Koalas, inefficiency, and lots of rice.

ZOO DAY! That was today. My mind is abuzz with bite-sized bits of information about painted dogs, Rothschild giraffes (MY FAVORITE!_), Asian elephants...to conclude, it was a day full of oohs and aahs. Pictures to follow, if I ever figure out how to put them online.

Aside from mastering the seven-pots-of-pasta-at-once technique, Keith and I cooked fried rice yesterday. WITHOUT a rice cooker. That was my fault (we do actually have one, but when I look for things, I only look with one eye, and my vision's not so good). Man did we make rice. We made about half a bag of rice in one pot (I was in charge of that), and cooked up some carrots, celery, onions, and pork to add to it. The rice went surprisingly well, considering we didn't have a measuring cup or a knowledgeable chef in the flat. Vegis and meat turned out well too, but they probably had to cook too long to accommodate the colossal amount of rice we had prepared. Added a bit too much soy sauce too...Keith wasn't overjoyed with the final outcome, but it was hot food, and filling, and there's a lot of rice left over for second and third and fourth tries.

The only negative experience I'm having thus far at Murdoch is trying to enroll in my third class. There is one woman in charge of the enrollment for international students (she shall remain nameless), and I understand that this is an overwhelming task. There are a lot of us, and we all speak different languages. But she does not return emails, she doesn't answer questions, and twice now she's been unable to meet with four of us when we showed up at her office at a time she asked us to come. Once she was too busy to see us, and this morning she wasn't even in her office, and wouldn't be for at least an hour. Classes start in less than a week and we're all pretty anxious to get this over with, so I may have sent her an email that was a bit on the terse side...we were told to go back tomorrow at 2pm, and that's what we're going to do, unless she contacts me first and tells me otherwise. We'll see how that goes. It's not in my nature to be annoyed with people or unfriendly, but not being enrolled in all three classes also keeps us from accessing some of the services on campus, because we're not listed as full-time students. So we'll see how that goes tomorrow. Eeks.

In other news, I'm bummed about missing Jenn's birthday party, Gloucester, and the canoe trip Jakie is taking with Chad and Joe. I'm psyched about a bunch of the music Keith gave me off of his iTunes (including a bunch of Fleet Foxes, Slightly Stoopid, and the only controversial song Vanessa Carlton ever wrote, "White Houses"), and the fact that I'm about over this jetlag. I managed to stay up until 10:30 last night and didn't wake up until 7:45.

Pictures going up now. MISS YOU ALL.