The way it is.

It’s been brought to my attention that I haven’t blogged in a while. It think it’s actually been two weeks, which is crazy! The thing is, I’m not even sure what to write about. We’ve entered a new phase of life over here. It’s something I haven’t had for a few months, but it’s a familiar old friend. We call him routine. Sundays, we attend Christ Church Presbyterian in Currumbin and sometimes have lunch with our new church friends. We usually go to our favorite spot for drinks on Tuesday nights called CBD (I think it stands for Central Business District, not to be confused with Christian Book Distributors). We go grocery shopping Thursdays at 3PM. And every night, we work out together, make family dinner, clean up, and do homework/watch a movie. Fridays is typically “family night” where Nat, Lyndsay, Kat and I do something just the four of us, and Saturdays we open our home to friends. Nothing is really a surprise anymore, and this is just the way it is.

I think that’s why Lyndsay was craving an adventure this week. On Tuesday, she was itching to get out and go somewhere. She wanted to make a plan for today to go to Brisbane or to Mt. Tambourine, but both of those ideas fell through due to a lack of initiative in planning on our parts and poor weather. We just finished week six of our academic calendar, and all of us were feeling the hit of schoolwork for the first time since being here. Since things have become routine, it’s almost like the novelty has worn off. We’re not off gallivanting in a foreign country anymore. We go to school here. We live here. This is life.

But strangely enough, this is only life for about eight more weeks. We’re almost halfway through.

With that being said, here are some random tidbits I have to share from my not-as-exciting life lately…

-  My friend Paige and I are working together on our broadcasting projects, and for hers, we needed to conduct an interview in Brizzy (Brisbane) on Wednesday afternoon. It was such an adventure -- taking the train for an hour and a half to a strange major city in a foreign land, lugging around camera equipment in our high heels! We left Robina at 9 and didn’t get home until after 5, so it was a long full day, but we had a blast. And the interview was a huge success. Maybe I can post our final story so you can see our broadcasting skills. It’s due this Thursday. Her story is the one we’re working on first, and it’s about the hot political issue of shark nets. Are they useful? Are they humane? I have opinions, but I’ll keep them to myself for now.

-  We rented 500 Days of Summer for family movie night. It was fantastic. While we were watching it, I said, “I’m loving this movie” maybe four to five times. I recommend it.

-  In between our apartment and Lyndsay’s is the home to those who we affectionately call “The Swiss.” These boys aren’t here for uni, but they’re golfers here escaping the Switzerland winter to do some training. They’re up and heading to the green every morning before 8AM. Flavio (20), Laslo (19) and Edouard (19) are bundles of fun and we had them over for dinner last week. They were sick of going out to eat or making pasta, so the ladies cooked them a nice meal. They brought us wine and beer, and we fed them a big hearty meal consisting of marinated chicken, salad, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and an apple pie with ice cream. Then we played cards for hours and it was a grand ol’ time. Oh, the Swiss. They are too funny. Their English is good, but you have to fight through these ridiculous accents and decipher; it just makes everything so much funnier. They are total goofballs, but they’re fun to have around. And they don’t have friends from uni like we do, so they definitely appreciate our company. Today, Nat, Lynds, Flavio, Ed and I went to the beach. It wasn’t quite the Saturday adventure Lyndsay was hoping for, but it was nice to get out of the house. We also have great nicknames for them: Flavio can be Flava Flav, Flapjack, Flappy or Pancake. Laslo is almost always Laserbeam, sometimes just Laser. And Edouard is either Ed, Queen, or Pretty Pretty Princess. He’s a sick golfer, sponsored by Titlist, but he can be such a girl, haha. So those are the Swiss.

- After a cloudy morning at the beach, it started raining when we got home. Nat and I showered, cleaned the apartment for a bit, then I ate grilled cheese and tomato soup as it poured on our metal roof. I was a happy girl :) And now I’m curled up with some tea, listening to Amos Lee with Lyndsay. I’ve been aching for a day like this. Everyday, you need to leave the house with two key items: sunglasses and an umbrella. You need both almost everyday, usually in very close succession. It’ll downpour at the drop of a hat, but only last ten minutes or so. Then you get a sunburn. Such is life in the tropics. Can’t complain. Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for the zebra-striped umbrella. I love it and it travels with me daily.

-  I think you can tell that you’ve been somewhere a long time when enough time has passed to get a haircut. I got a trim yesterday. It made this whole experience feel more like home, because it had been weeks and weeks since my last cut. So now I’m fresh and clean.

-  My Mom makes the most epic macaroni salad, and I’m going to attempt to make it tonight. It’s a big day! I’m a first-timer. I’ll try not to let you down, Momma.

-  Australia is a big fan of the double-letter combo, and the letter G. Here are the names of some towns I’ve been to, or some around in this area: Coolangatta, Nerang, Currumbin, Mudgeeraba, Arrawarra, Tweed Heads, Burleigh, Toowoomba, Woogoolga, Bundaberg… I think you see what I’m getting at here. It’s comical. I feel like I live in a Dr. Seuss book sometimes.

-  In honor of the John Mayer concert that many of my dear friends attended the other night, here’s a quote from the man himself that I heard on the plane to from Cairns to Brisbane. He’s a funny dude…

“I really feel like you should use the spelling of the country you’re in. So ‘behavior.’ Okay, I’ll throw a ‘u’ in there for ya. But it’ll be at the beginning, and it’ll be silent.”

-- John Mayer, Qantas Air Radio

-  For those who have asked, “Life in Technicolor” is a song by the best band ever - Coldplay. It’s just instrumental and doesn’t have any words, but it’s an amazing way to kick off their newest album Viva la Vida. Loving Coldplay isn’t the only reason I chose to title my blog after this song. “Technicolor” is a term used in cinematography. It occurs when you string together different slices of film, each of a different solid color, and the end result is a movie in full color. It’s vivid, it’s bright, it’s bold, it’s new. I like to think that this time here in Australia is just one more color in my movie. I’m not sure what color it would be yet… maybe orange or purple, the typical colors of the Australian sky. But Coldplay was clever to coin the phrase “Life in Technicolor.” It’s really what our lives are like-- different colorful experiences strung together to make one full-length feature. I hope you feel as though your life has color.

I’d say that’s all I have for now, just some obscure ramblings as life here goes on. Over and out.

PS: I can’t believe the mayhem that the weather is causing back home! Please continue to send me stories of the storm! I hope you all are safe and warm. Love.