From Oz, With Love

The beginning of the year, the beginning of school. The beginning of the end, really. I’m am now studying year 12 at my school. That daunting, life-sucking year 12. You may be thinking, “Why are you starting school now?” Well, down here our seasons differ to those in other parts of the world and therefore, most of us start school again in February, after a long, long, beautiful summer break.

A lot of people ask me how weird it is to start school now and to celebrate Christmas and New Years in the sunshine. My relative in America said to me once, “I can’t imagine Christmas without snow!” She thought it was bizarre and just “too weird”, which is perfectly understandable seeing as though all you ever hear about/see are houses covered in snow at Christmas time through movies, shows and even song. To this day I have not heard of one song about Christmas under the sun.

So, to explain to y’all how our academic year works, I’ve written this post which will hopefully make it clear to you all.

The Australian school year comprises of four terms and two semesters.

Each ‘term’ lasts for 7-11 weeks. There are four of these. The first starting in late January/early February. After the long awaited end of these brutal weeks, we get two weeks off until the new term starts. I reckon these breaks are great. I mean, we have a two week break over easter, during the middle of the year and in September. I can’t imagine going to school to half a year straight. What’s more? At the end of the year we get the whole Summer off. Yep. Well, most of it. Senior students get about 10 weeks off, whereas “juniors” get about 7-8.

So there you have it, the Australian academic year. With two week breaks after every 7-11 week period and then a huge chunk of fun for the summer 2 month or so break.

I’ve just started the year on February the 1st and I really, really hope this tiny yet deciding year will pay off.

If you didn’t know, today, January 26, is the always appreciated Australia Day! Apart from being a much needed public holiday –for those who aren’t on school holidays– it gives us inhabitants a chance to appreciate where we are. It reminds us every year of how wonderful the land we live in is.

Here’s a little Australia Day history:

From the earliest white settlement at the end of the 18th century, Australians have striven to celebrate a national day, and in so doing, define what it means to be Australian. January 26 has traditionally marked the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip at Port Jackson in present-day Sydney, thereby claiming Australia for the British Empire. Early settlers, perhaps naturally, marked the anniversary. Australia Day has evolved from a small commemorative New South Wales holiday into a major national celebration. Though it has often been criticised, it remains the most inclusive celebration of a national day in Australia, expressing the national diversity which has become such an important part of the Australian national character. Australia Day today celebrates diversity and tolerance in Australian society. Whereas once it celebrated the staunchly British nature of Australian society (or was disparaged for this approach), it now embraces multicultural Australia, including all ethnic backgrounds, racial differences and political viewpoints.

- Australia Day History

Unfortunately, today everyone was busy doing their own thing so there was no traditional barbecue, beers or parties for me. It was quite boring, really. But as I sat there with my unread ‘Emma’ book staring straight at me, I was beginning to think of all the things I should be grateful for.

Things like,

- Freedom
- Safety
- Our international reputation
- Our education
- Multiculturalism
- Our health care system
- The Australian Summer
- Our endless opportunity
- Our heritage
- Beaches
- Sydney
- Melbourne
- Forests
- The Outback
- Our unique flora and fauna
- Kangaroos and koalas
- Competitive economy
- Vegemite
- Our stability
- and simply, of course, our laid back way of life. Well, most-of-the-time-laid-back-way-of-life.

Today has truly made me realise how wonderful Australia is. Its made me grateful for being here, surrounded by such amazing landscapes, wonderful people and diverse nationalities.

It is truly a fantastic place to live and an honour to call myself an Aussie.

I leave you with some good ol’ Australian images

A koala –no we don’t have these in our backyards

Northern Territory landscapes

A kangaroo –no we don’t ride these to school, but beware of their punch

My dear Melbourne

Ayers Rock

Melbourne Fashion Week

The Great Barrier Reef

An echidna

Famous Melbourne alleyways

Receding waters.

Healesville Dam

The Murray River

The Outback

Amazing cliffs

Northern Terrirory landscape

Tell me what you like about Australia!

So here’s my…third step to get travelling. I’ve bought a $4 money box to help me build up my travel funds from internal sources. I.e. grandparents/aunties/uncles. Muahahaha.

My first donation was $2. Hey, leave me I’m an unemployed student! Mum donated $10 just before and said that she will keep aiding me. Even though she (and dad) are completely against the future I want. Yes, I’m confused also.

I guess I’d like to thank Steph from Twenty-something Travel for getting me motivated! From her email and furthermore, post, I have gotten a lot of feedback and ideas about how to start travelling and how to persuade the parents to let me go.

We’ll see how far I can get!

Yesterday I finally enjoyed the many perks of the beach. I also copped one of its biggest cons. Sunburn.

I decided today that I should post my past experience with sunburn. Luckily, this time I only got it on a little patch.

Last year, I ignorantly chose not to wear sunscreen and relied on a tiny amount of sun tan oil to “give me some colour”. I also chose NOT to sit in the shade and opted to lounge about under the sun for about six hours.

Six hours, 37 degree heat, no/limited sunscreen.

I did not feel the effects of my stupidity until I stepped foot into my home.

I was on fire.

Before I knew it my body turned bright red. It burned. It stung. It started to swell and hurt. My skin cells were in trauma. And it was my fault. I couldn’t move properly for forty-eight hours and my sun burned areas even felt hot.

I turned to one of the most trusted things in my life. Google.

There, after practically drooling when I read words such as “soothing”, “relief” and cool”, I found countless remedies for sunburn. Though I didn’t try all of them, aloe vera saved my life.

Here are some of the easy remedies I found. I hope no one gets sunburn, but can gain something from this post.

1. WEAR SHIT LOADS OF SUNSCREEN!
I know people hate reading that after they’re already burning, but for next time, when you’re about to “tan” or go outside or something, just remember the last time you burned or remember reading this post and say to yourself, “IT’S REALLY NOT WORTH IT!” Go with SPF 30.

2. Aloe Vera.
I used Solarcain Aloe Vera Spray but I’ve heard that the gel is much better.
Other remedies use aloe vera juice: for mild to medium sunburn, keep the affected area moist with aloe vera juice. Repeat frequently. This will reduce the pain and the amount of peeling.
Aloe vera ointment works well, too, as it contains oil and will not evaporate.
For a severe sunburn, keep the area moist at all times with aloe vera juice. Since aloe vera is an astringent, you may want to use aloe vera ointment or some sort of oil, such as olive or baby. Aloe is very effective in relieving pain and inflammation.

3. Apple Cider Vinegar
Apply apple cider vinegar to the burn with a cottonball, or make a cooling compress for a large area to relieve the pain. Keep the skin moistened. This remedy will prevent blistering and peeling. Although it doesn’t smell the best.

4. Aspirin
Aspirin kills the pain and reduces inflammation and redness of a sunburn. It short-circuits the whole sunburn process. It must be taken within 24 hours of getting sunburned. Aspirin is preferable to ibuprofen or acetaminophen because it is less stressful on the liver and kidneys.

5. Baking soda
Dissolve some baking soda in water and make a compress using a clean cloth. Another remedy is to add 1/2 cup of baking soda to a tepid bath and soak. Instead of drying the affected area with a towel, let it air dry. Baking soda is cooling and will help the skin retain moisture.

6. Baths
Add 20 drops of each of lavender and chamomile essential oils to a tubful of cool water and soak for 10 minutes.

7. Bergamot
Add bergamot oil to cool bathwater.

8. Tea
Make a pot of boiling water and steep many tea bags to a very strong tea in a large pot. Add ice until the tea is just slightly warm. Put a bath towel into the pot and keep turning the towel until it has soaked up all of the tea. Have the sunburned person lie on the floor or bed on top of an old towel to catch drips. Place the wet towel over the sunburned area of the body. Leave the towel on for a half hour for a moderate burn and an hour for a strong burn. The slightly warm tea will actually feel very cool on burned skin, and cold water would be almost painfully too cold on the hot skin. The burned person immediately feels relief from the wet, getting cooler and cooler gradually, with the actual temperature of the skin also cooling.

An ad which is being repeatedly played on television to remind people of sun damage. However some people believe that this video “is not educational, but a scare campaign and nothing more”.

Hope that helps any people with this horrible condition!

What’s your worst sunburn experience? And, more importantly, what’s your best remedy?

My first post for the new server. Where to start?!

How about a little bio? My name is Pearl. I’m a seventeen year old student in my last year of high school with not a lot of insight into my future. Yeah, that pretty much sums me up.

I started blogging on January 14th, 2009, and immediately fell in love with it. At first, I was completely anonymous. I chose not to share my blog with friends and family due to the fear of being exploited, taken too seriously or rather, not seriously at all.

It was hard to keep up with shutting out the people I know from visiting my blog. Although I must say I did a good job, only slipping with one person who was a bit too eager to find me.

Now that I’ve adapted to this type of networking, and am a little more comfortable with myself, I suppose it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let a handful of people get a glimpse into what I’m really thinking.

Most blogs have a theme. Weather it be travel, fashion, music, gaming, food, writing etc. Hung in the Imbalanced does not have a theme. It cannot when its writer doesn’t even have a theme.  It is very…rocky.

Hung in the Imbalanced is like a diary entry usually, a photo stream occasionally, a venting space very frequently, a place where I can ramble on and on and still get some feedback and of course, a place for questions and answers. I hope you readers find something that intrigues you on Hung in the Imbalanced so that we can interact. From my previous blog, I’ve made a handful of precious friends which keep me running. I hope I can find some new ones on the new server.