Easter Break Part I: Mansfield

First of all, I'm so sorry I haven't written! It feels like forever since my last post! I didn't anticipate doing so much in Sydney so this will be a longer post. I apologize in advance. Happy May Day to you in central Iowa who celebrate. Considering most of the United States doesn't do May Day, it was a safe assumption on my part to forgo the cups of popcorn and m&m's this year. Maybe I'll throw something together real quick tomorrow morning for my roommates to bring some central Iowa to them.

Two weeks ago exactly it was forecast to be a very warm day, so Nina and I took the day to head to Eastern Beach in Geelong. It's feeling more and more like fall every day, so we take the opportunities as they arise to get in some beach days. The picture on the left is actually from the night before when two of my roommates (Jess and Issy) took me to the grocery store to try "Australian chocolate." They were very good, and I think my favorites were Curly Wurlies and Crunchies. The picture on the right I made Nina take because it's four wooden men standing with instruments in front of a conductor and I've conducted before and I thought it would be funny.

The next morning, Em and I headed for Mansfield. Her mom invited me to stay with their family for Easter Break, and since I wasn't leaving for Sydney until Thursday of the break week, I took her up on the offer! Mansfield is a small, country town about a four or five hour drive from campus. We stopped for lunch around the two hour mark, and I (finally) tried a famed meat pie. I got a chicken and mushroom pie, which I quickly came to realize is basically a pot pie. After arriving at Em's house, one of her cats and I quickly became best buds.

As I mentioned, Em lives in a smaller town in the country. Her house is a bit outside of the town on this massive hill/small mountain. The view from almost every room in the house was breathtaking. I stayed with the Howlett's for six nights, and I will always be ridiculously thankful that they opened their house and life to me for the week I was there. It was a well deserved break from campus, and quickly came to feel like a home away from home! I did my best answering every question they thought to ask about the United States, and asked quite a few of my own. Emshia and her brother, Rory, set me up on some of Rory's virtual reality games which was SUPER cool. I successfully wrote a 2,000 word paper, helped Rory with some of his math homework, and did my best to help Em and Rory start to plan their year abroad. Rory is in year 12, and after he graduates and Em finishes Trimester 2 at Deakin, they're going to take some time to travel before he starts at university and Em returns. I'm trying to convince them to come visit Ames. While there isn't a ton of iconic or famous landmarks, it is very authentically American!!! Sunday night, there was a large thunderstorm so naturally I had to watch the greatest movie of all time, Twister. S/o to the Lowe family for recording it when it was on TV and giving me access to the Dish online so I can watch it whenever.

On my last day at their house, Em and I went to town for a delicious lunch and to buy a bus ticket. I decided to cook a very American meal for the Howlett's as a way to try and thank them for their kindness, settling on Sloppy Joe's. Aside from a tomato sauce/ketchup crisis, all went well and I introduced them to a new sandwich! (In Australia, tomato sauce = ketchup. The recipe for Sloppy Joe's calls for both ketchup AND tomato sauce, because as all my Americans know, there is a difference in the US. I wound up substituting slightly drained crushed tomatoes and it tasted just fine.)

As I mentioned above, the Howletts live in the country. Country = wild kangaroos. And they did not disappoint. I've included some videos from the afternoon we arrived on a walk around the house. There must have been at least 15 or 20 just chilling in the surrounding yards. Unlike deer, they did not run away when looked at/moved towards. They hold their ground pretty well as far as human interactions are concerned.

Thanks again to the Howletts for being so kind and gracious! I hope I can return the favor in my own country one day!

I know I said this would be about Mansfield AND Sydney, but we did so much in Sydney I think I'll put it in another post. I'm also getting really distracted and tired, so I'll save the Sydney post for tomorrow. There are a LOT of pictures coming with that post, so it'll be a long one. Have a great May Day! Eat some popcorn for me!