Hey everyone!

So Matt has arrived here in Melbourne and we have been chillin’ like villains for the last few days. We had a rather large workshop booked for this sunday, but of course the studio waited until 14 hours before we had to be there to cancel on us, so we haven’t been up to much other than that! A small partnering workshop tonight and then off to Adelaide for the last couple of workshops.

We’ve just been checking out the large Victorian markets here and outlet malls and the whatnot, killing time before we leave. It’s friggin’ freezing though, so now you all can get back at me for razzing you about the weather before! I hope everything is going swell at home!

Miss you all!

Ty

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“Alas the dark forces have come to conspire against us. Fear not young
frodo perrin. we shall continue the quest for australian adventure in your
absence.” -Matt Ball, June 12/07

“Welp… See ya!” - Tyler Lipchen June 12/07

Well everyone, the time has come for things to wind down and the three of us to return home. I have opted to return about 2 weeks sooner than expected, in order to get my ass working/set up my hiphop teaching schedule, and surprise everyone at home.

It’s been a fantastic 5 1/2 months, and this has by far been one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I’ve seen things that I can only describe as incredible, and gotten away with more stuff than I care to mention (these blogs have been relatively tame)!

Tyler and Matt will be staying about an extra 10 days-ish in order to finish out a final hiphop workshop, and then will be heading home as well. The most exciting part about all of this is that there is a good possibility that we could hook up enough workshops to return to Australia in a year’s time for a few weeks to teach/vacation. We’ll all be working hard to make that happen!!!

I trust Tyler will make at least one more post in my absence to finish off the trip. I’ve bestowed our Gnome upon him, as I didn’t have the heart to cut the little guy’s vacation short. Other than that, I will post the remainder of my pictures on my camera when I get home in a couple short days.

Thanks so much to everyone for watching/listening/posting over these past 6 months, and we trust that if anything like this comes up again in the future, we’ll have a wide audience watching our every move, yet again.

With a heavy heart, I sign off for the last time.

BennyP

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Here’s a picture of me in my spiffy “journalist” outfit, and a link to all our other pictures, to go along with the new post Ty put up today.

BennyP

http://www.idontseewhynot.net/media/pics/Melbourne/

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Hey everyone,

 Let me update you on what Ben and I have been up to lately…

First and foremost, we’ve been spending every day at the free gym, which just so happens to be the largest sports and aquatic center in the southern hemisphere, so we’ve been enjoying our time thoroughly. On Sunday, our english roomate Karl happened to have tickets to the Good Food and Wine Show at the convention hall just up the street from us. This was great because it meant that Ben and I didn’t have to dress up in our suits and use our forged International Press Passes we bought on the streets in Thailand to get in for free.

This was by far the best trade show I’ve ever been to, and if there’s one like it that comes to calgary it’s totally worth going to! There were hundreds of booths, and each one (actually every booth!!!) had either a food or wine/beer/spirit to sample. Most booths had a selection of wine for you to try. And these were all nice estate wines too, not the boxed goon we’ve been drinking. At 10:00am, upon first setting foot into the show we had our first margerita, and from there it was mostly a blur!

One section of the show featured the wines of New Zealand. Basically, you get a class and go through this line with booths of wine and different (delicious!) orduerves (go spelling!) such as bits of steak in tart shells and fresh smoked salmon on crackers. There was a large wide-screen TV displaying the promoter’s website while we were cued in line, so naturally BennyP put up the A Cappella Fellas website for all of Melbourne to see! Basically, we later named this section of the show “The Wine Gauntlet”, because you walk through this think and there are people left right and center pouring wine into your glass and making you try their entire selection. By 11:00am, I was loaded off my ass for the first time that day…

After that we sampled some more food, including olive oils, yogerts, chocolate mousse and varieties of hot chocolate and wine-chocolate (which was absolutly incredible!). There was asian food like peking duck or stirfry, there were pretzels and cookies and crackers galore, a wide selection hummus, salsas, and other dips as well. Basically we ate our fill for lunch before proceeding to the beer and spirits section.

These sections basically just had bars set up where you select what beers yo want to try on tap and they just give it to you! in one of the pictures I think I’m triple-fisting these samples! Karl and I found a place that served a selection of boxed cocktails like cosmopolitans and fuzzy navels, so we sat there and tried every single one (which was overa  dozen!). So now that Karl and I are loaded for the second time that day, Ben decides that free just wasn’t free enough, and went back to the hostel to change into his suit. He came back with his press pass attached to his shirt, and with notebook in hand we began interviewing random booths posing as a Canadian Branch of the London Associated Press, he the journalist and I the photographer.  When the pictures are posted, you’ll see a bunch of random photos of us with people holding up their wines, HAHAHA! We talked to one guy for a while and eventually he gave us both a box of organic tea and a jar of organic coffee. I could barely contain myself as I took the pictures.

After that I went back to a place that had like 12 flavors of slushy machines with cocktails in them and got hammered for the third time whie Karl went back to the wine and Ben wondered into the unknown. By the end of the show we had been eating and drinking for 7 hours straight. It was quite possible one of the most fantastically free things we’ve done thus far. Oh, and after that we went to the free gym again and then went back to the hostel for our free pasta. it was swell!

And yesterday (Monday) we woke up to our free breakfast and went for a free workout at the gym. After lunch we returned to the hostel and were sitting on our floor watching some TV when our other roomate, Scott, found us and told us of a free bbq that the hostel was putting on. Of course, you were supposed to put your name on a list that morning but that didn’t stop us! We enjoyed some bbq sausage and sausage patties, pasta salad and a nice mixed salad before Scott returned with some free passes to go see the premiere of Hostel 2 at the nearby theatres. The show started soon so scarfed down the rest of our meal and booked it over to the theatre.

As you all know by now, free isn’t free enough. So insteadn of going to see the crappy movie we were supposed to, Ben and I used the Hostel tickets to get into the theatre and then wondered from theatre to theatre trying to find a showing Pirates of the Carribbean 3. After checking each theatre twice, and walking past security three times, we found a good show time and sat down to enjoy the movie. btw, it was pretty freakin’ awesome, and I recommend it to all you pirates fans out there!

So anyways, that was the last couple days for us, I thought it might amuse you back home! Less then a month left to go! We miss you all and are looking forward to coming back!

Cheers,

Ty

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Hey everyone!

Here’s just a quick update for you all. Myself and Tyler are currently in Melbourne right now, while Matt is in Sydney seeing Tif off. We all plan to meet up yet again in Adelaide on June 9th, the day before our next workshop.

Melbourne so far is great, though it’s SOOOO damn cold here. It’s not below freezing our anything, but when it gets cloudy and raining, the daytime highs can be like 14-18 degrees. Luckily I don’t mind too much, since the outback will still be hot, and I’m headed back to cow-town to enjoy another 2 months of summer after this.

Right now we’re in a Hostel by the name of Urban Central. It’s quite nice, has a huge kitchen, nice pub, decent size rooms, good showers, and a net cafe right in the building. Our roomates are both really nice, and the guy in the bunk below me is from England. He’s here working as well, and is going to Canada around December of this year.

The city of Melbourne is really beautiful, despite the weather. There’s really cool old architecture everywhere, mixed in with sleek-looking modern skyscrapers in the downtown core. Plenty of shopping to be had here, though after Thailand I don’t think I’ll be indulging myself too much.

This week we’ve both got a free trial at a nearby gym and we’re milking it for all it’s worth. Today we spent a good 8 hours there, working out, going in the pool, using the sauna, using the massage chairs, and finally taking an extended yoga class. We’ve got 6 days left there to get as much out of it as possible before we decide “it’s not for us”.

One of our other plans this week includes the two of us putting on our fine suits and heading down to the Casino. We’ll pretend we’re high-rollers, and then make our way over to the penny slots.

Just for the record, Matt is alive and well. We’re keeping in touch by email this whole time.

Oh and one last thing! THANKS to all of the girls from the studios posting up comments for us!!! We read them all, and we’re all so happy that everyone enjoyed the workshops while we were in Perth. Keep on checking back here to see our adventures.

Well folks, just over 4 weeks until we come home! Keep those comments coming!

BennyP

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Well I got some of them to work. A few need some explaining though. Just so you know, these pictures span from travelling back to Bangkok, our flights down to Perth, our stay in Mandurah, and our workshops in Perth. There actually aren’t a lot that were taken, but you’ll get the jist.

First up: The demise of Matt’s playoff beard. Upon hearing about the Flames’ elimination from the playoffs, Matt was forced to shave off his filthy facial hair… but went for a photo-op while he still had a fine mustache to showcase.

Now this picture here is an interesting one. Our cooler was so full of mold and rotting food that we couldn’t handle the stink anymore. There was clearly no point in bringing it with us any further. We tried to cram it in the top of this garbage bin, but it wouldn’t fit, so we just left it on top. I hope it didn’t turn into a bomb scare later!

Finally, this was our car for our week in Mandurah. As you can see, it’s pretty damn nice!  We were sad to return it in the end.

 Now the rest of the pictures are at the link below. The ones of the condo are in there, as well as our view out the balcony into the courtyard/pool. Everything else is pretty much self-explanatory. Oh and I’ve also written another post below this, so read on!

http://www.idontseewhynot.net/media/pics/Perth/

BennyP

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Hey everyone!

Just a quick update on what we’ve been doing!

This past weekend we finished up the last of our workshops in Perth. We had a full evening on Friday night, a partnering workshop on Saturday evening, and a full 6 1/2 hour day on Sunday!

All the student’s we’ve taught here have been fantastic, and we’ve been very impressed with how well they picked up the choreography. Everyone that we’ve taught for has said that they really loved the classes, and got a lot out of it. Many have even said that if we’re ever back, they’d have us again! Who knows?

Right now we’re figuring out what flights we’ll be taking tomorrow. We’re either going to Adelaide or Melbourne. Not sure yet as to which one it will be. I know that we have workshops in Adelaide on June 10 and June 25. Hopefully something pops up in between those dates as well.

Perth has been a pretty relaxed setting. Over here we really just got into the groove of having a regular house, relaxing schedule, and doing our own thing during the day. I’ve made a few trips down to the beach to watch the waves and pass out listening to them. The weather does seem to be getting cooler here, with a bit more rain. At least it’s not snow though. We’re all in awe of how crappy the weather was back home last week. Harsh.

Anywho, we’ll let you all know what happens next. I’m about to try the computer beside me to see if I can upload a few pictures. Hope all is well back home, and we’ll see everyone in 33 days!

BennyP

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Hey everyone!

We’re still alive and working hard! We finished up our weekday classes this week and had a great response from the studio, they even booked us in for another partnering class next week. We have a workshop tonight (Friday) and one on saturday, as well as next friday, saturday, and sunday. From there it’s over to Adelaide for us.

Tiff made it here okay after a long and extremely delayed flight. She says its pretty warm here, but we’re all freezing so I guess it shows how climatized we are now.

That’s about all for now, just a quick update for you!

Cheers,

Ty

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Well, we’re about to get into the thick of our Perth workshops here!

Last night we had the first of 3 nights at one studio, and it went really well! It was only an hour and a half class, but we had about 40 students, which was pretty awesome! It was just a quick hiphop class, with a warm-up/jump around opening, some techinique/popping/waving in the middle, and a combo to finish off. Everyone seemed to really like it!

Tonight we have a partnering workshop with 3 guys and 11 girls, and tomorrow I believe it’s a class of about 42 students for another hiphop class. Gotta love keeping busy! This weekend we have a full 6 hour Sunday, followed by a half day on Friday and another full Sunday. After that we high-tail it out of Perth and move on, hopefully to teach more in Adelaide!

Now unfortunately I can’t upload any of my pictures to this computer but I THINK the guys in this computer shop might be nice enough to let me do it on another one here. There’s not a whole bunch, but we’ve done a video-tour of the house for all to see, and there’s a few random shots of Perth downtown, etc.

I’m now off to watch the episode of Heroes that I’ve been busy downloading during my time on the internet here. Just a quick note to anyone who hasn’t seen or doesn’t follow Heroes at all… it’s basically the best show ever invented in the history of mankind. I’ve never been so hooked on a tv series… in fact I haven’t really watched tv much in the past 4 or 5 years until this show came along! I recommend EVERYONE watch it, and if you’re behind, you should probably just buy the series when it comes out on dvd in the fall. Seriously.

RANT OVER.

Anywho, hope all is well in cow-town and anywhere else this is being read from. A month and a half til home-time!

BennyP

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