NEW YEAR'S EVE!

It is 16 minutes to the New Year and subtracting! I am whatching some replays of horse races... first time I've EVER seen a horse race. We just let the sparklers go off. It was amazing! It was kind of like fireworks except that the light stays together and there are like different branches sticking out from one tree. Now it is 12 Minutes! Try the sparklers sometime... they are hard to start up but they last like half a minute and are really cool. I am getting ready to eat 12 grapes and have kid's champagne: Apple cider that sparkles. Hopefully it is not the end of the world and we'll survive. Just kidding! Happy New Year! 8 minutes!

Beaches ( I know it should be about NEW YEAR'S EVE!)

Today is New Year's eve! I am so excited for midnight because my family bought sparklers (sticks that you light on fire that sparkle) for the new year (plus grapes), and I also like staying up really late. Yesterday I did not write because I was watching a weird Korean movie (it was about a monster invading and eating everybody up. It was supposed to be serious, but my dad and I laughed like crazy), but I'll tell you what I did. My family went to the Volvo car dealership to look at a van they had. We drove it around, picked up the mail, tested the sensors on the back, changed speeds on the highway, so on. I rather liked it, and apparently my parents did too, because we are getting it next week (six days, to be exact). After that we went and ate lunch out, and then drove back home to get ready to go to the beach. We had been planning to go to a beach farther out, since we thought that we weren't going to buy a car, but we ended up going to a nice little beach (not really little, though) in a place called St. Kilda. We played there for a while but eventually went back home to eat some leftovers from lunch. Today first thing in the morning my mom and dad made sure that everything was ready to go to the beach, since they had promised my sisters that we would go to the "famous beach" today. It was I think an hour drive to get there, and another to go back. I liked this beach better than St. Kilda's beach since it had no rocks or seashells to hurt your feet (only tons of seaweed that you have to dodge) and was every shallow with nice big waves that towered high but didn't sweep you away. I stayed in there for hours, more than anybody else. I only came out to eat every once in a while, and I liked it. It was also better than St. Kilda's beach because I could actually see what was under the water, whereas in St. Kilda it was all brown and you couldn't see a thing. Even if I had goggles I wouldn't have been able to see anything. If I had to choose which beach was the best I would choose the "famous beach" over St. Kilda's beach, because of the reasons that I just stated. I am also going to say that these have been some of the nicest beaches that I have been in (not that I can remember other beaches well) and would like to go to them again. Vocabulary: Tidy, instead of clean. Example: "Let's tidy up the beach!" instead of "Let's clean up the beach!"

Summer

So, since I have no really good topic for today, I am going to talk about summer. As some of you might know, it is summer here, school is out and everybody is on vacation. Christmas felt really weird because, well... I could ride my bike outside without wearing a jacket! It was very interesting, and I still have New Years' and the Three Kings (I found out later that in english it is the three wise men, but I like three kings better) coming. It is kind of hard to get into the holiday mood also because many people don't put up decorations, except for a few people that either do it like an amusement park or just a little less than normal than in america. But that's alright, since I have seen Santa in stores. Today my dad discovered a spanish store, so now he knows how to stock up on some of his favorite things that he can't find in normal supermarkets, even though a few things are missing. Also, just now while I was playing in the park with my sisters, a boy came up to me and asked what we were doing. I was a little suprised at first, since boys never did that in the US, but we ended up having a good time together, all because he had come with a party of just grownups and I like riding around on a horse stick with a foam sword. It was fun, but he approached us right when we were leaving, so we could not frolic long. He seemed like a fun guy to play with, and asked if we could meet again, but he told me that he lived in Sydney and that he was leaving the day after tomorrow (or tomorrow, not sure). Also, as we were riding back home (me on my horse stick, my sisters on bikes) I witnessed a movie, right where there was action: Cat rolling down a hill. She was just going down a little hill very slowly when all of a sudden she lost control. She rolled down really fast, screaming of course, went over the curb, and almost crashed into a car. She turned around when she was going to hit the car, taking away the drama of it, and came to my dad and I, crying. Don't worry, she wasn't hurt at all, and it was actually kind of funny to watch (my dad laughed too). The rest of the way home my sister would not go up or down hills and would get off her bike and walked at the slightest provocation. Monkey did so as well. Cat would not listen to me on how to brake while you go down a hill, so Monkey and Cat both need lessons on how to use their brakes (yes, plural, since they have two brakes, one on the handle bars and the other by pedaling backwards), which I am not teaching, since they will not listen to me. I bet that if my dad had made a video of how Cat fell down the hill, it would make it to americas funniest videos, since, well, my dad and I were laughing. Vocabulary: Trainers, instead of sneakers, but I might have already mentioned this.

The Healesville Sanctuary

First, before I start talking about the Healesville Sanctuary, I have to say something important, just to have no confusion: My littlest sister is Monkey, and the older sister is Cat. If you do not know their real names then you wont understand where I'm getting this from, but if you do, laugh as much as you want (not that it is meant to be funny). Anyways, the Healesville Sanctuary is obviously a sanctuary for animals. I believe all the animals in it are native to Australia, so it doesn't exactly count as a zoo, therefore I am calling it a... sanctuary. It was really nice being around all the animals, and I even petted a kangaroo (it was the one that got close, and I was the first one to start petting it, there is also a photo that will appear tomorrow in my next post, I hope). Just in case you are curious, kangaroos are fuzzy and koalas are lazy, doing nothing but scratch themselves on occasion. I have also discovered a new bird which Is a I forget it's name. It is mostly white with black feathers on it's tail. It has a really long black beak, which looks really weird when they open their mouths. They like bananas. You might be asking yourself "Why is this girl talking about just one kind of bird if she has supposedly seen tons in the zoo?". Well, first of all, its not a zoo but a sanctuary, and second, these birds are like the big fat version of pigeons in the country. Anyways, today I also say a Tasmanian Devil (I mention this because my family was like the only people that got to see it because a giant crowd had just left and just then it came out, and I was the first one to see WHERE it was coming out), platypi (I don't know how to spell plural for a platypus), emu, LOTS of birds, awesome cute barn owl (Soren, I called it because there is a barn owl in these books called Guardians of Ga'Hoole, which are highly recommended by me and are also a movie), kangaroos, koalas, creatures of night, lots of lizards, top ten most dangerous snakes of the world, dingoes (not really well, I only got to see the back of one), echidna (I love it's creepy front paw things), pelicans, ducks, and birds from a bird show (it included giant bird, talking bird, cockatoos, and birds of prey). I guarantee that I have forgotten several animals, mostly because I can't remember their names and there were so many of them that I saw. There are three zoos in Melbourne (yes, the sanctuary counts as one) and am pining to visit the next two. Vocabulary status: no vocabulary that I know of.

Potato Chips

Today I am talking about potato chips. Whenever I see a potato chip bag I can't help but think that it looks strange, because of the logos. The pictures of the potato chips look about the same as of they were in the US, but the logos look so old fashioned. It looks rather strange in my eyes, and hopefully I'll get used to it. Also, the barbecue flavored chips taste different than in America, and I don't like them (I have only tasted one brand of barbecue chips so far, so that might just be the brand). I also find it peculiar that there are vegemite and chicken flavored potato chips, the chicken ones being salty and good. The vegemite ones I have not tried yet (partly because a boy at school warned me that it was disgusting, and in part because my family has not bought them yet), but I am looking forward to when I will try them, to see if they are disgusting or not. Today I spent a few hours cleaning up my room, playing my flute, and doing my puzzle. I was also reading my book, running errands with my family, and riding my bike with my sisters (which was dangerous, because the little one made us discover that she does not know how to break and nearly crashed into me and actually crashed against my other sister). All in all, today was a very busy day, and my room is orderly again. Well, except for my bed which has tons of stuffed animals on it. But I did that on purpose because I like stuffed animals. I also realized today that I don't need to make my bed again, which makes me really happy since I've had to do it for months now, since I have been in two houses for sale, I don't know how many hotels, and a rental house where my bed was in the middle of the house, in the living room to be exact (my sisters always messed up the bed and I would have to do it again). So I'm happy about that, because I've always liked being lazy in the mornings and not make my bed. Vocabulary: Lite, instead of light. I believe this is only in the weight sense, but I'm not sure.

Cinemas

Today my topic is about cinemas, because I just watched Tintin in one. First of all, I highly recommend Tintin, for it is funny and witty (a guy burped alcohol to keep a plane going), so I think it would be a very nice movie to watch for all ages. Second of all, back to the cinemas (the movie theaters, american style, but just easier to type). They are really expensive; it cost $90.00 for the five of us to go. My mom didn't even dare ask about the popcorn, and guess why. In the cinema I also found a movie that I really want to watch, but never saw advertised in the states when I left: The Hunger Games. I really love the book (books, since there are three, but I believe this is only the first one), and have decided that I will read it again sometime soon. friends: I have a mission. Tell me if you see advertisement for the Hunger Games yet. Today I was reading my book (Little Women, highly recommended) and read the funniest chapter: a chapter about their time in Christmas (there are at least two, if not more). I thought this was rather funny since it is basically Christmas here too. Also, as we were driving back home, my family noticed more bats! I can't believe that friends of ours in Australia (oz, just if you're curious about the nickname) haven't told us ANYTHING about these critters yet! There are so many of them, and they just fly forward in big packs, as if they were migrating. But logically they wouldn't be migrating, since it is in the middle of summer, and from what I know about animals, they usually migrate (if they migrate at all) when the weather starts getting cold again. They could be hunting, but, as I said before, they just fly in a line and never change altitude or course. They could be fruit eating bats, but it is not like they're flying down and looking at trees at all, so i discard this option as well. It is a total mystery to me, and also, just to add to the weirdness of the situation, they were flying over downtown, like in the middle of the city! I just can't understand it, so if you know ANYTHING that could help me with this puzzle you are welcome to tell me, by email of course. Also, there is a main railway station, which has a cool "MERRY CHRISTMAS" sign that lights up into different colors (green, red, white). Also, at home, I have had a shower crisis: my shower does not drain, so now I have to use my parents' shower. It was really annoying when I discovered this fact when I turned the shower on for a few minutes and it overflowed onto the whole bathroom floor. Luckily, there is another drain on the ground in my bathroom and I was able to put all the water in that drain (took a lot of work, I daresay). My room also has the problem that it does not have blinds, so my parents had to put a sheet up. Apparently the people we are renting from are kind of lazy, and have gotten the blind people to put up the blinds in mid January. JANUARY. My room is on the first floor, and has a giant window overlooking the front courtyard, so I kind of need those blinds so I can not have a sheet hanging from my window, and so that if I don't have a sheet I can relax about getting dressed and undressed without being seen. I am kind of annoyed, but will survive with the sheet hangind from my window. I have no vocabulary today, but another varied spelling is about ss instead of zs. I forget example words, but all i know is that when I try spelling these words with ss instead of zs the computer says it is spelled wrong (it is american, so who knows). I hope that I will remember these spelling differences in class and not forget to write them differently, since I will get a bad grade in spelling if I don't.

Christmas Dinner

Since I have already written about the first half of Christmas I will write about the second half, starting with the ham. As far as I know neither my mom or dad know how to cook a ham, and they claim this too. They had to read all the instructions that were on the ham and my mom also had to do a bit of research on her computer. In the end, the ham turned out fine and was very tasty. we also had sweet potatoes (both sisters refused to eat it, but that was the main part of my meal. In the end they ended up eating normal potatoes) and green beans, with a lot of ham too. We kids drank sparkling apple juice, and the grownups drank wine (I spilled my mom's right before dessert with one of those lalaloopsy dolls). For dessert we had a yule log, otherwise known as buche de noel (Noel is french for Christmas). My sisters mainly played with their zhu- zhu pets while I sat on my bed and read with my lap desk. One of our neighbors stopped by and gave us a present, and we also found out that the neighbors were a family with two little girls about my little sisters' age. I have a 750 piece puzzle, so I was also working on that. Vocabulary: Prawns, as in shrimp. There is most likely more, but I can't remember so... maybe another day.

CHRISTMAS! (and Christmas eve too)

Today is Christmas! My sisters ran down two flights of stairs just to stamp their feet on the ground and wake me up, but today I didn't mind because a few days ago Santa went SHOPPING. My littlest sister got the most presents. Here is a list of things that everyonee got (might forget something):

Littlest sister:
-dragon from Santa
-Lalaloopsy doll (look up images) from Santa
-picture of horse from me
-knight from me
-breyer horse from me
-zhu-zhu pet from Santa
-little plastic chick that came with the doll from Santa
-stuffed animal sparkly orange fish from Santa
-bicycle from Santa
-pillow pet from the older sister
- bike helmet for bike (wearing a helmet while riding a bike is law here) from Santa

Next sister:
-lalaloopsy doll from Santa
-zhu-zhu pet from Santa
-drawing of a horse from me
-little plastic cow that came with the doll from Santa
-dragon from Santa
-koala stuffed animal from Santa
-bicycle from Santa
-bella sara trading cards from me
-drawing from little sister of her
- helmet for bike from Santa

Me:
-Little raccoon (called Shifu because he looks like a kung fu dude) from Santa
-Lap desk from mom and dad
-a drawing of me from the older sister
-A AUSTRALIAN BIRDS GUIDE! (really awesome!) from Santa
-new bike from santa!
-helmet for bike from Santa

Mom:
-drawing of the rice university owl from me
-drawing of a bird from older sister

Dad:
-drawing of an imperial eagle from me
-book about foodies in Melbourne from Santa
-drawing of a horse from the older sister

We all got a giant bar of chocolate, milk chocolate, and a jelly thing in our stockings (obviously from Santa)

Yesterday we moved into our new house and slept in it for the first time. We ate dinner and then went to the giant park that I have talked about before (the fort park that is really awesome) and played there for a while. then here comes the cool part: we saw bats. The whole way when we were walking back home we were watching them, and some even came very close. I thought it was something like migration, because even after we entered the house they were still flying around. It was the never ending stream of bats, and it was amazing. I was actually the one that saw that they were bats, because the rest of the family thought they were birds. I noticed the difference because of the wings, which are not the same as birds' wings. I also noticed because they had little feet sticking out the back of their bodies. My room is total chaos and it was very hard to clear the bed and sleep in it. I also discovered what the twelve days of Christmas are: remember the spanish holiday that I mentioned in earlier posts? Well, there is twelve days between Christmas and that, so I finally figured THAT out (after four or five years of wondering) All on all, this was an amazing Christmas, very different from others.

Movin' In

Tomorrow I am moving in to the new house. It is rented, but I still call it mine anyways. Today I realized that this was the first time I had lived in a brand new house that had never been lived in before. My room, as I may have said before, is in the best place ever: two floors down from where the rest are. This way I will not have to hear my sisters scream and have them jump on my bed whenever they wake up. This is a problem with the house I'm living in right now, because I sleep in the living room. Every morning my sisters start running around screaming, and always jump on my bed to make me mad (which really does). I try to kick them off my bed, to which they start crying and my parents get mad at everyone, including me. I don't really care about the waking up very early in the morning part, it is just the WAY that they wake me up (screaming, jumping onto my bed). In my arrangement in Hawaii I was also in the living room, and was victim of the same behavior. Also, in the last rented house in Denver, I was right under everybody, so I could hear EVERYTHING. My sisters running over to my parents' bedroom, screaming and all, and then jumping onto their bed and talking to them. The only good thing with that situation was that I always would wake up a few minutes before them (except on weekends) because of school. So now I am excited because I believe that for the first 15- 30 minutes that my sisters are up that they will not wake me, even on school days. Let me explain that last part: school starts at nine in the morning here, so I probably won't have to wake up till seven thirty or eight in the morning. I am really excited for Christmas too (TWO DAYS!), but disappointed that the stuff that Santa ordered by mail won't arrive on time. The way that that mail will be taken care of will be by the Three Kings. The Three Kings is the spanish version of Christmas (even though spaniards celebrate Christmas too), but just with three wizards on camels instead of Santa and his reindeer. They ride their camels to give presents to children around the world, and the only catch is that you have to bring out one of your shoes to put a carrot in for the camels. You also have to have a giant water bucket for the camels, just so they can keep doing their job. The shoes are also so that the kings can put the corresponding presents under the right person's shoe. This holiday is on January sixth, so I can barely wait to have the special presents from them! No vocabulary, at least not that I know of.

Houses

Houses here are much smaller, or I think so.  The closer you get to the city, the more expensive they get so you have to sacrifice space to get close to the city. Right now we're in a house that it very far away from the city, so it takes a long time to get there. The house that we're moving to in a few days is much closer, but it still takes a little while to get to the center because there is a lot of traffic (we're right by the highway or something like that). Also, the houses here are very long as oppose to wide, and personally, I like them better wide.Yesterday I went to the Big Day Out (yes, I got the name wrong before) and it was really fun. First the fifth and sixth graders went to this really big aquatic center. It was pretty cool because there were two giant slides, one that was really steep, and another that was all curvy and stuff. They do not go very fast, so they were not very exciting. I liked them anyways, though. Next we ate at the ice skating rink (I had to eat the vegetarian option because my teacher didn't know wether I was vegetarian or not, but it was still good). The weird thing was that on every table there were different juice boxes, which made everyone walk around and trade juice boxes. Next we had an ice skating class, which was pretty cool. They made us fall down on purpose and then get back up and we also had to skate touching the ground, and turn just by using our shoulders, etc. They eventually let us do our own thing. I was shrieking like a bird because I kept almost falling over (I didn't actually fall that much, believe it or not), and I was also talking to the teachers while I was skating (they were better at skating than myself). I am very popular among the girls (none of the boys acknowledge me) and everybody wanted to sit with me on the bus. The only problem I'm having is remembering all their names (I'm terrible at remembering names), so every once and a while I have to ask who somebody is. The moving truck just came to our new house yesterday morning (sadly, I missed all the moving in fun) and now the whole house is populated by boxes (well, at least the basement). I have unpacked most of my toys and stuff, but I still have a few missing. I don't really have any everyday clothes unpacked either, but I don't really mind since I have some here. Everyday I'm thinking about the time difference, because it is so vast. Basically, when I am sleeping, all of my friends' lives transpire, But while they're sleeping I do MY stuff. I find it strange, because I always actually lived WITH my friends. Santa is having an emergency. Vocabulary (or vocab, as Aussies [ozzies] would say): Lolly, as in lollipop. Choc, as in chocolate. presi, as in present, etc. The etc. is because there are way more words like that. Apparently, australians like shortening words A LOT, and I'm kind of worried that they'll start calling me Mel because my mom said they might.

Left or Right?

Today my post is about sides. The driver's seat is on the wrong side (according to and American), and also the roads, the light and wind wiper controls, and the which way you look when you cross the road. I almost got run over (not really) today, and all that because I was looking the wrong way. My mom also blew the tires on our rental car because she wasn't used to driving on the right side, because in America the driver is on the left. My family also has trouble when having to move to one side for other pedestrians and stuff because we're used to moving to the right, not the left (I am actually pretty good at that, at least better than my dad). My mom also was always switching on  the windshield wipers when trying to turn on the turning signal, because they had swapped sides (she doesn't do that anymore). Last night, I heard the hissing noise again, but when I was watching TV with my mom. When we came over to the side of the house to investigate it stopped, so I'm thinking the thing just likes hissing, and doesn't snore in it's sleep. Tomorrow I am going on a school field trip called the big bash or something like that (very expensive, like everything else). I am going to skate and go to the swimming pool in one go. Sounds fun, and at least I have some people that I know that can help me when I need help. I'm not sure if there are any vocabulary words... I always forget them.

Money

Everything is so expensive here. There aren't a lot of things that are the same in stock here, especially in toys, at least in my opinion. Santa might have a little trouble, and everyone may have to wait for the three kings to come (the Three Kings are three wizards that travel on their camels to give kids their presents. You have to leave carrots in your shoes and lots of water in a giant bucket. They are the spanish Santa, even though the spaniards celebrate Christmas. It happens on January sixth, and there is even a movie about it.). Anyways, today I went back to school. I worked on a project about the daily schedule in sixth grade with a sixth grader. I could not do anything, except for write, which didn't help much because I didn't know WHAT to write, so she basically did all the work (which I feel bad about). Before I went to the school I visited my new house. We have just bought a little Christmas tree from Ikea (not real) and my sisters and I were putting it together and putting ornaments on it (also from Ikea). If I created some confusion about what time I was moving into the house, sorry. I did not mean THIS Monday, but the next (although we are practically moving in on Saturday, since we want to be there for Christmas). We also looked at a Honda minivan this afternoon. It took a while, and I had to try out the legroom and how I fit in between both my little sisters' car seats. By the way, the cars are more expensive here too. Vocabulary: Bill, as in check (like for restaurants. I believe we also say bill in the U.S. but just not as much). There are also different ways of spelling things, such as co-operative instead of cooperative. There is also a lot of re instead of er, but for some reason I can't think of any words right now, except for acre. But that is also how it is spelled in the states too, so never mind. The simple thing is that a lot of words that end in er in the states end with re here, like the British.

Ozone Hole

Alright, I know this is a strange topic to write about, but I'm writing about the ozone hole that is right above Australia. The ozone layer is a layer of the earth that protects us from the sun, but the one in Australia burned off a while ago. As some of you might know, it is summer right now. I'm walking a lot. The sun really does burn, and it is impossible to escape the heat. Today I was in Ikea, looking at furniture with my parents. When I went in I don't really remember noticing any temperature difference but when I went out... it was so hot and humid. Now I have to wear this giant hat (and I don't particularly like wearing hats, if I do say so myself) and put on sunscreen every day (I don't like putting on sun screen, its all greasy). And by the way, summer isn't in full swing yet... I will keep you updated. Today the temperature was about 30 degrees centigrade, about 90? degrees fahrenheit. Today I went to this lovely (to put it the australian way) market. My sisters got pony rides, and I saw a kookaburra (a really cool bird) but didn't hear it sing which is really sad because my dad says that kookaburras sing really pretty (apparently like a laugh, but who knows). I also bought his really cute hand- sewn horse (which I called William) which was blue. One of my sisters got a pink one, and the other a penguin. They are all really cute. Today it is also my mom's birthday. I gave her a present, and so did my sisters. My sisters and dad are suffering from mosquito bites (there are a lot of bugs here), but my mom isn't complaining and I'm perfectly fine. Vocabulary: Pram, as in stroller. a queue, as in a line. Loose stones, instead of falling rocks.

Trams

So I've decided that I would write about a new topic every post: in this case, trams. The  trams here are really scary. The city has signs put up that say something like: "If you saw a rhino on a skateboard coming toward you, you would run, right? Well, a tram weighs about thirty rhinos so it'll hurt a lot more than just that rhino on that skateboard. So watch. Listen. Be alert around trams." Most of that I did not make up. These signs are everywhere, and I have a problem that if I see something with words on it I will read it over and over, until I go to someplace else. The only part that I couldn't remember was this part, that I made up: "so it'll hurt a lot more than just that rhino on that skateboard." These signs just emphasize the fact that the trams are VERY dangerous. As you might know, the more you go into a city the more packed it gets. the trams are only in the center, maybe a little in the docklands. The roads are big, but not big enough. The first time my mom drove in the center she got scared that some tram would hit her, because they pass so close to the cars. The trams also have to obey the traffic laws, so the pedestrians and other cars can cross. They stop right on the line that separates the pedestrian road and the car road. You pass right by them, and you can feel their heat. I know I might be exaggerating a bit, but I have never really dealt with trams before. In Denver they were there, close to my school, but I never really noticed them, except when I had to cross a road and had to wait for one. So all in all, trams are scary, almost as much as the birds. My family got a different rental car, so now we can drive around. These last two days we have been walking around the center, where my mom works. By the way, my mom works in the University of Mebourne (Melbin). Today I even saw Santa at Target. Just in case you haven't received the good news, we just signed the contract for our rental house a few days ago. We will be moving in on Monday, or sometime next week. Vocabulary: Cinema, instead of movie theater. Singlet, as in tank top. And just for the people that think the word thongs funny, I went to target today. There was a part where there were some flip-flops, and guess what the sign said: Men's T-H-O-N-G-S.

Birds Birds Birds

There are birds everywhere! There are birds in the trees, on the ground, in the streets, even in the second story of McDonald's! There are sparrows, pigeons, parakeets, magpies, birds that are brown with yellow beaks, birds that are white with red wings. The pigeons and sparrows will get really close to you, because of the food you're eating, and, as I mentioned before (in another post), will really scare you. The magpies just stand there and stare at you, as if seeing where the best place to peck you will be. As for the parakeets, they are really loud, cute, and colorful. They are rainbows too with green, yellow, orange, red, and maybe a little blue. As for the white birds with the red wings, I first saw them today. They're really pretty and have red chests too. The brown birds with yellow beaks are everywhere too. They scout for food like the pigeons and the sparrows, but aren't like getting within five inches of you like the others. They are really noticeable because of their yellow beaks  (canary yellow, if I might add, maybe golden rod) and were the first birds I noticed here. Good news: I have a house now! It is of course a rental, and not as big as any house over in denver but its nice. There are three floors. The highest floor is where my sisters and parents sleep, the second floor is where the kitchen is, and the lowest floor is where I sleep, all by myself. The house (or townhouse, since it IS a townhouse) doesn't have a fridge, a washing machine, or a dryer. The blinds are missing too, but the construction workers are scheduled to put them in sometime soon. We are going to try to live there for christmas eve and christmas, but since we won't have a fridge by then then we will not be able to live there for long because of problems with milk rotting, etc. We have not been able to get another rental car yet, since there was a little confusion with what the tow truck would do with it, but I was indirectly told that we might have it by tomorrow.  Also, today I visited my school for a few hours. The fifth and sixth graders are integrated together, which I find a little confusing. There are also three teachers, which add to the confusion. The school seems nice, along with its inhabitants, and I think I'll have a good school year next year. By the way, the last day of school is Thursday, not this one but the next one. I believe that that will still be Wednesday for you guys. I am really excited for Christmas (in 13 days) because Santa is working hard to get it in shape. My family also celebrates the three kings (January 6th) and they will be working hard soon enough. Vocabulary: Diary, as in planner, agenda. I learned this in school when the teachers said that we had to carry around diaries.

The Broken- Up Car

This afternoon, my family was driving into a parking garage, to buy some groceries. Right as we were going in my mom hit the curb  (spelled kerb here, by the way) and popped what I thought was ONE tire. We drove all the way into a parking spot next to the exit, and took a look at the damage. There was not only one tire that was flat, but TWO. As you can imagine, we only had one spare tire, so we called roadside assistance, which sent us a guy that would blow up our tires. He came over like half an hour later (after we had bought groceries and that my mom spent waiting in the parking lot), just to give us the news that our tires had holes in them. The guy called a tow truck (which came 45 minutes later) that took like ten minutes to load the car on. By then my sisters and I had eaten a whole bag of individual bags of potato chips, but were still hungry. But the waiting had not stopped. We had to call a special taxi (because there are five of us and can't fit in a normal taxi with the driver), which took longer than a normal taxi because there are less of them. Another 15 minutes. In all, we were in that parking lot for about two hours. And we just FINALLY had dinner. Vocabulary: Trolley, as in cart. Thongs, as in flip-flops. Ring instead of call.

Sounds

Two nights ago I woke up to a weird sound: It sounded like snoring. But the weird thing about this snoring was that it was very fast, and very rhythmical, and a little hissy. I listened to the sound for a while before I decided to stop it, since I thought it was my sister that was on that side of the house. So I got up and then came over to her room... when  I realized that it was coming from the other side of that wall. I freaked and woke up my parents, but right when they woke up the noise stopped. My parents believed me though, because they had heard it the previous night: my dad had thought that it was the water running (it IS very noisy) and my mom thought that it was ME snoring. I wasn't able to sleep after that because fifteen minutes after I went to bed again this weird bird started singing this incredibly repetitive tune, until it finally went to another house when the sun rose. My parents and I asked around and found out that the weird animal making that noise was probably a possum. Last night it did not wake me up, but I still think that its there, doing creepy things. Yesterday we were house- hunting all day, as in driving around in a car across the whole city of Melbourne all day. I saw another Magpie yesterday, and there was this weird dog that chased us all the way to our house when we took a walk, and even lied on our doorstep for like fifteen minutes before it left. Vocabulary: Chook, as in chicken. Lemonade, as in sprite. Lemonade, as in lemonade. Stubbie, as in beer bottle. Dummy, as in pacifier. Margarita, as in cheese and tomato pizza. Marinara, as in seafood pizza. Rocket, as in arugula. Nappies, as in diapers.

Another Day

I believe that summer break starts in about a week, at least for my school. My parents are thinking about letting me go there for half  a day to see how it goes, or just to let me see what it is like. I saw my new teacher this year, and he looks funky because his hair is all weird. After going to the school my family went to this fancy coffee place where we had these pastries that were really good and some hot chocolate. Then we went to my mom's office. It was boring because I was not alerted that we were going to go there and had nothing to do. In the end I drew a giant horse on a whiteboard in the middle of a hall, where everyone can see it. I hope they appreciate it. Today I was researching Christmas presents too, and guess what I found: Australian girl dolls. My parents and I were joking on the way here that there would be australian girl dolls, but they actually exist! A link to prove its existence: http://www.australiangirldoll.com.au/. I find this extremely funny, considering.  No new vocabulary words.

The School

Today I went to my future school to see an art show (there wasn't an impressive amount, but there was some art). Be reminded that there is no middle school here, so I'm going to be in elementary school again. By the way, in February I'm going back to school  again... summer break is going to start in a short time.  I met some girls that seemed pretty nice, and that toured me around the school (it is very small). The school has a huge sandbox in the playground, so I'm looking forward to recess.  After the school event we went to this place called Naked for Satan. They are a pretty cool restaurant (despite the name) because they sell pinxos. Pinxos are really good spanish sandwiches that I've only seen in Spain so far. I had tons of them. Going back in time, in the morning my dad, sisters, and I went to the center of Melbourne (the city, as Australians call it) and saw some cool little story in the window of the Australian Macy's (its called Myer's, I believe) which was singing the song "You Better Watch Out" the whole time. It was showing pictures of elves and santa and carolers. It was pretty cool. Vocabulary Words: Pants, meaning underpants. Trousers, meaning pants. Playtime, meaning recess. Mate, meaning friend or just general person. Barbie, meaning barbecue. G'Day meaning good day.

Finally, Australia

Well, I'm in Australia. It finally feels like reality. I realized that on the way to the airport in Hawaii.I felt really scared there too because I thought that I might not see my friends again, which is kind of true. I hope that I will male good friends here too. My mom already started work yesterday, the day after we arrived from the plane. She works on a college campus, and school is already out. She claims that it is silent and empty. For your information, yes, it is really summer. The problem wth it is that its really cold in the morning, hot in the mid-day, and then cold again in the evening, so it is still too cold at times to be summer in my mind. When we flew over here we took two planes over here. First, one to New Zealand. Next, to Melbourne, or Melbin as the Australians pronounce it. Here french fries are chips, and ketchup is tomato sauce. Then what is pasta sauce, you ask? It is pasta sauce! The potato chips are also chips. Yesterday, while I was eating lunch, I realized something:birds are not shy here, not even pigeons. I had finished my lunch, and left some crumbs. I was talking with some friends of my mom's when my sisters told me to turn around,to the edge of the bench. There were maybe five pigeons sitting right there, coming closer to me. I got really freaked out and then my sisters started hitting and screaming at them with paper cups. Now,next time you got to Australia watch out for the pigeons under the table, because with the slightest movement of your feet, they will go flying. They scared me like ten times doing that, because they always brushed my legs in the process. We were also eating at an open-air mcdonalds (there waas NO other place to get ice-cream, believe it ornot) when like two birds flew in, barely touching my head. I also saw a magpie, the ones that peck at the highest point of your body, but when I asked about holding an umbrella over my head like my parents did in Sydney (they lived there for a year), everybody told me not to worry. Also, the crows are huge, like as big as the magpies. There's one living on our roof which is really loud. The birds here are really loud. Another funny thing that I found was a map: it was intentionally up- side down. I had a map like that in fifth grade too, but I never really payed any attention to the fact that Australia was at the top of the map... but I did this time. It was really funny. Also, my first impression of Australia was trees. There are lots and lots of them.  I think it's a very nice and busy place, Melbourne, and hope that I have a good life here. By the way, it's 19 days till Christmas here, not 20.

(Most of this post written on my nook)

Leaving Hawaii

Today is my last day in Hawaii. My family is leaving for the airport at 6:30, I believe 9:30 in Denver time. Today we went to the beach again... and I stepped on a sea urchin. It really hurt and I can't really put full weight on that foot yet, but I think I'll survive. The good news is that when we asked the life guard about it he said that it was minor, so it could have been worse. The bad news is that the spikes will stay there until about a week, maybe two if I'm unlucky. Right now I'm looking at my foot. There are four black dots there, along with several little ones that I'm not really worried about. It's kind of sad, considering that its my last day in Hawaii. I've had a great time here, and I'm sad that I'm going away. Hopefully Australia will be alright.

Hawaii! (continued)

Everyday we've been going to the beach, and a man- made lagoon next to it. The swimming pool is really boring because they don't let you do anything fun, such as jump off the edge. The lagoon is my favorite because it isn't as good as the beach in terms of waves, but it didn't have tons of rocks you have to step on to get to deeper spots. Yesterday my family went to the Polynesian Culture Center, which was really cool. The culture center represents different cultures of different islands in the Pacific Ocean, such as Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Fiji, Hawai'i, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, and Aotearoa (New Zealand). My family went to four islands: Tonga, New Zealand, Hawai'i, and Samoa. Tonga was my favorite, because the "natives" pulled three men out of the crowd to play with them. One guy, from Missouri, was really good. Another guy from New Jersey couldn't really follow what the guy was doing, so started singing "Who Let the Dogs Out!" and got one of the drummers really mad. The last guy, a Japanese guy, couldn't understand anything. The drummer asked him to say "Are you ready?" in Japanese, but the guy didn't understand what he meant and just copied the way he said it. It was really funny, and the guys got crowns in the end, which were really weird because there was a little tuft at the top that the drummer guy pulled up to full length. After the drummers we went to have a canoe ride. It made my arms really tired, but it was pretty cool. Later we went to dinner in the Aloha Luau. There were my deserts than options in the main course, so it was pretty cool. There were also Hawaiian dancers dancing almost the whole time, and music. After that we went to this show called Ha, The Breath of Life. It was awesome, especially because there were these fire dancers that had sticks that looked like knives and had fire on both ends. They twirled them around, threw them, had two at a time, they did everything with them! There was also a part where they had a big bonfire and all the men were walking through the fire and sitting on it with these funny giant skirts. The show is amazing, and there is no other way to describe it. The people in it really had talent. They knew how to dance like natives and all. After the show we all got on a bus and drove back to the hotel (a little more than an hour away from the center). It was a very exciting day.