Exploring.

My second week was all about settling down and exploring the neighborhood. Since it hadn't rained for months, the obvious thing to happen was "for me to bring the rain with me from Finland"...right. So it has been raining for a week now excluding a few sunny days in between.

Early Monday morning Rhona left for work so I got a ride with her to school, which is located in Burleigh Heads. Across the street there's a shopping centre and a lot of other stores, including Rip Curl and Billabong, in separate buildings. I adventured for a few hours and bought some goods (which I absolutely needed..) until I HAD TO go back to MSQ (The Massage Schools of Queensland) for a shiatsu massage. Shiatsu is Japanese for "finger pressure;" it is a type of alternative medicine consisting of finger and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. It was my first time having a shiatsu massage and I found it really relaxing. Later that day, Arttu took me sightseeing. Since it was raining, our options were kinda limited, so we drove along the coast whilst my guide pointed out places that were to be taken into account. I can't remember half of the things I saw or any names of the places we drove pass but I'll blame it on the foggy windows...We did however go to a huge surfer kinda clothing, accessory and board shop somewhere far away from where we came :D Arttu being an expert on the whereabouts of outlets, he managed to restrain me from buying anything in haste. Though they did have a SALE on the upper level... :) We had lunch and drove to Robina to see a movie.

 
Pics from the Rip Curl shop.


Kerry is a member of the Kudos health club,  http://www.kudoshealthclub.com.au/ , the most exclusive gym on the Gold Coast. He was kind enough to get me a 7 day pass, so I got to keep up my exercise. Arttu came to the gym with me on Tuesday and I've been going there since. I was also provided a personal trainer session with a pro PT for 21 years. It was fab! The club fee is a bit out of my student budget but luckily I found Team Spreets (like CityDeal in Finland) and got a months pass to a fitness club for only $17 (~12€)!! And it's at walking distance from school.

I had to get myself a GoCard (public transport pass, like the Finnish Matkakortti) to get around. Upon the arrival of the bus I indicated to the driver...with my right hand :D It was really weird getting on the bus from the "wrong" side :P More excitement to the journey brought the feeling that I wasn't completely sure where I was going to get off and that I didn't know the surroundings at all. Luckily the bus drivers here are very helpful and talkative (not like in Finland where they hardly even great you and when you ask them for directions they have no idea what you're talking about...if they even speak Finnish at all...) so I've managed to get from place to place :) The only problem with the public transport on the Gold Coast is that it SUCKS!! Coming from Helsinki, with probably the best public transport in the world, this just seemed unbelievable! A journey you travel in 15 minutes by car can take up to 2h by bus here, depending on where you're going and what the weather happens to be. As soon as it stops raining I'm going to get myself a bike! Btw, I do have my skateboard with me but that's not much help in the rain, now is it.

I also paid my first visit to a local supermarket this week. It's always as much fun grocery shopping in a foreign country when you don't recognise any of the products. You simply have to try something to know what you like and don't like. Luckily i had my guide with me again. I gave him the task of collecting the supplies needed for lunch while I had a look around. The first thing I noticed was the bread selection. Or should I say heaps of PULLAMÖSSÖLEIPÄÄ!! :D (sorry you non-Finnish speakers, tough luck, ey?) Dear Finland, smuggle me some ruisleipää, please.

Nuff said.

I thought this was something from Mary Poppins but apparently some parents actually let their kids have this nutritious syrup apple. On a stick.

I was appalled to see that bananas cost $13/kg until I was told that it's because there were huge floods in 3 states, the size on Germany and France put together, that destroyed most of the banana fields in the beginning of the year of 2011. So yet again Finland, monkey food, please :)

Then we came to the cash desk. I made a complete fool of myself not knowing the Australian supermarket custom. At least I made the cashiers day and Arttu, ones again, had a blast.

On Friday I decided to take a run around the neighborhood to explore some more. I ran for about 40 minutes and found the most amazing places. I am very lucky to live in such a beautiful place and with a coolio skate park just around the corner ;)

I've also heard a lot of comments about my American (some say Canadian) accent and especially Rhona has been working her abs laughing at my pronunciation. Haven't you, exökjuutive drive :)

It's Saturday night and the rugby game is on. Since I don't know anything about this national sport, Rhona introduced me to a thing called "the haka", a traditional maori war cry (dance) performed by the New Zealand All Blacks before the game to intimidate the opponent. It's difficult to describe it more than that but I can assure you, anything you can find on YouTube is not even close to Rhonas imitation :D

That's all for now, but make sure you stay tuned for more jolly stories from The Gold Coast :)

x Ninni