Half way through

1. I can't believe that I have already completed over half of my time here. The time has really flown by, as I've almost been here five weeks now. The second half is going to go even faster, I'm predicting, because it is much more broken up. Where for this first half I have pretty much just stayed in Sydney... coming up: I'm in Sydney for about a week and a half, then I go to Cairns for a couple days, then I'm in Sydney for a week, then I'm in the Northern Territory for a week, then I'm in Sydney for a day, then i go home! ahhh.

2. Peter is back! excellent. He seems to have had a great time in Bali filming for his documentary on Balinese shadow puppetry, but it is really nice to have him back. We have moved back into having somewhat regular gamelan lessons, and again I went to the gamelan rehearsal tonight, and even sat in to learn some of the more complicated pieces that they are playing. I think that his teaching me gamelan is as good for him as it is for me, because he likes coming up with his own pieces, and working out new things... but you can't really test if they work by yourself, because you really need two people to play through the kotikans, which are two separate parts which weave together. I was surprised how much I remembered since he left. fun fun. (Side note... yesterday was Peter's birthday! I will probably take him out for dinner some time after all these World Youth Day people are gone.)

3. Yesterday I got to meet William Barton! This probably doesn't mean much to any of you, but it's really cool for me. William is a very famous didgeridoo player, and for the past ten years has been basically touring the world promoting contemporary didgeridoo pieces. He has premiered didgeridoo concertos, etc... and is also a composer who writes for Western instruments and didgeridoo. In fact, in a week he is going to Beijing in a week or so to premeir this piece written by one of the composers here at the Con, Steven Yates, which is written for string quartet, bassoon, oboe, soprano, piano, harpsichord, and didgeridoo. I not only got to meet him, I also got to do a short interview with him, get some tips on my didge playing, and then sit in on their rehearsal. Awesome.

4. A few more of my new favorite Aussie sayings:
-When someone is not bothered by something... they may say 'No drama, mate.'
-Instead of saying thanks... sometimes people just say 'ta.'
-Instead of saying awesome or sick, they use the term 'deadly.'

5. This World Youth Day thing is out of control. There are people everywhere. Many of them are wearing their country's flag, and chanting different cheers all over the city. Temporary fences have been set up all over the place, directing people in different directions, and keeping people out of places they aren't wanted. Traffic patterns have been altered, roads closed, etc... The Botanic Gardens will be closed tomorrow :( This past weekend when I was down the street doing laundry, I was talking a little with the owner of the Laundromat, and it turns out that the guy who usually comes in to do his dry cleaning lives on the other side of town, and can't easily get in to the shop, so he isn't coming in at all this week. Because of that, this guy has to turn all of his customers who want dry cleaning done over to one of his competitors down the street. Then again, after talking with some other Sydneysiders, Sydney can become some what of a boring place in the winter because they all go into a hibernation... so having all these WYD pilgrims here is at least living the town up a little bit... I'm not really sure how I feel about the invasion, but mostly I just think it's funny listening to everyone complain about them so much.

6. I've got some nice practice cooking for myself these past few weeks. I do think that I quite like it. It's fun thinking about what it is that I want to eat, and then making it... I'll admit though, that I've defaulted to pasta quite a few times, because it's so easy. However, the other night I made quite a nice rice and chicken dish, with a side of asparagus, that I was quite proud of. Some of my other favorites from this past week have been my omelets and corn on the cob. However, one of the really nice things here is that there is a grocery shop right across the street from me, which makes things really easy... they are not going to be quite so nice when I get back to Durham, and have to walk all the way down to the DuMP. I bet that in the time I could go from my apartment to the grocery store, shop, and come back to my apartment will take about the same amount of time it'll take me just to get down to the DuMP this fall... Anyways, it's still fun cooking for myself, and I look forward to exploring more recipies.

7. Speaking of corn on the cob, one thing that I've seen a number of times around Sydney is people eating corn on the cob... on a stick, haha! They are sold at a number of different shops around town, and I think it's so funny looking.

So long for now!