"As days go by, it's the bigger love of the family." Family Matters, anyone?

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They always say that family values are what keep a country together. I'm not sure who 'they' are in that previous sentence but I think they're true to some extent. I don't usually play into that whole 'family values' bullshit that a lot of people are using to keep marijuana illegal or ban gay marriage, but here this household, right here...in flat 21, right smack dab in Perth, we take our family dinners incredibly seriously. When it's family dinner night, you sit your ass down and you enjoy the cooking of your fellow flatmate.

I cooked last Thursday and it was amazing. It was a chicken alfredo pasta bake with spinach, that's right, SPINACH! I made my own friggin' alfredo sauce too! I owned that pasta bake! I started at about 5:15 since everyone wasn't going to be back until 6:30 or so. The recipe said to allow for 45 minutes of prep and cook time, but I wanted to give myself the benefit of the doubt. I cranked up my music and went to work. Dancing around the kitchen, I became one with the food. There was no longer a differentiation between me and the pasta bake, we. were. one. Deep, I know.

The flatmates were treated to a nose feast when they walked in. Garlic, parmesan, herbs, and more garlic. I don't want to brag but this smörgåsbord of flavor would've made you believe in God. I was even a believer, at least until the end of the meal.

We talked about each other's day. Made little family inside jokes. Ragged on Nate, as always. Just enjoyed each other's company. So nice.

So if they are right about all that family values stuff, I'm pretty sure Australia's gonna be just fine cause flat 21's family values are solid. Our blood runs hell deep. Ya dig?

The Tim Tam Slam: A True Cultural Experience

Who would've thought that I would be meeting very few Australians while living in Australia? The Village is like a little bubble filled with international students and very few Australians (at least that I've met). I keep trying to soak up Australian culture but it's kind of difficult when I don't live with a true-blooded Aussie. One of my flatmates grew up in Perth but has been living a good chunk of her life in the United States so she kind of counts. But still. I yearn for some kind of glimpse into the lives of my temporary fellow countrymen and women! Alas, I've found it! The Tim Tam Slam!

This art of biscuit-soaking is one that requires great skill and determination and perhaps decades to master correctly. I, a humble novice in the art of Tim Tam Slamming, will do my best to outline the correct way to Slam. I took pictures so you can follow along at home. Make sure to ask an adult first though.

1. Prepare your ingredients. You will need a cup of hot liquid, preferably something with flavor. The popular choices are coffee or hot chocolate. However, word on the street is that you can use tea, Milo, or even more daring, a liqueur such as Irish Creme. Then gather up your beloved Tim Tams, the chocolate covered biscuits I have grown to love in three short weeks. One is not sufficient, especially for the true lover of Tim Tams. Two is standard for an evening snack, with a whole carton of Tim Tams acceptable to be consumed as an entire meal. Trust me, they're that good.
2. This is where it starts to get tricky for the novice Slammer. Carefully bite opposing corners of the Tim Tam to be slammed. Essentially, you want the Tim Tam to become a chocolate-y, biscuit-y straw. Make sure to not bite off too much or too little as the entire slam depends on your ability to create enough of a vacuum in the Tim Tam to suck up liquid. Watch out for holes in the biscuit's chocolate coating as they will inhibit the ability to suck. Locate the hole and put your finger over it to allow for maximum suckage.


3. Now it's time for the main event. Clear your head and prepare yourself for the imminent Slamming of the Tim Tam. Keep your hands steady with ample support given to the Tim Tam. Place one of the bitten ends into the liquid (in this case coffee) and suck. Now you don't have much time once the act actually begins. After roughly three or four seconds of solid sucking, the Tim Tam will begin to collapse you only have one chance to get the whole thing in your mouth in one piece. I tend to prefer Double Coat or Caramel Tim Tams as the Double Coat gives more of a external structural support while the Caramel gives an internal support. Either way they ensure a successful slam.

4. The actual act of slamming is quite spiritual. The mind is clear, the body is relaxed and the soul is patient. It's almost an indescribable feeling. Like, the world is good again. I think I saw stars the last time I slammed. Your surroundings become a blur of chocolate-y, caramel-y goodness. Voices become silenced and you get a glimpse of Tim Tam heaven for a couple seconds. "Should I go towards the light?" "Dear God, yes!"

One final tip. Don't do the Slam in the mornings cause it'll make your whole day seem like shit in comparison.

Editor's Note: After reading this post I noticed an ample amount of sexual innuendos peppered throughout the text and even in the images. Comments of a sexual nature on this post will be expected. I totally deserve it.

So a beach bum isn't the same thing as an actual bum...right?

If only winter was like this everywhere. I mean sure, it's awesome to have to bundle up in a heavy coat, gloves, hat, scarf, and boots anytime you want to go outside in the Midwest, but I think I'd rather just go to the beach. Oh, and not just any beach mind you. We're talking about the one, the only, Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia. Yeah, kind of a big deal. Some of my flatmates and I have made Cottesloe our temporary beach hideaway. How can you say 'no' to a beach that's a 30 minute bus ride away? Answer: YOU CAN'T.





Surfing. One of the most stereotypical activities of Australia. I had to try it at least once while I was here. Well, the stars aligned and a surf board ended up in my lap just a few days ago. Excuse me, but try and imagine this story in the most dramatic way possible: So I gathered up my courage, brushed the sand off my back and walked bravely, with surf board at my side into the welcoming yet foreboding waters of the Indian Ocean. The pounding surf was unrelenting yet I knew I had to master this ancient art of wave riding. I searched myself for the strength to conquer the ocean as I paddled into the vast blue expanse. I turned my board toward the sand, my home, my safety, my friends. I was going to do it. Oh, I feel a wave! Another one! Ok, I'm gonna catch the next one! All my dreams! Coming true! I'm going to be a natural! Hmmmm...I seem to be drifting away from the beach. That's odd. Isn't it surfing when you get closer to the beach? Okay, maybe I should start paddling. Wow...not moving. What's that noise behind me? (This is when the world's biggest wave sucker punched me from behind) (Tumbling, tumbling, water in mouth/nose) Where the hell did that come from?!?! I was supposed to be a natural! All my dreams! Gone! Screw this, I'm gonna go lay on the beach.

That was my debut and retirement from the surfing circuit. I just don't think they could handle how real I was. I'm just too god dammed real.

An Ode to the Wildlife of Murdoch University

What strange and wondrous beasts reside within the hallowed grounds of Murdoch University! I have been here yet a fortnight and still mine eyes and ears buzz with the sights and sounds of creatures unfamiliar to me. A bird, of colors blue, green and orange, perched upon a branch just yonder from my window...Ok I can only write like that for so long. Anyway, there are some crazy birds and animals here! Marsupials galore!

I'll go through a list.

Quenda: Huge rat! Alright, maybe there's a little bit more to it than that. It's also known as the Southern Brown Bandicoot, as in 'Crash Bandicoot', though they look nothing alike. I guess they're really only found in Southern Australia so it's pretty cool that they just run around in my backyard. Although they are slightly unnerving because it looks like somebody just took like an enlarger ray and blasted a regular sized rat and made it huge! Like the size of a rabbit.




Crow: I know what you're thinking. Crows? We have those in the U.S...nothing special. Oh but yes, there is something special. These crows decided not to go with your standard crow noise. You know what I'm talking about, like a 'Caw! Caw!' sort of thing. No, these crows decided to go with something far less sinister and far more annoying. They tend to make the noise of a dying or injured cat. More of a 'Meehehhhh!' sound. Plus, they sometimes undulate their voice, so it becomes this awful drawn out cat dying noise. Just awful. Oh wait, I think I have something that will demonstrate perfectly.




Tiny little black bird (Not the name I just couldn't find it in a list of Australian birds. Yeah, I'm cool, I look at Australian bird lists.): Not really much to say rather than they're very entertaining to watch. Every time they stand still for a little while they do this little thing where they shake their tail feather. Yes, just like the rap song. Anyway, I could watch these things for hours just jump around and then do their little dance.

Australia as a whole is like a crazy fauna haven. It's like the weirdest birds and animals came here and decided to set up camp. I mean marsupials? Whoever came up with that idea must've been on something. "Like they'll be mammals, right? But they don't have babies the regular way...no, no. They're gonna have their babies in a pouch. But it'll be totally groovy because they'll give people a reason to come gawk and take pictures in Australia. Sweeeeeet."

The Difficulty of Imagining Other People

After 30 hours of continuous travel from one side of the world to the other, I finally made it to Perth on July 24th at approximately 12:30pm WST. I couldn't have been happier, not to mention, smellier, sleepier, and greasier. I hadn't showered in a very long time. I was not prepared for the toll that nonstop movement takes on a person's body. However, after all that, I made it to my new home, Murdoch University Village. I walked into my new flat and breathed in the wonderful aroma of dead air and dust. Of course I was the first one to arrive. I began to unpack and as I did the first of my flatmates arrived. First impression was good. I'm always so bad at first impressions and I don't think I'm immune to them in Australia. More about that later.

Anyway, looking back at my first week in Perth, I really feel like I've grown a lot since coming here. I know that's terribly cliche and talking like that will only turn me into a hypocrite in the end but I don't care. Meeting people from all over the world, with different ideas and opinions has certainly opened my mind. I like to think that I'm an open-minded person, but I think everyone comes equipped with an ethnocentric mind these days. While our world may be becoming a global community there is still huge gaps in the way people think about each other. I know I'm going to be chastised by me fellow Cappies but I think it really is the fact that it is so hard to imagine the lives of other people. When you live in a single culture for a very long time and become acculturated into the thoughts and behaviors of the people around you it becomes very difficult to imagine anyone successfully living a different way. I've noticed that this mindset is incredibly American. However, when I have taken the time to talk to people from Singapore, Malaysia, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Ireland or any other country, it's so much easier to imagine the way other people live. If I can see a person and interact with them on an interpersonal basis, I can more fully understand how they live. I know it sounds like a simple idea, but when a mind is only fed what it is used to, it is bound to think in one dimensional ways.

Ok, that was my soapbox. Well I guess this whole thing is my soapbox since it is my blog. But I've been getting along great with all my flatmates. There's me, 3 other Americans, a Swede and my roommate is from Singapore. They're all great people and I really lucked out from what I hear from other people in the village with crappy flatmates. I've recently been spending heaps of time with my new Swedish friends. We've taken trips into Perth and Fremantle and it's been so nice to visit with people who are mature and thoughtful. We've had a couple really great meals together and have been teaching each other a lot about our respective cultures.

Fremantle, or Freo for short, is such a cool place. It has lots of neat shops, and a beautiful harbor. I hope to spend a lot more time there over the course of the semester. It will be so nice in the Spring once the weather gets nice. Just sit on the cappuccino strip and enjoy a sunset and a glass of wine. Ah, it will be so nice.

Oh yeah, I forgot to explain the whole 'making bad impressions' thing. Well, let's just say that enthusiasm, Australia, Luke Runyon and copious amounts of booze do not mix well.