Lights, Camera, Action!
This past week has been crazy... and I'm only getting to update now what had happened last week. Plus, I'm back in Toronto now (but more on that in the next update).
Friday, December 7, 2007 - Lights
Thank goodness the small groups training was cancelled. I feel like I've been waking up insanely much earlier than I did back in Toronto. I am not a morning person!
Still, I arrived in the office around 8:30am to meet with Jac and Sarah, so we could drive to Moorebank to help out the Salvation Army with packing hamper bags with various goodies to sell at the "Candles in the Domain" event. On the drive there, I mentioned to Jac that I hadn't had a good bowl of Pho for a LONG time. She suggested that for lunch, we should go to Bankstown where there was a place her family frequented for Pho.
It was great to do a bit of charity work just like back at home during Christmas time. Had I been back in Toronto, I would have likely volunteered to giftwrap again. I went to Markville Mall yesterday where I saw some giftwrappers and remembered my time last year and every year since then. I probably have some selfishness built into my act of selfishness, because I like presents being wrapped nicely. Jac and I spoke about it while we were packing the bags and agreed that guys mostly don't know how to wrap gifts or try to wrap gifts. I gave her an exception to the rule that I experienced. The day of the journal. It haunted me again. Well, perhaps, haunt is not the correct term to use, because it truly was a thoughtful gift. Plus, it was wrapped. Plus, he personalized it. But, I promised myself to leave all that behind in Canada and move on.
So, we moved quickly that day and worked up an appetite to go to Bankstown. The restaurant, An, had decent pho. I still think Pho 88 is damn good pho for the price that you pay, but I guess in Sydney, for most things, you pay for what you get. It wasn't super expensive and at least I had more options, but Bankstown would be quite away from the city if I ever had a pho craving.
After lunch, we headed back to Moorebank and finished the bags and then restocked all the supplies. Meanwhile, rain pounded on the rooftop and we took that as a sign to head back to the city as traffic would be horrible in this weather.
Driving down the freeway, the rain was just pouring down and I felt like it was spilling all over the place. It was a mess! This was the biggest rain storm yet!
Luckily, we got home to my place in one piece. Sarah, Jac, and I each took turns getting ready for the Studio 54 party that night. Jac was awesome! She also helped me curl my hair. I got complimented heaps later on that night.
That night was a MAJOR party at the Exhibition Centre. I have to give it to Sydney. They know how to party. I really wasn’t sure what to wear for the theme of Studio 54. I guess a lot of other people didn’t know either. I saw Elvis’ with afro’s and flashy outfits with mullet hair. It felt so wrong, but so right to see all the outlandish outfits as the same time.
While the girls looked their usual best, the guys really put out a way better show. The aforementioned dress plus there seemed to be groups competing to be the best Village People. One of the highlights was to see the groups of Village People go up and sing YMCA along with the awesome band. The music was grooving and everyone was grooving along with it.
However, I’d have to say the food at the Canadian party was definitely better. Irregardless, each party has its own charm. Sometimes, you need to let loose and party and other times, it’s great to get dolled up and roll out the red carpet for yourself.
Tonight was a night of strobing lights, parading outfits, and grooving music. Tonight was my first big party in Sydney.
>Saturday, December 8, 2007 - Camera
After a night of partying, I was hesitant to wake up Victor. I’m pretty sure he stayed up way later than me. However, this was one of the few weekends he was back in Sydney from Brisbane. He kept his word and dragged himself out of bed to take me to Myers to exchange the extra toaster oven that he and a few others gave to me as a housewarming gift.
We shopped around a bit at Myers, but I had my heart set on getting an air mattress for my future visitors to Sydney. We walked to other places within the city and even stopped for a smoothie! Finally, we drove to Broadway to pick up the air mattress and a lawn chair.
Vic was nice to drop me off home and then drive me to the Royal Botantical Gardens as I had plans to go see the exhibition, “Sex and Death.” Now, before any of you get the wrong idea… do you really think that I could go see something like that when I was even slightly scared when I was walking around in the Red Light District of Amsterdam?
So, to clarify, “Sex and Death” was an exhibition of orchids in an area of the Gardens that reminded me of the Louvre. I love orchids. I think they are unique in their own right, but what I like most is that the flower has lasting power! I love things that are low maintenance and still are beautiful in their own right.
The unfortunate thing about today was that my camera broke down. How disappointing! Hence, my name for this journal entry as “Camera.” I told Lawrence about it later on and he actually helped me google how to fix it. Apparently, a lot of other people had the same problem. I think it might have been from dropping the camera the other day in the Fish Market, but it was odd that it worked all through my time in Brisbane.
Anyway! So, apparently, accordingly to Lawrence, I was supposed to bang my camera lightly while turning it on. Then, voila! My camera would be fixed. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this out till weeks later and I had so many more pictures to take for today and the rest of my time in Sydney.
I ran out and got a disposable camera until I could fix or get a new digital camera. However, to be honest, I still haven’t developed them yet! I should get on that. Not sure where I even put it. I had intended to get it done at Shoppers when I was back in Canada, but not being able to drive around really limits my errand running abilities.
I’m not sure how my orchid pictures came out, but I guess at the very least, if I develop a few good ones, I can maybe hang some pictures on my walls. It’s so seldom that I develop pictures now that my brother went so far as getting me a digital photo frame for Christmas.
Later on that night, I met up with Andrea for dinner at Umi-katzen Zushi to continue our Sydney Eats adventures. Sydney doesn’t really have all-you-can-eat sushi like in Toronto. It’s either a-la-carte or on one of those conveyor belts. Umi-Katzen Zushi was a conveyor belt style. They had some interesting sushi dishes including peking duck and BBQ pork. Admittedly, I was curious and tried them but I think that I’d have to pass next time around. Not that they tasted bad, it was just not what I was used to and I’d rather stick with fish as it seems healthier.
After dinner, Andrea and I headed over to Darling Harbour to listen to carols sung accapella by Ninety-Nine and a Half. I assumed the quartet named themselves this by adding up their combined age. I thought it was cute even if my math was totally off, as I’m sure most of the singers were past their quarter-life crisis.
I got sincerely teary-eyed when they started to singing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.” I think at that point, I was really looking forward to going back to Markham for a white Christmas. Celebrating Christmas in Sydney just isn’t quite the same as Toronto. In Sydney, it’s about BBQs and beaches, while in Toronto, it’s about being filling your stomach with warm dishes and hot chocolate while being bundled up and huddled up with friends and family to keep warm.
From Darling Harbour carolling, we walked to Town Hall to begin our light projection walking tour. I’m really glad that Andrea still had a functioning camera. We walked from Town Hall down George Street towards Macqarie Street to see the light projections at Hyde Park Barracks, the Mint, and the Library of New South Wales. Unfortunately, Andrea’s camera ran out of battery power, so we went back to her apartment to get it charged up. We also grabbed a few drinks at the very posh Observatory Hotel.
After the battery was somewhat charged, we continued our light projection walking tour at the Rocks where they had it at the Orient Hotel and a few other locations featuring the before and after of refurbishing of the few buildings. Despite the fact that the Rocks is already a historic place, some of the buildings had to be refurbished and renovated for stability. It still has an atomsphere of being a place with a lot of history.
After the Rocks, we headed over to the Conservatorium of Music, which looked absolutely brilliant. Despite the fact that the images being projected were ones that we had already seen, we still admired the beauty of light shining in the darkness on a magnificent building. We headed home after taking a few more shots of the Library of New South Wales, but it was getting late so we decided to head home via taxis.
Sunday, December 9, 2007 - Action!
It’s become a routine: grocery shopping on Sunday morning. However, I was only getting essentials since I was heading home next week.
Andrea and I met up for lunch at the Fish Market since we were itching to test out some of the food. When we got there, we were faced with an endless sea of people. We scoped out a few places to eat, but we realized that we needed to be strategic about our lunch or else we’d have no where to sit.
We found a four-seater table with only two people, so we asked if they didn’t mind company. Andrea was the first to go get food and she came back with a large plate of fried seafood of almost every variety. Meanwhile, I really wanted to taste really fresh sashimi, so I stood in a long line of similar-minded people. While standing in line, this guy had come up behind me bugging the fish market clerk about getting some mud crabs. I had no idea what mud crabs were and neither did the clerk, but I really wanted to get my sashimi and this guy was totally distracting the clerk.
Minutes later, I arrived back at the table where Andrea was waiting for me. Coincidentally, the mud crab guy was also there with his friend. As we spoke, the guys caught wind of our accents and we discovered that mud crab guy was a fellow Canadian with a BC’s driver’s license. The Canadian was a physiotherapist named Andrew and his friend, Kevin, was a born Australian working in IT as a project manager for one of our clients.
Andrea and I had planned to go home and pack after the fish market lunch, but andy and kevin invited us to a boxing match in Broadway Hotel, which wasn’t very far, so we decided to join. Well, actually, I agreed to go and convinced Andrea into it.
We had bought some fresh food from the fish market and wanted to take the stuff back to my apartment being heading to Broadway. Unfortunately, while walking to Broadway, it had started to rain and only Andrea had brought an umbrella. Furthermore, the guys had already biked to Broadway and there was no boxing match there, but rather a pub at Glebe. As it continued to rain, we ran to Glebe looking for this pub. We finally reached it half soaking, but luckily found seats. The match was pretty exciting and it was cool to watch amongst a cheering crowd on a big screen TV.
After the match, we all headed over to Badd Manors, a coffee shop. Kevin and I continued to reminisce about Canada and I told him that I had missed hot chocolate. Being away from Canada for the past ten years, he was missing it too and decided to order it at the coffee shop.
Kevin and Andy had been at the fish market with plans to have a BBQ at Andy’s place and they invited Andrea and I for a BBQ in the future. Instead of the BBQ, the guys went back to their house to pick up their car at Five Docks to pick us up for dinner at Superbowl for their infamous pepes (read: pip-ees).
Andrea and I were telling the guys about the light projections and so the guys drove around the city to check them out. Kevin didn’t seem to keen on seeing the projections, but Andy was rather excited.
It was quite an eventful day! Who knew that so many adventures awaited us days away from our trip back home?
Friday, December 7, 2007 - Lights
Thank goodness the small groups training was cancelled. I feel like I've been waking up insanely much earlier than I did back in Toronto. I am not a morning person!
Still, I arrived in the office around 8:30am to meet with Jac and Sarah, so we could drive to Moorebank to help out the Salvation Army with packing hamper bags with various goodies to sell at the "Candles in the Domain" event. On the drive there, I mentioned to Jac that I hadn't had a good bowl of Pho for a LONG time. She suggested that for lunch, we should go to Bankstown where there was a place her family frequented for Pho.
It was great to do a bit of charity work just like back at home during Christmas time. Had I been back in Toronto, I would have likely volunteered to giftwrap again. I went to Markville Mall yesterday where I saw some giftwrappers and remembered my time last year and every year since then. I probably have some selfishness built into my act of selfishness, because I like presents being wrapped nicely. Jac and I spoke about it while we were packing the bags and agreed that guys mostly don't know how to wrap gifts or try to wrap gifts. I gave her an exception to the rule that I experienced. The day of the journal. It haunted me again. Well, perhaps, haunt is not the correct term to use, because it truly was a thoughtful gift. Plus, it was wrapped. Plus, he personalized it. But, I promised myself to leave all that behind in Canada and move on.
So, we moved quickly that day and worked up an appetite to go to Bankstown. The restaurant, An, had decent pho. I still think Pho 88 is damn good pho for the price that you pay, but I guess in Sydney, for most things, you pay for what you get. It wasn't super expensive and at least I had more options, but Bankstown would be quite away from the city if I ever had a pho craving.
After lunch, we headed back to Moorebank and finished the bags and then restocked all the supplies. Meanwhile, rain pounded on the rooftop and we took that as a sign to head back to the city as traffic would be horrible in this weather.
Driving down the freeway, the rain was just pouring down and I felt like it was spilling all over the place. It was a mess! This was the biggest rain storm yet!
Luckily, we got home to my place in one piece. Sarah, Jac, and I each took turns getting ready for the Studio 54 party that night. Jac was awesome! She also helped me curl my hair. I got complimented heaps later on that night.
That night was a MAJOR party at the Exhibition Centre. I have to give it to Sydney. They know how to party. I really wasn’t sure what to wear for the theme of Studio 54. I guess a lot of other people didn’t know either. I saw Elvis’ with afro’s and flashy outfits with mullet hair. It felt so wrong, but so right to see all the outlandish outfits as the same time.
While the girls looked their usual best, the guys really put out a way better show. The aforementioned dress plus there seemed to be groups competing to be the best Village People. One of the highlights was to see the groups of Village People go up and sing YMCA along with the awesome band. The music was grooving and everyone was grooving along with it.
However, I’d have to say the food at the Canadian party was definitely better. Irregardless, each party has its own charm. Sometimes, you need to let loose and party and other times, it’s great to get dolled up and roll out the red carpet for yourself.
Tonight was a night of strobing lights, parading outfits, and grooving music. Tonight was my first big party in Sydney.
>Saturday, December 8, 2007 - Camera
After a night of partying, I was hesitant to wake up Victor. I’m pretty sure he stayed up way later than me. However, this was one of the few weekends he was back in Sydney from Brisbane. He kept his word and dragged himself out of bed to take me to Myers to exchange the extra toaster oven that he and a few others gave to me as a housewarming gift.
We shopped around a bit at Myers, but I had my heart set on getting an air mattress for my future visitors to Sydney. We walked to other places within the city and even stopped for a smoothie! Finally, we drove to Broadway to pick up the air mattress and a lawn chair.
Vic was nice to drop me off home and then drive me to the Royal Botantical Gardens as I had plans to go see the exhibition, “Sex and Death.” Now, before any of you get the wrong idea… do you really think that I could go see something like that when I was even slightly scared when I was walking around in the Red Light District of Amsterdam?
So, to clarify, “Sex and Death” was an exhibition of orchids in an area of the Gardens that reminded me of the Louvre. I love orchids. I think they are unique in their own right, but what I like most is that the flower has lasting power! I love things that are low maintenance and still are beautiful in their own right.
The unfortunate thing about today was that my camera broke down. How disappointing! Hence, my name for this journal entry as “Camera.” I told Lawrence about it later on and he actually helped me google how to fix it. Apparently, a lot of other people had the same problem. I think it might have been from dropping the camera the other day in the Fish Market, but it was odd that it worked all through my time in Brisbane.
Anyway! So, apparently, accordingly to Lawrence, I was supposed to bang my camera lightly while turning it on. Then, voila! My camera would be fixed. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this out till weeks later and I had so many more pictures to take for today and the rest of my time in Sydney.
I ran out and got a disposable camera until I could fix or get a new digital camera. However, to be honest, I still haven’t developed them yet! I should get on that. Not sure where I even put it. I had intended to get it done at Shoppers when I was back in Canada, but not being able to drive around really limits my errand running abilities.
I’m not sure how my orchid pictures came out, but I guess at the very least, if I develop a few good ones, I can maybe hang some pictures on my walls. It’s so seldom that I develop pictures now that my brother went so far as getting me a digital photo frame for Christmas.
Later on that night, I met up with Andrea for dinner at Umi-katzen Zushi to continue our Sydney Eats adventures. Sydney doesn’t really have all-you-can-eat sushi like in Toronto. It’s either a-la-carte or on one of those conveyor belts. Umi-Katzen Zushi was a conveyor belt style. They had some interesting sushi dishes including peking duck and BBQ pork. Admittedly, I was curious and tried them but I think that I’d have to pass next time around. Not that they tasted bad, it was just not what I was used to and I’d rather stick with fish as it seems healthier.
After dinner, Andrea and I headed over to Darling Harbour to listen to carols sung accapella by Ninety-Nine and a Half. I assumed the quartet named themselves this by adding up their combined age. I thought it was cute even if my math was totally off, as I’m sure most of the singers were past their quarter-life crisis.
I got sincerely teary-eyed when they started to singing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.” I think at that point, I was really looking forward to going back to Markham for a white Christmas. Celebrating Christmas in Sydney just isn’t quite the same as Toronto. In Sydney, it’s about BBQs and beaches, while in Toronto, it’s about being filling your stomach with warm dishes and hot chocolate while being bundled up and huddled up with friends and family to keep warm.
From Darling Harbour carolling, we walked to Town Hall to begin our light projection walking tour. I’m really glad that Andrea still had a functioning camera. We walked from Town Hall down George Street towards Macqarie Street to see the light projections at Hyde Park Barracks, the Mint, and the Library of New South Wales. Unfortunately, Andrea’s camera ran out of battery power, so we went back to her apartment to get it charged up. We also grabbed a few drinks at the very posh Observatory Hotel.
After the battery was somewhat charged, we continued our light projection walking tour at the Rocks where they had it at the Orient Hotel and a few other locations featuring the before and after of refurbishing of the few buildings. Despite the fact that the Rocks is already a historic place, some of the buildings had to be refurbished and renovated for stability. It still has an atomsphere of being a place with a lot of history.
After the Rocks, we headed over to the Conservatorium of Music, which looked absolutely brilliant. Despite the fact that the images being projected were ones that we had already seen, we still admired the beauty of light shining in the darkness on a magnificent building. We headed home after taking a few more shots of the Library of New South Wales, but it was getting late so we decided to head home via taxis.
Sunday, December 9, 2007 - Action!
It’s become a routine: grocery shopping on Sunday morning. However, I was only getting essentials since I was heading home next week.
Andrea and I met up for lunch at the Fish Market since we were itching to test out some of the food. When we got there, we were faced with an endless sea of people. We scoped out a few places to eat, but we realized that we needed to be strategic about our lunch or else we’d have no where to sit.
We found a four-seater table with only two people, so we asked if they didn’t mind company. Andrea was the first to go get food and she came back with a large plate of fried seafood of almost every variety. Meanwhile, I really wanted to taste really fresh sashimi, so I stood in a long line of similar-minded people. While standing in line, this guy had come up behind me bugging the fish market clerk about getting some mud crabs. I had no idea what mud crabs were and neither did the clerk, but I really wanted to get my sashimi and this guy was totally distracting the clerk.
Minutes later, I arrived back at the table where Andrea was waiting for me. Coincidentally, the mud crab guy was also there with his friend. As we spoke, the guys caught wind of our accents and we discovered that mud crab guy was a fellow Canadian with a BC’s driver’s license. The Canadian was a physiotherapist named Andrew and his friend, Kevin, was a born Australian working in IT as a project manager for one of our clients.
Andrea and I had planned to go home and pack after the fish market lunch, but andy and kevin invited us to a boxing match in Broadway Hotel, which wasn’t very far, so we decided to join. Well, actually, I agreed to go and convinced Andrea into it.
We had bought some fresh food from the fish market and wanted to take the stuff back to my apartment being heading to Broadway. Unfortunately, while walking to Broadway, it had started to rain and only Andrea had brought an umbrella. Furthermore, the guys had already biked to Broadway and there was no boxing match there, but rather a pub at Glebe. As it continued to rain, we ran to Glebe looking for this pub. We finally reached it half soaking, but luckily found seats. The match was pretty exciting and it was cool to watch amongst a cheering crowd on a big screen TV.
After the match, we all headed over to Badd Manors, a coffee shop. Kevin and I continued to reminisce about Canada and I told him that I had missed hot chocolate. Being away from Canada for the past ten years, he was missing it too and decided to order it at the coffee shop.
Kevin and Andy had been at the fish market with plans to have a BBQ at Andy’s place and they invited Andrea and I for a BBQ in the future. Instead of the BBQ, the guys went back to their house to pick up their car at Five Docks to pick us up for dinner at Superbowl for their infamous pepes (read: pip-ees).
Andrea and I were telling the guys about the light projections and so the guys drove around the city to check them out. Kevin didn’t seem to keen on seeing the projections, but Andy was rather excited.
It was quite an eventful day! Who knew that so many adventures awaited us days away from our trip back home?