Catch up

It is amazing how quickly the last two weeks have gone since my last post... I honestly do not know where it has gone! C'est la vie.

I have begun a (slightly less than) part time job on Monday mornings. I am doing some voluntary work for Case for refugees - a local charity aiding refugess in their visa applications and guiding them through the process of settling in Australia. It is good to help out, & also get a little legal experience on the side. I have also read a veritable plethora of journals and legal texts in research for several essays that are due in a few weeks - this is the staple diet of a law undergraduate degree in Australia. With slightly more forward looking vision, I have also completed a few more applications for summer vacation schemes with law firms, and thus may yet try my hand at the 'big city business' bag for a few weeks this summer.

One question I found particularly difficult to answer on one of the aforementioned applications was:

Creativity - Describe a new way you were able to apply existing knowledge to solve a problem.

It sounds simple, but you try answering it. In fact, I would appreciate it if anyone has any ideas of what material I could use (from my life!) in answer to such a question. I'm dry on this one. Keep it clean please, boys. The whole process is a little demeaning as it can be difficult to impress the recruiters in answering such questions without churning out the usual 'trite CV lines.' The joys of law.

JoeyRadford visited for half a week, so it was fairly cool to hang with him a little. He was around last Saturday, when it was the annual college car rally, which involved car loads of people dressed up in a fancy dress theme terrorising locals in Perth for various photos, bits of information, prices, autographs and the such like. Being one of the last groups, my tactful and subtle request in the gay bar for a photo of Joey with 'anyone available' was quickly unmasked as specifically requiring a lesbian... very embarrassing, but alas we got the photo & continued! The rally ended with a party on someones farm out in the country, inlcuding a bush band with Aussie county dancing - a distant cousin of the barn dance, celiedh and other such folk type dances. It was a good night. The photo below is of my car - dressed in the theme of Scooby Doo after securing a brown van as our mode of transportation... I am 'Fred'. (nb: we were one of the less adventurously dressed cars... everyone else went to far more effort: spartans, ninja turtles, flower pot men et al!)

Wednesday 25 was ANZAC day - a remembremance type day commemorating Aus & NZ soliers in WWII. I went to a service in the chapel, which was moving. My tutor group from college then had a social in the afo: ice blocking, which is essentially sledging on blocks of ice down a hill. It was quite cool, but is clearly an inferior Ozzie version of one of my fav child-hood outings. Its got nothing on Happy Valley! We then went out for an all-you-can-eat Chinese, which was edible... so that was good!

I've just got back from a unichurch weekend away. It was cool fun. We heard some talks from the book of Daniel in the Bible which were helpful... about living a Christian lifestyle in a world that is not Christian. Lots of challenges there. However, there was also lots of time off for chilling out over the weekend, which was good. Yesterday afo, 6 of us guys hired some canoes & went up the river: sinking each other, sabotaging other groups, & generally being 'laddish' & causing trouble. We also found some v.high sand dunes that ran right down into the water. We each ran the gauntlet down the dunes trying to get to the safety of the water whilst getting nailed by all the other guys - good to practice rugby tackles. Later we also dragged one of the hire canoes 50m up to the top of a sand dune & had a go at some bob-sledding Jamaican style down the sand into the water. That was one very cool hour.

Tonight, I played football for my college in a couple of games against the other residential colleges from UWA. It was a windy & blustery night, so it felt a little more like playing back home (apart from the considerably warmer climate!) which was nice. We played 2 games, & won them both - I managed to steel a goal & set one up, so not a bad night in all. I hope you are all well & enjoying the early summer vibes in England. Go hard in the exams friends, a long summer is just around the corner!

Easter

Mum & dad returned from the east coast & we headed down south WA for a week of family banter - travelling the coastal route, & terrorising laid back country towns in our campervan. It was a good time, & cool to see some of the beautiful spots this state has to offer. We spent time relaxing on beautiful beaches such as Salmon holes, & Redgate - mostly in the sun... & often also the wind! We also explored some of the beautiful southern forests, which included a 'tree top walk' & climbing a 61m Gloucester tree on metal stakes spiralling its trunk - mum led the way which was very impressive! We also visited some wineries & spent enough time trawling through souvenir shops on mums infamous missions.

I think a highlight for my parents was meeting some of my friends (& their parents!). We had a good meal with Rory & Susan, then hung out with Rory's parents over the Easter weekend, before visiting the farm of some of my other good friends (the Dodds). It was a beautiful place, & good fun to go walking, swimming, & quad biking round! My folks plane out of Perth was delayed by a day, so I actually had said goodbye to them three times (after a surprise early morning goodbye) by the time they left! The weekend has been a quiet one, but that is not a bad thing as the rest of semester is lining up to be a busy one. Thanks for stopping by - keep in touch.

Work hard, play hard

Mostly, for your amusement, and also to my shame... here is a recent pic of me 'surfing'.* Looks like fun eh?!

Honestly it isn't always like this, but the camera doesn't lie I guess!

So, the weather is cooling down considerably at the moment. Realising I have got used to the climate though as I talk about 20*c as if it was -5*c: bring on the English summer! One weird thing though: even if it remains fairly hot outside, inside the buildings it is really cool - actually cold. So I can sit in my room working & shivering away on a warm sunny day! Strange.

Well, my folks arrived safe & sound, if a few hours late. It was good to hang out & show them the 'burb. They seemed to like Perth, enjoy meeting some friends, had a good time at church, but were unimpressed by the sea temperature. I think they may have expected tropical waters. They are in definite need of a holiday, so I think they will be enjoying the break. They have been in Sydney & Melbourne for 10 days & return to Perth later this week.

In the meantime, my life has been determined by essays & assignments. Not to say that there hasn't been some 'play' too. I want to ensure you that this blog is for my highlights, & not the sum total of what I do every day - uni just isn't that interesting. So I have got through the first round of deadlines this semester, & feel a little better for that. I'm also busy writing letters/emails/application answers telling commercial lawyers how much I love them. White collar slavery. The application process for graduate law jobs has begun (to commence in September 2009!) & I'm jumping on the bandwagon, if a little reluctantly.

On Friday night I went to see the Western Force play again. Another good win, this time against the Natal Sharks from SA. Afterwards we went out for a curry in Subiaco - my first one in Perth. A slightly disappointingly weak (less spice than one of Ruthy's dishes) effort from Australia compared to Leicester's fair curry houses.

I have found time to go surfing, & had a great time out at a new spot yesterday - my best surf for a few weeks. I also headed down to the West Coast Blues & Roots music festival in Fremantle last night. I failed to get tickets but watched from outside with a few mates. I just missed the train & so didn't get to see John Mayer (so gutted!) but managed to catch Ben Harper (& the innocent criminals) - very satisfying.

* Insert: paddling around in the water, trying to look cool, & getting smashed by waves!