Avos

"Avos": short for "avocados." Aussies like to shorten everything when they say it.

At the farmer's market~
:"Love, just for you, these avos are only 75 cents each!"
Me: "Um..."
Grocery manager: "No good? Alright, I'll drop it to 25 cents apiece."
Me: "Okay, I want five!"

That was about a week ago. Unfortunately, I forgot about my lovely cheap avocados, and now they're all semi-brown and slightly moldy. It actually makes me really sad, because they're absolutely delicious on toast (and a much healthier alternative to butter). I didn't have the heart to throw them all away though, so I thought I'd turn the worst-looking three into guacamole. Unfortunately, that escapade didn't turn out well. Crappy avos make even crappier guacamole, as I soon discovered. After taking a few bites and almost harking it back up, I decided to add some blended spinach dip to sweeten it. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. I think it's the fact that the meat is just bitter all-around. No amount of chopped onions, salt, lemon juice or black pepper can change that. I was still unwilling to toss the whole thing though, so it ended up being Yuri's dog food. Maybe I can still find a way to salvage the last two avos...

Work at Il Carretto hasn't been going all that great lately. The boss hired some more new people, and these guys are actually real-deal experienced waiters/waitresses (not like my "oh yeah, I kinda/sorta/not really did some waitressing work at my Uni's cafeteria-style restaurant"). As a result, I've been restricted to busing tables and bringing out the food instead of taking orders. Now, not only am I missing out on the practice that I need in order to be a real waitress, but my tips are gone! While my actual salary went towards rent and utility bills, my tips paid for my food. Taking orders is like a privilege now. I have to work fast and efficiently if I want to prove to my boss that I can handle the tables. >:(

This weekend I went to Rumbalara on a field trip for a class. On the first day, we a middle schools that had a large number of Indigenous children. I gotta say, the school system here is much more efficient. The tests and projects were a lot more creative in assessing your comprehension. For example, instead of making everyone do the same project, the kids had an option of presenting their projects visually and/or orally through media, crafts/models, papers, etc. Sports are also a very important component of Australian education. In the States, our compulsory education takes the form of P.E. In Oz, the kids join some type of sport (netball, footy, cricket, etc.) They can also go on bushwalks or surfing lessons, which I am extremely jealous of. Seriously, these kids are spoiled. Surfing for P.E.?? It doesn't get any better than that.

We then headed to this secondary education center, ASHE (Academy of Sport Health and Education). Since Ozzie kids don't have to attend school once they hit 16, a significant number of kids stop their education at that age. Some kids drop out of school at age 12 and then return several years later, perhaps 18 years old but with the reading level of a middle-schooler. ASHE provides a cushion for these struggling kids (most of whom are Aborigine). They're kind of a preparatory school because they guide kids to where they want to go in life, whether it's to be a star footy player or to get accepted into Uni. Classes start at 10 a.m., so a free breakfast is provided to give more incentive to get to the Academy on time. They have Fridays off and the program is free, so the school is actually pretty popular. In fact, they made one of the entry requirements as being at least 16 yrs old. This is to discourage people from dropping out of high school so they can attend the Academy.

Alright, I'm pretty tired now, so I'll finish the rest of this entry tomorrow. XP