Farewell Australia...

On September 8^th, 2010 I landed at Coolangatta international airport on the Gold Coast in what was then rainy Queensland. Without any sense of direction or what to do next, I caught a bus to Surfers Paradise to a backpackers hotel and this was the start of my second Australia adventure.

Over the last 2 ½ years I’ve met countless new friends, gained new enemies, travelled to New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Japan and received a masters degree in criminology for a private university. The experiences were rich and fulfilling and even though there were great times, there were also horrible ones as well. Not to say that these experiences have not made me a stronger person, but over the last few years I’ve grown and adapted to call Australia my home far better than the previous time I came as a study abroad student in 2007.

While I did my best to try and stay for an extended period resulted in me switching to a working holiday visa after graduation and allowing me to stay for another year and sadly, at the this time there was no other options for me to stay other then spend more money on education or find a wife. Neither of which I wanted to pursue especially since finances were not viably there and some women just weren’t on the same page as me.

However, I leave for Sydney in New South Wales and then back to the US bringing with me the knowledge I’ve gained and the cultural awareness that this country has given to me as an outsider especially looking back at my home country, the US. While the memories will forever be there, the travel bug hast still definitely got its bite on me and I look forward to coming back here sometime in the next 5 years whether for work or holiday. There are still plenty of countries I would like to visit on this side of the hemisphere and plenty of opportunities to force me out of my comfort zone and into the abyss known as foreign territory.

Australia has been great and if any friends are looking to come down for whatever reason, all I can say is do it. You won’t regret it nor want to leave.

Until then,

Cheers and 再见

-H

Public Transportation vs. Walking

For the past six months while working at Griffith University, something was reconfirmed to me that I have always known throughout my two years of being in Australia, public transportation in Australia is HORRIBLE. It may just be Queensland (aka Translink) or even just the Gold Coast, as I have yet to verify this with Sydney (New South Wales), Melbourne (Victoria) or even Brisbane (Queensland).

Not only do Translink services abruptly stop or Translink bus drivers blatantly miss stops or never show up to stops, but the fact that buses start running earlier/later at certain platforms than others is annoying. They don’t sync up! Moreover, with the Gold Coast being a predominantly tourist population, the system overall is always delayed as tourists are continually asking questions to drivers about what stop to get off of, how much the fare is, and what bus they would take to get to such and such destination.

Working at Griffith University in Southport is an easily fun and equally laid back job, getting to and from work though is a whole other story. For my journey to Southport (20 mins by car), it takes roughly 90 mins to get there by bus with one. This means that working 5 days a week, I waste 450mins (7 ½ hours getting TO work) when if I had a vehicle, I would only be wasting 1 hour. Luckily though, I’ve been able to keep busy with PhD readings, GRE studying, etc. On top of that, because of the timing, I can either get to work an hour early, or be late by 10 mins. Therefore, I also waste 5 hours of down time before I actually start my shift. With Queensland security industry standard pay at $24, I waste $120 sitting around at work before starting,

Now, I clock off at 0400hours every night. HOWEVER, the bus from Griffith University does not start running until 0550hours. This means I have to wait almost 2 hours before I can even get on the bus for another hour of travel before getting home; 3 hours total down time and home by 0730hours. Again, 5 days a week, that's 15 hours of garbage time wasted. So I wanted to experiment with taking the 24-hour bus from Australia Fair shopping centre, which is 4km away from Griffith University.

One night, I decided to walk the 4km to Australia Fair after my 0400hrs shift to catch the 0500hrs bus (24-hour running bus to Gold Coast airport) home. Lo and behold, I was home by 0600hrs and typically in bed by 0630hrs. Crazy and annoying that I can either wait for the bus and be home in bed by 0800 or walk 4km (usually takes me 40mins, I walk fast) and be home and in bed by 0630.

But I guess the better question is why I don’t just go out and get a car…

Anyways, just a random observation (and great workout!)

Until then,

Cheers!

-H

Japan

I realise I haven't taken the time to update my blog much since I've been swamped with my final semester at Bond Uni. Matter of fact, I've completely blown it off! In an effort to make things easier on myself and anyone (and everyone) that reads my blog, I'll be migrating all three (Japan, Australia, Pre-Depart) into one blog with different sections. This will also help with future efforts in blogging about my other adventures I go off on (Bali, China, New Caledonia, New Zealand, etc etc etc).

Much has happened since my 17 days here in Japan (should have only been 7...) and I plan on filling you all in on that. Just as soon as I return... Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Arigatō

-H

Run Forrest, Run!

Today was a pretty slow day. We had a major pub crawl last night (in the process of getting a video and pics done for the blog) and just wanted time today to relax and enjoy life in the slow lane before it picks back up Monday. While it was mainly library time on campus and quick stop at the IGA to pick up some milk and bread, I decided to go for a run.

Now it had been about 2 weeks since my last run (4km) and about a week since my last workout. I've been somewhat slack these last few weeks as student association, post grad association and classes have taken over my life. Luckily the hectic first week of classes are over and I can get back on track with the working out. Speaking of, look out for a blog in the the next day or two about my impression on classes and the education system in Australia.

When I arrived in Australia I had weighed in at 260lbs. At 5'11 I am classified by the BMI chart index as OBESE. However, I could come off as stocky, perhaps big boned? Oh, who am I kidding, I'm fat. Working 50-60 hours a week in the US did not help my health ethic, so I made it a priority to get back on track while down here Australia. Fortunately so far I have dropped close to 20lbs and since my last weigh in (3 weeks ago) stood at 242lbs. This is a huge achievement for myself as I weighed 225 going into WSU in 2004 and would like to get back to that weight and lower.

Tonight I put on my running shoes and decided to just go run. I signed up for a new program called Map My Run as well as downloaded the app for iPhone, as it seemed like the program with the most positive reviews. Needless to say, I ran a 7.10km (4.41mi) in 48:40. Roughly 11 mins a mile and while that's absolutely horrible to a healthy person's standards, that's amazing for me. In the US, I wouldn't dream of even running a block and constantly drove to campus that was merely 10 mins away.

So with that, I hope to be at 230lbs by the time winter rolls around (April-May) and to possibly 210lbs or so by the time August comes through. My ultimate goal is to go sky diving, and at my current weight I would either be paying overweight fees or just denied the option to fly with some companies. I need a catchy motto for this... Something like "Drop the weight and drop out of a plane" or "Double digit goal" (100kg is 220lbs, so 99kg, you get it...). There we go. Stay tuned!

Cheers and 再见！

-H

Movember

In 2007, I became aware of a growing trend on campus that all the men were participating in called "No Shave November". The premise behind it was, well, to not shave at all for the whole month of November. Unfortunately for me, I could not participate because working at Pizza Hut required strict grooming standards. However, come November 2008, I was fully ready to participate and take on the world. I don't grow much hair on my body, but after 30 days of not touching the razor, it became evident that most of that hair grows on my face. Not to mention the feel of a smooth face with some Nivea for men aftershave on December 1st is AMAZING.

Returning home for winter break and Christmas to the family was strange to them as they had no idea what their son was doing. Let alone, the Christmas pictures of their hideously looking child! Come 2009, I participated yet again, this time holding a full time job at AT&T and part time at the night club I worked at. The night club wasn't so bad, but I have a feeling my sales were drastically lower than usual because of that rugged look at AT&T. My boss just rolled his eyes as I let it grow out and asked when I was going to shave, and I promptly told him "Not til December 1st".

It wasn't until last year that I found out the purpose behind "No shave November". The idea of not shaving for the whole month originally was created by a group of Aussies down in Adelaide. The idea was to show support and raise awareness for men's health issues, more specifically prostate cancer and depression. Much like you see someone with a LIVESTRONG bracelet and you immediately now it's for testicular cancer within men, the symbol of not shaving is a way of showing support to those going through health issues.

However, the only difference is down here they call it "Movember". Moustache and November (obviously). So instead of growing your hair out, you just grow out a moustache. It seems a bit bizarre to me, but I am assuming many Aussie men can't grow full beards but only moustaches? Who knows... but now I have to shave everything BUT my moustache until the 1st. Which partially sucks, because after a few days, I look absolutely disgusting with just a moustache. So this year, as always, I'm helping raise awareness for prostate cancer and depression among men! See you on December 1st!

Cheers!

-H

101 ways to scare an Australian

Hey everyone! G'day!

Been awhile since I posted a blog or even a vlog for that matter. But then again, not much has been going on with me. Just going to class, looking for a job and trying my best to get my American pride represented over here! If anyone hears of a job opening let me know!

Halfway through the semester into week 8 right now and time is flying BY QUICK. Just 4 more weeks, done with semester 1 and ready to roll out the 2011 in Australia! I think some mates of mine are thinking of heading down to Sydney to ring in the New Year at the Harbour. So might tag along and do that with them. It'll be pretty amazing.

All is well, but most importantly had a great Friday! Got my second care package in the mail, first being from the lovely dad. Every year, Playboy does a "Girls of the Pac-10" issue. Pac-10 being the conference of universities on the west coast and WSU (my alma mater) being one of those schools. So there you go, a little American lesson for those Aussies reading this. Anyways, one of the bartenders that I used to work with at stubblefields was featured in the issue, so by all means I had to get my hands on a signed copy! Needless to say, my good friend Tricia was able to send me a copy as well as some other goodies (mostly Halloween and Thanksgiving themed since Australians aren't too keen to celebrating and American holiday!).

One of the goodies Tricia sent me was a can of pumpkin. Not any typical American knows what a can of pumpkin is used for, but to Australia, not so much... Therefore, Australian customs had a go at my package to find out what this "can pumpkin" was!

Enjoy! Miss you all!

Cheers.

-H