Ta!

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3/17/10

Today me and my roommate Elise went to get Brunch at Max Brenner’s which I never went to in the states and now will make a point to go all the time when I return! We had waffles with ice cream, bananas and strawberries with his famous melted chocolate on top. I didn’t believe chocolate could taste so good. It was like eating from the chocolate river in Willy Wonka…soooo good. Then we made a trip to Priceline for some bath and body essentials…priceline is like CVS times a hundred but it only has make-up, hair stuff, body wash, razors, and some medicine. It’s the only place to get the cheap make-up and things I get at pharmacies at home. Here a pharmacy or “chemist” is really strictly a place to get health related things with a very small and expensive selection of some make-up things and shampoo and such. It’s not like the glory of Walgreens and CVS where you can buy anything you’ve ever wanted! Oh how I love my American pharmacies! ANYWAYS, I digress…we headed back towards the hostel and walked through the Rocks Markets, which are a bunch of cobblestone streets that on the weekend fill with live music and tents filled with different food, clothes, crafts, etc. We ended up going into a honey store for some serious honey tasting and then I got a $15 neck and shoulder massage…I definitely need more of those! We also stopped at a candy store where you could watch them making candy. After they’d rolled some of the sugary substance into a long tube they chopped it up and gave everyone a taste…it ended up being those hard candies but since it had just been made it was a strange sensation in my mouth because I’d never had hot hard candy before! Still delicious!

From there we went back and took naps since I had really only gotten about 5 hours of sleep the night before. After the naps we headed to this amazing German restaurant called Lowenbrau. There was a live band which Granny would have loooovveed (don’t worry I took videos!) and the food was unreal! I got veal schnitzel on top of chips (fries) so the fries alone made the meal about 85% amazing on it’s own but the schnitzel was amazing as well which made for one incredible German dining experience! Later that night we went back to the Argyle for their Brazilian Festival where we saw half naked male drummers and scantily clad female dancers performing Brazilian entertainment. After that experience (which of course I took videos of as well) I met up with Jenny from work at a latin club near my hostel for her hen’s night. It was a lot of fun although being pretty much the only paler skinned blonde girl there I stuck out a bit. There was a live band there and although I haven’t the slightest idea how to dance salsa or anything of the kind I faked it and had a good time! I then excitedly headed to bed after an exhausting but very enjoyable day!

The next day I went to Bondi to check out the surf competition…it was pretty amazing watching these world famous surfers do all their stunts in the water. There were tons of people there, some to watch the surfing and some to surf themselves on the other side of the beach to say they actually got to kind of surf “with” the pros. After soaking up some sun and some of the competition I began walking along the cliffs towards Bronte Beach. The walk has some incredible views and gorgeous beaches. When I walked back to Bondi there was a free concert beginning so I layed on the big field behind the beach and enjoyed the live music! Then it was time to go back to the hostel where I found the perfect ingredients in the free food section to make a real and healthy meal! Tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, pasta, sauce and cheese…all combined made a wonderful end to my day and left overs for lunch the next day!


Monday I got to Skype with most of my family who was stuck at my parents house due to terrible storms that apparently shut down the power in all of Ridgewood! It was great getting to see everyone especially Granny who had never seen how to Skype before. It was then off to a day of work, another lunch in the sun and then at night a lemon beer at the German place with Elise. They have all kinds of crazy beers there and since I had just gotten paid it was my celebration spending money on one weird beer. Sad and strange I know…

Tuesday was a very unexpectedly eventful day. I began by getting up early to go walk through the Museum of Contemporary art which currently has free admission between 10am-5pm. There were some fascinating exhibits there that Corrie would’ve really loved. Lots of aboriginal art, photos and then some more creative areas with sculptures, video and more. I started on my way to work happy at my fulfilling morning when I got a text from Drago who had free tickets to King Lear at the Opera house for 11am. It was currently about 10:45am and I was halfway between the Opera House and work so I had a decision to make, Opera or work…I quickly contacted some people at work explaining the situation and was soon watching a show at the Opera House! After an amazing performance I headed to work a few hours late. This is when my awful eating began…I grabbed McDonalds on the way to work then upon arriving I saw a delicious cake in the kitchen from In Style Magazine. I proceeded to eat a couple small pieces of the deliciousness…then my very thoughtful co-worker Jenny bought a giant Crunchie bar for us to share (it’s chocolate covered honeycomb aka chocolate covered dreams in my mouth). She knows how much I love them so I couldn’t refuse…that put me right on the I’m so full I might puke edge. Then I got back to the hostel for a BBQ on the roof and as I was making my burger Drago said “have another one there’s just one left,” I couldn’t refuse that either so I had a double burger. Then I met some people all eating on the roof and we decided to go get some drinks to have on the roof…that meant a couple beers…we then went out to a bar where I had a couple free drinks and ended the night with a migraine and pancakes on the rocks yet again! Very lovely, fulfilling day!

Oh and I forgot to mention a 2 things. First the weird roommate I thought I had healed with my charm turned out to be unhealable and stranger than I could’ve imagined. She never left her perch that was her top bunk. She ate up there, changed up there and watched us silently and creepily in the mirror while we did our makeup. She smiled at us when we were talking but words never came out…and the lights were always out…and she wouldn’t get off her perch or go into the bathroom until everyone had left. One time I caught her on the ground and she stopped in shock like a squirrel or some tree dwelling rodent and then quickly climbed back up to safety. Thank GOD she left or I would’ve gone nuts for my remaining time here. The second thing could be put in your next vocabulary lesson but I want to give it its own special acknowledgement because I think it’s so fabulous. I just realized that at work, the weird sounds I thought Aussies were making at the end of our phone conversations is really “Ta” an actual word that means thank you…I’m totally bringing that back to the states along with “no worries”…Ta….haha what a great word! Alright that’s all for now, cheers!

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