Food and Fencing

Well I can't say I'm not eating well, as much as half my protein intake is fish (which my flatmates have started complaining about, I need to find a different way of preparing it that doesn't smell as much as frying). I eat a lot of fruit, drink a healthy amount of wine (a bottle every few days), and finish every meal with a small drink of port before coffee and dark chocolate. Last night I had a sort of kangaroo bolognese with a Pinot Noir from the Adelaide hills. Highly enjoyable.

I do all this alone however, as my flatmates are always asleep (yesterday lunchtime one emerged from his room admitting that he had gone to bed late Friday night and just missed Saturday completely. After telling me this he grabbed something to eat and went back to bed). Everyone I meet in my course lives around Mawson Lakes, and I don't really know them very well. The only ones I've made friends with are Indian, and it's difficult to fit in when the rest of the crowd are speaking, and sharing jokes, in Hindi.
I get on well with the guys in my fencing class, I got to go on the strip for my first time during last week's practice (which is where you get wired up and have an actual match, with buttons on the tips of the swords triggering alarms to indicate who hit who, where, and when). It was a lot of fun, I was doing well until I noticed that everybody else had stopped what they were doing and were watching my first time, and somehow into my head popped the voice of mouse saying "Morpheus is fighting Neo!" which was ridiculously melodramatic, and made me loose.
I won my second fight, though it was against a much smaller, younger novice I'm not claiming to have beaten him with skill. Definitely had a lot of fun, looking forward to getting back on the strip. As for making friends, I only see those guys once a week for a couple of hours, so I don't know them well enough to (for example) go for a beer with them, which in my mind is what University clubs are for.

So I'm frequently quite bored. I can't make any noise at home, given that my flatmates are always sleeping, so I can't really practice violin at all. My internet quota's been reached, the speed's gone down to almost dial-up levels, so no more skype 'till next month. I'm left with the choice between reading (with coffee) and playing computer games (with headphones).

One thing I do always look forward to, is shopping at central market, and as I'm out of butter, bread, and a few other things, I headed over there today. Sure I could've headed to a supermarket, but it's just more fun to browse the fancy cheeses and fine beers, smell the rich coffee and the fresh basil, explore the narrow extremities,  play with the rabbits in the pet shop, chat with the friendly shopkeepers, and unfortunately I found out when I got there that the 26th is ANZAC day. That means Central Market, and the whole city in fact, is shut (includes big supermarkets).

So no bread 'till tomorrow, and that also means no fencing tonight.