What's been "up" for me lately

Happy holidays people.

If you aren't on holidays, I'm sorry. I hope they come swiftly for you.

I'm currently on my long weekend, which is the end of quarter holiday here. All the dorm except 4 guys travelled back home or to family. I got back from my hike on Saturday, and have some time to update you on life here. Yay.

Well to start stuff off, it's the League of Legends World Championships!! GO TSM!

Ok, I have that out of my system now (calms self down).

All the blue pens that I brought with me from Aus have been lost :'(. O well, the school has a stockroom where I can buy heaps of supplies (goes and buys 4 blue pens the next day).

Speaking of Australian supplies, my food stockpile is still going strong. I have more than half the amount of that golden substance left, and have opened the liquorice. To protect the rest of my supplies, I will keep their identities and hiding place confidential. 

If you do want some though, just ask nicely :)

Lately I've been thinking about what it will be like when I arrive back at the airport. If it will be like it is in movies, where everyone will start crying or we all just say hi and head off to McDonalds (almost certain about the Maca's run though). Either way, I'm sure it's going to be a very special moment that I will remember for a long time.

A bit of an update about the stress. I found that I can't see the difference between relaxation, procrastination or time wasting. When I try to take some time off work, I just keep thinking about it. I plan what I need to do, how to do it then start to worry about the deadline. I feel that my time management has been ok, but I really struggle to just not do work.

I heard a quote that said "time you enjoyed wasting, wasn't wasted". it may just be a problem that I'm not enjoying my time wasting. 

Regret is an issue I find I face more of everyday. It can be as simple as missing a photo opportunity, but I get worried that I am missing out. Missing out on the opportunities I have here. Missing out on ways to share this experience with you. 

In my previous update blog, I talked about my priorities and how they had changed. To be honest, I realised that I have been prioritising work too much. The realisation came when I thought I had missed the basketball tryouts because I went back to dorm to do school work (but I hadn't missed teh try-outs. Phew...). Before last week I had tried to get my work in on time and get good grades, but I am now more open minded to other things going on.

There was a dorm dance competition a couple of weeks ago. All the dorms made a dance routine, danced and choreographed by the students. My dorm East House came 3rd place out of the 16 dorms. All of us were awarded 100 rupees every week. 

I didn't take part in the dance, but everyone else in the dorm participated one way or another. 

The dance practises they had were always when I was just going to bed, so I never took part in them.

This is one of those regrets I have. 

I tried out for the school basketball team last week. There were a lot of guys there who were better than me, so I don't expect I'll get in. Let's just say that I was putting the 'try' in 'try-out'.

I'll have a go at cricket when it comes up later this year. 

I heard through the media that there is a new Prime-minister of Australia, who's currently bunking with another MP whilst the lodge gets renovations due to possum infestation (is that really true? if so, lol). 

I saw that there's a petition going around that wants the government to change their national broadband plan. 

If you could pass on any info about what's doing on Down Under, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm sure google news can't show me everything. 

A bit more than a week ago, last weekend, everyone in dorm was watching a ghost movie. I accidentally walked in on them as they were watching. It must have been during a really tense part because they all screamed when I opened the door behind them. I just stood there laughing at them.

I came and watched the rest of it with them. 

There was one very spooky part of the film.
One of the symptoms (is that the right word) of the haunting in the film is that all the clocks in the house stop working at 3:07. Ofcourse, we just happened to be watching that part right when it was 3:07. When one of the guys pointed it out we all went crazy. Waiting and hoping that the clock wouldn't stop.

It sounds very silly when writing it down, but when it was happening, it was terrifying. 

As my time for departure begins to approach, my thought of home have changed a bit from before. I feel that going home is a lot more bitter sweet. I feel a lot more comfortable here, and the sense of family continues to grow. 

There's a hiking analogy here that it's not about distance but displacement. It originally was meant that on school hiking trips, you always end up back at school. It doesn't matter about how fast you do it, or the way. I feel like that applies for my exchange as well. In my journey, I started from Melbourne and it will end there as well. I don't need to try make it go fast, and I may travel a long way. But it doesn't matter how difficult I make it, it matters how I enjoy and make the most of it. When you enjoy a hike more, you see more, talk more, and time passes. There is nothing worse than hiking and feeling like time is going slow.

I just want to mention something about tourists. 

On the way to school, there's a tourist bus stop. I sometimes see tourists with large packs on waiting outside the place for their bus. I always wonder if one of them could be from Australia. I don't ask, there's many other places in the world that they may be from, but I could hope. 

I always wonder what it is like for them. I am fortunate to live here for 6 months. They are traveling, see more of the world than me, but don't get to experience life here. They come to experience Kodai for a while, but I live here. Am I jealous of them, are they jealous of me? I think it's a bit of both. If I had the opportunity to do both (travel AND live), I'd definitely choose it. 

That's about it for the deep and spiritual part of the update (takes a sigh of relief).

On saturday this week, I am leaving for 7 days on a school field trip. 

I'm heading to Kerala, which is a state just west of Tamil Nadu on the west coast of India.

It's called the Mad River field trip. I will be canoeing and doing community service for a week. 

It should be a lot of fun, but definitely a challenge for my little stick-insect arms. 

And last but not least... the weather!

How is it in your part of the world?

I think it's getting colder here, but not really sure.

It's foggy a lot. Right now it is 1 o'clock, and has been densely foggy for an hour and a half. The mornings are wonderful. Bright and clear but the days are greyer. Walking back from lunch, you could only see the headlights of the cars and motor cycles. 

Taken at 1:09:23:65 to be precise

It also rains in the afternoons and evenings.

At night I just like to listen to the bugs, beetles and bus sounds from outside as I fall asleep.

A picture that I think is along the right lines
of what it's like to lie and listen. 

Ok, now for the short study summary (tl;dr):

• It's the LoL World Championship!
• Australian supplies are going well
• Thinking about the airport, if it will be all emotional like it is in movies
• Don't know the difference between relaxation, procrastination and time wasting
• Have regrets about not sharing enough with you
• My dorm got 3rd place in a dance competion I didn't help with
• Tried out for the basketball team
• Heard about the new PM, would like to get your opinions on it.
• Dorm watched a horror movie and we wet ourselves
• Coming home feels a lot more bitter sweet than before
• I see tourists, hope that one of them is an Aussie
• Off on field trip for a week of canoeing and community service
• The weather is progressively getting worse

Wow, that was a lot of stuff to talk about

I hope you all have a great week, whether you are on holidays or not. 

I would greatly appreciate hearing about any news from people back home. 

You can tell me at:

comanduash@gmail.com

Also, here's my flickr account if you want to check out some the picture's

I've been taking: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100009578@N03/

Finally, if you would prefer shorter, more frequent blogs just tell me. 

I just prefer to do everything in one hit, but if you don't have to read everything

then just let me know. Thanks

P.S. Word count of 1606 words. That's more than my psychology essay!