Short news through the following video,

And I will update videos of my holidays around Australia soon.

See youuu

The videos are from the holidays with P, the flight in the small plane to Great Kepple Istand, and at the end, a funny bird there... Sorry it's in french... But... it's P's fault :p :p :p
See you

ho ho ho
The Banana's Retuuuuuurn :)

So, I have the definitive proof that I am becoming..... AN ADULT !!!!!!
Who is thinking "that will NEVER happen"????... I bet my dad is among those... Ralala, I swear anime has nothing to do with adulthood beliiieveeeee meeeee !!!!!

Anyway... Back to topic.
Yesterday, I had THE adult reaction showing how organized and independent I am becoming he he he...

Listen up !!!

I.... had a banana dying in my fridge from when Y was here, hum hum, bought about a week and a half ago :p...
And I was really disappointed to see it going to waste... Noooooooooooo !!!!
So, I thought a little longer... "maybe I can use it for smthg"...

And then it became clear in my head, I was finally going to do what any mother would have done... Make a nice dessert that was not planned... And what's best for an almost rotten banana??? Banana breaaaaad !!!!!!!!!!
And guess what? I made it :) And it was good :) I downloaded a recipe on the greatest Iphone, and then made modifications... Basically less of everything fat, sugar and flour... And it was REALLY good... Moisted inside, and a bit crispy... and very banana tasty :D :D :D

YESSSSSSSS I did it !!!
Now I can be a mom :)

And honestly, it made me really happy :) that's all.

Other than that, the pic on the top is to show my new sunglasses worth 6$ (probably about 4euros)... Because it is TRUE, the sun here is so sharp it hurts, even just the reflection in the street... incredible... People seem to believe that the "lack" of pollution enables UV to go through better, and a clear sky, which happens it's true, is quite dangerous... And Australia has the biggest prevalence of skin cancer...

Hereafter, some pics of Halloween with Y... Who do you think we were? :p


Finally some more links to pictures, the second album is my time in Melbourne with Y.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=224812&id=577693658&l=69109bec4b

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=296199&id=577693658&l=7cc69832ae

Enjoy

As usual, it's been forever since I wrote here...
I don't like leaving my blog empty for so long, but it's not always easy to find time to write.
Actually I used to write on a word documents first so that if there's a problem with the website (which unfortunately happens more often than I would want, and thus erases the post I just wrote for example), it is safe. But lately, I didn't, which made me give up on several post that I unfortunately lost...
Right now I am risking this post again, and who knows, you might never read this ha ha ha...
I think that I will soon go back to the word document strategy, once my life and its organization are back.

My friend P visited Melbourne for about 3 weeks, and stayed at my place for about 10 days, but we decided to fly to queensland (north east state of Australia) for a bit, as that's the most famous part of Australia.

By the way, the east coast of Australia contains about 90% of the whole population if I remember well, and the whole population of Australia is about 22 million people. More or less the population of Beijing. As a reminder, the population of France is about 65 million and Paris' alone is 12 million, when Tokyo megapole is about 30 million (having troubles knowing which number is this, City, prefecture... but it is still amazing).
For those who don't imagine how big is Australia, here's an idea:

Anyway, so, we went to Rockhampton, where we managed to catch a charter flight (almost like a taxi plane) for quite a few dollars less than the price we were supposed to pay (thanks to P's great negotiation) and flew over to Great Keppel Island to have some warm beachy time.

A week after P's departure, I went for a conference on Sleep  in Christchurch New Zealand. I was very excited to go to my first scientific conference as a part of the "field". And, even though I was not supposed to, I was asked to present my work in a 3 min talk. I was quite stressed out about it, but was also happy to have this early opportunity to make myself known a bit... Until Worldsleep Conference in Kyoto next year. I had a great time and a lot of fun. It was short and I didn't really enjoy NZ, but I will definitely go again.

Finally, on the day of my return from NZ, Y came to visit me in Melbourne for the second time. We really took it easy and relaxed. Weather was not the best but ok during his stay, and we still had some nice adventures around the city and its neighbourhood.
Hopefully I can go and visit him and everyone in Japan soon in January, we'll see about that :).

Here are some photo albums you can access, lots of things I just mentioned as well as some pictures from the flashmob (spontaneous choreography with a large group of people in the middle of the city) and the marathon (5.7km for me) for which we participated with the lab members. Enjoy and hopefully I can write again soon.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=295355&id=577693658&l=a04de7b1c8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=296177&id=577693658&l=0e558537ea

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=296180&id=577693658&l=14837f4fb9

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=296193&id=577693658&l=0c81e928da

So, she is in Melbouuuuurne !!!!!

HA HA HA!!! It was so funny because at the beginning we met at the airport after almost a year of not seeing each other, I was all teary and everything... But then... after a few minutes... We were just talking and walking around as if it was perfectly natural to be HERE, in AUSTRALIA, together... HA HA HA...

She's the first one to have seen my new home :) yay :) she said it was really "me" :p he he he...

And then we walked around the city a bit, just to see the first major things... We will probably take some more time to visit when her conference is finished.

So, here are some new pictures.

The first lot is several events from a while ago. I went to a concert of a labmate, we went to Tim Burton's exhibition before another labmate left, and the last part is his farewell party :).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=283692&id=577693658&l=086b158d83

This second lot is, my great cooking skill focused on my first ever roast (lamb), and our first day (yesterday) together in Melbourne with my visiting friend <3.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=283693&id=577693658&l=faa8b58432

Enjoy.

Is what I heard today...

I like this quote, it is interesting, and true... probably. I guess I'll have to put some more thoughts about it... I actually don't even know if it is a citation from someone famous... Does anybody knows?...

I heard something quite interesting about Australian culture the other day... It seems that basically since you are a child, being average is the way to go, being intelligent is not something "good"... Clever kids are picked on quite seriously... And the whole country had a tendency not to push towards excellence... We talked about this with a friend of my new housemate because I was telling her about this "typical" relaxed attitude about "not caring about anything"... And she said that it probably comes from there, but that it is on its way to change... She also said she thinks it comes from the the "ancestors" of australians who were all convicts and started this whole vision of "too good" is not good... Better be average...

AND, this makes me think about something else, I am probably making a big deal about this but I don't understand... Like in US, which was quite problematic when you arrive, people tell you, even if you just shortly meet in a corridor "How is it going" and you're supposed to have the time to answer, re-ask and get an answer (I hate it)... Well anyway, HERE, when you accomodate and manage to say "good thx what about you?"... ANYONE will answer "not too bad"... WHY... that sounds negative... it's not "good", it's not "ok"... Not too bad, means "bad"... I really don't understand how such an expression became so widely used as if it's normal... I tried to see if we have smthg similar in french but couldn't...

Maybe all of this is linked in the country here...

Anyway now for the good news :)

Lots of pictures ^^

The end of my trip in Japan (including the awesome trip to Chiba)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=283058&id=577693658&l=a3f81b8c37

Part one in France

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=283180&id=577693658&l=81c128799f

Part two in France

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=283181&id=577693658&l=18f03ebfe3

See youuuuuu for more later

Yep, I've been pretty much absent for a really long time, and I felt guilty everytime that I thought about it...

Not keeping the blog I've been telling everyone updated...

So, now that I am back to a fresh start, far away from people I don't want to be close to, I can start a new page of my life.

Basically when I came back from lovely holidays in Japan first and then France, the situation with my current housemate started getting worse, and at some point, my threshold was reached (c'est la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase, n'est ce pas, in french)... So I decided whithin a day, to move out... Unfortunately moving into a new country is already hard, moving houses in a new country is also quite scary... I was not very confident that I could find a good place etc... But now the stressful nightmare is over, I feel so light without the weight that I was carrying on my shoulders all this time (without fully noticing)...

I moved out a little more than a week ago, to a new place on the other side of the city... Closer to uni, a nice house with nice people who let me live my life my way and give me some space for myself... Everything seems easier already.

I've been very stressed out, but now I am back to life, and a close friend is visiting very soon, so I will keep in touch with all of you, and post new pictures finally.

For those who didn't see the first part of my holidays in Japan yet, here's a link to see my pictures uploaded on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228149&id=577693658&l=1d7b8cce3b

And that one is a mix of things but among other things, the delicious Cheesecake some friends made for my Bday in Melbourne:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=224812&id=577693658&l=69109bec4b

I miss you all.

See you

ps: the picture was taken in Tokyo with a friend who happened to arrive and leave on the day of my Bday :)