question, 'Are there things that bother you about our society?' The answer is most definitely YES, but it's a weird, mixed feeling. I love America and it's amenities; I truly value things like fresh running water, AC, cars, etc. but what I don't love are people who DON'T appreciate them. People just don't even know...
There's also something random that has REALLy stuck out in my mind & I often find myself thinking about it: Makes me sick...
For one, America has WAY too much advertising with a focus on clothes. But what I really hate is when they exploit locals from developing countries in magazines for these clothes. When I look at these ads, I immediately start thinking 'Where did the locals come from? Were they near a local village and these Americans just popped in for the day with their nice white teeth, expensive clothing, and nice cameras? Did people have to put off their daily lives (of probably very hard work) so that they could stand with these random, beautiful people smiling as if they know them??' AND I think what bothers me most of all is that most people in other countries don't SMILE like Americans do...so did the camera people have to tell them to show their teeth like Americans do!? It's so weird to think about how the elements of this photo came together. AND more than likely, that women's clothing was probably not culturally appropriate. Every other girl in that photo has her shoulders covered-- so get it together. Lastly, I think my favorite part of these photos is how in some/maybe all of them...the models seem to be leaning away from the people...It's like I can see them thinking, 'ewww these children probably have diseases.'
And honestly...it's probably true...sadly.
Cheers,
Courtney
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