"I am a deeply superficial person"

9:45 PM, Sunday 2/3 (except it didn't get posted till today, Mon. 2/4 at 7:30 AM)

I know I'm updating with shocking frequency, but I also know that grandparents enjoy knowing that I'm still safe, and while I have easy access to Internet, I figure I'll update.

Today the weather gods apparently thought I was getting a bit homesick so sent some good ol' Washington rain, but it wasn't just regular rain--it was buckets and buckets of dumping rain that was so loud it wakes me up, and that says a lot--I can sleep through trains, planes, people walking in my room, etc, but I can't sleep through rain? No worries, I went right back to sleep, but still. This rain was weird in that it was freakishly warm outside while it rained, so it was almost pleasant. Still, we were planning on going to the Gold Coast, and it's not fun to be at the beach soaking wet unless you're in the water you planned to visit. Instead, we checked out the Andy Warhol exhibit in downtown Brisbane which I highly enjoyed. Warhol was a weird guy, he saved everything he came into contact with in these "time capsules" and there was some cool stuff in there. He's kind of the epitome of American life, in that he created such commercialism in his art, but some of his later stuff was good, and it was cool to see so many of his famous pieces up close.

After our artistic culture for the day we went to a delightful Italian place where I had delicious pumpkin spice ravioli. By then it had stopped raining, so we headed out to the Gold Coast to Fingal Beach. It was like a beach on the Oregon coast--crashing waves, gorgeous scenery, rocky cliffs, natural climb up to a lighthouse--it was breathtaking. I saw blue jellyfish, trees with leaves that the Aboriginals used for basket-weaving, and a really cute small dog running around. It was delicious to walk around barefoot and soak it in. Our timing couldn't have been better, since as soon as we left a giant storm rolled in. Take that, suckas! Robin and Julia have been really great in showing me around the city, explaining points of interest, and driving in the worst weather so that I can get a better idea of the sights. Plus, I get to sleep in Chloe's old room in a giant, poofy bed with lots of pillows and eat really good food. It's delightful. Robin's been set on getting me to a pub, but settled for me trying ginger beer tonight instead. It's like root beer, but better. I don't know if we have it in the States, but I've never had it before so I'm pretending we don't. Oh, also on my sandwich tonight I had really good cheese with carmelized onions in it and it's my new favorite thing ever. I'm digging Australian cuisine.

I heard something about Superbowl Sunday coming up but I don't even know who's playing (maybe the Patriots?), and something about Guiliani dropping out of the race, and that's about it...it's definitely weird being so disconnected from US news. It's also kind of cool following the election out here, because people are definitely interested and watching what US voters do. It kind of puts into perspective what this election means internationally, though.