Introducing Bollywood

Jobs: 0 (but am feeling optimistic come the new year)
# of times I watched Love Actually before Christmas: 1 (usually its about 5)
# of times one of us has been locked out of apartment in last 3 days: 4

Merry Christmas to everyone!! I hope you all had a really great day. Kerry and I woke up and ate French Toast Casserole (a Romero tradition) and then later on invited our other orphan friend, Ollie, over for spaghetti and meatballs and then to see Avatar. Avatar was AWESOME. We unfortunately were stuck in the front row and I won't even tell you how much a movie ticket costs here ($22!!) but it was worth it, the movie was phenomenal! Our other Christmas present to ourselves was a used washing machine that was delivered the day before. Unfortunately the day that we got it, our dryer broke.

So, as usual, Kerr and I have found ourselves in yet another awkward situation. Our third roommate is away for 3 weeks, traveling Europe, and a couple days before she left, she told us that she was renting out her room to a guy that she knows. She didn't know too much about him other than he was Pakistani. My immediate thought was that I would just pretend I was Canadian for the next 3 weeks, for obvious reasons.

So as we are about to dig into our spaghetti and meatballs for Christmas dinner, a 6 foot 9 dude emerges from our roomie's room (that is not an exaggeration, he is literally that tall). So this guy dishes himself a heaping portion of our Christmas dinner and sits down with us. Now I can't even begin to explain what a turkey this guy is but here's a few of his finer comments:

• “I grew up in Vegas so I really know how to party. I actually feel bad when I go out with people because they can’t party like me…..”

• “…..yea and I sing too. I sometimes perform and I can even rap in my native language – Pakistani. I even rap in Pakistani.” (this was my favorite)

• “I’ve got houses in Dubai, Switzerland, London, and Pakistan. I invest in properties.”

• “….yep, here for Cricket. I play professionally. I’m actually the only pure all-arounder in Australia….PURE!” (an all-arounder is someone who pitches and catches in cricket...or whatever the actual cricket terms are)

• “Its 4:20? Oh my gosh, I need a cigarette. Otherwise I’m going to start feeling bad because I really want to smoke a joint.”

• “…yea I went to a strip club last night. We all will need to party!”

• “Yea I might get a dog. I actually should have a kid by now but my relationship didn’t last. I was supposed to marry this girl so I might get a dog.”

Well it was basically this guy rambling on for an hour while we were shoveling food into our mouths so we could get out of there. Needless to say, Kerry and I bitched the entire train ride to the movies about our upcoming three weeks with this guy. Ollie was both amused and appalled at the same time, and somewhere along the line nicknamed this guy Bollywood (we don't know his real name). The only positive I can make from this situation is that I don't have to pretend I'm Canadian for the next 3 weeks, as this guy grew up in Vegas (and I wouldn't be surprised if he was unaware of the current relationship status between America and Pakistan).

Tidbits

# Weeks living in own home: 1.5 (hooray!)
Jobs: 0 (sadly)
# of Glee episodes left in Oz: 1 (take that, America!)

We've been in our place for almost 2 weeks now, and liking it more and more each day. We are still waiting for one roommate to move out and then there will be three of us. Its a bit messy here, although Kerry thinks I may be a bit anal as I made my bed every morning in all of the hostels. I was counting on being able to find out furniture from antique or junk shops for cheap and then fixing them up (one of my favorite hobbies) but a can of primer here costs over $30 and a small can of paint is over $40!! So no projects for me - things are staying as is!

I have another job interview for an OT position on Friday - I'm going to try a new thing this week and try not setting off the fire alarm OR give anyone the impression that I'm South American. I'm also about to walk down to the cute little town next to ours and apply at some of the cafes and such. I actually really miss working. I thought that I would absolutely love being a lady of leisure but I'm on my 3rd month of unemployment and I have to say, I'm getting extremely restless and a bit bored (and not to mention, a bit concerned about my finances). So as much as I hate to admit it, I miss work (I know this will make you happy, Dad).

I have been realizing there are several things that I really have grown to appreciate while here...

• I love the public transit system here. Its extremely reliable and relatively fast. Plus I love that it forces you to be more environmentally friendly - something I made an honest effort to be at home.
• I am thankful that I still speak to my Mom almost everyday - even with a 16 hour time difference.
• I appreciate that they sell Betty Crocker cake mix here. (Although my waistline is telling me that I should be unappreciative of that)
• I love that on a beautiful sunny day (which is all quite common), we can jump on a train and end up in one of the world's most famous beaches in 20 minutes.
• And I appreciate that there are people on this side of the world who know who Tim Tebow is, who root for the Gators, and who think that George Bush is as much of a creep as I do.

Photos from Sydney

Some Photos from Fiji

Things are Looking Up!!

Apartments: 1 (yes!!)
Nights left in hostel: 1 !!!!!
Follow-up Interviews had as South American Waitress: 0 (consultant seems a bit wishy-washy)

Tonight is our last night in the hostel!!! We ended up deciding to live in a 3 bedroom PENTHOUSE in Marrickville. It doesn't seem to be the nicest of neighborhoods but its close to the train station and we have a pretty wicked view. It was pretty much a toss-up between this one and another place in the Lower North Shore.
We found the Lower North Shore ad about a week ago and I spoke several times with Calvin, the guy who leased the place that we would be living with. He offered for us to come see it at 9pm last night, and even offered to drive us there. Now, this probably wasn't the best idea - to get into a car with a complete stranger to take us to his "so-called" apartment at nighttime in a foreign country, but we are idiots and we went along with it. We had planned to bring some mase but lost track of time and never were able to buy some so weren't armed with anything other than our good sense. Well Calvin and his girlfriend (whom he neglected to mention would also be living there) were perfectly nice. We got to their place and it was just gorgeous...wood floors, all brand new stainless steel appliances, gas stove, air conditioning (a novelty here) and it was nestled in this beautiful, leafy park in a quiet, safe neighborhood. It was perfect aside from the fact that they had setup the two rooms that we would be leasing to make it seem like we were children. Plus they wanted to make sure we were aware of the ground rules: no shoes in the house, no parties, clean-up after yourself, and the upstairs is THEIR office. All the rules are fine and dandy except about the office. To be perfectly honest, if we're paying $260 a week, A PIECE, I think we should be able to use the office. Or at the very least, give us a filing cabinet. I can understand if they don't want us to bring our own xerox machine but I think that a compromise couldn've been made.
So in the end we chose Marackville...we're pretty excited!

Bahamas, Latin America, South America are all One in the Same....Apparantly

Apartments: 1 (right on!!)
Jobs: potentially 1?
# of times people have mistaken my race: 4,376

Latin people don't exist in Australia. I've been called "dark", "brown" and I think somehwere along the line I was mistaken for an aborigine. So I had a job interview with a restaurant consultant this morning. Basically I had to meet this guy and if he approved of me, he would then set me up with an interview with on of four brothers who own several restaurants, cafes and chocoloate bars in The Rocks and Circular Quay - very trendy, toursity spot in Sydney. So I met this consultant this morning, very nice guy but one of those types that doesn't really let you get a word in edge wise. Here's how the interview went.

Consutltant: You are quite tan! Are you Italian?
Me: No, I'm actually latin. My father is from Panama:
Consultant: Wow! I've been to the Bahamas once, Nassau. Have you worked in a restaurant?
Me: Thats lovely. I love the Bahamas. Yes I have 4 years experience working in a restaurant.
Consultant: Thats great. (went on to give some details of possible job) Let me call and set up an interview with one of the owners. (gets on the phone with owner's secretary) Hello Anna, I have a girl here from South America that needs to meet with so-and-so. She speaks excellent English, even better than me!

Now we were too far into the interview for me to correct him and let him know I was actually from the states (or correct him that Panama is indeed not part of South America), even though it was on my resume, my cover letter, and the copy of my visa I gave him. So now I have this follow-up interview tomorrow and I'm not sure whether to break the news that I'm not from South America or if I should play along....guess I'll play this one by ear.

In other news, we have one more week of homelessness!! We are renting a 3 bedroom apartment with another girl. Its really not in the best area but the place itself has potential. We also went to the aquarium the other day which really wasn't that impressive, coming from Florida. They're big attraction was called Dugong which is basically a manatee. I was convinced they would have a great white shark..lame.

Anyways, wish me luck tomorrow for my interview!!

My Standards are Just Above Living with a 51 Year Old Divorcee

Well Kerry and I just got back from probably the most awkward experience that we’ve had since this journey began…
I had found this ad in the classifieds – a 3 bedroom apartment, needing 2 roommates, could be furnished upon request, and in a pretty good location. I called up the guy who placed the ad, Peter James, and spoke with him for a couple of minutes. He seemed a bit frazzled on the phone but offered for us to come immediately to see the place. Now we’re a bit anxious to find a place so we jumped on a train and went right over. Here’s were the awkwardness commences.
We had slight difficulties finding the place due to Peter’s poor directions (he told us to go right at the “40 degree angle” however there were only obtuse angles the entire way there). When we got there, we were greeted by a middle-aged, gray haired man…Peter James. He introduced himself, then told us that he didn’t care if we smoked joints on the balcony.
We hesitantly entered his apartment to find it bare and with garbage all over the floor. He proceeded to tell us that his “flatmates” had just moved out so the rooms might be a little messy. We walked into the rooms to find walls adorned with Beyonce posters, Dora the Explorer stickers and those glow in the dark plastic stars. We really began questioning the story behind this guy at this point. Only one of the rooms had a closet (which somehow had been flooded) so he made it clear that he’d be willing to share his closet with us. He had been adamant that his only rule was that we were kept the place clean. He then showed us the kitchen, which made our last hostel seem like the most immaculate place ever. As we were leaving, we peered out onto the balcony to find a drying rack with about 30 panties drying out there. Either Peter wears woman’s underwear or he’s going through a sudden divorce where his wife and 2 daughters left in a hurry and left only their undergarments. We think the latter is probably the actual story, there were photos of his family all around, the poor guy still had on his wedding band and he mentioned more than once that he was going through a difficult time.
As we were saying our goodbyes, Peter then reveals to us that his name is actually Russel, and that he didn’t want to have his real name in the classifieds. Of course not!
And so we’re now back at square one… but slightly more cautious.

I Miss My Morning Cup of Joe

So Thursday night was our last night in our hostel, which proved to be quite eventful. At about 4am the fire alarm went off and the hostel receptionist started banging on everyone's door and yelling for us to evacuate immediately. As soon as I opened the door, I realized why she was panicking. It was hazy and smelled like the whole hostel was burning down. We quickly ran down the 3 flights of stairs and gathered with the rest of the escapees outside the hostel. Two fire trucks came (although one proved to be useless as 5 of the firefighters were needed to complete a 3 point turn in the firetruck) and it turns out that one of the vending machines caught fire. Nothing that warranted extreme panicking or a dramatic evactuation.

I've come to learn that American coffee isn't even an option here. You can't order it in any cafe or restaurant - its all lattes, cappuccinos, tall blacks and flat whites. I started searching for a regular coffee maker, most stores don't carry it. And only about half of grocery stores sell ground coffee. The closest thing they sell to it is instant coffee. Yuck! So that has become one of my new obsessions. Every single grocery store we go into, I immediately walk to the coffee aisle to see if they sell ground coffee...even thought I don't have a coffee pot.

No luck yet with the apartment hunting. Hulk Hogan proved to be useless. We've decided to stay in another hostel this week - its much nicer than the last one and we've already practiced the escape route in case of a fire.

Kerry and I went to a Koala park yesterday and got to pet koalas and kangaroos and watch a very boring sheep shearing demonstration that lasted far too long. This weekend we're cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for some of our Australian friends and then going to the horse races - very exciting!!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! I miss you all!

Apparantly Hulk Hogan is big in Australia

Kerry’s brother is currently here in Sydney on business. He’s staying at the Sheraton hotel in the city and his company has given him VIP access to all the hotel amenities. He was generous enough to leave us a key so we’ve been completely taking advantage. Last night we went up for their free happy hour and hors d’oeuvres – we ate enough of the appetizers to suffice as our dinner. I think its probably the best thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been here.
So we went back to the Sheraton this morning for their continental breakfast and then used their pool on the 22nd floor, overlooking Hyde Park – quite fabulous. So then as we were walking out of the hotel, I see this orange colored, beefy looking guy get out of a car…it was Hulk Hogan! We started laughing, not sure why but he was probably the last celebrity I’d expect to spot in Sydney. I’m sure we will be back at that hotel tomorrow for another free meal so I’m going to try to seek him out and ask him if we can use him as a reference on our apartment application. He’s supposedly on a wrestling tour here – I knew Australia was at least 10 years behind us, I don’t think he could sell any of those tour tickets in America. So I figure he’s popular enough to use as a reference.
Tonight Kerry’s brother is taking us out to a fancy restaurant in Wolloomooloo – this is where Russel Crowe lives. So I’m going to see if I can arrange a chance meeting with him so I can ask him about using him as a reference as well. We’ve got a few apartments in North Sydney to look at tomorrow….keep fingers crossed!!

"You can't hail a cab unless you know where you're going!"

So we arrived in Sydney on November 1st. Teneal and Layne picked us up from the airport (I think they were completely horrified by our amount of luggage) and took us straight to do some sight seeing. We had lunch at Coogee Beach. Coogee is where Kerr and I initially wanted to live when we got here but more about apartment hunting later.
We drove up and down the coast that day, it was gorgeous!
The following day we did all the touristy things – walked around Sydney, saw the opera house, the bridge, took the ferry to Watson’s Bay (we saw Nicole Kidman’s house) and then we took the ferry to Darling Harbour. It was a great great day – we are lucky to have such awesome tour guides.
By the end of the first week, we had done all the touristy things – went to the Blue Mountains, ate meat pies, had schooners of Aussie beers at some famous pubs, etc.
We’ve been staying in this place called Mt. Annan with our wonderful hosts. Its about 2 hours by bus and train to the city. Its been a bit hard to try to find a place to live being so far away so we decided to come stay in a hostel for a week. When we first got to the hostel, we were completely horrified by it. But after being here a couple days, we don’t mind it so much. All we have to do is make sure we aren’t touching anything other than the sheet we each have. We’re pretty sure that there is a monkey living right outside our window – and our window doesn’t close. The hostel is in the middle of the city so its been convenient to get around. Its also been the BEST place to people watch. Here are a couple of the more funny stories.

• One guy was coming out of an “adult toy store” carrying 2 huge shopping bags and wearing a bicycle helmet. As if that’s not embarrassing enough, he set of the store alarm. We were highly amused by this. And also wondering how he was going to be able to ride his bike with all his new purchases.


• We saw an exhibitionist while waiting for a train. This lady was terrifying – and it was like 2pm on Sunday afternoon.


• When we first arrived to the city, we weren’t exactly sure where the hostel was so we hailed a cab. The cabdriver put our suitcases in the trunk and asked where we wanted to go. Kerry replied that she wasn’t exactly sure but it was on a street named “Barncleuth” near Elizabeth Bay. This did not go over well with the taxi driver, he then proceeded to throw our bags out of the cab and tell us that we should not take taxis if we didn’t know where we were going! We ended up walking about a block to the hostel.


• We woke up on Sunday morning to some really loud techno music. When we went to a café for some lattes, we realized that people here were still partying at 10:30 in the morning, from the night before. We had been asleep by 12 that night, clearly we don’t fit in.

So here’s the deal with the apartment hunting. Its nearly impossible to rent a place here – especially because we’re unemployed and without any prior Australian rental history. We’ve spent a good deal of time forging rental ledgers and signatures. We have spent many days walking all over city going to places, only to have our application be “unsuccessful”. At least we’re getting to be professionals at the public transit system.
So keep your fingers crossed for us – we need it!
Lastly, I had a second round interview today as an OT consultant. The interview was by far the most stressful interview I’ve ever had. Last week I had my initial interview and got lost coming out of the building, somehow locked myself in the basement and had to go through the fire exit to get out – sounding off the alarm. So I was pleased that I was even called back for a second interview! Today I had two people interviewing me. They went through all those hypothetical type questions that catch you off guard. But I just got a call back saying they thought I was ‘intelligent and personable’ – clearly they were impressed by my accent and pleased that today I didn’t set off the fire alarm. The thing that worries me the most about this job (apart from the fact that its nothing like my job in America and I don’t have a clue what I’d be doing) is that I would have to drive here. Crossing the street has been enough of a challenge!
I will try to be more diligent about updating my “b”-log so that I can remember some of the funnier moments :)

Thank Goodness for Grilled Cheese!

My trip started off at 6am on Sunday. I had a tearful goodbye with my parents. The night before we celebrated my farewell at a Bonnie Raitt concert and my dad made one of his special meals – was a great night! I met up with Kerry in Atlanta and then we flew to LA. We had 12 hours to kill in LA so we ended up getting a hotel room to relax, take showers and eat. Mind you, we each were lugging around 120 pounds of luggage. It was ridiculous and so expensive. We finally boarded our flight to Fiji at like 11 that night. We hadn’t slept at all so we were so exhausted and slap happy that they kept calling passenger with the last name “Hairbutt” to the counter and we were hysterically laughing. I slept the entire plane ride to Fiji- I didn’t even get up to pee. It was 11 hours.
So we arrived on the main island at like 5am on Tuesday. Monday never existed for me- so weird! Luckily the airport let us leave most of our luggage their so we didn’t have to lug that around. It wouldn’t even have been possible. The way it works is you get on a large ferry and then when you get close to your island, a tiny boat comes up to the ferry to collect you and your luggage. I have no idea how my suitcase didn’t end up in the water. The only thing on each of the islands is the one resort that’s on it.
The first island we stayed at was called Beachcomber – its known as the party island however we were apparently there the wrong time of year. We were completely wired when we got there at 9am so we decided to relax on the beach with some Coronas - $10 a piece! We met some yachties from New Zealand on the island who took us snorkeling and let us hang out on their sailboat – awesome snorkeling. I had wanted to go diving there however the “divemaster” was some local guy who didn’t even look like he knew how to swim. At night we went to get ready to go out and the water in our room wasn’t working so we went to front office and they upgraded us to a huge suite on the beach literally 10 steps from the water. Turns out the water on the entire island wasn’t working so they handed out liters of bottled water to bathe with. Classy. The next day was more of the same mixed in with some kayaking. The food at this place was horrendous. One of the days, Kerry and I ate grilled cheese sandwiches for all 3 meals because it was the only thing edible. One thing that was strange at this place was that even the staff didn’t really know what to do with themselves. Somehow they managed to get a bulldozer on the island and were constantly driving that thing around (in the middle of people sunbathing) for no reason. They didn’t have anything to bulldoze. We were quite amused by this.
After 2 days at Beachcomber we went to Manta Ray Island. This island was gorgeous. And our room was pretty cute – we actually had nets on the beds to keep the bugs out. The only downfall was communal bathrooms with ice cold showers. Oh and this island was very eco-friendly so they didn’t have any type of plumbing. The toilets were like gigantic holes – needless to say, the island was quite foul smelling. The snorkeling was even better at this place. Once again I wanted to go diving but the divemaster at this resort has some love affair with another patron going on and he couldn’t be bothered. He was such a creep. Anyways, we were there 2 days as well. And the food at this place was delicious. We were so famished by the time that we go there after surviving on grilled cheese for 2 days that we thought we had struck gold.
I’m glad I got to go to Fiji but I think it was a one time experience for me. I was surprised by this but there was not much to do. I read 3 books in the 5 days we were there. We met some cool people – all backpackers and several who we might meet up with again in Australia. So that was Fiji…the start of the adventure!
Pics will follow soon...

Unpredictable

I was reminiscing with Kerry today about the good ole days (college) when we all of a sudden remembered something that struck us as a bit ironic...

Two years ago, to the day, we were visiting friends in Gainesville. We decided to keep tradition by going to the one of the only 2 bars we basically ever went to, the entire 5.5 years that we lived there. We were chatting up the usual patrons (probably complaining to them that we were getting too old to continue Friday nights like this) when, for some reason or another, we decided to fabricate this absurd story and share it with anyone who would listen.
The story goes as follows. Kerry and I were getting ready to set sail to Australia in my father's boat (an 18 foot ski boat names Flip Mode). We would bring Kerry's beloved cat, Hank. And we'd stock it with plenty of rum and cokes.
Now most people barely pretended to listen to our story. However, there was one patron who not only listened, but believed us as well. In fact, he spent a good 20 minutes talking us out of it because of the potential dangers a voyage like that may have.

Well I did some research. Only one vessel before has ever completed the voyage from Florida to Australia. Its approximately 30,060 nautical miles - passing through the Panama Canal, stopping at the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Fiji and finally New Zealand. Sounded like a pretty epic trip to me! That'd be a lot of rum and cokes!

Anyways, 2 years ago, neither of us ever even thought of going to Australia. I never would have imagined I'd be living there for a year! Just made me realize how unpredictable life can be sometimes!

73 days until we depart.....unfortunately we will be going by plane, and not my beloved Flip Mode.

This is my first blog...

so my family and friends can follow me in oz!