Tae Kwon Ohhhhh!

Recently I decided to join the Tae Kwon Do club here at Monash. For those of you who do not know, Tae Kwon Do is a Korean martial art that originated from Karate. The main difference is that Tae Kwon Doe focuses a greater emphasis on kicking. I believe it became an official sport in the 60's and is now the world's most popular martial art!



I enter the gym for my first class and quickly notice that the majority of students are either a black or red belt. In other words, I am pretty certain that they can change light bulbs with their toes! At this point I am thinking that I may have gotten in over my head. I decide to continue on.

So, the class begins, and I am already sweating as I take my position in line. We start with some light stretching and a bit of a run to get the blood flowing. I am thinking to myself, "This isn't so bad. I can hang with these guys."

Until we line back up...



I have forgotten to mention that instructions are being given in Korean.

We begin to stretch more vigorously but things are still going well, albeit a bit painful. Just when I think stretching is through, a sharp command is given, and one of the other class members begins to walk towards me. I do not move as I have noticed no one in my row has. I think it is important to note that the individual heading towards me is, of course, a black belt. It quickly becomes apparent that we are going to stretch with a partner as I watch everyone in my row sit on the ground. I hear the words "more stretch" and realize that I was in for a world of hurt.

To really experience my experience I will ask you to try this at home. You will want a partner. I am sure we all remember sitting in the butterfly position in high school gym class. This is the position where you sit on your rear and fold your legs inward with the base of your heels touching one another. Take this position and ask your partner to stand behind you. You may notice that upon sitting it is a little uncomfortable as you try to lean forward and press your knees to the floor. This is not an area where most of us are flexible. Now, the next step needs to happen unexpectedly -- as it did for me. Partner, put your hands on the shoulders of person seated in front of you, push forward and quickly stand with one foot on each of their legs. Do not get off when they scream!

There you have it. The single most painful stretching experience I have ever had. (I will note that Jama thinks I am a wuss but has yet to try the stretch!)

Since then I have made it back several times and realize that despite the pain of stretching I really enjoy the class. Everyone has turned out to be extremely nice and I am really starting loosen up. Literally.


Really miss everybody!

Stop, You're Burning Out My Retinas!

Oh, you say, that's so nice that Jama can sit next to the warm fire and listen to John strum out a tune.

In actuality that is the 400,000 watt halogen heater we so naively bought this weekend. Our apartment doesn't have centralized heating and air, so we've been slowly and strategically placing small heaters around. I almost cried today thinking about how comical this heater was, seriously it was blinding.

I figured we'd use it until we returned it, but then it stopped working-- less than 24 hours after purchase.

Dear Readers...

...All two of you.

Happy (belated) Mothers Day!

We are sad that we couldn't be there to celebrate with you... especially for the moving of heavy furniture (mom).

But seriously, we love you both and couldn't be here without you.

Love, Jama and Johnny

Just Like Dolly Parton

I've been working 9-5...at least since last Wednesday, which marked the first day of my 30-day job interview. The first two days were painfully uneventful-- I guess I wouldn't be too capable of doing much at that point anyway.

Until day 3 I was quite sure that I wouldn't want to stay past 30 days, but by Friday things had finally started to turned around (or maybe it was just Friday). I still couldn't answer the phone, but I was assigned some work (besides reading) and found it to be pretty interesting. Tomorrow I've been promised an "exciting" project...

Everybody in the office has been very nice and are quite curious about what it's like in the States, especially regarding the elections. Today, I even found an item I termed a rulculator (ruler + calculator= score!) and some other random goods to complete my "business accessories kit", which was apparently completely raided when the former inhabitant left.

Canberra Tourists Unite

*please notice the duct tape above the wheel well at the front tyre

A couple of postings back you may have read that John went to Canberra and took a shortcourse for school. Because the airfare was inexpensive, I decided to tag along and sightsee.

I had a good time, I'm not sure why Canberra has gotten such a bad rap-- it's clean, the people were friendly and the restaurants were pretty good.

While I was there I did quite of bit of walking around and went on a day-long tour of the capitol city highlights...





The War Memorial was quite moving and I'm glad I got the opportunity to spend some time there. ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day was only about a week away, so many preparations were being made. ANZAC Day is similar to Memorial Day in the States.



I went to both the new Parliament and the old Parliament. For me, old Parliament was the obvious winner. The photo above was taken from the War Memorial, but if you look to the background you can see both old Parliament (big white building) and new Parliament (directly behind the big white building).



Overall, it was an good visit and I'm glad that I got to tag along. I can't think of a time when John and I would say to ourselves, "Hey, let's go to Canberra this weekend, they have the world's largest tulip exhibition...after the Netherlands".

Day at the Market

Yesterday John and I took the train into the Melbourne Central Station to go to the Queen Victoria Market. We were in search of ingredients for enchiladas. We couldn't find a couple of things, but found some good substitutes and dinner turned out to be great.



I think we'll definitely be making it again, as Mexican food is supplied by only one place that we know about. It's called Aree Bah. It's actually just right around the corner from our apartment, but we could sure give them some lessons on enchiladas!

It was a busy day at the market and it gave us a good idea about how diverse Melbourne really is. Fruits and veggies are better priced than they are at the grocery stores, but just barely in most cases. We stopped and had brats for lunch and sampled some of the fruits that had been put out. I had something called a Tazzieberry, which is sort of similar in size, color and taste to a cranberry.



p.s. Why did no one tell us the 2008 Economic Stimulus checks existed and were going to be deposited into our account? We thought for sure the IRS had made a mistake!

No Worries!

I had a job interview yesterday with the Moonee Valley Council (similar to counties in the US) and they have offered me a 1-month contract job as a Statutory Planner. The 1-month period is brief and will require a lot of effort on their part to get me trained-up. For this reason, I have been led to believe that there is something more permanent available (if they like me and I like them) at the end of the month.

My 30 day test will start this upcoming Wednesday. I think this is great because whoever is taking on the job of training me will at least be excited it is humpday and not Monday!

The location is pretty good (just northwest of the city center) and I can get there in about 45 minutes on two short train rides. The two men who interviewed me where in my age group (yeah!) so I'm hoping maybe to meet some people with similar interests. There is a big park right across the street where I'll be planning to take my lunch breaks. I'll take some photos next week and let you know how everything is going.