MY FAVOURITES!

I have had plenty of "free-time" in the last month as I haven't been getting much work. That is kind of the down fall of being a Casual Relief Teacher, you are not necessarily guaranteed work. I knew this month would be slow as it is the start of a new school year and CRT's aren't usually required in the first month or so. 

With the amount of free-time I've had, I try to keep myself relatively busy - without spending much money. I have found a few of my new favourite things that I would like to share with "yous" (as they say here in Australia.)

FRENCH VANILLA COFFEE CREAMER

The coffee game isn't the same as it is in Canada. Brewed coffee? What is that. There certainly aren't any "Double Double's." As a matter of fact, people don't even use cream in their coffee. The closest thing you can get to a North American coffee is an Americano at the Starbucks down the way or opt for a "Long Black" at any other nearby cafe. In Melbourne, coffee is taken very seriously and perhaps that is why it is named the coffee capital of Australia and maybe even world. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised. 

As of lately, I've been skipping the coffee shops as I have paid for WiFi on my at home modem. Therefore, I really have no excuse to go out for a coffee so I have been making the coffee myself. Of course, it's not that great as I just have Woolies Brand (similar to "No Name") instant coffee. With that being said, I needed something to make it a little more tasty. As I said earlier, coffee cream is unheard of here so as a DIY-er I set out to make my own. The recipe is rather simple and the outcome is delicious! All you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz of milk and some vanilla flavour. That's it! Easy, right? The funny thing is I had no container to hold my new French Vanilla Coffee Creamer so I had to empty the carton of milk into bowls to mix it and keep it in the carton. Ha Ha! 

SMOOTHIE MAKING

Smoothies are my new addiction. They are 100% my favourite-est thing EVER! On Boxing Day a friend of mine, who was getting ready to travel and then return back to Canada, gave me her blender because she simply did not need it any longer. Was I ever excited! This is where my addiction was born! Smoothies are great because they are light, filling, and amazingly delicious! I enjoy coming up with new recipes after just throwing heaps of fruit and vegetables into the blender. As I type this I am enjoying a mixture I just threw together including Passion Fruit, Peaches, Strawberries, Raspberries and of course, Almond Milk. MMMM mmmm! 

As always, Sundays are market days where I can pick up some relatively cheap fruits and vegetables. I then spend the better half of the day creating "smoothie packages" to keep in the freezer or fridge so that I can throw a quick smoothie together in the morning. I love bananas in my smoothies and the BEST deal I got was last week, when I got about 15 bananas for $1.05 (normally they are $4/kg!!) Oh, I was so happy! 

PANCAKES, PANCAKES, PANCAKES!

I love pancakes so much. Pancakes for breakfast, pancakes for lunch! The blender has also helped me out in the pancake department. It makes it too easy to just toss my ingredients in and blend it up quick. Now that I'm an adult, I can make whatever I want for dinner. And what's better than breakfast for dinner? Especially when steamy, delicious flapjacks are on the menu! 

These babies aren't just any pancakes, no. They are healthy, two ingredient pancakes! WHAT?! Yes. A banana and two eggs are all you need for these bad boys. They are beyond delicious, but I sometimes like to spruce things up by adding in a swirl of my Coconut & Peanut spread OR by blending some rolled oats into the mixture. Easy, delicious and healthy. Could you ask for much more! YUM!

DOODLING 

Like I said, at the moment teaching days are few and far in between but that isn't an excuse for not getting up in the morning. Part of the job means you need to be ready to go at a moments notice. So, after waking up shortly after 5am to get ready, making a smoothie for brekky, and waiting around for a phone call that just might come, I sit with a cuppa coffee (with homemade French Vanilla Creamer), turn up the tunes and doodle away. Before I know it, the time has passed and it's nearly 9am - where the chances of getting a call are slim.

AWESOME TABS HOMEPAGE

I'm not sure what the heck I was doing yesterday, but I somehow, stumbled across this extension for Google Chrome! I was pretty excited because since iGoogle homepage was no more, I didn't have a homepage - besides the Google page. And that was boring. It's called Awesome New Tab Page which I have to be honest is a pretty lame name for this extension. But, I've been enjoying customizing it and adding all the buttons to pages I visit daily. I like it for a homepage because everything I need is just a click away and I can do a Google search by just hovering over the Google icon. I liked being able to completely customize it, so I added the chalkboard like background and made my images transparent.  

Well, that about sums up most of my current favourite things. During the last few weeks, I haven't been able to go to the beach on my days off (bummer!) because the weather hasn't been great. A few weeks ago it was between 40*C-45*C every day. Which brought on bush fires. Which made a thick smoke haze that didn't allow the sun to shine. Which is basically no fun. Melbourne was looking like a sad, sad city for a while. Luckily we've had some rain and the skies have cleared but we are down to 23*C weather now.

If you have some favourite things, please share them in the comments. With work this slow, I'll need to be trying new things in my future days off! 

I'M JUST A LITTLE DREAMER

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I have been living in Australia for the last seven months. It has been a crazy, incredible adventure. I look back to just about a year ago when I received the email stating that I was accepted to come teach in Australia. As I read that email, I didn't know how much this opportunity would change my entire life. In that moment, I had no clue what my responsibilities were even going to be once I got here. All I knew is that I was going to a place that I had always dreamed to visit and to pursue my first teaching job and a chance to travel a beautiful country.

I can't even imagine what my life would be like had I stayed in Canada to teach. I do miss Canada and all the beautiful faces back at home, but right now, I can't even picture myself anywhere else but in Australia. It is an amazing country of discovery, exploration and complete happiness. I know that one day, I will defiantly miss living here. There are nights where I have to ask myself, "am I seriously living in Australia right now?" because for me, Australia had only ever been a dream. It had always been "over there" or "too far away." 

Noosa Beach, Australia, 2014

I am young. I am a young person with dreams. I am baffled by the fact that two of my biggest dreams that I had as a child have already been realities for me. Ever since a young age, I was fascinated by The Big Five, or the famous African animals. I dreamed for a chance to some day go on a safari to see those animals in their natural environments. I dreamed of the opportunity to be submerged into a vibrant African culture and do work that would benefit the lives of others. Next to Africa was always Australia. I desperately wanted go to the Sydney Opera House since the first time I saw it on TV. I dreamed of swimming alongside the marine life in the Great Barrier Reef. I dreamed of learning to surf somewhere on a beautiful Australian beach. Who would have thought that in my short twenty-two years of life, I have completely fulfilled these dreams. 

Emdoneni Cat Sanctuary, South Africa, 2012

Just because these dreams are fulfilled, I will never stop dreaming. I have a long list of dreams big and small wandering around somewhere inside of my head, waiting to be fulfilled. Mark my words, I WILL step foot on each continent. Antarctica might be tricky, it isn't entirely outside the realm of possibility, so I'll try my very best.

I have five months left in Australia. My feelings are completely mixed. There are days where I wish I could go home early to see everyone and get back to a 'regular' life and then there are days where I wouldn't change a single thing! I'm most excited that my sister arrives in Melbourne in FOUR days which will commence an unreal sister road trip! Shortly after, we will meet with my parents and little sister in Sydney to head off and do some more travelling!  I can't wait to experience the Cairns area with them and to show them Noosa and Sydney. 

The way I see it, you are given one life. Dream as big as possible and do what you want. Go after your dreams, work hard, be courageous and never take 'no' for an answer. Don't let your dreams only ever be dreams. Make them come alive and live them! 

EAST COAST ADVENTURES!

After having been gone travelling for a month, I'm finding it hard to settle back into the regular lifestyle back here in Melbourne. I won't have to settle for long though as my sister comes in just a few weeks and we will be off travelling and meeting up with my family later!

Our East Coast trips was completely amazing and filled so many wonderful memories. We started the journey in Sydney where we took in the sights of the city. My favourite part was definitely walking the Harbour Bridge at night and taking this picture, which is probably the best picture I have ever taken! 

From Sydney, we had a crazy night out in Brisbane before hopping on a ten hour bus ride to get us up to the small town of 1770. This is where we learned to surf and exchanged our innocent teacher looks for a bad as bikers look.

 

The rest of the trip kinda speaks for itself in this video I made of all our little clips put together. I can't even watch this video without laughing at least twice! I feel so grateful to have these opportunities to travel and experience so much! I'm even so lucky to have the best mates to travel with! Check it out: