Stuffed animals and birthday cakes
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Anne
09 April 2014 | Australië, Sydney
Hi everyone,
My internship is going well, Vicky was very impressed with my work over the first week. Although the keepers of the cockatoos which perform in the free flight show were hesitant at first to cooperate, because there is a special show with the birds on Easter Sunday, when the royal family of Britain is visiting. After they realised I was just going to stare at the birds, everything went more smoothly. So at the moment I am working out some last things and next week my observations will start!
During lunch time I usually take a walk through the park and I have seen every bit of it now. I especially like the native animals, since I hadn't seen them before I came here. The koalas and platypuses are very cute! Today we had a staff lunch with some updates on how the Australian fauna is doing, while enjoying a nice burger.
Of course I am also doing things outside of work, otherwise life would be boring ;) Thursday I went to zumba and it was great. The teacher is a true Latino and bursts of energy and enthusiasm. The audience was a mix of English-Australian and Asian and very shy, but a few (including me) were smiling and active :) A lot of the songs were the seen as we did in Wageningen, so that is funny :)
Saturday morning our neighbour decided that it's ok to mow your lawn at 7.20 in the morning, so that's about the time that I woke up.. I went to the Australian Museum, which is the natural history museum here with lots of skeletons and stuffed animals (taxidermic, not the toys). It's probably the first time that I thought dinosaurs are interesting, so they did a good job on that exhibition. Afterwards I visited the Chinese Garden of Frienship, which was fun but quite small. So the $6 was not worth it. The garden is part of Darling Harbour, which is a nice park/harbour area with lots of restaurants and bars. I watched some street artists for while, bought a gellato (which according to them is not the same thing as icecream..) and went home. At night I watched a movie with Alex and his friend Cameron.
Sunday was a lazy day, mainly due to the weather. In the morning I watched some videos on the USB given by my friends, which were hilarious! Thanks for that! Afterwards I just went grocery shopping and in the evening I had a group skype with my mom, brother and boyfriend :)
So Monday I came up with the idea to bake a Dutch apple pie for my birthday, so I went looking for a spring form after work. Since the cakes are usually different kind here, I didn't manage to find a big and high form. At the only shop that should have them, they were sold out.. So the next morning I just bought some cakes at the station :)
Yesterday was my birthday and when I arrived at the office, there was a small cake with candle and a card waiting for me! How sweet! Later on I got another card and chocolates from Vicky. After work I went with Vicky and another intern to an Italian place, where we eat delicious food and had a lot of fun. At home I found another card from Prue and Alex with some candies and their present to me is a day out tomorrow to Canberra to watch an exhibition on the Incas, really nice :) It was strange to be so far from home on my birthday, but everyone helped me to still enjoy it.
More about my trip to Canberra next time!
See ya, Anne
My internship is going well, Vicky was very impressed with my work over the first week. Although the keepers of the cockatoos which perform in the free flight show were hesitant at first to cooperate, because there is a special show with the birds on Easter Sunday, when the royal family of Britain is visiting. After they realised I was just going to stare at the birds, everything went more smoothly. So at the moment I am working out some last things and next week my observations will start!
During lunch time I usually take a walk through the park and I have seen every bit of it now. I especially like the native animals, since I hadn't seen them before I came here. The koalas and platypuses are very cute! Today we had a staff lunch with some updates on how the Australian fauna is doing, while enjoying a nice burger.
Of course I am also doing things outside of work, otherwise life would be boring ;) Thursday I went to zumba and it was great. The teacher is a true Latino and bursts of energy and enthusiasm. The audience was a mix of English-Australian and Asian and very shy, but a few (including me) were smiling and active :) A lot of the songs were the seen as we did in Wageningen, so that is funny :)
Saturday morning our neighbour decided that it's ok to mow your lawn at 7.20 in the morning, so that's about the time that I woke up.. I went to the Australian Museum, which is the natural history museum here with lots of skeletons and stuffed animals (taxidermic, not the toys). It's probably the first time that I thought dinosaurs are interesting, so they did a good job on that exhibition. Afterwards I visited the Chinese Garden of Frienship, which was fun but quite small. So the $6 was not worth it. The garden is part of Darling Harbour, which is a nice park/harbour area with lots of restaurants and bars. I watched some street artists for while, bought a gellato (which according to them is not the same thing as icecream..) and went home. At night I watched a movie with Alex and his friend Cameron.
Sunday was a lazy day, mainly due to the weather. In the morning I watched some videos on the USB given by my friends, which were hilarious! Thanks for that! Afterwards I just went grocery shopping and in the evening I had a group skype with my mom, brother and boyfriend :)
So Monday I came up with the idea to bake a Dutch apple pie for my birthday, so I went looking for a spring form after work. Since the cakes are usually different kind here, I didn't manage to find a big and high form. At the only shop that should have them, they were sold out.. So the next morning I just bought some cakes at the station :)
Yesterday was my birthday and when I arrived at the office, there was a small cake with candle and a card waiting for me! How sweet! Later on I got another card and chocolates from Vicky. After work I went with Vicky and another intern to an Italian place, where we eat delicious food and had a lot of fun. At home I found another card from Prue and Alex with some candies and their present to me is a day out tomorrow to Canberra to watch an exhibition on the Incas, really nice :) It was strange to be so far from home on my birthday, but everyone helped me to still enjoy it.
More about my trip to Canberra next time!
See ya, Anne
-
09 April 2014 - 12:05
Willemien:
Ik ben blij dat je een fijne ver-weg verjaardag hebt gehad en dat je daar lieve mensen om je heen hebt!
Leuke foto's: je lijkt een beetje gebruind op die ene foto. En die Chinese tuin lijkt op de Chinese tuin in Vancouver. -
09 April 2014 - 12:07
Willemien:
En geniet van Canberra morgen! -
03 Juni 2014 - 11:48
Inge:
Dear Anne,
I know it's crazy but since I've made the effort of reading back your journals I still wanted to comment :)
Congratulations were already made back on your birthday so at least I'm not late with those. It's so good to know the people there are so kind and try to make you feel at home! Very thoughtful to make an effort with all the cakes, candles and the present!
Score +10 for impressing the boss haha. Of course this means you'll have to live up to their new expectations ;) But I'm sure you'll manage, you smart girl!
Staring doesn't sound too intrusive haha, I understand there would be some hesitations if you were going to do all kinds of experiments on the birds. Although staring might be a bit unsettling as well, you're in a zoo so the birds are used to it (if even they would care).
I love koalas, platypuses and dinosaurs! You know one of the things I wanted to be as a kid when I would be grown up, was an archeologist or paleontologist! (or a fashion designer or an artist or an art historian. Preferably all of them of course)
You're welcome! I really didn't know what to say on the video haha... But good to know you enjoyed them nevertheless :) Have you gone through everything on the usb drive by now?
Too bad about the apple pie, that would've been really cool to share with the non-dutch people over there :P Have you since then been able to find a good baking tin? (Or don't you want to bake apple pie anymore)
XXXX
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