G day my readers! I am sure you have noticed that it is quite difficult for me to spit out blogs as often as I used to but I guess it is a good thing that I am keeping myself busy. Our five month anniversary is coming up and I am in utter disbelief. Things have been so amazing that it is hard to think about leaving this place. My time at the wildlife park is winding down as well and although I still have two months it just doesn’t seem like enough. A few exciting things have happened so enjoy this blog’s adventures.
Liz and I have adjusted well to having our own place and considering we just paid rent, we are going to greatly appreciate our space. It is outrageously expensive to live here but we are pinching pennies where ever we can. Every now and again we forget about the pinching pennies part and really treat ourselves. Take the other day for example…shopping, massages, and a movie! We decided that we really needed new shoes and then new shoes led to really needing massages and then finally we couldn’t leave the city without watching a movie. The massages were a bit jank since I remained fully clothed and my masseuse who was a man in the beginning mysteriously turned into a woman by the end. Not the most conducive setting for a relaxing massage but a massage none the less. After our messages, we purchased our movie tickets and enjoyed Bridal Wars. I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it.
My work schedule was completely opposite from Liz’s so on all the days that she worked I had off. Instead of being productive with my time I pretty much slept. It was awesome and much needed. I did manage to squeeze in some time to go grocery shopping and visit the local video store to stock up on some DVDs. The trip to the grocery store involved a decent length walk which was worse on the way back since I had a few heavy bags. I did forget that I had purchased eggs so on the way home I was swinging the bags every where… totally leading to a bunch of cracked eggs when I got home. But really I slept for three days straight and I couldn’t be bothered to do anything else. I did go to the eye doctor because my eye has been acting a bit funny. It was a waste of time really because all he told me was that it is expected to feel dry because of the climate and then he sent me on my way with some drops. I am pretty sure that my eye is jacked but until I go blind I refuse to visit another doctor. I just walk around with one eye looking blood shot all day. My supervisor asked me why I was crying today because my eye was so red and watery. I informed him that I have a crazy eye and he said it is probably pink eye so now he calls me pinky (just for the record it is NOT pink eye).
I did have a rather interesting and unplanned evening the other night. My friend Tracey was meant to drop me off at a train station on her way home but there was a change of plans and instead we went to her place and Jessica met us there and she was going to take me home. Jessica decided that Tracey should probably just let us stay for dinner so Tracey sent her lovely boyfriend Shane to get some drinks and to pick up pizza. The craziest part about it was that while we were sitting in her backyard enjoying our drinks we were watching their two joey kangaroos have a hop around. You see, when we get orphans in the park they are assigned to a staff member that practically raise them to adult hood so right now Jess and Trace both have joeys. I thought that it really couldn’t get more Australian than drinking a beer and watching kangaroos hop around. It was funny because people always ask me what Americans think of Australia and they say things like “I bet you guys think we have kangaroos hopping around in our backyards!” Apparently some do so keep on thinking it!
We had a scare at the park the other day. There was a fire near by and because it was in close vicinity we were instructed to evacuate the park. When an evacuation takes place, each staff member is told to evacuate a certain area of the park so I was assigned the North section. Luckily it was a very quite day and I only noticed three public so I thought piece of cake. I first approached this couple and explained to them that we had to evacuate because of a fire near by. They smiled at me and just continued to enjoy the animals at a leisurely pace and that’s when I figured they didn’t speak English. That presented a challenge so I spent the next five minutes using gestures to explain that they were going to burn to death if they didn’t get the hell out. They never fully understood but with some proper nudging I at least got them moving in the right direction. Finally once they had exited, I tracked down the last person in my section. Of course it couldn’t just be an ordinary person…it was the Possum Lady! We all cringe when the possum lady is in because she comes in regularly to take photos of the animals and she always tries to get you to wake an animal up our move them for a better photo. She pretty much drives us nuts. So I approached her and told her that she needed to exit and sure enough she just sat there shooting picture after picture just chatting away with me as if I had nothing better to do. After pleading with me to save the possums if the fire reached the park, she was finally on her way. I was of course the last to clear my section so everyone was waiting on me…it was pretty embarrassing. Luckily the fire didn’t reach the park and no animals melted that day (it has happened in the past!) but we did get to go home early!
They are giving me more responsibility at the park so I have enjoyed the new things that I am learning. I get to have my cuddles with our joey wombats when I give them their morning and lunch bottles. Our smallest wombat, Natta, is a little devil. She is very particular about who she will let hold her so once she finishes her bottle she desperately tries to escape my arms. She has a vicious set of teeth on her as well so every time I think that she is settling in my arms she tosses her head around and bites my shoulder. I am just grateful every time that it isn’t my boob because she is never far from it. That would be an interesting story to explain to my Australian doctor back home…oh doctor you see my implant was popped by a wombat!
My supervisor followed me around on one of my tours the other day to give me a proper assessment and I will have you know that it was probably the worst group I have ever had! I think my supervisor found it very entertaining to watch me suffer through it. The majority of my group didn’t speak English (a.k.a. didn’t follow any of my instructions) and the other half were too hot and instead of following me always tried to find shade. There was also a mother with a toddler who decided that there was no time like the present to breast feed. All the more power to her, but really a wildlife park? Doesn’t that seem unsanitary? There was all sort of commotion throughout the tour and I had to leave certain animals out and I ended the tour early because I was so aggravated. My supervisor sat me down and I braced myself for loads of criticism. There was a good bit of it but Debbie was also very positive and pleased with how well I handled everything. She gave me a lot of great advice and told me that I still need to talk slower because she had trouble catching all the information but I really can’t talk any slower than I do during those tours…its impossible! I think she just hears slow.
It was a big day for Australian’s last week because it was Australia Day! That is like our July 4th! It is basically an excuse for everyone to be drunk by ten a.m. I worked during the day and I also had work the next day so celebrating hard core was out of the question so instead Liz and I enjoyed a lovely evening at Maureen’s. There was a huge fireworks display right on the river so being at Maureen’s left us front and center. We had some great food and lovely wine along with fantastic company. We were the youngest by fifty years but that didn’t stop us from having fun. I watched a lot of people get arrested and we were fortunate enough to witness two bouncers having a crack at this poor drunk fella that basically got his ass whooped! It was a crazy crazy night but a proud day for the Australians so they had their fun! I was pretty exhausted the next day at work but I felt really sorry for the actual Australians that I work with because they celebrated accordingly and had to suffer through some hard core hangovers.
I just finished my seventh day in a row of work but it is rewarded with an entire weekend off and that is something that I haven’t had for a while! It does suck because Liz will be at the winery on Sunday so we couldn’t plan a trip but I reckon I will just have to pay her a visit and taste Janebrook’s wine for the umpteenth time! I foresee a lot of sleeping again and maybe I will hit up the beech to even out my lovely farmer’s tan!
It would be nice to hear form you all since I feel like I haven’t spoken to some of you in ages! I did only have one little comment on my last blog (THANKS MRS.LYNN!) So feedback would be appreciated. I hope all is well in the great U S of A!
See ya’s,
Lindsay Ezell
LC
Snook
Ez-E
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