12. Le Update

So I haven't really updated this blog since arriving back from Melbourne. Nothing terribly exciting has happened since coming back, so I guess this is why I haven't bothered. 

I am feeling like the vacation part of things is slowly trickling away and I am wanting to settle into my life here now. I have been job hunting since coming back from Melbourne and with the way things are going with the global financial crisis, there is a lot of competition for jobs here. I have been on one interview so far and have a second one lined up for the same job. It's a little disheartening to look at the numbers of how many jobs I have applied for and how many I have gotten an interview for.... it's not very good hehe.

I haven't started looking for apartments yet because there is really no sense in me looking if I don't have a job to pay the rent. So I am still kind of waiting on that. Living out of suitcases is slowly starting to drive me mental. I am tired of wrinkled clothing that I either have to wash or iron to get the wrinkles out.

Alas, that is how my boring life goes at this point. I'll update again when I have something more interesting to update you on!

11. Wicked

I just thought I'd split my update into 2 as this next bit isn't very long. While in Melbourne, I was lucky enough to go see Wicked. Wicked is a musical that is about the 2 witches from "The Wizard of Oz" and it tells you about their story. It was something I was told would be a great show to see and since it was in Melbourne, I figured I would go.

I had an absolutely amazing time. The show was really well done (much to my surprise) and that was with 3 understudies! I sat in a great seat (about the 10th row or so) and met 2 Australian girls who were quite funny. One looked like Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks (and funnily enough her name was also Natalie) and her friend Sarah. They were entertaining before the show and during intermission. 

As always, I purchased a program but I also got myself an umbrella from there as it was funky and I didn't have one for Australia yet. Now I do.

Next up for me is a concert on the 3rd (just after my birthday) and then who knows what. I am starting to look for work as well. I shall keep you posted! :-).

10. The Australian Open

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of updates. I have been incredibly busy with being in Melbourne and then coming back here to Sydney and settling in more, so my updating hasn't been a priority. Let me update you on how it was at the Australian Open...

Originally I was supposed to go for 3 days total to watch tennis, however jet-lag had other plans for me. It finally caught up to me and I spent Tuesday in bed in my hotel unable to go to any matches. Thankfully, the hotel TV had tennis on 3 separate channels, so I watched that all day. 

Wednesday was the night I got to go to Rod Laver Arena and watch a night session. For me it was very lucky as They had lined up 2 Australian players for that session: Jelena Dokic, who was making her return to tennis after all the drama when she was younger, and Bernard Tomic, a 16 year old who had made it to the 2nd round in his Grand Slam debut. Jelena's match was fiercely competitive and it was so amazing to watch. She may be older, but her shot making is still very much amazing. She ended up beating Anna Chakvetadze (who is a top 20 player) and advancing to the 3rd round (where she ended up beating Caroline Wozniacki, the number 11 seed!). It has been an amazing run for her and I was so lucky to be there for that match. She was so emotional afterwards and was just so happy to have been back on Rod Laver Arena. Go Jelena! 

Bernard Tomic started off quite well, but his inexperience and age caught up with him quickly. Things started to go downhill quickly for him after the first set, but he has a lot of talent and we should hopefully see great things from him in the future. He just needs to get more experience playing with the top players in the world. 

Thursday marked the day session I went to and it was very exciting for me as I found out that I would be getting to see Serena Williams play at Hisense Arena. I also caught Elena Dementieva in her last set once I got there and she played incredibly well. Serena had a bit more of a tough battle to fight. Now, I hate to be mean and judge on appearances, but Gisela Dulko, who was playing Serena, looking like a drag queen. She reminded me of those girls in high school who cake on make, get a streaky fake tan and have terrible highlights. She was pretty intense. In all fairness, she did make Serena play her best tennis. In the 2nd set, Serena managed to come back from 0-3 and win the set 7-5. It was close, but she did it! I am glad I got to see Serena at the Australian Open.... it fulfilled one of my many dreams.

They have a lot going on on the grounds around the tournament. They have shops, live theatre, music, food.....a lot! I got to wandering around the outer courts because the rest of the matches at Hisense were pretty boring and I didn't feel like sitting around. I came across the practice courts. Now most tennis fans know that this is your opportunity to see players up close and get some good pictures and potentially that lucrative autograph. I was lucky enough to see Roger Federer (before the hundreds of people crammed around his court), Daniela Hantuchova (a top 20 player) and.....SERENA WILLIAMS!. Evidently she didn't play enough, so she was out practicing some more. It is the coolest thing to be about 10 feet away from someone you've only ever seen on TV. You also get to see how amazing their tennis is up close. She has great movement and some great shots... I was very impressed. I didn't hang around to see if I could get an autograph because I had to go and there were scads of people hanging around her court as well. 

Overall, I had a great time at the Australian Open and I am glad I was able to go.

Link to Australian Open Photos - Day Session

Link to Australian Open Photos - Night Session

(Tip for the photos: It will take you to a message I sent myself if you click on this link. Just click on the photo album title and that will take you to the pictures! You don't need to sign up for Facebook to view them!)

Above is a bonus video of Serena Williams playing!

9. Melbourne!

Well I have arrived in Melbourne today and I had quite a bumpy landing. I don't like sitting at the rear of the plane and that is where I ended up sitting today. Row 56. Evidently, the turbulence was worse back there.

I haven't been up to too much the last few days. I am looking forward to watching some tennis tomorrow and it should be a lot of fun. I am also looking forward to all the sunshine and heat!

I'll be sure to update about tennis as the week progresses!

8. Tennis: The Evening Session

So Friday night I went to watch the women's final of the Medibank International. I was excited (not as excited as I would have been if Serena Williams were in the final) to see a final! Earlier this week I was lucky enough to see some early round action, but I got to see two Russians battle it out. It was Elena Dementieva (I was routing for her) against Dinara Safina.

The match was great! It went to 3 sets and there was definitely some quality tennis to watch. Both are amazing athletes... the legs on them! It was close at one point, but by the time Elena was up 4-0 in the third set, I knew she had won! And she did! Elena is a funny player to watch as she has an interesting grunt and isn't afraid to scream when she makes a mistake. On one point, she was screaming before the ball had even crossed the net as she knew it was going out. Dinara was also quite funny. Now she has an unusually small head compared to her gangly arms and long legs, so that was funny in itself, but what was also funny was her interactions with her coach. At one point she was yelling at him from the court, telling him that his interactions with the crowd were pissing her off. There was also lots of Russian being yelled from both.

Now this is my only comment on the doubles match... it was awful. Nathalie Dechy needs to retire....

And I am off to the Australian Open on Monday! Melbourne here I come!

7. Bondi and such.

Well I am a tad behind in my blog writing, but let me bring you up to date.

I visited Bondi Beach yesterday which is one of the more famous Australian beaches. It was absolutely beautiful! It is unlike any beach I have come across before in the fact that it is very much in a kind of bay. It's quite protected and inset from the coast which makes it calmer, but it still gets a really nice breeze. 

I managed to walk through the sand which is incredibly fine sand. Very white and sparkly. It felt amazing, but it was hard to walk in. I also did the Coastal walk with my friend Mark. There is some spectacular scenery along it. My geography geek side comes out when I can tell you the types of erosion that I witness, but I won't because I am not that lame. (note, there was wind AND water erosion for those who care.)

Overall, it was a beautiful day to go as there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was nice and cool thanks to the wind coming off the coast. It was certainly hot out that day and I managed not to get sunburnt. Today however was stinking hot.

Now I was told I was not allowed to complain about how hot it is here, but it was so humid it was brutal. I decided to go to the big mall here called Westfield's which is in Bondi. It was so awful taking the train there. It was probably upwards of 40 degrees on the train... I got lost several times in the mall, but managed to find some cheap CDs and a pair of jean shorts and got my exercise in! Anyways, it was 38 degrees at the peak today here. However, within an hour, it dropped to about 24 degrees and a lovely storm moved in.

As I write this, I can still hear some rolling thunder in the distance, but man it dumped rain! There are huge puddles all over the roads. At least I now know what their giant storm drains are for. I never thought they got use!

My other random side note for the evening is regarding parallel parking in Australia. Now, parallel parking is difficult, however, every time I see someone trying (the key word being TRYING) to parallel park, they manage to hit the curb several times and are incapable of straightening out. I think they need to introduce a new training course or start an Australian version of Canada's Worst Driver....

6. Tennis tennis tennis tennis twins

So I was lucky enough to get to go see the Medibank International here in Sydney on Tuesday. It was pretty spectacular! I didn't stay for the whole day as it was a long one (not to mention that sitting in the sun for a long time really isn't too fun, especially when your knees get burnt...) but I was able to see a few matches.

Prior to the matches starting, I was lucky enough to see Novak Djokovic warming up on centre court. He is quite good, but has a very cocky attitude about himself. He did sign autographs for people though on his way out. The first match was Daniela Hantuchova against Agnieska Radwanska (quite the doozy to spell!) and was mediocre at best. Daniela has long legs and some great shots, but she just seemed to be out of practice a bit. Hopefully she will do better in the Australian Open.

The next match I saw was Serena Williams (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) against some Italian player named Sara Errani. Personally, I didn't like her (most likely because she was playing my favourite player) because she wasn't that great of a player. She also looked like a gremlin while serving (I will let you figure out the visuals for that one). Serena is an amazing player to see in person. She has a dominating figure and can hit winners from the most unusual places and at the most unusual times. I was just amazed by how spectacular she was. When Serena won points, it was off winners. When Sara won points, it was usually by an error made by Serena. Her fastest serve was 187km/h (again, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I would be lucky to hit even a quarter of that speed! Overall, I was glad to have seen her play in person and to see how amazing she is.

I watched a bit of Lleyton Hewitt's match against some French guy, but I was too tired to stay. So I headed around the grounds and when nothing caught my eye, I decided to leave. On my walk back to the train station, I was walking along when I saw someone who looked vaguely familiar....I couldn't quite place it, but when his eye caught mine, I knew who it was! It was Jamie Murray (Andy Murray's brother, who plays doubles) coming back from a work out! So random!

Alas, that ended my day at the Medibank International. However, something I have noticed since being here has intrigued me so much that I figured I would make a quick comment about it. Have you ever heard the theory that everybody has a twin? I always thought it was true (look at celebrity look-alikes!) but never fully believed it. Since being here in Sydney, I have seen twins for several people. It is insanely weird, but if you ever want to try and find your twin, I highly recommend you come to Australia...

5. Shopping!

Every holiday involves shopping. We always tend to shop a little here and there, picking up souvenirs or buying ourselves something we need for our trip. It's a bit different when you are traveling for an extended period of time...say a year?

Today I went shopping on the hunt for a new pair of shoes as I am discovering the lack of diversity one pair has. So on my way downtown to pick up tennis tickets, (more on this later!) I decided to do some shopping as well while I was down there. Pitt Street is one of the main shopping streets, so I had a look through a few shops. 

I ended up buying a few things (all shown in the above picture) including those new shoes! Slides seem to be the trendy shoe here in Sydney, so I joined the trend (though mine are more classic than some I have seen!)

Now more on those tickets! Well Sydney has a warm-up tournament before the Australian Open: The Medibank International Sydney. I knew about it before coming here, but didn't know if I would be able to make it or if I was wanting to go. One of the joys of living in Australia is their admiration for tennis...it's always on TV. So I decided I would go as I needed some more stuff to do this week. I am going twice this week which should be exciting. I chose to do one day session and one night session. 

Much to my delight, the schedule for tomorrow includes Serena Williams, one of my favourite players in the tennis world! I am extremely excited to see her play live! I'll just have to make sure I get there with plenty of time! The link to the draw: http://www.medibankinternational.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/op-tuesday.pdf (just copy & paste the link into the address bar in your browser)

Tomorrow should be a good day. And yes, I will update the blog about it tomorrow!

4. Le weekend.

So yesterday was a glorious day. Beautiful and sunny. I had a chance to walk around quite a bit of the downtown area with a friend of mine, Mark. He was kind enough to show me around a few places, so I strapped on the walking shoes and started walking!

We went through Hyde Park past the set ups for the Sydney Festival (far too many people around), past the stage where Grace Jones was to perform that night and into the gardens. The gardens are such a beautiful setting considering that they are right next to the downtown. We chose a nice place to sit down and relax for a bit and heard Grace Jones doing her soundcheck...it was quite something.

After that we headed into the downtown area to grab some lunch and explore a few places there. The Queen Victoria Building was beautiful. Sandstone (the only stone Australia appears to use) and stained glass everywhere. They had a huge Christmas tree in it that had a ridiculous amount of Swarovski crystal dangling in it. Afterwards we wandered down to Darling Harbour which reminded me a bit of False Creek / Granville Island. We grabbed a Starbucks and hung out there for a bit before wandering back to Mark's area, Surry Hills.

Mark and I ended up making dinner and relaxing after all that walking and it was an amazing feeling to be able to walk to the train station and from there home in just a t-shirt and shorts....Ahh Australia....

Jonathan comes back for the afternoon today before heading back out again for a well deserved vacation. It's been weird not having him around, but at the same time, it makes it interesting! The Australian Open is creeping up on me...

3. Day Three

So I am finally getting adjusted to this whole Australia time zone and climate thing I think. I have been able to get good sleeps without waking up, and I have also avoided the dreaded falling asleep mid-day thing. I am still a little uncoordinated and my energy levels aren't quite what they normally are, but I am not complaining! It's 830pm and I haven't fallen asleep yet!

I ventured out on Thursday to the bank to finish setting up my bank account with Commonwealth Bank. The lady who helped me was quite nice, but man are banks different that what they are in Canada. They still have plastic, bulletproof shields in front of them. Jonathan informs me that some of the larger branches are more open and that one bank just has random pods everywhere instead of desks...crazy Australian bankers! 

Having gone into the bank, I also had to go to Arncliffe to do it. I visited the post office to collect an item for Jonathan and then ventured through the grocery shop there called IGA. It's not quite the same as the one in Vancouver, but I have a feeling it must be similar somehow. It was interesting seeing all the different foods that we have here, but relabeled or renamed. For instance, Nestle Cheerios...

Today Jonathan and I slept in, cleaned and then headed off to the harbour of Sydney and downtown. I had my first experience on their train system which is pretty efficient. It is reminiscent of the underground in London. Jonathan pointed out that it's most likely because they tried to make it like the underground in London....ah well.

Circular Quay, which is where we got off the train, is also where the Opera House is as well as the bridge, ferries, botanical gardens and craploads of people. It was pretty busy when we got there...in fact it was busy EVERYWHERE downtown today. The Opera house is beautiful. The tiles are yellowed (damn photoshop for making them white!) but what do you expect from something that is exposed to the sun and other elements!

Asides from wandering around the bay, we wandered around downtown and Jonathan took me to the shopping district and a few other places he thought I may want to find on my own if he weren't around. All in all, it was a great day to explore and see some of the iconic parts of Sydney.

2. Day One

So I am finally here. After a ridiculous amount of flying time, I arrived into sunny Sydney today. What an interesting experience. I did a lot better than I thought I would, and as suspected, I got next to no sleep.

By the time I arrived into Hong Kong (14 hours later), I was exhausted, but had to wait a couple hours for my connecting flight. Thankfully the airport in Hong Kong is big, so I wandered around for awhile. This made me even more tired, but my legs were thankful for some form of movement.

The flight from Hong Kong to Sydney was brutal. Not only did I have to contend with screaming children, but I had to battle my fatigue. When I get tired, my stomach tends not to agree with much of anything, so there was that, and then uncomfortable seats. I finally fell asleep due to exhaustion and had a horrible 3/4 sleep for a good few hours.

This seemed to help and I was able to survive the rest of my journey. Once I arrived into Sydney, I was instantly hit by the heat. It was about 30 degrees here today and sunny, but lovely. After dropping my bags off, and showering and changing (that helped my sanity) Jonathan took me around the immediate neighbourhood to make sure I wouldn't die when he leaves me for the weekend and I enjoyed being out in the heat. He has some great things around his flat.

The rest of my day was spent attempting to adjust to the time change. I kicked Jonathan's ass at Wii Tennis and we struggled with Mario Kart. Tomorrow I will be attempting to organize my life so that I don't impose on Jonathan too much. I also need to head to the bank and finish setting up my bank account with them. I may also explore the parks near Jonathan's place.

Anyways, back to getting some sleep...I think I may be tired now...

Love and light,

XOXO