Dumpling Hunt, Eels, & the Brunner Failure

Things are moving along here… I finally have the date when I’ll be putting in my 2 weeks notice to vacate my townhouse! But let’s go in order here… I left you all hanging last the day before my marathon day. And by marathon, I mean working all day then flipping for hours then going out all night. I certainly don’t mean an actual marathon. I really don’t enjoy running.

So the week before last, I went to work all day long and then went to the gym. All of this was relatively ordinary. Usually I go home after and crawl into bed, but not this time! In an effort to recapture my youth, I went home and instead of throwing on the sweats, I threw on the foundation and black eyeliner. Cheryl and her friend Jared got to my place around 11, and we chatted and enjoyed some yummy Long Island Iced Teas. They come in bottles here! Do they come in bottles at home? I’ve never seen them bottled before, it’s pretty snazzy. We then cabbed it up to Kings Cross. We went to a couple of places, with a pit stop at McDonalds in the middle. The beverages at the first place weren’t so hot, but the entertainment was amusing J At the second place the three of us split a nice bottle of sparkling champagne. The décor was good as well, but their bathrooms were unisex and incredibly confusing. Now I know I’d had some wine (and an iced tea) but I’m 100% sure that even without that, those bathrooms would have still been incredibly perplexing. Luckily enough, the first place gave us a stamp so we could come and go as we pleased, and return we did! Their drinks may have been a bit blah, but their bathrooms were nice and clean, and most importantly, straightforward. A trip to the bathroom shouldn’t be an intellectual challenge.

Naturally the next day at work was a bit of a long one. I worked the 12:30-9 shift though, so I was able to get up late and take a cab home and charge it to the company. I like not paying for cabs. It’s a lot of fun. Of course, that day was also the day when I received the CRAZIEST phone call I’ve ever gotten at HSBC. The caller was a rotten old woman named Lady Mary Fairfax. She was mean and nasty, but to the point where it wasn’t even offensive, it was just comical. I spent half of the call going back and forth with her assuring her that we weren’t in the Philippines. Apparently I sound like I’m from Manila? She refused to believe me and told me I was a liar. I gave her our number so she could call back as “proof” that we were in Sydney. Naturally I happened to get her call back as well, and then we launched into round 2 of the You’re in the Philippines – No, I’m in Sydney argument. She was looking for a specific person I think to speak to about depositing money (I think), but it had absolutely nothing to do with our department whatsoever in any way shape or form. But because she was a mean old hag who refused to tell anyone anything, she just kept getting bounced from call center to call center. I eventually gave the call to one of the managers. I listened in for a bit while she accused him of being in the Philippines as well (he’s a white guy born and raised in Australia, with a clear Aussie accent…) and then I got bored and hung up. It was entertaining though, helped me get through the day.

Sunday of that week we had trivia at work. Australians seriously love their trivia, which is cool with me since I love trivia too! The categories were less than stellar though. Lots of rugby, looney tunes and star wars, which as most of you probably know, none of those things are my forte.  I did, however, get the capital of Mongolia correctly. Anyone else out there ever heard of Ulaanbaatar?  It’s on my list of random places to visit one day, along with the –stan countries.

Monday night was an interesting one. Cheryl and I embarked on a CBD Dumpling Hunt. We’d already hit up 2 of my places in Ashfield, so this time we planned to hit up two places that she’d read about. The evening ended up being quite the dumpling adventure. The first place on her list was on George Street, down in the Chinatown section. It was a very nice restaurant, but when we sat down and opened the menus, they only had regular food! We wanted dumplings! Apparently they only do the dim sum/yum cha/dumpling scene for lunch. Rats! So we moved on.

We went to another one of my suggestions next, since it was also on George Street and only a few blocks up. It was quite crowded and we had to wait about 25 minutes for a table, which I figured was a good sign. The food must be decent if so many people are after it! I naturally ordered my soup dumplings, and Cheryl got some veggie ones. We split a fried rice and shrimp dish too. It was all quite yummy. Next, we headed up to Cheryl’s second choice of restaurant, but as it was located in the Pitt street mall, it seemed to be already closed up for the night since it was already around 9 pm. Rats again! We were only 1 for 3 with the dumpling search. Where o where would dinner the sequel be found?? The 4^th option was another one of my recommendations. I had recalled that the other place I had read about in the CBD for good soup dumplings was also on Pitt Street. We walked down to 373 Pitt Street, searching for a restaurant called “Sea Bay,” but there was nothing to be found. We asked a guy in a small grocery store if he knew where Sea Bay was. He did not. Rats for the third time. We were now 1 for 4 for the evening. What to do?

We decided to head to Chinatown. There MUST be decent dumplings in Chinatown, right? On the walk over there however, I suddenly recalled my first soup dumpling restaurant that I had discovered in Sydney. It was about halfway between the missing Sea Bay restaurant and Chinatown, and was therefore on the way. It was located in a mall of sorts as well, so I wasn’t sure if they’d be open, but they did have decent dumplings so I figured it was worth a shot. We had a tough time getting down into the mall as all of the escalators down were closed and blocked off for the night. Most of the stores were either shut or in the process of closing, but the three restaurants down there, including my dumpling establishment, were still open! Huzzah! Dinner part 2 was found. I got more soup dumplings at last, and we split a yummy noodle dish as well. We snuck in just before the kitchen closed too… perfect timing. Final tally for the dumpling day: 2 for 5. But those 2 were homeruns J

I was stuffed and ready to go to bed after, but we ended up going for a drink instead since I recalled that the Shark Hotel was nearby, and I really did want to check that place out. I’d heard people at Five Dock talking about it, plus any bar with a picture of a great white shark on it has to be super fun? The place was actually deceptively large and snazzy based on its exterior awning. I was quite impressed with it. Multiple floors and rooms, with a nice open floor plan. Good spot. I tried a cider on tap. It was good. Do we have ciders on tap at home too? I can’t recall ever seeing any.

Tuesday (still last week here of course) Cheryl and I met up at Circular Quay and checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens. There’s a lookout point in there where you can get great photos of the opera house with the bridge in the background, cause you know I don’t have enough of those yet. We took some nice scenic shots:

On the walk back towards the opera house, we noticed a bunch of kids throwing bread into the pond and squealing. I went over to check it out. I couldn’t imagine why children were squealing watching pond koi fish eat stale bread. Once I got to the water, I understood why the kids were squealing. They were not feeding pretty orange koi fish. They were feeding these:

WTF??? Why are there eels in the Royal Botanical Gardens?? Creepy. Someone needs to inform the groundskeeper that koi are much more aesthetically pleasing, and give off much less of a villainous vibe. I half expected Ursula the sea witch to pop out of the water and ask me for my voice…

Next was a tour of the opera house! I probably won’t go to any performances there (too expensive!!) but at least I got to see the inside. It’s quite plain in there actually. The most interesting aspect of it is the external architecture. But it was still cool to be inside it and see the different theaters and stages (there are quite a few in there), and to learn about the history of the place. There was a bit of a funny moment during the tour for me though. I was randomly looking at a banner listing top donors to the Australian Opera Fund, and look who I found! 9th from the bottom:

I googled her after. Apparently she’s a big philanthropist worth like $300 mil. Someone should inform her that while its all well and good to donate money, manners and common courtesy do go a long way as well…

Wednesday I went on an odd adventure of sorts. It requires a bit of background information, but I’ll keep it brief. There was a book that I found in Olin Library while I was at Cornell, and although I took it out of the library a half dozen times, I never got around to actually reading it. It’s on a book on ancient Egyptian sorcery, written in French.  When I went up to visit Cornell last summer, I popped into the library and searched for the book’s call number to go and visit my old friend. When I did the search, the results also listed all of the other university libraries in the world where the book was located. There weren’t many on the list, as the book is pretty random. The search results listed the libraries in order of distance from Ithaca. I scanned through the list. The farthest copy of the book that existed was in Sydney, Australia. I said to myself, one day I’ll get to Australia and I’ll take a picture of the Sydney copy of it too!

Well here I am, and it was a cruddy rainy day, perfect for heading off to a library. I only recalled from last summer that the book was in Sydney, not at which university specifically. I did a search and found that the book was located at Macquarie University. Ugh. The University of Sydney? Walkable from here. The University of New South Wales? A quick bus ride away. Macquarie? That’s up by Epping, waaaaaaaaay up in the northern suburbs. That’s a schlep.

I experimented with transportation options in getting up there, and ended up outsmarting myself and getting on a bus that didn’t go where I wanted it to go. I got lost and had to walk map-less for an hour until I finally got back to a train station. I then stopped trying to be slick (and cheap) and just paid for the damn train and finished the journey.

Once on campus, I found the library fairly easily. I headed for the section where the book should have been based on the call number. The surrounding books were all on Egypt, so I figured my book should be in there. I scanned the numbers, and……… zilch. Nothing. Not there. Macquarie’s website said they had 1 copy. Why was it not there????

I wandered around the library aimlessly for a bit, unsure of my next move. Was that it? Had a dragged by butt all the way up there for such an epic failure? I then pulled out my post-it again, where I had written down the call number and location of the book. I had written down Brunner collection, Level 2. Well I certainly was on level 2, but perhaps I had not been in the Brunner collection? A ray of hope! I moseyed on over to the touch screen map. Where is this “Brunner Collection”? Aha! It was a small random room, off to the side and in the back of the library.

I wandered in, and searched more call numbers. The surrounding books were all about Egypt. I scanned the letters and numbers, but again to no avail. Where is my book???? I then quickly realized that I was still in the wrong section. I had wandered into the Reserve collection, which according to the map is right next door to Brunner. Ooopps. Third time’s a charm?

I went down the hall, and found it. Small room, glass walls and door with “Brunner Collection” written in fairly large letters down the side. Epic fail no more! Ha! I was on the cusp of visiting the farthest copy of Magie et Magiciens dans l’Egypte Ancienne that exists from Ithaca, New York. I walked up to the room. The door was shut, and there was a kid in there sitting at one of the desks watching me. I pulled the door. It did not open. Locked. LOCKED. After all that, the door is LOCKED. I could see the shelves. My book is in there! I have travelled 9,900 miles, and taken one  very expensive train ride up to the damn northern suburbs, to reach…. a locked door?  It appeared to be key card or ID card access only. I walked over to the circulation desk to inquire. Um, do you have to be a student to walk into Brunner? She didn’t specifically answer the student requirement part, but she did say that in order to obtain access you have to apply through the ancient history department. Only those with approved access can go in. But I’m assuming without a student ID card for this department to activate, then you can’t go in. So that was that. No visiting Magie et Magiciens for me. So here’s as close as I got:

This work week has been fairly dull. I haven’t done much. My gym was surprisingly closed on Thursday night, which was disappointing. The US Dollar has gained strength against the Aussie dollar, so that’s exciting. I still have no roommate! It’s been 2 full weeks of solitude. I am treasuring every moment.

Tom and Claire are leaving on Thursday! That’ll be weird not having them here anymore. Moritz has left recently as well, so if no one new moves in before Thursday, then it will be just me and Maurice in the house. I worry about the new people they’ll move in. I don’t want the tide of the house to change. We are the quiet, mellow house. I’d like to keep it that way.

For anyone out there still on the edge of his or her seat wondering where the Sea Bay restaurant is, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you. I thought the address was 373 Pitt street. I was wrong. It was 372. Now in most places in the world, 372 would have been just across the street and we would have spotted it anyway, but things don’t seem to work like that in Sydney. 372 Pitt Street was like 2 blocks away. I did find the restaurant the other day though, so I now still have one more CBD soup dumpling place to check out.

That being said however, I’m moving out November 6^th! Where am I going? Well, HSBC will be over right before then, so I’ve booked 2 weeks of what will in the end be a 3 week trip, It’s more of two “classes” though then just tours. I’ll go into more details in the next entry, once everything is confirmed and set to go. What happens when I land back in Sydney after my 3-week trip is over? Where will I go? That’s a great question. Anyone out there have an answer? I sure don’t! J