A day to ourselves….

Christine again….

True to our word, Jen and I started our morning at 6:30 a.m. and were beyond shocked when we found Aaron waiting for us in the hotel lobby with his 50 lb backpack loaded and ready for a day of discovery (in the elevator we were making little comments about our pansy teammates and their failure to buck up to the challenge). After a scrumptious brekky (seriously, you should see the spread), the three of us set out into the city.

By the time we met up with Judy and Matt at the Immigration Museum at 10 a.m., a full days worth of activity had been accomplished (Shrine of Remembrance, Royal Botanic Gardens, a walk along the river). We toured the museum, learned a TON about immigration in Victoria (along with a gazillion noisy school children) and found our way to Southbank to find some food. After a leisurely lunch, we headed over to Federation Square to check out the Aboriginal Art exhibit – SPEC-freakin’-TACULAR. Seriously. With feet tired and burning like a thousand suns, we headed back to the hotel through the maze of arcades (with a stop at a café for wine, of course). We’re all taking a little break at the hotel before heading up to Lygon Street (the Italian district) for dinner later. We’ll update again when we get a chance…after all, tomorrow morning is another insane 6:30 a.m. start to check out the Victoria Market – WE ARE MACHINES!

STOP!

Christine here…..

Tuesday, March 11 was Vocational Day #5, presentation day to RC Point Gellibrand and transfer to the RACV for our one free day. The day started well: Matt gave a rock star presentation to the Association of Law Librarians, Aaron spent the day with JG King Construction, Jen accompanied Judy to Open Family and I went to the Council of Adult Education in the city. We gave our evening presentation (Point Gellibrand meets at the Yacht Club in Williamstown, it just doesn’t get any better than that), loaded our gear into the van and headed into the city after bidding farewell to our hosts (by far, the most dramatic of our farewells – we weren’t being handed off to another club this time – we were on our own).

We arrived at the posh digs that is the RACV Hotel in downtown Melbourne. After dropping off our luggage (and taking photos of our rooms, like the tourists we are), we met down in the lobby bar to decompress (and share some wine, of course). Jen and I immediately made plans for the next day: 6:30 a.m. brekky followed by exploration of the city. Matt and Judy immediately begged off, but Aaron was considering this insane morning plan.

Notes about the day:
Most unexpected and shocking moment: Jen and Judy encountering a couple shooting up (yes…heroine). FYI: Open Family is an outreach service working with some of Melbourne’s most at risk people.

Learning moment of the day: me being abandoned in the city and making my way home via train (thank goodness my host family made me memorize the train schedule and route home – seriously – they’re so cute, I even had to bring their cell phone and all of their contact information JIC).

Best GSE presentation screw-up of the day: Jen saying that 70% of the team was native to Nebraska when, in fact, none of us are. Not to be outdone, Aaron said (with map on screen) that North Dakota bordered Nebraska to the north (it doesn’t). After we corrected him, he continued on to say that Denver and Wyoming were the states that bordered us to the west (Denver is NOT a state). Matt displayed his quick wit by starting his portion of the presentation by thanking Aaron for setting the bar so low. Our presentation is definitely evolving.

Funniest moment of the day: Riding in the elevator back up to our hotel rooms, when suddenly, the alarm goes off. Matt was leaning against the button console. If that’s not embarrassing enough, after the alarm stops (thanks to the woman on the speaker who asked if we needed assistance), he presses the giant red STOP button. Ummm…if you press the STOP button, the elevator stops…yup, between floor 3 and 4. Alas, one of us managed to hit the right combination of buttons to get that lift moving again. I thought I was going to pee my pants – it was THAT funny!