First Official Day of Officiating! :)

Yes realise I have a previous post which talked about how that was my first weekend of officiating... that resulted in a very bitter me having woken up at 5:30, called the 'wet weather line' and being told the game were still one, traveling 1 hour to the fields only to find out the fields are closed because of the "rain" (it was sunny by the time I got there) and to top it off stepping in dog shit. So I've blocked that experience from my memory as much as possible and will now use today in its place.

I still had to get up at 5:30, but found a shortcut to the fields which will allow me 20 more minutes of sleep in the future (yay!). The games did go - granted it was freezing for the first two games - but it was really fun! The first game was for girls which were around 12-13 years old - which I was a side ref for - the second was for around 10-11 and I actually was the center ref. It was a pretty one sided game (the final score was 7-0) but I was given an 'A' from the guy watching and am now approved to ref harder games (which means more $$). The last game I was supposed to do the side but ended up being center for a completely other game (again more $$) and then ended with the side of the Aussie equivalent to Varisty game.

While I know this will sound cheesy but it was fun to ref the younger girls as I feel like I have a part in helping them learn the game. :) I won't comment on the state of the varsity teams soccer skills - but just say our JV would have killed them.

I've found some pictures of the fields I was at as I know people like pictures. Will keep you posted on how everything goes in coming weeks!

This picture makes the fields look much nicer than they are - but this is where all the little girls play

This is where the big kids play - and is actually in the center area of a greyhound race track of all places....

My Australian Drier

So for those people who have ever had to live without a clothes drier you know that it is a bit difficult to dry clothes when it is cold outside. They take about 4 times as long to dry even if you have them inside. I ran into this problem last week when my flatmate's clothes had been on the rack for more than 3 days and were still not dry... my work clothes from the last week weren't washed and I was in dire need of getting them clean before another round of work. I then had what I see as a brilliant idea and fashioned my own sort of clothes drier. :) While it's not idea, the clothes dry in 'standard' time and come off the line a bit warm - which is better to put on opposed to the cold clothes you'd otherwise get. Plus we get the added bonus of it heating up the flat!


Essentially what I've done is taken a very cheap heated fan and pointed it at the drying rack. It works great and I get clean warm cloths in less than a week! :)

Steph - don't you wish we had thought of this in London???

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Here is a picture of the mountain which I show in my previous blog which you could barely see the snow... This is the bar where my picture was taken from today after 1/2 meter of snow.

Hooky + Road Trip = Good Times!

For those outside of Australia, this weekend was the long weekend to celebrate the queen's birthday which means Australians either flock to get out of town or those who live outside the city try to get into the city. As I may have mentioned earlier in a post my original plans were to stay in the city... but a friend convinced me to play hooky from my very important waitress job and go on a road trip. It was very worth it! We went to Jindabyne, which is the local town for the snow fields of Australia. While there was no snow on the ground we did manage to see snow falling and not freeze to death. Here are some pictures of the weekend away.

View from the house

It's hard to tell but it's snowing in this picture

Emu's! We actually saw some wild one's but wasn't able to snag a pic of the sneaky birds

Wombats - my favorite Aussie animal :)
A spectacular view on the way back to the city

On the way down to Jindy we actually stopped in Canberra and saw the Parliament building and war memorial. It was really cool to see the Pariament building with something like 400 clocks and it was actually a really cool building. The war memorial was more like a museum and had tons of information and wasn't the most uplifting experience - but a good one for anyone going to Canberra.


An artsy picture under the flag pole

It's hard to tell but there are actually 3 clocks in view in this picture

Poppies at the war memorial

View from above the war memorial down towards Parliament building

Front view of parliament building

It is possible to be jealous of eyebrows??

Ok so maybe jealous isn't the right word, but every time I see this advertisement it 1) makes me laugh hillariously and 2) makes me want to enroll in an eyebrow exercise class. :)

Click Here to view

Kerri Meet Bob...

I had been procrastinating about cutting my hair (as a result of financial strain and pure laziness) and made an appointment last Friday. This is when I discovered it's probably not a good idea for me to go get a cut when I'm feeling ambiguous... While I was sitting waiting for my stylist to be ready and noticed how much I liked one of the other girls hair cuts.... then proceeded to get that same cut. I figure since my hair was already short a bit shorter wouldn't hurt and I now officially have a bob. So far the reviews are good and people seem to like it. It's different - the shortest I've ever had my hair - but I like it so far. Have included a couple pictures from a night out the other night to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Am going away for the long weekend so should be able to post some more soon.

The Small Things in Life

To some people this may be a piece of chocolate with their dinner, a smile from a stranger, a hug from a baby... in my word it's the fact that I can buy junior's sized athletic shoes - saving me around 50%. :) Ah yes it is the little things in life that make it great... and in my case, help the pocket book.

I first encountered this back in December when I was shopping for basketball shoes in Seattle with Sabrina. None of the adult shoes fit me, so I gave the juniors a go - and they FIT!! My junior Jordans have served me well so far and have actually been the cause for some envy as it is hard to find women's basketball shoes here.

My latest encounter was the other day when I was shopping for soccer cleats (or boots as they call them here). First off, the selection (as with basketball shoes) wasn't all that you'd hope it would be so I was limited to begin with. Then the sizes were extremely limited... However one of the two sizes of juniors shoes fit like a dream. Considering the adult equivalent was 100 and my pair was 40 I found this a very good sign.

You might be wondering why I am buying soccer cleats - and I must admit this morning I had the same thought - but I am actually not a certified soccer referee for the Sydney School's Football Referee's Association. There is apparently a need for more women ref's and they pay is pretty decent so I have now added a 3rd job to my current list of employers and ever Saturday morning I will be getting up at an ungodly hour to go ref soccer matches in various parts of Syndey. They even game me my own set of flags and red/yellow cards - technically I had to buy them but they're MINE!! Oh the power!! :)

Now if only I can line up a proper job and be able to stay here long enough to make this job worthwhile....