Surfs up on Bondi Beach

Well the past few days in Sydney have been incredibly busy - I feel as if I'm running from class to excursion to activity to doing work and finally to bed. The constant off and on rain has been a bummer too. It would figure of course that a city in one of its worst droughts would get rain from the moment I arrived. Yesterday after class I had my surfing lesson at Bondi. Went with several other people from the program. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we arrived and had to throw on wetsuits. The tide was in and the waves were high and strong. Usually they time lessons during low tide so the conditions are a bit easier - no such help for us! After signing our lives away (a list of dangers including interesting things like: 'you make be sucked out to sea' or 'you may be bitten by a fish or shark or stung by a jellyfish') we headed out to the beach. Streched and broke up into groups. We went out individually at first in attempts to jump on the board and kinda of stay lying down while riding a wave in. I have a distinct tendency to fall over when walking out and being hit by a wave and it took me a while to make sure my mouth and eyes were shut when hit, but I ended up doing surprisingly well. We went back to the beach and practiced standing up on the boards. Then again attempted individally and all together. You will be pleased to note that I stood up twice! and didnt fall off either - i was unanimously voted best in our group for my ride that went all the way into shore with enough time to pose like a surfer... and who would have guessed with my coordination? At any rate, I'm very tempted to take another 2 lessons. maybe audition for blue crush 2? haha. Anyway, Emily,Colleen, Evan, and I walked home from there which was quite a trek. Started along the gorgeous cliff walk that goes all the way to Coogee but turned inland when it got dark (about 5:45!) A quiet night as it was raining and I couldnt get enough motivation to take a bus all the way downtown in that. Watched 'The Gift' with a bunch of the energy engineers and then chatted with some of my group that got back early. Today I'm finally headed downtown to explore!