At last - a new post!

Apologies! I'm not slipping back into my old ways I promise. Or at least I'm making a definite effort not to. There's quite a bit to report in the world of Kate. For starters I have moved and am happily ensconced in my new abode. You can have a look at some pics here. If you don't remember much about where I was moving to have a look at this post. I really like links (in case you can't tell!) My new roommates are great. We pretty much all just do our own thing and chat in passing so it's a very comfortable living situation. To date there have been no issues with sharing the bathroom either which is the one thing I was a little apprehensive about.

The big news is that I have an internship! I went for an interview at the Port on Monday which was very successful and I'm going in tomorrow to sign paperwork and fun stuff like that. Fun stuff being going for a medical and a drug test.... glorious stuff. I can't start working until I get my visa stuff sorted out but that hopefully wont take too long. Ooh, and I'm getting paid the princely sum of $12.24 an hour. Sure it's not the best pay in the world but as Dad always says 'It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick'. I said this to my lecturer the other day who just about fell off his chair laughing! At least this means I'll be able to pay rent and other lovely stuff like that and save some money for when Andrew and I go traveling at the end of the year. I'm going to be working for the Communications department which as far as I understand is kind of like PR. I'm going to be doing research and writing stuff for them which should be interesting! It's only for 20hours a week so that will probably be all day Monday and Wednesday and half day either Tuesday or Thursday.

Varsity is going well. I just have lots and lots of papers to write! Including one on the Economics of Love Songs or something along those lines. I'm not 100% clear what it involves at this stage - Prof Grossbard handed me this huge file of papers today that I need to work through and sort out so hopefully I'll have a bit of a clearer idea once I've done that. As can be expected much of the conversation in the Econ department over the last couple of days has revolved around the stock market and exactly what is going to happen to the US economy. I pity the people in y class who are lecturing 1st year macroeconomics - they have to explain the role of the Federal Reserve bank to their students and now the textbook is wrong! Because apparently the role of the Fed includes buying massive international insurance companies too.

On Saturday morning was the Rotary Foundation (TRF) Seminar. As for what TRF is "The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world." (shamelessly swiped from www.rotary.org because they explained it so nicely and succinctly!). The seminar introduces Rotarians to the TRF and what it does, highlights TRF projects that the San Diego district is involved in and shows Rotarians how they can get involved.

I am in San Diego because of TRF. One of the ways that they acieve the advancement of international understanding is by funding the largest private scholarship program in the world. Approximately 1500 Ambassadorial scholars are sent around the world each year. If you're interested in the other programs of TRF have a look here (yes, I know, another link!) San Diego is involved with just about all of them. We (the Ambassadorial Scholars) spoke briefly. Seeing that the Rotary theme this year is 'Make Dreams Real' we all mentioned how we hoped that our scholarship would help to make our dreams real. The keynote presentation for the day was made by Sister Ethel Normoyle, a tiny Irish nun who has spent the last 36 years (if I remember correctly) in South Africa and 2 decades ago established the Missionvale Care Centre in Missionvale, Port Elizabeth. She was inspiring - it's amazing what she's created from her start under a tree and how many people she helps every day. I think it was quite an eye opener for a lot of the people in the audience too.