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!