Margaret River and Other Updates

Well folks, a lot has been happening down under in Australia. I know, you're all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for some pretty great updates, so here they come...

Job Update:

Remember way back when I first got my job?!! Yeah, it was almost a month ago now! Well, when you ask God for something, He sure listens! Not only did I get a job, I've been working close to 20 hours a week! Really great for getting the hours and getting money; however, it's lead to me having to miss out on group activities. Since I don't like missing out on stuff, I'll probably be quitting soon. We also have finals coming up so that's another big factor.

Each day I'm at work I typically get asked about my nationality, and the few tables that don't ask me about it are definitely thinking about asking but are too afraid. Usually it goes like this,

Scenario #1: "Hello, my name is Christine and I'll be one of your servers today."
                   Response: "SERVER? You must be Canadian, eh?"
                   "Ummm....no. But you are close, I'm from MN in the United States."
Scenario #2: "Would you like some water?" (pronounced wAter ...'A' sounds like the 'A' in cAt)
                   Response: "You mean , wAHter?" (pronounced 'AH' like you're opening your mouth at the              dentist)
Scenario #3: They just cut right to the chase with "Where in Canada are ya from?"
Scenario #4: "Oh, you must be (insert nationality here) ..... (so far I've gotten, Welsch, Irish, British, Canadian, and on rare occasions...American)

.....and the list goes on and on, but I think you get the point. Needless to say, not a day goes by that I haven't been drilled about my nationality. I've started to make it a game, and tables have started putting cash bets on it (ok well, not actually cash, but close, they have been betting to see who guesses correctly.)

Another thing about work. I know I mentioned that people don't leave tips in Australia. HOWEVER, I have found that when you use your MN nice, you are able to get tips. Let's just say that people appreciate American style service (aka, you actually check up on the tables to see how they're doing) and they reward my efforts for doing so.

Well, I haven't only been working. I have been managing to have some fun mixed in as well. The other weekend (May 11-13) a large group of us St. Ben's girls went down South to Margaret River. This area of the country is about 3 hours south of Fremantle in Western Australia. It is known for its rad surfing and divine wine country. The area is absolutely gorgeous. Just picture that scene from 'The Parent Trap' (new version) when they are on the dad's vineyard property. Pretty much describes how I felt all weekend!

These are shots from two different vineyards, but there were rows upon rows of grape vines. Such an amazing process. It takes around 4 years to grow established plants that are even capable of producing wine!

 We road tripped down south in 3 cars and Kaylee was once again our faithful driver leading the pact (and I was the handy dandy navigator...mind you we made 0 U-turns while I was in command!)
We ended up staying in a few little Holiday Cottages tucked away in the heart of wine country and we enjoyed that alone time quite a bit in the evenings. It was a nice break to sit back and relax (haha with a little drama mixed in as well!)

On Saturday, the big group went on a wine tour which took us to 3 vineyards, 1 brewery, a cheese tasting, as well as a chocolate tasting, and it finished off the day with a cocktail tasting. Each vineyard had their own style of wines, both red and white, and with a little lesson in wine appreciation, we were well on our way to an enjoyable day after the tasting began. I realized that I am a white wine drinker because they are typically sweeter in taste, and we all know I like my sweets!! The dessert wines were especially tasty! We got to take this bus around all day that drove us from place to place which was extremely convenient, especially for keeping all 20 girls together and on track.

All the wine glasses lined up for our tasting (20 girls)

The woman at this winery was a bit crazy...see below

She told us to listen to the wine, it would "speak" to us...aka it was a fizzy wine that had bubbles haha

We got to have lunch overlooking one of the vineyards....that is Kangaroo meat on the far left!

Kaylee and I split a beer tasting at the brewery. It is amazing to taste all the variations on the brewing of beer. Makes you appreciate the art of brewing a lot more.

CHEEEEEEESE sampling :) (one of my favorite foods!)

At the chocolate factory they had these bowls of chocolate samplings. Needless to say, the Bennies got their pockets full of samples :)

Dad, I almost bought this for you!

Kaylee and I at the Chocolate Co.

This was the guy who was kind of a pain in the caboose because he was really sexist; HOWEVER, he had us taste some mighty fine cocktails!

While we were at the many wineries, us being girls, had to take some time for a few photo shoots. We all dressed extra cute for the occasion, so naturally we had to thoroughly document it.

The next day was Sunday, which meant it was time to head back up to school. We really wanted to see the ocean before we left. Since it had been kind of chilly we had decided not to go to the beach just to lay out, but we really wanted to go at least see it because we had heard that the coastline was absolutely gorgeous. After a few wrong turns, we were driving over the hill and literally were overtaken by the beauty of the breathtaking coastline. Out of nowhere came these amazing views of the ocean. We stopped and all ran out to the water and watched as wave after wave crashed onto the rocky terrain. The tide was moving in, but that didn't stop are young, wild, and free spirits as we climbed out to edge of the rockface. Seriously, these pictures only begin to capture the immense feeling of freedom we felt as the oceanic mist sprayed our faces. One of the most memorable moments of our trip thus far. See for yourself...

Alright, so here's some proof that I was actually there!!!

Contemplating the beauty

Young, Wild, and Free!!!

We made our way back to Fremantle, and after a brief call home, I hit the hay, completely exhausted.

These past few weeks since Margaret River have mostly been filled with work and school. We played a netball game last week in which we achieved our first win!! As Joe Pekarna (a member of our team) said, "The P&O Netball Team (our team)...beating Australians at their own game since 2012." I thought he was awfully clever with that one. We lost our final game tonight; however, we played a great season. Picking up and learning to play a game that we hadn't even heard of before Australia is quite the accomplishment. I am proud to say that I was in charge of planning the team and organising it along with the help of my roommate Kaylee. It was a great effort on everyone's parts and we had quite the dedicated team of players as well as supporters cheering us on week after week.

Well everyone this post is getting lengthy so I think I'll cap it off there for now.  Today Kaylee and I volunteered in a Kindie (aka Kindergarten class) and it was an amazing experience!! I think I will make one more additional post about it though because I know this one is a bit long now.

Look forward to that in the next few hours :)

Love and miss you all!!!
~Christine bean