Elsja Down Under

Goodbye Summer March 31, 2009

 

It’s official… well, technically it’s been official since the beginning of March- but today it really felt like the start of Autumn. Actually, it felt like winter but whatever. The rain was pouring down, the wind was blowing and we cooked a great big pot of homemade vegetable soup for dinner. Yum.

Usually when Autumn starts I have many things to look forward to. Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right around the corner. Do you know what happens in an Australian Autumn? NOTHING. That’s right… nothing. Oh… well Easter happens, but it’s not like I really want Easter pumpkins instead of Easter baskets, baby chicks, peeps and spring flowers. And did you know that there are NO white eggs in Australia? Do you know what that means? You can’t dye eggs! You can paint them I suppose, but it doesn’t really matter because they just give chocolate eggs here. No baskets filled with plastic grass and cute toys and candy… just giant chocolate eggs. I don’t even love chocolate all that much. I’d rather have colorful plastic eggs filled with pink and yellow candy corn and jelly beans. Ok, ok… maybe I need time to adjust, this will be my first Easter away from home in California so cut me some slack.

So what will I do this Autumn without Halloween and Thanksgiving to fill my time and stomach? I’ll have to eat plenty of laksa and Tom Yum soup. Warm and toasty in my belly during the chilly weather . I’ll break out the scarves, beanies, jackets, boots and my favorite cozy Nap blanket! I really do prefer cold-weather clothing much more than summer clothing so that’s a good thing, right? So bring on Autumn! I suppose I’m ready to say goodbye to Summer, but ask me again in June when it’s freezing and I probably will take back that statement.

Oooh… and Autumn may be brining one more great thing to Sydney… But more on that in a later blog. In the meantime, please enjoy my lovely collage that I made to celebrate the new season.

Weekend Updates March 29, 2009

Here are a few updates from my weekend:

1. My drive to Glebe was successful and my new Garmin GPS was very helpful. I must admit- it helped that I already basically knew where I was going, but it got the job done. I’m proud of myself that I made it! Driving across the bridge has been this big fear of mine since I moved, but it’s not even bad. It’s knowing which lane to exit into that is the toughest part!

2. My hair turned out great. I’d highly recommend Steve at Stevie English. Such a great guy and I didn’t even have to give him much direction, he knew what my hair needed and that’s exactly what I was hoping for.

3. Julz’ and Leighton’s wedding was great. Andrew looked very handsome in his tux and of course the bride and groom looked very nice as well. Julz’ dress was beautiful on her! There are some pictures HERE and HERE.

4. I have kind of a nice talent that earns me some cash from time to time. I chug beers. Now, to me this doesn’t seem like a great talent, but it has been known to make me quite a bit of money in my days. The best time was when a friend bet me 60 bucks that I couldn’t drink 3 beers in 10 minutes. Well, 10 minutes later I was 60 bucks ahead. It’s just so easy, but I guess not all girls think so. I’m particularly fond of the warm beer chug. This one earns me more because everyone always thinks it is SO much grosser. However, it’s actually MUCH easier. Cold beer is way harder to put down just because the temperature freezes my throat! So anyways, all of Andrew’s friends have already seen this once before, so when I tried to swindle some cash out of them at the wedding, they all said no. UNTIL they got drunker and really just wanted to see me chug the warm beer that was sitting on the table. So 1 beer chug later I was 15 dollars and 1 hangover richer. And I think it was quite entertaining for the table next to us who had NO idea what I was doing… until they saw me shoving 5 dollar bills in my purse Classy.

5. After the wedding, I told Andrew “This is the first time since I moved here in 2007 that we haven’t had one of your school friends’ wedding to look forward to.” (We’ve been to 5 now in the last 1.5 years). Yeah, well that lasted a whopping 18 hours or something. Last night his good friend John got engaged to his now fiance, Kalee. So congrats to them and bring on more weddings.

5. The birdies came back today. They were on a 2 week vacation or something. I really thought they were pissed that my parents left and decided they could never come to our apartment ever again. So imagine my excitment when I was lying in bed this morning and I heard them outside screaming at us. I jumped out of bed and ran to the balcony and there they were. I missed our birdies.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend… now on to a new week!

The Next Step March 26, 2009

I’ve finally decided to take the next big step in ex-pat living. It’s been a year and a half exactly (tomorrow) since I moved to Australia and so I do think it is about time.

I’m going to an Australian hairdresser. Well, technically I think he’s English- but he has a salon in Australia (Stevie English) and that’s what matters. You see, for the last 18 months I’ve managed to put off getting my hair done until each of my visits home to California. I always had two things going for me… one being the fact that I go home roughly every 3 months and the second being the fact that my hair is light enough that I can wait 3 months to get it done without having 3 inch black roots/regrowth. But seeing as how I may not be going home until the end of May- I really didn’t think I should wait 5 months to do my hair. So I’m taking the leap.

This is big for 3 reasons:

1. I don’t like going to people who I don’t know/trust to do my hair. I’ve been going to the same girl for years and I don’t like change. Luckily, I’m going to the husband of a friend- so it’s not some random stranger, that puts me at ease

2. I have a wedding to go to on Saturday so if it turns out cruddy, I’ll be hideous in all the photos. I’m sure it will be fine though, in fact I would put money that Andrew won’t even notice I got it done.

3. The salon is in Glebe. For most of you, that means nothing- but for me, it means I need to drive over the bridge to get there. Now, I could just take a bus to the city and then another bus to glebe and then walk a ways and then do it all again to get home. OR, I could just suck it up and drive across the bridge for the first time in my life. My driving has been limited to the north side of the bridge up until this point and since I am being brave and trying new things- I’m just gonna go for it! (By the way… this means I will be reaching another of my 101 goals. #92- drive myself in the city or to and from the airport). YAY

But I think I lshould eave 1 1/2 hours early (it’s 25 minutes away) to allow for traffic, getting lost, missing turns and having to drive around 5 blocks to find my way back to where I want to go, road rage, panic, and parking.

Wish me luck.

Dear Neighbors March 22, 2009

Dear Neighbors,

Yes, I’m talking to the two of you who like to have loud, raunchy sex at night. I realize that your identities still remain a mystery- yet I still feel compelled to write to you.

I am very happy for you, I truly am. It sounds like you have a happy and active sex life. Congrats.

I do appreciate that you have limited yourselves to sex before midnight. Thanks for that! For awhile, the 3am wakeup calls we were getting from you guys were a bit annoying. You are quite loud you know… I even posted once before on my blog about how we always can hear your headboard banging against the wall when you get into the act. That’s fine. Sometimes we can hear you moaning… gross, but good for you! But last night, I had to pee right around the time that you were enjoying yourselves and I was shocked when I realized how loud you truly are. I’ve never had the pleasure of hearing you from the bathroom before, but let me tell you… that’s a whole different experience all together. Let me put it this way- you REALLY should shut your windows.

Do you realize that your moaning and screaming echoes throughout the entire garage area? It bounces off all the walls and shoots straight into the windows of the other apartments. And do you realize that EVERY single apartment in this building surrounds the garage? This means that a vast majority of the units on this side can DEFINITELY hear you? Do you realize that even above the sounds of the rain and the sounds of some other guy coughing up his lungs while showering in a neighboring bathroom, I could still hear you loudest of all?

Do you realize that if I don’t know who you are (I still assume you are the people above me but I just can’t be 100% sure) then OTHER people might not know who you are either? We at least have the advantage of hearing your headboard to help us decipher that you are either above us or next to us. But other people who hear your escapades through the windows surrounding the garage… they just don’t know. In fact, they have no clue if you are on the top floor, middle floor or bottom. All they can hear are your hoots and hollers. I must point out- no one else in this buiding is as loud as you are. You guys take the cake!

Do you know why this bothers me? Because you live too close to us. Personally, I don’t want there to be any chance that one of our neighbors might mistakenly think that those noises are coming from OUR apartment!! Seriously… how embarrassing would that be?

So while your shenanigans do give us quite a laugh from time to time, can you please just tone it down or shut a window? It would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your time.

American Food Makes me Happy March 21, 2009

Almost exactly one year ago, I was looking forward to going home to visit family and friends and I was also looking forward to trying this place out -The Counter. I even wrote about my excitement in this post. So we did go once while I was there… and it was good. I wouldn’t say it was the best place I had ever been in my life, but definitely good and I loved the concept that you can pick whatever the heck you want to make your burgers. They even had sweet potato fries. YUM.

So imagine my excitement last night when my friend Val told me that The Counter opened up in Australia. And not only did it open up here… it’s located about 10 minutes away from me!

What a glorious day!

Not only did they open one close to me, they also have *almost* the same menu! Of course they did change some things to cater to the Aussie customers, but they have American cheese!!! I don’t even want American cheese on my burger- but it’s still cool that they have it!! Sad they don’t offer the pepperjack though Oh well, can’t win them all. But they DO serve the sweet potato fries (“chips”) and chicken burgers and turkey burgers and milkshakes!! and while it is a bit more expensive than in CA… it’s not TOTALLY ridiculous like a lot of restaurants here.

Who’s hungry?

Happy Birthday Tootse! March 19, 2009

I want to say a special happy birthday to my precious little 6 year old niece, Emma. I miss her beautiful little face, her amazing intelligence and her spunky attitude! I can’t believe she is so old

The Anti-Bucket List March 18, 2009

So I’m stealing this idea from Jill, who evidently stole it from someone else who stole it from someone else… but I thought it was pretty funny considering I have created a 101 goal list. So now I’ll create a list of things I could care less if I ever do! Not saying I NEVER would do this stuff… just that I don’t really care if I ever do or don’t. 

• Ride a motorcycle
• Learn how to do taxes
• Run/bike/swim in any sort of race
• Skydive
• Learn to play the guitar
• Eat sushi
• Learn more French
• Drive on the Autobahn
• Join a book club
• Get a tattoo
• Learn to ballroom dance
• See all 50 states
• Play paintball
• Go on long camping trips
• Buy a purse that costs more than $100
• Eat a hamburger
• Enjoy the rain
• Get a boob job
• Get an Iphone
• Give up gluten and dairy
• Learn about cricket/ watch cricket/ go to a cricket match
• Follow politics
• Learn to change oil in a car 
• Read “the classics”
• Watch all the Star Wars movies
• Write a letter to congress
• Become a vegan
• Have a house with a white picket fence
• Ride another horse
• Play on a sports team
• Own a convertible
• Swim with sharks
• Serve on a Jury
• Own Jimmy Choo shoes

Honestly, this is pretty hard… REALLY hard actually. It’s much easier to think of things I want to do than things I don’t care to do. I reserve the right to change my mind on these in the future

Saying Goodbye March 17, 2009

I had to say goodbye to my parents today I am lucky that they did stay an extra few days (they were originally supposed to leave Friday) but it’s still hard to say goodbye. The place feels so empty without their bags and clothes and stuff. We had such an amazing time with them here! In addition to the stuff I already posted about- here are some more great things we were able to do while they were here…

• We went to the markets at the Rocks and Andrew’s dad and sister came with!
• We all went to Manly for lunch and to show them where Andrew and I first met.
• Mom & dad went for a walk around Watson’s Bay to see the oldest lighthouse in Australia while I worked (thanks Daisy and MC for the suggestions)! Now I really want to go on this walk with Andrew. My mom literally said it was one of the most beautiful places she’s ever been!
• I took them to Centrepoint tower for an overpriced (but yummy) cocktail.
• Mom & dad visited the Sydney museum (they weren’t impressed) and they Hyde Park Barracks (they were impressed).
• We all went to breakfast at Balmoral beach with Paul and Veronica!
• Mom & Dad went on a dinner cruise around the Harbour while Andrew and I were out at pre-planned parties on Saturday night. They said it was great!
• We went on a walk and took them to middle head to show them all the old navy stuff.
• Andrew and I took my mom to an early “mother’s day tea” (since we took my dad on the bridge climb for a bday/father’s day gift). It was at Gunners Barracks and it was really nice! They even “refilled” the sandwiches for free and the views were great. The weather was beautiful and calm.

I really don’t think we could have packed too much more into the 2 weeks they were here. Well, maybe not without passing out from exhaustion. Having them here made me realize just how much there is to do in this city! There is so much that I just don’t do! LIke taking a ferry to cicular quay… it’s so easy and it’s a beautiful ride. WHY don’t I do this more? I moved here and haven’t even taken advantage of all the things this place has to offer. It’s actually pretty sad

Anyways… we had a wonderful time and I was really sad to see them go. They must be somewhere over the Pacific (a little past Hawaii) right about now. Hopefully they’ve had a good flight.

We have over 200 pictures and since my internet is so slow, I decided to just upload 60 of them for now. I’m sure I’ll upload more at a later time. Here are a small sample for anyone who is interested.

Week in Revew March 9, 2009

We’ve had a great first week with my parents! We’ve managed to stay pretty busy with just a few days of relaxation here and there which is always good.

After a day at Darling Harbour and Wildlife World we relaxed a bit and then got geared up for the Bridge Climb. This was a surprise for my dad and it turned out to be a good one since one of the first things he noticed as he drove in were the people climbing the bridge. He had no idea you could do that- but of course he quickly became interested. I knew my mom would want nothing to do with climbing the bridge- she’s afraid of heights. While they market the climb as good for overcoming your fears- I just don’t think my mom really has any desire to overcome her fears on this particular vacation. The climb was a lot easier than I expected. The incline is so slight that it wasn’t tough at all. I have no fear of heights so the “looking 400 feet down” didn’t bother me. I used to have a fear of bridges though… clearly that is no longer a problem. It was a great experience… and it means I get to cross off  number 37 from my 101 list (again). I’ve already crossed it off because it states “Do the Harbour Bridge climb or at least walk across it”- well, now I’ve done both!

On Friday my parents had breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks and enjoyed a day riding around on one of those big red busses that takes people all around the city. They could hop on and off whenever they wanted so they were able to see the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens and a few other touristy places. 

Saturday mom, dad and I ventured out to Paddy’s markets near Chinatown. I had never been there so it was a first for me as well. After about 5 minutes I could tell my dad was miserable. I guess the whole “shopping for souvenirs” gene is just missing from all males. We stayed for about an hour and then found somewhere to eat lunch which was not easy. Food courts in Chinatown mainly consist of some bad Chinese food and gross looking ocean variety fast-food…I think I’ll pass on the Salmonella today thanks! So to avoid more shopping misery, my dad took off to go jump on that red bus again and my mom and I continued at Paddy’s. I must say- if you want cheap souvenirs- that is definitely the place to go!! Evidently, it’s also the place to go if you want wigs, trashy underwear and slutty costumes *making mental note*.

Saturday night we all met Andrew’s dad in the city and had a great dinner at Wagamama and then grabbed a coffee at a place in King Street Wharf!

Sunday we drove to Andrew’s dad’s for tea and scones…yum…and my parents got to meet the rest of Andrew’s family. We then headed over to his Mum’s to enjoy a wonderful BBQ lunch/dinner with the family.

Monday we cleaned. I’m sure that was the highlight of the whole trip so far!

Or maybe the highlight has been feeding the birdies every day and then watching them go make out. Yes, you read that right! Birdies go into the tree to make out sometimes and my dad nicely pointed this out to me (thanks). I actually find it more comforting to imagine that one just might be regurgitating food into the other’s mouth. That would be more pleasant to me than to imagine these birds getting it on in plain sight. I guess it does confirm my theory that these two are in love. Oh and boy birdy is much nicer to girl birdy these days- he doesn’t get all pissed when she tries to steal his grapes. Maybe they went to birdy counseling. 

I think we’ve had a good first week

Before I go… I’d like to wish a very HAPPY 81st Birthday to my grandma Bonnie! love you!

Parents Down Under March 4, 2009

So they made it They did miss their connecting flight to Sydney since their flight into Brisbane was late- but luckily it only put them back an hour. The first day they got here we just all settled in and talked and I took my mom to the grocery store so she could experience the miserable shopping trolleys for herself. She didn’t seem to mind them- I’m not sure why she found them tolerable because every other American (and many Australians) in this country HATE those damn carts!

Yesterday we spent the day at Darling Harbour. Andrew’s mom/mum and brother Paul came along too. We walked around the Harbour (it was a beautiful day), had lunch and then headed to Wildlife World. Even though you can’t hold a cute, cuddly koala in NSW, my mom was pretty stoked that she got to pet one. I really think they are the cutest animals ever. We also saw many animals in the not-so-cute spectrum. Lizards, snakes and the deadliest spider in the world… yeah not so cute. Fun fact: did everyone know that the deadliest spider in the world is only found right here in Sydney? It is actually called the “Sydney Funnel Web.” So yes, not only do we have the deadliest spider in the world living in this country, it literally could be right in our back yard…if we had a back yard. And they are aggressive so they chase you! Nice right?

I was really sad that my favorite of all the animals at WW wasn’t there anymore!! Where did mr. thorny devil go? So SAD

Last night we headed to dinner at the Mosman Hotel and my dad was pretty impressed with the $7.50 steak! Too bad he didn’t order one- so we’ll probably be going back eventually for another.

Today has been a very lazy day… well, lazy for my parents- I just worked all day and so did Andrew. It was really cloudy and nasty out so I think they were happy to just have a day to relax after our long day of walking yesterday. Tomorrow will be more eventful

Here are a just a couple of pictures from our day out yesterday. I’ll post more pictures once I get a good amount going.

Oh and the birdies were back today. They hadn’t been back in 4 days and they finally showed their faces for about 5 minutes. Only enough time to have a few nibbles. At least mom and dad got a quick peek and said hello

Lastly, I would like to point out to my dear friend Amanda that no, this is not Andrew’s first time meeting my parents. I actually hope you were joking in that comment because Andrew has been to California at least 4 times and stayed in my parents’ house each of those times