weeks 4 and 5 (on the lack of dryers and how awesome the sky is here)

So, as promised, I have been lax on my blog for awhile. But, now i'm back! Yay... at present the internet situation is tough. Ryan and I have succesfully found a place to live- with 3 Australian nurses: Nicola, Jess, and Jacqui. They are quite wonderful people. And the house we just moved into is fully furnished, has 5 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and 3 toilets. It's pretty darn amazing. But they don't have wireless internet, just this little external modem thingee that plugs into the USB port of the computer. So we have to share this little USB thingee, and it has a limitied amount of information transfer. Meaning we can't be on it for hours every night and I can't upload any pictures or download music, etc.
I can however spend 15 minutes bloggin right now.
So, the house. We met these girls about 2 weeks ago. Ryan posted an add on gumtree.com (the craigs list of Australia) saying a little about us, with a picture (not sure how we didn't scare them away from the start) and saying we were looking for a place to live for 9 ish months.
These girls emailed her, I called them on my cell phone (yes, i have a phone... I'll give you the number if you ask nicely). We met them for drinks/coffee and then moved in with them at their old house. Yep, we moved in with them last week and stayed in their spare room on their spare mattress (it wasn't overly comfortable, but it worked). Then, we moved into this place 3 days ago. It's part of the athlete's village that was built for the commonwealth games here a few years ago. Very fittng for me, I know.
Speaking of athletics, I am now coaching 3 times a week. And for the most part the kids are little brats. All 3 venues are like preppy private schools (so it's like a mini-rolly colly crowd). And some of the kids are just way too energetic and obnoxious. One of them decided to repeat everything i was saying for about a half hour. Still, the people who I co-coach with are pretty awesome, and i get paid reasonably.
I also think I'm going to start rowing again soon, Richmond Rowing club is located on the Yarra in the middle of Melbourne. It's an awesome location (pictures will be up when I can manage it). I rowed with them once (well rowed/coxed/coached) with the novice/development squad. And I'm going back again next Sunday hopefully to get back out on the water. I'm super excited.
Now, for the dryer situation. The silly study abroad kids should have mentioned that no one here has a dryer... boo. So everything has to be hung on lines outside. And a) it's winter so it's cold and b) it rains a lot and c) I'm hardly ever home. So it basically is quite an ordeal to do laundry.
Next thing. The sky here is better. Almost everytime I walk outside I'm kinda struck by how clear the clouds look, or how much better the colors are, or just how much clearer, crisper, fresher, better the sky looks. I know that sounds weird, but it's like everywhere else there's a film between us and the sky, and here, the film is removed. That could have something to do with the missing ozone layer? (i hear you can get sunburnt here in 15 minutes flat) or maybe there's less pollution? or maybe it's just a bottom of the world type thing. But, the sky here is indeed better...
Anyway, this is the short/annotated version of my life. If you want more details get in touch. If you want to send me some love my address is 91 parkville ave, parkville, Victoria, 3052. I'd love letters or postcards or anything... i miss my peeps. haha, but really.
I'll try to be better about posting (if indeed anyone is actually reading this...) But until then, spare a thought for me in the dryerless land of better skies.