Beaches, Bugs and Bah! Humbug!

This is a defficult time of year for me, I'm not gonna lie. X-Mas in general when you are parent-less is hard enough when I am at home, with all my friends and my Brother. But being on the other side of the world and adding to that the fact that I am suddenly no longer in contact with the person whom I was closest to here (long story) has made it even harder. Thankfully technology allows me to instantly talk or text message with the people who love me the most and usually within a few hours I am feeling much better. Luckily I got 5 hours of work on X-Mas day and since it's a holiday it pays a ridiculous amount of money (like $50/hr), which is good because I haven't worked since last Friday. I have been working as a server for an events company. The jobs vary a lot depending on where I am sent. I have done some bartending, some serving, some helping out in the kitchen. The pay is good and the hours are flexible but the shifts are not consistent so I haven't been working as much as I woould have liked. In fact, I feel like I am ready to move on from Sydney. I haven't made any really close friends here and it has been hard to get work. Plus, it's too expensive and too much like Toronto. Everyone keeps telling me how great Melbourne is so I have booked a plane ticket to move there on the 5th of January when my sublet here runs out.



So yesterday I went to the beach with my friend Henna (see below) isn't she just so cute? She's from Finland and her accent makes her voice go up and down when she talks (hard to explain).

So when we were at the beach we saw these 2 lovely ladies wearing santa hats with their bikinis. How weird is that?




Then we saw this awesome dude who was searching for who the heck knows what. Treasure? Loose change? A secret passage to Canada?

I have recently become aware of the fact that I am getting very used to seeing large insects and not feeling freaked out about it. For instance, when I went to get my laundry that was hanging out on the line when I got home last night this dude was chilling just a few feet away. By the morning he had totally vanished though, web and all. At home I would have just left my laundry outside all night but I just went about my business and so did he (or she!?)

Then when I came inside I found this half-dead cockroach in the bathtub (sorry for the gross pic but I wanted you to see how big they are here). At night it's very common to see them on the sidewalk and just step over them. They even fly (although thankfully I haven't encountered that yet) and my friend Chanelle even told me that she ate a deep fried cockroach! Not sure I could get that used to them but I was easily able to just scoop this guy up on a dust pan and flush him down the toilet. Bugs at home just seem to wimpy now.

Other things I am saying like a true Aussie include:

I have updated "Wah-ta" to "Wahda", said very quickly (I have become very aware that Aussie's drop their "R"s off most words.

"Ring me" instead of "Call me"

"Heaps" (They just use this to descibe "A lot". )

Merry X-Mas everyone!!!

X-Mas in August!?

Since my last post I have moved into the place I am subletting until January 5th and let me tell you...it is a dream come true having my own space again. I actually felt kind of lonely the first week because my 2 flatmates work during the day and so I had the whole place to myself. The apartment is in Newtown which is a really funky, queer, hippie area. When you get on he train downtown Sydney, it's easy to spot who is most likely headed to Newtown. Usually anyone with brightly coloured hair, tats or dreads is a safe bet. The neighbourhoood is full of used bookstores, coffee shops and used clothing stores. I feel pretty at home here.

Here is a pic of the place standing from the hallway looking into the living room. The truck on the right is a fish tank! Eric the goldfish lives there. He's a pretty chill flatmate.

Here is the kitchen, looking out into the magical courtyard...

and here is the view from the magical courtyard looking into the living room. I would show you my room but it's kind of messy right now.

On Sunday night Tom, our friend from Finland named Henna and myself went to Darling Harbour to sing X-Mas carols and it was a very surreal experience. I can't really describe how much it DOESN'T feel like Christmas here. It's as if they've made a huge mistake and are celebrating X-Mas in August. For instance, while we were singing carols, THIS is what was going on just to the left of us...

Here is a pic of the people who were leading the carols...

Here is the tree that we were gathered around. It looked quite beautiful once it was dark out and you could see all the lights...

and here is Tom and Henna, trying to grasp the fact that it is indeed December, even though it's 30 degrees outside. What???

Random facts:

I have started using Aussie lingo and pronouncing things differently so that people can understand me. i.e...

Melbourne = Melbin'

Butter (we pronounce with d's instead of t's like "budder") = Butta

Water (wader) = Wah-ta

Roommate = Flatmate

I have started saying "reckon" as in "what do you reckon?" and "bothered" as in "are you bothered" (meaning do you care) Although these last 2 probably come more from hannging out with Tom who is English more than from Australian lingo.

Also, I have a job. Well, kind of. They aren't giving me enough hours right now. More on that in my next update.

Things to do before I die: Camel Racing: Check!

Last night Tom and I went to see camel races. Camel racing in Australia is not a serious sport. You can't bet on it (we tried!) and so you can put your name into a draw to actually race on a camel and we both got picked! I have never riden a camel before (barely even a horse) and certainly have never raced on one. Those suckers can really run! I have some sports related injuries today as a result (bruises). My camel came in 4th and Tom's came in dead last.

Here I am on the camel trying not to fall off...

Here I am just after the race...

and here is the other people I raced against...

Here's Tom on his camel...

and here's him looking annoyed that his camel came in last (did I mention he's a bit competitive?)

and here is a video that Tom took of me on my camel just before the race started. My camel is the one with the green on.

When my camel was being led to the starting line it suddely took off running towards the finish line for no apparent reason. I just assumed that the race had started but as you can see in this blurry video, the guy who was leading my camel came running down the raceway to get me and bring me back to the starting line. I'm pretty excited that I can cross off "camel racing" on my "to do before I die list".

P.S. If anyone wants to send me mail or presents or yourself in a suitcase over X-Mas, I will be at 6 Prospect Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 until January 12th or so.

xox

Watson's Bay, Whale Watching, and the most Wonderful meal ever!

Last week my cousin (well actually he's my second cousin once removed but for the sake of making things less complicated, I am just going to say cousin) Steve and I went to Watson's Bay.

It's where the army base is set up and so there was a whole bunch of old army stuff there like cannon's... and look-out points...

and underground tunnels which are now walled off so they are basically just stairs that lead to brick walls which is kind of creepy...

There were also a lot of very beautiful look out points there...

Then a few days later we went Whale watching. I have been Whale watching once before in Halifax when I was visiting my Brother but we didn't see any Whales. So basically I spent $40 to ride around on a ferry boat for a few hours. Very disappointing. This time was much better though. The boat ride in and of itself was almost worth the money. It felt like we were on a roller coaster. It was a small boat and the sea was kind of rough that day so it was a very bumpy ride. The only part I didn't like was when we went up really high on a wave and then came crashing down. I am grateful that I read the brochure before we left and took a motion sickness pill half an hour before departing.

We saw a Mother and her baby and they were "breaching" (jumping out of the water) for quite a while. It was hard to take pics because the boat was rocking back and forth the whole time and I didn't want to spend the whole time watching the whales through my camera. Plus the fact that they were only visible for about 2 seconds when they jumped out of the water so a lot of my pics are of splashes. Here are a couple that turned out though.

I also took a few videos but with this internet connection it would take hours to upload. Maybe when I move to my new place (tomorrow:) if the connection is better I can try and upload them there.

On Thursday night I met a couple of Canadian girls from Aylmer and London Ontario (where most of my family lives. Small world!) named Elaine and Justina. Elaine somehow managed to convince this English guy named Paul (who I call "running man" because he is always going for runs on his days off) to make a whole bunch of us dinner. He used to be a chef and he is always making the best meals for himself. He made us a seafood pasta with salmon, trout, shrimp, veggies, cream sauce and fresh parmesan. Plus he made garlic bread and salad. It was the best meal I have had since coming to Australia. Here we all are about to enjoy his masterpiece. On the left is Elaine, then Pierre ("Frenchy"), then there's the other Paul (also from England but not the one who cooked us dinner whom I call "funny man"), then another guy from England (I forget his name), then me, then a girl from Czech Republic, then Justina and finally the Paul who made the dinner right in front.

Here's what it looked like...yum!

It was a good week. My goal this week is to find a job. Wish me luck!

I have brown hair!!!

I decided to go back to my natural colour (well actually...this is a bit darker then my natural colour to be honest). It was either that or I would have to a) find somewhere to dye my hair every 5 weeks, which can be tricky when you live in a hostel. Not to mention the fact that they don't really sell many shades of red dye here since no one actually wants to be a ginger or b) spend $100 every 5 weeks at the salon getting my hair did. What do you think???

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

On Friday night I went out with some people who I met on Couchsurfing. It's a great website that connects travellers and locals. We crashed an office party and had some free beers (that's the great thing about being a traveller...if anyone questions you, you can just play the naive traveller card), and then just as we were walking down to the Harbour fireworks started over the Opera House! How lucky are we? It was awesome!

I live in a place with palm trees. Enough said.

I finally beat Tom at Scrabble. Although it was only by 2 points and mainly because he got the "Z", the "Q" and the "J" all within his last 4 turns. But still...I beat him. I made sure to rub it in his face all night. I hope I don't have to loose another 20 games before winning again.

This is the french coffee shop where I often go to get a "flat white" and read my book or people watch. It's really cute, but expensive. Coffee is $3.50 and a croissant is about the same.

This is the rep cinema in Sydney. It's right down by the harbour. It's a chain of cinemas called "Dendy". You can tell they have a lot more money than The Revue but the cinema doesn't have nearly as much character. We went to see "Hunger" there. It's about the hunger strike that happened in Ireland in the early 80's. It was very intense and sad but good. Don't go see it if you feel at all sad or depressed that day.

I love the many different kinds of local travel here. This train only runs downtown and is mainly a tourist attraction but still, it's just so neat!

This is the Asian market that is open Thurs - Sunday just steps away from my hostel. I love it! It's much cheaper than the super market and it's huge! Speaking of my hostel, I will be moving out of it on December 2nd. I got a room in this funky suburb about a 30min walk from downtown in a house with 2 other girls who seem really great and it's cheaper then my hostel and I will have my own room. Plus, it's available until Jan. 12th so I will have a place to sleep for X-Mas and New Years. Most places are already booked up during this time in Sydney and the ones that aren't are trippleing their prices.


They spray painted these on the road when the Olympics came to Sydney. They are very helpful to me. No matter how long I've been here, I still look the wrong way before I cross the road.

There are X-Mas decorations everywhere but since it's warm here, my mind is having trouble equating what time of year it is. It's very confusing. Example: picture below shows x-mas tree decoration outside with couple walking by in summer clothes. What!?

The Bad:

I still don't have a job. I thought that I had sent my resume to about 6 agencies on Monday but today (a week later!) I received 6 "Failed Notification Delivery Status" emails from those agencies. So apparently my resume has been lost in cyber space for the last 7 days doing god knows what. I will re-try that tomorrow.

I have had a couple of very homesick days/nights this week. It took almost everything in me not to jump on a plane and come home the other night. Thankfully I can text message from the other side of the world and was therefore able to connect with some people who listened to me ball my eyes out and reminded me that this feeling wouldn't last forever. Which it didn't. I am feeling a lot better today. I am making efforts every day to make new friends. I think this is the key to staying happy and ok for me here. The minute I am having a hard time and feel alone, I want to come home.

There is very little bike culture here, which is strange considering it's such a large city. Although last night I saw an independent film in the park about a naked bike ride that involved over 200 people that took place in Sydney a few years ago. I might try and do Critical Mass this Friday if I can get my hands on a rental bike.

The Ugly:

This is the Sydney Tower (not as big but I suppose somewhat like the CN Tower). Isn't it UGLY??? Bleh!

That's all for now. I would update more often but the wireless connection at the hostel sucks and it literally takes me a few hours to upload pics and do a proper update. I imagine when I start working it will be even more difficult. Although I hope that the connection is better when I move into the house on Dec. 2nd.

I live in Sydney Australia!

Little by little I am starting to feel more comfortable getting around in Sydney on my own and finding fun things to do. The only thing I have to watch is my spending. This city is very expensive and it's easy to forget that I am not yet working and so I have lot's of money coming out of my bank account and none coming in. With any luck, I should have a job within the next week or so. I am emailing my resume out today to places for admin jobs. Something that is not too commital and doesn't involve too much training. There is tons of call centre work here but I'm so over listening to people complain or trying to sell something to someone that they don't want all day.

I am still currently in the same Hostel I was at when I arrived. I've checked out some other ones but this one is clean and so far the people in my room have bee very respectful and quiet, despite the fact that there are 10 of us in it! If you would have told me that I would have been satisfied living in a room with 10 people and in a Hostel with who knows how many more, I would never have believed you but I am walking distance from most things I want to do and right near a chinese market where I can buy fresh fruit and vegetables. If I want to move into a room in a house I would be paying the same amount to either live far away by train from downtown or sharing a bedroom with someone! Did I mention that this city is expensive???

Not unlike Toronto, there is always something to do in Sydney. and since it's the summer...many of those things involve being outside! About a week ago my friend Tom and I went to see an outdooor movie in Kings Cross, which is a sketchy and therefore interesting part of town. The film was by a local artist and was about a group of under-privileged kid's from this suburb in Sydney called Woolloomooloo (such an awesome name!) who form a basketball team. It was actually a really good film and some of the kid's who were in it were in the audience.

On Friday night Tom and I went to see "The Sam Simmons Experience" which was in a tent down by the Opera House. If you've ever seen Sam Simmons you know that he basically just makes fun of himself for an hour and does the most ridiculous things like puts loaves of bread on his feet and sings songs about working in an office. He also uses cardboard a lot. His humour is not for everyone. The 2 ladies beside us didn't laugh once and left half way through. They were just like "um...I don't get it!?" I personally thought he was hilarious. Here's a clip if you want to check him out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGFy6FQ1B1I. and here's a pic of the Opera House at night...

Then on Saturday we wanted to go to Bondi Beach but the weather wasn't very nice (which sucked because it was super hot all week when Tom was working!) so we ended up just walking to this funky neighbourhood called Glebe and playing Scrabble (we've probably played about 20 games at this point and Tom has literally beat me every single game. Although once I only lost by 3 points! He's lucky I'm not very competative) at this coffee shop that won an award last year for best coffee in Sydney. Even though it looked beautiful, I've had better...

Then yesterday after a night of drinking and 5 hours sleep Tom and I thought it would be a good idea to go to Sydney Olympic Park for "World Picnic Day". We packed some food and headed off on the 30min train ride, followed by about an hour walk in the sun with flies swarming us the whole time to finally end up at an event which consisted of about 100 people, mostly kid's, a bouncy castle, some trampolines and a stage where they held a hoola hoop competition and then some kid's performed a dance routine while someone yelled things into a microphone. Which was completely unecessary because that is what a microphone is for...so you don't have to yell!!!
This pretty much sums up how we felt about it...

Oh ya...and Andrea came too. Although I spilled some tomatoe on her face when I was making the sandwiches. Sorry Andrea.

P.S. I know this is a terrible pic of me but I was hung over and tired and trying my hardest just to make the best of the day. I can imagine after reading my blog entries many of you are thinking, does Eleanor hang out with anyone other than this Tom guy? The answer is yes...sort of...and I'm working on making more friends. I have met a girl from Toronto named Chanelle who I really like hanging out with (we went to an 8am Yoga class together!) and I also have a second cousin once removed (for realz) who lives about a 20 minute train ride away who I went to a bbq with last weekend. I have also met some other friends through Tom but for some reason never have my camera with me when we go to hang out with them. I think once I get a job it will be easier to make more friends but in all honesty, Tom is great company and we have a lot of fun together. I feel very grateful to have met him so soon after I arrived.

Last but not least, here is a video of this dude who beatboxes just outside of the market on the weekends. It was really loud when I took the video but when I played it back after uploading it, it was much harder to hear so turn up the volume. He was really good!

Hugs and kisses to you all!

Homeless Football, Meat Pies and Red Heads Down Under

Time is such a strange thing! I've been here a little over 2 weeks and it seems like so much more in some ways. A couple of nights ago I felt very homesick and wanted to fly home immediately but luckily it passed within 24 hours. I think the best medicine for getting through those times is making connections here, which I am doing slowly but surely. Of course nothing will compare to the connections I have at home with people who have known me forever but it's easy to feel alone in a big strange city on the other side of the world so even having people I genuinly enjoy spending time with is helpful.

On Friday night my friend Tom and I went over to this girl Yvette's house for drinks and Scrabble. Which was fun, except that Tom always wins by like over 100 points so I usually end up giving up hope that I will ever win about half way through. She had the fatest cat named Tuxedo. He's not nearly as cute as my cat Reggie (of course) but it was still nice to hang out with a cat for a bit. Do I sound like a crazy cat person when I say things like that?


I went to the Powerhouse Museum by myself the next day and saw some cool stuff. I made a movie with myself in it and took a pic of he screen while it was playing. Can you spot me? I'm in the air balloon. They have very high tech stuff in Australia!After I was hungry and spotted this place called Hannah's Pies. I ordered the "Tiger" Pie and this is what it looked like. So yummy! and under $5. I'm sarting to watch my spending and live more like a backpacker and less like a tourist lately since I haven't looked for a job yet and don't want to run out of money too fast.In Sydney, the subways mostly run above ground and have 3 floors! Not sure if you can make out the stairs behind Tom in this pic that lead to the downstairs level...

Some other random facts about Australia...coffee is called flat white and is essentially a latte. They don't have drip coffee here, only esspresso. and if you order a coffee and then ask for cold milk or cream to put in it after they look at you like you're crazy. Wages start at about $20/hour no matter what you do. Cell phones are much cheaper here and you don't have to sign a contract. There are these birds that look like Crows that make the craziest noises in the morning. Kind of like crying babies. It's really creepy. People say "how you going" instead of "how's it going" and they use "heaps" to describe a lot of things. Beer is not measured in pints but smaller glasses so that it doesn't get warm but still costs about the same as a pint:( and here comes the kicker...red heads are kind of considered a lower sub species here. Not in a serious way but they are teased at school and no one would consider dying their hair red like I do. Haven't decided what I am going to do about that one yet...http://www.sorryranga.org/.

And then there's this...http://www.homelessworldcup.org/, which I simply have no idea what to make of...

xo

Manly Beach, 3 Women and a Cell phone.

So I think I've decided to stay in Sydney until after New Years and then head down to Melbourne. It's pretty easy to find work here and the average pay starts at about $20/hour, no matter what you do. I haven't started applying yet but it's on my list of things to do within the next week or so. The hostel where I am staying is reasonable and fairly quiet. There's no alcohol aloud on the premises and the only common area is a large dining room table. The majority of people staying here are a bit older and working so I don't have to worry about getting woken up in the middle of the night by drunken teenagers having sex in the bunk below me (I've heard nightmare stories from other travellers. Ew!) The food here is fairly expensive and not too healthy. I have to buy some food and start cooking. So far I've mostly been eating out but at this rate I will probably gain 500lbs within the next year!

The last few days Amy and Matt were here we went to the Botanical gardens and these huge bats were just chilling in the trees in the middle of the day.Then we walked over to the Opera House and took some typical tourist pics. We took a few that made it look like we were eating the Opera House but the one of me is truly unflattering so I decided not to post it. That's the nice thing about having your own blog. You can decide to only post pretty pics of yourself!The bridge behind the Opera House is beautiful and huge and you can actually climb up it. Those tiny figures on the top are actually people. Something I will definitely have to do before I leave here.Then we decided to go to a pub to see some live music. On our way over to the pub we decided to get ice cream and this sign was outside. Another one to add to my "Signs that you know you're not in Canada" collection!At the pub we saw a great live band and played some scrabble. All you Revue peeps will be happy to know that the Travel Scrabble is a huge hit and has definitely helped me make friends. Like this friend, for instance. His name is Tom. We offered him the rest of our Mango one morning when he was hung over and when he found out we had scrabble we became instant bff's. Since he's feom England he knows how to drive on the opposite side of the road so we rented a car and drove to Blue Mountains the day before Amy and Matt left. He was so happy to be driving and he got to play his CD's which was super exciting for him because his ipod was stolen a few months ago. Luckily he has good taste in music.
Here I am at Blue Mountains. In the background there are 3 rock formations that are supposed to represent 3 women who were frozen in time when this dude went off to war and then he died and so they were never restored into their natural state. In the gift shop there was a guest book and someone had written "It sucks...just a bunch of mountains." Tom and I thought that was pretty funny since most people were commenting on how beautiful they are.

On our way back to the car we bumped into this guy...

Then we went to Manly beach. Not as nice as Bondi beach but still very nice and full of surfers. Most of the stores near the beach have the word manly in front of them which was pretty funny. Like, Manly swimwear and Manly Hostel.

Oh ya! and I have a cell phone. So you know...you should call or text me. It only costs me 25cents/text to send overseas but I'm not sure how much it would cost you. My actual number is 0414959180. I'm pretty sure that in order to call/text me you need to dial 01161414959180. If you know Andrea you can confirm with her because she has texted me a few times already. Just keep in mind that I am 15hours ahead of you!

That's all for now. Exes and Ohs times a million.