redfern/the rocks/random florist in circular quay/manly beach/george street

have been in a pensive/nostalgic mood of late – it must be the rain, but then again, i know i’m ready for a major change, a major yet positive one. also, lots to do in anticipation of the trip…winter makes packing a li’l more complicated, and the guidebooks i’ve yet to thumb my way through. and it doesn’t help that lately i keep on misplacing my things.

Bill Granger’s breakfast is an iconic Sydney experience. The popular TV chef has got like 3000 stores all over Darlinghurst, Surry Hills and Woollahra as well as a new joint in Japan. Famous for his scrambled eggs, sweet corn fritters and ricotta hotcakes, it seemed to be providence that decided I would be in a party of 3, able to savour each individual delight.

Is the hype worth it? Well, Bill ain’t Ferran. He’s not doing anything drastically different. He is making great scrambled eggs, sweet corn fritters and ricotta hotcakes though. The restaurant itself and the whole lifestyle around it is what makes it great. We arrived at 10 or so, a popular time for peeps sleeping in on Sundays so we had to wait like 20 minutes but there were others in the same situation who seemed more than happy to do so. It’s lazy Sunday breakfast concept, only way steezier with the polished wood floors and well selected furniture and a nice big mirror. Walk in and you also get this large communal table where you can eat with strangers. There’s plenty chatter and a near tranquility to things.

Check out the nondescript little logo on the bottom of the window. That’s Bills and that’s it. It’s easy to dismiss it as a well dressed cafe but a sense of style and the ease of which things are carried out can turn an ordinary breakfast into an amazing one. Whilst I don’t think what I ate was supreme, it was really good. Really good. I had a chocolate that came with Callebaut buttons on the bottom and foamed milk on top that I stirred together. My brother had a sunrise drink with a berry twist to an OJ.

The scrambled eggs is famous. It’s got great texture, light, fluffy and breaks apart easily in the mouth. It’s a really good version of a dish that I always have trouble associating because a good scramble is so hard to define. I still don’t know what it really is but this has to be bloody close. If you have one dish here, get the scrambled eggs. It’s subtle, simple and very elegant in taste and texture. However, I think it’s really not that far away from most other cafes. They’re just a good notch or 3 above the competition. Definitely the best scrambled eggs I’ve had thus far.

Sweet Corn Fritters were great too. They came with some bacon and tomatoes and stuff. The fritter was fried nicely and tasted great, with lots of interesting bits and bobs inside. The dish itself is kinda unique, I suppose, for breakfast.

I actually had the hotcakes all to myself, whilst the other dishes I stole bits off my mom and bro’s plates. The ricotta hotcakes were light and fluffy, although it still retains this poofy pancake aspect that I tend to dislike, the fact that it alls gets too much halfway through. I believe the proper term is jelat. There was also a nice honeycomb butter although I don’t get the name. I mean, it ain’t a honeycomb if it ain’t got no honeycombs is it? It’s a caramelly syrup is what it is.

Overall, I thought the breakfast was good. Was it worth it? Maybe. If I was someone who lived around the place and could afford steezy brekkies, then maybe.

Three things that are very much on my mind at the present moment. As in the very, very present moment.

Good News: Yearlies are over and I can finally get back into NaNoWriMo.

Bad News: I am 30, 000 words behind on my NaNoWriMo and my word count bar graphs looks incredibly sad.

I think in this kind of situation, I’m going to try to cram in as many words as I can before it finishes. Even if I don’t make the 50K mark. And maybe like shut myself indoors on the weekend and just write, write and write even more all day.

Which brings me to my next subject.

My efforts to learn how to code in Python have been slow and mostly non-existent. Today, I decided to try and get back into it only to get about twelve syntax errors and other coding in general errors. Before I got how to open one image.

Of course there’s a lot of process that goes into opening an image such as which directory to open from, the file name etc. The problem was, I had to do this every time even if it was in the same folder. So today, I’ve been trying to do a shortcut for that. But I have realised one very important thing when programming:

You can not be lazy. You can not use shortcuts for words. And hope they work out. (Like you know when you save files and  it would be generally recommended that you title it something relevant to your file? I just type “asdas” or similar because it’s the quickest thing on my keyboard and I hope I remember what it means)

Turns out, you can not do this when you code. The program shall get confused and you shall get a lot of writing in red (error colour eek DD:)

And lastly, I went to Luna Park in Sydney for a maths excursion today.

~ Rides comprising of ~

1 roller coaster ride – my first one

1 Pirate ship swingo ride – first time on one of these (extremely freaking hanging upside down and looking at Sydney 20 metres or more in the air)

1 random spinning ride where I was stuck to the wall, feet in the air because the thing was spinning so fast (completely dizzy-making :/ )

1 horrible, horrible photo of me screaming on the roller coaster (my friend bought it blah. I will burn it later.)

I still feel kind of nauseous thinking about the spinning rides.

Ugh I hate circles.

They’re not my idea of fun.

Update: Woah long post.

I took a different bus home today, which happened to be a better choice because, even though it was crowded, there were a few empty seats and, more importantly, they were almost all busy and therefore much quieter than, though probably equally self-obsessed as, the school kids that I too often end up on the bus with.

But that wasn’t the best part.

The best part was guy who was sitting in front of me.  He was wearing a bright green t-shirt and had his head tilted at an uncomfortable-looking ninety-degree angle.  It bobbed a couple times in rhythm with the bumps in the road, and I realized he had dozed off.  When he’d feel the jerk of the bus as it stopped to let passengers off and on, his head would spring up, and he’d look around wildly for his bearings.  The bus would ease forward with the traffic and his head would again fall gently forward until his chin rested on his chest.  This repeated for about 3 stops until it was finally his turn to disembark.  It made me wonder if the guy who was sitting next to him was thankful he was finally gone there was no more possibility of a stranger drooping onto his shoulder.

I wish I could apply this to something spiritual and meaningful, but, well, I can’t.  I’m glad there are things we can enjoy in life and simply enjoy them and not have to look for anything deeper.  There are always parallels if we want to dig them out, but sometimes it’s best to just stick the shovel in the ground and enjoy the flowers and sunshine.

Before you start reading this post. I want you make sure that you are alone. This means that if you are at work, make sure your colleagues does not see this. More importantly, make sure your BOSS does not see this at all.If you are at school, do not let any student or teacher see this. If you are at home, close your bedroom door or bring your laptop to some secluded place. I’m serious.

I went for a paintball game with Sean and his friends on Saturday.

Sean, who was my army buddy, organized this event a month earlier and invited me along. Sean invited another army buddy along who, to use the Hokkien term, “pang seh” us because he couldn’t make it and as usual, he did not give us any reason or excuse why he couldn’t make it. 

I think he’s probably doing something really important. Something that starts with the letter “S”.

And that would be…

Surfing.

Why, you thought it was something else? Get your mind out of the gutter, you ass.

Anyway, Sean sent me an invited through Facebook (I just love that place) and of course I marked myself as  ”Attending”:

It was originally supposed to be a week earlier but majority of the people couldn’t make it so it was pushed back to 21 Nov. Fine by me cause I had exams during that week too.

Since Heartbreak Ridge was located about an hour drive west from Sydney, Sean told me that he was going to pick me up at 6:30am.

So the night before, instead of having a good, restful sleep to prepare myself for some ass-shooting and getting shot at, I stayed up watching Korean comedy shows.

The reason for that stupid decision is because my body clock is completely out of whack by now. I usually go to bed at 5am and wake up at 1 in the afternoon. So I wanted to sleep but I couldn’t and proceeded to waste my life in front of the laptop.

By 5am, I was sleepy but decided against taking a nap cause I know I would sleep through my alarm and will only wake at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and so missing the paintball game (and wasting $70).

So I made breakfast, took a cold shower to stay awake, packed my stuff and by 6:15am, went out to meet Sean at the designated bus stop.

Sean came along with his friends, four in the first car and three in the second car. I was the fourth guy in the second car. So after introducing myself to Sean’s friends, one who was called Sean too and another was Jackson, we joined the early morning traffic to Heartbreak Ridge. On the way, we made a short detour to Happy Jacks for some breakfast.

I would like to tell you about the beautiful countryside and parks and blah blah blah but I can’t because I slept on the way to the paintball place. I was quite exhausted by then and I haven’t even started playing paintball.

I was rudely awaken by very, very bright sunlight and the irritating crunch of gravel. We had reached Heartbreak Ridge.

By then the temperature was hovering near 28 degrees Celsius. It was getting hot even though it was only 7:30am.

The four of us changed in the open air car park. Coincidentally, Sean, Jackson and I wore our white Air Force shirt while Sean the Organizer (the army buddy) wore a brown Army shirt with Air Force shorts.

So after giving an impromptu stripshow in the public, we made our way to the “Mess Hall” to sign the waiver form and get our equipment and gear.

The place was packed with people looking forward to a game of paintball. We joined the queue and after about half an hour of waiting, handed in our waiver forms and got our overalls, webbings and ammo.

I only got the overalls. I didn’t get any webbings and ammo because we would had to pay $20 extra and at that moment, I left my wallet in the car and couldn’t be bothered to walk back to the carpark under the hot sun. So I decided to forgo the webbings and ammo.

BIG MISTAKE.

Why? Cause without any spare ammo, every time I ran of ammo, I was stuck in the middle of a battlefield with no chance of reloading my rifle and ended up being a sitting duck. Next time, I’ll get webbings and ammo.

So after the staff made sure everyone got their overalls, webbings and ammo, we were given a short pep talk on how to operate a paintball gun, the rules and regulations of paintball games and other important stuff.

As usual, I wasn’t paying attention. I only paid attention to the paintball gun part.

After the short pep talk, a staff got my group (which consisted of about 15 people and shall be call Group 1) and another group (which consisted of 5 other people and shall be call Group 2) and told us to gather near a tank.

Yep, they have a tank too. Very boring. 2 years in Singapore National Service does that to you.

We collected our face goggles. It was this part where we were divided into teams based on the colour of our face googles. There were two colours: black and green. I was on the green team while Sean the Organizer  aka The Army Buddy was on the black team. Crap, and we both wanted to be on the same team. Oh well, at least I get to shoot his ass.

Hell, in fact everyone in our group wanted to shoot the shit out of Sean the Organizer.

So after donning our goggles, our group (Group 1) poised in front of the tank as a memento.

I’m still waiting for Sean the Organizer to scan and send me the picture. I quite like the photo, especially my stupid, smirking face.

Anyway, we gathered around near the entrance of paintball area. The guy (we shall call him Screaming Referee) and the boy (we shall call him Screaming Boy) who were leading our group checked our goggles and webbings to ensure they were securely fastened.

The reason why they were screaming because of two reasons:

1) To get our attention as we were constantly talking among ourselves.

2) To get their voices heard over hundred other people voices.

So we went into the paintball area, collected our guns, took some potshots at some targets to test our guns. I must say, I love the sound and recoil of the paintball gun. After that, both groups gathered around Screaming Referee and Screaming Boy before heading to the first paintball competition area.

Another thing to point out, because Sean the Organizer, was, well the organizer of our group, he got to take the cool automatic machine gun. So by just holding on to the trigger, he could unleash a hail of bullets constantly. The rest of us got pitiful, semi-automatic rifles. But I digress.

We were given the rules and the duration of the game before heading off to our respective bases. Since our teams were based on the colour of our face goggles, my green team had a mixture of people from Group 1 and 2. We didn’t formulate any strategies so when Screaming Referee blew his whistle, we all ran helter-skelter and hid behind large balloons that served as barricades and protection.

I’ve always heard from other people that getting shot by paintball bullets hurt like hell.

I got shot in the face, twice.

It didn’t hurt since the goggles protected me but I could feel the force of the exploding pellets. But I then realized that to get shot in the chest, arms or legs hurt.

A LOT. A fucking lot.

We played four rounds before taking a 15 minutes break. After that, we continued for another 4 rounds before ending our paintball games for the day.

I know I’m blabbing a lot here, so I just show you the pictures of my wounds.

First casualty. Sore eye. By the end of the first four rounds, my left eye was completely red. The constant scratching of the googles against my eyes and the sweat from my face irritated my left eye. What worse is that I was wearing contacts, so after 8 rounds of paintball games, I was left with a very, very red left eye.

This is the most painful shot I’ve taken. It happened during the 6th round of paintball games. We were in this makeshift cemetery that consisted mostly of tombstone. Sean the Organizer told me that this was one of the harder rounds and he was right. When you’re stuck behind of tombstone with five people shooting at you, sometimes you feel like you are in the game Left 4 Dead, except the people attacking you are not zombies but people with paintball guns shooting the shit out of you.

How I got the bruise on my shoulder was quite epic. My team was winning and the black team only had a few members left, so we were trying to take out the survivors. I was at left end of the field when I saw this guy hiding behind a tombstone at the right end. So trying to act heroic, I rushed towards the other end and hid behind a tombstone. I planned to take the guy by surprise so counting to 3, I jumped out from the tombstone and started firing a hail of bullets

Unfortunately, he saw me jumping from the tombstone and returned fire.

We spent the next 10 seconds raining bullets at each other cowboy style. By some weird luck, neither of us was hit and we continued to dance around and shoot each other.

Then it happened.

I got the first bullet in my shoulder. Because I was standing so close to him, the impact of bullet against me was so strong that I actually staggered backwards.

I felt searing pain.

Then I took another bullet in the chest.

More pain.

Finally I got another in the stomach.

Damn it, will this guy not stop?

Defeated, I raised my gun to indicate I had been shot. Fortunately, the guy saw my signal and stopped shooting at me.

I still have the bruise on my shoulder. FML.

You can see there’s another bruise on my chest. I don’t remember how I got that bruise but all I know that I was always shot in the chest. I don’t know why people like to shoot me in the chest, it’s not like I have some advertising logo like this guy:

I remembered I was standing at my base waiting for someone to be ‘injured’ so I could go back into the game when I took a bullet right in the chest bone. Apparently some asshole thought I would make a nice, easy target. 

I don’t remember how I got this bruise. But notice how close it is to my nipple. If that person had aimed a few inches higher and to the right, I’ll probably lose a nipple.

Another bruise on right side. Getting shot in the stomach is one of my favourite past time. I got this during the last round of paintball games. I was hiding behind some oil wells when this guy tried to take a shot at me. We exchange some shots until I got hit in the stomach. 

Leg shot. Got this during the cemetery game. When I was running towards a tombstone for cover, I got shot in the leg. It hurts a lot.

Mud/paint splattered shoes.

So after the final round of the “free-for-all” game (I didn’t join in, its too fucking painful) where Sean the Organizer was shot a hundred times from five sides, we went back to the mess hall for lunch.

We had to wait for about an hour and half for the pizzas cause they only arrived at 1pm. So majority of our group decided to leave and went to Ashfield for lunch. Sean the Organizer, Sean, Jackson, Weslan and I decided to stay put to get our pizzas. After all, the pizzas were part of the package.

We did not have anything to do so we spent an hour or more entertaining ourselves by picking up gravel and throwing it into empty bottles or boxes and basically just stoning in the heat wave.

Lunch came at 1pm and I was extremely hungry since my last meal was my 5am breakfast. Boxes and boxes of pizzas came and we all got one each. I can’t remember what pizzas I had but mine had a lot of green peppers and veggies.

I was in pizza heaven.

Since quite a few people left before taking their pizzas, we took the leftovers and I got a box of pepperoni pizza. At last, dinner solved! I don’t have to make dinner. After almost seven hours under the hot sun, I don’t think I would have any energy to cook dinner.

Hmmm, pepperoni pizza for dinner. Just for me.

Finally, the last shot:

You are now looking at my…

… butt cheek.

That is why I warned you to make sure you are completely alone when you are reading this.

You see that red, angry welt on my butt? Well, there’s a story of how I got that. I said earlier that during the last round of paintball games, I was hiding behind some oil wells and got shot in the stomach. After I got shot, I stood up and raise up my rifle in the air, indicating that I was shot and I was leaving the game.

However, that asshole decided that his itchy finger did not have enough and shot me in the ass when I was walking away. It hurt the shit out of me. I almost wanted to turn around and decorate his family jewels with bruise and blood. That guy was lucky I didn’t do it.

If that bruise was a few inches below, I don’t think I can shit or seat for the next three days.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I dropped a lot of subtle hints by using the words ass, shit, and crap.

Muita de gente se organiza para vir para a Austrália, trabalhar aqui e poder se sustentar com o dinheiro do próprio bolso. O que muitos não sabem antes de chegar  é que 90% dos estrangeiros que vêm não estão trabalhando na área de formação (e muitos deles são brasileiros). A Austrália é sim um país com inúmeras e interessantes oportunidades, mas obviamente o nível de inglês e experiência de mercado irá determinar se é ou não possível conseguir um emprego na área.

Para aqueles que não falam inglês ou têm um nível muito básico de entendimento da língua, os trabalhos de cleaner, glasser ou kitchen hand são os mais comuns. São trabalhos de faxineiro(a), recolhedor de copos em pub ou ajudante de cozinha. Estes empregos costumam pagar entre 15 e 20 dólares por hora, e o número de shitfs (horas) para as quais você será escalado para trabalhar irão determinar o valor do seu salário semanal e o número de horas por semana será de acordo com seu desempenho na função.

Cleaner

Quem tem um nível de inglês do intermediário ao alto pode conseguir empregos melhores em lugares como lojas, lanchonetes, pubs e cafés. Saber preparar drinks de café é um diferencial já que em quase todas as cidades australianas é possível encontrar uma coffe shop em cada esquina. A média de salários também fica em torno de 15 a 20 por hora e em alguns casos também se recebe comissão. A dica para conseguir emprego inclui muitos currículos e sola de sapato. Entregar de 20 a 40 currículos por dia nas mãos dos gerentes e se mostrar disposto(a) a trabalhar duro é essencial.

Como a grande maioria dos brasileiros que vêm nunca trabalhou em hospitality, ou seja, como garçonetes, faxineiras ou afins, a grande maioria têm dificuldade para começar o processo de procurar trabalho, que implica em estratégias muito diferentes das utilizadas no país de origem para conseguir emprego. A internet ajuda, mas não resolve. É preciso ir atrás, conversar com os managers (gerentes) e se esforçar para conseguir uma colocação. Empresas de recrutamento  como Bluestone e Pinnacle podem dar um direcionamento.

Algumas destas empresas recrutam pessoas para trabalhar em eventos como garçonetes/garçons, mas para ser apto a trabalhar na Austrália servindo bebida acoólica (isso em qualquer lugar do país) você será obrigado a tirar uma licença chamada RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) que lhe permite servir álcool. O curso custa cerca de 65 dólares e dura de 3 a 4 horas. É um curso simples, no qual se questões legais ligadas ao cargoe recebe algumas dicas são importantes e podem evitar dores de cabeça. Eles explicam, por exemplo, que se você servir bebida alcoólica para algum menor de idade ou alguém já intoxicado/bêbado você é multado assim como o seu gerente.

É muito fácil encontrar lugares que fornecem o curso de RSA e sem ele no currículo fica mais difícil conseguir empregos que envolvam venda de bebidas alcóolicas. Dê uma gogleada em escolas próximas à sua casa que tem o curso e aqui vão alguns links de cursos em Sydney ou em Brisbane.

Mesmo não tendo um nível de inglês muito elevado é possível conseguir um emprego na área se a sua for alguma das áreas em demanda na Austrália e você tiver experiência considerável para apresentar seu trabalho a uma empresa australiana. Em todo caso, o visto de estudante só permite 20 horas de trabalho semanal, o que dificulta conseguir uma colocação.

Salário: Cleaners geralmente trabalham cerca de 3 horas por dia e recebem em média 1.200 aud por mês. Em cidades como Brisbane é possível pagar o aluguel, comida e transporte com este valor. O horário de trabalho é, na maioria das vezes, entre 6 e 9 da noite.

Alguns cleaners estão dispostos a trabalhar em shifts extras limpando estádios de Rugby, Cricket ou Futebol. A disposição vai de acordo com a necessidade financeira de cada um.

Suncorp Stadium - Brisbane

Muita de gente se organiza para vir para a Austrália, trabalhar aqui e poder se sustentar aqui com o dinheiro do próprio bolso. O que muitos não sabem antes de chegar aqui é que 90% dos brasileiros que vêm não estão trabalhando na área de formação. A Austrália é sim um país com inúmeras e interessantes oportunidades, mas obviamente o nível de inglês e experiência de mercado irá determinar se é ou não possível conseguir um emprego na área.

Para aqueles que não falam inglês ou têm um nível muito básico de entendimento da língua, os trabalhos de cleaner, glasser ou kitchen hand são os mais comuns. São trabalhos de faxineiro(a), recolhedor de copos em pub ou ajudante de cozinha. Estes empregos costumam pagar entre 15 e 20 dólares por hora, e o número de shitfs (horas) para as quais você será escalado para trabalhar irão determinar o valor do seu salário semanal e o seu desempenho irá determinar quantas horas por semana lhe serão designadas.

Cleaner

Como a grande maioria dos brasileiros que vêm nunca trabalhou em hospitality, ou seja, como garçonetes, faxineiras ou afins, a grande maioria têm grande dificuldade para começar o processo de procurar trabalho, que implica em estratégias muito diferentes das utilizadas no país de origem para conseguir emprego. A internet ajuda, mas não resolve, é preciso ir atrás, conversar com os managers (gerentes) e se esforçar para conseguir uma colocação. Empresas de recrutamento podem dar um direcionamento como Bluestone e Pinnacle.

Algumas destas empresas recrutam jovens para trabalhar em eventos como garçonetes/garçons, mas para ser apto a trabalhar na Austrália servindo bebida (isso em qualquer lugar da Austrália) você será obrigado a tirar uma licensa chamada RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) que lhe permite servir álcool. O curso custa em torno de 65 dólares e dura em torno de 3 a 4 horas. É um curso simples, em que eles explicam questões legais ligadas ao cargo. É umm curso aparetemente desnecessário, mas alguns detalhes são importantes; se você servir bebida alcoolica para algum menor de idade ou alguém já intoxicado/bêbado você é multado assim como o seu gerente.

É muito fácil encontrar lugares que fornecem o curso de RSA sem ele no currículo fica mais difícil conseguir empregos que envolvam venda de bebidas alcóolicas. Sydney ou em Brisbane

Mesmo não tendo um nível de inglês muito elevado é possível conseguir um emprego na área se a sua for alguma das áreas em demanda na Austrália e você tiver experiência considerável para apresentar seu trabalho a uma empresa australiana. Em todo caso, o visto de estudante só permite 20 horas de trabalho semanal, o que dificulta conseguir uma colocação na área.

I was a bit worried that our new place in Neutral Bay wouldn’t afford me good running opportunities. I like to run around large parks; being near the leafy greenness is soothing whilst sweating and gasping for air. It’s pretty residential, but pretty built up around here.

I’ve found a couple of decent spots, though. If I run a few streets to the east I can reach Cremorne Reserve, a thin strip of nature around one of the points in the harbour. It’s got a well-paved trail, is a few kilometers around, has lots of tree cover, has no cyclists, and boasts some great views of the harbour. Here are some people’s flickr pictures of the place and its views.

Cremorne Reserve. Photo by mswebersd via Creative Commons license

If I go to the west – as I did this morning – I only have to cross one main road and I’m in the backstreets of posh Kirribilli. Follow the water’s edge around and there’s a paved path and boardwalk that tracks across the water from the Opera House, underneath the train-and-automobile clatter of the Harbour Bridge, along the front of Luna Park, and over to Lavender Bay. It’s not so leafy green, but it’s a varied, interesting, changing-neighbourhood, dynamic run.

Lavender Bay. Photo by MD111 via Creative Commons license

And if I want to stay closer to home, or I desperately need to feel grass under my feet, then I can just run down to the bottom of the hill and run around Anderson Park a bunch of times.

Anderson Park. Photo by emmettanderson via Creative Commons license

I think these will be able to keep me running for the time I’m here.

For one day only, a selection of Melbourne’s favourite sports stars, musicians, actors and social identities will be in the City Square, armed with wrapping paper, tape and ribbon – ready to wrap your Christmas gifts. City of Melbourne really is staging something for everyone this Christmas and Celebrity Christmas Wrap Day is set to be one of the brightest and most anticipated events in the festive calendar.

After a busy day of Christmas shopping in marvellous Melbourne, be sure to head straight to City Square where in return for a donation to the Starlight Children’s Foundation you can have your Christmas gifts beautifully wrapped by a famous star, in exclusive Melbourne-designed wrapping paper.

MELBOURNE CITY SQUARE

Cnr Swanston and Collins Streets

Melbourne, VIC 3000

Australia

Hi Leute.

Ich bin gut in Australien angekommen. Der Flug war zwar anstrengend, aber alles ist gut gelaufen. Mit durchschnittlich 1000 km\h und 10.000 metern Hoehe ging es ab nach Sydney. Ich hab bis jetzt auch noch keinen Jetlag. Aber vielleicht kommt das heute nachmittag noch. Hier ist es gerade 12.10 Uhr und ich sitze im Hostel, Surfside Backpackers,  und warte auf die Zuteilung eines Zimmers. Danach geh ich dann an den Strand. Das Wetter ist leider nicht so gut, so dass das schwimmen im Meer heute ausfallen muss. Es ist ziemlich windig und bewoelkt, aber trotzdem ueber 20Grad warm, obwohl es keinen strahlenden Sonnenschein gibt. Ich kann mich also eigentlich nicht beklagen. Hoffe euch geht es auch allen gut.

Wer Rechtschreibfehler findet darf sie behalten. Da ist ausserdem die Australische Tastatur schuld, an die ich mich erst gewoehnen muss.

Bis dann

Heute fahren wir mit dem Boot von Robby raus. Neben uns dreien kommen außerdem noch 4 weitere Freunde mit. Es ist Platz für 8 Personen auf dem Boot. Unsere erste Anlegestelle um 10:00 Uhr ist vor einem schönen Strand unweit von der Stelle, wo wir ins Wasser gegangen sind. Nach einer Stunde baden, ich habe übrigens nicht gebadet, mir war es irgendwie zu kaltJ, fahren wir mit Vollspeed (richtig geil!) weiter an eine abgelegene Bucht nördlich von Sydney. Da werfen wir wieder Anker an und lassen es uns richtig gut gehen (siehe Fotos), das Wasser ist herrlich und hat 24° C. Eine Runde baden eine Runde relaxen in der Sonne, ein bisschen hier was essen ein bisschen da was trinken. Das Leben hier ist schon hart:)

Am Nachmittag fahren wir wieder los. Wakeboarding ist angesagt. Einer nachdem anderen steigt ins Wasser und lässt sich auf dem Wakeboard vom Boot ziehen. Das sieht toll aus und es sieht auch aus, als würde es eine Menge Spaß machen. Nachdem alle eine Runde gefahren sind, heißt es: Hey Yüksel, it’s your turn. Damit habe ich nicht gerechnet. Einfach so ins kalte Wasser springen? – Why not??? Nach einer kurzen Einweisung schnalle ich mir das Wakeboard an die Füße. Los geht’s! Erster Versuch scheitertL Aber was erwarte ich? Weder kann ich surfen noch kann ich Snowboarden und Skateboard bin ich auch noch nie gefahren. Na ja! Zweiter Versuch: Und siehe da, ich glaub es nicht, ich stehe auf dem Board und fahre und fahre und fahre. Wahnsinns Gefühl. Jeah, ich bin dafür geborenJ Ich will mehr, mehr, mehr…

Bootsausflug 22.11.2009

Heute fahren wir mit dem Boot von Robby raus. Neben uns dreien kommen außerdem noch 4 weitere Freunde mit. Es ist Platz für 8 Personen auf dem Boot. Unsere erste Anlegestelle um 10:00 Uhr ist vor einem schönen Strand unweit von der Stelle, wo wir ins Wasser gegangen sind. Nach einer Stunde baden, ich habe übrigens nicht gebadet, mir war es irgendwie zu kalt , fahren wir mit Vollspeed (richtig geil!) weiter an eine abgelegene Bucht nördlich von Sydney. Da werfen wir wieder Anker an und lassen es uns richtig gut gehen (siehe Fotos), das Wasser ist herrlich und hat 24° C. Eine Runde baden eine Runde relaxen in der Sonne, ein bisschen hier was essen, ein bisschen da was trinken. Das Leben hier ist schon hart

Am Nachmittag fahren wir wieder los. Wakeboarding ist angesagt. Einer nachdem anderen steigt ins Wasser und lässt sich auf dem Wakeboard vom Boot ziehen. Das sieht toll aus und es sieht auch aus, als würde es eine Menge Spaß machen. Nachdem alle eine Runde gefahren sind, heißt es: Hey Yüksel, it’s your turn. Damit habe ich nicht gerechnet. Einfach so ins kalte Wasser springen? – Why not??? Nach einer kurzen Einweisung schnalle ich mir das Wakeboard an die Füße. Los geht’s! Erster Versuch scheitert Aber was erwarte ich? Weder kann ich surfen noch kann ich Snowboarden und Skateboard bin ich auch noch nie gefahren. Na ja! Zweiter Versuch: Und siehe da, ich glaub es nicht, ich stehe auf dem Board und fahre und fahre und fahre. Wahnsinns Gefühl. Jeah, ich bin dafür geboren Okay, es sieht noch ein wenig wackelig aus, aber fürs erste Mal…was soll’s!!! Ich will mehr, mehr, mehr…

Bootsausflug 22.11.2009

Magnolia Square finds

When did arts, crafts and stationary stores become the sole stomping ground of mothers with toddlers? At the Magnolia Square market this morning, it would not be an exaggeration to say that I was the only person under 26 and the only person not pushing around a pram (stallholders aside, because I did spy a male carpenter in there somewhere).

Does this mean the moment you start breast-feeding you automatically see the delight in coloured bakers’ twine, the skill in screen-printed note cards and the unbearable cuteness of ceramic stamped magnets? If this is the case, I should probably stay clear of such spending opportunities if I ever decide to bring someone else into the world,  lest they be responsible for my financial demise.

hello naomi's cutely kitsch styling

Stationary from imprintables

Little Jane St. goodies

Jewelry made from typewriter keys

No typewriters were harmed in the making of these accessories. Apparently only barely functional, rusty ones were stripped of their letters to make bracelets, cuff links, pendants and earrings.

I'm sensing a typewriter theme going on here...

Little Jane St. – for gorgeous paper heart garlands, framed prints and ceramic stamped magnets

imprintables – for stationary

hello naomi – for cute biscuits, cupcakes and candy cane

Sydney Spheres by Kalo Foleti

'Looking into an apartment from across the street' from the series, 'Sydney Spheres'

Just a lazy Sunday afternoon…