Surfs Up

Don't worry . . . that's not me.

But, like the image perhaps suggests, we did learn how to surf this past weekend.  Learning may be a slight exaggeration, but Callie and I did attend the Manly Surf School where we we received a very elementary introduction to the basic concepts and procedures necessary to balance upon a small unstable board as a mass of water propels you violently towards the shore.  It's a lot harder than it looks . . . and it looks hard already.  Undeterred by the difficulty, we enjoyed the experience and afterwards met up for lunch with a Rotary ambassadorial alumni who actually lives in Manly.  The rest of the weekend was primarily spent preparing for exams and working on papers, all of which was not nearly as fun as attempting to surf.

We attended the Rotary District President's Dinner on Friday night to formally farewell the out-going ambassadorial scholars who are leaving at the end of the semester, and we also enjoyed Alabama's exciting, albeit nerve-racking, win against LSU.  Callie has recently been working on danishes and breads, and beyond that, things are pretty normal.  Australia has been euphoric this past week in light of Obama's election, while simultaneously being mildly devastated after losing to India in cricket.  I'll officially be finished with my first semester on Wednesday as exams conclude, and this weekend we have the Rotary Charity Regatta, a high-class, yacht race fundraiser for Sydney's Children's Hospital Randwick, along with a trip to the Blue Mountains.  Hopefully I'll do better on my finals than we did learning how to hang ten.