Anyways, off track. Australia has been good to me so far. A nice, “big” spider decided to welcome me just the other day. Of course I know this isn’t the largest around here but I can still see the segments of its body. IT’S TOO DAMN BIG! Not to mention it decided to scurry around a bit when I was trying to get a picture. That thing is fast! And today there happens to be a smaller one on the wall I’m facing, behind a picture frame. Ahhh, the joys. I’m just going to let it be until someone else decides to trap it or it attacks me, whichever comes first.

Louie seemed happy to see me when I got here. He let me cuddle him for a bit and has been spending quite a lot of time in our room. Daniel’s mum got some baskets for me to put my clothes in and happened to grab a few extra. Louie really seems to love them. He’ll fall asleep in one and then I’ll carry him around while he purrs. He finally seems more lovey. Just what I wanted. There still seems to be a tiny battle about feeding him (When he needs food, how much he gets, what kind). I also think he’s having a problem with furballs. I’ll be taking him to the vet sometime soon for a check-up so I’ll be asking about it then. Maybe I’ll ask about a job there, too!

And finally, Daniel. He was so happy to see me. He’s still in that stage of “OH MY GOD SHE’S HERE” where as I’m in the stage of, “I never left, what are you talking about? Get off of me!” It really feels like I never left, which is odd since I’ve been gone for 6 months. It is still really great to finally be with him again! And this time we know it’s “forever”. I’m really not a lovey person but I know I love him. We plan on moving out of his mum’s place shortly after I get a job. I can’t wait for that next step. I hope it’ll work out well for us. Once we know it’s working, maybe more “next steps” will happen!

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading!

-Ciera

Front, June 2011

Front hair up, June 2011

Side hair up, June 2011

I wish it was a bit shorter but it’s scary to do myself and Daniel is too afraid to mess up. I still really like it, though. And I love that it’s pretty much hidden unless my hair is up! It makes me feel like I have a secret. xD

I attended Slutwalk on Saturday. Unfortunately I don’t have my own photos. I left my camera battery at home! Fortunately, a friend I went with took a few pictures. I also was lucky enough to meet someone from the 2nd season of Beauty and the Geek Australia. Now I’m in the process of begging him to show me his photos so I can steal some of me to put in my gallery. Anyways, it was really fun to attend. Since it was cold, not many people dressed up for the event. I actually think more men dressed up than woman. It was amazing how many men were there!! It seems to be split in half: men/women. There were some very moving speeches as well. I have to admit, I wasn’t 100% into the whole thing but I’m still very glad I attended. I might get more into next time.

I’ll be leaving for the USA in just a little over 17 days. There are a lot of things I need to get done for the partner visa I’m wanting to get next, plus packing. I can fit it all into the next few weeks, I’m just feeling stressed about it all. I wish Daniel could take some of the load off but he’s really busy with his exam weeks for uni.

Long distance relationships are really tough. I want to be excited about coming back home but being in the US means Daniel and I have to be apart soon. We cried about it last night… 2 months before the inevitable day. This parting is going to be the worst, hands down.

I think that’s it for now. Until next time,
-Ciera

Well, I’ve made it a month in Australia. I knew I would considering my last visit here was 3 months long ! It’s been really great here. Of course there’s been down days but I wouldn’t change anything about it! During the weeks I’ve been doing things to keep my self busy including looking for jobs and visiting Daniel at work. At least one day during the weekend is spent as a ‘date day’. On those days we usually go out all day and enjoy our time together. I’m so thankful we have the weekends to spend so much time together!

This week I spent most of the time at home. Normally that would make me feel a bit upset but I stayed busy enough to feel like I accomplished something. I managed to finish all the friendship bracelets I was working on. I also wrote some letters and made some necklaces for my brother and sister. On Thursday, Daniel’s mum managed to talk me into going grocery shopping with her. We got ingredients for tacos! They were really good ! Daniel was on a fun go-carting trip that his office does. I wish I could have gone! On Friday, I went into the city to visit my man at work. While together, we set up his part of our joint bank account. Then we went to the post office so I could send everything I worked on. After that, we went and got lunch at KFC. So healthy, right?!

This weekend we decided to just spend one day out. Before we actually set out for our date, we got haircuts (seen above!). I was worried about how mine would turn out but I ended up loving it! I still do, of course xD! After that, we didn’t decide what we were going to do, Melbourne Zoo or Luna Park, until we got to one of the locations. Part of the uncertainty was the weather. It was raining for a little bit but we still decided to go to the zoo. I was so excited to see the baby elephant there! Her name is Mali . We found out that in just a few weeks, another elephant will be having a baby. I made sure Daniel knew we were visiting again just for that! While we were there, we also discovered that there were baby tigers! They were being so playful when we visited them. Mommy tiger was walking around roaring. Also, while visiting this time, we got to see the red panda. When we visited last year, it was hiding in a little box, eating food. This time it was up in a tree just looking down at everyone. It made me soooooo happy! Red Pandas are cute ^_^!! Will you get me one? If you’d like to see any pictures of the trip, either go to my facebook or visit my joint blog with Daniel. We just set it up tonight so there’s not much on it but we made sure we got some zoo pics up.

Anywho, that’s it for now! Wish me luck on the next week! I’m hoping for an interview soon, from anywhere! Byebye!

-Ciera

This week really hasn’t been that eventful. I visited Daniel during lunch early in the week and during that hour we opened my new bank account. When I was at a bus stop on my way to see him, an old Greek lady started talking to me. She was complaining about the ‘cold’ and mentioned how her “village” was always the same temperature throughout the year! I thought it was really funny because she also mentioned that she has been a citizen in AUS for 40 years! The fact that she referred to a village really made me happy. In any case, it made me even more interested in Greece. I must travel there one day.

The rest of the week I had this yearning to go out but my anxiety ended up getting the best of me… ! While out I was going to post some finished bracelets and letters to a couple of friends, hand in some resumes, and possible have some delicious Lord of the Fries or sushi. I hate that I didn’t get that done during the week but anxiety attacks are no fun at all. Oh well! While I stayed inside, I got more crafts done. I also finished the book I’ve been reading, Paper Towns by John Green. It’s a really great book! I didn’t expect it to end the way it did but I wasn’t disappointed either. I made a new friend as well! Well, I consider her a friend. It’s funny how we’ve met through the… years? She’s one of my friend’s girlfriend now and they seem really good together. I hope they can work through any obstacles in their relationship. During the week we get to talk about things while we wait for our boyfriends to get back from work! It’s AWESOME SAUCE, I tell you!!

Daniel and I had a date day on Saturday. The adventure started fine until we got to Parliament Train Station. That’s when the public transport system started to hate us. The line we needed to go on wasn’t running so we had to run to another platform to get on the line we needed. We got to the next station, got on the train, and headed the way we needed to go. Things were looking up until we got to Footscray(zy). There was a disruption somewhere along the train tracks so everyone had to get off and catch replacement buses to where they needed to go. Needless to say, the buses ended up being extra crowded for most of the trip. Luckily, it didn’t take to long to get to our stop. We started walking to ScienceWorks and there were these awesome poles along the way. There were four altogether: gears, planets, robot, and chromosome. They made the short walk there extra exciting.

Once we got to the actual museum, we headed straight for the toy area. Daniel was just like a kid again! It was so cute !! I think my favorite part of the museum was the house area. It had an upside down room, spinning pictures, and a kitchen where there was an awesome fire show!! A guy practically made a flame thrower with a funnel, tubing and corn flour. We made a stop at the gift shop as well. There we found a pack of 50 glow in the dark stars!

We headed home after 2 hours playing in the museum. We still had to catch a replacement bus to Footscray(zy) but it wasn’t nearly as frustrating or crowded. When we arrived, dinner was ready! YAYFOOD! (I’m hungry right now! must find fooooooood)

I’d really like to add more to this post but I’m hitting my writers block. I guess I’ll say those things in another post. Also, I hate how I say ‘but’ and ‘and’ a lot. And I almost always start each sentence with the same word or letter! D:<

Tootaloo for now!

-Ciera

P.S. If you’d like to see more pictures from the ScienceWorks adventure or anything else, just go ahead and check my facebook! Don’t worry, I won’t bite.