I reckon being a golfer is the way to go to get a great tan! I ran into a group of Norwegian and Swedish golfers at the local groceries store today, their tan is the best! Only thing is that you´d be required to wear the "uniform"; bermuda shorts, polo short and a baseball cap with a blonde pony tail sticking out the back, And pearl earrings. And they do stick out in a crowd-you could tell they were scandinavians from miles away! I do envy their tan though-mine resembles blushing like never before Mental note to self; put more sun screen on when being in the sun! Anyways; it´s been a good couple of weeks since last "spoken". Caroline and I were invited to a barbeque to celebrate the fact that the national finals of one of Australias big sports were on; The AFL. Which is Australian Football Leauge. None of the local teams made it to the finals in Melbourne, but what the-just a fantastic reason for a bbq. (And btw; Australians don´t put shrimps on "barbies", in case you wondered. Rather lots and lots of meat! And some sauces and white bread to go with it) The thing I´ve always wondered is why call it "football" when there are feet AND hands involved in the game? hm.

The get together of people were interesting; there we were, both local and international nursing students and some self declared racists. Or so they said. They were from the outback of Australia, and did not like Aboriginals. I was stunned-to a point were I did not know what to say. I wanted to give it to them for being honest, but then again-you don´t want to say out loud that you´re a racist, do you? The problem according to this person was that the local Aboriginals were the people that drank excessive amounts of alcohol, were unemployed and did criminal acts. Still-I don´t know how to respond, but I wish I knew. There´s just something so incredibly besides what I believe in when you form an opinion about a whole group of people based on the act of a few. Then again there´s the issue of a vicious circle of an opressed group in society. Before I managed to comply myself and propose a reply-the puppy arrived and all differences in opinions were put aside. (Btw; none of the girls pictured were the ones we "discussed" politics with:)

Since summer has arrived-I spend some of my days off at the beach. Hence the horrible pink tan I mentioned before. I will get there though! The sun rays in Australia are incredibly strong. I´m sure I´ve heard somewhere that the rate of skin cancer in Australia is higher than anywhere else in the world, somewhat due to the whole in the ozone layer aboce the continent. Hm-must wear lots of sun screen! Our balcony is perfectly situated for spending a couple of hours watching the sun set, and even then it´s really warm! Apart from spending days off just lazing on the beach, I´ve started planning my journey home. Since I my semester finishes soon after work placement is over, and I am more than moderately keen to see my little niece and the rest of my family&friends in Norway sooner rather than later AND I have done lots of travelling in Australia before-I am coming home in a few weeks. One thing I will do before I leave oz, though, is the Great Ocean Road. I´ve always wanted-but never had the chance to go! My friend Olivia, the Sicilian from Brisbane is coming down to Adelaide to join me for a bit of a drive to Melbourne. We will be posting pictures and keep you udated!

Since I am getting towards the end of the placement in the mental health ward I am really settled there, both with staff and patients. Interacting with patients is more relaxed and useful for both of us. I had a really interesting experience the other day when one of the patients where experiencing olfactory hallucinations, those hallucinations were you think you smell something that just isn´t there at all. The patient settled after I spoke to him about it based on what a nurse had inspired me to say. The nurses on the ward are really open to answer any questions! They know it can be quite confronting to interact with mentally ill patients. You cannot always fix their issue at the moment with medication, a wound dressing or a catheter. Sometimes you have to rely on your communication skills. They do administer a great deal of anti anxiety drugs, though. Medication to settle an anxious and possibly disruptive mind. Like Lorazepam, a benzodiazepine , "Loraz" and "Benzos" as they call it here. You can always count on the Australians to shorten everything, even psychotripic medications names. Patients on the ward are experiencing some rather interesting delusions, I´ve been Lady Diana on several occasions. With a patient being quite worked up and aggitated when I couldn´t explain why I wasn´t in Buckhingham Palace. Good thing we get a lunch break when we can debreif with the other students!

I had Vegiemite during one of these lunch break. It´s yeast extract. It is salty. If you look at it and think it´s chocolate spread, you´re screwed! hmmm-not sure what I think of it. What I am intrigued by is WHY? Why eat that stuff when this country has lots of fantastic meats, salads, veggies, cheeses. I could go on, but I wont. Glenelg is btw great with food and has lots of restaurants.hence the visit to an Indian last week.

I will attempt to sleep tonight-last night was quite shocking; we had a neighbor that kept the whole building awake with his shouting and wanting to get in to see this lady named Linda. Or so it sounded like from what he was shouting outside by the front door at 3am last night. He did proceed to press the door bells for all the units in the building. It took him an hour before some dumb person let him in. Then he happened to be staying on our floor. Since he was not in the possession of a key, he kept shouting the f- and c-word alot with the word door in the sentence and that lady´s name whilst doing what sounded like kicking the door in. You get the picture, right? Neither me nor Caroline was going to go anywhere near this rather drunk and disorderly person so we were relieved when someone actually let him in to his unit. All this commotion was a great excuse for sleeping in the sun for most of the day.

Tomorrow is another sunny day, yet slightly chilly (12degrees) Might just finish that assigment. Probably a good idea to stay indoors anyway...