Golly!

I can't believe I've been here for over a month now! It feels like a pretty short time, but the prospect of three more months here seems like a long stretch in front of me. I'm sure I'll feel differently as the time goes on. A few things to share:

I made a large tote bag! It's intended use is for groceries, but it stretches so much with heavy things in it that it may be best as a beach bag or something. It's made of 100% cotton and has a piece of cardboard in the bottom. I took quite a few pictures so you can see how big it is. (For any crafters out there, here's a super rough tute with larger photos.)


Today I had a lovely day of pampering (thank you again, Mom and Dad!). I got a spa massage and facial, and then I went to the nail salon above the supermarket to get a pedicure (it was $40 cheaper than the one they wanted to sell me at the day spa!). I had an awkward language-barrier moment at the nail salon when nobody told me I was free to leave. So I sat in the massage chair with dry toenails watching music videos for about 15 minutes before realizing they were done with me.

Then when I got home, feeling relaxed and with pretty purple little piggies, I decided my bangs needed a trim. I have trimmed my own hair countless times. I have trimmed other people's hair. It's not that hard. Of course, I wasn't paying too much attention and cut them waaaay too short. So I brushed it out and restyled it, and I think I have a new 'do for the next few weeks until my bangs are an acceptable enough length to be sideswept as I want them. In the future I'll blow out and iron the ends better so that it looks like a real mod bob, and less like a rug. So, for those of you who've requested photos of my new longer hair, a camera-whore pic (with no makeup! shock horror!):

There were a couple more of me doing model poses to show off my new dress, but this ain't MySpace. My glasses look huge.

Finally, I've made my second disappointing foray into Australian Mexican food. The last few days I've been trying to sabotage my body by a) skipping workouts for no reason and b) eating just the most horrible food. I went to Tomatillo in the middle of Kings Cross, but I didn't want to commit to a burrito in case it was horrible. This turned out to be a good plan. However, they didn't have fish even though their sign advertised fish tacos. I was disappointed because it's nearly impossible to screw up a fish taco. Tortilla + fish + cabbage + sauce. Instead, I got a barbacoa taco. Horrible. Cold, flabby tortilla, chunks of beef just swimming in a sort of tangy sauce, about a pound of lettuce, and a clump of...I don't know, mozzarella? I ate about three bites before deciding it wasn't worth it. Also the proprietor was really creepy. I mean, my accent is a great conversation starter with Aussies and expats from other countries, but this is the first random Yank I've met (refuse to use new slang "seppo" as it is offensive) out of the blue who was like "Heh heh you know what barbacoa is..." I think I'm going to buy my own tortillas and cabbage, and then buy fried fish from a fish 'n chips shop and just breed the two. It's basically the same.

EDITED TO ADD:
I meant to posit something: I found out today that the supermarket sells kangaroo meat. Steaks, sausages, and mince. I've eaten kangaroo once or twice as a teenager, for the novelty factor. I remember it being quite gamey. Emu, on the other hand, was succulent and delicious. So my question is: should I cook some kangaroo meat before I leave? I mean, just to say that I cooked and ate a kangaroo steak/hamburger/hot dog? I'm known to be a fairweather eco-terrorist, and have failed at many attempts at vegetarianism in the past (because humans are omnivores and I think it is natural to eat meat). However, once I decided at age 8 to never eat lamb because they are just too cute, I never looked back. Deer and cows are cute too, but I've eaten them plenty. I could easily quit eating venison though. I would lump kangaroos into the category of so-cute-I'd-not-seek-them-out-to-eat. But should I, just this once?