Where Are All The Celebrities??? (Pen & Dave)

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Apparently I'm surrounded by celebrities, but I must be wearing my anti-fame-seeking perfume this month 'coz they're bouncing off my mile-wide force field. Where are you Brangelina? ... Pete's mate saw you, AND Drew Barrymore, so why can't I? And Pete was nearly run over by Bill Cosby, then shared bar space with an Olsen Twin, so clearly it's MY turn. TomKat? ... I spent all day hanging outside Tiffany and Dior on Fifth Avenue yesterday, but I guess that was the day you were praying to the Gods of Scientology, indoors and far from my wishfully probing eyeballs.

Dave is usually a star-spotter extraordinaire. He's keeping his eyes peeled, but so far, no luck. Just quietly I think all his vigorous wishing for SPORTSPORTSPORT has depleted my Manhattan Magic quota. He even roped his anti-sport girlfriend into a pick-up game of soccer in Central Park on Sunday. Temps dropped to 2 degrees Celsius, (still can't convert to Fahrenheit), and we were running around with 20 strangers and a frozen ball. I hate to admit it, but I actually had fun. And all that running increased the effective weather-feel to shorts-and-t-shirt proportions. A frost-bitten wake-up call initiated a race to the nearest heated bar.

We've been checking out apartments this week. We've semi-settled on a tangerine shoebox for May in the Upper East Side, right near Central Park and the Museum Mile. It's pricey though, so we are still shopping around until cash handover D-Day. We had a look at South Harlem yesterday, and apart from fearing for our lives in the street, we left this overpriced dump with it's caved-in ceiling, perilously sloping floor and systemized cat droppings convinced that the tangerine shoebox was a dream come true. In the spirit of extracting the best from a dicey situation, the shyster landlord gave Dave helpful tips on 'working without papers' thanks to his 7 years of subsistence in NYC as an illegal French alien. Later on Dave received a bizarre text message from said landlord: something about a Viennese Sausage??? (Penny)
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In the spirit of living in the Big Apple "Yes-Man" style, we are still trying to yes to every opportunity. Hence the Sunday Soccer game in Central Park with the first of our blind dates (Friends of friends that live in NYC). I even went along with Pen to a free Meditation class in the Upper East Side last night. In the midst of the biggest city on Earth, we sat in Blindfolded in Sukhasana (Crossed legged pose) for an hour and flushed all the hustle and bustle of outside away! Don't knock it until you try it peoples.

This week must be Aussie week or something here as we had a great night on Sunday at our good friend Peter Bruce's house trying to Out-Aussie one another all to the confusion and humour of his American girlfriend Jessie.
Tomorrow night, we are having beers at an Aussie pub (does that mean we don't have to tip?) with other Aussies we met online through a expat website.

Applied for tons of jobs but still waiting to hear back from all of them, might have an interview soon for a Preschool teaching job!!!!!!

It's been rather cold here of late, but the temperature is starting to creep up now, which is a blessing!

But I must agree with Penny, I have been getting my fair share of sports. The big screen TV in Scott and Keri's apartment is evil, pure evil! It shows sports 24/7 LITERALLY! Gotta find a pub that will show the Essendon v Collingwood match live on ANZAC Day (shouldn't be too hard) AND not to count the chickens, but I do have a warm fuzzy feeling that I can lead the majority of footy tipping comps from the other side of the globe!
I'm pumped that they still have a dawn service over here, and yes for those that are wondering it's 6am New York time - no cheating by having a dawn service at 8pm!!!!!

I must apologize for the whole phone thing. We are trying to sort it out from our end but apart from KB, everyone else's texts AREN'T getting through. (Dave)

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Photos

Despite Warnings, There Was a LOT of Loitering Going On in Harlem!
We'd have loved to take action pics, but we'd probably be chalk outlines on the sidewalk by now!

Where's Donald?
The closest we've been to a celebrity.

Comments

[kaz]

LOVING the no loitering sign i want one!! Good luck with the apartment, and remember if it's meant to be, it will be!

[Rosanne]

Where are the Rich and Famous???
Arhhhh! that is so funny u have not seen anyone yet. When mum and Dad were in NYC Dad practically knocked over Gwenth Paltrow and got pulled aside by body guard in toe. Needless to say he was Star Struck by it all! Don't worry they will show their faces when u r least expecting it. Sounds like u r both settling in and just waiting on jobs. Good Luck with everything... xoxo

[Pen and Dave]

No Loitering
We'll see what we can do ..... :)