...and what's better than democracy?!

COCKATOOS! (I actually wanted to tie this into the last post but just couldn't spin it) I even got it on film, because I know you guys can't get enough of them. :)

democracy rocks!

Chomsky, N. (2007). Interventions. San Francisco: City Lights.

This book is a collection of essays written by Noam Chomsky and distributed by the New York Times Syndicate but that have never been published in any major US newspaper. Hm, as the introduction explains "that our mainstream media system seems unwilling to tolerate a range of political thought wide enough to include Chomsky but is willing to market them outside the intellectual and geographic borders is ironic and revealing" (p.vvi).

A Linzi summary (Julie would be better at this) for you:
Basically it's a bunch of short essays (1000 words or so) that talk about how the US valiantly traverses the globe spreading "democracy." Of course, the rhetoric here actually stands for our complete contempt for civil liberties and our impressively atrocious record regarding human rights. A must have for every coffee-table!

Quick Robin, to the Batcave!

I'm really lazy. I didn't caption this video, so I hope you know ASL or some type of signing. We all know my abilities. All is well and I miss you all.



Australia ROCKS!

Happy Anniversary to ME and VINCENT!

So, just an update for everyone.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of me and Vincent's engagement!

And, we are still together--well not together, together--but together in our "we have lived in different countries for more than two years" love. WAHOO!! This year, our goal is to live on the same continent! (Is it funny to anyone else that this will be accomplished by both of us having to move to Australia? Because, it IS pretty funny to me.) Keep your fingers crossed, you lucky charms on hand, etc., etc. for us will you?

tips for learning Auslan and other musings

Lindsay's Guide to Learning Auslan*

1. Drink alcohol with Deaf Australians.
2. Look up your favorite signs with the Auslan SignBank
3. Then drink some more with more Deaf Australians.
4. Repeat 1, 2, and 3 as needed.

*There is very strong anecdotal evidence that my guide is the most effective for learning this particular signed language. Of course, more research is needed. Dissertation anyone?

Now, on to other musings...
1. I have decided to start a photo journal of all the crazy birds I keep seeing. For example, last friday (the one day I didn't bring a camera to school) I saw a cockatoo, an ibis, two kookaburras, and a bunch of galahs all at about an arm's length away!

2. Older Australians often like to strike up conversations with me in the supermarket or on the street--because, let's face it, I exude that kind of aura.

3. Twenty-first birthdays in Australia are better than in the United States**.
** Please note this claim is also based on my limited experience. But, they do like heart-felt speeches, and rent a bar with a tab, and invite long lost classmates and friends of the family and stuff.

At this particular twenty-first Bec made one of the speeches and I got to meet a lot of her awesome friends!





So, in these photos are some of the people who will be taking on the big BIG responsibility of teaching me Auslan. A round of applause please!
And also a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the birthday boy (who will for the moment remain unnamed) and thanks for the fabulous party! :)

interesting finds in Macquarie

Everyday I hop on the 518 to Macquarie University. On the way, I pass my new favorite shop, The Meat Boutique. Well, actually, I have never been in this store and as of yet I'm still a vegetarian, but come on-- The Meat Boutique. Very cool. Then once I arrive, a world of coffee kiosks, a real library, and ::gasp:: helpful people greets me. Then there's the gym which I just joined. It has two pools, a variety of fitness classes, some squash courts, a basketball court, tennis courts, weight/ cardio room, etc, etc. What is even more lovely is that on my way to the gym from MY OFFICE, I walk by a lake and usually several kinds of exotic birds are eating the grass.

So far so good. Now, on the other side of the street is an absolutely ginormous mall. It spirals up like three floors in a ridiculously confusing way (I actually tried to get out of it for like twenty minutes the other day). This mall has one of the most sophisticated food courts I have ever been to, a Borders, and RebelSport--my actual new favorite store, full of all the latest sporting goods. How do these people ever expect me to do linguistics with all these brilliant distractions? Oh-- wait, I'll tell you. They GAVE ME AN OFFICE...and a computer...and a filing cabinet. My very own filing cabinet. Can it get better than this?! I can't wait to file things in it. I can even lock it when I'm away, just in case I have top secret documents to hide from the rest of the world. And believe you me, I will make sure to get ahold of such documents. Why else would I need a lock on my filing cabinet. Then every afternoon when the sun starts to set, I make my way home. I get back on the 518 and go back past the Meat Boutique. I usually get off one stop short to make a trip to the local BWS to buy a cleanskin or two. Then me and Bec cook some food, drink some wine, and watch the Olympics. Very very cool.

Hi guys,
So my first day at Macquarie ROCKED. Here's a recap-- a bit dry, but whatever. I'm tired.

Enjoy.

outside our kitchen window!

lessons learned

1. NEVER book a plane ticket with vayama.com.
2. While trying to secure an Australian temporary long-stay visa, side-trips to Africa and Europe are crazy fun but not advised.
3. Fitting 26 years of stuff into two suitcases is very difficult.
4. While traveling, it is convenient to bring either cash or credit cards to buy all of the stuff you no longer get for free
6. The international departures lounge in fiji has nice seats for sleeping, and the men wear skirts.
7. If you are poor, it takes 33 hours to get from Atlanta to Sydney.
8. Always have best friends pick you up at airports.

Le Visa qui court plus vite que la lumière

Based on a true story

C'est l'histoire d'un Visa qui une fois demandé sur le net arrivait dans ta boîte mail quelques heures après...

Et oui, j'ai commencé mon application en ligne pour obtenir le Visa Australien : Working Holiday. Ce Visa permet de passer un an en Australie et travailler pas plus de 6 mois pour le même employeur. L'application a duré exactement 18 minutes, et n'importe qui aurait pu répondre correctement aux questions (avez vous fait de la prison, allez-vous en Australie pour obtenir des soins médicaux, avez vous fait l'armée...). Même si j'ai l'intention de partir début décembre, je voulais m'y prendre en avance pour éviter tout le stress inutile, à savoir les documents incomplets ou manquants...

J'ai répondu tellement bien aux questions qu'un mail m'est parvenu tout à l'heure pour m'annonçer que mon Visa était accepter !!! Ce processus a pris moins de 6 heures. Qui dis mieux?

Je suis en fin prêt pour partir en Australie en toute légalité, et c'est une bonne nouvelle, si on pense aux problèmes que Lindsay a pu rencontrer pour obtenir son Visa.

Survive-the-spiders-day

Make this one about hiking Linzi says to Nina... so, I will give it a try... about the oh so damn scary spiders we met, our quest against them, our walk-on-the-road-trip, Linzi trying to speak Dutch, our Vodka-talk-evening, u know, the regular stuff people experience.

En dan maar hopen dat jullie je een beetje kunnen inleven in de gevaren en de avonturen van de afgelopen week. Werkelijk! Wat een feest.

So, where were we? Right, I think the day after our off-day. During our off-day we practically only ate food, slept, watched movies. Not much to say about that right. Anyway, we decided we needed some exercise the day after. Let's go hiking at Mistletoe Park! And let's do so in the morning. Seemed to be a great idea... but the spiders kinda thought the same thing... but the subject of their thoughts were not focused on hiking, but on moving in permanently on our hiking trail.

We choose the 1 3/4 mile trail... doable right? That's what we thought too, just before we ran into the first just-moved-in-spider. Honestly, every yard there was a ginourmous spider-villa-web across the trail, and I am not exaggerating! We could not move one yard without ruining a web. It feels disgusting, sticky on your face. And if it was just that, fine, but noooohooooo, the spiders were home! See!

We were so scared... So we decided to walk down the trail with our just discovered magic stick which, when we waved it around as much as we could, was supposed to get rid of all the spider cities. It did work, but nonetheless it took us like 10 minutes to do 1% of the trail, so we decided to move our athletic hiking to a better place. As disappointed as we were, we did decide to leave the forest trail alone, and we took of hiking down the road. Linzi got herself roadkilled, but Nina did not mind joining her.

We felt totally reborn after the hiking adventure.

After that, we naturally needed to regain our strength. We did so sitting down at the doc with our delicious vodka-lemonade. Talking about life, Nina trying to overcome some word-finding problems, and Linzi reliving her IRB-wtf-thing (Cecily, awsome commentary!) and trying to speak Dutch, we felt really proud of our perseverance that day.

Btw, if u wanna see more pix: http://picasaweb.google.com/Mistaya00/NinaAndLinziGoToGeorgia

Linzi and Nina say: oogjes dicht en snaveltjes toe, welterusten!