Birthday

January 18th

I had quite an incredible and unique birthday. It all started at 9:00am with two lectures about Aboriginal migration to Australia and culture. It was a pretty interesting set of lectures; in the middle we walked over to a small museum and saw some exact replicas of the first Homo erectus to come to Australia. After the lecture I made a sandwich and ate it on our beautiful roof. Following a short Friends break (which, by the way, is the only reason I am getting through all of this. Props to Laura) a few of us walked down the street to get some bubble tea. It turns out that Bubble tea in Australia is not quite the same as it is in Seattle. I ordered milk tea with Taro and I was given tea with cut-up peaces of Taro root at the bottom. It was still vary tasty. Other peoples drinks were also very strange and interesting for example, who would have thought that salty cheese would be good in a drink!? We walked back to Arundel via a romp in the park nearby. The playground was awesome; we have been back many times since then.

At around 6:00 the whole group went to see a Vietnamese-Australian comedian named Anh Do tell his live story. The show was part of the Sydney Festival, which is an art, and culture festival that runs throughout January. It was by far the best stand up that I have ever seen and it was also very interesting. I think that Anh Do is actually quite famous in Australia.

We then all walked from the show to a restaurant across town for a birthday dinner. Even Andy and Philip (Andy’s Partner) came with. It was great fun and Andy and Philip paid for my dinner and drink, which was such a treat! The whole group also gave me a b-day card, which was sweet. After dinner we walked to a bowling ally close by in Darling Harbor. I have never ever seen a bowling ally that is as swanky and fashionable as the one we were at. I had a very expensive but delicious fruity cocktail! After bowling, which I completely failed, we all did karaoke together until the place closed. It was a hoot! After a long walk through the city I am back at Arundel and as soon as we walked in, it started pouring rain… sound familiar? It was a fantastic and exhausting birthday, one that I will never forget!