New Semester

I just finished my first week of the new semester. Looks like it is going to be a lot more interesting than last semester! I’m taking Veterinary Conservation Biology (Australian Wildlife Health Management), Principles of Disease, Anatomy and Physiology 2B (Reproduction), and Equine Anatomy. In equine anatomy, we will of course be dissecting the horse from head to toe throughout the semester. The horse cadavers are a little more freaky to work with than the other animals I’ve worked with because they occasionally move when you are working on them or you’d swear something was moving... (Their carcasses are suspended via bolts and chains from the ceiling.) Reproduction is already interesting too… Did you know that hyenas practice monogamy and that camels spend 24 hours copulating! (Of course, I remember the useless, but strange details!) Speaking of reproduction, I pity anyone who uses the computer lab for printing after me because they will end up printing multiple copies of the male dog’s genitalia. Instead, I somehow ended up printing someone else’s marine biology lecture notes… Fortunately, my new print cartridges arrived today so I won’t have to worry about using the computer lab anymore.

The Driving Lesson

Today, I met Max, Livia’s new car. Had an adventure today…I bravely supported, coached, and navigated Liv around the city to our final destination—Coogee Beach. She’s never driven in city traffic before. Using my navigation skills, I managed to keep us off of any freeways though.
It ended up being a beautiful sunny afternoon in Coogee. While we were walking around the cliffs of Coogee beach, we came across an area where an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in 2003. It touched me both on a personal and spiritual level given my mom’s successful surgery this weekend and the safe arrival of us in Coogee.
Yahoo Coogee Pics

A Trip to the City

Last night, I attended a dinner party hosted by one of my guy friends. Even went to the grocery store with him to buy all the ingredients for the dinner that he was planning for a group of us. And, then, to my surprise, one of the dinner guests arrived and went straight to work in the kitchen whipping up a nice meal for all 8 of us by herself! Don’t think Martha Stewart would have approved of this arrangement. I felt guilty and tried offering my help in the kitchen but was kicked out when I wasn’t chopping the parsley correctly.

This afternoon, I made a special trip to the city to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum. Learned about early Australian Jewish history. I was surprised to see that the early settlers of Australia (convicts) were sentenced to live in Australia for petty things like stealing a laundry basket full of clothes, panhandling, and even stealing a woman’s nightgown! The first floor of the museum was mostly about Jewish history and culture. Was neat because memories from my childhood would flood back as I passed by certain items like the torah, the Sabbath table, the Menorah, the Huppha etc.

The next couple of levels were all about the Holocaust from its beginnings to the end, the victims, and the survivors. I think the most difficult thing of it all for me to get through was browsing through the children’s memorial. They were so innocent and powerless and had not even lived their lives and it was all taken away from them for reasons they probably could not even comprehend. They and everyone else will always be remembered.

Tidbits

Yesterday, I saw the new Batman movie with my friend Erin and her husband. Feels great seeing a movie during the middle of the week! We all enjoyed the movie and had a nice time catching up with each other’s happenings over the break. Was a little weird at first because I kept picking up the Bewitched movie during the previews. (BTW, did you know that Nicole Kidman is an Australian?) Erin and I swapped stories about her latest interesting cases at work (she’s working as a veterinary nurse) and my trip to Fiji. She told me about this dog that was ill because he ate a rat that ate rat poison. Don’t worry, the dog lived! I told her how a rat got into our soup dinner.

Oh and a little political party trivia that I found out recently from an Aussie friend: Liberals are equivalent to U.S. Republicans and the Labour party is equivalent to the U.S. Democratic party. I also got an earful of how others perceive the U.S.! Lol. Let’s just say that I think the media plays a huge role in shaping one’s perceptions.

Lazy Sunday

I had a nice relaxing Sunday. Went to church in the city and to my delight, the loop in the church was working this time and I was able to pick up the mass rather than the Presbyterian Church downstairs. After mass, I headed over to Circular Quay, picked some Macca’s (Aussie for Mc Donald’s) and ate my lunch on Sydney harbour while watching all the tourists and street performers. I even gave some money to some little boys who were playing a tuba and a trumpet to raise money to send their rugby team to New Zealand. I also went to the Contemporary Museum of Art—had a nice time browsing. Other people’s web blogs were even on display for people to browse through! Hmmm never thought of a blog as being a form of art.

Fairfield Ties

I saw Bewitched yesterday with Liv. It’s a cheesy, but a cute flick. On a sad note, I found out from my mom that a childhood friend whom I used to play softball with was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer. She’s only 24 years-old (my age)! Sometimes, I don’t understand why he allows such things to happen…

Grades are Out

I passed. I passed. I passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m dancin’ the happy dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENT Visit

Today, I went to the ENT specialist, an appointment that I had been waiting over a month to see for my nosebleeds. The Dr. said that I had inherited the “gift” of having blood vessels close to the nasal surface. Hmmm that and hairy legs are gifts I could have done without inheriting! Although I hadn’t experienced any nosebleeds recently, he went ahead a cauterised the worst side. I became alarmed however when checking out that my nose started to bleed when I didn’t even have one to begin with when I first came in! Oy vey! I also had him check out my ears because I’d been experiencing some problems on the flight back to Sydney and didn’t seem to hear quite right. Turns out, I have a small haemorrhage on my malleus bone inside my ear, but it should heal on its own.

Mixed Emotions

Today I went to Cheryl’s uni graduation in W’Gong where she received a Master of Science in Biotechnology—you go girl, I'm proud of you! I would have screamed and hollered at the announcement of her name, but to my surprise, the Australian graduations are very prim and proper. More like the British system I guess. If I ever make it across the stage, I don’t care about being proper, I want all the whoops and whistles!

After her graduation, we had lunch at a Chinese place. It was good, but I quickly learned that Cheryl’s family is a lot like a Jewish family. ;) If I ate too quickly, more food kept getting put on my plate and if I didn’t eat, I wasn’t eating enough. Apparently, I look too skinny and should eat more.

After an interesting train ride back to the city, Cheryl and I finally departed at central train station. I must admit I was getting choked up and teary-eyed saying good-bye to my best friend. I'm going to miss her. The walk to the bus stop seemed longer than normal.

While on the bus, I had an awful experience because this lady in her 60’s kept gawking at me, pointing, talking to other people about me, and then she had the gawl to whip out her mobile and take pics of me and showed it to people on the bus! I was absolutely appalled and wanted to say something nasty but I held my tongue. Instead, I told her that she was being very rude and asked her to stop it, but she didn’t seem to care. Geez! I was so glad to get off that bus!

Brrr, I look like a horse in my new winter coat!
--Buster
 

Bula!

Bula! (Fijian for hello or cheers.) I’m officially back from my seven day trip in Fiji. It was absolutely fantastic! We spent 3 nights at the Club Fiji resort in our own private ocean view bure (cottage). At Club Fiji, we lazed around in hammocks, beach chairs, read our books and magazines, and collected shells. We even found 2 tiny sand dollars. We also went swimming in the resort pool and let loose at the pub at night. I had a Club Fiji Sunset and even a Panty dropper, a shooter in a test tube! While at Club Fiji we visited the Nadi market, Naditown, the grocery store, and went to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, a natural tropical rainforest with 1000’s of orchids. From Club Fiji we took a boat to Beachcomber Island where we spent 3 nights, a popular and lively place for young people. At Beachcomber Island we snorkelled, swam, soaked up some rays, and even kayaked to another island called Treasure Island. One could walk around the entire island in 10 minutes. The evenings were filled with authentic Fijian dancing, drinks, food, games, star gazing, and late night chats in the gran bure dorm. It was definitely a great way to recharge our batteries!

Also, see my latest yahoo pic album.

I finally finished final exams! I’m not sure how I did though, but relieved that it’s all over with! Now, I’ve got three weeks off before 2nd semester begins. Today, I’m leaving for Fiji for 7 days with Cheryl and Livia. I planned the whole thing and got us a good student deal. I’m so excited! This is a much needed vacation that I feel we all deserve. Will definitely be doing some major relaxing and hopefully not too much thinking!