Australia Day

Currently it is late (yep, that line is back). I got back to Australia on Thursday and, despite exhaustian, I didn't succumb to jetlag because I didn't go to bed until it was properly bedtime and then I slept until afternoon the next day. I'm quite tired now, it's 5am and I haven't slept but it's my own fault for drinking such strong coffee so late at night. So it's all a bit screwed up, I have to work tomorrow night and I'm hoping my 14 hours sleep last night will see me through the day.

I've had an awesome time since being back, now and then I get that "I still call Australia home" song stuck in my head along with images from the old QANTAS ad.
I went into town today and couldn't help grinning madly at so many little things around me and getting super excited when sales assistants were polite to me (I may have scared a few people). I'm glad I came back so close to Australia Day, seeing all the flags and posters is almost like a special "Welcome Home" from the whole country.

There are so many things I've come to appreciate more since living away from home. Some of them I never expected like wheelie bins, sealed roads, supermarkets with labeled isles, waxing parlours and "discount variety stores".

I really did intend to write more entries while I was OS but, whilst away from home, I realised that the blogs people really enjoy reading are those about monotonous, everyday things they can relate to but given a humourous twist. Sorry folks, but it's true. You have a look t the blogs you read and the entries you find funniest and you'll agree.

Ciao for now a tutti, please excuse typos as I'm just getting back into the habit of using an Australian keyboard again. (After getting so annoyed with the ones in Italy, who'd have thought I'd actually grown acustomed to them)

Need a bit o' help

Can I ask a question to y'all out there in cyber space? How do I put pictures in my blog? Furthermore, how do I put links in so that people can click on them and the site pops as oposed to just having them as part of the text that people have to then copy&paste them?

What I'm going home to

It has come to my attention that most of the blogs I've been posting have negative ones, I haven't put in an awful lot about what I've been doing in Italy, what I've seen and all that jazz. Sorry about that ladies and gents, my trouble is that my blog is my way of getting things off my chest.
So, today's post will be a nice one.

I just finished reading this article: http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=334188
and I thoguht it was brilliant, it sums up what I believe are the real Australian values. It made me very proud to know I come from this country, will soon be going home to it and living with such a friendly group of people.

Now, I know I should write something positive about Italy too but, as I've said, I tend to put the bitchy things in the blog and the nice things in my letters home.
So, it's been very exciting living in Italy. I've learned to appreciate a lot of what I have and don't have and can now look at things in my own life as an outsider might because I've seen how things can be done differently.
No doubt that all sounds very clichè, but who cares? It's true.

My favourite thing about living here, funnily enough, has been my Italian lessons. That is, Italian as a Second Language. The class is after school two days a week and there are only two other people in the class, a girl from Japan and a girl from Thailand. The lessons can be hard because they're taught in Italian but we (the students) are all on an equal footing, all of us are learning Italian and are a little shaky with it. Unlike with my Italian classmates who can all speak English, the conversatinos are slow but enjoyable and we feel like we've accomplished something at the end. (And we have, we've crossed three language barriers to communicate with each other)

What I miss most

I'm about to break the Code, everyone. You all know what I'm talking about, all kids live by this Code and continue to live by it until they become parents when it still exists but the meaning has changed a little for them. The Code is this: Vegetables are the enemy.

I MISS VEGETABLES SO MUCH! I just finished my dinner and realised that for the past week (maybe longer) I have been craving carrots. Fresh carrots and lettuce and celery! Fresh veggies don't exist here, they have no place in italian society and the food mafia has made damn sure they don't show faces in this country again. Here there are tomatoes, cheese and pasta. Now the Italians have done great things with their food, don't get me wrong, and desserts here amazing. But everything's cooked, I'm not used to that. I'm an Aussie and fresh veggies and I are like this: *imagine two fingers crossed over each other*. Like that!
But, for the next three weeks, I have to live without them.

I swear I could kill that food mafia.