Low Key Week/Weekend

Tuesday I had an appt. with a gym because I thought it would be good for me to find something to do after work during the week and more importantly with all of the delicious food I've been eating I want to keep my weight in check.  I met with the owner, Cleo, who looked to be straight outta high school.  She was a very lovely person and after learning what all the gym offered I found out this gym is a little different than my gym back home.  They help people train for those competitions you see on tv where women wear bikinis and heels and pose.  I said well let me tell you right now that is not me!  She said, no problem - we are a gym too.  It's a very small gym (300 members) so it's like one big family.  I decided to get a trainer because I need someone to help me stay motivated, on track and push me.  They don't waste any time because I had my first training session with Florian that night.  Florian is French and 3 years ago he quit his job, sold his car and flat and moved to Australia not knowing English.  I said, you are one of "those people", very impressive, just totally the opposite of me.  We chatted as he took my measurements and then he said how tall are you and I said 5 foot 1 and he looked at me like I had two heads and then I realized what the look was for and we both started laughing so hard, I was laughing so hard I seriously had a hard time stopping and tears were coming out of my eyes.  He had to get his phone out to do the conversion.  I did love stepping on the scale because I'm used to seeing lbs and seeing kg the number is MUCH smaller, hehe:)  Within 24 hours I had received about 10 texts from the other trainers welcoming me to the gym and everyday this week when I went, different members that knew I was new all introduced themselves, they are really a nice bunch of folks.  Some people even knew my name and came up and said Hi Tiffany, I'm xxx, welcome to the family.  I must say, these Australians are uber nice.  As the week has progressed I've asked Florian approximately 50,000 questions (surprise, surprise, eh)?  Come to find out Cleo is in her late twenties and has won numerous world titles for those competitions I was telling you about.  They have pictures up of the competitors and there are some of her and her poses in the competitions (she used to be a gymnast so she can do funky things with her body).  I find it so impressive that such a young person can be so accomplished and successful.  I definitely have a lot of respect for her.  I even Googled her to see what else I could find out about her, haha.  Florian tells me he is going to help me get shredded (I immediately thought of shredded cheese, what is wrong with me), but apparently that means ripped cuz I said um...what does that mean?  Still learning their lingo here.

By Friday I was really sore and needed a day off.  Went to HH (happy hour) with the same group as a few weeks ago plus a few more.  The bar that was picked wasn't within walking distance so a few of us met up and took the bus which is always an adventure.  We were eating and one of the guys says, will you please pass me a serviette, and I said you want some silverware?!?!  He started laughing and said no...a serviette, you call it a napkin.  I started busting up.  I said a serviette, who says that, just call it a friggen napkin.  Apparently the word is French and I said, well let them use that word and you can be like an American and say napkin, it's much easier to say.  Another new word for me, but that was a hard one to remember so I had to write it down.  We ended up going to a few places and look what was at the last place...

There were moose's and bears up on the wall and as you can see, bra's hanging off of the antlers.  I said what kind of place did you guys bring me to?  They informed me it used to be a strip joint but is now just a bar, and it reminded me of an old western bar with how it was set up (I say this like I know what an old western bar is, but from what I've seen in movies this is what I'd say it's like).  They had a band playing (bluesy music) and they were really good.  Another fun night Down Under!

No big adventures this weekend so I decided to work on my tan.  

Super pasty white girl needs a little color so I put on my sunscreen (apparently this is the #1 place for melanoma in the world, something I definitely DO NOT want) and soaked up the rays.  I didn't want to overdo it so I only stayed in the sun for a little while and then packed it up and went back in.  

Woke up on Sunday and decided to check out the market in the Botanic Gardens, it was ok--nothing to write home about.  Jumped on the CityCat (ferry) and rode down to the last stop and got off and walked around the University of Queensland (big campus) and saw some fun creatures.

These are Brisbane River Turtles.  You can see their heads popped out of the water.  There were tons of them on a pond on campus.

This is an eel---each!  Gave me the hebbie gebbies - not an animal I want to pet or get close to.  

Jumped back on the CityCat and got off at South Beach and rode the ferris wheel.  Checked out the museum across the street (nothing to write home about either, glad it was free--or shall I say I only went in the areas that were free).  

Views from inside the Ferris wheel at the very top.

This is a huge sign they have with the city in the background that I thought was worthy of taking a picture of.

Got back closer to home and on Sunday's they have this garage sale (only thing I can compare it to), but people had suitcases full of their clothes that hey laid out on the ground for sale.  Interesting....

Another fun weekend in Australia!!!  Thanks for tuning in:)