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Published: March 7th 2008
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Hello from sunny Sydney, Australia!
The past week has probably been the busiest since I landed here back in January. Not only did I work 30 hours at the Deli, but I picked up another job…this time waiting on tables and helping out at the café where Jake got a job. Having a lot of work is nice, because I finally have a nice surplus of money to spend!
Last Thursday I went down to the Opera House with Jake and Mike. We got tickets to an awesome symphony which had been played publicly for the first time the night before. I’m not a huge fan of the symphony, but how could I not enjoy some wonderful music in one of the world’s most famous music venues?! After we wandered around downtown Sydney grabbing a few drinks and some different bars. The best way to get to downtown Sydney, or “The City” as locals call it is by taking the ferry from Manly. Taking a bus would cost about $8 one way and take over an hour. A roundtrip ticket on the ferry is $12, and you get an amazing boat ride into The City. The last ferry back
is at 11:30, so we jumped on the boat and spent the rest of the night out in Manly.
Friday was just another day at work. The first three weeks I was on from 2-6 every day. Four hours isn’t exactly great…Friday was the first day I started at 12 and worked until we closed sometime after six. So I’m getting more hours which is nice, and will help me out when I want to spend money in Asia. It’s also nice because when I close, I get to take all the food that has to be thrown out home. Most days it isn’t much, just enough for a meal or two…but Saturday when we closed down, there was a TON of leftover fresh bread that I brought home…probably over 40 pounds!
Saturday, I worked in the morning at Inside Out…the Café where Jake works. I worked the afternoon shift at the deli, and then Jake and I got on the Ferry and went to downtown Sydney for the annual Gay Mardi Gras festival. Everyone claimed it was like the party in New Orleans…just with a different crowd. I’ve never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but
FREE BREAD!
One perk of working at a deli is free food! I imagine it is something similar. It was absolutely NUTS! There were probably tens of thousands of people drunk running around in the streets. We caught the tail end of the parade, and then pretty much spent the rest of our time wandering around in amazement. We went down with the intention of only spending a few hours, and I’m glad that was the plan. It was a little too much for me. There was a period of time when we were walking on the sidewalk when everyone just stopped. No one moved for five minutes...people were pushing, shoving, grabbing, and just overall partying like it was Y2K all over again. It was awesome for the time we were down there, but I was glad to leave. Enjoy the pictures, but they don’t do justice to perhaps the biggest party I have ever seen.
The beginning of the week was pretty calm. We cooked a big octopus dinner, watched some movies, and went swimming in the ocean. Has anyone ever cooked octopus before? I had never cooked it or even been in a place where it was cooked. Our whole apartment smelled like octopus. Don’t get me wrong, it
was delicious…BUT SMELLY!! It took almost a whole day, a can of air-freshener, and 3 scented candles to rid our place of the smell. Needless to say we won’t be having more octopus cooking parties in the apartment…and I advise you to stay away from those 8 legged creatures as well.
Last night, Wednesday was Game One of the National Basketball League (NBL) finals here in Sydney. Here is how unpopular basketball is here... We walked right up to the box office, paid $80 total, and bought four tickets close to center court for the game. The arena had seating for what looked like 8,000 people, and it was maybe ¾ full. I went with Jake, Max, and Max’s friend Lydia. It was an absolute blast! Sydney beat Melbourne in a close and exciting game! I went because I was in serious sport denial…I had not been to a sporting event in over two months! Working for the Michigan Football Team before I left put me deep into what I like to call “A Sports Utopia”. Well it was nice to go to a game a get my fix of sports. The arena is in Darling Harbor, and Darling
Harbor just happens to be right next to CHINA TOWN! We ordered a ton of food, and sat down for a while eating and enjoying a nice night out on the town.
Today was the first time since I have been here that all four of us had the day off. We left our one day off in the hands of Max which made me a little nervous. I have learned that while Australians are friendly, accommodating, and generally good looking…they are hard to rely on when you need something. The day started off with us sitting in Max’s car while he took care of errands including dropping someone off at the airport….not exactly how I wanted to spend my day off. However by the time we arrived at our destination, The Royal National Park, it was all worth it. The Royal National Park is the second oldest National Park in the world behind Yellowstone, and probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. We spent four hours swimming, laying on the beach and hiking. We even found an awesome cliff with some small waterfalls to jump off of. Some of you may
Cliff jumping!
Jumping off a cliff usually isn't my thing...! know that I have a slight fear of heights. Jumping off of a 35-40 foot cliff is usually not my idea of a good time. Well from now on, I will consider it an amazing idea…one I’ll never pass up! On the way home, I got bit by the biggest wasp I have ever seen. The area went numb and at first I thought it was a spider…thankfully it wasn’t! Checkout the video at the bottom of this…hopefully it worked!
So everything here is going great. Wednesday night, Jake and I are going to an invitation only party at one of the local clubs. He got the tickets from his boss who can’t go. The Shore Club is having their one year anniversary party and apparently invited a who’s who of Sydney! We will probably be the only Americans in the place, and definitely two of the poorest…but for one night none of that will matter…we’ll party in style!
I also found out this week that I was also accepted at the University of Miami in Florida for Graduate School! It is nice to know that someone wants me! I was getting worried and was planning to apply
to a few more schools that I know would accept me. I’m still waiting to hear from a few more schools, but I’m not really stressing about it anymore!
I’ll post again next week on that night and the other adventures which I stumble upon to!
Go Blue from Australia
Dan
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