My Life in Sydney Pt. 2 - All New Photos.
Biiirthday Week in Australia!
Two HUGE albums to enjoy!
Oh. I also forgot to mention that during my birthday week...I got a phone call for a job with select education. The interview will be tomorrow. It will have something to do with children. haha I will let you know more details if and when I get the job!!
Holly x
Monday, June 22, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Birthday Week!
My birthday week has been a huge success! It is the last day of my birthday week and I am just sitting here drinking my morning tea and about to get ready to go to the Sydney Winter Festival with David. It is rainy and has been all week. But hopefully it will still be fun. There is ice skating and a petting zoo. I will break down my birthday week and just let you know how amazing my flat mates and friends are here!!!
Sunday - Jenny took David and myself to Hillsong Church all the way out in Baulkham Hills. It was about a 45 minute drive. I blogged about it previously. :)
Monday - Goutham took me to a restaurant that I have wanted to go to since I first came here called Giovanni's. It looked like a really fancy restaurant on the outside. It was a really nice restaurant. After stuffing ourselves with so much food we walked across the street to Jackson's on George...a bar with four levels. We went to the third level where they had free pool. We played a few games and then a couple joined in with us. I actually did pretty good for not having played a real game before. I actually sunk balls! I even beat Goutham at a game! Obviously, I was just super lucky! After enough of that we went to The Rocks (an older, famous part of the city) and enjoyed some dessert at Pancakes on the Rocks. It is open 24/7 and makes delicious food with crepes and pancakes. I had the Ultimate, it was two crepes with cream cheese in the middle and raspberry syrup with ice cream! Yum! After midnight, we walked over to the Sydney Opera House and took some photos to show that I spent part of my birthday at the Sydney Opera House!
Tuesday - BIRTHday - I woke up to Breakfast in bed with cinnamon buns that David and Juli had made for me the night before. They used my grandma's recipe that David had gotten from my mom. After that, Kanako came in and gave David a plastic bag. It was my birthday present from all the flat mates! It was a big purse that I had been eye-ing while with them last week. David went out to run a few "Errands" while Monica and I went out to get her uggs (in the pouring rain). Later on, in the evening, my flatmates and i went to a restaurant that was a surprise for me. My friends Vivian, Cat and Caz joined us. The food and service (for once) was awesome!!! After we were finished our meal the server brought out a Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake that David had taken over there earlier in the day. He bought it from the store on George St that I walk past every day and eye the cakes in the window with my mouth watering. Everyone sang happy birthday! Luckily there was only one other group in the restaurant so it wasn't as embarassing as it could have been. I was the last one to finish my cheesecake, I let everyone know I was savouring it because my cousin, Stephanie had taught me to do that. haha. We finished off the night with the movie Hangover. It was pretty funny.
Wednesday - I got together with Tami for lunch at Wagamama. We had a good time catching up since the last time I saw her was before her trip up the coast. After lunch with Tami I caught up with David and we walked over to Kanako's work and ate some Japanese noodle bowls with her when she finished her work. We then walked over to a Chocolate cafe called Max Brenner. They had the coooolest mugs ever and yummmmy chocolate. We had choco-banana pizza with a mocha and a cookie flavoured frappe. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures! haha.
Thursday - I had a few girl friends come over and we had a potluck. There was a ton of food. Jenny came over and made spaghetti bolagnse or however you spell it. I made Lazy Man Perogies! A huge hit but then they had never heard of perogies and wanted me to make those next time..haha. David made beef stroganoff (sp?), Juli made her yummy pineapple cake and Monica made a bean salad. The other girls brought a few other little things. Those were the main meals. It was a fun night and the girls and David learned what a potluck was..haha
Friday - My flatmates and I all went out to the Cruise Bar. It is a fancy little place that is right below the Overseas Passenger Terminal. It's the place where huge Cruise Ships come and drop off the passengers for a little while! It was right next to the water across the Harbour from the Opera House. We were joined by Dee, and a few friends from David's hostel. It was a blast. There was a saxophone player and while I was in the bathroom, taking pictures with Juli and Kanako (you will see why when I put pictures up) David asked him to play me Happy Birthday. So when I had just gotten back to my friends I heard Happy Birthday playing on the saxophone and turned to see him walking towards me. Juli got a video up of it! I will see if I can get it so you can all view it. I made friends with a group of Scottish ladies (and man) who were absolutely in love with me. They kept telling me I was so beautiful and that I should move to Scotland because everyone would love me there. We all had a blast dancing around to oldies music. The last ones standing were Monica, David and I. So around 2 in the morning we went over to Pancakes on the Rocks (yes again, it was close to the Cruise Bar) with saxophone man. This time I had the Mexicana! Soooo delicious...again! We chit chatted about all our different cultures (America, Wales, Australia and Canada) until about 5 in the morning. Sax man gave us a ride home and we hit the hay straight away.
Saturday - Dee took Monica, David and I back to her place in Winston Hills (about 40 minutes away from our house) and we watched the Dark Knight (which everyone will hate me but, I didn't really like it..haha). After that was over we made sandwiches and popcorn and headed off to the Drive-In Movie Theatre just a couple suburbs over in Blacktown! We took Dee's mom's SUV and opened up the "boot" and watched from the back. We watched the Proposal and The Boat that Rocked. David loved the second one as it was all British comedy and a small view of some typical British things. Dee dropped David and I off at the train and we headed back to home.
And that was my birthday week! Maybe boring to read but it was a wonderful, wonderful week! It was definitely sad not being close to friends and family but I will remember this birthday for the rest of my life! Not only was it good times with the people I have gotten to know really well here but it was in AUSTRALIA!!! Woooo!
I will be putting up pictures later on tonight and I will post them on here for you all...It will be an over load!!!
Holly!
Sunday - Jenny took David and myself to Hillsong Church all the way out in Baulkham Hills. It was about a 45 minute drive. I blogged about it previously. :)
Monday - Goutham took me to a restaurant that I have wanted to go to since I first came here called Giovanni's. It looked like a really fancy restaurant on the outside. It was a really nice restaurant. After stuffing ourselves with so much food we walked across the street to Jackson's on George...a bar with four levels. We went to the third level where they had free pool. We played a few games and then a couple joined in with us. I actually did pretty good for not having played a real game before. I actually sunk balls! I even beat Goutham at a game! Obviously, I was just super lucky! After enough of that we went to The Rocks (an older, famous part of the city) and enjoyed some dessert at Pancakes on the Rocks. It is open 24/7 and makes delicious food with crepes and pancakes. I had the Ultimate, it was two crepes with cream cheese in the middle and raspberry syrup with ice cream! Yum! After midnight, we walked over to the Sydney Opera House and took some photos to show that I spent part of my birthday at the Sydney Opera House!
Tuesday - BIRTHday - I woke up to Breakfast in bed with cinnamon buns that David and Juli had made for me the night before. They used my grandma's recipe that David had gotten from my mom. After that, Kanako came in and gave David a plastic bag. It was my birthday present from all the flat mates! It was a big purse that I had been eye-ing while with them last week. David went out to run a few "Errands" while Monica and I went out to get her uggs (in the pouring rain). Later on, in the evening, my flatmates and i went to a restaurant that was a surprise for me. My friends Vivian, Cat and Caz joined us. The food and service (for once) was awesome!!! After we were finished our meal the server brought out a Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake that David had taken over there earlier in the day. He bought it from the store on George St that I walk past every day and eye the cakes in the window with my mouth watering. Everyone sang happy birthday! Luckily there was only one other group in the restaurant so it wasn't as embarassing as it could have been. I was the last one to finish my cheesecake, I let everyone know I was savouring it because my cousin, Stephanie had taught me to do that. haha. We finished off the night with the movie Hangover. It was pretty funny.
Wednesday - I got together with Tami for lunch at Wagamama. We had a good time catching up since the last time I saw her was before her trip up the coast. After lunch with Tami I caught up with David and we walked over to Kanako's work and ate some Japanese noodle bowls with her when she finished her work. We then walked over to a Chocolate cafe called Max Brenner. They had the coooolest mugs ever and yummmmy chocolate. We had choco-banana pizza with a mocha and a cookie flavoured frappe. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures! haha.
Thursday - I had a few girl friends come over and we had a potluck. There was a ton of food. Jenny came over and made spaghetti bolagnse or however you spell it. I made Lazy Man Perogies! A huge hit but then they had never heard of perogies and wanted me to make those next time..haha. David made beef stroganoff (sp?), Juli made her yummy pineapple cake and Monica made a bean salad. The other girls brought a few other little things. Those were the main meals. It was a fun night and the girls and David learned what a potluck was..haha
Friday - My flatmates and I all went out to the Cruise Bar. It is a fancy little place that is right below the Overseas Passenger Terminal. It's the place where huge Cruise Ships come and drop off the passengers for a little while! It was right next to the water across the Harbour from the Opera House. We were joined by Dee, and a few friends from David's hostel. It was a blast. There was a saxophone player and while I was in the bathroom, taking pictures with Juli and Kanako (you will see why when I put pictures up) David asked him to play me Happy Birthday. So when I had just gotten back to my friends I heard Happy Birthday playing on the saxophone and turned to see him walking towards me. Juli got a video up of it! I will see if I can get it so you can all view it. I made friends with a group of Scottish ladies (and man) who were absolutely in love with me. They kept telling me I was so beautiful and that I should move to Scotland because everyone would love me there. We all had a blast dancing around to oldies music. The last ones standing were Monica, David and I. So around 2 in the morning we went over to Pancakes on the Rocks (yes again, it was close to the Cruise Bar) with saxophone man. This time I had the Mexicana! Soooo delicious...again! We chit chatted about all our different cultures (America, Wales, Australia and Canada) until about 5 in the morning. Sax man gave us a ride home and we hit the hay straight away.
Saturday - Dee took Monica, David and I back to her place in Winston Hills (about 40 minutes away from our house) and we watched the Dark Knight (which everyone will hate me but, I didn't really like it..haha). After that was over we made sandwiches and popcorn and headed off to the Drive-In Movie Theatre just a couple suburbs over in Blacktown! We took Dee's mom's SUV and opened up the "boot" and watched from the back. We watched the Proposal and The Boat that Rocked. David loved the second one as it was all British comedy and a small view of some typical British things. Dee dropped David and I off at the train and we headed back to home.
And that was my birthday week! Maybe boring to read but it was a wonderful, wonderful week! It was definitely sad not being close to friends and family but I will remember this birthday for the rest of my life! Not only was it good times with the people I have gotten to know really well here but it was in AUSTRALIA!!! Woooo!
I will be putting up pictures later on tonight and I will post them on here for you all...It will be an over load!!!
Holly!
Monday, June 15, 2009
I love my flat mates!
So it is my birthday today! Yay! But I want to blog about what has been happening here. It has been pretty fun over the last few weeks. David and I still do not have jobs. We have even started applying to K-Mart and a few electronics places. I have finished everything I need for teaching (hopefully all of it this time). So now we are just waiting. If nothing comes up in the next week or so I believe we will look for jobs elsewhere and get out of Sydney.
Besides having no job I have been having a great time getting to know my flat mates more and more every day! They are so wonderful. We totally feel like one big family. We go out together all the time and cook together in the kitchen. We sing Juli's Colombian cooking songs and we attack each other with batter. There are a couple fesitvals that just finished here in the city. One of them was called VIVID. It was a light tour around the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay and The Rocks. It was a very cold night. I was wearing a toque and got a red nose. The sights were beautiful, though. The Opera house had different lights on it. It is hard to explain but I will be sure to put pictures up. In fact, why not give you a sneak peak right now...
Beautiful.. The Harbour Bridge was beautifully lit up too! :)
Another festival that just finished was the Sydney Film Festival. I didn't know much about it except that it was going on and they had random films playing. My friend Jenny, took me to a movie at the State. It is a theatre in the city that is probably an original building to Sydney. I am bad at eras but I would like to say it has the style of like 1940s or something like that. It is like Darke Hall but more beautiful. The ladie's bathroom was called the Butterfly Room and had a beautiful waiting area...haha. Jenny also took David and I out to the Hill's Campus for Hillsong. Stephanie, feel lucky that you went to the City one. The Hill's is nice and big but the City one is just better....hahaha. The people also rotate from church to church so its not like you missed out on the "more famous" one. haha.
Because I am away from home and cannot celebrate my birthday with friends and family I have made myself a birthday week here. Making sure that I do something special with people everyday. My flat mates get a kick out of it. I will post about the week in a later blog! :):)
Love you all!!!
Besides having no job I have been having a great time getting to know my flat mates more and more every day! They are so wonderful. We totally feel like one big family. We go out together all the time and cook together in the kitchen. We sing Juli's Colombian cooking songs and we attack each other with batter. There are a couple fesitvals that just finished here in the city. One of them was called VIVID. It was a light tour around the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay and The Rocks. It was a very cold night. I was wearing a toque and got a red nose. The sights were beautiful, though. The Opera house had different lights on it. It is hard to explain but I will be sure to put pictures up. In fact, why not give you a sneak peak right now...
Beautiful.. The Harbour Bridge was beautifully lit up too! :)
Another festival that just finished was the Sydney Film Festival. I didn't know much about it except that it was going on and they had random films playing. My friend Jenny, took me to a movie at the State. It is a theatre in the city that is probably an original building to Sydney. I am bad at eras but I would like to say it has the style of like 1940s or something like that. It is like Darke Hall but more beautiful. The ladie's bathroom was called the Butterfly Room and had a beautiful waiting area...haha. Jenny also took David and I out to the Hill's Campus for Hillsong. Stephanie, feel lucky that you went to the City one. The Hill's is nice and big but the City one is just better....hahaha. The people also rotate from church to church so its not like you missed out on the "more famous" one. haha.
Because I am away from home and cannot celebrate my birthday with friends and family I have made myself a birthday week here. Making sure that I do something special with people everyday. My flat mates get a kick out of it. I will post about the week in a later blog! :):)
Love you all!!!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds away...
Well, it has been rainy for the past two weeks and today we had a day of sunshine finally. I went and used my brochure for my hair cut! It looks pretty good. I did have explain to him my fringe (aka bangs.) For those who do not know last time I got them cut was from me being impatient and trying to cut them myself. It resulted in Treena cutting them into a full bang and letting everyone know why cutting your own bangs is bad. haha. Once I am all caught up on other pictures you will see pictures of the new hair. Nothing to radical, don't worry mom, my hair is still blonde.
In the middle of last week David got laid off from his job at the hostel so him and I have been off together trying to find jobs. We had a job interview on Friday but it was exactly like my other job so we left the interview along with half of the 24 that were in there. Only 4 people were going to be getting the job. I also quit my other job. It was costing me more money than I was making. I couldn't afford that. I am just waiting on Kristin to mail me back my character reference from her and then I will have all the teaching stuff sorted. Hopefully.
Last week at Hillsong, David and I met a girl named Jenny. Her and I have hung out a few times since then. She is good to me. She even made me Chicken Pie and dropped it off when she was picking us up the other night. Just randomly. She is a pretty random girl. I like it. She also took me to a movie night with a bunch of other girls. It was good to have a girls night.
I added lots more pictures!!!! Check them out!
Hillsong and Colour Conference
Updated: Central Coast and Pacific Palms
Birthdays Galore in Australia
In the middle of last week David got laid off from his job at the hostel so him and I have been off together trying to find jobs. We had a job interview on Friday but it was exactly like my other job so we left the interview along with half of the 24 that were in there. Only 4 people were going to be getting the job. I also quit my other job. It was costing me more money than I was making. I couldn't afford that. I am just waiting on Kristin to mail me back my character reference from her and then I will have all the teaching stuff sorted. Hopefully.
Last week at Hillsong, David and I met a girl named Jenny. Her and I have hung out a few times since then. She is good to me. She even made me Chicken Pie and dropped it off when she was picking us up the other night. Just randomly. She is a pretty random girl. I like it. She also took me to a movie night with a bunch of other girls. It was good to have a girls night.
I added lots more pictures!!!! Check them out!
Hillsong and Colour Conference
Updated: Central Coast and Pacific Palms
Birthdays Galore in Australia
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I am from Save the Children and we are in the neighbourhood just promoting our new campaign....
hahaha..weird title? That just happens to be part of the "pitch" that I deliver as I go DOOR TO DOOR trying to get people to sign up for SAVE THE CHILDREN. This job is not what I thought it was going to be. It's worse. They work Monday-Saturday from 11-9... I do not have to work all those days but it is encouraged. They are also part of a bigger company called Cobra and surprise surprise the man at the top is a billionaire. So they are trying to train me fast so I can get people under me and hopefully become a leader. I have worked 22 hours and I have made one sale so I have made 60 bucks so far. If I can get people to get on board a 39 dollars a month package then I get 90 dollars and if I get them on board the 20 dollars a month package then I get 50 dollars (we had a 10 dollar bonus the day I made a sale). The only problem is...nobody wants to commit for more than one month or they do not want to hand out their credit card or bank details. So no sales. It is very tiring and we don't really get any breaks. I spent today going around Broadway Shopping Center applying for more jobs. Hopefully I will be more lucky this time. I will also be calling the Institute and Department and see what is going on for me and teaching. Hopefully lots! haha. I would rather have a safe income then a sporatic income. I need to safe money so I can get out of here and travel and then come back home!!!!!
Other than work, I have just been spending a lot of time at home hanging out with my flatmates. We are all usually around at home and have a blast together. Kanako made us a Japanese dessert the other day that she says is very easy to make! I am excited to share all the foods that I have been learning here. Juliana is also a little Martha Stewart in the kitchen. She went from never cooking or baking at home to making cakes and pastries almost everyday! I also enjoy having Jon around...no one dares to pick on us...haha. Monica went to Tamania last minute last week and this friday she will be leaving us to do the East Coast, New Zealand and Fiji. She cannot wait any more for me to get some money and go traveling. I am jealous of her.
Anyways, there is a little mini update for you.
Also, for those of you who do not have facebook.... here is another album. Click on the links.
Central Coast
Updated Album:
T. Zoo and other Touristy Stuff
Other than work, I have just been spending a lot of time at home hanging out with my flatmates. We are all usually around at home and have a blast together. Kanako made us a Japanese dessert the other day that she says is very easy to make! I am excited to share all the foods that I have been learning here. Juliana is also a little Martha Stewart in the kitchen. She went from never cooking or baking at home to making cakes and pastries almost everyday! I also enjoy having Jon around...no one dares to pick on us...haha. Monica went to Tamania last minute last week and this friday she will be leaving us to do the East Coast, New Zealand and Fiji. She cannot wait any more for me to get some money and go traveling. I am jealous of her.
Anyways, there is a little mini update for you.
Also, for those of you who do not have facebook.... here is another album. Click on the links.
Central Coast
Updated Album:
T. Zoo and other Touristy Stuff
Monday, May 18, 2009
Jet Boating Along the Pacific Ocean.
After a few uneventful weeks I got the opportunity to go on a Harbour Jet Boat ride. David's friend, Dave, works there and he hooked us up with a free boat ride. It was called Bondi Bash. We went out to the Pacific Ocean and then stopped at Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches. We then headed across the Pacific Ocean to Manly Beach. On the way there we ran into a pod of dolphins playing around. There were tons of them everywhere. We stopped to watch them play. Some of them were also following our boat. They were so close that I got splashed quite a few times. It was so cool!!! Not to mention the sights were beautiful as well. The boat was a 1/2 million dollar boat that is usually used by Army and Police forces. AND to top that all off the owner of the Harbour Jet company is 27 years old and owns a few other businesses. Pretty neat. It was nice to be a tourist again.
I also got to talk to my mom and dad a couple times this weekend. I headed over to Global Gossip and used skype to see them and talk to them. The second night I joined in on their barbecue with Aunt Edith and Uncle Nolan. It was good to see everyone. On Sunday I headed over to a library here with Jon, my fellow Canadian, to look at the World Media Gallery that is on display. The pictures were really cool. Shocking could even be a word to use. It was pictures of all the main events that happened in 2008, some of them being very graphic. Russia violence, China earthquake, South America volcanoes, Stock Market crash, Barack Obama and the Olympics. I really enjoyed it. Then we decided to be good little locals and get our very own library card. Little did we know that this was a library where you could NOT take books away from the library. So after a wild goose chase around the city we found a library close to our house where we can borrow movies and books...yay.
Sunday night I went to Coogee Beach for a Sunday Roast. People in the UK have a Sunday Roast every Sunday and my friends were starting to miss out on theirs and decided to have one. It consisted of Chicken, veggies, roasted potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Apparently next week it will be at my house. It was very delicious.
The job side of things...Still sucks. Looking for jobs sucks. I have applied for any retail job opening there is as well as any cafe or whatever job looks like I can do. Still no replies. One plus though, I got an email from the Department of Education and I am eligible for Provisional Accreditation. So hopefully in the next week or so I will hear more about being able to teach here. Last night I went saw this job for the Optus Phone company...sounded like a retail job. So I applied and got a text saying I had an interview today at 9:30am. I was kind of sketched out so I made Monica come with me. When I got there (nicely located 5 minute walk from my house) it was very professional and I felt safe. BUT!!!!!!!!!! It is not the job I thought it was going to be. I am going to be doing exactly what I reallllly promised myself I would not do while being here. There are people ALL over that are trying to sell different things. They stand on the street and try to catch people's eyes (I usually have the hair people after me). So I will be doing Save the Children. I get to be the annoying person that stands on street corners trying to sell things to people. We will see how it goes. It will be an interesting experience. But best of all...I will finally be getting an income...So hopefully all goes well. I hope to just keep this job until I can teach. I cannot wait to teach.....
Well there is the update on me!
Miss you all!
I also got to talk to my mom and dad a couple times this weekend. I headed over to Global Gossip and used skype to see them and talk to them. The second night I joined in on their barbecue with Aunt Edith and Uncle Nolan. It was good to see everyone. On Sunday I headed over to a library here with Jon, my fellow Canadian, to look at the World Media Gallery that is on display. The pictures were really cool. Shocking could even be a word to use. It was pictures of all the main events that happened in 2008, some of them being very graphic. Russia violence, China earthquake, South America volcanoes, Stock Market crash, Barack Obama and the Olympics. I really enjoyed it. Then we decided to be good little locals and get our very own library card. Little did we know that this was a library where you could NOT take books away from the library. So after a wild goose chase around the city we found a library close to our house where we can borrow movies and books...yay.
Sunday night I went to Coogee Beach for a Sunday Roast. People in the UK have a Sunday Roast every Sunday and my friends were starting to miss out on theirs and decided to have one. It consisted of Chicken, veggies, roasted potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Apparently next week it will be at my house. It was very delicious.
The job side of things...Still sucks. Looking for jobs sucks. I have applied for any retail job opening there is as well as any cafe or whatever job looks like I can do. Still no replies. One plus though, I got an email from the Department of Education and I am eligible for Provisional Accreditation. So hopefully in the next week or so I will hear more about being able to teach here. Last night I went saw this job for the Optus Phone company...sounded like a retail job. So I applied and got a text saying I had an interview today at 9:30am. I was kind of sketched out so I made Monica come with me. When I got there (nicely located 5 minute walk from my house) it was very professional and I felt safe. BUT!!!!!!!!!! It is not the job I thought it was going to be. I am going to be doing exactly what I reallllly promised myself I would not do while being here. There are people ALL over that are trying to sell different things. They stand on the street and try to catch people's eyes (I usually have the hair people after me). So I will be doing Save the Children. I get to be the annoying person that stands on street corners trying to sell things to people. We will see how it goes. It will be an interesting experience. But best of all...I will finally be getting an income...So hopefully all goes well. I hope to just keep this job until I can teach. I cannot wait to teach.....
Well there is the update on me!
Miss you all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
