Mental picture

It occurred to me today how much I'll miss this place once I leave. That's not to say that I won't want to go home or that I'll cry myself to sleep once I'm back, but I've been here for almost a month and there are some things I'll really miss.

This came to me at the oddest time today. Sal drove me to Stockland (a shopping center) to pick up a few things and all of a sudden I felt like I needed to look around and take a mental picture of everything. I miss some of the conveniences at home, the sweet tea, my car and of course my friends and family, but for a long time before I left that's all I wanted to do -- leave. I wanted out of Charlotte. I wanted to be somewhere new with different places and things to do and different people. I even came across a quote last night that I had written down and in it I was telling a friend how much I want to travel. Now I'm here and I feel this urgency to do everything before the opportunities pass me up.

I want to try all the foods, go to all the little shops and just do everything authentically Aussie. I did buy some Tim Tams the other day and now I'm curious to try everything else. It says on the box that they are the "most irresistible chocolate biscuit." I believe it. I also have some Australian cheese and I bet $20 I won't have the same taste for cheddar when I get back. I'm also officially addicted to fruit chews. I know we have those at home, but maybe it has something to do with the 2 big bags I bought on sale.

Yesterday, I was reading my criminal justice textboook...Actually, let me intervene in my own blog...I read EIGHT criminal justice chapters yesterday and let me tell you, I've never been so bored with a chapter in my life. I'd rather write something down once for memory than read it in eight different forms. I can only take so many cases on assault. Anyway...so I was reading this chapter and there was a court case called Pappajohn v. the Queen. Of course I thought about the pizza, so I asked Sal if there's a Papa John's here.

"A what?" I guess not.

That reminds me. The microwaves here are silly. You know how we have buttons that say "popcorn" or "beverage" to heat up something in particular? Well the one in our dorm kitchen has buttons for "jacket potato," "rice pasta" and "reheat pie." I took a picture, but it turned out kind of blurry.

I did get frustrated earlier this week, though. I had waited to do my laundry for about a week and a half because the dryers had been broken, so when I saw a maintenance man walk past the door, I ran after him. He looked at the dryers and fixed a couple, so I happily threw two loads into the washer. I was especially happy because one of the guys showed me how to rig the washers with Q-tips to get a free wash.

Well first of all, one of my white shirts had to be trashed and 3 more got pink stains on them. (Are you trying to tell me something, God? Is this about the Q-tips?) I have no idea how because I definitely washed all the whites separately. Once I got over that, I put all my clothes into the dryer and inserted my money.

It didn't work. My money got stuck because someone had stuck Q-tips in the money slots even though you can't rig the dryers. I got the money out and put my laundry in a different dryer. It started, I let out a squeal of excitement and then it stopped. To make a long story short, I hung half my clothes on the line and borrowed someone's drying rack for the rest after losing another $1.60 on trying to dry my clothes. It's just minor, but why can't they just work? It was the first time I've yelled since I've been here.

In other news, my Aboriginal studies professor asked me a question about American politics in class a couple days ago. Ohhhh, that is so not my subject. I answered anyway and of course what I could have added came to me later. Of all classes, I never thought American politics would come up in Aboriginal studies.

Oh, random fact: There are no yellow lights here for traffic. There's red, orange and green...That's what helped me determine this font color.

In other news, this is going to be a busy weekend. Tomorrow is Astrid's 24th birthday as well as the St. Patty's ball at the Uni Bar. Friday evening, Nichole and I may be going to a dinner by the church we've visited. The pastor invited the new people to his house for a barbecue. Then, we're all getting together to finally go over plans for break. Saturday is "dorm olympics" followed by a street party in front of my dorm and somewhere in all that I'm going to start working on a paper. I should have more pictures by tomorrow!