Summer's here! Oh wait, no, not so much

So today started out bright and sunshiney and super warm - got to go out in a tank top, skirt and flip flops, and I was so excited at the change. Met up with a couple of new girl friends for lunch, got a table outside, it was really nice. But then the clouds started rolling in. And then when we were done with lunch, it started POURING. And I suddenly became very grateful that I was still uber-prepared and had a sweater and umbrella in my bag. But I still got quite soaked. And then the trains were held up because the lightning had knocked out the power in one of the stations, and when I finally made it home, I was shivering/coughing/sneezing/generally miserable and damp. Oh well. The coughing/sneezing stopped after an hour or so, so I don't think the experience did me any lasting damage.

Then once I'd changed into warm, dry clothes and had a cup of tea to recover, I headed back out - to the city to try to find a Halloween costume. Didn't find one, but I did find a shop that had non-costume, regular clothes on mega-sale and ended up getting two dresses and two shirts for about 30 Aussie dollars! That's even less in USD/BMD! Sweet as!

Developing a fear of kettles is not convenient for someone who likes tea as much as I do...

So I've already mentioned this to a few of you by email, but: last week I burnt myself from the steam from the spout of my tea kettle when I carelessly was reaching across the counter and let my arm get too close, and while the burn wasn't too bad, it wasn't great, and it's actually feeling more sensitive now that most of the wound has cleared up and it's just fresh scar tissue, so I'm finding myself a little jumpy around kettles. And since I'm a tea addict, I'm making myself jumpy several times a day. Developing thrills for danger!

And on a completely different subject: regional slang. You know whenever you go to a new place, there are all sorts of different idioms and slang you can pick up. Now, I will never pick up this "How're you going?" business in place of "How're you doing" or "How's it going?" but one thing I am determined to pick up is the addition of "as" to adjectives, which is apparently more of an NZ thing but some Australians use it too. Apparently it comes from adding "as" to an adjective as an incomplete comparison. For example, as an exclamation of delight, instead of "Sweet!" you go "Sweet as!" like you were maybe gonna say "Sweet as candy!" but got lazy and figured people know what you meant (I figure people know what I mean when I just say "Sweet!", but I'm trying to pick up some crazy slang here). "Sweet as" is apparently the most commonly used one, but you could also go "I'm hungry as!" or "My feet are tired as!" or "That kettle steam's hot as!" or "That dog's rabid as!" You get the picture.

So when I come home Christmas-time all "I'm starving as! Where's my turkey?" - shut it with your "starving as what?" reactions - I'm getting culture here!

Rock-step, push-and-step!

So this evening, in an effort to get out and do different things, I attended a swing dance class! For beginners, about a ten minute walk from my place (you know - jus' don de road and rond de corner!)

When I walked in, the instructors were doing stuff that looked crazy complicated, and I was thinking "never!" but I think by the end we were doing stuff that might look crazy complicated to someone who had just walked in. I think if you put me on a dance floor with swing music and a partner who knew the EXACT routine we did tonight, no surprises, I could impress some people. :-D

I may go back next week, but it's at a time that makes it kind of difficult for me to eat dinner at a normal time, and dinner is a pretty high priority for me!

Progress! And nostalgia.

Funny how fast these things can turn around if you just ask. I have to learn to be more assertive, obviously. Anyway, I now have faster internet in my apartment and HR will cancel my previous service and reimburse me. Which meant I had to sign up for a local bank account in order to receive reimbursements, which was kind of a hassle, but oh well. No more trips downtown for show downloads! Although downloading here will not be as fast as it was there, it will be much more tolerable.

And I can try Skype chats again and possibly sound like I'm speaking English!

I asked my coworkers for advice about what bank to choose, but in the end I decided it didn't really matter much since I won't be using it too much and ended up just doing HSBC since I'm already HSBC, although everything is separate and new anyway, so I might as well have just done the bank closer to me. And HSBC Australia has this weird little device you have to put on your keychain so you can press a button and generate a new code everytime you want to log into online banking. What's wrong with a memorable music artist?? All this high-tech mumbo jumbo.

I have been thinking of the list of things I miss about Bermuda right now, and besides of course all you wonderful people, I have:
1) Red pepper hummus. Or, you know, any hummus flavor other than hummus.
2) Special K with red berries.
3) My lil blue car and my lil blue bike.
4) Driving my lil blue car or bike
5) My kitties from both homes! - this should come above transportation, actually. Maybe above Special K, even.
6) Acceptable speeds of internet at home - oh, hey!
7) I think my bed, although my bed here is pretty good. My bed at home is softer.

I have to think of actual small little things we can get there but not here so I can ask my parents to bring me some in a few weeks! I guess I'm doing OK if I can't think of any.

I saw more speedos today than I would have liked, but otherwise: A+ day!

I have experienced Bondi! This will be a picture-heavy post.

Took the train to Town Hall, then connected to go to Bondi Junction. Overall, not a long train trip - including connecting time, probably about 20 minutes. And: OK, I have a train ticket that I can use for a week straight for any distances within 10km, supposedly. And I used the fare calculator on the Cityrail's site and they told me that it was 9km from my stop to the Bondi Junction stop and thus subject to the 10km fare system - brilliant! Well, except that I guess it wasn't. And you have to use your ticket to get out, and the stupid turnstiles wouldn't let me out "Invalid - see an attendant." No attendants around! Another girl was having the same problem and then she jumped the turnstiles, so I followed along. And I had to buy a new one-way ticket on the way back. I had to transfer to a bus, and I found the bus terminal part of the station a little confusing, but I was quickly on my way.

Got to the beach, did the coastal walk that passed three beaches: Bondi, Tamarama, and Bronte (I took photos of the signs, because I knew I wouldn't remember that Tamarama thing), and then back. There were some cool breezes, but overall it had been a pretty sunny day, so I found a bathroom and changed into my bathing suit, bought myself an oh-so-touristy Bondi beach towel, and settled down to catch some sun. Unfortunately clouds shortly started rolling in and I only got about a half hour before it got too cold for me to stand it anymore, so no tan yet. I'll go back. So, pictures:

Bondi beach!

This guy was fishing and getting very damp below the knees - dedication!

Tamarama beach from a distance

Surfers!

There were a couple of these along the coastal walk - pools that were ocean water and there were waves crashing into them and their water was flowing back into the ocean - weird! I'd assume this is a little safer to swim in, but I wouldn't be surprised if some evil sea creature managed to slip in.

After I passed the third beach, Bronte, I figured I'd been walking long enough but I'd just see what was around the next bend - and it was the end of the walk anyway. Well timed!

This is what beachfront property looks like here

Actually, it's Sunday.

Crazy surfers getting wetter than the fisherman!

There were a few of these along the walk that reminded me of Korea, random little workout stations off to the side.  I haven't seen them anywhere else though.

When I was on Bondi!

Hmmm, another Saturday with lousy weather? Quelle surprise!

And the people at work get annoyed with me not having explored beyond the busiest parts of Sydney CBD, but if this keeps up, I never will! Today it's not raining, but it is gloomy looking.

Missed a good chunk of the day anyway as I was out much later than usual and thus slept much later than usual. Woke up at about 12: “Hmmm, it looks cloudy outside. Is it worth getting up yet? Probably not.” Up at 1.

So anyway, it was Friday night drinks at work again yesterday, and the lessons I learned from the previous two occasions of “eat something substantial before 5” and “pace yourself” in order to last past midnight paid off pretty well: I lasted till about 4! Till the clubs turned on the lights and literally played Semisonic’s “Closing Time”: you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Well, I went home.

So, my first taste of true Sydney night life/clubbing involved a place that was relatively empty – although it was pretty late by the time we got there – and the music they were playing was the kind that I’m OK with, but if Alaina T had been there, she’d have gone off and found a corner for a nap. Anyway, I guess by that point I was running on lack of sleep, but I had fun.

Today I had a list of things to do that ended up not being too successful, mainly due to my late wakeup and being disorganized/not patient. Oh well.

This internet cafe always plays the most interesting music! It's either Dido on repeat or random 80s/90s songs I haven't heard in forever.

Yay for short weeks? I guess?

Though it still feels looooong.

You know what is one of the most annoying things in the world? When you're getting close to a spot where you have to cross the street, but you're still far enough that when you see the walk signal pop up, it's too far for you to make it before the window of opportunity closes, and it would involve a huge effort to run that just isn't worth it but you know that the moment you get there, you'll have just missed it and have to wait ages. I'm seriously - the lights seem to take FOREVER here.

Did everyone see Rebecca Faulkenberry on Jay Leno? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba4vVVIBLOA Impressive, no? And one of my favorite songs, too! People in Boston: run and buy tickets while it's there! (and for my Tufts people who wouldn't know, she's the main girl singing in this clip and she's Bermudian/was in my class in high school. We gotta support our local gals making it big!).

And hey, was it just me or was the guest we got a brief glimpse of at the beginning (before Leno started talking about them) that new football coach from Glee?

I give this holiday Monday 3 chocolate strawberries out of 3!

So, the weather improved today. It was still looking cloudy and there were predictions of 50% chance of rain, but I just stuck my umbrella in my bag and went a-walking. And, for a holiday, a lot more was open than I was expecting. Most cafés and restaurants, of course, but also a lot of shops. Even cupcake shops (no, I didn’t buy a second one for this weekend, I just gazed into the window longingly as I walked by…) So there was more to do than expected, and towards the mid-late afternoon, it shifted to more sunny than cloudy.

I passed through The Rocks early on in the day where they had the market going, and bought some fudge that was just too tempting to pass up, only to minutes later pass by a chocolate covered strawberries stall. My reaction was “Curses! If only I hadn’t just bought that fudge. I think fudge + chocolate covered strawberries is a little too indulgent for one day.” However, later in the day I started thinking it through and realized: fudge is something I’ll only nibble at a little bit each day, it’s not like a major indulgence just for today, whereas chocolate-strawberries would be and would be totally justified as my treat for the day. So I told myself that if on my way back the chocolate strawberry place was still open, I’d get one. And, whaddaya know, it was close to five as I passed by again, and since they can’t really take home all those chocolate strawberries, they were selling them all for a dollar! The triple-chocolate-strawberry stick I got (pictured) was price-marked $6.50 and I got it for $1, woohoo! I think I should just do that every week – make my way to the market for about 4:30 – 4:45 and wait till I hear “everything must go! Everything for a dollar!” It’s brilliant! I wonder if they do that at cupcake shops too… I mean, their stuff has to be made fresh each day too, right? :-D

Another thing I discovered today: remember me mentioning that internet café quite close to my office that closes too early for it to be useful for me? Well, apparently if you go stand outside it while it’s closed, you can still pick up the free wifi! And you don’t even have to buy anything. It’s almost better to go when it’s closed! Not that I’m going to be standing on the street with my laptop, but if I want to quickly check something on the ipod, good to know!

Not as fun a Saturday as it should be...

So it is a) my first Saturday of my 2-month break from MBA courses and b) the start of a holiday weekend here - don't get jealous peeps, Monday's Labour Day here, which you all got last month while I had to go to work! - and yet, it is a pretty sucky Saturday. It's pouring. I was going to walk all over the city today, but I'm not a fan of getting wet.

So I'm at the net cafe, getting my Thursday shows, which I'd planned to do tomorrow. Hopefully if the weather improves by tomorrow, I can go walking around then, but shops and stuff are less likely to be open :(

And naturally, on my way here, I stopped to get a cupcake. I was going to get the same red velvet as that first time, because it was divine and I deserve a little bit of divine on this Saturday that was meant to be a lot more enjoyable than this, but then I got there and realized I hadn't tried the tiramisu one yet, so that was the winner. I'd include a picture except I already ate it ;-D It was basically a regular yellow cupcake with super-thick icing that was tiramisu stuff, and then a gooey tiramisu center. Mmmmmm - ok, you can't get jealous over my holiday, but you can get jealous over that ;)

But otherwise, nothing exciting to report because today is rather disappointing. I knew the weather was going to suck so I had a long sleep in, which was very nice. And then stupid Ab Ripper X.

Hey - can anyone please tell me when daily savings time ends in Bermuda? It's starting here (since our seasons are backwards, remember) tonight, which means instead of being 13 hours difference, it'll be 14, and if Bermuda's switching back the other way tonight or soon, 15 hours. Which sounds crazy but it'll actually make it easier for me to communicate in my morning/early afternoon to Bermuda's evening time.