Barbie

"Barbie": Australian slang for "barbecue," as in the grill, not the flavor.

"Throw the bacon on the barbie, yeah mate?"

Whoa, I almost typed "flavor" as "flavour." When you start spelling things differently, that's when you know you're starting to integrate into the culture. 0_0 As for the barbie thing, I actually have a funny story about that. During Easter break, the tour guide had actually asked me to help him out with the cooking. First of all, I had no idea what a barbie was. I had a faint idea that he probably meant the fire, but when I looked around for the grill, I didn't see any, just the cooking fire. Secondly, Australian bacon is basically a slice of ham. In no way does it resemble American bacon, which is long, skinny and rectangular. Unfortunately, I had no idea, so I basically wandered around the kitchen table, passing the barbie and the bacon multiple times until the tour guide finally noticed the helpless looks I was throwing in his direction. It turns out that an Australian barbecue is basically a large flat pan held over the fire. -_-

I was supposed to go to the Melbourne Zoo on Wednesday for my Zoology class, however the city was caught in the tail end of a hurricane. 70 mph winds were pummeling the CBD area and branches were being thrown everywhere, so the Zoo closed down for the day as a security precaution. Though I was disappointed, I was also intensely relieved since I arrived at the designated meeting area 15 minutes late. The reason? I was cramming in homework for my philosophy class, which was to take place right after the zoo. I sense the beginning of an ancient and vicious cycle.

Later on tonight, I'm heading off to my first footy game ever! It's for my Australian Sports and Society class and I'm quite excited. I'll defintely post up the photos (along with the rest of the photos for Easter Break... and my surfing class... and my first Zoo trip....)