Over the Hill

Today marks the downhill stretch of our time at Monash doing research! We only have 4 weeks left- yikes! Where did the time go? As far as our whole trip goes (including travel time after research is done) we are about half-way through. I can't believe I have been here 5 weeks- it does not seem that long at all.
One accomplishment I have made at least is being able to make a mean latte =D Haha.

This weekend was pretty relaxing for a change. On Friday, we went into the city to check out the Crown Casino. It is a huge place! And relatively new as well- so it was really nice inside. There are countless stores, plenty of nice restaurants, and any type of food you could wish for in their big food court. They also had multiple live bands playing for free, and of course lots of slot machines and card tables. It took us a while just to explore around the place! Eventually we settled down where one of the live bands was playing. They were a lot of fun- basically a rock band that played covers of all the rock classics. We danced for a while, and we were very surprised when the big bald white guy showed off some of his rapping skills. Who knew? The big white guy could rap lol. We talked to him in between sets, and told him we were from California, and then he kept giving us shout outs to his "American friends" during the next set. It was a lot of fun.
This is the ceiling in the entrance to the casino- very cool! We sat on the stairs and stared up at it for a while. There was also a fountain that looked pretty interesting, except it had been turned off due to Australia's water restrictions (since they are coming out of a drought).
Liz on the stairs in the entrance.
Stephany with the entrance hall in the background.
I was playing with colors on my camera- so this is Liz's fried rice with only green showing. Which turned out to be only peas hehe.
Michelle ordered some tofu and sushi.
And here's the sushi showing only green as well. Once I figured out how to show only one color, I just couldn't stop playing with it haha.
Saleh sporting his orange shirt.
Here's a pic of the band that was playing. The guy in the back on the bass was rocking out the whole time. He reminded me of a Jamacian because of his dreads.
The bald white guy rapping!

On Saturday, we went to the Chadstone Mall- which was a huge place! We walked around, and I tried dim sum for the first time- it was so good! I tried the red bean filling, with sesame seeds covering the outside, which is fried. I can't believe I have never had it before- I am now addicted! It was a lot sweeter than I expected too (which is a good thing =P). Here is Liz on the train on our way to the mall. Again, I am playing with colors!
Steph & Michelle- all blue!
Here is Steph asking the taxi driver how far the mall is, and if we could walk there or not. Believe it or not, Saleh (the one boy) dragged all of us four girls to the mall. A bit opposite of what you would think yes? Lol, we gave him no end of jokes about this too. Saleh was the one who made us go to the mall, let it be known!! We have never made him go shopping with us- it was the other way around! We ended up hopping on a bus which took us straight to the mall, since it was pretty far from the train station.
That night, Anil- who we met at The Claremont before he moved to his apartment- invited us over for dinner. John, Andres, and Mauritz also came over, so we definitely took up all the space in his apartment! It was a nice place though- he lived by himself, and it was a pretty big place for not too high of a price.
Here is our delicious meal- real Indian food! In the bowls are Indian sweet, and behind those is a platter of fresh fruit. Past that is a tortilla-like bread that we dipped in a spinach mush and eggplant dish. Our main meal is the chicken (in the very back) with rice (in the plastic bowl). If you look closely, you can see our homemade cake that we brought to thank Anil for having us all over.
We ate SO MUCH food- we were all stuffed. Here are Michelle and Andres with their best pregnant look, because their bellies were so full. Lol- I couldn't believe what a good pregnant impression Andres could do!
And of course, we all had to try and make the "John face" which he loves to do in photos.
We stayed for a while, playing cards and hanging out, then walked back to the Claremont.

On Sunday, I went back to Collins Street Baptist Church, which was good. I saw Ann again, who we met at the church 3 weeks ago. I also met a couple other people, including a nice lady named Barbara! After church, I walked around the city a bit, because it was a nice day, but spent the rest of the afternoon resting back at the hotel. It was a lazy day for me =D.

And I'm back for another Monday! We finished a crossword over lunch (Yay!) and I am still working on getting Continuity copied onto different resources and changing how I run it so that it will be compatible with Nimrod. I have a lot of work ahead of me this week!

Miss you all at home! And Happy Birthday James and Ryan =D!!

Cheers