SportsDay!

friday was sports day.
what is sports day? hm... where do i start with this one. there are some sports involved (depending on your definition of a sport) and as the name suggests it's a full DAY. but really it's just a big fat drinkfest for med students!

so we got started nice and early.
after a big hearty breakfast to line my stomach...



a glass of OJ, bacon, eggs, cereal, apple, 2 slices of toast with nutella, oh my! we headed over to the regatta.



there we had a few drinks and waited for the upper years to arrive. oh wait... i forgot to mention something... we did this all in SCRUBS!



haha!

this is margaret. she and i are the ONLY koreans in our cohort. can you believe that? 2 out of 400! (more on the class size some other time).



this is meg. meg is a good ol' toronto gal. and as a matter of fact she used to live just down the road from me. we also share a birthday! sometimes you just have to travel 10000+ km to meet someone from just around the corner!



you remember bryan right?
do you remember our aussie english lesson? what do you call really short shorts???
who said stubbies?
now THESE are stubbies. check out those sexy legs.



after a couple of beers we started heading back over to the campus.



there we had some MORE beers, some burgers, a tug-of-war against the upper years (we beat the 2nd years but lost to the 4th years) and acted like clowns and little kids in general (see bouncy house and jelly-wrestling below).





after some heat exhaustion and some fun we went home got clean up, and went BACK to the regatta!

there we... you guess it! had some more drinks!



these boys are my PBL boys. that's kyle in the middle. he's from the east coast but went to mcgill. and the one on the right with the frenchie stach? that's gerry.



this is jon carter. he looks more like a carter than a jon to me so i just call him carter. don't let the muscles fool you. he's not just brawn and no brains.



this is nihal and me after one too many drinks. nihal is yet another canadian. and a BAD influence. he had this magic bracelet that gave him unlimited alcohol for the night. bbbaaddddddd...

afterwards, we finally stumbled home. and all things considering i was pretty good on saturday morning. good stuff. how do you top a day like that? with learning objectives and textbook readings of course!

more of my life in brisbane...

i've been keeping up with some of the news back home and i hear that canada is considering getting rid of the penny. didn't we go over this before??? i think this topic pops up once every 4 years or so. just like the olympics. speaking of coinage, aussie don't have the penny. at first i found it a little odd but now that i'm used to it, it makes sense. things are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. and it's not a big deal, in the end, it all gets balanced out. there are days when you save a penny and other days when you lose a penny.



L-->R. 5 cent coin. 10 cent coin. 20 cent coin. 50 cent coin. 1 dollar coin. 2 dollar coin. pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters don't exist. if you ask for a loonie, they look at you funny. if you ask for a toonie, they... they... (can't find a word that rhymes with toonie!)



so these are timtams. i'm told that they are the national snack of australia. they are pretty good. they are little chocolate covered wafers... with more chocolate inside. mmm...



you see these things everywhere. they are called "utes". probably 1 in 5 cars (1 in 6???) in brisbane are utes. i initially thought perhaps it was an extention of their surfing culture, but apparently not. from what i can gather it is the equivalent of a truck back home. they look like sedans with a truck bed. i'm told that you're not a man until you driven/owned one of these "bad boys". i can't help but scoff. these "bad boys"??? i'm from north america where the gas-guzzler is king and you're not a real man until you've driven a REAL truck like a 345hp, HEMI-powered Dodge Ram. grr!!!

australian-english lesson #2

here are some more wacky things that australians say.
1. do you know what a bubbler is? something that bubbles? sort of. it's a water/drinking fountain. they call it a bubbler.
me: you guys know where the fountain is?
oz friends: the what?
me: the fountain, you know the water fountain? where you drink water?
oz: you mean the bubbler?
me: huh??? >_<

2. stubbies: really SHORT shorts. i think they're referred to stubbies only if a guy is wearing them.

3. jumper - now back home, when someone says jumper the first thing that usually comes to one's mind is a really ugly track suit. perhaps of a fluorescent pink or a neon green in colour. but here it actually refers to any ol' long-sleeve shirt/thin jacket/thin sweater.

4. good on ya! - now aussies like to use this one a whole lot. it's used in a congratulatory sense and usually means something similar to "good for you".
custom's agent: first time in australia?
me: yes.
custom's agent: and what is the purpose of this visit?
me: i'm coming to study.
custom's agent: and what are you studying?
me: i'm starting medicine at UQ this month.
custom's agent: well, good on ya!

5. how would you pronounce this word: beetroot.
you know beet-root. it's reddish-purplish , you can eat it raw in your salad or pickled as a condiment? well these aussies love their beetroot. especially in their burgers.
BUT, it's not pronounced beeT-rooT. more like bEE-trOOT.

6. last one for today. now this is an expression. probably one that is used more by immature males than the general population. but i find it quite funny nontheless.
smugglin' tic tacs? - it's supposed to mean "are your nipples hard"?
;D let me give you an example.
me: brrr... it's cold in here.
oz friend: are you smugglin' tic tacs?
me: WHAT?!?!
oz friend: you know, smugglin' tic tacs?
me: no. i have no idea. what do tic tacs have anything to do with the cold?
oz friend: are your nipples hard from the cold?!?!

get it?
study those carefully. you may be tested on them at a later point in time.

time flies...

i can't believe its been a month already.
part of me feels like i just left yesterday.
another part of me feels like i'm on a little trip and i'll be heading home soon.
but then there is a small, teeny tiny sliver of me that feels... that feels... intimated. its ONLY been a month. this is a FOUR year program. wow.

don't worry though. i'm not really homesick. after the first day i feel like i've found my bearings and have gotten my feet under me.
but i will tell you what i do miss...
1. some real protein. i'm talking STEAK! some RED MEAT! i've noticed that 99% of my protein consumption is either in the form of a spread (peanut butter), in the form of eggs (fried or boiled. that's the only type of eggs i can make) or in the form of processed meat. at this rate, i'm gonna be a vegan in 4 years.
2. i miss my dog. i didn't think i'd miss him that much. but i do! i didn't even think to take/upload some pictures of him before i left. :(

so my place has 3 roommates.
this is samer.



he is of lebanese and taiwanese descent. he is currently studying for his masters in accounting (? i think ?). he is probably one of the nicest guys i've met in australia so far. we often have dinner together. as a matter of fact, i've probably had more meals with samer in the last month than i've had with my g/f in the last year! ok. that's a bit of an exaggeration.
and this is samer's baby.



isn't it pretty? he's got corals, 2 fishies - one tiny yellow one that hides in the corals, and this one that you can see in the picture. little snails, some tiny crabs and even some shrimp.

my other 2 roommates...
one really keeps to himself. so much so, that i've seen him maybe twice since i've moved in. no complaints though. how can you complain about a roommate that doesn't make much noise and doesn't mess up the kitchen right?
there is supposedly a girl from sydney. i say supposedly because i've yet to meet her. she is currently doing her undergrad at UQ and the undergraduate program doesn't start until the end of february. i wonder what she'll be like. i've jelled pretty well with samer so far. i hope i get along with her too.

it is now official.
i am a med student.