Going to Melbourne today

Deja Vu at Deluxe Bar.

Liana lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, so we are going in today by bus, but they call it the tram. Our plan includes shopping, walking around, and well... I'm not too sure of what else. But tonight we're going to go to Deja Vu to dance, which is funny because we have a Deja Vu comedy/dance club in Columbia. It will be the first time I can drink at a club. (We all got carded yesterday when we were buying out expensive alcohol; which I am still bitter about, if I am paying big bucks for alcohol it better be better than the stuff I drink at home!)

We decided to try making 'jelly' shots for tonight, raspberry lemonade actually. They sound yummy. It's strange, because we are all of legal age (by we I mean Maddie, Liana, Liana's friends, and myself) are going to drink at home before we go out in front of her parents. Which to me is strange; the only time I've ever drank in front of my family is when we are on vacation, family holidays, and the occasional wine at dinner. This should be interesting.

A wallaby, not to be mistaken for a kangaroo.

Yesterday is a bit fuzzy to me now. I didn't realize how tired I was until dinner, which was amazing. They had prepared a least four different kinds of meats (I tried the fish), salad, salsa stuff (which I assumed you ate plain), and this 'jelly' cream cheese stuff. Everything I ate was delicious. It was at dinner that I met Liana's dad, Rodi. Rodi, Brad (Liana's stepdad), Diane (Liana's mom), Madeline, Liana, and I talked about everything from American sports to Australia's deadliest creatures. (And Margaret, they compared owning a wallaby to owning a raccoon. Not only is it illegal, but they are vicious animals. And they are small kangaroos! Trust the Aussies.) We also had tea after dinner, which the Aussies had with milk. They looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted 'black' tea as they call it. They have such an interesting lingo in Australia.

Madeline and I where you return your 'trolley'.

carts = trolleys
flip-flops = thongs
thongs = g-strings
bogan = red neck
jelly = jello
ranger (pronounced rang - ar) = ginger (as in red head)
black tea = no milk in your tea

If I think of any other's I will be sure to add them.

Oh, I forgot to add that Maddie and I met Liana's grandmother yesterday. She looked so young I could've sworn she looked like Liana's aunt. We get to meet most of Liana's family on Christmas, so I'll try to get a picture of the whole gang. The Neri-Keighran family will be having more than 25 people at their house. Talk about a big Christmas. It will also be a very international Christmas; not only will there be Americans, but we will also be joined by a Brazilian and some Italians. This should be a delicious Christmas.

I also mentioned to at dinner that my parents are obsessed with marrying me off, and now all the adults are trying to marry me off to the eligible bachelors of Australia. (Don't worry mom, they are only trying to fix me up with the wealthy ones.) They have the greatest sense of humor. Rodi and Diane actually came into Liana's room as we were about to go to bed to show me a picture of John, bachelor number 1.

Buddy, Liana's black labrador.

Diane also joked about feeding me dog food with peanut butter when I told her I would eat just about anything with peanut butter on it. Of course I pointed out the fact that dog food actually has meat products in it, and being a vegetarian I couldn't eat it. Besides, I don't think Buddy wanted to share with me anyway.

Well, that's really all I have for now. I think I'm still a bit jet-lagged, so I imagine the writing style and flow of this blog wasn't great. I promise I will improve. If I think of anything I missed I'll be sure to include it in another blog post.

Cheers, mate.