Excellent General High

My adorable little phone. Also, whenever I get a sms (text) or voicemail or missed call, it reads, "You have a new message!!" as if it's super excited on my behalf that someone is communicating with me. Awesome.

The infamous. The one. The only. The Coogee Bay Hotel.


…reads my phone, and it couldn’t be more correct. I’ve had the most busy but brilliant week!! I got a new phone last week, and it’s adorable. It slides up and is baby blue, just like my Verizon chocolate back home. At all times, it lists the status of the signal, the mode (general or vibrate) and battery power. Thus, most of the day it reads “Excellent General High,” which describes exactly how I’ve been feeling lately!

Sunday morning Mary left around 7 am. I cried a bit, got a few hours of sleep in (we had a big night out on Saturday), and went to the Palace to use internet, as we still didn’t have it at the new place yet. I was online for quite a long time, but hunger eventually overtook me and I got a kebab from the best kebab place in Australia (Coogee Yeeros). Then I headed straight to the beach, where I relaxed for about an hour with one of my roommates, Matt. We both had the same errands to run, so together we traversed around taking care of this and that. We went to uni to get books (though the book store was closed) and to do some things at the library. Then we went grocery shopping and headed back home. By then it was about 8 pm, and I was exhausted. We watched a bit of the Wire with Dan (other English housemate) and I was ready to pass out by 10 pm. I had some trouble sleeping, however, and didn’t drift off until after 2 am.

Monday morning I was up at 6, out the door by 7, and at uni in the library by 7:15. I tried to find some books I needed for class, but couldn’t check any of them out because there was a problem with my uni card--it wasn't scanning properly. Then my laptop decided to NOT connect to the wireless system (UNSW implemented an entirely new wireless service this semester, so my old connection wasn’t working properly) and despite efforts to make it work on my own, I couldn’t connect. So I had to go to the IT department and wait in line for about a half an hour. (It's Week 1, so everyone was out and about doing errands.) Finally, I got online. Another half hour wait stood before me, literally, at the FM Assist on campus, where I had my uni card fixed (It hadn't been activated properly.) Then I trekked to the opposite end of campus to the bookstore, where again I waited for half an hour in lines. And this was barely after 9 am! Damn those other responsible uni students! Of course, the bookstore had just ONE of the books that I needed for my courses, and every single course pack except for one was out of print—including the pack for the class I had later that night. How I would complete the readings, I didn’t yet know. Frustrated, I bought the one book that I needed that was in stock, and almost cried when it rang up costing $70. Not cool. I still had four course packs and one other textbook to go. I traversed back up the hill to the library, and camped out until 5 pm. Luckily, my professor had been informed about the course pack being out of print, and uploaded the readings online. I read and took notes, took notes and read all day, organising my uni things and setting up my timetable, highlighting important dates and colour coding my folders/notebooks etc along the way. Class was from 6-8 (Understanding Contemporary Media) and all of my reading and note-taking paid off. I shined like a superstar! Or like an overachieving suck-up who does all the readings, takes meticulous notes and even creates silly little charts contrasting methodologies of media understandings…it’s all how you look at it, I suppose. Regardless, I rocked it. Back to the library I went after class (no internet at home) where I closed the place down at 10 pm. Then I went home, where I did my readings for the next day’s class until 1 am. Long day, but they only got longer as the week progressed.

Tuesday I was up at 5:45, out the door by 6:45, at the library by 7 (where I emailed myself the notes I’d taken the night before) and on the bus to work by 7:30. Luckily, my bus to work stops almost right outside the library—perfect! Work was work, from 8 am until 5 pm. Then back to uni I went, where I was able to purchase some more course packs (costing about $40 each; not bad). Then I had class from 6-8 pm: Writing for Media. I found it to be boring and easy, as most of the things we talked about we had discussed in detail last semester. (I started my masters course in the middle of the year, beginning with term 2. In some ways, it’s better as the advanced classes are out of the way. Now, however, it’s a bit boring and arguably a waste of money to have to hear it all again. I.e. in term 2, I took advanced media writing, where we each submitted a feature for real publication. In term 1 we’re taking Writing for Media, where we each submit a hard news story of about 300 words. Not exactly challenging after I’ve written a feature!) The professor is really cool though, so that helps. Tuesday night I went back to the library to start/finish Wednesday’s readings, but was mostly unsuccessful in this. My two English roommates were at the unibar on campus, texting me to come and hang out. The real problem, however, was in facebook. Mary had just uploaded all of the pictures from her trip, and I was on facebook for a good hour going through them, commenting, etc (Remember, no internet at home yet.) Ahh the temptations and distractions of the world of facebook! It can be the devil sometimes. I ended up going to unibar to hang out with Dan and Matt, but didn’t drink. Instead, I went home around 10 and THEN tackled Wednesday’s readings. Of course, by then I was exhausted and only made it until 1 am before literally falling asleep on my books. Ay!

Wednesday morning I was up at not 7, not 6, but 5:00 AM. I nearly finished my readings for that night’s class and was at the library by 7, on the bus by 7:30, and at work by 8 am. I finished up my readings/notes during my lunch break, and when work ended at 5 pm went to uni. Before class at 6 pm, however, I found myself sitting on a bench in the hallway outside the room, nearly asleep. I was beat and honestly didn’t know how I would make it through two hours of class!! But Wednesdays I have my favourite professor, Emily Booker, and I really wanted to impress her and do well in her class. Not only is she the nicest woman in the world, a bloody brilliant and fantastic lecturer and teacher, but she gave me a recommendation to work for the ABC in Australia—awesome! It never ended up happening, however, for insurance purposes. Long story, but they wanted to take me on and legally weren’t able to. It’s ok—I honestly don’t think I’d be able to handle it right now with my schedule anyway! However, Wednesday’s class went fantastically! All my reading and note taking paid off again, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself as well. The class—public relations. My thoughts—what a great career path for me! And with Emily as a role model/inspiration, I have faith that I can make this happen. Wednesday night I was buggered again, of course, but ended up having a few glasses of wine with my roommates and heading to the Coogee Bay, after all. I can’t help myself—I love being social! It was a great night with the roomies, ending with a kebab to boot. Somehow I was out until 3 am…?

Thursday morning I was up at 6:30 and out the door by 7:30 to work. With my 20 hour work restriction on my visa, I could only work a half day. This was perfectly fine with me! I left around 12, got home around 12:30, and was immediately productive somehow (aka I didn’t pass out in my bed as I thought I would). I did some laundry, ate some lunch, cleaned my room, and did all of my readings for that night’s class. Sports, Media and Culture has fantastic readings (“The Globalization of Michael Jordan,” etc) but the lecture was rather dry and disappointing. Hopefully these improve, as the class really took me off guard when I found myself enjoying the readings more than any other reading I’d done all week. After class I raced home and got changed, and met up with a friend in Surry Hills for dinner and drinks. It was an absolutely wonderful evening—great Italian food, delicious wine, refreshing beers after that, and a beautiful night outside to soak it all up in. Great success!

Friday I got to sleep in a little bit! Just a little, however, as I had much to do. Instead of using the entire day to do all of the millions of things I needed to do, I ended up doing something I never for a second planned on doing: Getting Internet!!! I’d been going a bit crazy without it, and I hated lugging my laptop around with me everywhere to get access. It’s not that I need facebook (cough) or anything, but I just want to be able to check my email periodically. I lived my entire study abroad life for four months without internet, and it was actually just fine, if not refreshing. (It forced me to do more reading and writing.) But now there's so much going on my life, with uni and teaching and working etc, that I feel that I need to be more connected with the outside world than a drunk study abroad chick taking a few music classes needed to be. So I went down to the 3 store (right on my street, of course) and after waiting for half an hour to talk to someone, then running home to get my passport, proof of residence and uni card, running back to the store only to wait in line again, then about twenty minutes for the activation process (background check plus coverage check plus set up)…I had the internet!! It wasn’t cheap; however, if I divide the TOTAL cost over six months, it only adds about $8 a week to my rent. Not bad! I only have 1 GB per month, but I’m only planning on using it for basic stuff and will have it off when I’m not using it, of course. Yay for internet!!! Friday night I worked on my lesson plans for Yamaha and watched a movie—Surrogates. It was pretty grim (like that? I’ve been picking up on English slang from my roommates—wicked!).

Saturday morning I was up at 5 am. I had to finalize my lesson plans, which I wasn’t happy with when I went to bed on Friday, and practiced a bit more. When it comes to Yamaha, I don’t mess around! I was out the door by 6:40, on the bus by 6:45, on the train by 7:15, and at the Yamaha Music School by 8:10 am. It’s quite the commute, but again—anything for Yamaha!!

Then….AMAZINGNESS ensued. My lessons were observed that day by my regional coordinator (as a new teacher, we are periodically observed), and IT. WAS. PERFECT!! It was easily the best (both classes) lessons I’ve had all year. All of the kids were responsive. Laughing. Enthusiastic. Singing. Waving hands. Clapping. Smiling. The older ones had been PRACTICING! And they knew their stuff, and knew it well. They laughed. They played the right notes. They responded to me. They used their imaginations. They listened. They made mistakes, and they fixed them. It was all so awesome, and I was being watched the whole time, and they were learning, and I was learning with them, and we were all singing and playing, and having fun, and and and and..!!! Come 11 am, I was EXACTLY as my phone stated: “EXCELLENT GENERAL HIGH.”

There was a little girl crying at the end, because the attendance sticker I told them they could have wasn’t the one she wanted, and I somehow I managed to make everything better (and giggly!) within a few minutes. I love kids!! There’s this little girl named Eden (adorable) whose mum had to talk to my regional coordinator after class. She and I were having a little one-on-one time while this was happening, and we taught her cat (stuffed animal that she takes everywhere with her…Moosey) how to play do, re and mi on the keyboard. Of course, Eden was the one that was putting Moosey’s paw on the keys, so little did she know that she got extra lesson time as I asked “Moosey” to play re for me, or to sing mi, or place her paw on do. Score!! Then, together, Eden and I helped Mya (the crying girl) feel better by helping her find the sticker she wanted and putting it in her book. Now I had two happy and excited kids leaving my classroom—double score!!

I was beaming on the way home. I worked on my lesson plans for next week on the train ride, and felt EXTRA accomplished; it wasn't yet 12 pm and I'd accomplished so much! Then I did some shopping at Bondi Junction (where the train is near my house) for a green dress. St. Patrick’s Day is approaching! I had no luck, however, and admiring the sun in the sky was Making me anxious to hit that sand. I arrived home before 2 and was at the beach by 2:30 (it’s about a half hour walk). When I initially left my house, however, I looked up at the sky in devastation—nothing but clouds, and grey ones at that. Not a single patch of sky was visible, so I walked pretty slowly, contemplating going back home. But I really wanted to be outside after being at work/uni/library/teaching inside all week, so I kept on trekking along slowly. I passed a clothing store or two on my way down, and ALAS! I found the most ADORABLE green dress for St. Patricks’ Day!! SCORE!! (added bonus: it was $15. This “score” is valuable beyond belief.) Then I kept walking toward the beach, determined to stay outside. I stopped by Melonhead, where my housemate Dan works, and was told that he was on break at the beach. Perfect! I found him eating a sandwich, and just as we sat down for a chat, a miracle occurred. The sun came out! Fully out! The clouds began running away as if the sun were shoving them aside, a path of mighty destruction in the brilliantly baby blue sky, and they stayed away for quite some time. I couldn’t believe my luck. I spread my towel down and exhausted, plopped down on the Australian sand grains of Coogee Beach. It was money to lay down and just…relax after the day/week I’d had. Fantastic! Around 4 pm, the clouds came back, and this time the sun couldn’t stop them. I was perfectly happy, however, as I’d gotten a solid hour and then some under the Aussie sun. I packed up my things and headed up the hill of Coogee Bay Road toward my house, when out of nowhere, it seems, it began to downpour. I mean it was CHUCKING down rain, and I had no brolly or raincoat. I really didn’t feel like getting soaked, and since I had quite a long walk ahead of me, I decided I might wait it out. Often times in Australia, it will chuck down rain for twenty minutes, and then just…stop. I was hoping this was one such occasion, and so stood around under cover waiting for it to pass. Meanwhile, I made friends with a tattoo artist named Juan, outside Coogee Ink. When I finally made it home, I surprised myself by being yet again extremely productive. I emailed all of the parents this week’s homework for Junior Music, in addition to setting up a time for a make up lesson over the holidays AND constructing a chart with parent contact details. I ALSO worked some more on next week’s lesson plans, and caught up on emails. By then it was 6 pm, and I was ready for Saturday night to begin. I showered, got ready, enjoyed some wine with my housemates (along with a few card games, perhaps) and off to the pub we went. It wasn’t the best night out I’ve had, but by the time 3:30 am rolled around….all I wanted out of life was sleep. And I got it. This morning, Sunday, I woke up at 8 am, only to have the most AMAZING feeling of being able to go back to sleep again! I laid around until about 11 am, then grabbed some food and hit the books. Here I am now, writing to you, and feeling heaps better for having caught up with myself and this week. I need to finish all of my uni work for the week today and tomorrow, Monday, so that I’m not up until 1 am every night. Plus, with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on Wednesday, I want to have everything done ahead of time so I can go out and have fun without worries. I hope I can do it!!