Fun and not-so-fun facts!

1. Australia is the only Western democratic country that does not have a Bill of Rights. There are only human rights bills in only two states/territories: Victoria and the ACT. That's why the police can search you at any time (apparently, the police like to get frisky with strangers at King's Cross in Sydney) and discriminatory stuff like this is totally commonplace:

I kid you not, these are everywhere.
Sometimes they're not even in English to make sure
that the preferred ethnicity gets the job.

 Call me crazy, but I'm not too keen on this. I know this sort of stuff happens everywhere (even places with a Bill of Rights- it's often just more implicit), but the fact that it's allowed here in such an explicit mannor is not cool.

2. Invasive species are really annoying! Furthermore, they all seem to have thorns. I went on my first CVA trip to the Adelaide Hills the other day and we focused on killing gorse and dog roses. It was raining pretty hard, so we weren't out for too long, but wow were those plants brutal. Gorse have lots and lots of thorns that are all really thin, so they go everywhere. They even got through my leather gloves, and I had to spend quite some time making sure I was de-prickled afterwards. I wish the plants conceded more to being killed, but that's probably against that whole "survival mechanism" stuff...

3. You can't turn left on red here! Of course, I have been, but technically it's illegal. I only found out about that a few days ago. Oh well. I guess I should change that habit.

4. I finally found someone who will willingly watch Lemonade Joe with me! He's a Czech exchange student, and he thought it was ridiculous that I liked the movie. I think it's ridiculous that it took me 4 years to find a non-GSE-er who actually wants to watch the movie.

5. I have to pay $200 for a German book that is not very well recieved by critics. $200! And of course it has to be for the latest edition because German has changed so much in the past 3 years. Blurgh. I hate textbook-buying season.

6. The new international students are really cool. Plus, they seem to be super enthusiastic, which is great as an American because we're often dismissed as being too keen on things. We had a get-together the other day planned for around 9, and a good number of people were already there by 9:15. What is this timeliness?

7. I can hear the Clipsal 500 from outside my house. It feels like May back in Concord. I really want to go see it- it's a grand prix next to a few of my friends' house, so hopefully I can watch for free!