disclaimer: this is a highly interactive blog....there are links EVERYWHERE. click them, they're interesting, I swear.
I don't know how much Australian news you get, but we've had storms almost everyday since my last entry....which is strange for Brisbane because we're in the middle of a draught and have been for years. See
videos here especially watch the stroblight one!
It's quite obvious Brisbanians.....Brisbaners......Brissies.....Brisbanites.....I don't know what they call themselves, are completely caught off guard by rain. They have NO IDEA what to do. It's much like the stereotype of Southern Californians. It's actually kind of entertaining to watch people run around in shorts and flips through pounding rain, their umbrellas turning inside-out.
Even the
local bar here was totally caught off guard by the rain during their after-semester beach-themed party. They ordered tons of sand to be put out on the back deck, made two extra bars and had people come in bathing suits and board shorts....it was pouring down rain by 7:00, making their sandy investment the biggest loss of the night, I'm sure. (people don't go to that bar when it rains even lightly because there is no solid covering overhead, it's just a thin mesh-like lining)
Actually, I was at a small gathering with friends and it had been raining for 2 days, I wore my rain boots.....galoshes.....gum boots.....and people were asking me if I had any idea it doesn't really rain here (being in the middle of draught and all). I bet after this last week of semi-torrential rain, they're wishing they had some gum boots!
A Brisbane woman has died due to the storms, you can read the article in the
Sydney Morning Herald. And there have been two
natural disasters (well, Brisbane is being called a disaster area) called in Brisbane in the last week the last week.
Last night I walked home in the Vietnam-reminiscent downpour, which was really lovely...I arrived completely drenched and in heaven....the only problem is, I've been trying not to let this chest cold invade my body and I of course aggravated it once I got back into the hot house.
Moving on, I think the insects here are much more poisonous than in North America. I keep getting bitten and the bite inevitably swells and itches uncontrollably. In the US and even in Mexico, I could generally control myself and not touch the bites, they would NEVER keep me up at night and they certainly wouldn't swell.
So far, I've had a swollen toe due to what I think was an ant bite, a swollen middle finger due to 3 mosquito bites and now my foot is swollen on two sides because I went outside yesterday for a change of scenery and got bitten twice by a mosquito (he went for me a third time, but I killed the bugger).
So currently I have 9 bites in total (3 on one finger, one on another, three on my left arm and 2 on my foot) and while only the foot bites hurt anymore (I seeped out the venom from the three on the finger, I couldn't stand the itching), the rest still look like flesh eating disease.
Speaking of the flesh eating disease....there is a
spider here who's venom causes necroses of the flesh....and the thing is, it doesn't happen immediately so you may think you're fine (because the bite doesn't actually hurt too badly) but then months later you can get this:
or worse. Some people have actually had body parts amputated!
Needless to say, I've been checking my shoes before putting them on and I don't walk around without flip flops on!
Anyway, enough rambling, going to the library to get a card and do some job searching.
Cheers!
