This is your birthday song, it isn't very long. Hey!

Today is my birthday, February 10th, 2011, and I turn 21 years old.

One of my housemates asked me last night, "So have you got anything special planned for the big day?", and I told her, "I'm in Australia, how much more special can it be?" On the 'How cool is the birthday gift?' scale, being in Australia ranks just below going to the moon, but just above hitting a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 7 of the World Series for the Kansas City Royals and beating the New York Yankees.

This is my second week in Melbourne, and it's going just as well if not better than the first. I've had a definite attitude change, though, which has been relieving and very helpful. Last week, I was focused on the fact that I had no friends here, no community and nothing to do, and that was hard to face. But this week, I had the realization that I had nothing to do! That may seem like the same thing that I just said brought me down, but I looked at it in a different light. I had no commitments, no schedule and nowhere to be. I am a free man, with an unusual amount of free time. While that may be a bit lonely at times, and while all that free time may be a bit daunting, it's a pretty good problem to have.  

"So Reid, what do you do with all of that free time?" you ask?

I walk.

"Really? You just walk?"

Yep. I walk, and I sleep.

Source: The little squirrel that snuggled up next to me.

But in all seriousness, I do walk a lot. If you plan on travelling abroad, unless you're going to rent a car (and absolutely no student should have that sort of spare cash lying around), then you best get yourself in walking shape before you leave home. The other day, I walked for two straight hours and covered seven miles. All that walking makes you tired, which is why I sleep a lot. Just this week, I have taken a nap in two parks and one on the beach. The picture below was taken about an hour and a half into my two hour walk. You know the song "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers where they sing "And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more...". Yeah, I'm calling your bluff on that one.


I proclaim that 7 miles is enough for me, thank you very much.

However, by walking around so much, you do get to see a lot of the city. In my previous blog, I mentioned that the Royal Botanical Garden is one of my favorite places to go. And how did I find the Botanical Garden? By walking there. Boom. 

This kind of view is worth the walk. Except for the guy in the middle there. Get out of my shot, mate!



The Botanical Garden is not only one of the most peaceful places I have ever been, but it is one of the coolest places, as well. Now, some of you might say "Bro, it's a garden. Just go to your backyard and you'll see the same thing."

Oh yeah? Really? You have this in your backyard?

What about this? You got this one, too?

Ladies and Gentleman, I present you with the coolest tree ever, and the coolest gate ever. Or maybe, technically, it's the coolest group of trees ever. Maybe it's a Transformer. I don't know, but it was worth the picture, and once again, worth the walk.

Also worth the walk, but for different reasons.



While seeing this plaque was a bit of a somber moment, it is always good to remember the events of September 11th, 2001 and give a prayer to those affected by it.

Unfortunately, I am can't come up with a suitable segway from the topic of 9/11, so we're just going to blaze on through. Australia and the U.S.A. are fairly similar in many ways. For instance, the man-to-man head nod still applies here (sup dude?), everyone complains about their jobs, and sports are a vital part of society. However, unsurprisingly, there are many things that are different.

This either an Australian's car, or the hubcap of a Hummer. Not sure which.

Cars: Australians are very similar to the Europeans in their views on cars, and the type of cars that they drive. Consider the picture above. If one of my friends bought this car, I would tell him "Dude, you'd better take that back to the dealership right away. They only gave you half the car!", while an Australian would say to his mate, "Sweet as, you bought the full-size sedan!". Another point of difference is in their trucks. The majority of the time, you will see what they call a "Ute".

A Ute. Small name for a small thing.

A Ute is considered a mid-size truck. In America, a Ute could most likely park in the spots reserved for compact cars and coupes. I'm not hating on small trucks, since I myself drive one. I'm merely pointing out the differences in our cultures, and emphasising that America got it right. U S A! U S A!

While we're on the subject of cars, I thought I'd give you a picture of this little gem that is parked down the street from me.

Shipped straight from Woodstock. This look familiar, all of you 40+ readers? 

My neighborhood rocks. And rolls.

You know what else rocks? My job. I am pleased to say that I really do enjoy my job and the two blokes on my job. I am learning a lot about how to run a project, and about how much work it takes to keep the job organized and on time. I have also learned that the coffee shop upstairs makes the best hot chocolate ever. Yum! I am really getting involved with my project; I have been put in charge of creating, organizing and delivering all of the contracts for the subcontractors for my project, as well as track the changes in work, prices and personal that may occur during the project. I have a lot to learn, but my manager and the foreman have been very helpful and have no problem with explaining things to me. We are really starting to get along, which makes work all that much better!

I mean, who wouldn't want to get along with a guy like this?

Looking good, champ!

Overall, I am doing very well here in Melbourne. I'm beginning to make plans for my travels while I'm here in Melbourne, and for my travels for after I'm done working. Also, my family comes to visit in a month, so I'm super excited about that! There's a lot to see, but remember, I have absolutely nothing to do! I hope everything is going well with you back in the States. Feel free to comment on my blog or e-mail me at rmmr2f@mail.missouri.edu, I would love to hear from you. God bless, and safe travels!



P.S. On a side note, this is a sign that I saw in the Royal Botanical Garden. Just a little something to leave you with.

It's a gateway crime. Pretty soon, you'll be holding up the Garden Center at Lowe's trying to score a maple tree.

We both speak English, but they don't speak American.

The other day, I was asked what kind of accent I had, and it felt awesome! I thought about telling the gentleman "What accent?", but I knew that I had to make a good first impression, so I told him "The accent from the best and most powerful country in the world, ya bloke."

Just kidding, I told him I was American, and he kindly wished me luck in my endevours.

So far, my endevours have ranged from the totally wickedly awesome to the fairly typical. Although since I'm in Australia, even the fairly typical is decently wickedly awesome. To prove my point: on Friday the 28th, I went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef and touched a sea turtle. Three days later, on Monday the 1st, I went grocery shopping. Boom.

Australian supermarket, inside a mall. Pretty much like an American supermarket, just double the price on everything.

Grocery shopping was pretty normal, aside from the fact that my checkout girl spoke Australian, and I had to carry my groceries half a mile to my house. For those of you that haven't been shopping with me, I a bit of a thrifty fellow (read, cheapskate.), so spending money on groceries was a little hard for me, considering absolutely everything in the store is more expensive than it is in the states. So, I bought the least amount of groceries possible for me to survive. Shockingly, the next day, I realized that I was dying and needed more food. So, I'm going to go out tonight and buy some more food for my tired, weak, starving stomach. (Just a tid bit of info, you know how KMarts don't exist anymore in the States? Yeah, that's cause they all are on holiday in Australia. KMart is the second biggest department store Down Under. Blew my mind.)

My house, at 81 Union Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056, is about half a mile from the nearest major road, which is Sydney Road. Sydney Road is a decent sized road, lined with shops and restaurants and homes and my grocery store. Also on Sydney Road are trams!



Tram. My personal mode of transportation. And by personal, I mean me and 2 million other people.



Trams are my livelihood. I take them to work, to all attractions, to downtown and everywhere in between. Melbourne sports the worlds largest tram network (source, Wikipedia.). Even though Wikipedia isn't a Noble Prize winning source, I believe it. The tram network stretches far into the nearby suburbs, and covers an extensive part of downtown (what they call the CBD, Central Business District.) It is fairly reliable and relaxing. Although, during my 25 minute commute to work this morning, a car ran into my tram! You see, trams have special traffic laws. They always have the right of way, and some stoplights don't apply to them, while others always do. It sounds complicated, but the Melburnians seem to have it down pretty well. That is, everyone except for this one lady. We went through an intersection, and all of the other 20 cars stopped for the tram, but she kept going and clipped the side of the tram! It made for quite an exciting start to my day.

Also, if you look at the above picture, you may notice the placement of the tram stops. That's right, you have to jaywalk just to get to the tram! Cars are very reasonable, and will generally let you cross to get to a stop, or you can wait for the traffic light to switch and walk with traffic, but still, it makes waiting for your tram fairly adrenaline filled. Cars rush by two feet behind you, and multi-ton trams blur by two feet in front of you.



Walking, bikes, motorcycles, small cars and trams = confusing rush hour traffic.



Above is a very typical picture of the CBD's traffic. Biking is very, very popular in Melbourne, not only as a tool to commute but as a sport, too. Motorcycles and scooters are popular, since they often have special parking spots. And just like in Europe, it's hard to find a car that's bigger than a twin-sized bed. In the States, we have trucks the size of the trams! Rock on, USA.

While I love the USA (I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free!), I must admit that Australia may have us beat in the department of city parks. Melbourne has so many extravagant and lush parks, it makes for a cross country runner's dream. I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were pretty cool. I don't know how many acres it is, but you could easily get very lost in the gardens. I took a video of a brief bit of my walk through the gardens.

The Gardens had plants from all around the world, and everything was in prestine condition. It was one of the most peaceful, calming places I've seen. There was an asphalt track for running or walking, but there were also many dirt paths that took you deeper into the gardens and into the thick of the plants. If you've been looking for a place to have a picnic, look no further. Go ahead and buy the $2,000 plane ticket, take the 3 flights, fly across the Pacific Ocean for 13 hours, and then tram it to the Royal Botanical Gardens, cause it'll be the best picnic of your life.



Totally worth it.



There were a lot of cool plants, with even cooler names. I found a tree called a "Queensland Jack-In-A-Box". I also found a real strange animal, and I was wondering if anyone who reads this could help me out with identifying it. It wasn't in the provided literature, and there were no signs talking about. I took a picture of it, so please look below.



Just kidding. It's me.

Now that's one handsome creature. Although not everything in Australia is handsome. See below, which is a picture of my office.



Luxury.



To be fair, I work at a construction site, so you can't expect much. And while this may look a bit junky, it as actually quite homy (Homey, homie? I don't mean homie like my gangsta brotha, I mean homie like it's comfortable. Whatever.) I work with two other guys, both in their late 20s. My desk is immediately in the foreground, and then next desk, with the laptop, is the desk of the foreman Paul Jacobs, and the last desk with the monitor on top is of the project engineer and my boss Gabriel Faris. Both guys are great and very helpful and totally committed to helping me learn about Australia and learn about engineering/construction. My project is the refurbishment of a 26 story office building. And while my office may not be too glamorous, it only takes me a short walk from my job site to have some pretty dang nice views.



Pretty nice, yea? And that's only half of the CBD!

I took that picture from the bank of the Yarra River, which runs right down the middle of Melbourne. The river walk is a lot fun, with restuarants and shops lining the river, and further down the river, there was about 12 rowing teams! this made me excited, since Joy was on a rowing team when she was in Oxford. I walked along the river for over an hour, and then decided to sit down and enjoy the sunshine for a bit.



Chilling.

I've been in Melbourne for five days now, and it's been going great. I love the sun, and the walks, and all of the sights. God has been good to me and I'm enjoying every minute of His goodness.