Sunday, April 25, 2010
Anzac Day
Went to the horse races on Saturday and won twice!! It was beautiful weather and good times sipping champagne and making random bets in the sun. Yesterday was Anzac Day - a day of remembrance for fallen Aussie and Kiwi soldiers. It is the one day of the year that it is legal to play 'two-up' in pubs in Australia. It's basically heads or tails...one person stands in the middle of the ring or bar and flips the coins and the rest of the crowd is betting, $5, $10 up to $100 on whether the coins will land heads or tails...simple and lots of fun! Lots of yelling and beer drinking. We waited in line quite a while to get into a popular pub for the game but it was well worth as we immediately made our right down front and I got to be 'the spinner' flipping to the coin til I crapped out by tossing a tails. Afterwards we partied the night away dancing to live music and eating at the 'best pizza place in Sydney' according to my crew.
Today I realized that I am domesticating myself..haha. I am hosting my first proper aussie bbq. All the cheese, crackers, chips, pita are set out AND I chopped tomatoes, peppers, avocado and made a lovely salad. First time for everything :) I ALSO marinated chicken over night in bbq sauce - which is now chilling in the fridge waited to be thrown on the barbie with the various types of sausage. BBQ is scheduled for 1-5 and it is now 1:30 and no word from the Aussies. I'm assuming mostly 3pm arrivals. :) Wondering if I should hit the beach for a bit..beautiful day.
Best news yet is that I now have wireless internet hooked up in my apt...only took 1 month. It goes on the blink a bit but happy to have something.
Get on skype so I can catch up with you all...
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Latest adventures
Well I decided to go for it and do laser hair removal. The burn mark on the bed where I was to lie down was a bit concerning, but I went for it anyway. It actually wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be, but it was definitely not fun. More like someone snapping a rubber band against your skin over and over and over again. But I think in the end it will be worth it - especially at a 20% discount. :) Hair removal seems to be a pretty competitive market here. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Next appointment in 5 weeks.
That's probably the latest in terms of adventures. Met some new Swedish friends this week - continuing my international friend streak. They have 2 dogs...one small and one the size of a small horse...pretty funny to see. Still enjoying good weather - feels a bit like Fall some days, but today still in a sundress and thongs (flip flops :) ). Electronically I'm hoping to make some major improvements in the next week...starting with internet, webcam and then hopefully a TV. I haven't missed TV much but want to at least be able to turn it on when I'm relaxing on my enormous couch.
Very excited for another long weekend next week...celebrating Anzac day (Australia day of some sort). Apparently everyone goes to the bars on Sunday April 26th and plays two-up..basically gambling on whether a tossed coin will land on heads or tails. It gets pretty rowdy. And on Saturday I'll be going to 'the races'...hopefully in dress and funny hat.
That's all for now...
That's probably the latest in terms of adventures. Met some new Swedish friends this week - continuing my international friend streak. They have 2 dogs...one small and one the size of a small horse...pretty funny to see. Still enjoying good weather - feels a bit like Fall some days, but today still in a sundress and thongs (flip flops :) ). Electronically I'm hoping to make some major improvements in the next week...starting with internet, webcam and then hopefully a TV. I haven't missed TV much but want to at least be able to turn it on when I'm relaxing on my enormous couch.
Very excited for another long weekend next week...celebrating Anzac day (Australia day of some sort). Apparently everyone goes to the bars on Sunday April 26th and plays two-up..basically gambling on whether a tossed coin will land on heads or tails. It gets pretty rowdy. And on Saturday I'll be going to 'the races'...hopefully in dress and funny hat.
That's all for now...
Saturday, April 10, 2010
One month and going strong
It feels like a ton has happened since my last note, so here goes. Before Easter weekend (a nice 4 day break here in Oz), a friend took me to a free spa night where they essentially feed you cheese and crackers and champagne (obviously perfect for me) and sell you things. So I got a free facial and my first ever spray tan (which I really liked)...and by the time I left I had purchased laser hair removal sessions starting next week. I'm a bit nervous but mostly excited...I'll keep you posted on my progress :)
After that, I headed down to Jervis Bay a few hours south of Sydney for a few relaxing days in a cute little town Huskisson on the beach. I went with 2 new friends, both Brits so I mostly drank hot tea the whole time...a childhood tradition I plan to reincorporate into my life (especially since I am the only person on earth who doesn't drink coffee). It was a great weekend. We stayed in a lovely little B&B run by who else but a british couple. It was clean and homey and the breakfast was amazing every day. There are great national parks so we hiked and went wine tasting and saw lots of great wildlife (which you can see on FB). Snakes, kangaroos, wallabys...good times.
We also had an amazing dinner at a treetop restaurant where I tried kangaroo meat for the first time and loved it. It's like a very lean, melt in your mouth steak. Although, I have heard that it depends on who is cooking it. I didn't practice my left-side driving - I handled the map and navigating instead...so next time there should be good stories on that.
Last night I went to my first AFL (Aussie Rules) game at the sydney cricket grounds. The stadium is great and we managed to get tix from a member so we sat right before the 'dugout'. I loved watching...so fast-paced and impressive. It reminds me more of soccer/ultimate frisbee combo...nothing at all like NFL really. Lots of running, no pads, and lots of kicking/catching the ball. They literally play on a HUGE field nonstop..I don't think they had any time outs and are constantly subbing in and out like ice hockey. The Sydney Swans kicked the Richmond Tiger's butts...so a good time was had by all. :) I was with three French friends and we had absolutely no clue what was going on..prompting the Aussie guys in front of us to ask how we had member tickets..ha. They were quite nice about explaining the game though. And to top it off, after every game they let the entire stadium run down on the field and play, run, catch etc. Really fun and we got some good photos in the player dugout.
That's all I can remember for now...I'm off to an American Expat Meetup to play some touch football at the Domain - a park down by the harbor. Then off to a movie screening of an Aussie war film (in which I gather they take credit for winning WWII - gotta love Aussie enthusiasm :)).
Hasta luego!
PS. The office manager here (the Sydney Mamajo) is still not happy with me for eating Skippy...so she is threatening a bald eagle bbq. oops.
After that, I headed down to Jervis Bay a few hours south of Sydney for a few relaxing days in a cute little town Huskisson on the beach. I went with 2 new friends, both Brits so I mostly drank hot tea the whole time...a childhood tradition I plan to reincorporate into my life (especially since I am the only person on earth who doesn't drink coffee). It was a great weekend. We stayed in a lovely little B&B run by who else but a british couple. It was clean and homey and the breakfast was amazing every day. There are great national parks so we hiked and went wine tasting and saw lots of great wildlife (which you can see on FB). Snakes, kangaroos, wallabys...good times.
We also had an amazing dinner at a treetop restaurant where I tried kangaroo meat for the first time and loved it. It's like a very lean, melt in your mouth steak. Although, I have heard that it depends on who is cooking it. I didn't practice my left-side driving - I handled the map and navigating instead...so next time there should be good stories on that.
Last night I went to my first AFL (Aussie Rules) game at the sydney cricket grounds. The stadium is great and we managed to get tix from a member so we sat right before the 'dugout'. I loved watching...so fast-paced and impressive. It reminds me more of soccer/ultimate frisbee combo...nothing at all like NFL really. Lots of running, no pads, and lots of kicking/catching the ball. They literally play on a HUGE field nonstop..I don't think they had any time outs and are constantly subbing in and out like ice hockey. The Sydney Swans kicked the Richmond Tiger's butts...so a good time was had by all. :) I was with three French friends and we had absolutely no clue what was going on..prompting the Aussie guys in front of us to ask how we had member tickets..ha. They were quite nice about explaining the game though. And to top it off, after every game they let the entire stadium run down on the field and play, run, catch etc. Really fun and we got some good photos in the player dugout.
That's all I can remember for now...I'm off to an American Expat Meetup to play some touch football at the Domain - a park down by the harbor. Then off to a movie screening of an Aussie war film (in which I gather they take credit for winning WWII - gotta love Aussie enthusiasm :)).
Hasta luego!
PS. The office manager here (the Sydney Mamajo) is still not happy with me for eating Skippy...so she is threatening a bald eagle bbq. oops.
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