I was talking to one of my friends over FaceTime and we started talking about how my birthday went. As you get older your birthday seems more and more like just another day, and I was expecting that for this birthday, too. I actually just wanted to skip it and move on because to be honest, I'm not too fond of becoming "the old lady." Never would I have thought, if you asked me a few years ago as I was studying and playing ball at Western, that I would be celebrating my 24th in Australia. It's kind of interesting where your life takes you and the experiences you never imagined having. I'm kind of living that right now.
Anyways, The day was beautiful, I went with mrs. Keenan out to Henley Beach for lunch. I had breaded prawns (shrimp) and calamari (squid). I know, mom, get that look off of your face.. It tastes like chicken. It was surreal how beautiful the scenery was while we ate. We took a little walk out onto the jetty (pier) and saw some Pelicans close up.. VERY close up. I know, Dad, get that look off of your face. They're like chickens. The rest of the day was perfect. Went and shot some hoops, came back home and had a beautiful dinner and blew out some candles. How lucky was I to have been placed in such a great home while I'm here. God was looking out for me. 
My parents went above and beyond for me on my birthday, too. I received a package the day before my Australian birthday and of course opened it straight away. The card was beautiful, and among some other great gifts was CHOCOLATE! I also got a FaceTime from them and the first thing I see is a big lit candle and them singing happy birthday. I even virtually blew out the candle! There was a little delay but hey, it was traveling a long way. That really meant a lot and am so grateful to have them as parents. 
Everything else is going well, I'm pretty confident in my driving here now and haven't been honked at in a few weeks, which in my book is pretty impressive. The tables have actually turned because I was very close to honking AT someone a few days back. I resisted though because I reminded myself how horrible a driver I probably am over here, so I have no credibility to be handing out honks. I did notice that whenever somebody lets me into a lane I naturally wave a "thank you" with my right hand. The "thank you" hand wave is now the left hand because I'm on the opposite side of the car. It's the little things.
Basketball wise we had a week off, so the 16 and under team that I'm coaching had a tournament all of Saturday. I can't imagine playing 3 games in one day, but that was what we did at that age! Crazy what being young allows you to do. We struggled in every game, but it's a huge improvement from where they have been at. As long as there's improvement it's something to be proud of. Although winning is good too! I think after a few weeks of good practice we will get them on track and playing some good basketball.
Our next game is this Sunday early in the afternoon. I don't know what time exactly the game is, maybe 4:30 or 4. Today is Thursday so we have training (practice) and I'm working a kids clinic before that. So it's a day full of basketball, how great is that??
Oh, I almost forgot about the Mount Lofty climb! I don't know how considering my legs are still feeling sore. Mount Lofty is about 10 minutes away from the house and is beautiful. We decided to go walk up it and I took my iPad to snap some photos. The walk was beautiful at the beginning, and I had decided I was going to do more sightseeing than focusing on exercising. So I was going to go slow and take some good pictures. After a few people sped past me on the way up, and the climb started getting more intense, I thought to hell with the photos. It made me mad that people were passing me so it suddenly became a workout climb. It was INTENSE. The photos don't even really give a good depiction of how steep it was. Going down was no walk in the park, either. I'm going to go again soon, but early in the week so I'm not sore for the game! 
Hope everyone is beginning to enjoy the nice weather back home. I think the weather here starts to get a bit colder, but I think I've been trained pretty well with dealing with the cold so we will see how bad it is! Australia cold may be less intense than Missouri cold.
Thanks for reading, sorry I hadn't written in awhile! I'll try to be better!!
Until next time,
Jessica Koch
