Hey everyone- I think this is the most excited I have been to write one of these. This past weekend brought with is a bunch of great events, mainly my birthday and my first Australian Football Match playing with the GinGin Eagles. Both events were amazing in there own regards, and as soon as I get pictures from my match I will be sure to throw some on here!
First of all, my birthday: wow. I had some serious worries and concerns about turning 25 on the other side of the world last week, but I have to say this birthday really was a good one. The day started with me waking up at 7am and talking to my family on Skype. I talked to all of my grandparents, my brother, my parents. 4 hours of talking is quite a long time, but it was good to talk to everyone. Afterwards I drove into joondalup to go to the only place in Australia that sells shoes in size 14. Bought a slick pair of black dress shoes, and then headed down into Perth to make my other birthday purchase. After a few days of emailing people on Craigslist here, I found someone looking to sell their new iPad 3 for a good price. Met up with the guy and made the deal right around 2 o’clock, then headed into the city center to try and find a pub to watch the Collingwood vs Hawthorn footy match. I parked my car in a parking garage I thought was going to be expensive, but it only ended up being $18 for the whole day and night! Walked around the Murray street mall and the Hay street mall, and after talking to my coach he told me about this awesome pub called The Grovesnor Pub and Hotel by the WACA cricket stadium. It was a little bit of a walk from downtown, but totally worth it. Pete ended up arriving just before the 3rd quarter from work, and at the pub we watched Collingwood lose (sadly) and grabbed some beers and food. Pete is a good friend of mine i met in chicago. We played footy together and he let me stay in his apartment the last few months i was in chicago so i could sublet my place easier. Pete is from sydney and I will definitely go and visit him before I leave here. After the game we walked to another pub where some of Pete’s co-workers we and we met with them for a beer and some small talk. Most of the guys we met with we’re from America so it was nice to catch up on topics going on I the states while I’m away. We ended up exploring the city a bit for the night (Perth is quite dead on Friday nights) and then I crashed at his hotel room. The next morning after a killer breakfast at the Hilton, Pete followed me up to Gingin to watch me play in my first match for the eagles.
The match: what a difference. Now don’t take this the wrong way Chicago, but man can these boys play. I was pretty nervous for this match. I mean I flew 10,000 miles around the world to do exactly this: play Australian Rules Football with real aussies. Man did we flog them. I think the final score was 135-37. The team we faced Lancelin wasn’t the best team, but we as a team played really, really well. Kicks on target and great ball movement. I rucked the entire match switching with another team mate, and had quite a few touches and kicks. The game was a really good chance for all of us to see how well we play as 1 side, unlike during practice when we scrimmage each other. I think by best moment was after winning the ruck tap and the ball getting around the ground a bit, one of my team mates was getting chased down by one of the other players and needed to pass the ball off. I was open so he hand balled it to me. Immediately looking into the goal square I saw rouse our full forward making a lead into a small opening where there weren’t any defenders. Not even thinking I just threw the ball on my boot and kicked a nice 20-25 meter kick perfectly into rouse’s hands in between 3 or 4 defenders. Rouse ended up kicking a goal off that pass, and I think everyone else that was on the ground on my squad ran up to me to congratulate me on that kick. It really felt awesome to have all the guys come up and slap me on the back and cheer me on. I know it was just one kick, but it felt awesome. I dominated the ruck the entire game, and even after they had their 5th ruck,an in the middle I was still directing the taps with ease. All in all the game was an excellent start to our season here, and really gave the guys the confidence we all needed to know that the GinGin eagles could win another premiership again this year! Needless to say I cannot wait for our 1st league game April. 22nd.
After the match, gecko and dennis invited all the guys back over to the house for a BBQ for my birthday. I think 30 or so guys showed up including their wives, girlfriends and kids. Gecko manned the grill cooking up some awesome burgers for the guys, and “shrimp on the Barbie”for me, haha. We all were pretty wrecked from the match, so we all sat around and just chatted and had a good time. Chizzy and Albey brought a keg of what we at home would call “jungle juice”, pretty much grape koolaide with rum in it from a keg. Not a bad idea! Later in the night Nugget’s wife Jess came out with an apple pie she baked for me for a birthday cake, and all the guys sand for me. As normal of a thing that is for a birthday, that really meant a lot to me that not only were these guys celebrating my birthday, but that gecko and dennis opened their house to all these guys just so i could have a good birthday. Of course it was sad not being with my family, my friends, but these guys really made this a great birthday. I think 7 or 8 of the guys ended up spending the night and the next morning I needed to work while the guys shot hoops down at the school yard.
Here are a few pictures of the party afterwards, and as soon as I get pictures of the match I will throw those on here as well. Also, to all of you reading this that wrote on my Facebook wall for my birthday, thank you, so much. Being so far away from everyone here I was really touched to see so many people wishing my well on this milestone. I didn’t expect my phone to be blowing up as much as it did, and I have all of you to thank for that.
Alright that is all for now. When something else big happens here I will be sure to write about it. Love and miss you all.
jasongoesdownunder 
Great reading! Please thank everyone there, from us, for making your birthday a success…it really means a lot. Congrats on your first win…hopefully the first of many! Xoxoxoxmom