Aussie Appreciation Night and State of Origin!

G'Day Mates!!!

So just wanted to get on her and so hello and let you know about whats been going on and whats about to happen!

Last night (Tuesday the 14th) we had Aussie Appreciation Night . . . It consisted of singing Australian songs such as We Our Australian and The National Anthem (Youtube the first one its pretty good). We also had the privilege of eating Veggiemite (or maybe not so much of a privilege depending on how you look at it) it is different to say the least I didnt hate it but a lot of people did and the Aussies LOVE it. Its a spread you put on toast with a bit of better or a lot of butter and a bit of Veggiemite I should say. If you go with the first way your bound to throw up! We also did a bit of bush dancing(this is the exact same thing as barn dancing pretty much), learned about the outback, and drank Cordial (we actually drink Cordial on the regular but last night we learned how much of a staple it is in Australia. If you dont know what it is it is a highly concentrated fruit syrup basically and you mix just a little bit of it with a glass of water it is basically like Kool-Aid just with less sugar and its liquid to start instead of powder. And most importantly we got have a Tim Tam Slam. So this is the deal on that Tim Tams are these Australian cookies they are Chocolate Cookies dipped in Chocolate Icing. Then they have this drink here that is much like Hot Chocolate that the Aussies call Milo (Its better than standard Hot Chocolate!) So to complete the Tim Tam Slam you bite just a small piece off of one corner of your Tim Tam (they are rectangular shape so you know) and then on the opposite corner of your Tim Tam you nibble off the corner again! Then you put one of the corners you bit off in your mouth (NO HANDS!!!!) and put the other corner in your Milo and suck until you can feel the Milo coming through the Tim Tam and that moment just as the cookie is melting you suck the whole Tim Tam into your mouth all at Once and if done correct it will be completely full of Hot MILO and it just melts in your mouth in a beautiful way. It is almost magical!!!!

Now as for tonight! This is something I am beyond excited for! It is state of Orgin . . . This is what in North America we would call an All Star game. State of Origin is for the Rugby League (In Australia there is Rugby Leaugue, Rugby Union, and Aussie Rules Football . . .Which one is better is a never endning debate among the Australians and there are different rules and stuff but if you want to know more just ask) So yeah this is for Rugby League. Townsville has a team here that is in the NRL or Natianal Rugby League. NRL is the biggest pro sport in the northern part of Australia and in the southern part it is AFL or Australian Football League(Aussie Rules Football). And among all these different version and all the debates all Australians will agree on one thing State of Origin is the biggest three games in the Aussie Sport all year! And Tonight at 730 is the third and final game!

Here is the breakdown . . .Its a three game series, each game is three weeks apart. And the two teams are not comprised of the best players from the two conferences or leagues but rather the State that you first played Footy in . . .Thus STATE OF ORGIN. Its the same two states every year Queensland (the state I am in and also called the Maroons) and New South Wales (The Blues and for those of you privey on geography is the state where Sydney is located) and this rivalry is beyond on Epic . . .Duke v. North Carolina, IU v. Purdue, Cubs v. Cardinals, Yankees v. Red Sox, Lakers v. Celtics all great rivalries and NOT ONE!!! Can hold a candle to the rivalary that exist between these two states when it comes to the State of Orgin match. For 80 min you have teamates playing against each other friends and family not sitting near each other and even an entire missions base taunting each other for the last week all for this game and we all watch it together on a giant projector and I CANT WAIT you all know my affection for sport (and no that is not a typo it is sport in Aus not Sports) it is going to be beyond belief of the excitment that is around this country for this game . . .Even if you do not belong to one of these states you dont stand in the middle everyone has a side! So I will let you know all about it after the game goes down!!!! Just so you can get an idea here is a video for a little taste! Its pretty long but you will get the ideea pretty quickly!

Hope you all is well!

Love and Light