Learning How to Cook and Travel Frenzy!

So first order of business is that I created a cooking group with the other internationals on my floor and Lachie (an Australia). It has been a successful and adventurous first week of meals.  I am the only girl so entering into it was a little risky, but the boys proved they actually make decent food!  I cooked on Monday and made chicken teriyaki with green peppers and rice, which was simple but yummy!  Tuesday was Jonathon (one of the awesome Swedish guys) and he made seasoned chicken with pasta and red sauce, which was also really great. 

Wednesday is when the week took an adventurous turn with Marco cooking his English meal of fish and mushy peas.  Now if you know me well you will know that two main things I don't like are 1) seafood 2) peas, so hearing about this dinner earlier in the week made me REALLY nervous.  But, I tried them both, surprising I know... The fish was actually not too bad; it was breaded and then baked so I just put heaps of BBQ sauce on it and it was fine!  The mushy peas on the other hand were...interesting.  The reason I don't like peas is the mushy texture, so this dish just exemplified that feature. It is meant to dip your chips (french fries) in, but once again I just ended up using BBQ sauce.  Thursday night Daniel (the other awesome Swedish guy) made tacos.  At first I asked him if it was meat, cheese, and lettuce and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Neither...you Americans put cheese on everything!!" HAHA.  He likes to make fun of Americans a lot, but its funny because a lot of it is true.  So, his tacos ended up having meat, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and salsa and were REALLY good.  Next week is when Lachie officially joins the group, so he will start cooking on Sundays.

This week I also booked a trip to Perth, which is a beautiful city on the west coast and the most isolated city in the world.  Liz, the girl across the hall, is going back home in a few weeks and asked if I would like to join, so we are going for an extended weekend in the middle of September, I'm SO EXCITED!  We are going to be going camping and enjoying the warm nice beaches!  Then, at the end of September Rachel and I will be heading to Sydney for the week!  It is our "Spring Holiday" here, which is weird because it is Fall back home. 

So far I have Skyped family and friends and of course my amazing husband and doing so has made the adjustment easier than I thought it would be.  I obviously miss home, but having that connection has made it better.  Gotta love technology!  It has been one month and a bit since I've been here and its been amazing!  I can't believe I turn 22 here in less than 2 weeks!  CRAZY!  Anyway, I will continue to update you with my Aussie life!  LOVE YOU ALL! :)