50 Days

Just a quick update on things that have been happening! 
Last Sunday was the 2 month mark for my departure and it was also the day of the Geocaching SA Quiz event! It was a really great day and I picked up some really awesome path tags and a badge for my blazer. 

My Table: the winners table! Winners of 7th place no less! 

Everyone!

Probably the biggest event lately however would be Dad coming home! He has been home for almost 2 weeks now and it is so great having him home again!

Clay was so cute, he kept trying to lick dad's face! 

I have officially finished school now, I spent 3 days at a child care doing work experience but today was my last day so now I can focus on my Finnish and other important things like watching BONES and Gossip Girl! Holidays <3 I have started to pack though, its so exciting, I have my final briefing on Saturday which means I get my blazer! 

I won't start really packing till after Christmas though because besides all the mess Christmas normally makes, I just want to focus on having an awesome Christmas then worry about packing for A WHOLE YEAR!! I have started to get a few pre-exchange jitters, I'll get really scared for just a few minutes and then it will be like 10 minutes later that i'll actually realise that it was my exchange that made me scared! With all the Christmas stuff going on it also made me sad to think of the birthdays and holidays that i'll miss, but to quote my sister: "but you'll be in FINLAND!" I have been trying to think more like this but its expected that I will be a bit sad. Christmas is by far my favourite holiday and the realisation that is my last with my family for a long time has had me a bit down in the last few days. 

Other exciting things that have been happening include my friend Aiesha who left for her Europe/Asia tour last tuesday! The group are going to Shanghai, Zurich, Vienna, Rome and Tokyo! We had a bit of a farewell thing for her on Monday but all my photos came out blurry! If you are from these cities wave at the big group of teenagers with blue jackets on! :)

We also made gingerbread houses in Home Ec class on the last Thursday, they were so much fun! I love to make stuff and I hope to make more crafty food things in the holiday, I actually made a new blog for all that sort of stuff which you should all check out because its pretty cool ;) http://peculiarprojects.blogspot.com I know its a kind of lame name, I'll change it when I think of something more creative! 

You also may have noticed that I have given my blog a major facelift, I made it simpler looking because my old theme was giving me a headache! Too many colours, I like it simpler! What do you guys think?  

First day of summer was a bit of a fail, top of 22 degrees :P hahaha I hope it gets hotter fast!! Its weird to think that next year I'll be having a white christmas! All my CS friends have been commenting on the snow they've been getting and to think that won't be weird soon! 

As you may know I am a Geocacher (if you dont; read this earlier post) Anyway an anonymous Geocacher put little presents out for heaps and heaps of the SA Geocachers under the name SecretSantaGeocacher and we got a really adorable little Bike geocoin. It was such lovely thing to do for the community and really meant a lot to many teams. 

Sunset as we went our retrieve our gift 

Isn't it cute! 

So my little virtual sticky notes inform me I have covered all my points of interest, I never blog this thoroughly! Ahhh well its good practice for when im in Finland!! I have just realised I have posted once in between my 100 days to go and my 50 days to go! LAME, I promise I will try and do better. 

2 days till Final Briefing

23 days till Christmas

50 days till Finland

223 days till Harry potter (yah I know its sad im already counting)

June Long Weekend

I have been putting off this post for a while and I have no idea why!
Over the long weekend the whole family went up to Jamestown which is near Clare in the Barossa Valley. It was for the annual Geocaching long weekend event. If you don't have a clue what i'm talking about, check it out here. It is normally the best thing that happens in the year after Christmas and maybe birthdays :)


On the Friday we spent most of the morning packing and then we slowly made our way up and we found about 35 caches on the way with Team Ermalesh. On the Saturday dad had a few committee duties and then we went around and did the quiz and hid our cache up in Bundaleer forest. On the way up I was filming all the surrounds and forgot to watch where I was stepping and I tripped over this huge log and fell on my face, everyone though it was hilarious but my leg still hurts. Apart from that the Bundaleer forest was lovely, it also had this weird structure made out of scrap pieces of metal that doubled as a musical instrument!

Sunday was the actual event day where we went off and found all the game caches. It was just Mum, Amy and I and we started off pretty slow because we picked a cache that had gone missing so we wasted heaps of time trying to find it :( Then we went into the forest and sort of teamed up with Anja, Marty and Adrian and did all the forest caches with them. There was one cache that was 1km up a hill, needless to say it wasn't much fun! The view was spectacular though, I took heaps of video over the weekend, it was such a picturesque little town. We didn't place very well but we all had a great time bashing around in the forest with everyone. The highlight for me was the presentation night, it was very different from other years, we'd swapped the quiz for Red Faces acts and they were all great! We had a Kath and Kim act and some Geo-songs and it was also a mad hatter tea party so we were supposed to wear funny hats and some of the hats were so good! Another highlight was the dinner on Saturday night, freddo had made these place mats and after a while everyone started making them into paper planes and you couldn't walk two inches without getting hit or stepping on a plane, it was insane! 

Overall it was a great weekend but I ended up very sick because of it! :( This is definitely very high up in the list of things I will miss when I'm in Finland. 

As you may have also noticed, I have given my blog a massive face lift! I think this design is much nicer and I like having the Nav Bar up the top because it makes it easier to follow people. Please follow and comment! I love getting comments from people how I haven't seen or talked to in a while, it makes my day! 

I have done quite a bit of exchange related stuff lately, I bought some Aussie stuff yesterday just a scarf, a flag and some tattoos. I'm buying it all now because theres heaps to choose from because of the soccer and I'm going to miss all the Australia Day sales. My passport is still being completed, it turns out its not as straightforward as one thought! I have also joined the cultures shocked forum and it has given me so much advice already! Its basically a forum for anyone who's been on an exchange or about to and even parents of exchangers! Its really good for advice on packing and what to get your host families and you can get lots of inside info on your country. One member who went to Finland a few years ago told me about Name Day  its like a second birthday and each name has their own day! Julia's name day is on April 12th, I think its pretty cool! I also found out that the most successful volleyball coach in Finland is a Kosonen! I think having a Finnish last name in Finland is going to be cool! It'll be like I fit in :) If only I looked more like my sister! Mum says she looks a lot more European than I do, even though I look more like dad, weird....

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with Bianca to get some formal clothes that I can wear to Rotary functions when I'm over there, I also have to make sure that it goes nicely with a green blazer! I actually have two rotary functions coming up, one for the Norwegian girl that is in my district at the moment and the other is the hand over dinner where the President of the club (also my counselor) hands over to the new president. These should be fun because i'll get to meet everyone! 

Anyway I have no doubt you are sick of reading by now, so I shall say goodbye, till next time!


p.s. Thanks to everyone who I stole photos from