Easter Show Spectacular!!!

Howdy boys and girls:)

Let's see this past week was pretty interesting. On Wednesday we were given the option of getting free flu shots at work since we work for the government. I am not too keen on shots but do usually get the flu shot. So I signed up. Well then I got to thinking that I had a flu shot less than six months ago for our flu season. So I asked the nurse about it when I went in and she said that I didn't need it because we get the flu first so I would be getting a double dose. Well it turns out she called to check that and as luck wouldn't have it, I needed the flu shot. But what was better is the shot was against 3 strains and I had already been vaccinated against 1 strain in the last flu shot. So as she is telling me that I am going to get a more severe reaction which includes swelling, pain, redness- my arm is on fire with searing pain. Then she gave me the shot:D Later it was determined that she also wasn't wearing any gloves and didn't use a wipe to disinfect our arms first. This means that if a homeless man or woman licked my arm on my way to work...haha just kidding Craig made up that scenario. I wasn't too worried about the latter part. So far knock on wood nothing happened.

Then Thursday I got a roommate! Yeah I know! So my friend Monika texted me that her (crazy) landlord had raised her rent by $50 per week starting that day. She didn't have the money so she went and told her and needless to say that didn't go over well. Monika has been scared of her since I first met her. I mean for pete's sake she isn't allowed to take showers at night. Weirdo! Anyway so I volunteered the extra bed in my room. So at 9pm I was shuffling down to the station to collect Monika+her backpack+duffel bag+humongous suitcase+2 ukuleles+those big awkward IKEA bags. Once we reached the flat, I was glad and I know she was too. I can't say I've ever been without a roof but I really felt for her. I could sense that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and who would blame her? I've had ones over far less catastrophic events. She called and talked to her mom, then her sister, then her dad. Wow, she is sure fluent in POLISH:D Anyway I was just hoping she wasn't telling them that she was going to gut me like a fish while I slept since I had only met her twice. She said I lived in the Taj which made me happy. We talked for a couple of hours. She is still really homesick and has booked her ticket for home now. I cant help her with the homesickness thing because it is a personal problem and everyone deals with it differently. Also, I am a bit homesick now because of the upcoming holiday. She also showed me her Ukulele and has now implanted this dream of travelling the world playing a ukulele:D So next Christmas, I am so getting a Uke of my own. And we all know what a musical genius I am so I will probably last 20 minutes. But it will look good on a shelf, no?

Anyway, she stayed that night and the program she is with found her new lodgings. I am glad because she has a roommate now and I think that is good for her! It was fun having a sleepover though. I knew that extra bed would come in handy. It felt good to help someone like that, really good. I wish I did things like that more often. It is such a fine line in my mind though helping a stranger and being gutted like a fish but I have a way over active imagination.

On Friday I went to the market with Rani (correct spelling). I got my Tandoori Chicken Wrap again. Next market I am getting a bratwurst from the German tent:) Those looked so good! On Saturday, Monika came and collected her luggage and we went to KMart (her first time in one) and she looked around for like an hour. Then I met Rani at the Lover's Market in Parramatta (hippyesque handmade goods). She brought her daughter Mya as well. I bought an Australian flag charm for my Living Locket necklace and her daughter got her face painted. Then we went and bought Easter basket supplies for out big egg hunt at work on Wednesday. And then I left on the train to go to the Easter Show...yes finally!!!

So the Easter Show is to celebrate the farmers in Australia. They are really proud of their farmers and fresh produce and I think that is well deserved. Hardest job ever in my mind. It basically brings the country to the city as Rachael from work said. I didn't know anything about the Easter Show until I started talking to Wendy. It is amazing! Basically I determined that it is our county fair+amusement park grade rides+trade show+holiday+carnival games+showbags which we have no equivalent for. The ticket was $40 to enter which was pricey but it is one of the biggest ticks of my bucket list for here. It was held at Olympic Park and it took up the whole space. I watched the wood chopping competition- there is a lot of science that goes into that. I watched the opening ceremony- interesting because the aborigines did their performance in front of the military formations. I went and looked at the produce displays that each district builds. Put a sticker on SSM on the world map and got my picture taken;) Ate chips on a stick. Watched some dancing. Went and bought some save the bilby merchandise. Click on that last link, really interesting. And finally went to showbag mania! Let's be honest the showbags were what I was most interested in:) Basically it is themed bags with all kinds of things in them from beach towels to candy to mugs to mullet wigs. It really was mass chaos in that hall but I got what I went for:D After I survived showbag chaos and before I overdosed in chips on a stick I went home. It was a very enjoyable day and something I cant see at home.

                   Chips on a Stick...Awww...best thing ever! I am brining a suitcase of chicken salt home:)

Other pictures and videos + additional older shots here.

Then today was Demi's birthday party. She turned 5 last Wednesday. And I must say she is a great little girl. I really appreciate her willingness to do new things. She may like pink and princesses but she doesn't act like one. As an only child she shares better than I do now.  It was nice! Wendy had it at a indoor trampoline place called Flipout. After that I went to Town Hall and wasted some time. Then I came home and wasted some more time instead of doing any of the one million things I need to do.

I wont be posting a blog for awhile. On Wednesday I am going to see Train at the Sydney Opera House. Then on Thursday night I am leaving for Melbourne. Friday I will visit Luna Park there, the Melbourne Star, the Aquarium, ride the tram, look at the Lanes, and not sure what else. Saturday I go to see the Penguin Parade and fur seals on Phillip Island. Then Sunday I go for a tour on the Great Ocean Road. Monday is up in the air. I get Fri-Mon off from my work hence I am taking the trip now.

So Happy Easter everyone!

Cockatoo Island and The Rocks

On Friday I went to the market again for lunch with Ronnie. It was nice. This time I got an Indian Tandoori Chicken wrap that was really good and really filling. I will definitely be getting that again. I like going to the market because it is something interesting to do and there is always something to see.

On Saturday my original plan was to go to the merchandise market held in Parramatta but this time I decided to do some research and found out that it is only open the last Saturday of every month. I know I know…I am so smart to have looked that up…not! So I guess that is on for next weekend!

So I determined this week at work that I was going to finally make it to a place on my never ending Sydney bucket list. And I did! I went to Cockatoo Island. This wasn’t someplace that was on my list before I came here. I actually didn’t even know about it until I went with Wendy on the ferry the third day I was here and saw it. It just looked very Alcatrazzy which is somewhere I have always wanted to go. I have been saying over and over that I was going to go to Cockatoo Island and I kicked myself for not going last weekend when it was “cold”. So anyway I took the train to Wynyard then to Circular Quay and finally a ferry to the Island.

When I got off I went pretty much straight to the visitors center so that I could begin my audio tour (yeah that is right, I actually researched this first). It was only $5 and it lasted for over 1.5hours. It was set up REALLY well. I was really impressed. The weather on Saturday wasn’t great. It was overcast but it added to the mood of the island I think. At least it was cooler and didn’t rain on me. Basically, each stop point had a plaque and some pictures and then the audio companion told me all about it mixed in with some first point of view stories. The island is kept up really well! All the original buildings are open to the public and everything (including the 9000 bathroom stops) are maintained to perfection. Surprising because on Sunday a person could literally pay $2.50 for the ferries and not have to pay anything else as there is no admission.

This is where the guards hid when the prisoners rioted. There were slits in the block so they could shoot at the prisoners. 

There Aboriginal paintings are one of three reminders that the Aborigines staked claims on the island.

 If you look at the crane platform (to the  middle left) you might be able to see that it has broken mirror all over it. Yep, that was another Aboriginal reminder. Not sure what that was supposed to signify.

It really is such an interesting location. At first it was used as a prison. Like Alcatraz it was hard to escape from but there was at least one man who did. The prisoners actually built the island and prison elements themselves. They then built a dock and workshop in order to service the Royal Navy. After the island was declared unfit for prisoners an industrial girls school moved there. That part was the saddest to listen to because the unlucky girls who were sent there did nothing wrong except be born to loser parents. After the girls school relocated, the island became a prison once again. This time around it didn’t work so well though because the prisoners were not being rehabilitated and kept rioting. Finally, the island’s sole focus was on ship building. It was the ship building mecca due to the knowledge the tradesmen had and the production capacity it had. As happens in any thriving industry, the tradesmen unionized and this brought production to a halt. It was good for other Australian laborers who reaped the benefits but in the mid 80’s the island had to cease ship building. After the island closed down, some Aborigines tried to lay claim to it but thankfully the government did not let them. Here Aborigines are treated exactly like our Native Americans, take that as you will. Eventually the government turned the island into a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On the island itself there are places to camp (actually looked really nice and might be just the spot to tick camping off my life bucket list). There are apartments to rent if you are rich. It overlooks the Harbour Bride so needless to say New Year’s Eve accommodations are booked a million years ahead. There was at least one party going on there for some uber rich people at the Island Bar. I had washed my invitation though so it was accepted, darn! Oh and a camera meetup (that I have been too chicken to attend) was there also. I could tell those people from their 10lb cameras. It seems like it is popular for wedding pictures as well.

On a side note I discovered while I was on the island that Unbroken (the new movie by Angelina Jolie) was partially filmed there and X-Men Origins: Wolverine was based there. I can see why. It is beautiful but in an eerie and industrial way. That probably doesn’t make any sense so maybe you should come see it for yourselvesJ

So needless to say Cockatoo Island way exceeded my expectations and I will be going back there! It was also nice to not have to see 1 billion people there and most of my pictures didnt even have a person in them! I was able to catch the ferry directly from Cockatoo Island to Rydalmere where I had to take a bus to Parra since the tide was low.

Today (Sunday) I went to The Rock’s Market which was also on my list of things to do here. This wasn’t quite as good as yesterday. I am sure that I would have enjoyed it more if I had a couple extra grand to lay down for some artsy stuff. They had soaps, masks, necklaces, scarves, windspinners, bags, etc. Nice products and interesting to look at but too expensive. I did buy myself a little gift though, I know that is the theme these days…The Australian Santa by Jim Shore. It will be awesome to add to my collection. Sadly, it doesnt bounce very well, I tested that theory right after I purchased it.

After that I went to the Justice and Police Museum since it was also on my list and located in that area. Interesting museum because like any big city, Sydney has had a lot of interesting crimes. Best was Caroline Grills- Grandmother and serial killer. She put poison in her baked goods and then watched her victims suffer:) In true Letitia museum style that took me all of about 15 minutes to look at and then I got back on the train. I made a slight miscalculation there (the particular line I wanted didn’t run on weekends) and so that was a bit longer journey than I thought.

 This is the first official police dog used in Sydney and yes it is the real dog...nah not creepy at all:D

 Who doesn't love old criminals?

The dock, where the accused would sit.

At least this weekend was productive on the old bucket listJ I hope your weekends were good as well. 

Let's just take a moment to think about how big this cruise ship in Sydney Harbour is...

Calmsley Hill Farm

Alright, some slacker didn't post about her weekend...sorry about that.

On Friday, I went to the farmers market with Neha and Ronnie (totally not spelled right) from work for lunch. That was really nice. We looked at the stalls and then we of course ate. I didn't get anything too mind boggling since my culinary comfort zone is still fully intact. I ended up with an Indian Kebab (Kebabs are always safe in my opinion) and a spinach and feta Gozleme which is a Turkish dish (reminded me of something from Taco Bell...yeah that might be a stretch). No worries though because I didn't want to overload my vegetable senses so I got the cheese only gozleme which according to the others is good for the palate of a five year old. This meant I found lunch really enjoyable. It was a nice time out. We also hopped on down to the thrift shop which I was super hyped up about but I didn't find anything (that time). Ronnie seems to be a wealth of information on thrift stores which I am happy about.

On Saturday....yeah I would really like to say I did something exciting but not so. My original plan was to finish up some snail mail letters that I fell behind on and then mail them at the post office on my way to the market (it is a regular market on Saturdays). The good news is I did catch up on those but from there the plan fell apart. I made it to the main post office only to find it closed. It wouldn't have been so startling but I knew the one in Westfields was open on Saturday. So off to the market square I went but again I struck out. There were no booths there, no market...still don't know what happened there. At any rate I went to the mall to mail the letters and have some lunch. Then I hopped a train to Milson's Point and then on to Town Hall to get a post-mix drink. And yes that means a fountain pop. I'm a regular there:) Then I rode the train to a new section of line which was nice. That was about it for that day.

Sunday was the big day again. Wendy took me to Calmsley Farm. It was really neat. It was kind of a mix between the Reptile Park and Tobruk Farms. They had both farm animals (sheep, goats, ducks, milking cows, Shetland ponies, Longhorns, Clydesdale, Alpacas, etc) and native Australian animals (koala, emus, wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, python, etc). Oh and they had a camel which was perhaps my favorite.

Orphaned Joey who was rescued

Wombat doing what they do best...sleeping. I have made it my mission to hold one of these lazy, fat, and stinky little guys:)

Really cute, no?

Emu that was free range with the kangaroos

Told you he was cute! Way more of a pet than the ones they use in the Sahara...and yes he had two humps not just one. I didn't want to go through that again:)

Morning gymnastics I guess. I don't know why but I find this picture hysterical. The scenery in the back is a bonus.

 

 

Yep, that sure is me (rockin an awesome Sydney hat I might add) petting a koala. She was 12 years old which is pretty old even in captivity. And no their fur is not soft at all. She was pretty cute though:)

A note on the pictures. I can only seem to upload them on my blog. Not sure what the problem is:( So we will make do with what we have for now.

At the farm they had a sheep dog show, milking demonstration, sheering demonstration, koala talk, oh and a nice tractor ride! It was really nice!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Flat Question and Answer

Finally!!! I got a question! You can’t tell I am excited, can you? So the question was about my flatmates and flat. So for starters I will tell you about the people I live with:

Desiree- The leaseholder. She is probably late thirties/maybe real early forties. She has been in Sydney with her son for like 8 years I think if I am not mistaken. She seems to have moved here from the Philippines with just her son as her husband died. She works as a housekeeper at some hotel in Sydney and has the whole time she has been here. She wants to go back to school for nursing but can’t afford to while her son is attending uni. She is very pretty and goes out a lot. Soon she will go back to the Philippines to see her family and she is looking forward to that but not the heat. Very honest individual. Likes to sing a lot but she is good I won’t lie.

Clara- Desiree’s friend. Also from the Philippines and about the same age as Des. They apparently met at the hotel but Clara did not like that type of work so she went back to school to be an aide at a retirement complex. She really likes her job. She wants Desiree to go work there as well. Clara is married but her husband (who is Australian) lives in the Gold Coast at the moment. He will come visit in April and I think she hopes to convince him to move here. Her husband’s family and her own brother live in the suburbs here.  She is very kind to me.

Desiree’s son- Okay, sadly I do not know his name…I know. When I first got here he was in the Philippines for vacation which he will return there with his mom for vacation next month. That is my excuse for not knowing his name…when we first met I was running late for work and he was sleeping on the couch:D He jumped off the couch and introduced himself but I didn’t have my listening ears on. He is very quiet but also very polite. I think he is 20 years old and is studying Building Management at Uni. All of his mother’s hopes are on him so that must be an unbelievable weight to carry. They moved here when he was starting high school but aside from not knowing English well at all, schooling in the Philippines is behind. I can’t imagine what that would have been like. He is teaching himself the guitar and he is quite good at it. At least no teen angst to deal with this time around.

And that is the crew. No pets and please don’t put any cockroach jokes in here. I did forget to update you guys that I only slept with my light on for one week and thankfully now I am back to having it off. It was hard to sleep properly with that on.

Des and Clara are always offering me food. I think they feel bad only seeing my sandwich stuff in the fridge hahaha. It happens. They are really good cooks I think because it always smells good. I attempted to cook pasta last week but that was pretty nightmarish:D I bought some pasta because any tard can cook pasta right? Apparently not this tard luckily Clara was home. So I went and studied the stove for a bit to figure out that it was gas…off to a bad start. Clara noticed I was studying the stove so she came over to show me how it works. Well by the time she got the lighter out I was back in the living room…yeah that is right I couldn’t be a pyromaniac. Seriously not only is it gas but it is the kind you light!!!! This reminded me of how Andrea and I became friends. Chemistry Class Fall 2003…two giggling idiots in the back too scared to turn the gas up to make the flint useful. Mr. McLeod…”Can someone go help those two?!?!” We were beyond help especially Andrea with her goggles on her forehead instead of over her eyes:D And there you have how we became friends. Luckily Clara took pity on me and basically cooked the pasta for me. Did I mention I like her and she is nice?

Okay now for the actual flat. There are two bathrooms, kitchen, laundry closet, two bedrooms, living room, dining table, and two balconies. The one balcony is where we hang our clothes (alas dryers aren’t used here but at least clothes dry here unlike in France) and the other balcony is quite big. They have a table out there, some plants, and then they store some things out there. We are on the third floor of a building that has 7 floors plus there is parking underneath. I think we are literally connected to Westfield shopping Mall. There is a convenience store downstairs but the people are a little weird…or it is me not sure. I live ten minutes from work on foot. The park is about two blocks away. The building is pretty secure as there is a key to get into the lobby and it is clean. My room has two windows, two beds, a big closet with builtins and mirrored doors, bathroom (with shower), and a night stand. It is quiet in here or I am a really sound sleeper. I pay $225 per week which is pricey according to my workmates but I think it is right considering my location and the fact that I don’t live with crackpots.  

Just for the record I do have a really nice duvet cover that Wendy gave me but I took it off after The Great Cockroach Incident and I just cant put it back on. The pillowcases were just for the picture I don’t use those either just in case. You never know. Also, please don’t be jealous of my princess washcloth!

And that is about it.

Flat Pictures

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathroom door with Aussie calendar

My Shower

My Bedroom

My Closet

 

Living and Dining Room

 

 

Jumping Kangaroos

First of all I had a really nice day on Friday which started out with souvenirs from Broken Hill courtesy of Wendy!!! I love presents:) Very cool. After that start what could go wrong, right? I then talked with Neha, the nice Indian girl, who works behind me about arranged marriages since that is what she had and her husband works with us as well. Very fascinating culture! Tomorrow she is bringing in her wedding photos to show me. I cant wait! I love learning things like that:)

Then Saturday, I went back to Avoca Beach which was very nice. I will post some pictures and video on Flickr. It is a really gorgeous area there. There were a pod of dolphins but don't worry I was too interested to fuss with the camera...I know, right?  Anyway, it is nice to go there because it is dog friendly which is rather rare here and I miss Debbie. Not too much surfing going on as the waves were quite high. I spent quite some time there actually. I think I could almost get into the whole beach life scene but then there is a part that it is hot, sand is everywhere, and people expect you to actually go swimming in a swimsuit....hahaha. It is a neat way of life though.

Sunday was the big day. Monika (girl from Poland) had contacted me about going to see some wild kangaroos at Morisset Park (actually the grounds of a mental institution, just a random fyi). I was a little (a whole lot) skeptical about this but I figured I had time to go on a wild kangaroo chase:D And then I found out that she was bringing some other people and I really wanted to back out but I decided to go anyway. So I arrived to meet Monika, Brian (Brazil), Sebastian (Columbia), and Ellie (Columbia). Sebastian asked if I was from Poland also and Monika replied "She's basically Polish" which I thought was funny and I noticed I no longer say I am from the US or that I am American but rather "I am from America". I don't know why that is. It was a rather long train ride there because we had to sit apart as the train was full but the scenery was nice. So once we got there our tour guide, Brian (he had been there before) took us to Woolies (hahaha I like to say that now, Woolworths) to buy some bananas for the kangaroos. They also eat carrots but prefer bananas. Bread can kill them just an fyi. We also got lunch supplies for us.

We then started the LONG journey to the park. It was HOT and long and HOT and long. But in the meantime I talked a lot with Sebastian and Ellie. Turns out they like Americans...I love when that happens. The other way not so much. So I picked their brains about just about everything I could: strength of their currency to Australia (Australian dollar much stronger), why Australia and not Britain or Canada (easier to get a visa and they can work 20 hours per week instead of 10 and still be students), Visa process (had to interview at the embassy), how much is college there (cheap), what they missed most (food in both their cases), where they wanted to visit in the US (CA and NY) and then a lot of questions about them learning English. I have said a million times that I am in awe of people who learn another language! Oh and of course I had to ask about the river dolphins (yes they are real and pink!). They talked about how they want to return home and that to me it would sound funny because Columbia is in bad shape- high crime, lots of poverty, no good jobs. I said it didnt sound funny at all because home is ALWAYS home. Finally, we arrived!

The first kangaroo was a young one but eager for the banana and for us to take pictures with it:)

L to R: Brian, Monika, Sebastian. Ellie took the photo

 

 

We stayed with that one for awhile but there were kangaroos everywhere and we had a lot of bananas! So we looked at a few more on our way to eat. We were starved by then. We had quite the spread actually. We had a humongous Hershey Chocolate Bar for dessert (thank you Andrea) and then we had Columbian coffee candies:) We talked about all sorts of things: Traditional Columbian dress, salt mines in Columbia, Three Musketeers Bar (really popular in Columbia), Lucky charms in Poland, Soccer/football in Brazil, supermarkets here (cannot go to Kmart to buy trash bags must go to Woolies or Coles, and shops close early here), ketchup pumps in Columbia (yay!!!), etc. We then reflected that our picnic reminded of us of travelling with our parents- good ole sandwiches in the car.

 

Interesting because I have a bad impression of Argentinian men (no basis) that I had translated to all of South America. Not so. Brian wouldn't let me pay for the bananas, gave up his seat and carried the bags. Sebastian held his hand out to help me across this ditch, took tons of pictures of me with the kangaroos with my camera, and also hauled around bags. Ellie misses her dog too so she was good in my book! And they wanted to share EVERYTHING they had. Also, nice that they wanted to include me in group pictures since I didn't know them before today:) So that trip to Peru and Chile is totally still on the books.

 

After lunch we found some more kangaroos on our way back to the station. We stumbled upon The King who was very muscular. Wow! He was a little scary but I think he was also the biggest fan of our bananas. Very interesting. There were about 20 kangaroos near him so that was cool. Then we started the long, long, long walk back. We were much quieter by this time because we were hot and tired. Thankfully we made it. Walking home was less then fun, I am really over walking for today.

 

It really was a great day. It reminded me of being in France where I was able to meet people from around the world. It is good to hear about their cultures and I always look forward to their views on America. The kangaroos were a bonus!

 

I will post pictures and videos tomorrow night. Off to bed for now.