City to Surf

Almost a year ago when I first moved in, I had planned a house event that finally took place this weekend. This was NOT an optional house thing. I gave everyone enough warning in advance that there shouldn't have been any excuses. Allow me to explain: I wanted to take part in the annual City to Surf run which is one of THE annual things to do in Perth. People can take part in a 4km or 12km walk/run. It is Australia's largest fun run and you can't live in Perth without taking part in it at least once. Over 26 000 people participate in this event and it's a great way to promote an active lifestyle.

I did give my housemates the option to choose the running distance, either 4km or 12km. It's pretty obvious which distance I would have chosen if it was up to me so it was up to them. KP, however, bailed the week of because apparently she couldn't get time off from work. tsk tsk...I can't believe she missed out on this. I'm never going to let her forget it.

Beck's did extremely well on the run. She was a little hesistant about whether or not she could run the entire distance but we went running together beforehand so I knew she could. At the end she even thought it was really short and could have ran for a lot longer. Good on her...It was pretty short but a good relaxing run to do as a house (minus one).

At the end of the race, the organizers gave all the participants a medal so that was cool.

Getting your money's worth

This semester we had a lab where we got the opportunity to play around and make our own splints. Each group had to make the demonstrated forearm splint but afterwards, we were allowed to make whatever we desired. I have my rollerblades here with me but my mom couldn't find my wrist guards so I decided to make a pair of wrist guards. We even allowed to use the expensive type of plastic. A small sheet of this plastic is $250. No wonder they charge patients a ridiculous amount for a small finger splint. It's pretty cool plastic. If you're molding it onto someone's hand and isn't satisfied with the results, you can simply dump it back into the hot water and it will automatically spring back to its original form. The plastic literally has memory. Cool eh...

The following pic is of me displaying my expensive wrist guards, which I paid for with my tuition fee. Becks made one of the wrist guards while I made the other one myself. I think she did an awesome job at it. Thanks Becks!

The following week I felt so confident with my new wrist guards that I decided to rollerblade to school. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would and I survived without any trauma so it's all good. People in my class thinks I should test out these new wrist guards but I rather not.

Don't get caught with your head down...

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Shim came to visit Becks and I for a few days. She arrived, from Melbourne, early in the morning so she hardly got any sleep. We picked her up and showed her around the city a bit before heading off to class for three hours. Shim thought it would be interesting to sit in our Women's Studies class. BK, our lecturer, is hilarious so I thought she would get a kick out of it too.

In the first quarter of the class BK had to go through the theory behind pregnancy and events that occur during pregnancy. Keeping in mind that Shim probably only got a few hours of sleep if she was luck, she kinda dosed off for a very short period. She wasn't snoring or anything so it was noticeable or anything.

During our class break, BK came up to us and asked Shim which lab group she was in because she couldn't recognize her. There goes our thought of her not noticing, not that BK would care anyways.

Funny thing happened the next week though. BK stopped me in the corridor and asked how Shim had enjoyed her class. Wow that's pretty thoughtful of her to ask me but then again BK is pretty cool like that. Then she said something to the effect that Shim fell asleep in her class and that NO ONE falls asleep in HER class. She said it in a joking manner and didn't really care but hilarious that she actually noticed. HAHAHA, next time you go to class and fall asleep, be warned that lecturers DO notice and take note of it. HAHAHA...caught sleeping in a class Shim and it wasn't even your own class. Now that's a story to tell everyone when people ask how your trip to Australia was.

You're always welcome back...

Shim got the opportunity to come to Australia for a Chiropractic student conference in Melbourne and on her way back, she came to visit Becks and I. Never in our minds did we ever envision the three of us, together, in Australia. We spoke about the possibility of her visiting but it's one of those things that you just say to people when they leave for another country. She was only in Perth for three nights but it was better than nothing. It was really nice to have her visit and be able to talk about Waterloo and Toronto. There are quite a few other Canadians in our program but there's no one I can talk to who lives and experiences the Torontorian lifestyle. Everyone knows I love Toronto and is very proud of the fact that I'm from there. Just hanging out with the three of us reminded me of the days in Waterloo. Those were good times.

I think having Shim here have just confirmed how much I miss Toronto and being around friends and family who have grown up with me. Shim, thanks for coming to visit us. You didn't have a lot of time in this country and I really do appreciate you deciding to come visit us. It's always nice having old friends see how and where we live in Australia. You're always welcome back!!!