Surfing the Highs and the Lows

Dear all,
It's been about a month now since I last updated my blog and I sincerely apologize! Honestly, so much has happened that I'm not even sure where to begin.

I returned from my spring break trip around the beginning of October. The trip was really wonderful and definitely gave me a chance to get a "feel" for Australia. My lasting impression is that Australia is a land of few people and a great deal of space. We spent the majority of our time in small towns where the main strip would only be a few blocks, with the major commercial industry being tourism. I can't even begin to imagine what the rest of Australia must be like if what I saw during my travels was the popular East Coast. I plan to put up a much more complete blog entry for the Spring Break trip as soon as I get my photos and everything else organized again. I took over 1,000 during the trip, so I'm sure there must be some good ones in the mix:p They are coming, I promise:)

However, as soon as I came back from Spring Break the work pace really picked up (the profs are of the opinion here that mid-semester break is our chance to do all the work for the entire semester), so I spent the next week glued to the computer screen working until... having finished a few assignments, I took a 10 minute break to go to the grocery store and came back to find that my hard drive had crashed. Yep, just like that. Nothing was different, except that my computer would only greet me with a gray screen, an unhappy little folder with a question mark on it, and a very subtle clicking noise. That was definitely a low. I spent the next day running around the city to every Mac store and data recovery center I could find. The verdict was that the needle thing that reads the hard drive "got stuck," and it would cost $2400 to recover my data and take about 2-4 weeks. So, basically I lost the 2500 word report that I had just finished, 3 months of internship work and the last 4 months of photos I had taken. And my computer for that week. And I had four more assignments due that week. Basically, it was a horrific week. My life revolved around the biology computer lab at that point. At least, my professors and Megan (my internship boss) were very understanding, and I had just given all the other people on my Spring Break trip all my photos earlier that day, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

But, that low eventually ended because I finally got all my assignments finished and then Cody came to visit on the 23rd. The first thing we did was rent a car and drive down to Jervis Bay (2.5 hours south of Sydney along a beautiful coastal drive) where we had a cute little cabin rented for the weekend. The next morning we got up early and hopped aboard a dive boat for a brilliant dive in the chilly Pacific waters. On the dive we got to swim in a cave, saw a small shark and some awesome rock formations, and reached a max depth of 94 feet (the deepest we've ever gone by far). Apart from the dive, just the journey out to the dive site was worth the trip because we spent about an hour cruising past absolutely beautiful cliffs that cut up into the sky and resembled thrones for some lucky sea gods. The crew aboard the boat was also really nice and served us hot tea, chicken soup, and cheese and crackers to warm us up between dives, and we got to see some Australian fur seals up close (very cool!) Other than that, we just relaxed, caught up on the last few months, and explored the countryside (even meeting a few wallabys along the way).

Then, back to the city we went on Sunday, in the pouring rain, which continued Sunday and Monday. The week was planned to cram about as much of Sydney as would fit in five days time, and, though things didn't always go as planned, we managed to fit in the majority of it while also having time to relax and spend some time hanging out at my apartment. The highlights were definitely: #1 Finally being able to spend time together again, #2 Seeing a spectacular production of Wicked in the Capitol Theater with Katie and Cody, #3 Exploring Darling Harbour from pub to pub as the sun went down, buying Cody a beer, and laughing while watching someone's not so successful attempt to propose in the sky, #4 Cooking up our own kangaroo steak dinner and enjoying it with my roommates Zdiska and Juho, #5 Going to Bondi for the last night and introducing Cody to the Bondi boys, surfing, and moonlit cliff parties #6 Crepe parties in the Parklands, #7 Having Cody be an official volunteer aboard the whale watching boat (though the whales were pretty boring that day), #7 Making Cody a wrap and fresh juice at my sandwich place #8 Introducing Cody to coffee Oz-style #9 Strolling through beautiful sunlit days in Sydney and watching 500 Days of Summer, and #10 Even all the transit time spent in the buses, trains, and walking to and from my apartment weren't so bad because we got to be together. So, that was our action packed week summed up in one happy run-on sentence, and it was extremely difficult letting Cody go back on the plane this morning. It is a little better knowing that I'll be back home in just a few more weeks.

The story continues though, because after we said goodbye and I returned home, I realized that Cody still had my apartment keys and computer charger which had been forgotten about in the early morning rush to make it to the airport. So, now begins the busy week during which I will have to make do without a computer charger and without keys, until I can get them mailed back. And, I can already see just from today that it will be quite stressful (given that I've already been locked out twice). But, then again, here I am, a glass or red wine in hand, finally reupdating my blog after borrowing a friend's charger for the night, an absolutely wonderful week behind me, and about 3,000 whale tail photos to go before me. I'm pretty confident though, that life is meant to have its highs and lows, and, as long as you're tactful and keep things in perspective, even the lows are maneuverable. So, I'm just going to keep surfing and taking things as they come.

I'm also, almost done with the semester. The upcoming week is really my last major week of classes, and this week I'll be going to the zoo and the Sydney Aquarium for class. I'm also 90% done with my Global Leadership Program and just have one more seminar to attend this Wednesday to finish and get the certificate. Also, Megan is back from Tonga, so now I'm going to be out on the whale watching boat every Monday 9-5, conducting trials with the humpbacks. It's beginning to feel like things are wrapping up here. I know I'm really going to miss Sydney and all the wonderful people I've met here when I leave, but, I am really excited to come back home as well.

I'll wrap this up for now, but, the next blog entry should come much much sooner, hopefully by the end of this week.

Much Love,
Tashi

PS. I really appreciated receiving phone calls from my entire family on my birthday! No matter where you are, the best place to spend your birthday is always with your family, and all of the phone calls made me feel like I wasn't that far away. Thank you. It really made my day.