Counting down the days...

Gosh, I can't believe how quickly time is flying by!

We just finished week 12, and next week is the last week of classes. There hasn't been too much going on in the last week - the assignments that were supposed to be due have all been extended (which is both good and bad!). I haven't been working on them nearly as much as I should have been, but there is still time left, and this weekend, so it will be alright.

All that is left is due:
Wednesday, 4th June: case study presentation
Wednesday, 4th June: case study written paper
Friday, 6th June: a 3-5 page journal article for Virology
Friday, 13th June: 3000 words on quality assurance in the lab

And then exams, of course.

So you might be asking what have I been doing, since I have not been paper-writing. Well, I have been planning my getaway!

In fact, I have been doing this for weeks - toying with different ideas, changing my mind every five minutes, asking around for other people that might be interested, pricing flights. The last two weeks I have been checking different trip variations: what if I fly out of Sydney instead of Brisbane, or Darwin, what if I fly back into the Gold Coast, what if I reverse my trip, what is the best (and cheapest!) combination overall?

And then I delayed my decision because I couldn't find anyone to go with me. And so I played on Facebook, looking to meet someone who had a similar itinerary. But I have had no luck at all. And airline tickets kept going up. So instead, I decided "screw it!" and I bought my tickets yesterday!

I figured I will most likely never get back here, and will never have another opportunity to make this trip, so I am going to take advantage of my time now, even if I have to travel alone, and even if it costs a fortune! So where am I going?

SOUTHEAST ASIA!

I finally figured out a basic plan. The day after my last exam, I am flying to Perth, where I will hang out for a couple days until I fly to Singapore. Then from Singapore, I will be taking the train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and from there: Thailand. Thailand into Cambodia, (maybe through Laos), and then into Vietnam for a while, before I fly back from Saigon into Brisbane. The entire trip is about 4 and a half weeks, and I am so super excited!

Clicky for trip tentative calendar

and it looks like this:

Andrea says:

Blogging takes real long
it is an important task
but now Gayle must sleep

She's on a haiku kick tonight for the next while.

Earlier she decided:
Febreeze my life blood
what is my life without you
empty meaningless

She tells me as she goes to play the Wii (at work):
goodnight my buddy
I love you more than the moon
talk to you next time

And Andrea's deep thoughts as a conclusion:
I will see how much
haikuing I can do now
It is hard but fun

The Break-In.. dun dun dun

I left for work this morning at 8am, so that I would be there by 8:30am. And work went well - we ran a couple of experiments in the morning, and then a couple more in the afternoon, and then I left at 4:30pm to go to class.

So I walked off campus, and down the street a couple of blocks, until I reached the Queensland Scientific and Forensic Pathology Services lab. And class was uneventful, and it even ended a whole 15 minutes early. =D

Afterwards, I walked home, and upon entering the back door, I saw that my room door was open. Oh noes! And I walked into my room, and all the drawers had been pulled open, the closets had been gone through, and the other door to my room had been used There is a bookcase that normally blocks the door and it had been pushed forward. Normally, when I leave the house in the morning, my bed is made, all my closet doors are shut, and my room door is locked. When I came home, it looked like this:







So I was upset - very upset, in fact - and I start pounding on my landlord's door. Only he is not at home, and he isn't answering his mobile phone either. GAH! Eventually, my flatmate gets through to him, and the landlord comes home to find that his part of the house has been broken into as well (we also found out that one of my flatmate's room was also broken into).

So the police were called, and they came by, asked questions, and filed a police report. Not too much hope there, but they did tell us that two houses on our block were broken into directly before ours. And that laptops and jewelry were stolen from the first house, so the police think that the people who do it had their hands full and couldn't steal ours. So we were pretty lucky overall. =\

What an awful feeling to have someone go through all your stuff =(

Apparently, I am interesting enough...

because they asked me to speak at today's Rotary Assembly. This was part of the big training session that happens each year for incoming Rotary club Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Treasurers, Secretarys, and other board members.

So I got up, and told about 200 people about myself. =D It was a little scary, and I was nervous, but I didn't fall on my face when I walked to the podium and I made it through my presentation so I guess it was ok. Afterwards, many different people told me that I did a good job, which was very nice of them. There was also presentations about different activities that Rotary participates in, such as Polio-Plus and RAWKS.

We had a yummy barbecue for lunch and then broke into sessions for the afternoon. I had no particular place to be, so I went to the session on Community, Vocational, and International Service. I learned about the Beef Bank program that Rotary runs (where clubs can raise a certain amount of money, which goes to purchase a cow, which is then butchered, and the meat sent to a local food bank), as well as Adopt-A-Road projects that different clubs are involved in.

I also found out that I am in this month's District Newsletter!

And that was basically my whole day!

Friday night I hung out with Lindsay and some of her flatmates. We all went down to the pub on campus and did some dancing to loud, fairly good music. (Yes, you heard that right, there is a pub ON CAMPUS)

Afterwards, we went back upstairs to her flat, and Lindsay talked about wanting to make a pudding mix that she bought. So both her and I are thinking along the lines of "Jello pudding" where you basically add milk and refrigerate. But pudding here does not mean the same thing. Pudding here is more of a cake-type dessert, usually with some kind of sauce.

Very similar to this:


So we followed the directions, and for a microwavable dessert, it turned out pretty good. It wasn't quite as attractive as the pudding pictured above, but I guess you can't expect too much for a pudding mix costing 66 cents, and made using a microwave.


Saturday wasn't a real big day. I lounged around a bit, and spent most of the day working on a paper that is due Monday: 1500 words on one of a dozen topics for my Public Health Microbiology class. I chose to write about Leptospirosis, which interested me mainly because I know its something that I vaccinate Zelda for. So I wrote my paper, and learned a lot! (Did you know that Lepto is caused by a bacteria, and that it is one of the most common zoonoses in the world? And if you have it, you could end up with just flu-like symptoms and nothing else, or you could end up dead?)

Birthday Pictures!

I wasn't expecting too much from my birthday, but instead it turned out to be a really good day!

I went to work in the morning, and after the experiment, one of the guys I had met brings me a little chocolate cake with a candle! It was so nice, and so completely unexpected. But I told him he made my day ^_^



It was gorgeous too! With a red ribbon around the outside. And you see that flower on top, and the sign that says "Happy Birthday"? Both edible!

One of the girls, Christine, gave me a set of pretty chopsticks and a cell phone dangly thing:


I <3 both of my friends!

Corinne and I ate some of the cake, and then went to have lunch on campus. We had a very good pizza with all sorts of things on it (I'm getting better at eating weird food!) like pineapple, onions, green peppers, black olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni. (I did take off the mushrooms and olives, but I ate everything else, which I wouldn't have done a year ago.) We also ordered french fries, but they didn't come until we were ready to leave, so we took them with us.

After that, I went home for a little while, until eventually Mel picked me up and we went to swing!

I told the cute bartender it was my birthday, and he gave me a free martini:


A picture of Mel (with the bartender in the background):


And Jackie and Ruth:


So I danced a bunch, got a bunch of birthday wishes (even from the band!) and had a really good time!

Awful picture, but you can see me dancing with Andy (and that is Mel with Girard to the side):


I wore a skirt to swing! With those new tights I bought. I was feeling very Australian. =D

Gratuitious Zelda Photos!

because its my birthday, and I can do that! Birthday pix to come later..

For now:






(Thanks Andrea! You're the bestest for taking new photos of the monster-baby.)

One Final Exam Over! (and 5 more to go) =(

Today I had my final exam for my Applied Molecular Microbiology class. I hadn't actually studied for the exam besides a couple of hours yesterday while I was at the library in the city, so I woke up super early this morning (super early being 7am on a Saturday!).

I studied and studied all morning and early afternoon (minus a short nap somewhere in there when I fell asleep on top of my books) and then went to the exam venue at 1:30pm for a 2pm start. Everyone else was already there, so we discussed our strategies and what we thought was going to be asked, and did some last minute cramming.

It was a 2 hour exam, and I did fine on it. There were 5 parts: one multiple choice part with 10 questions, and then 4 parts with short answer questions. For all of the short answer questions, we always had an option of what we wanted to answer; 2 questions, choose one or something similar. The first 3 sections were pretty easy, and on material that was to be expected - no surprises there. But the last part was on stuff that wasn't expected or wasn't directly covered in the notes, so I am sure I did not get as many points there as elsewhere.

The good thing was that I had studied enough for the exam, and I feel like studying more wouldn't have helped me much because I knew the material. So yay!

Also, the whole class is worth 100 points. In week 7, we had a Power Point project that was worth 30 possible points, so this exam was only 70. I knew I got 27 out of 30 on the project, so technically, I only needed 23 points out of the 70 to pass the class. ^_^ I am sure I did much better than that though!

Afterwards, I went home and went back to sleep!

Week 9 (starting 5th May)

On Monday, classes were canceled due to the public holiday (Labour Day). But my lecturers are tricky, so instead they rescheduled my Monday class for Thursday night (since we didn't have a class then). Bah!

Monday wasn't too exciting, mostly because I spent the day working on a paper that was due later that week. But I got the 1000 words written on parasitology, so I guess it was a well-spent day.

Tuesday and Thursday I worked! The job is pretty much what I expected: laid-back and easy, and Corinne is nice to work with. I am basically learning the ropes - where the copier machine is located, how to fill out the various forms, what to do when problems arise. The experiments don't always go smoothly because the servers like to crash every once in a while (and sometimes more often that that!), but overall it seems pretty good. I am working on learning the names of everyone who participate in the experiments, which is kinda difficult because that is a good amount of students. Corinne showed me on Thursday how to fill out the timesheets to get paid (because they were due), but told me it could be up to a month before I saw any money because the system is slowwww.

Last night and tonight were both for swing dancing, even though this was probably a bad idea, since I have an exam tomorrow. =O I am such a slacker! But I had a really good time (like always!) and danced with a bunch of different people. I will just have to get up early tomorrow morning (oy!) and get my studying done!

Haha, I forgot! On Thursday, somehow Mel and I got to talking about Krispy Kreme donuts. Well, they just opened a store here in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago, and I was telling her how good they are back home. So while I was in the city earlier today, I decided I would pick up some donuts for Mel, Jackie, and myself. I showed up at the store about noon to find the line was out the door and to the next store down! Crazy!

I decided to come back later in the day, after I finished my class. About 6pm, I show up, and the line is even longer! Now it is several stores down!



But I didn't have much else to do while I waited for swing to start, so I waited in this line:


Can you believe I waited for close to 25 minutes for 3 donuts?! But they were good!

I also wandered the brightly lit city for a while before I caught the bus. For Andrea, this is the Australian version of Burger King:

mmmm Dinner!

The day today was pretty uneventful, which was alright by me since I had plans at night.

So my friend Mel (from swing dancing!) picked me up, and we went to the other Mel's house to pick her up as well. I found out that the second Mel scuba dives nearby, so I told her if she ever needs a dive partner to call me up and I would be there in a second.

Next we went to another friend's house, and hung around a bit while everyone finished getting ready. Out comes the wine, and I had a glass of the most fantastic red wine, though I don't know the name of it. It was almost sparkling, and pretty sweet, so I will have to ask Mel what it is.

Finally everyone was ready, so we called a taxi and went to Portside Wharf, where we had dinner at Sono Japanese Restaurant. The place itself is gorgeous:



And this first table here is where we sat, right next to the water feature:


However, I was not completely impressed with the food (which is what I get for trying to order chicken at a seafood place) =D But the miso soup was fantastic! And it had been a while since I have enjoyed sticky rice.

The guys:


The girls:




Afterwards, we had ice cream at a little ice cream shop that was downstairs, even though it was fairly cold outside! But it was yummy!

No More Thursday classes

Instead, they have been switched over to Friday.

Actually, my Tuesday class (Foundations for Health Professionals) has ended. In its place, Biological Laboratory Analysis Techniques has started up. This sounded pretty exciting, until I realized that there would be no practical. Just lectures on how to use HPLC, GC, MS, etc. What a dumb idea. I don't know how they can have an entire Masters program in CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY with NO hands on lab experience.

My Thursday class (Applied Molecular Microbiology) also ended, and in its place, I am now taking Public Health Microbiology and Diagnostic Procedures. Only this class is now on Monday nights.

And my Monday night class is now on Fridays, in the city.

How confusing!

Anyways, so there will be no more Thursday adventures. However, they will now be Friday adventures. That is all.


...


And there were no adventures in town this week, because I spent the time in the interview instead, but I'm definitely ok with that!)

The Story of My Job

So you probably remember that I have been doing economic experiments on campus pretty regularly - maybe 2 to 4 times a week, and making about $20 or $30 for each session. Well, about two weeks ago, as I went to collect my money after the experiment ended, the professor in charge of the whole thing tells me, "You know, Jana [the girl who was assisting the prof] left." Well, yes, I knew this, but it didn't really affect me since there was another girl running them in her place. Then John (the professor) asked me, "Would you be interested?" Huh? Interested in what? When he asked for my C.V., I got the point. Oh! Of course I would! So I gave him my resume that morning, and I haven't heard back from him since then.

I had decided that he found someone else for the position, or decided I was unacceptable for whatever reason, and had given up hope on getting any job whatsoever, especially since we are in week 9 of 13. Until he called me this morning!

I agreed to meet with him to talk about the position, but I didn't want to get my hopes up since the job probably wasn't going to fit my needs. At 11am, I showed up in his office, and he tells me about the decision-making research, what hes looking for, and what responsibilities I would have, and then asks if I was still interested. Heck yeah! It actually turned out that this job is PERFECT for me - work only 2 or 3 days a week, 9am until 4pm, and only until the semester ends in 6 or 7 weeks. FANTASTIC! oh, and the best part is: TWENTY NINE DOLLARS an hour! WAHOO! So I feel a bit like I have hit the jackpot, and had a great rest of my day!

(I know $29/hr sounds like an incredible amount, but you have to remember that workers are paid much more money here, even for basic things. For example, one of my flatmates is working at the grocery store, and is making a little less than $20/hr. The high wages of employees and the high minimum wage helps to explain why the average price of things is so much more here, including food, clothing, shoes, etc.)

In case you are wondering, this is officially what I will be doing: Experimental Economics

BTW, I start Tuesday!