(no subject)
I saw "10 Things I Hate About You" on TV the other day. And I bought the ending song on iTunes.
10 Things I Love About Australia (all of the following are in no particular order).
1. My school.
OK, I don't deny it. My school is lots of fun. It has a really good environment and you can actually work in class! 9/10 people are very nice, even the "school bitches" are sweet. The teachers are really dedicated, my History teacher vomited during the last lesson before our big assignment was due and she still stayed on because she wanted to be able to answer any last minute questions we had. There are tons of clubs and sports. Anime club, sailing, golf, Second Chance Committee, there are A LOT. Personally, one of the biggest highlights for me is the international languages program. I absolutely LOVE languages. The school not only has a really strong curriculum, but it also has affiliate school programs with France, Germany, Japan, China, and it has Antipodean and US space trip tours. We hosted a Chinese student last year and she and I still keep in touch.
2. My friends.
I can't even begin to say how kind everyone in my year was to me when I first arrived. I friends are absolutely amazing. Even though for the first 3 months I was a little reclusive and missed NZ a lot, everyone made me feel very welcome and went out of their way to include me.
3. The sunshine.
What can I say? I'm a summer girl! Just the other day, I was watching TV when those weather boxes start popping up at the bottom of the screen. Wellington - 13 degrees. I started laughing as temperatures had been in the high twenties that day. Then I realised that I haven't checked a weather forecast since I arrived in Brisbane. I used to read the weather section everyday in Wellington. It's nice that in Brisbane you don't have to plan your day around the weather.
4. The beaches.
The first time we went up to the Gold Coast, I was absolutely amazed. Hundreds and hundreds of metres of beautifully soft sand, sparkling blue seas, and warm waters. The beaches are a dream. Also, coming from NZ where I used to swim in water that was 18 degrees, the water in Brisbane is always just the right temperature.
5. Theme parks!
Dreamworld, Movieworld, Wet and Wild, I am a self confessed thrill seeker! I love the high speeds, dizzying heights, and the swooping sensation you get in your stomach. Every time we have a visitor we go the the theme parks. Emma is visiting in July so we will be going to one. My favourite ride is the "Superman Escape" at Movieworld. You blast up to the top, from 0km/h to over 200km/h in just 7 seconds! I LOVED IT!
6. Shopping.
The range in stores in undeniably better in Brisbane. And I'm not just talking about clothes (although there are a lot of very nice clothes)! There is a store called HMV which sells DVDs and music. They have an enormous range and all at very cheap prices (yes Madj, this includes Anime). Borders has several shelves of manga and the city is packed with lots of different stores. It's very easy to find what you want.
7. Foxtel.
This is the Aussie version of Sky TV except better. You can record TV shows just by hitting a button on your remote. It then stores in your TV planner and you can watch it whenever you want. Then, if you want to record it in a more permanent way, you play your recorded show, while you tape it on DVD/video as per normal. Ingenious!
8. Activities.
Being a much larger city, Brisbane has a lot more things to do. Every holidays, I can do something different with my friends. There are plenty of places to visit. Markets, Op shops, city centre, and tons more. You're never bored in Brisbane. There are also several really nice French patisseries. I love French food...
9. The outdoor lifestyle.
I'm such an outdoors girl. I've been on 4 camps since I camp to Brisbane and I've received my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. I love being able to spend time swimming, chilling on the beach, walking by the river, and camping with my friends. You're able to spend so much more time outdoors because of the sunshine. It's also extremely relaxing just to be outside. I can't explain it, that experience just completely de-stresses me.
10. Acceptance.
I have found, especially at my school, that people are a lot more tolerant of differences. They make think it's a little strange, but they don't ask mocking questions and quietly laugh at you when they think you're not looking. They keep those thoughts to themselves and are always polite to you even if they think that you're strange. I love this. It's so nice that they can accept these differences whatever their own thoughts and feelings may be.
10 Things I Love About Wellington (again in no particular order, except for the first one of course!).
1. My friends.
No need to say much here! You guys know how awesome you are, and how much your friendship means to me. You are beyond the best. I can't explain how much it means to me that when I need help, if I'm sad or upset, you never let me down. I hope you know how much your friendship means to me and how much I appreciate you.
2. My house.
I miss it. I grew up in that house. For all my 15 years I lived under that roof. I miss the village, the blue house, my neighbours, my various schools, the kids outside our house at the start and end of everyday, jville mall, and especially and park and the pool. I miss the familiarity of my surroundings.
3. Seido.
I love Seido. I miss all my friends, the instructors, and the atmosphere. OSU!
4. The small city.
Some people travel over an hour to get to school. Of course we don't live that far out, but we still travel a fair bit in our day-to-day life. Whenever I have a party or a gathering on, we sometimes have to travel 45 minutes to get to a friend's house. In Wellington, the furthest I've ever travelled for an outing was for my Dad's work Christmas party at Eastbourne one year. Generally, the furthest we'd go would be Oriental Parade and all my friends lived 10-15 min away.
5. The small population.
When we first arrived in Brisbane, we walked down to town on that first weekend. I thought I was walking up main street in Beijing! People just kept on waltzing into my personal bubble without even so much as knocking! I need my space thank-you very much! This doesn;t happen in Wellington.
6. WGC.
As much as I love Grammar, WGC is still my school. It has plenty of fantastic memories attached. Melly, do you remember that time we both missed half of 4th period by accident?! Or the time we made dried fruit and Madja kept trying to nick off with Caddyl's share of the dried orange and Caddyl kept shooting herself in the eye with lemon juice? Year 9 camp anyone?! Danni and Mel exploded into our cabin (Caddyl and I) at 5am screaming about possums and demanding cookies! We had even locked the door, gotta love that camp security!
7. The greenness.
You don't realise how green everything in NZ is until you move away. And for the Australians, you know you're in the middle of a draught when you take photos of green grass (when you can find it)! When we went back to Auckland last year, I couldn't believe how green it was! I literally used to have a forest in my backyard! Now people admire the strip of extremely thick and green (don't know how, all we do is mow it) grass in our "garden".
8. Towning.
'Cause it's such as cool word! OK, it's more then that. I sit with a huge group of good friends at lunch, but it's really hard to get together and do stuff as it's such a big group. And also, it's not called the town here, it's called the city. Besides, towning is our thing. I miss organising get-togethers and travelling into town and going DDRing. That's definitely one thing I'm looking forward to doing when I get back!
9. GLOMPS.
Without a doubt I really, ReAlLy, REALLY miss your hugs. It's been almost TWO YEARS since I've hugged some of you. In some ways, your hugs are almost therapeutic. Does it make sense to say, that sometimes I can almost imagine you there hugging me? Sometimes, when I felt really upset or had a bad bout of homesickness, I would imagine you there hugging me. I could almost hear your advice too! It made me feel a lot warmer.
10. The peace and beauty of the country.
NZ is just a has a atmosphere of peace around it. I don't know what it is. When I imagine it, I imagine the air being cool and fresh, that earthy, green smell in your nose, and birds quietly singing in your ear. There is something extremely comforting about that.
Amanda's top three Kiwi moment countdowns...
3.
Shortly after I had started school, I was invited Vicki's birthday party. We went to her apartment near the town and were getting ready to walk down and see a movie. One friend had received blisters on her foot and was going to go barefoot. Vicki's mother called out, "I have some thongs you can borrow." I practically turned purple and tried to look in the other direction... Just so you know, thong = JANDAL!
2.
Not long ago, I was in economics and I needed a sheet that the teacher was handing out. I asked for a sheet from the pile in her hand. She got really mad at me, I could work out why until explained myself. Due to her Aussie accent, she heard me refer to the "pile of shit" in her hands!
1.
A week ago, I went on camp with year 9 as their camp senior. As we were seated around the campfire cooking dinner, I heard some of the teachers talking about State of Origin which was being played that night. For those of you who don't know (which is probably most), Australians are very big on rugby league. State of Origin is where all the players play for their home states to see who is the best. To say that it is a massive deal would be a horrendous understatement.
I then said, "Oh yeah, that's right. It's State of Origin night. So who's playing?"
30 chattering girl and 4 teachers went DEAD SILENT. I was still happily munching away and waiting for a answer. After a couple of seconds, I noticed the silence and looked up. Everyone had their eyeballs rolling on the grass. I was getting OGGLED.
I felt like a deer caught in the headlights! Maybe JK know how bad this is as she lived in Oz. Apparently (as I found out) it is beyond bad. It's worse then going to the US and asking what McDonalds is. My friend Hera though it was the most hilarious thing. Then she asked whether anyone had pointed out that there were only two teams. I felt stupid then.
10 Things I Love About Australia (all of the following are in no particular order).
1. My school.
OK, I don't deny it. My school is lots of fun. It has a really good environment and you can actually work in class! 9/10 people are very nice, even the "school bitches" are sweet. The teachers are really dedicated, my History teacher vomited during the last lesson before our big assignment was due and she still stayed on because she wanted to be able to answer any last minute questions we had. There are tons of clubs and sports. Anime club, sailing, golf, Second Chance Committee, there are A LOT. Personally, one of the biggest highlights for me is the international languages program. I absolutely LOVE languages. The school not only has a really strong curriculum, but it also has affiliate school programs with France, Germany, Japan, China, and it has Antipodean and US space trip tours. We hosted a Chinese student last year and she and I still keep in touch.
2. My friends.
I can't even begin to say how kind everyone in my year was to me when I first arrived. I friends are absolutely amazing. Even though for the first 3 months I was a little reclusive and missed NZ a lot, everyone made me feel very welcome and went out of their way to include me.
3. The sunshine.
What can I say? I'm a summer girl! Just the other day, I was watching TV when those weather boxes start popping up at the bottom of the screen. Wellington - 13 degrees. I started laughing as temperatures had been in the high twenties that day. Then I realised that I haven't checked a weather forecast since I arrived in Brisbane. I used to read the weather section everyday in Wellington. It's nice that in Brisbane you don't have to plan your day around the weather.
4. The beaches.
The first time we went up to the Gold Coast, I was absolutely amazed. Hundreds and hundreds of metres of beautifully soft sand, sparkling blue seas, and warm waters. The beaches are a dream. Also, coming from NZ where I used to swim in water that was 18 degrees, the water in Brisbane is always just the right temperature.
5. Theme parks!
Dreamworld, Movieworld, Wet and Wild, I am a self confessed thrill seeker! I love the high speeds, dizzying heights, and the swooping sensation you get in your stomach. Every time we have a visitor we go the the theme parks. Emma is visiting in July so we will be going to one. My favourite ride is the "Superman Escape" at Movieworld. You blast up to the top, from 0km/h to over 200km/h in just 7 seconds! I LOVED IT!
6. Shopping.
The range in stores in undeniably better in Brisbane. And I'm not just talking about clothes (although there are a lot of very nice clothes)! There is a store called HMV which sells DVDs and music. They have an enormous range and all at very cheap prices (yes Madj, this includes Anime). Borders has several shelves of manga and the city is packed with lots of different stores. It's very easy to find what you want.
7. Foxtel.
This is the Aussie version of Sky TV except better. You can record TV shows just by hitting a button on your remote. It then stores in your TV planner and you can watch it whenever you want. Then, if you want to record it in a more permanent way, you play your recorded show, while you tape it on DVD/video as per normal. Ingenious!
8. Activities.
Being a much larger city, Brisbane has a lot more things to do. Every holidays, I can do something different with my friends. There are plenty of places to visit. Markets, Op shops, city centre, and tons more. You're never bored in Brisbane. There are also several really nice French patisseries. I love French food...
9. The outdoor lifestyle.
I'm such an outdoors girl. I've been on 4 camps since I camp to Brisbane and I've received my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. I love being able to spend time swimming, chilling on the beach, walking by the river, and camping with my friends. You're able to spend so much more time outdoors because of the sunshine. It's also extremely relaxing just to be outside. I can't explain it, that experience just completely de-stresses me.
10. Acceptance.
I have found, especially at my school, that people are a lot more tolerant of differences. They make think it's a little strange, but they don't ask mocking questions and quietly laugh at you when they think you're not looking. They keep those thoughts to themselves and are always polite to you even if they think that you're strange. I love this. It's so nice that they can accept these differences whatever their own thoughts and feelings may be.
10 Things I Love About Wellington (again in no particular order, except for the first one of course!).
1. My friends.
No need to say much here! You guys know how awesome you are, and how much your friendship means to me. You are beyond the best. I can't explain how much it means to me that when I need help, if I'm sad or upset, you never let me down. I hope you know how much your friendship means to me and how much I appreciate you.
2. My house.
I miss it. I grew up in that house. For all my 15 years I lived under that roof. I miss the village, the blue house, my neighbours, my various schools, the kids outside our house at the start and end of everyday, jville mall, and especially and park and the pool. I miss the familiarity of my surroundings.
3. Seido.
I love Seido. I miss all my friends, the instructors, and the atmosphere. OSU!
4. The small city.
Some people travel over an hour to get to school. Of course we don't live that far out, but we still travel a fair bit in our day-to-day life. Whenever I have a party or a gathering on, we sometimes have to travel 45 minutes to get to a friend's house. In Wellington, the furthest I've ever travelled for an outing was for my Dad's work Christmas party at Eastbourne one year. Generally, the furthest we'd go would be Oriental Parade and all my friends lived 10-15 min away.
5. The small population.
When we first arrived in Brisbane, we walked down to town on that first weekend. I thought I was walking up main street in Beijing! People just kept on waltzing into my personal bubble without even so much as knocking! I need my space thank-you very much! This doesn;t happen in Wellington.
6. WGC.
As much as I love Grammar, WGC is still my school. It has plenty of fantastic memories attached. Melly, do you remember that time we both missed half of 4th period by accident?! Or the time we made dried fruit and Madja kept trying to nick off with Caddyl's share of the dried orange and Caddyl kept shooting herself in the eye with lemon juice? Year 9 camp anyone?! Danni and Mel exploded into our cabin (Caddyl and I) at 5am screaming about possums and demanding cookies! We had even locked the door, gotta love that camp security!
7. The greenness.
You don't realise how green everything in NZ is until you move away. And for the Australians, you know you're in the middle of a draught when you take photos of green grass (when you can find it)! When we went back to Auckland last year, I couldn't believe how green it was! I literally used to have a forest in my backyard! Now people admire the strip of extremely thick and green (don't know how, all we do is mow it) grass in our "garden".
8. Towning.
'Cause it's such as cool word! OK, it's more then that. I sit with a huge group of good friends at lunch, but it's really hard to get together and do stuff as it's such a big group. And also, it's not called the town here, it's called the city. Besides, towning is our thing. I miss organising get-togethers and travelling into town and going DDRing. That's definitely one thing I'm looking forward to doing when I get back!
9. GLOMPS.
Without a doubt I really, ReAlLy, REALLY miss your hugs. It's been almost TWO YEARS since I've hugged some of you. In some ways, your hugs are almost therapeutic. Does it make sense to say, that sometimes I can almost imagine you there hugging me? Sometimes, when I felt really upset or had a bad bout of homesickness, I would imagine you there hugging me. I could almost hear your advice too! It made me feel a lot warmer.
10. The peace and beauty of the country.
NZ is just a has a atmosphere of peace around it. I don't know what it is. When I imagine it, I imagine the air being cool and fresh, that earthy, green smell in your nose, and birds quietly singing in your ear. There is something extremely comforting about that.
Amanda's top three Kiwi moment countdowns...
3.
Shortly after I had started school, I was invited Vicki's birthday party. We went to her apartment near the town and were getting ready to walk down and see a movie. One friend had received blisters on her foot and was going to go barefoot. Vicki's mother called out, "I have some thongs you can borrow." I practically turned purple and tried to look in the other direction... Just so you know, thong = JANDAL!
2.
Not long ago, I was in economics and I needed a sheet that the teacher was handing out. I asked for a sheet from the pile in her hand. She got really mad at me, I could work out why until explained myself. Due to her Aussie accent, she heard me refer to the "pile of shit" in her hands!
1.
A week ago, I went on camp with year 9 as their camp senior. As we were seated around the campfire cooking dinner, I heard some of the teachers talking about State of Origin which was being played that night. For those of you who don't know (which is probably most), Australians are very big on rugby league. State of Origin is where all the players play for their home states to see who is the best. To say that it is a massive deal would be a horrendous understatement.
I then said, "Oh yeah, that's right. It's State of Origin night. So who's playing?"
30 chattering girl and 4 teachers went DEAD SILENT. I was still happily munching away and waiting for a answer. After a couple of seconds, I noticed the silence and looked up. Everyone had their eyeballs rolling on the grass. I was getting OGGLED.
I felt like a deer caught in the headlights! Maybe JK know how bad this is as she lived in Oz. Apparently (as I found out) it is beyond bad. It's worse then going to the US and asking what McDonalds is. My friend Hera though it was the most hilarious thing. Then she asked whether anyone had pointed out that there were only two teams. I felt stupid then.