13. The Hunt

Okay, okay, I know.... It has been forever since I had a blog entry. What can I say? Things have been incredibly boring to be honest. The only thing I have been doing is hunting. Hunting? For what?...... don't worry, it isn't Kangaroos.

I have been on the job hunt and house hunt here in Sydney and let me tell you it's been quite the intense search. This "global financial crisis" has hit Sydney pretty hard as it has hit many other cities. There have been several major job cuts and this has thrown tens of thousands of employees into the hunt as well. In total it took me three weeks to find a job because every interview I went to had at least 40 other people in competition for the role and half of those were Australian. American Express has become my employer for the time being through a recruitment agency and so it's been quite something to go through. I have an appreciation for people back home who are new to Canada and trying to find work, residents and citizens always seem to get work over newcomers or visitors.

The house hunt has also been interesting so far. I've met some dynamic people with some interesting backgrounds. This being my first time living on my own, it's a bit of a learning curve, but I am making progress. Hopefully I will be into a place on my own (or with flatmates) soon enough!

Anyways, this is where my life is at. One day soon, I'll have something interesting to update you with!

(P.S.- The photo is over a night sky over Sydney...)

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....