Last Weekend Update

**NOTE** This entry was from last weekend. I was delayed typing it out and then I lost internet for four days and counting. The storms got pretty wicked here as in homes floated away and people died. I wasn’t in any danger in the middle of the urban jungle though.**

Saturday I went to an event called St Bartholomew’s Day with Wendy, Stan, and Demi.  It was pretty interesting. It was held at St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church which sits on a hill overlooking the cemetery going down the hill to a highway. It is supposed to be haunted and before it was restored apparently there was some dark magic activities there as a random fyi. Of course our visit was unrelated to that and it was daylight! First we walked through the graves which were much different than our graves. They had concrete surrounding the perimeters so there was no doubt where the person was buried. I much prefer that to our system but it is not like that everywhere here but it is rather common. 

Also, they had these strange wire cages on them and glass jars. I don’t think I had noticed that before at home. I can’t figure out what the significance/purpose of them was for... Google let me down. As we got closer to the church there were some graves that were marked with signs because they were important to the church. Then there was a little market there that sold felted bags, honey, wooden crafts, etc. On the way in you could toss money into the wishing well and ring the bell. Demi was a very good bell ringer!

The presentation inside was mainly about Blacktown’s contribution to WWI. It was really interesting actually and a great lead up to what we are going to be talking about next blog. They talked of the boys who were too young to sign up so they lied and the men who were too old to sign up but did and got sent back right after. Australia is a very patriotic country, I think much more so than we are in terms of wars and veterans. The women and children raised a lot of money for the soldier’s funds. Laborers leapt at the chance of becoming a digger as they made more per day than they did at their jobs. A lot of men came back with Scottish wives as the majority of the soldiers were single on embarking on this journey. The death/injury toll for Blacktown was fairly high and thus they paid a high price for war. Afterwards we went and looked around the market stalls some and had Demi take a picture with the town crier who was quite the character.

After that we went to the Blacktown Westpoint which is the mall where Demi had her party. I ended up getting a gourmet meal of Mac and Cheese (yes my palate has not matured). The mac and cheese had corn in it which was different. The breadstick was really good though! I ended up getting a hairdryer at Big W which is like a Kmart but is linked to Woolworths the grocery store. I also bought a sweater because I only brought one warm article of clothing with me and it isn’t something I would wear out in public. In case you were wondering, it is getting colder here. Last night my room was 66F for Pete’s Sake…yeah I am in big trouble when I return home. When I got home I took a Letitia Power Nap which lasted 4 hours:D It felt really good actually.

Then on Sunday I had this dreamy idea to get a walk in across the Harbour Bridge. I think subconsciously I know where there is track work and I decide that is where I must go. So of course this required a train to Central then a bus to Wynard and then a train to Milson’s Point. Tricky tricky. Of course there are so many nice people to ask and no scarcity of signs that a monkey could do it. Anyway, I did walk across the Harbour Bridge which was really nice actually. 

Different angle taken further down the bridge

I ended up at The Rocks where I looked around some more. 

 A view of the Rocks from the Harbour Bridge

Some Street Art of Luna Park at a basketball court in the Rocks

The market of course was on again but artsy markets never come cheap so I skipped browsing this time. I did pop into the Contemporary Art Museum but not to actually look at the “art”. I wanted to stop in the gift shop because the internet listed them as a lomography retailer. The internet didn’t lie but also forgot to mention the 25% markup so no thank you. It was a really cool gift shop though and one of everything would have been great. I then came up with an awesome idea!...pause for a back patting... I would take a ferry back to Parramatta thus eliminating all of the changes but alas the next ferry wasn’t for 2 hours so I hopped back on the bus. Once back at Central, I still had time so I went back to Paddy’s Market to buy some souvenirs for people. Then I went home.

I have BIG plans for this weekend. Of course pretty soon I could use flippers to get to work. Rain, rain, and more rain. Yesterday we even got sent home early to prepare for flash flooding. It was for the people in the country more but awesome for me nonetheless. I am getting tired of everything being soaked though but I brought a raincoat with me (pat on the back) as I need a license to carry an umbrella.

**EDIT** Fingers crossed I get internet back soon because I accomplished everything I wanted to do this weekend and I think (hope) it will make a really interesting blog**

Relish the Normal Things

G'day China Plates:D

Nothing too exciting to tell you from this week. I have had a nice laid back week which was nice. I did some "normal" things this week which was different. On Thursday I went to the movies with Rani to watch The Longest Ride. She had gotten free tickets from somewhere and I hadnt been to a movie here because it is so expensive. I wasnt expecting too much as I am not a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks books but it turned out to be really nice. It had a really good parallel story line that was actually believable.  The theatre set up is a bit different than at home. The one we were in probably only had 50 seats and you were assigned an actual seat. Also they had a lot of food and drink options. They also have this thing called Gold Class that you seat in a recliner and are waited on! 

Before the movie we went to this shop where they sell candles, crystals, celtic jewelry etc and that was pretty interesting. We had been there before but it has so much cool stuff to look at! I inquired about some Tarot classes BUT the lady might have been burning a wee bit too much incense because after 20 minutes I still dont think I had an answer. Then we went and got a Letitia Pizza (only cheese and pepperoni) at the Pizza Design Co. I love that pizza. We still had time to burn so we walked down to find this thrift shop that we are going to in a couple of weeks (they were at the market and have big sales on certain days). 

Friday.....ah yes food market day! This week I went to the German tent...from here on out Friday is now declared German day:) I got a Bavarian bratwurst and a Cheese Kransky (sans onions and saukerkraut, I didnt want to go crazy). So good! Anyway, when I got home Clara was heading out the door for the night. She asked if I would be okay alone (other two are still in the Philippines) and I silently did the happy dance inside:) My big night consisted of sitting on the couch watching tv...I know wow! No all joking aside, that is the first time I have had the remote in my head in months and it felt good:) I really enjoyed that. 

Then on Saturday, I went opp (second hand) shopping with Rani. Yes, that is right I found someone else that likes doing that and she collects more than I do I think. I caught the bus to Liverpool which is where she lives. It is supposed to be a rough area but in the daylight it looked good:D They actually have a large Westfields there and four opp shops in a small area. I think I will go back next week too. At any rate the first shop wasnt that good but the second one...wow! I was like a kid in a candy store...and then I remembered that I have to get this stuff home and I weeded out what I was getting. We were pretty weighed down by the time we boarded the train to go opp shopping in Newtown which was our original plan. Anyway that didnt pan out because there was trackwork. Instead we went to RedFern. Nice area. Rani showed me some graffiti, went to some opp shops, and also some technology park thing that was really industrial.

Then we met up with her best friend Hannah (plus Hannah's two kids and husband). They were totally a nice surprise. Two successful entrepreneurs. Plus Hannah looked like she could have stepped out of the pages of Vogue. They were really nice. Oh and I had my first pub meal here and it was pretty darn good and cheap! It was rump steak+chips+salad for $10. After we ate and talked for a bit we caught the train home.

Today, I didnt really do anything. I cleaned my room and went and bought groceries. Oh and of course watched some more tv:) Yep, that was exciting:) 

I hope everyone has a good week!

Redfern Technology Park

This little birdie was outside of an opp shop

Eggs+Concert+Melbourne

Hello!

Where to start I don’t even know. I guess firstly on Wednesday at work we had an Easter egg hunt which consisted of grownups looking on the whole level five to find about 300 chocolate eggs. And I might add two cool kids (me and Rani) made their own Easter Baskets….Yes I am 28. That was really nice. What was even better is that Angela my new seat mate brought some homemade chocolates in for me which were actually chocolate covered oreo cookie balls which I LOVE! She so far has brought in homemade cookies, crackers, bags of chips, jewelry, souvenirs, and now those…just for me. Some people are jealous:D

Then after work on Wednesday I went to the Train concert at the Opera House. It was AWESOME!!!!! Totally not like a normal concert. First of all you sat in auditorium seats the whole time. No standing which was great! The opening act was Taylor Henderson. I hadn’t ever heard of him but I think he is pretty famous in Australia as he is headlining his own tour soon. He did a good job and it was so cute because his dad and grandparents were there to watch him. I mean how cool would it be to watch your musician grandchild perform in the Sydney Opera House? Plus his dad even came on stage for one song. Then the main act, Train, came out. Pat Monahan was a much better performer than I would have expected. He walked through the audience, took hundreds of selfies with fan phones, and talked to be people in the audience too. Of course the music was great. And I had to feel pretty lucky watching Train at the Sydney Opera House! Beautiful night.

On Thursday night I caught the train to Melbourne. Everyone here has been telling me how crazy I am to go by train instead of by plane. Of course no one said anything BEFORE I bought the regional pass… Anywho they might have had something there. So it was supposed to take 12 hours but that turned into 16 hours. That is one L………….O…………..N…………..G train ride! I had this older lady sitting next to me who was complaining to beat the band in between telling me not to hitchhike in Victoria and fighting with her twin daughters. It wasn’t horrible but not great either. Once I got to Melbourne, I walked from Southern Cross Station to my hostel. It was about 2kms so with my luggage that was not so good. Turns out I could have caught a tram or a train. Live and learn. Anyway I dropped my luggage off then left to explore.

First I went to Flinders Station which was across the street and bought a Myki card so I could travel by train/tram/bus. Then I took the tram to Luna Park!! It was cool but the one in Sydney is better. Interesting story about some tight walking elephants though: in 1912 they commissioned two people to walka tightrope dressed as elephants. When the picture came out the world thought it really was an elephant tight rope walking. Then I walked down to St Kilda beach which was cool. Then I went back to Flinders Station and walked to Yarra River and the Aquarium. The Aquarium had a cool crocodile and penguins. Enjoyed that very much. Then I went back to the hostel. It was pretty nice there. It was nice and clean and big. Everything was there that was needed and it was cheap. The room I picked had 12 girls in it but it wasn’t as loud as one would think. Of course by the time they got home from the pub crawl I was leaving hehehe. It was in a great location! I would stay there again.

On Saturday I went on the Philip Island day tour. It was alright. I didn’t much care for the guide on that one. At any rate I took the fur seal cruise which was nice. I like marine life and of course don’t see much of that in Michigan. So it was interesting for sure. Then we went and watched the Penguin Parade which was interesting because there are very few places in the world that it can be seen. It was kind of comical because there were probably 1000 people watching 1000 penguins come on to shore under spot lights. We weren’t allowed to take any photos of that though, sorry! I did meet a guy from Ohio and I would have to say I was really excited to meet a fellow Midwesterner!

Sunday was the best day for sure! I went on the Great Ocean Road tour with Outback Billy. He was such a good tour guide, I cant say enough good things there. He knew lots of facts and had several funny stories. Plus he dressed like I picture an Australian tour guide to dress; outback hat, boots, khaki shorts and shirt. He was really nice! Anyway, that tour took us along the great Ocean Road to see the London Bridge (what is left, funny story halfway down here), the twelve apostles (which were only ever 8), the rainforest, and koalas in the wild!!! There was even a koala walking along the road to its next tree. Really neat to see them in the wild! There were a lot of nice people on that tour as well; a father and son from Canberra (who have travelled more than me in the US), a couple from New Zealand (that I picked their brain the whole way pretty much:D) and then a family of four from Perth who were really nice. I cant even tell you how much I liked that tour! Ocean Road has a deep history found here. Much like our Big Sur but with deeper meaning.

Then on Monday I went to the Pink Lake ehehehe which really is a pink lake. So funny because the locals didn’t even know about it. Then I met a nice lady at a store that directed me to the graffiti spots which were breathtaking! Most people probably don’t know but I am obsessed with street art. I had tried to go on a graffiti tour in London but it didn’t pan out. So I was so excited to see the work in Melbourne. As you can tell from the pictures it was amazing quality. There are two laneways in Melbourne that are dedicated to street art so I actually saw some artists working on their pieces as it is legal in those areas. Then I went on the Melbourne Star which is like the London Eye in looks but it wasn’t overly impressive. I am glad I went on it but I wouldn’t do it again unless it was at night.

The train ride back was about 14 hours because this time we had a medical emergency….yay! Anyway I am glad to be back to Parramatta. I had fun and I saw a lot of really neat things and met nice people. The public transport there is really good as well but I know the Sydney trains for the most part now. I must also add here that the time changed in Australia and guess what?!?!? I get to fall back twice because here they fell back since it is fall here:D That made me really happy!

Alright this was only a quick summary so if anyone wants more specifics let me know.New pictures and video here. I hope everyone enjoyed their Easters!