Election Day!

Yesterday went pretty well. After waiting around all day to give my presentation (being the second to last), I felt pretty good about how I delivered it. Maybe that silly three-day long Science Communication workshop really did help! The conference was soon followed up by Quiz and Curry Night.

I originally did not want to go since Seth could not make it, being his first day at Starbucks (wooo!). I am not very social when it comes to departmental functions, but Seth got someone to fill in for us as Duty Tutor for the evening so I had no excuse not to go. Thanks to Mai, I even had a curry to bring! It was a good night, except that I really suck at trivia.

Today was Australia's federal elections; it is mandatory for all Australian's to vote, unless they want to pay a fine. Just a few minutes ago they announced the results- that the Labor Party (under Kevin Rudd) had reached the minimum number of seats required to win.

For the past few weeks I have only somewhat been keeping up with the Australian elections, however I never felt very impressed by either party. John Howard's Liberal Party (which is actually conservative and similar to the American Republican Party) could brag over bringing up a strong economy, however they seemed to be lacking in many other areas. Hopefully Rudd will be a good Prime Minister and be very environmentally proactive- which in my opinion is the most important issue.

This afternoon I finally got to organise my pictures from the past several weeks. Here are a few "highlights".


Fr. Laurie, our live-in Dominican Priest. A very well educated, quirky, and nice man, indeed! Last week he was quite a help by filling in as Duty Tutor for an hour when I went running with Seth. Hopefully he will be willing to step in a few more times!

My part-time field assistant, Julian. Inquisitive and an excellent photographer, he is a great asset. Notice the horrible flies on him- I hate flies, and Australia is notorious for them. They love to land on your face and are extremely persistent (they will travel with you for many kilometers and won't back down, no matter how much you swat at them). Sometimes if you breathe too fast they go up your nose!


"Mama Mai's Green Veggie Curry"


So many types of curry!

I think these things found attached to the tree are molts of cicadas. They are everywhere and are sooo gross!


Shaz's signature "Plane Flying Into a Building in New York". He is our Pakistani friend who loves calling me "American" and always asks "have you killed any Iraqis yet today?". You need to know him to understand his humour, and he will be missed. (The heart and smile were NOT drawn by him).