School is out and ISP begins

Since I last wrote, we have taken our final exam, packed up, said bye to the group, and moved out of Byron Central Apts to finally begin our 5 week independent study projects. I left the group when there were 6 weeks left in the program, and we will meet up again when there are 6 days left.

Me and my friend Michelle headed to Mullumbimby (about 20 min north) to stay with Tamar, Ami, and their kids Joy and Eden for 3 nights. This is a picture of their backyard. We played, watched movies, and basically relaxed from the very stressful last week of flood damage and finals.

One morning when I was talking on the phone outside their house, this scene even floated over my head. In conclusion, Mullumbimby was great. The highlight was when we got invited to a jam session by one of Tamar's friends-- little did we know it would be a group of professional musicians hanging out and playing beautiful Indian music together in one of their homes in the middle of the rainforest. Unbelievable. One of these pictures is of that scene.

We left Mullumbimby Sunday morning and headed back to Byron for the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival. It was amazing, long (12 hours), and muddy-- but we saw excellent acts like Ruthie Foster, Blues Traveler, Drive By Truckers, State Radio, Lucinda Williams, and John Butler Trio. It was a great time, and all of the hipsters from all of Australia were there.

Oh! I forgot to mention where we are living right now. It is very funny. We are in a brand new hostel basically right down the road from our old apartments. It is kind of fancy and ridiculous and not our style, but we are enjoying it because we are in a 6-person dorm room with our own bathroom and balcony which is -as of this moment- empty. Not so bad for Easter weekend in Byron Bay!

So BluesFest was great, and today we are hanging out in Byron Bay, going to the market, getting our lives organized before really heading out tomorrow. I am going on an 830am bus to Brisbane and then catching a train to Eudlo to live here for 2ish days with my adviser for my research project- Sonya. My goal is to get a much better picture than I have now of where I'm going with this project, and what I need to do, so I don't waste too much time doing it. Thursday I leave for Brisbane, where I am staying for 3 days with a kid from the program and then on the 19th I take the train down to Sydney for 10 days of project-working-on and traveling there.

So that is the plan! I hope it goes well. I kind of think it will, though, there is no real evidence for that. Either way, I am ready to get this thing started, and keep on moving. I am now also officially leaving the country June 9th -a week earlier than expected- which is exciting and gives me plenty of time in NZ and just what I need! In conclusion, I think things will work out as they should, and I hope everyone is going well (not a typo, Australian way of saying doing well), and talk to you soon!

Also, in meeting several Israelis-in-Australia over the past few days, I have learned a few new expressions for this subculture-- one is Ausraeli, and the other is CHaustralia (emphasizing the hebrew sound -ch-). All great. For a few more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075861&id=9803563&l=3eacdbd2e8