rambling... fun times

Hello all! Things are pretty great right now. We just finished a couple hours around a fire talking with a couple Aboriginal people. They told us about their history- how their grandfather was smart & went along with the government rules in order to maneuver a way to stay on the land, & how they lived double lives growing up. Also just how they would run around barefoot & play in the bush. It really makes me think about all the Native Americans... Australia had kind of a similar time with English settlers. It also definitely makes me appreciate nature, again. We really are so small in relation to everything else. The stars are pretty gorgeous here. Here we can see the milky way & some new constellations- it's so nice to see so many stars. It's been great learning about all the rainforest stuff too. This morning we had a bird walk before breakfast where we walked around w/ a prof & she identified a bunch of random bird calls that we heard. They'll be a quiz on a bunch in a little over a week. I do really like actually going out there & learning stuff through real experience. So much better than listening to recordings or reading textbooks (although that happens here too a bit). Otherwise today, we had 3 lectures this morning- one on Rainforest Ecology, & 2 on the socio-econ course. The econ lectures show the hard balance between saving the environment and saving the economy- since being environmentally friendly isn't better money-wise. It is a constant battle between nature and immediate monetary gain. I'm just pretty glad right now that I don't have to be the one in power to judge where the thin balance is. All afternoon was spent writing up the second big field-research report. It's on the water quality stuff in rivers around here (interpreted however we want using other info..). Yesterday was designated all off, so we could write the report (after the rainforest ecology huge writeup being due tuesday morning. These have been some crazy past few days). Yesterday was actually really great. I went for a run with a bunch of people around that same lake from before (Lake Barrie) & it was gorgeous again. I love real running as opposed to treadmills or any machines. Upon getting back to the site, there was no class to rush to, so I actually did a little weights/pullups craziness. There is a pullup bar, a little monkey-bar ladder, some weights, etc. It's funny how many people here row at their schools, so I did some with one girl. (We have the same funny ratio with people who never had cable tv.) I do think that this time off makes me appreciate real collegiate athletics. Such satisfaction and pride. It makes me feel absolutely fine about piling my plate high with yummy food. :) Then all afternoon was trying to figure out what to do for the report. fun times. It's not too bad though, since we all have the same assignments at the same time, so we all had to work all afternoon. This week has been a lot of academic stuff. Last weekend was really fun though. The bars around here can send buses to pick us up, so that's been pretty funny. We walk down the hilly dirt road to the main road, get on a school bus, & get taken to a little bar in one of the small towns around here. The first weekend we tried one in Atherton (the bigger town) and a huge rugby game was on, so that was pretty funny... except it wasn't set up very well- just a place to sit around the bar in a relatively small room. The next day (a week & a half ago sunday) we saw a real game of Aussie Football! I was expecting soccer, the "football" overseas, but it was so much better than that. The score got really high (over 100), & it seemed like a mix between basketball (ball has to touch the ground every few steps), football (tackle, score through goalposts), hockey (FAST, fights break out), soccer (passing/dribbling down the field), etc. etc. Last weekend was great too. The place had a pool table, some real live music being played (really just one man singing/playing the melody while the real song played in the background), a porch area, a funny throw-the-ring-on-the-hook thing set up, some nice people that run something that we'll probably be working with later (past SFS students have).... & also we all knew each other a lot better, so that was fun. I don't know about this weekend yet though, since things are pretty expensive. I do understand why things are now, since what we've learned in the econ class. This is pretty long. I did feel like just rambling though, after the fire tonight. I couldn't go back to work. I'll do that tomorrow. So, yeah- things are great! We were reminded yesterday (and none of us remembered) that we're going to the outback next week w/ tents, etc! Chillagoe. I'm so excited. As is everyone else. It's going to be so nice, especially compared with this crazy work week. I do think that this semester of exciting exotic stuff makes me appreciate certain things about USA/New England. It's funny how the participants here are pretty spread out all over the states. We have a map up with everyone's homes, and we have some from Hawaii, California, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Vermont, Mass, NY... all over. Anyway, it's getting late. This is a lot of rambling, but oh well. Time for bed soon.