Latest updates Feb 27-March 21

So my computer officially got sent home :( so I have gotten really behind on my blogging..bugger

There was this kick of mass fire alarms..literally there were 5 in one week! If you can imagine 13 floors evacuating the building. It got to the point where we were packing a bag before we went to bed in order to be prepared to be outside for a good half hour at random hours of the morning/night. Did I mention we live on the 11th floor...you get nice and dizzy by the time you reach the bottom. It was awful!

Work has been really good, we've been doing a lot of work with accreditation and allocating volunteer roles...to over 600+ people!

We have been keeping busy with all of the festivities going on during this time, the Fringe Festival, Future Music Festival, and Garden of Unearthly Delights. We went to this cool light show/plastic hand sewn/glued architecture..which was deceiving, we thought it was going to be a ginormous jumpy thing..not..but we got some cool photos.

Our boss invited us over for an AMAZING dinner at her house in the hills. We had this massive feast that her husband Michael made and yummy wine! It was so great to have a home cooked meal. We were joking the whole time that we were going to swap accommodation just to convenient Jenny Daly (the director) so she could be closer to the office :) Who wouldn't want to live on Hindley Street? haha aka the classiest place in Adelaide (insert sarcasm here).

Future Music Festival was what our boss calls "doof doof" music aka dance/electronic music...it was weird we went to concerts that had just Dj's on the stage..but we did see David Guetta, Empire of the Sun and Franz Ferdinand (just some big names that people might recognize). There were about 6 stages with music from mid day (noon) to mid night...lets just say it was a long day.

SYDNEY BOUND! We made the trip 3/11-3/15 to stay with our friend Princess (for free!) The flight was quick and we had to be hush hush about staying with her because apparently her landlord isn't the coolest guy in Australia. There were 5 of us girls staying in one small bedroom...3 to a bed and 2 on the floor with barely any blankets or pillows, and the occasional cockroach that would come say hi. It wasn't a 5 star place but all totally worth it to be in an awesome city and stay for free with good company! We walked all over the city, and public transportation was really easy. Saw Sydney Harbor Bridge, Queen Victoria Building, Botanical Gardens, China Town, Paddy's Market, Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach, the musical Wicked and SURFING...basically everything that makes Sydney what it is! We shoved it all into about 3 days...surfing was for sure on of my favorite things. We probably surfed for a good 7 hours...the waves were pretty intense and our guide was really cool. We all got up for sure by the end of the day and didn't want to leave..we definitely want to do it again! We still are talking about it...(I'm a little behind on blogging ha) The whole Sydney experience was great, but it really made Adelaide feel like home and we were excited to get back after a busy busy weekend. Especially after the last night where we slept like sardines, 6 to an even smaller room...5 on the floor with no blankets, just whatever clothes/towels we could find and one on the twin bed :) all worth it.

Still staying busy at work...I'd talk more about it but I think the trips are more fun to talk about :) We're really getting into it and sad that we have to leave before the games even start...We've been trying to find ways to stay for just a bit longer so we can at least see the opening ceremony and all the hard work we have all put towards the games.

Shar and I recently signed up and got into the Grandmas Half Marathon!! We're super excited, Amanda Childs and Jess Smith are doing it with us too! So we've started our training and are running just about every day...up to about 6 miles now!

Our weeks are pretty repetitive, but one of our new favorite things to do with our local friends here is to get Schnitzel, it's really random, but a big thing around here apparently. Just this past weekend with the same group of friends, we all went to Barossa for wine tasting. It was awesome!!! It was up in Adelaide Hills where the views are amazing and the wine is outstanding.

We also met up with our new friend Carol from the office and her husband Jean. They took us around town and showed us the worlds largest rocking horse (quite funny to say actually haha!), they’re cute home, and small town cooking…I guess Australia is known for having random "worlds largest" type monuments...?

Being here in Adelaide we have been surrounded by amazing people who show us nothing but open arms and hearts. Welcoming us into their homes, showing us around town, offering us accommodation if we ever come back, home cooked meals, good company, random necessities for our apartment etc. etc. As the days are dwindling down it’s getting harder to want to come back to reality.