IT'S ALIIIIIVE, and so am I

Ok, so the computer battery seems to be alright for the time being.  I did nothing but wait a week and plug it back in, so hopefully the Aussie Gods are smiling on me.  You'd think that I'd have a lot to say since my last blog, but things are kind of business as usual around here.   Because it's hard to go through various events that have happened, I'll use this post to show some of the pictures that I've captured and tell you about them.

I'm not sure if I've posted my living quarters yet; but here it is.  I moved to a better location with a tarp over my space.  I paid $40 for the new real estate, which included a tent, the prime space, and a tarp.  Thus, I moved my tent under the tarp in addition to the tent that came with the space.  I've got one tent for storage and the other for a bedroom.  The tarps are a necessity around here as they prevent the tents from getting too worn down with extra protection against the elements. (works great)

This is the view from Ashley's (Philly) tent back up the trail to the Jungle Hut (communal eating area) and the kitchen.  Ashley has so graciously made her tent and front porch a communal area to hang out even when she isn't present.  The closest tent on the right used to be Steve's, but he's passed it on to Sarah (Tasmania) when he left for NZ.

A picture I snapped while Gulami was playing his instrument on his front porch.  As I said before, Gulami is an outstanding musician.  He says he started traveling late in life, as he's 37 years old but doesn't look a day over 30.  He plays the Sarod, and does it amazingly!  Gulami will be leaving in the next month or two to go to Holland to play with some of his musician friends and live there for a while before heading back to Turkey where his daughter (13) lives.  I'll never forget Gulami, what a great person!

This was another image I captured on Steve's last night here.  A beautiful sunset, although it sets over land to the left, it creates gorgeous colours over the ocean sky!

Sally (UK) found this awesome flower just off the beach on Steve's last day.  The flower had inverted itself and was such a cool oddity.

Sally has since headed to Melbourne for 3 months to work a more legitimate job and hopefully live in a shared house of sorts.  Sally is quiet, but always thinking about different life questions on the big scale.  It was great to be around to chat about her thoughts like... "What's your biggest wonder?"

In March some of the girls from The Arts Factory will caravan down the coast picking her up in Melbourne on the way to Perth.  I'm sure it will be quite the trip traveling 5K kilometers!

Nixon, a darling girl from Germany is leaving tomorrow and ending her 3 month journey Down Under.  She's originally from Slovakia and moved to Germany as a child.  She's looking forward to reuniting with the love of her life, and is hoping to have a 1 year honeymoon all around the world when the time comes.  Nixon teaches Poi workshops here at The Factory.  Poi is a performance art that involves fire balls on the end of chains, or racquet ball sized balls inside of elongated socks.  It's quite impressive when seen live.  I'll get to the immense mount of fire twirling and fire poi in a future blog!

YESSSSSSS...
It's Skyline Time!  So I gathered together friends for a taste of Cincinnati.  My beautiful and understanding girlfriend, Erin, so graciously sent me four cans of Skyline in my Xmas care package!!!! I know that I should ration the 4 cans sparingly, but I couldn't help myself as soon as I opened it I knew what I was having for dinner.  OK, so there were a few modifications I had to make since the Aussies don't have ALL of the necessary ingredients.  1)Because Libby was so kind, we used organic cheese from a farm in Nimbin.  So we were keeping it local while also eating Cincinnati Chili! 2)Australians don't know what oyster crackers are.  Thus I used Ritz crackers (the cheaper store brand, obviously)
All in all though, it was AMAZING.  The finished product is in the picture on the left.  Pictured right is (above) Libby (UK), and (below) Rene (CAN) taking time out of Libby dreading Rene's hair to enjoy some Skyline Time.  You know how people either LOVE or HATE Cincinnati Chili?  Well, the verdict is... THEY LOVE IT!!!  So it turned out that I can make 4 helpings out of 1 can of chili.  It's so great that I was able to share some food and a piece of home with some of my friends here in Byron Bay.  Sharing is such a part of the culture at The Arts Factory; it's great when people area always willing to help their fellow person.

Last, but not least, I had to post the picture of my reaction after reading the email that told me THE Dave Weingarten will be visiting in the middle of February!!!  As Flinn said at the beginning of the trip, people will often say "oh great, now I've got a reason to visit Australia" but never happens.  Dave is doing it!  As one of my best friends in the world, I think its absolutely awesome that he would make the adventure and experience some of the things and meeting some of the people I've been seeing since I've been here.  I know he'll have a great time and I'm pumped at the opportunity for us to go on some mini-adventures/missions while he's here.
BTW - I'm glad everyone is having a mild winter in Cincy, not to say that I'm glad you all aren't getting some dominating snow; but I'd miss it more if there was some serious snow!  hmm, makes me think I need an extended trip to Colorado, Montana or the likes before too long?

I hope this has updated some people on what the happenings are.  I have decided that I would like to put family, friends, and fun as more of a priority in my everyday life when I get back... I think that I have done that for the most part in my life, but it seems that work work work is so much more valued in the states than anywhere else.  We can get bye on very little, as long as we have friends, family and love!

in the words of Dr. Wiz, ta ta

jrs