Two Sticks?

3/15/2012

Thursday. Today, I got up early so I could get to class and not have to fight school girls for the bus. My timing was just right this morning. Just as I got off my first bus, the 492 bus was right there! Zero waiting time. That NEVER happens! (#winning). I saw my school girl friend Gabby in passing but my bus was there so I didn’t get to chat (She takes the 490. I can take either the 490 or the 492).

When I got on the bus, Percy was on it. I didn’t even know he took the bus. (Percy is a guy who goes to Wesley. He was one of the people who helps welcome everyone at orientation. He also came to the airport to get the ASC students. He’s one of those people who just gets to know everyone).

I hadn’t really talked to him much. To be honest I had never really planned on getting to know him that well. Those people who just know everyone are too hard to keep up with. Too flippant. But I sat by him and we chatted all the was to school. It was actually really nice to get to talk to him. We talked about past ASC groups and he was saying how every group has their own dynamic. He described our group as being “very genuine”. I’ll take it. He also talked about how hard it is at the end of the semester when the ASC students leave. I thought that was really cool of him, despite knowing that we’re all going to leave, to still put himself out there and want to get to know us.

So anyway, I got to school 1.5 hours early. Then when I did go to class, found out that it was canceled! I could have slept so much longer! But I was there already so I took opportunity to get some breakfast at the Bakehouse with Sophie. I had ham and cheese croissant (So good!) and another iced coffee. Afterward we walked to a paint shop down the street to get paint chips for our project concept board. By the time we got back to campus we had only managed to kill an hour and I still had quite sometime before my next class. I should have done some work, but instead, I got on the internet and Facebook chatted with Gina and Natalie for a while. It may seem like a waste of time, but it was actually really great to get to talk to them. I needed some good chatting time with them. So I consider it to be a good use of my time.

Then I went to drawing class. Today we had a naked model. So that was different. But surprisingly, it wasn’t weird. She was comfortable and professional. The whole thing was just not a big deal. Sure didn’t do anything like that last time I took drawing.

Afterward, my friend Julian was so great and drove me to a camera store to pick up my attachment that I need for class. He was seriously a life savor. I had looked up directions and seen that it would take me over an hour to get there by bus and train. And that was just one way. We were able to drive there in about 15- 20 minutes. He had done some studying in Burbank last winter and he was saying how much it meant to him when people would drive him places when he knew it would take him four times as long to get there via public transit. So when he can do the same favor for someone else he is glad to. What a great guy. Then, he drove me home since I had no need to go back to campus.

Once I got home I talked to Carly for a bit. Then ate dinner, watched the biggest loser. Then when Michelle came home, Carly, Braedon and me made a cake for Ericas birthday tomorrow. That was an experience. Baking in Australia was quite interesting. Not only is it not my kitchen (which is also difficult), we had to deal with converting measurements. When Michelle was helping us pull ingredients, the recipe called for 2 sticks of butter. That meant nothing to her. 

“How much is two sticks?”  Then she pulled out the butter that she had, and it was a 250g brick of butter. So we had to do some online searching to figure out how many grams are in a stick. Then we needed 12oz of chocolate chips. So we had to use their scale thing to figure out what 12 oz looks like. 

 It’s Erica's 21st birthday. And since we can’t drink alcohol, I wanted to make a white Russian cake (With Kahlua and vodka in it). But we didn’t have Kahlua. So that really changed the game. We substituted Butterscotch Schnapps for the Kahlua. Michelle was so funny. When we suggested putting alcohol in the cake she thought it was a great idea and took me straight to the liqueur cabinet to see if they had what we needed. She was the one to suggest the Butterscotch Schnapps. 

Have I mentioned I'm in the best home stay ever? 

The batter tasted like salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks, so I’m hoping the finished cake will taste just as good.

All in all it was really fun. The whole process probably took longer than it should have, but we got it done. But not before Erica came home from her night class. Luckily she was totally oblivious to the baking cake in the oven and we got her to go to the flat while we glazed the cake once it cooled.

I'm excited to taste it tomorrow!