On Wednesday I went ice skating.

Ice skating.
In Australia.
In summer.

Freaking sweet.

About 20 St. Tommy's people went out past the city to the "Cockburn Ice Rink" (please take a break to reread that name and giggle. :D) about a half hour from the Uni.

Zip zip around the rink!

We went in four cars (some owned and some borrowed) and somehow I got shotgun in a little red one (it looked suspiciously like a very small Cavalier...). I have to say this whole "we drive on the other side of the road" thing creeps me out... Before Wednesday I'd only been in a car twice, and I don't really notice the difference in public transit (buses, trains) because they're so large. Well, it's super strange sitting on the left side of the vehicle and not having pedals or a steering wheel. I can't really explain the feeling... It's almost dreamlike, where you know there's something wrong, but you don't know what and nobody else seems to notice or care.

We got to the ice rink and it was fabulous. The lights were on low and the rink was cold. It was wonderful. Secret share time - I don't know how to stop on ice skates. Like at all... Like I either have to keep going or stop by crashing into the wall. Funny thing about this ice rink was the fact that all the Aussies there were excellent skaters... They all could go fast as lightning and stop on a dime, throwing up ice. Aussie pwnage. It was embarassing...

And now it's time for an episode of "OMG we would NEVER do this in the states!!".
They play GAMES during free skate at the ice rink. DUDE. GAMES. I was just skating around, minding my own business when the DJ gets on the loudspeaker and goes "AAAAaaaand now we're going to play a game of TTTAAAAGGGggg. So if you don't want to play, step off the ice for a few minutes." Ummm... 'kaaay... And everyone headed over to the far side of the rink. I scooted over to a guy in a black Tav t-shirt and asked him what "tag" was. He responded with a grin, saying "it's a game". Gee thanks Sherlock, and the ocean's a body of water...

The DJ shouted "TAAAAGGG!" over the loudpseakers and everyone skated over to the other side of the rink. They were freaking playing "Sharks and Minnows"!!! ON ICE. Did anybody else notice the danger level in this building suddenly skyrocket? Surprisingly enough, I think I only saw a couple people fall over the duration of the two games of Tag/Sharks and Minnows. Just another example of how Aussies are more exciting/crazier than Americans.

At ten our time was up and we had to return our lovely blue plastic skates. Which was okay because the right one was getting rather painful (and I ended up with bruises from it). We headed out to the cars and started off. We were almost to the highway when the car we were following pulled over. Apparently somebody had a flat tire back at the ice rink. So we headed back again. We turned into the parking lot and saw this:

Yeah, that's definitely a flat... There was discussion over who did or did not know how to change a tire and surprisingly few people knew how. So I got out of the red car after having been told that nobody knew how to change a tire. Turns out that was a lie - there was an older guy who had also been skating helping them. He also had a flashlight. He was definitely prepared. So my contribution to the tire changing situation was: stand in the way, remind George to put the jack on the metal chassis not the plastic frame, stand in the way, hold the nuts, stand in the way again. I'm so helpful! BUT we got it all back together and headed back towards Uni.

All in all, a productive evening. I exercised (HA) and showcased my mad engineering/car maintenance skills.