The Moon is upside down (& other observations)

Yes, it is upside down. I love looking at it. Right now it looks like a smiley face and I reckon in 2 weeks it'll look like a frown. I tried to find something smart of the web about why that is, but you'll just get this picture I found. You can Google it your self (Try: Moon Southern Hemisphere). Right now it doesn't look at pretty at this one, but you get the idea.

Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnamiller/sets/442558/

Australian drivers don't care for pedestrians. I believe they would gladly just run you over, especially pedestrians who still don't know which way to look before crossing the street (despite it clearly being written on the pavement "Look Right" "Look Left").

Australians do love their sweet chilli sauce and damn is it ever good, especially with sour cream and wedges. Yum yum! They also like turkish food (it's the after-drink food to eat). Sandwiches made with turkish bread are the best. My own little concoction consists of sliced deli chicken meat, cheese, spinach and tomatoe with a fine layer of hummus, toasted in the greatest sandwich grilling machine ever! I should take a picture next time I make it.

Finally, Newtown MUST have the greatest number of restaurants per capita. In the short 10 minute walk I took to the bank and to grab gelato (yummy Bacci) there were at least, 10 thai, 2 sushi, 2 italian, 3 turkish, a spanish and vietmanese restaurants, plus 3 gelato places, 5 bars, 4 convenience stores, 3 chemists (pharmacies) and 10 clothing shops. That all on one street, probably wihtin 1 km distance and I'm not even exagerrating and wasn't even paying attention all that much. I'm sure there are more. Point is: I love Newtown.

Sailing in Sydney Harbour

The RA at Sydney University Village organized a little sailing trip. I was one of the lucky 14 that emailed quick enough to book as spot. There were about 45 more who wanted to go, but couldn't.

We met on the Green which is the big rectangular patch of grass in the centre of the Village and we took a bus into the City and then a train to Edgecliff. We walked to the Yacht Club and sat through some introductory/safety schpiel. I was in a boat with Charlotte from Colorado and Christine from the Bronx and our coach Luke. We got onto to the boat and were immediately put to work. We unfolded the sails and got them ready. We slowly pulled away from the dock and put up our sails. Soon we were cruising toward the Harbour Bridge!

I was first on the main slip which guided the main sail and boom. Charlotte was steering for a bit and many time our boat was high up on a 80 degree angle. We were clenching tightly so as not to slip off. It was quite the thrill. I though the boat would surely capsize, luckily it didn't. Then we switched roles and I was steering. I got the hang of it. Maybe time the boat would start going up on an steep angle but we kept our cool. We passed other sail boats and ferries and had some clost calls! At one point Christine steered us right into the wake of a ferry so we crashed through a few waves.

We sailed under the Harbour Bridge and past the Sydney Opera House and past Luna park. It was just incredible to see all those sights from that point of view. Most of the time we were concentrating on steering the boat, but there were moments where I just looked around in amazement. I was sailing in the Sydney Harbour!!

We learned our to 'jive' and to do something else, which i already forgot what it was called. Bascially we learned how to move the sails in the right direction along with the boom and switch sides so that the boat would pass through the eye of the wind.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take our cameras. They would have surely ended up in the water or damaged. Suzie, the head instructor, kindly followed us in a jet boat and took pictures for us.

Afterward we had a BBQ (susages and white sandwich bread!!) and then headed back to Newtown. It was a great experience. ONly $30 for a good 2 hours of sailing. There were thrills and laughs and our lives flashed before our eyes! Overall, it was a great day and a fun experience and I think I'll go back and do it again.

Enjoy the pictures!Christine, Me and Charlotte

I was steering at this point

We saw the most beautiful rainbow, end to end. Then there were two!

A quiet Friday

Since I've been sick which, by the way, I'm feeling heaps better than yesterday, I decided to stay in tonight. Mitch texted me and invited me out for a walk across the Harbour Bridge. So after class, we met up and took a bus to Circular Quay. Then we just wandered around "The Rocks" which is the oldest part of the city. It's where the convicts and the marine crew first settled in Sydney. We finally made our way to the Bridge and walked across to the Northern Shore. The view was really nice across the harbour. The sun was setting but because it was cloudy, we didn't really see it. We walked to Luna Park which is a cute little theme park. You can see the big scary clown face from across the Harbour. God that would freak me out if I lived with that thing in my view 24/7! So I took some really cool night pictures. And then we just headed back. It was starting to get chilly. We took a bus back to Newtown and then grabbed a bite to eat at Hoochie Mamma's (the bar/grill on rez). Now I'm just chatting on line and wasting the night away. Mike asked me if I wanted to got to Cargo Bar. I declined, mainly cause I'm tired, my foot hurts, and I don't have any laundry!! I need to go shopping badly.
So plans for the weekend. Tomorrow I'm going sailing. I signed up for this trip organized by SUV. For $30 we get a lesson and a sail ride with 4 people per boat and get to actually sail it! Then no plans for Saturday night yet, but don't be surprised if I write about going to Candy's again! Then Sunday, I might go to the zoo, take a ferry across the harbour. And then hit up Temple in the evening for some trance ch00nage!

Enjoy the pics! TGIF!!!

It amazes me how beautiful the city is. I don't want to leave...

Sick in Sydney

Yep... it sucks. It's Thursday night and I've been up late the past few nights working on Plant Design. And now I'm sick. I have runny nose, sneezing, head ache and I just want to crawl up in bed and do nothing. But, a report is due tomorrow and the uni work is still there. Right now though I'm going to relax... if my flatmate and his 10 friends would shut up and leave, then maybe I can get to bed early. But of all the nights in the week, it's not going to happen tonight. So now I'm bored, in front of the computer because I'm tired and lazy. There are some productive things I can do, but won't... so I'll just sit here and complain. Because that's what I like to do. And I'll be lucky if this blog makes sense because my head is pounding and I can't think straight. I took Codral Night and Day which worked for like one hour and has worn off, but don't want to overdose, so now I'll just wait until the night is almost over, I'll take a night time pill and hopefully crash. And maybe tomorrow I'll feel better.

booooooo........

Slang Part II

The more I chat and meet Aussies, the more slang I pick up.

Enjoy!

Arvo - the afternoon
Singlets - girls' tank tops
Fortnightly - bi weekly
Off his/her/their chops - Very drunk or incoherent for other illegal reasons :s
Gunted/munted - similar state of being to "off their chops"; used as an adjective
Root - umm... it's the reason Canadians are advised not to wear any "Roots" gear in Australia. Maybe you can look it up. I'd like to keep my blog PG
Sin bin - the penalty box
Shithouse - ahh.. I guess I broke the PG rule (but I still won't explain what root means). This means what it sounds like. For example, "My timetable for second semester is shithouse"
Rang him/her/them up - calling someone
Piking/piker - the act of making plans with people then backing out / someone who does said act
Paying out someone - giving them a hard time about something, i.e. for piking
Capiscum - bell peppers, you know the sweet ones that come in red, green and yellow
Lemonade - as in vodka lemondae means sprite or 7-up. Daniel told me a funny story about when he was in Canada and he ordered a vodka lemonade. The bar tender squeezed some lemons and added water and vodka to it!!! Being a true sport, he drank it anyway. haha... slang can get you in some funny situations.

Another funfilled weekend :)

It started Friday night with drinks at Kuletos during Happy Hour and dinner at Newtown Cocina for Mexican food. I went with some people I met last weekend at Vbar and some others who I hadn’t met before. It was a great time. Had a few cocktails, a weird chilli and fruit juice shot and a mega beef quesadilla. After, we went to the Marly Bar around the corner from my place for more drinks and music. I left at around 11 because I was so tired.

Saturday morning I went to Bondi. I met up with Mike who used to live there and was able to show me around. We walked from Bondi Junction to the beach and then along the rocks, which I nearly slipped and fell on! I looked at a hostel and inquired about Christmas pricing. I’m going to stay in Bondi the last week before I head back to Canada so I need to make reservations soon because they fill up quick!

A really big rock that was washed closed to shore during a massive storm years ago. Waves were crashing right behind me. It was really pretty.

Overlooking Bondi Beach

And then after lunch at Oporto’s for a really good chicken meal, we sat on the beach with Kristina. The day was gorgeous. We just chatted and soaked up the sun. Then we went for coffee and again, sat and chatted. Kristina had to leave, so Mike and I continued looking at hostels. I went into 5 more and now I have 2 to choose from. I think I’ll go with Lamrock Lodge, which is 2 minutes from the beach and has really nice hardwood flooring. It’ll be about $30 per night for a dorm room which isn’t bad.

Coffee with Mike and Kristina

I was going to go to the Engineering Revue which is like SkuleNite… a evening of sketch comedy, but I wouldn’t be able to make it back in time so Mike suggested calling some people up and going to Candy’s Apartment. We headed to his flat in Coogee which isn’t that long away but we had to take 3 buses! After waiting for a half hour before getting in because Mike forgot his keys and missing 2 buses to get back to Newtown, we finally made it back to my place at midnight. Sadly, the couple of people we invited out with us were either too tired, broke or had other plans. But he invited his friend, Azra and she met us in Newtown. We got a bite to eat and bought some drinks and hung around my place. We relaxed and listened to some music, chatted and drank. Some wine and champagne later, we headed to Candy’s Apartment in Kings Cross at around 2am.

We got in after some clever name dropping on Mike’s part and just danced the night away. I danced so hard my left foot and right knee where in pain the next day. It was a fun night with really great dirty house tunes. Got home and crashed at 6am.

Sunday was more subdued. After sleeping in an having a big breakfast, I went to a National Rugby League game which was a field trip for my Sports in Australian Culture class. It was a hot and beautiful day. I didn’t understand a bit of what was going on but it was enjoyable. It was great to see the fan cheering and booing. Those rugby boys are pretty fit and the game is very physical. One guy was taken off the field in a stretcher. Then I caught a bus to Bondi Junction where I met up with Kristina and Kristen for Thai. Kristen and I headed back early because we were both wiped and I went to bed just after 9. I needed all the sleep I could get!

NRL: Sydney Roosters vs. Paramatta Eels

A rant is coming on….

I’m never going to get a chicken schnitzel ever again! I got burned for the second time and this time, I put up a fight. I specifically asked before ordering, “Is it chicken breast?” Yes was the answer I received so I proceeded to purchase a tasty-looking chicken sandwich. I heated it up in the sandwich maker and too a bit to discover a plethora of dark, slimy, fatty meat!! I took a second look and dissected it to discover my initial discovery was validated. I went back and complained. I didn’t want to spend $5 on a sandwich I wasn’t going to eat because someone informed me incorrectly. So thankfully I didn’t have to put up much of a fight, they took it and gave me my money back.

But I was still hungry so I got a ham and cheese croissant. That can’t be too hard to f**k up. Well, wasn’t I wrong! What I got was a tasty croissant, with cheese and freakin’ shredded spam ham from a can (no doubt!) I’ve never seen shredded ham and I could barely stomach that processes crap.

This is what I get for sleeping in and feeling too lazy to make my lunch.

Signed, very peeved chick!

PS. I think I have a cavity…. **cries** and Thank God It’s Friday!

Hail in Sydney

Yesterday there was a freaky hail storm. In the span of 2 hours, the day went from clear, blue sky and warm temperatures, to a cloudy, dark day with thunder and lightening. I was caught in the beginnings of the rain when I finished class and came home. I was starving so I started cooking chicken soup. The 'rain' got louder and I thought, "shit! that's loud." But when I looked outside, the ground was covered in white stuff! I took the pot off the stove and ran to get my camera. It was crazy! It hailed for about 20 minutes. I saw other people in the village calling others on the phone and taking pictures. In almost no time, hail (bigger than pea sized pieces) blanketed the ground such that it seemed like snow. It was a mixture of hail and rain and something I've never seen happen before! Then shortly after, the sky was blue again and the sun was out! How freaky is that.

I saw on the news that the temperature in Sydney had dropped by about 10C (keep in mind, it was still way above zero) in 2 hours and a couple centimeters of rain had dropped in that time period. Roads were flooded and people were stuck! So here are the pictures... I couldn't believe it for myself. Apparently, Sydney spring weather is freaky like this and these types of hail storms happen a few times a year. It's even worse in New Zealand where you can experience all four seasons in the span of one day. I'm used to hail in the middle of a cold, bitter winter with snow and freezing temperatures. It felt like the Apocalypse!

Check out the Sydney Morning Herald article and pictures!

Views from the balcony

View from my bedroom window. A guy across the way was collecting the hail in a bucket.

Sunday.Trance.Worship

Just the perfect way to end the weekend. I woke up on Sunday, had breakfast, chatted with David and then got ready to go out... again! I went to Temple at VBar which is in the city. It's a Sunday afternoon trance party in a small, nicely decorated bar. There were some local Djs playing some awesome trance. Really got my bootie shaking! I met some really friendly and welcoming people. I really forced myself to go out of my comfort zone and introduce myself to them. It was a little scary and intimidating at first, but I did it and now have some great people to hang out with at future trance parties. Like Godskitchen! OMG I die! I can't wait. Above and Beyond, Cosmic Gate, and Eddie Haliwell at Home in Sydney. So... after dancing for a few hours, I worked up an appetite and left at 8pm. The coolest thing I saw all night was this guy, Lee, hypnotize aother guy Dan! So freaky!! I'm looking forward to going back, it's a fortnightly (biweekly) event and with great music and cool people, how can you not go back!

PICS: http://www.inthemix.com.au/photos13/060813-temple?page=1

Now I have to slave away for another brutal week at uni. An assignment due next Monday (which I have to start tonight) and Plant Design being the nasty, dark cloud that will be looming over me this entire semester. And with the weather getting better, it's double the torture!!

Party Weekend in full effect - I *heart* Sydney

Yesterday I didn't do anything during the day. I did some groceries, made some breakfast at 2pm. Then I went to sleep until 8:30!! Then made some dinner.

And here my friends is what happens when your oven looks like a microwave. Using the grill setting (which sounded like a microwave, with the fan and all), I put a piece of salmon on a metal grilling rack. After a few mintues, I wanted to check if it was done, and opened the 'microwave' and grabbed the rack, WITH MY BARE HANDS! God, that was stupid! I burned my fingers and was just stupified by the incident. But the salmon was good and the microwave/oven did a decent job so that open as few more cooking options than I had before.

I called up Kristina and we made plans to meet up at Darling Harbour at Bungalow 8. So after a long wait for the bus and 20 min later, I was walking to the Harbour which is just so pretty at night and is lined with a number lounges, restaurants and a great view (for those who are wondering, it's not the same harbour with the Opera House).

Looking across Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour - King St Wharf

I found Kristina and she introduced me to Allison who was a girl she met on the airplane on her way to Sydney. Two of her friends (one left early though) were there as well and we just had a drink and listened to some great music. Then Nathan, a guy Allison met in Munich while on her Contiki trip joined us. And needless to say, he was pimpin' with 4 beautiful girls by his side...lol

Nathan, Allison, Christina and I

Inside Bungalow 8. Great decor. Cool looking bar. Great outdoor patio.

And here comes one of the many cheesy pick up lines of the night. Kristina and I were outside while she had a smoke and we were chatting. Some guy comes up, interrupts and says, "Were you girls talking about cars?" uhh... no! Then he proceeds to *try* to chat us up. For a guy who is trying to pick up someone and initiate conversation, he wasn't all that talkative. Awkward!
He probably went back to his buddies and they say, "Ah mate, you gave it a good go!" haha.... but he was from Utah so who knows.

Kristina and I got back to out table to find a bottle of champagne and glasses. Apparently, some random dropped it off there and left without trying to pick-up Allison or her friend. So we had a few sips, but it wasn't all that great.

Then we headed a few metres down the harbour to Pontoon. Ugh! Nathan's uncle worked there and got us in without paying the $10 cover! But it was R&B/Hip Hop crap. So last night reiterated the reason I don't go to those clubs:
- it's hot and sticky and stinky
- guys only want to grind with you and get your number (thankfully they didn't try to get mine)
Only after a mintue of dancing with some random from the US, Allison's friend was asked for her number. She refused and he left so fast. Shut down!
- the guys there were so young! Not that care, but there was NO CLASS whatsoever.
- the music sucks and when I dance to that, I feel like a tool. Totally not in my element.

Anyway, we stayed there for a while and eventually just took a seat on the couches. Nathan had all bought us a shot of Tequila. Then at around 2:30 our plan was to go somewhere else. Since half of us had never been to King's Cross, that were we went via a Maxi Taxi!

Our Maxi Taxi - I think it could fit like 10 people.

King's Cross was quite the sight. Heaps of people out on the street but it was pretty dingy. Some nice looking clubs and after trying to get into 2 of them but being turned away cause they were too full, we landed on Candy' Apartment (which is where we were going to go on Friday). It was this cool underground type club. Everyone was just dancing to the great house music (some obviously flying higher than a kite). The only thing I didn't like was the indoor smoking area.... so now I stink of smoke. So we just danced and danced and I danced hard, my back hurts. And we chatted up some people and here comes the second cheesiest line of the night. Some random old dude goes to me: "Do you want to go over there and talk poetry with me?" I was like WTF?!?!? I had to ask him to repeat himself... finally when I understood he actually said poetry. I just said, nah... I'd rather dance and turned away. I told Kristina what he said and had a good laugh. He must have noticed this, cause he came back and said, "I acutally don't know anything about poetry." Yeah, well I figured as much.

Candy' Apartment

Allison friend (I forgot her name, what else is new), Kristina, Me and Allison

We left at around 4:30. I wasn't the slightest bit tired especially after the 6-hour nap, but we left and Nathan drove Kristina and I home. We were all crammed in the front of his utility (i.e. pick up).

Kristina had sore feet, so Nathan carried her to his utility.

So that ends a great night out and hopefully more of that is in the future. I woke up at 11am, had breakfast and now, going to get ready to go out again... hehe... just meeting some people for drinks and hopefully, some good trance.

FRIDAY!!

Yesterday was a long day. We handed in our first Plant Design Report, I handed in my Rugby Report and I had my quiz. The quiz was a joke actually... pretty darn easy considering it was open book and short answer questions that were straight from the notes!

Then I went to Pub Club. What is Pub Club you may ask? Well I asked the same thing and basically, it's my classmates last year, so they've decided that every Friday they will go to a new pub each week after a long day in the computer lab (which much like in Toronto, has become my second home). So Yish, her bf, Grug, Gaz, Milan, Sky, Varun and I went to Rose today. Nice place. I had a 'midi' of Carlton Draught and we shared some 'packet of chips' - Honey Soy, Lime and Black Pepper and Mustard something or other. Odd chip flavours but they were good. So I'm looking forward to other Pub Club events... the people in my class are pretty cool and I'm slowly getting to know them.

Then Friday night a small group of us went out. Kristina and Karin came over to my place and we started drinking wine (which turned out to be a bad idea). And then Brenden, Mike, Ming and David joined us for some drinks. We just listened to music, chatted and tried to decide where to go. Then we were off to Tank Nightclub. The music was really good and the club was beautiful. There weren't that many people though so it seemed to lack some atmosphere. But we got there around midnight. Most people left around 2ish and I stayed until 3am. It was a fun night! But now I have the worst headache... no more cheap wine for me. But there's still 2 L of it!

So half my day is gone cause I went to bed at like 5 and slept in until 11. I have to do some grocery shopping and I wanted to go to the zoo. Hmm... I still might be able to swing that. Tonight, I'm going bar hopping with Kristina at Darling Harbour tonight... should be a good time.
Again... no pictures. I didn't want to bring a purse, so I didn't bring the camera. And I didn't want to be a total tourist, but I should have brought one. Don't have David's jean pockets to carry it for me anymore!

Procrastinating...

Yes... I'm doing it again.

This time I'll regale the reader in some Aussie slang that I've picked up and /or noticed. There's tons more but this is what I can think of now. I'll update the list and keep it going...

- Reckon - example: "Do you reckon it'll rain tomorrow?"
- Uni (not school!)
- Mobile instead of cell phone
- "That/this is (insert adjective here) as" - example: "That new mobile is sweet as. That exams was hard as."
- Full on - example: "yeah, that assignment was full on"
- Mate - used for both girls and guys
- G'day - Hello
- How ya goin'? - although it's a quesiton, unless you want to engage in a conversation, you just repeat it back. It's another way of saying hello
- Prawn - not shrimp and they don't say "throw another shrimp on the barbie" although barbie means BBQ
- Grog - booze
- Give it a go - give it a try
- Good on ya - good for you
- eftpos - stands for something, not sure what, but it basically means debit or interac
- have a piss on - putting someone down, arguing with them, or joking with them harshly (I think!)
- the bin - the garbage
- Schooner - a large glass of beer
- Petrol - gasoline
- Thongs - flip-flops (This is the most difficult to adapt to)
- Whinge - complain
- Chips - fries
- Packets - chips
- Tomato Sauce - ketchup
- Hockey - Field hockey
- Soccer - Soccer

I'm sure the Aussies that read my blog with have to correct me on some things. That's about all I can think up now. It's fun - it's like learning a new language in some ways. I did commit quite the slang faux-pas but it was with an UK student. We were walking in the rain a few weeks ago during the tour of the city and I said, "My pants are getting all wet". Well, pants mean underwear in the UK and I'm sure you can imagine what reference he made to that!

Anyway, as my roommate and his 10 friends continue to devise the rules and teams for their drinking game and watching downloaded Most Extreme Challenge episodes, I will continue to write my report on the cultural meaning of rugby. Yay... thursday nights ... :p

Thank God it's Friday tomorrow!

Random thoughts... on meeting people

When I meet people, this is usually the small talk that follows...

- Where in the States are you from?
- No, I'm from Canada (and then I realize how twangy my voice gets when I say it, especially on the first 'a')

- Can you speak French?
- No, it's really only the French-speaking province that speaks French and we only had to learn it up to Grade 9. I was dumb and didn't bother to continue it.

- How big is Toronto?
- uhhh... I don't know... a couple million. (I finally found out though after the 5th time being asked this that there's roughly 5 million people in the GTA)

- How hot/cold does it get?
- Well -30 in the winter and to 40 in the summer.

- Do you ski or snowboard?
- Yeah but I've never been to Western Canada to the mountains.

- Do you say "zed" too? (not 'zee')
- umm... yeah... i think so. ( I had to think about it the first time)

- You use degrees Celsius too? You use the metric system too? You have Aborginals too?
- yes, yes, yes... we were colonized by England too!! But drive on the left side of the road. (EDIT: duh! it's RIGHT side of the road, LEFT side of the car... lol... thanks Monika!)

And pertaining to what I study...
- Really?!?!? I would have never guessed you're a Chemical Engineer. What do Chemical Engineers do?
- Design plants...(blah blah blah)
- Ohhh... I thought you meant designing an actual plant (as in flower, bush, leaf, etc).

And finally, my favourite:
- Can you say "about"?
- "About"
- Oh... you don't say "a-boot"? You sound American.
- Yeah, it's only the Newfies that talk like that. And yeah... we're pretty close to the States but I don't sound American

Even Americans ask me the above question. I think it's hilarious... but I'm sure I ask pretty stupid questions too like... are there lots of sharks around?

hahaha... oh the joys of immersing yourself in a different culture. I'm sure there are other questions I get asked a lot, but these are the ones that I remember. And now, usually every answer starts off: "haha.. everyone always asks me that" followed by the formulated response.

On another note: I have discovered Dark Chocolate Tim Tams... they are good as well but f**k they are addictive.

And I have a group report, a individual report due and a quiz on Friday... yet I'm still procrastinating... ahhh... the joys of being back at school. I certainly never lost the fine art of procrastination, yet don't ask me to do a mass balance or heat transfer problem... or write an essay!

Some thing I miss...

This morning whilst showering in our tiny shower, I started thinking about the things I'm starting to miss (of course besides the obvious - family, David, friends, my bedroom)...

- a bathtub and bathing. It's so nice to come home from a long day with sore feet and just soak in a tube. I won't get to do that for 6 months!
- good deli meat and cheese. It's hard to find here and I finally found a deli whose quality is reasonable, but it's so expensive!
- being in the front row in class and giggling with Steph and Diana
- oddly enough, having more than 2 hours of class per day... I haven’t figured out why, but more contact and less reliance on self-learning would be so much better!
- an oven! we only have a microwave that serves as a grill/convention oven... but it's not he same and it's disgusting!
- a dollar store. I love going other dollar store and picking up ridiculously cheap stuff - the variety and discount stores here just aren't the same

So that's about it for now... I'll supplement it later with things I love.

And other thing that Canadian may not realize... and that is how much of an influence the US has on our daily lives... just in the small things. And it is now more apparent in talking to people here, from another country that also started as a British colony. For example, we are on the metric system, but ask me how much I weigh or how tall I am in kilos and I have no clue! And in Microsoft Word, the default is in centimetres... which I always change to inches. I like having an 8.5 x 11 size sheet and the copy paper here is slightly different, I think it's A4 but whatever it is, it's longer. And we have the same spelling... using -our (labour), and -re (centre) BUT we use 'z' not 's' for verbs that end in 'ize'. The oven (or our microwave rather) goes to a temperature of 250... and at first I thought, well that's useless! Then I realized (see... the '-ize') that it meant 250C not 350F which I'm so used to when cooking. Also, they drive on the right (so does Hong Kong, South Africa...) but maybe I do not understand the full history on that one.

Anyway, just small little things that make Canada interesting... and as I read in a travel book - we have the aboriginal culture, the French speaking Canadians, we were colonized by Britain, but so heavily influenced by the US and to top it off, have a large number of immigrants. Just think about all the different influences and how it all just adds to our multi-culturism and unique fabric of Canada.

Well enough introspectiveness... I'm going out tonight with a huge group of American kids and I need to get ready... should be fun!

Rugby, Party and Relaxing...

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday night I went over to Kristen's to watch Memoirs of a Geisha and then went for gelato. There are at least 3 gelato places within a kilometre of each other on King Street! It’s crazy. I had Tim Tam gelato which in the end, just tasted like regular chocolate with pieces of Tim Tam in it.

Then on Saturday morning, Kristen and I went shopping in Newtown for vegetables and it was pouring rain! Then I went to the Greater Public School rugby game for my Sport and Learning in Australia Culture class. I was waiting at the bus stop for a bus that I had just found out doesn’t run on weekends. I was running late and would have to take a bus to Central Station, then take a bus to the local park and walk for 10 minutes to the field. And it was cloudy out. As I waited, I noticed 3 others who were in my class. They were trying to figure out which bus to take them. I walked over to them and suggested to take a taxi since there were 4 of us, and the bus was taking a while. They agreed and sooner we were in a taxi introducing ourselves and getting to know each other. There was Julia and Avi from Jersey but who went to school Tennessee and Jenna who lived overseas until high school and was at Colby University. When we got to the High School, there was no one else in site. We were a bit early but were surprised there weren't even any coaches, or boys warming up. Through a series of phone calls, Jenna found out the game had been postponed to 3:15 and moved to another location. So we gathered others who were lost, found a guy to give us directions on the map and then started walking. It seemed like we were walking in circles and along the way we asked random people for directions. We ended up walking for an hour! Julia, Avi and I played the picnic game ("I'm going on a picnic and I’m going to bring...") that was fun and made the time go by quicker.

GPS Rudgy - Sydney Grammar School vs. Sydney Boys High
55-0 for SGS

Finally we arrived at the school, just in time for kick-off. We saw the boys do a little pre game cheer and then they were off. I never realized how rough and physical rugby was. Kudos to my little sis who plays! We sat between the two cheering crowds of schoolmates. We hear their little chants, some of which were similar to what you hear in North America. I took some pictures and then someone we were sitting with offered to take a picture of me. There was an oblong shaped ball hanging around, and Sarah (the red head in the picture) told me to pose with it. The school boys sitting behind us had a good laugh because the ball I picked up is used for Australian Rules Football and not Rugby.

Me and a Footy ball at a Rugby game (Sarah laughing on the right)

After the game, we avoided having to the 2 buses and just took a cab back to the Village (Jenna, Avi and Julia) live there as well. We went to Hoochie Mama's which is the bar/bistro on the grounds and we all had some dinner, chatted and a few others joined us.

It was around 8pm at this point and I had made plans to meet Kristen in Coogee for a party. So I went home called her and managed to arrange a ride with her roommate, Charlie, who was on the way there. So I basically changed my clothes, brushed my teeth and left! The party was a lot fun. I met Harri’s brother, Barlo, who was quite the joker and all there friends. We had wine and chips and played "I never ever" drinking game outside. It was rpetty funny, I lerned some interesting details about some of these strangers... what great first impressions! It was a lot of fun! Then when it started to rain we went inside. Barlo was hilarious as he made everyone take off their shoes before going inside! He also nicknamed me Ms. Canada and Kristina, Ms. Germany.

Barlo the infamous host who I learned a little more than I needed to know about him!

Two of the guys there are into DJing so some great music was played including No More Conversations and Superstylin’! And some mashups of random songs like Ghostbusters! We danced so hard, about 10 of us in a tiny living room, you could feel the floorboards shake beneath you and the shelves wobbled back and forth.

Me, Kristen and Kristina

Chris DJing with a Numark mixer (didn't seem very high tech David) and 2 Stanton turntables.

Me, Kristina, Harri, Kristen and Liz (Charlie's GF)

At around 1am, Charlie wanted to head back, so Kristen, Kristina and I jumped in the back. On the way we saw a crime scene, just outside a convenience store. There was a pool of blood on the pavement, 3 cop cars and a green plastic sheet to try to conceal the area. It was pretty scary – I’ve never seen so much blood!

Sunday, I relaxed and procrastinated. The weather was nice, but I just stayed home, being lazy, catching up on some homework and watching TV.

Here goes another week of school! No plans yet for next weekend, but they will come... I’ll have to make the most of the weekend and hopefully it doesn’t rain!

Tonight... dinner with Kristen and Kristina and I at some point have to start my rugby report :|

Pretty uneventful week

This week wasn’t too eventful. Only had 4 (out of 8) hours of class (other classes were cancelled). Worked in the Chem Eng computer lab on design quite a bit, but most of it was not that productive. We’ll get into gear next week I think.

I’ve been working on planning my trip in November and December. Since I don’t have exams, my last day of class is October 27. I’ll give myself just over a week to pack up and settle anything here in Sydney, put my stuff in storage, celebrate the end of school and then I’m off to Adelaide. I’m flying there and then taking a well recommended tour up to Alice Spring, which includes a tour of Uluru, the famous large rock in the centre of Australia. Yes, I’m going to the Outback. Then from Alice Springs, I’ll fly to Darwin and take a 3 days safari through the national parks. There are plenty of crocodiles up there I’ve been told and it’s the tropical rainforest. The downer is that it’ll be wet season so I should expect lots of rain and really cool lightning storms. Then I’ll fly to Cairns on the East Coast, and make my way down to Sydney. I can take it slow, giving myself about one month to do it. I’ll have to be careful in Northern Queensland since it’ll be jelly fish season. Apparently you can’t go in the water without a tres sexy stinger suit to prevent you from dying form the poisonous sting of box jelly fish and others. Some are only a few centimetres and hard to detect I presume. Once I cross the Tropic of Capricorn, it should be beautiful, sunny weather and no sea critters to work about except maybe sharks! Hehe! I’m planning a Whitsunday Island cruise, a 3 day 4WD camping trip on Fraser Island and a night on Magnetic Island. I’ll definitely be scuba diving or snorkelling through the reef (again with a stinger suit). I’ll be in Sydney for New Year’s Eve and hopefully stay at Bondi Beach and then head home on Jan 4 to freezing, cold, miserable weather to start a semester with at least 20 hours per week of class… ugh… not looking forward to that!
That’s what took up most of yesterday. I haven’t confirmed anything, but I should do it soon as things book up!

Moving on to BBQs. I’ve been to 2 so far and I thought the first one, (during the Wine and Whale Weekend) was just an anomaly. There was no mustard, sausages weren’t that great, no hamburgers, flat sandwich bread and shredded cheese. But then I went to the Chem Club BBQ at Uni and to my surprise found the same thing. They split the sausage down the middle and put onions on it, and wrapped some white, sandwich bread around it. The sausages were tastier, but still no mustard. So I found out yesterday by talking to Kristen’s roommate Harri, that it’s quite the norm. My mom would laugh because anytime she BBQs and there are no bun and she tries to substitute it with sandwich bread, my sister and I always kick up a fuss. Seems she’d fit right in here. Well another unique Aussie experience for me.

Tonight Kristen, Kristina and I are hoping to hit up a club in the city. I hope that goes well and should be a lot of fun. Except, it’s be raining all day, non-stop. I hope it stops by tonight, I hate going out when it’s rainy.

I handed in my 2000w essay on Wednesday, but I’m dropping that class and picking up another one. The next two assignments for that class are ridiculous… 20 page reports in two weeks time! I hate giving up or shying away from a challenge, but I’m not going to bust my butt unnecessarily here. I’ll be doing enough of that in Toronto. So, I’m chickening out and switching classes… it’s not so bad, I’m not the only one.

That’s about it. No fun pics or videos this time…