It's all in the list.

When I was back in Australia I longed for the weekend, it was both a break from school but also chance to catch-up on work and chill with my family. Now that I'm in America and school isn't as strenuous and my host family situation isn't working out so well the weekends haven't been so great for me. Until this weekend that is. I conned my mum into letting me order a to-do list off BoyGirlParty's etsy store as an 'easter' present(as I don't eat chocolate or lollies). I had a lovely to-do list notepad back in Aus but I didn't end up taking it with me to the US and I had been missing it so. And no matter what anyone says it is not nearly as efficient, practical or satisfying to write a checklist on a scrap piece of paper- it will just not do. I absolutely adore my current to-do list; it has just the right amount of lines and has a 'do later' column which is actually really practical because you still get to cross something off(so you can achieve that feeling of to-do-list-completion satisfaction) and it acts as a reminder to complete the task the next day. One of the things Miranda Kerr discusses in her Treasure Yourself book(this post) is that productivity is key and I'm quite sure there is a to-do list mention in her book somewhere.

Without my list for the weekend I know I wouldn't have been anywhere near as productive nor happy for that matter. I did a bunch of exercising( when I say a bunch I mean about 45 mins worth which is probably peanuts for other fitness junkies out there) as I need to keep be trim and slim for my upcoming cruise to Mexico with my exchange group this coming weekend. I contacted one of my exchange student friends' host sisters about possibly staying with her family in the summer holidays as they live up in the mountains by a huge canyon, have horses and do water sports so I thought that would entertain me over the ridiculously long break. I was somewhat nervous about asking but having it down on the list made me just go for it. I also did a truckload of cleaning(again, my truckload is probably the equivalent of a toy sandpit truck in comparison to some cleaning crazies out there) and made VEGAN banana bread! We didn't have any eggs so I decided to make the recipe from this vegan cookbook my hostmom had as she's on a vegan spree at the moment. It uses Veganaise as the fat instead of eggs! I was kind of worried as I don't like mayonnaise anyway but luckily you couldn't taste it at all and the loaf turned out fantastic! So delicious that my exchange sister, Hannah said that we have to make another loaf tomorrow because she knows we'll finish it so fast!

So how was your weekend?

Still poor.

You know how I posted a while back before I left for my NY trip(a short update on that will be up in the coming weeks) about trying to really save money and how I had planned to continue my scrimping and saving in the big apple? Well that idea failed somewhat dismally. I ate my cup of noodles there and crackers and fruit roll-ups that I had brought but I still pigged out and bought lots of other food like a large cup of Pinkberry fro-yo, ben and jerry's vanilla ice-cream, spring rolls, subway, etc, etc. So now as my punishment I can't fit into some of my clothes and I don't even dare attempt to try on my prom dress my mum sent me over from Australia. I tried I really did but my boiled eggs did not look appealing and they went off very quickly(as I was in an April fools mischief-y mood I dropped one of them out the window of the hostel). I did spend a lot of money on food but I don't regret it too much as I still remember how those foods tasted because they were all so good and they were associated with a lot of fun times plus I kind of thought to myself "This is New York. When am I ever going to get a chance like this again?". But since I have arrived home I've gone back to my stingy-ness and hopefully today or tomorrow I'll be going around handing out babysitting flyers so I can earn some extra cash.

Frozen yoghurt at its finest.

Treasuring Myself

I'm the kind of person who is selfish. Not in a nasty sort of way but I tend to focus on myself a whole lot in terms of my mental state(I wish I was one of those Italian mothers who cooks masses of food for her family and runs around making sure their every need is taken care of and doesn't even worry about her needs in the slightest). But I believe that the best way to help others is to firstly help yourself and frankly I don't believe I can start forming relationships with others if I don't have a good relationship with myself. Anywho, this brings me to my favourite book as of now: Treasure Yourself by supermodel superwoman, Miranda Kerr. A book written for young women(although I see no real age boundary) about how to make the most of what you've got, which Miranda believes is a whole lot. I guess it's about realising your potential. To me it's almost a bible for life but of a non-religious kind as it's basically about how to be a good person and contribute to this place we all like to call home; Planet Earth. One of the analogies Miranda uses is the book is that every lady on the planet is a flower, each slightly different than the next but all still equally beautiful in their own unique way. A rose is just as beautiful as a daffodil. This, along with a day's worth of free time at school due to statewide testing that I was not allowed to participate in, led me to doodling in a journal about what sort of flower I was. This is what I came up with:

I really wish I had a vase of tulips in my room right now, they are simply the symbol for me, Shivi. I think this was a really powerful exercise and I think I'm going to google tulips a little further. Miranda uses so many other analogies and self evaluation question exercises in her book but most powefully she uses powerthoughts or affirmations which are simply statements you repeat to yourself about life/positivity/happiness/etc which are like exercise routines for your brain. Go check out the book and the other beauty products Miranda is selling here.

Track and Field

I really knew I wanted to take advantage of all the school sports available at American high schools for my exchange year in the US plus I have a little bucket list for the year and one item to accomplish was 'win something' so I had hoped doing a sport would help me achieve that. One of the sports available in the 2nd school semester was track and field. I had done running in PE classes when I was younger and had never come last in the sprints(nor had I come first or second either...) so I thought it would be something I could have a go at plus it seemed such a 'cool' sport as you get to hang out with both guys and girls, go to big track meets and it is frequently mentioned in movies. Plus it's not really a team sport and I am not a fan of team sports for fear of letting others down. I don't think I realised that instead of having to worry about letting others down, in track and field you just have to worry about embarrassment whilst everyone stares at you when you come in last or 'scratch' at the long jump. Unfortunately, since I'm not the fittest person in the world I got injured very quickly during the season. First it was my left foot. Then I had shin splints. And lastly I injured my back during spring break(on a trampoline!) and probably made the injury worse by going to a themepark the next day and riding on the rollercoasters. So this whole season I have only ran 2 races and participated in the long jump for a record....2 times at the meets! I didn't even bother going to the last meet as I knew I wouldn't have been able to run at all with both my back and shins hurting and I watched as the track team walked past my class to go on the yellow school bus to their meet. It was really sad. I'd hoped that I would actually improve by the end of this season but I've always been last and now in two days in the final meet of the season and I don't even know if they'll let me run in it anyway since I've missed so many meets. I really wish I would have gone to an American highschool all through my teen years then I would have had the opportunity to start track in my freshman year or even in junior high and would really have improved. I'm still ever so greatful for the experience and participating in track allowed me to meet some really great people that I'm closer to than almost anyone else at school. I was thinking about perhaps doing track at an american college as part of another study abroad program but I'm assuming by that stage the students would be really elite but I can always do running and weight training in the mean time and build up my fitnest level. At the moment I'm trying to decide what sport I should do for the next season in the new school year which I've realised will only be about four months(time is flying....). I'd really like to do cheerleading but that's a whole other kettle of fish....

My exchange sister from Austria.

Poor Girl's World.

I actually thought I'd have plenty of time to blog this year during my high school exchange but it seems I'm almost as busy as last year. Turns out today I leave for New York. The big apple. Whilst it almost seems unreal the fact that my cash is dwindling does seem very real. I was given a travel money card before I came on exchange which my parents loaded with some of my pocket money for the year, whilst it's not a credit card, I've been flashing it around like it is one but after taking a closer look at my account summary I had to take drastic measures and I don't think I've used my card for about a month. I always used to think it was so hard to save money and that scrimping and saving little by little didn't make much difference overall but I've realised if you really want to save money you've got to have a different mindset.  Before I really took to this 'money-saving' way of thinking I had all these little necessities I was planning to buy and would never consider missing out on eating out or doing an activity that cost money. Now that I've really embraced scrimping I realise it's not that bad and I haven't missed out on that much or really regretted it. If anything I've experienced more, enjoyed myself more and learnt simple ways to make things last. One of my expenses that I knew I had to accommodate for this year was toiletries so in order to save money I've been using up some of the shampoos already in the bathroom I use that my host mom had in there even though they may not be the ones I'd usually get they're still good and it means I won't have to go out and purchase as many myself. I also noticed the toothpaste I found in the bathroom here foams up really easily so I don't need to put as much on my toothbrush. I've also been trying to save my pimple cream by making sure I cleanse my face for at least a minute to prevent blemishes in the first place. This March I think I've spent around $170 which is less than half of what I spent in January and February and is going to be really helpful as I need money for shopping in New York. Unfortunately the trip only includes breakfast at the hotel so in order not to spend a fortune on food which is one-time thrill type of spending I got my host parents to stock us up with food from Costco so at least we won't have to buy all our snacks there. We bought cup of noodles, crackers and fruit roll-ups plus I was skyping my mum back in Australia and she said that when she went travelling around Asia with a friend 20+ years ago they took hard-boiled eggs in their suitcases as they keep well so today I'm going to boil up a bunch and pop them in with the rest of my luggage! Thanks for the idea mum!

My high school had a variety show(basically a talent show minus the prize) several weeks ago and I thought that would make a fun Friday night out but it cost $2. Usually I wouldn't blink at eyelid about paying for that but now it's like $2 is $2 less that I'll have in my bank account. I recently spent a day in a nearby seaside town, Santa Barbara and I ended up spending over $30 on just food alone- all the little snacks I bought throughout the day added up so now I'm really wary with any money I spend. I knew I really wanted to go to the talent show so when my drama teacher presented me with the opportunity to usher for the variety show which meant I could get in for free I signed my name up right away! I actually had so much fun ushering- I got to greet everyone coming in and it was nice seeing how community-spirited everyone was about the event and I got to mess around with all the other ushers there. There was like 7 or 8 of us which was way too many so we were all fighting to give our programs to the new guests coming through the door. If it wasn't for me being so stingy I wouldn't have been able to get such a 'wholesome' experience of the night.

I will continue to let you all know how my stingy mindset plays out in real life whilst I'm hitting it up in the big apple this week.

Australia Day

I know I'm a bit late in blogging about it but January 26th was Australia Day! When I was at my culture camp from the 4th to 8th of January in Los Angeles all the other aussie exchange students were talking about all the australian memrobilia they'd brought to celebrate Australia day. I on the other hand had completely forgot and didn't have so much as a flag to celebrate so quick smart I skyped my mum and told her to send me as much aussie 'junk' as she could find. I say junk because most of the merchandise sold to celebrate Australia day is made as cheaply as possible and usually found int he $2 stores (not 99c stores like they have in the US!). Luckily on about the 23rd of January I received a box from Australia filled with tooth-pick sized flags, balloons, napkins, stubbie holders, flashing and non-flashing aussie badges plus an aussie flag themed hacky-sack, a giant flag, bandana, wallet and a cd of classic bush songs! That parcel made me grin from ear to ear, never before had I felt so happy to be surrounded by tacky aussie merchandise. I've labelled this year, 'The Year Of No Year'(but those of you in the know will know that technically the year of no fear was last year but it's really applicable to me for 2011) so I knew I had to do something wacky for school even though I didn't know many people at that stage. My mum had also sent me a set of sweatbands and a matching headband with the Aussie flag on it so I knew I had to suck up the courage and wear them. I also wore one of the flag badges and an aussie rubber wristband and took a bag filled with the hundred odd tooth-pick flags to pass them out to people at school. Although I looked totally crazy I had such a blast and have never felt more patriotic and proud of my country in my life- one girl asked me what was with my get-up and when I explained what day it was she said "Well I never wear anything for Mexican day"! Everyone enjoyed getting their tooth-pick flags and I gave them to a couple of my teachers who stuck them on the classroom walls. My choir teacher was the most excited by the small gesture her face lit up when I handed her the flag, I totally made her day!

After school we had a bit of an Australian day bash. I put on the cd with the bush songs, we blew up balloons, used the giant flag as the tablecloth and set out the napkins. Me and Hannah, my exchange sister played a little game of hacky sack whilst our host dad set up the barbeque. We had a lot of trouble finding some decent sausages. They had everything but a decent beef or pork sausage at the supermarket, they had chicken sausages, hot dogs, big fat italian sausages, bratwurst, sausages that were sealed up in air tight packaging and then there were breakfast sausages. Why an earth you would need a specific type of sausage for breakfast is beyond me but they were the closest thing we could find. I was pretty chuffed being in charge of the BBQ and turning the sausages, I've never really done it before and I felt so Australian! Unfortunately the sausages weren't quite the same as real Australian ones but I really didn't care as our little Aussie feast reminded me of home and I was as happy as pig in mud! I even made Anzac biscuits that day too which we pigged out on for dessert, they're like oatmeal cookies but 10 times better. It was a shame about the sausages so I'm going to see if I can get an Aussie recipe off a friend for homemade sausages but other than that I had the best day out!

It's not all sunshine and rainbows here.

About two weeks ago, January 17th, was Martin Luther King Jr Day in America, a holiday I have never celebrated before. In Australia racism hasn't been much of an issue compared to the United States. To me, just the fact someone would actually consider making blacks take back-door exits and sit on different seats on buses is just crazy- African Americans are still Americans and are still humans for that fact and should be given some basic rights. My host mom even said that when she was a little girl growing up in the 60's in California, black people had to use different toilets and were sent to the back of the bus. My US history teacher showed the class a short cartoon clip on what would have happened if Martin Luther King didn't actually die but instead went into a coma and awoke thirty years later. In the clip Dr King wasn't too impressed with present day society as they hadn't progressed the way he had hoped. My teacher, Mr Valencia was discussing with us how segregation still exists today as my school, Santa Maria High School has approxiamately 80-90% Hispanic students whilst the nearby highschool, Righetti has the complete opposite with approxiamately 80-90% Caucasian students. For me coming to America I did have quite a few expectations of what my life, home and school would be like, even though my exchange company, EF reminded us several times to assume nothing. So walking into a school where you see only about one or two white teenagers at a time(if not less!), is a little different. My first day at the school was almost like stepping foot into another country(ie. Mexico) as everyone looks and dresses differently and many of them speak Spanish too. Righetti High School was actually the closer high school to my house here and originally I was going to be attending there but it turned out that they were too full. But if I had just gone there I don't think I would have had the cultural experience I'm having at SMHS.

I have also heard that an exchange student who went to Righetti said some of the kids there weren't very nice yet at SMHS I haven't heard one rude comment even though I walked solo past many big mobs of guys who you'd speed past if you were in the streets at night. However in my suburb of Orcutt(just outside the Santa Maria town centre and closest to Righetti) I had a young white male honk his horn at me as I was on my way up to the shops. I actually had one of the mexican guys from SMHS drop me home one day to Orcutt and he was surprised I lived there and still went to SMHS as he exclaimed "This is like whiter-than-white town!". It's kinda sad how people don't mix as a Hispanic girl in my history class said to me that she lives near Orcutt(AKA Whiter-Than-White Town) and she said that she just doesn't talk to her neighbours. I think it's really good that they have exchange programs like EF to help share cultures and show what different people around the world have to offer. We need to embrace our differences!

Status: Landed

I am finally here! Really this place is amazing. I have discovered that Australia isn't all that bad and definitely has its benefits but I am definitely very happy here. From what I had kept hearing, everyone is really friendly in the US and I am ever so glad that, that stereotype is spot on. The amount of people my host family say hello to in the street, even people they don't know is amazing- there is definitely a great community vibe here in my lovely little town called Orcutt. The neighbours here even have street parties and my host family were invited to a farewell party for one of the nearby locals who is retiring and moving to Florida. This is the kind of thing I've wanted to experience my whole life, not that I've always known it but I think it's been there sub-consciously. It's not like Australians are completely antisocial but I've never really experienced a lifestyle where my family and the locals are very tight-knit.  We're more like a loosely knitted scarf with lots of holes in it in terms of bonding with those around us. For me I think this year is going to be about meeting new people and becoming more confident and outgoing. I met another girl at the 4 day culture camp we had in Los Angeles who is actually from my hometown, Perth and she would just start talking to strangers in the street about anything and everything and if she didn't get the desired response from someone she would just laugh it off and it would make for a great story to tell someone later. To be able to have a conversation with a stranger is definitely a skill I'd like to acquire as it makes mundane tasks like shopping trips, something really special and uplifting. And whilst I'm on the topic of 'socialisation'(I sound like I'm talking about puppy-training or something...), it's recently occurred to me that I've had little opportunity to meet new people in the last few years. At highschool I'm been with pretty much the same group of people since 8th grade and have rarely strayed from my friendship circle. My parents rarely introduce me to new people and I haven't gone to many classes/activities/events where I've had the chance to mingle with unfamiliar individuals. So it was such a change to meet all these new people at the culture camp I went on from the 4th-8th of January- there was lots to talk about as everyone was curious as to where each student was going in the states and what they knew about their host family so whilst it was a tad nerve-wracking I really enjoyed it. There are lots of fun things headed my way but for now I'll leave you with a couple photos of my culture camp from early January.

                                                  {All the aussie EF kids arriving at the hotel}

                                                {Where we had our morning 'culture' lessons}

                                                         {Johhny Rocket's Retro Diner}

                                                             {Robin William's impressions}

                                                             {Julie Andrews' star}

                                         {Christmas decorations were still up on Rodeo Drive}

                                                       {Lifeguard hut at Venice beach}

                                     {Santa Monica Pier where Hannah Montana movie was filmed}              

{Disneyland}

Bring on 2011!

Happy New Year y'all!

2011 is going to bring big things for me and I hope for you all too. I actually leave tonight at 11:45pm to jet off to the States! I have been waiting for this day for what seems a lifetime and luckily there hasn't been some dreadful accident or my death to prevent me from going! :D I just have a ridiculous amount of packing and organising to do today though. I'm trying to make sure I either bin things or take them with me, I want need to start afresh when I return home. I WILL become a new transformend and better 'Shivi' by the time the year comes to an end and I don't want to slip back into my old less confident, unsocial ways of being. The last few days have been spent buying gifts for my host family(I had planned to make them this totally awesome present but time has literally just slipped through my hands), transferring pictures, music and documents onto my new netbook I received as a going away present which is actually giving me a fair bit of grief at the moment(half the photos I transfer don't seem to show up), selling a couple of bento items on ebay from when I became foolishly obsessed with pretty lunches(check out my items here if you feel like helping out a sister in need), writing out some of my favourite recipes into a blank recipe book my friend gave me for Christmas and may another random tasks I want to get finished before I leave. Hopefully I'll update you all by the end of the week as after flying from the Perth airport to Sydney all of us EF exchangees meet up and fly to the 4 day culture camp in LA where we have morning culture lessons and afternoon excursions- one of which is to Disneyland! So this will be my last post in Australia(for a year anyway)!

Love love love,

Shivi xx

P.S. Just thought I'd brag and let you all know I attained an ATAR score of 94.55 for my year 12 exams(which is like a ranking so I think means I beat 94.55% of the students taking their final exams in Western Australia! Hopefully it's enough to get me a scholarship into the local university!


P.P.S. This is my 50th blog post! Snaps for me!

My Christmas Day

Christmas Eve wasn't the best for me as we were all tired, stressed and not in the best of moods and quite frankly the night finished off with me in tears. I ended up going to bed very late as I knew I had to finish making these pesto sausage rolls as we were already behind schedule in terms of cooking for the big day. Actually when I went to bed it was Christmas Day which in that case started very nicely with mum and myself wishing each other a "Merry Christmas" and saying "Night, night" just before we went to bed. Mum was sleeping on the mattress in my room as my aunt and uncle who were visiting for Christmas were on a bed in her room.

My brother woke up very early on Christmas morning and my aunt and uncle were all up and ready at 7am to go to the beach, so eyes half closed I threw on a dress, I think(I can't even remember I was that tired). It was the first time we've ever gone to the beach on Christmas day and it was nice to see everybody wearing Santa hats and a family with no young children what-so-ever about to have a water-gun fight. After a quick walk along the beach we headed back to the car before it got up to the day's maximum of 41 degrees celcius. When we got home I showed my brother, Roy some of the presents Santa had left him before my Dad came over to take him to church where each year Santa makes a visit on his very own helicopter- now that's not something you see every day! Meanwhile back at my mum's house my Dad let his Jack Russel called Sorcha stay over. We gave her one of her presents which was a squeaky dog plush toy which she loved- I haven't seen her that excited about a toy in forever! She was wrestling it around like crazy with many a hair shed from her new toy, I'm not even sure if it has still lasted! 

Although I knew we had a truckload of food that needed to be made that day I wanted breakfast to be special. After all it is the first meal of the day and sets the scene for the rest of Christmas. So I made some delicious quinoa pancakes from a shake bottle mix which tasted very healthy and earthy and were much nicer than the normal white flour pancakes you buy. Plus as they're not wheat based they don't taste as stodgy.

Then we got to the good bit- present time! I had some really nice presents this year- my aunt and uncle bought me some hand-knitted fingerless gloves for my exchange which I'll definitely be needing as it's been getting down to 1 degrees celcius at nights where I'm going to be staying(more on that soon, I promise!). Knowing that I love recycled and eco-friendly products my aunt bought me some jewelery that was all recycled and made from refurbished computer parts- I absolutely love them and they're my sort of colour too! From my mum I received a nintendo dsi xl in bright red and the 'rhythm heaven' game for it and some other goodies which I may showcase at a later date. Unfortunately because we ordered some presents online this year, they didn't arrive in time for Christmas. I actually had to leave an IOU under the tree for my mum this year as I'd ordered this hypnosis relaxation CD from the US which is still yet to arrive. Three of my Christmas presents from mum are also making there way over here but it looks like mum may have to ship them to me in America.

We had planned a Christmas lunch but we were still cooking food come 5 o'clock. I mentioned in the previous post we were to have a vegetarian Christmas this year so we spent hours making this Sweet Potato and Leek Roulade which in the end turned out fairly sloppy and barely resembled the recipe photograph whilst the egglpant parmigiana with boccocini we made took half the time and tasted a lot more delicious. This was probably the first time I've had a proper Christmas dinner at a dining table(usually we go to our friends' house and just have a barbeque/buffet sort of thing outside) with the whole sha-bang - fancy cloth placemats, napkins, candles, plates/bowls reserved for special occasions only and decorations here and there. Now my aim in life is to have a repeat of that but with a traditional Christmas turkey. After the lovely meal we had a cracker-pulling ring where you crossed hands and pulled a cracker with the people either side of you- I definitely recommend you try it some time.

By this time it was getting late but before we all tootled off for the night my aunt and uncle brought out some old photo albums of my mum and my aunt when they were little which my mum hadn't seen probably in over 20 years! I could totally see the resemblance between my mum and my now-deceased grandmother- as an adult my mum looks almost identical it's uncanny! The albums were falling to pieces though and many photographs were missing and all the little photo corners were peeling off- definitely in need of some TLC.

Despite the 40C+ heat on the day and realising by the end of the night we'd actually had one of our air-conditioners on 'warm' I think we were all pleased with how it turned out and it was definitely nice to have my relatives over for Christmas as opposed to it just being me, my mum and my brother. Sometimes you kind of wonder what Christmas really means when you're not religious and no longer believing in Santa Claus but come Christmas morning you can feel there is something different in the air and it's a time of joy, laughter and unity throughout the community.