Crazy April

April has been a crazy month.

First of all, part of the craziness was because I imported Crazy. My ray of sunshine Anette from Oslo (Høybråteeeeen!) came to visit me. She booked her ticket before I even got here! For two weeks, we lived on top of each other in my tiny little box of a studio, and safe to say even through living Too Close for so long, we’re still friends! haha! We were so delighted with ourselves when she left for that. It was fantastic having her, even though she refused to wear anything but shorts, even on the chillier days. We synch well; I like to cook, she likes to wash up. I like to sleep a lot; she likes to sleep a lot. She is stubborn and gets lost; I remind her that I gave her a map and she can always take a taxi. I digress!! —I miss her dearly and am so happy she made the trip.

Here are some of the highlights, including her surfing and meeting koalas (see also our footy experience).

Anette surfed with our new friend Marty. A great guy, helping Anette stand several times!

Koala sighting = Check!

A, M, and I went to the Bells Beach “Rip Curl Pro” competition… on the day the surf was too wimpy for competition!

Anette with black swans in the background at Brighton beach. We went to maaaany beaches during her stay.

The day before Anette came, a bunch of friends all decided it was time to experience a piece of Melbourne that was out of the ordinary: Chinatown karaoke. So we gathered a group and rented out a private room for a couple of hours and had some fun. We told all our friends and it turned out to be quite the crowd. It got intense, and was loads of fun.

We all took it very seriously. 😉

Feelin’ it!!

Everyone sang and were transformed into superstars.

FOOTY

It’s all well and good that I have added words like “reckon” and “brekky” into my everyday vocabulary, but I’m not completely integrated until I start to like footy, hey.

(For the record, I don’t trust a restaurant that doesn’t have all-day brekky. I just can’t.)

When I landed, I quickly learned two rules from my fellow classmates:
1) Any footy is good footy
2) You never switch teams

So I thought long and hard in order to honor Rule #2, and took my time before finally committing to a football team—go Bulldogs! I got my membership swiftly in order, since it’s free through school. I watched a bit on Sunday, ‘cause that’s just what you do. And I even got myself a jersey, ‘cause that’s just what I do. I watched Footy Time and The Footy Show and countless other footy-related TV shows that seem to have the same hosts and talk about the same things. Yeah, I really hope Dave-o’s back in the game on Friday, otherwise the Devils are really gonna struggle against the Meat Pies.

But I still hadn’t attended a game.

UNTIL YESTERDAY.

Anette and I were very hungry for some sport since her arrival two weeks ago. No rugby for me, no soccer/fotball for her; we needed to yell and be excited and look at some well-trained men. To eat ice cream and have a warm cup of something in my hands. To hear profanity and to yell it back.

I implemented Rule #1 and picky any footy: North Melbourne Kangas vs. Collingwood Magpies. They played at the beautiful MCG. I don’t say that word often about sports complexes, but I felt it about that place. You can really feel that some memorable moments in history have happened there.

In the end, The Magpies won by Too Much but we still learned a lot about the crazy sport. So much fun!! Over 57,000 fans attended that game. Now consider that that was one game out of several all over the city for just this weekend. ….This city really is sports crazy. I can’t wait to cheer on my Bulldogs in person soon.

My ticket

In row N, right next to the real fanatics.

Here Come the Rain

As Caroline Rose plays in the background “Here Come the Rain,” I smile at the coincidence of the timing. Today is the first real day to hint that autumn is on its way. The forecast says the next few days will be 22C, but today it is 17C (63F) with heavy clouds. There is no sign of it letting up today, either. They will hang heavy on our backs for the remainder of the day.

So this morning when it was a bit chillier, I was out doing errands when I kept passing by angry little Melbourne kids in strollers. Three babies/kids in particular who were ANGRY at the wooly caps on their heads. One tugged at it while crying at his mother. Another, I swear, rolled his eyes. The last one threw it on the ground and yelled at it. I know kids, I know: winter hats; what the eff?? I chose to be a bit stubborn in my sundress and sandals, the occasional chill running down my spine. Not yet, please! One more day! One more week!

I’ve been reviewing the odd show for a local online comedy magazine in conjunction with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It is such a huge production, and yet little ol’ Yawp has been able to keep up with shows, churning out reviews like nobody’s business. I’ve been to more…not-so-funny ones than funny ones, and I hate writing short reviews. But, it wasn’t funny; what else am I supposed to say? Better than saying it sucked. I love the attention comedy gets in this city and am happy tag along.

Autumn in Melbourne. I feel the change coming.