a fine weekend on the res...

Hello everyone,
I hope that you are well :) The last week has been a tiny bit rough with my asthma being a tiny bit out of control... I should be alright soon though. I found out this (the Albury area) is the asthma capital of Australia... wish I would've found that out before I came here.... but if I make it here, I know I can make it anywhere

Hope everyone had a lovely St. Patty's day. We went to a footy game and then out dancing... always good stuff.

This weekend on res. we hosted our own version of the common wealth games. The real games are going on in Melbourne right now. Any country under the Queen of England's reign is eligible to compete... we just went as house teams. I'll be honest, my house didn't win one athletic medal (that's a bit hard to do considering there were 5 events, only 6 teams, and three medals for each event)... but we did walk away with a set of smiley face juggling balls for the spirit award. We spent this afternoon practicing cheers, it was hilarious! Oh yeah, our team went as the "Commonwealth of Twister". Our mascot was Ellie, our housemate who is a second year and loves to yell at us all the time... we made her a crown that said "Twisted Queen", which we all thought was really appropriate. The entire day was quite a hoot. Our motto was just "aim for style points", I can't say we came away with anything but... but, hey we had a blast. The funniest thing was when our RA was doing the slip-n-slide contest, he just about lost his costume... quite the riot. I got some good photos and will share them as soon as my camera dries out enough to turn on. House four folks got into a wild water fight and got my camera in the mix. They assure they'll replace it if need be. (I think they would... they're good folks, even if their house does smell).

Had a good bit of fun (seriously, we laughed and then I coughed... it was a hoot) in an Australian emergency waiting room with a friend Suzi... we went in because my asthma kept getting worse and we couldn't get into a doctor on Sunday and I can claim emergency room visits on my international student insurance... anyway, we learned a good bit. Some of the best lessons in our four hour endeavor were:
-Avoid talking to the nurse, if at all possible, she's not happy
-If you've had a pack of smokes left inside you as a result of bad surgical practices, you have priority over two smiling girls
-the average patient treatment rate is 1/45 minutes; most people in the waiting room just give up and leave
-don't eat or drink before you see the doctor (if they see you snacking on chocolates and crackers, they won't call you in)
-they want you to leave, really, just give up!
-long delays are unavoidable!!!!!
-the TV volume has been specially selected to be just unclear, just distracting if you're trying to read a textbook
-departure time is 10 am daily
-the bathroom tap will likely spray your entire front and the floor
-don't use hospital water fountains. Think about it.
-the chairs are in two's so the sick can only get one other person sick
-make sure you sit in the chairs in the back of the room, so you can lean on the wall to go to sleep (sound familiar mom?... maybe, like sitting in a corner in the back row?)
-bring snacks, you will need them
-if you're having an asthma attack, don't worry, they'll get you in in a few hours
-if you're Suzy's bra strap-beware: random falling apart may be possible; perhaps it is because of the nearby x-ray machines
-"Dr. Death" near Thurgoona campus keeps this place in business
-if you have a child, feel free to put them in the children's cage at the front of the room

Overall... recently, I often feel moments freeze snap-shot style in my mind and I feel that I am coming out the other side of the homesickness I had a while back... feel excited that memories are building here. I feel some sense of community growing here.

Thought of those amazing moments in conversation with some of you out there when I read this in a textbook:
[referring to communication as union] "It implies a moment of inspiration shared by two people as their communication reaches a level of meaningfulness that unites them, albeit for an instant, in a moment that may have almost mystical quality... This is truly communion, a meeting of two people who are at that moment whole in themselves and their encounter with each other...The moment of communion is usually followed by silence, any further interchanges being unnecessary or, at most, nonverbal." -Trevor Tyson

Kudos to moving conversations with friends :)

Thankful list for today (and of course, the smile list mixed in):
-hospital visit with Suzy
-sunshine
-those end of the summer season river swims where you all deny it's getting colder out
-slip-n-slides
-vegetables
-strawberry soymilk
-twister
-sleep
-apple cider vinegar

Much love and joy to all :)
mn