Ocean Swims and Meat Pies

We got up on Monday morning, had some brekky (sultana bran, bananas and Milo) then put on our swimmers. Maria convinced Katie and myself that it’d be fun to go for a swim, even though it was pretty chilly out. We walked to the main beach in Avoca and warmed up by running along the water. Sand running is so much harder than on pavement, so we got tired out pretty easily. We kept going along the water’s edge until we went far past the shark tower that we passed the day before on our walk. After we were warmed up, we played the game I always play at the beach. I went as far as possible down the sand towards the water, and sprinted back up when the waves came crashing in, trying to not get wet. Usually, the game is fun and successful, but these waves were a different story. They were much more fast and powerful, and at one point they completely soaked me up to my waist when I couldn’t escape fast enough. At that point, I was in my clothes still, so I jogged back to our towels and we all went in. It was chilly water, and sent a shock to my system when the water hit my head. Who needs caffeine when you can be jolted awake my cool ocean water?! Maria was the bravest, and dove right in, as she always does! :)

 We noticed there were above 20 surfers in the water even though it was Monday and before noon. It seemed like a lot considering kids are still in session for school here. After a short-lived ocean swim, we walked back to their house, took showers and drove to Nicole’s high school to pick her up. She was done early because it’s there exam week, so she took her Chemistry exam and was finished around 2. Then we went to Coles to get some necessities (i.e meat pies, muffins, lamingtons, Tim Tams…essentials.) Katie and I are loving this family (for many reasons) but for one, because they actually eat meat pies! For being in Oz for four months, we should have had our fair share of the delicious things, but for some reason we just never got around to enjoying them. We shared a cheese and onion meat pie and a sausage roll, and learned the proper way to eat them: with your HANDS and loaded with tomato sauce. Right in my ball park, considering how messy of an eater I can be. We came back to their house and sat outside on their back deck and enjoyed the delicious food in good company. That evening we went to the community gym to see Brooke play basketball. Her and Matthew are both on recreational leagues, which are a bigger deal here than the school teams are. They are more competitive and taken more seriously compared to the school teams, which is completely opposite of how it is in the States. I thought a reason for that could be because of the “tall poppy syndrome” we learned about before coming here. It basically just means you don’t want to stand out too much compared to your peers, and want to be as uniform as possible in schools. As a result, it takes away the “star football player” and “captain of the team” status that creates elitist roles in schools.

Cheese and onion meat pie mmm

 It is so nice to drive to their house and have it feel like we are going home. We all hung out and watched Umbilical Brothers which is an Aussie comedy show. Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Canberra, so we got all packed up and headed to bed on the early side.