Month: March 2006

flat mates

  


img_2618_Originally uploaded by olya.

going in vein with my luck, i have gotten some awesome people as my flat mate. other than oleg, there are 3 more people living with us:

elen: a 25 year old girl from norway, she is here finishing up her masters thesis in safety (engineering branch). she just moved into the flat.

lesley-ann: a 22 (i think? or so) adorable irish girl, who bakes and cooks a lot, has the most awesome cute and original shirts. she’s been here for half a year already, and comes from the same university as kevin. she is studying law.

kevin: a red haired traditionally irish guy, who rock climbs, plays soccer and cricket (well, everyone plays cricket here. i’m watching a bunch of people, including our flatmates, playing cricket in the lawn outside our balcony as i type this). he also is studying law.

the flat itself has 2 floors. i’m on the ground floor together with oleg, living room, kitchen, and 2 bathrooms (each with a toilet, sink and shower). on the second floor there are 3 bedrooms in which elen, lesley-ann and kevin reside. it is reasonably messy, there’s always a lot of booze on hand, and about 2-3 nights out of the week someone will be sleeping on the couch on the balcony, on the spare mattress in the living room, or on the living room couch.

my room is very decently sized, with a neat closet, a nice window, and a desk with drawers. unfortunately the bed is single, but its pretty comfortable for a dorm. i’m unhappy that its all carpeted, and that i can’t find anything to put on my walls – no posters or cork boards. will try to find a cheap magnetic board today.

all photos. my class schedule.

coogee beach


coogee beach

Originally uploaded by olya.

today while walking back from the bus from the beach, i went through the university. i saw a small, adorable 4-5 year old boy walking amonst all the undergrad and graduate students, in hurry to get to their class. white pressed shirt, neat shorts, proper backpack, neat shoes… one shoelace untied. heading, completely alone towards a long row of stairs down.

he noticed me noticing him, and when i started walking on the stairs i decided that i couldn’t not do anything. so, i turned around, made eye contact again, and asked if he’d like me to tie his shoelace. surprisingly, he didn’t say anything, just looked at me kinda sadly, stopped and put his untied shoe forwards. i carefully tied it into a knot, stood up and said “here you go”. he looked at me without saying a word, and after just-a-bit-too long pause i said “take care” and walked away, listening for sounds of someone stumbling, just in case. nothing was heard.

when i reached the bottom of the stairs, a minute later maybe? a rushed, in-tears young girl asked me in a very worried voice “do you know where the library is?” thankfully that i already learned, so i pointed her on her way, with traditionally olya description “big building with at least 10 floors, says UNSW on it in big letters, go this way”. she seemed relieved, and thanked me as she started to run off.

thus, today i’ve spent 4 hours on a beach, read almost a whole book, ate some ice cream, learned some matlab, cleaned my room and the kitchen, and helped two people. not a totally wasted day right?

and, with posting this i’m breaking free of my dry-phase of blogging. i have something typed up. it’ll be coming soon. its just tought to get back into the typing routine.