Do it to me one more time

Sunday marked the beginning of the second half of our trip. It’s hard to think that it’s already halfway over. Plus, I know the end will go faster because we have a 17-day trip during school holiday starting on Sept. 13 that will eat up a huge amount of time. Before we get there, however, I wanted to share some of the recent goings-on here in Adelaide.

Two weekends ago we undertook Learn-to-Surf Day with the Exchange Society. As I’ve bragged before, this group is really nice because there are a lot of foreign students in our same boat (not knowing a ton of people) and the prices to participate in the activities are pretty cheap compared to what it could be.

It’s just starting to get warmer in South Australia. When we took the surfing trip, it was about 17 degrees Celsius for a high (about 63 degrees Fahrenheit) – not normally considered swimming weather. Wet suits were a necessity on this occasion and really helped out – and they were a good look, too.

Surfing itself wasn’t too bad at all. It was hard to get used to getting on the board, but as long as you have decent upper body strength and sense of balance, newcomers to hanging ten will probably do well. The first thing most people said when we arrived at the beach was that the waves at the beach didn’t seem very big, but it’s a different story when you get into the water. Above anything else, surfing is pretty fun – though not something I think I could do everyday for hours on end. Maybe that’s because I’m not very good, but I think it rides more on the fact that it’s not all that great.

Our most recent Adelaide adventure came with the attendance at our first Australian Rules Football game. It was the Port Adelaide Power (not my designated team, the Crows) against Fremantle. Port Adelaide needed to win the game by a certain margin in order to maintain their second position in the standings (called “the ladder”). This experience was a lot of fun for a few reasons.

First of all, the price of the ticket was only $15, since we purchased through the Exchange Society. That made me think we wouldn’t have very good seats, considering we bought part of a group package. Much to my surprise, we struck lower level seats behind one of the goals – we couldn’t really see the other end of the field, but that was alright with us.

Secondly, the atmosphere was pretty good. The stadium didn’t seem like it was very big at all, but the official attendance was over 39,000. The only problem is that footy is a lot like soccer – lots of continuous action, but with footy there’s more scoring. So unlike an NFL game, where there are definitive times to yell or rest one’s voice, the noise level wasn’t extremely loud at any particular point.

That also made it tough on starting the wave. There are a few other Americans in the Exchange Society who teamed up with some of their friends in the group and made it their personal duty to start the wave (called “the Mexican wave” here). It literally flopped for about the first 100 times they tried to get it going, with very few people outside our section actually continuing it. With the game well in hand in the final few minutes, the Power fans decided to jump on the wave-wagon and followed the lead of those in our group. Personally, I think it happened because they decided to take off their shirts – something that I have yet to see any non-American do as a sign of cheering on a team. Check out the video below:



Our Exchange Society leader Andrew, an Australian who cheers on (“barracks”) the Power and has been to a lot of games, said that that was the best wave he had ever seen at a Power game. Everyone in the stadium seemed to be participating, which was pretty cool. Even on the team website the poll read:

What was the best part about Saturday night’s game?
+The last quarter comeback
+Shaun Burgoyne’s four goals
+The huge crowd and Mexican wave
+Getting that home final

As of the writing of this post, the last two choices were tied for the lead with 42% each. The wave was a lot of the talk on the team’s fan message boards. Hard to imagine that popularity for something that seems to make its way into each and every one of the 162 Major League Baseball games on the regular season schedule. Glad we could leave a little bit of our culture with them.

The second half of our entire time in Australia began when the calendar flipped to September. That’s almost unbelievable. What’s even crazier is that when we return from our big trip, it will be October, meaning we’ll have about 5 weeks remaining. I figured now would be a good time (riding on Sara’s idea) to review what I’ve been missing the most so far on this trip. These are not ranked, just numbered so it’s easier to read.

1. My family and friends. This is the only one that is ranked. It’s not that we have no friends here, but some things just aren’t the same. It gets difficult trying to stay in touch, mostly happening through instant message or facebook. But hey, it’s a lot easier now than it would have been before the internet age.

2. Driving in my car. This is a two-part submission. First, I want to be on the right-hand side of the road. I think it would take me a lot of practice time to get used to driving in this country or any other one that involves the left side of the street. Secondly, I miss listening to the radio. Again, the internet does wonders in helping me listen online (unless it’s a damned Clear Channel station), but nothing compares to a nice drive with some tunes.

3. Wal-Mart. I guess I should make this clearer by naming it “Wal-Mart-esque stores” – you know, the ones that have every single thing you need in one trip. It would be IMMENSELY helpful here, considering we don’t have a vehicle to transport a lot of groceries, so one trip would be FAN-tastic. The prices aren’t steep either, which would help in the pocketbook. Speaking of which...

4. American money. I will bring some Australian money back (if I have some left in the end) so everyone can see how much time and work this country wasted on making nice bills. They’re actually made with a flexible plastic, so you can crumble a bill in your hand and when you let it go, it will (more or less) uncrumble on its own. But the bills don’t go under the five, since there are one- and two-dollar coins. Plus, it’s not uncommon to walk around with a couple 50s in your money clip. And yes, I AM just waiting to get mugged.

5. American football. Especially the Cleveland Browns, but we’re going to be able to watch sporadically through webcam, so at least there is a chance at viewing live. That chance will still come at 2:30 a.m. Mondays, with the most opportune games actually being any of those held on Sunday or Monday night. While I KNOW the Monday Night games will be on, Sundays are suspect because NBC holds the rights, not FOX or ESPN – the only two sports networks we get here. By this time every year I’m antsy to watch football and this schedule just makes it tough. Though, it’s almost a God-send that we can’t see Notre Dame games live.

6. Watching sports constantly. It CAN be done here, but it’s much harder to do and honestly I don’t feel like watching replays of AFL games all the time. I want the morning block of SportsCenter and the evening block of general sports events. But it will have to wait until November 3.

7. My cell phone. I’m not huge on calling or texting, but I miss the random ones. The ones when I’m watching an Indians game and I hear some guy in the background yell something hilarious, then grab my phone and call Luke just to relay that pretty useless information. Now that my parents changed our plan to include mostly text messages, it will be same stuff, new format. I don’t miss having to deal with calls, though. It’s kind of nice not to have to be answering a lot of the time.

8. Laying on the family room floor. For those of you who don’t know, my permanent house in Tiffin has a nice, open area in the family room where I like to grab a floor pillow and just lay to watch TV. You can ask my parents, it’s one of the first things I do when I go home. I think I mostly just like it because there is TV and a lot of space around it – two things I don’t normally get at school.

9. Food and drink. This is the last one because there are so many subcategories. When I wrote up my list and showed it to Sara, her first response was, “So you miss being a fat ass??” I guess so. But eating is something I do 1-2 times a day and enjoy doing almost all the time. It’s a daily part of every person’s life and it’s a huge part of my list here. A number of things were left off the list (like the Pizza Hut Lunch Buffet) because they’re technically available here, but the prices are outrageous. I won’t enjoy them while I’m here simply because they are too expensive. Again, the following isn’t really ranked.

a. Taco Bell. For those of you who didn’t read any of my previous posts, there are none here. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nil. There are Mexican restaurants, but I’m not sure I’ll be craving anything more than a Nacho Cheese Chalupa when I return to the U.S. If you’re shaking your head already, then just stop reading because I’ll probably make you nauseous.

b. Burger King. Here it’s called “Hungry Jack’s” and it has almost all the same foods – except the fries. Burger King’s fries are at the top of my list and there is a difference between theirs and Hungry Jack’s fries. Though I must say, the ability to get a Whopper is still a good thing.

c. Dollar menus. I’m not really talking about the “I’ll take 9 junior bacon cheeseburgers” effect of these. I’m more missing the simple, cheap meal. For example, I was in the city the other day completing my work permission forms (that’s a story for the next blog, goodness gracious) and it was going on 1 o’clock. I went straight from class and didn’t have anything to eat up to that point in my day. I was thinking about swinging into McDonald’s for a quick bite, but that bite would have cost me at least $6 for a sandwich and drink. Not life-changing, earth-shattering stuff, but just little things I’d rather have.

d. Tortilla chips. Australians can slap stuff on them (i.e. Doritos) but there isn’t a plain one to be found. There’s salsa, too, which just taunts my taste buds. I might just fulfill Sara’s quote by dipping my Doritos in hot cheese sauce. We’ll see.

e. Large pizzas (of a large size). It just doesn’t make sense here – the sizes are something like “large,” “extra large,” “jumbo,” and “mega.” What’s the point?? The worst part is that pizza is still sort of expensive here, so I might pay the same large-pizza price in the U.S. for a pizza that would be considered a jumbo here.

f. Free refills. Since the time when I first wrote this down, we’ve found some places that let you refill your own cup. But that number is at something like 3. My very nature is to wash down every bite and I ALWAYS fill my cup for the road. It’s not really a get-your-money’s-worth thing, I just enjoy it.

f2. The huge cup. This one piggy-backs on the last one. KFC took this to a whole new level by introducing the cup that actually looked like a small bucket and held a half gallon of pop. What a great idea. Totally sucked in people like me who just want a ton o’ drink. Much like the pizza industry here, the large cups just aren’t very big – almost not worth it to supersize. Taco Bell provides a double-whammy here. One of the first meals when I get back – Nacho Cheese Chalupa value meal with one of those XL cups standard. Delicious.

g. Mountain Dew Live Wire. It’s the pop that’s only sold for a limited time, but one or two bottles can almost always be found in a convenience store refrigerator. It’s yummy.

h. Cheap cereal. I love Kroger-brand anything and cereal ranks pretty high towards the top. It’s such an easy meal and we eat a lot of cereal here, but it still eats a lot out of our wallet.

i. Cheap candy bars. There’s a reason they put them at the front of the store in the cashiers’ lanes – a lot of people (myself included) just want a little bite of sweet. The lowest price for candy bars here is something like $1.75. I just can’t bring myself to pay that. By now, you’re probably smacking yourself at my awfulness. Thanks, I owe you one.

j. Ranch dressing. I probably should have put “cheap” in front of this one too, but I’m convinced it also won’t taste as good here. Am I wrong?? Probably, but I’m not going to pay $4 for a small bottle just to find out. I’m a dipper and ranch dressing is one of my favorites.

k. Domestic beer. The prices for beer here can be summed up as “outrageous” and if people think they get drunk on a weekend here, I would love to see what they could do with a night out in the Athens bars. I think I just like beer that other people generally hate to drink. Maybe it’s because I’ve just gotten used to being on a student’s income still trying to have a good night out every now and then. I think it’s genetic – my Dad once told me he “remembers when he used to drink Keystone Light.” So I’ve got THAT goin’ for me

And that’s the list of things I could remember that I am missing. Yeah, I know I’m pathetic, but that’s OK. I enjoy all the things listed above, especially number one. I could have elaborated on it a lot more, but if I mention names it turns into, “So – you’re not missing ME very much are you?!?!” But that would infer a lot of people read my blog, which I don’t think is the case.

For those of you who are reading, that’s it for now. Love you all in the states. Check back for what will probably be a post somewhere during the time of our 2 1/2 week vacation. And good luck to the Cleveland Browns, who begin the campaign of Romeo's Last Stand (I know what General Manager Phil Savage said, I'm not buying it). My prediction is that Brady Quinn will be playing by Week Six against Miami or Week Eight at the latest. Go Browns.

From the other side of the globe, I’m Kevin Hunt.

If you want to see me soon, start digging.