Days 11 & 12 - Finishing up PSU work, Food and Money in Australia

The past few days have been a bit of reprieve and some relaxation from a lot of the running around I had been doing.  It's the last week before school starts, so I've been finishing up all the things I have to do for Penn State, like finish my portfolio, order a cap and gown, and finalize the paperwork I need to so I can walk at graduation in August.  It's a bit boring, but I want to get it all done this week before school starts.  I was able to watch the entire Devils game the other day on my computer on a pretty good stream which was nice, even though they lost.  We have had some games live on TV here but unfortunately no Devils games. 

The food here is really not different from back home at all.  Bobby made a grilled garlic calamari dish the other day which was sensational.  Apparently the trick to keeping calamari tender is to marinate it in kiwi juice for about two hours, and wow did it work.  It was the most tender calamari I have ever had in my life, so next time you cook calamari put in kiwi juice first!  I tried a little bit of Vegemite the other day and it was pretty awful, so I don't think I'll be eating that again but I figured I should try it.  Also, they eat kangaroo here, but we haven't eaten it yet.  I'm told it tastes like a very rich steak, so that will be something to try in the future. 

Sunset through the trees on another nice night

Money here is obviously a bit different than in the U.S.  They don't have pennies here and lowest coin is a 5 cent piece.  That gets a bit confusing sometimes as they will round off if they don't have exact change.  Also, the lowest domination of bills is a $5, so there is no $1 or $2 bill but they do have them in coin form.  The coins they have are 5 cent, 10, 20, 50, $1 and $2 while the bills are $5, $10, $20, $50, $100.  The bills are also much more colorful and the coins all have Queen Elizabeth II on them. 

$5 bill with a $2 coin in the top left corner and 50 cent piece in the bottom right

Later in the week I think we are going to go to the Koala Park where you can play with the kangaroos and koalas so that should be fun and a bit more exciting, and Brittany and I are also going to spend a night or two out in downtown Sydney which should also be an adventure. 

-Andrew

Aussie Words

 Bikkie - Cracker or sometimes a cookie

Barrack - To root or cheer for a team