Days 1&2

I have a lot to say after neglecting to blog last night. I was (and still am) dead tired/getting over jetlag so I said why bother. But I will try to sum it all up thus far:

Day 1 in Perth:

We traveled to Curtin University and sat in a lecture by Kim Collard. He is an amazing Aboriginal man who I have huge respect and admiration for even after a short time. He spoke to us about Aboriginal history, culture, health issues, and overall status of the ethnic group within the country of Australia. It was an awesome lecture and I learned so much that I never would have known about Aboriginals. Mr. Collard taught us about the Aboriginal "skin colors" rules and how wide the disparities are between natives and white Australians in just about every aspect in this country. It's really a shame, and makes me feel as if I should learn more about our own native american populations and the possible disparities that exist in our own country. After that, we toured the University (I equate it to a W&M type campus) and then had lunch in their cafeteria. I paid almost $18 aussie for a small plate of rice and shrimp and a water. So expensive!

The group then traveled back to the city of Perth to go on a quick bus tour led by our guide/aussie prof. Dr. Fairnie as well as a stop over at Kings park. Kings park is a huge park located on a hill overlooking the city skyline. Most of the pictures of Perth city proper are taken from the park; its a beautiful place with manicured lawns and many trees representing each soldier from Perth that died in the first world war. We then went back to the hotel to grab our umbrellas and rain jackets (after getting caught in the daily Perth winter rainstorm) and then headed to an island on the Swan river inhabited by wild Kangaroos. It was really cool to be able to see wild kanga's that really had no care in the world and would let you step right up to them. It started raining cats and dogs, however, so we quickly headed to the nearest bus stop and hopped on the free CAT bus to travel to the Perth mall district (shopping). I did manage to find a few bargain gifts for those back home but won't disclose of those finds here...

Dinner came and we ate at the posh hotel restaurant with a nice guy named Micheal. He is a corporate wellness director and owner of a major wellness company here in Australia. It was an intriguing talk that included Japanese acupuncture (he studied for 4+ years in Japan as an acupuncturist) and his beliefs that corporate wellness is an organic, company wide program as opposed an individual goal. Perhaps he needs to go to the USA and open up a few locations! We then bidded each other G'day and headed to bed.

Day dos:

After an early 7:00am start we all headed in the van to the Clontarf Foundation, a local school that serves to teach aboriginal boys from years 8-12 that aspire to play aussie rules football for the school and further their education. We helped hand out their breakfast of beans and toast and then sat down and talked with the guys for a while. I met one nice student named Roy, an year 11 boy that is a "rover" for the football team (whatever that means...). All of the kids wanted to know whether us Americans wore bullet-proof vests everyday and shoot people in the streets. Apparently they watch a lot of hollywood movies!

Next up was the Western Australian food bank, an organization that provides free breakfasts for over 12,000 underprivileged school children in the state of WA. We toured their packing facilities and learned all about their programs, including "skip rope, not breakfast", a program that encourages students to skip (jump) rope for prizes and certificates as opposed to skipping breakfast. After that we headed to the beaches near Fremantle and hopped out to dip our feet in the Indian Ocean, then drove to Freo' to have lunch and go to the South Fremantle football club in order to watch a training session and talk with their physical therapists. I have never seen a game as peculiar as aussie rules football, that is for sure. However, it was an interesting session and we got to meet Peter Bell, a famous ex-pro footballer. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and here I am now. Tomorrow is not such a busy day, with class all day at Curtin Uni ranging on a few different topics. I am definitely enjoying my time here and still agree that Australian's are the nicest people I have ever met!

Time to go sleep off some jet lag.

G'day.