A Fortnight in Glebe

As sad I was to leave New Zealand behind for now, this was a pretty nice “welcome back!” view that I got form the airplane:

I landed back in Sydney not 100% sure how long I’d be staying. My new job wanted me up there towards the end of January, but I didn’t have an exact date when I got back. The plan was to just stay in Sydney until it was time to go up to the outback though. I had toyed with a couple of ideas for what to do with myself during the approximately 2 weeks I’d have in between my plans. I was initially hoping that I’d be able to squeeze some farm work in, just for the experience. I had a recommendation for a great working hostel (a hostel in sort of a not so exciting area whose main function is to house and hook up backpackers with local farm work in the area) a few hours north of Melbourne, but in the end I realized that it would be cramming too much in. I also thought of calling up one of my employment agencies to see if I could get some work for the 2^nd week in Sydney. In the end I canned that idea as well, not out of laziness but because my to-do list was just super long. Plus I wanted to see the friends I have here, since this will be the last time in my itinerary that I’m in Sydney for anything resembling an extended period of time.  My stops down the road will be more popping back into town in between travel legs then actually spending any time here. So I booked 2 weeks in at the same quiet hostel in Glebe that I stayed at before I went to New Zealand, and that was that.

What have I been doing the past couple of weeks then? Jeez, I don’t know what filled up all the hours, but they sure got filled up quickly. First I had to pick up my bags of course, which was a project. Here’s all of them on the bus:

I went through all of my things, separating them into items to be shipped home, items to be taken to the outback, and items to be put into storage in Sydney. I shipped 2 boxes and 2 poster tubes home. I figured out how to roll over my retirement account from the wrong account that the employment agency shoved my funds into back to the correct account that I set up back in July. I finalized the date that I’m coming home. I had my original mobile phone fixed, so I no longer am using something that looks like it’s from 2001. I finally bought a backpacker backpack! His name is Stewart, after Stewart Island, which is where I had the realization that I would need to own a backpacker backpack. My poor suitcase has aged about 10 years in 6 months. I don’t want to kill it any more then it’s already been killed, so I went with what all the cool kids are doing and bought a giant 70-liter backpack. Here is a picture of me with my new bff Stewart!

Let’s see, what else… I bought a mosquito face net since apparently the flies in the outback are quite intense. I bought a raincoat and some plug adaptors that were sorely needed. I got a flashlight and extra toiletries and finally had my watch repaired and did heaps of laundry. I caught up on my journal and uploaded a bazillion pictures to facebook from my New Zealand trip, and worked on the blog. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but I’m also sure you’re already bored with this. It hasn’t been the most exciting 2 weeks, but it’s been productive.

I also did some fun stuff. I met my friend Julie from Jillaroo school twice for dinner in Glebe, where we checked out the local Mexican restaurants. They aren’t too bad, but they aren’t anywhere near the quality of what you can get at home. Australia needs more Mexicans. Cheryl and I went to Bondi Beach one day, to actually go to the beach. Never been there in summer before! We got tanning oil and everything, although the experience wasn’t what I’d hoped. It was windy and the sand stung horribly. I went in the water for a bit, but the waves and undertow are way too rough for my tastes. After I got knocked down and lightly bruised my butt in the process, I called it a day for the swimming. We did take a classic photo though, us at Bondi Beach, in Australian flag shorts, holding up a Bondi Beach towel. It’s pretty epic!:

Went for manicures & pedicures after, and then I helped make dumplings for dinner. Look: Behold, a photo of me making dough and using a rolling pin!

I can’t even remember the last time I touched a rolling pin. We hung out on the balcony afterwards, enjoying these lovely Long Island Iced Teas that we both like that are found at exactly one liquor store in all of Sydney. When I went to pick them up though, the liquor man informed me that they are being discontinued since they have become too expensive to produce. I bought 2 packs of them, one of which still remains, but after they are gone we shall never be able to drink them again. Sad.

I met up with her another day as well, with a grand plan of going to Sydney’s giant fish market, then over to Ashfield (sort of like Sydney’s version of Flushing – the Asian neighborhood that the tourists don’t really go to) for dumplings, then over to Cheryl’s Oz tag game, and then out for one last night in King’s Cross. We ended up going to only Ashfield. Poor Cheryl got a wicked case of food poisoning, from a work dinner to make matters worse. She started to feel worse as the day went on, so instead of partying in King’s Cross we spent the early part of the evening in the emergency room instead. Not too bad time wise though, we were there for about 3 hours. I felt absolutely awful for her. I’ve never had food poisoning like that, and I hope I never do. They gave her some medication to help, but essentially those sorts of things you just need to ride out. Yuck. Had a late dinner of tim tams and – wait for it – PEACH SNAPPLE – back at her place. There is ONE place in Sydney where you can buy 16 oz glass bottles of Snapple, but it’s imported, so you pay the price for it. Each bottle is $5. So it’s not something to drink every day, but every time I come back to Sydney in between travel legs I might just treat myself to one. Mmmmm…

I was so busy running around that I only got to gymnastics once in 2 weeks! I attempted to go twice, but the one gym was closed. It’s happened once before. They are a small, family run place, so while it’s great because I get lots of attention and instruction and it’s pretty inexpensive, every once in a while they do seem to randomly close on a whim. I did get to see my favorite Australian cat though on the way back, Mr. Bojangles!

I usually caught him on my way home from the gym Thursday nights when I lived in Enmore. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the cat during daylight hours before! A neighbor who was outside taking out the trash told me the cat’s real name: Maximus. I don’t like it. I liked the real name of the Hippo Lodge cat better (Her name was Moss – I had called her Snickers), but Mr. Bojangles is a MUCH better name than Maximus. I might put a note in his house’s mailbox to let his owners know.

Managed to get to my other gym this past Friday night though, which was interesting. I haven’t been to the gym since before New Zealand, so we’re talking a little over 7 weeks since I last attempted to bend myself. The stuff I can do that required technique was still there, albeit a tad rusty. I had to throw things sometimes a half dozen times or so before they came back. But my split is still there, and my back & shoulder flexibility, while a bit tighter than what it was, isn’t too bad at all considering the length of time I’ve gone without stretching and how ancient I am. I did notice a difference on bars though. Things that I did with ease 2 months ago were a bit of a struggle. I’ve definitely lost some of that body strength I acquired while I was living in Enmore and going to the gym a lot. That stinks for now, but I’m not too worried. One day when I’m settled like a real person again and can go to the gym consistently, I’ll get it all back. For now I just wanted to have my body go through the motions and stretch out a bit, so that it doesn’t forget everything it’s learned.

The scary moment of the 2 weeks: My cat is special. He’s a bit of a nutcase, which I already knew, but now he’s medically special too. Apparently he was born with genetically defective kidneys. They are larger than they are supposed to be. He started acting really strangely, so my parents took him into the vet, which is how we found out about it. He had to stay for a few days and got IV medication, which my poor mother has to continue at home. So now we have to keep an eye out on this, and might need to take him back to the vet down the road for further treatments to keep his kidney function in check. He should be OK, and he can live for many more years – I mean, he’s already almost 5 and he’s had funny kidneys since he was born – with his condition, but in the end I imagine he won’t be setting any records in the kitty lifespan department. Hopefully he will have many more long years ahead of him though, filled with wailing for no reason and giving me dirty looks, but it’s certainly scary to find out that your pet has genetically defective organs. But he’s a little trooper, so I have faith that he’ll be around attacking me and then having my parents yell at ME for starting it for many more years to come. I may enjoy the company of Mr. Bojangles, and I certainly did meet many lovely cats in New Zealand, but this is the only one that matters:

Lastly, as you may have noticed me mention, I have an end date! Yes, there is an end date to all of this madness. I will be arriving at 8:10 pm on Friday, August 17^th on Flight VS009 from Heathrow.

Are we confused yet? Do we know where Heathrow is? You live under a rock if you don’t, it’s one of the world’s most well known (and busiest) airports. London, baby, London!!!!!

I’m going home the long way, flying over Asia and Europe instead of over the Pacific Ocean and the U.S. Why, you may ask? Good question. Well, I put in a bid for tickets to the Olympics like a bazillion years ago, and I got tickets to 2 of the 3 gymnastics prelim sessions. Now I wasn’t going to fly to London, watch 4 hours of gymnastics, pay a zillion pounds per night for accommodation, and then fly home. But my Australia trip started creeping up towards the end-July mark (I originally thought I’d be home by the end of June), and then I happened to meet a wonderful friend – who also likes gymnastics – who happens to live in London, and said I could stay at her place. So then the gears started churning in my head. My plan had been to leave Australia at the end of July and be home in time to watch the Games on TV. But MAYBE, I could leave Australia the same date, just fly home via London instead, and just hop off the plane and check out the Olympics? Brilliant! And if I’m going to be in the U.K. then anyone who knows me knows that I simply MUST go to Paris as well, so in the end I just stuck on a 3-week stopover in Europe. I figure I might as well do it now. Once I’m home I will need to find work immediately and then I plan to live like a gremlin, emerging only when someone pays me to do something. So there will be no vacations for a while, especially no long ones to Europe. So I figure, might as well take advantage of a perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity to go to the Olympics and visit my beloved France as well. Who knows when I’ll have the funds/time off to get back there again? Might be a couple of years. So wooo hoo for USA Gymnastics and for raw, non-pasteurized cheese! I’m a comin’!!!! It’ll be good mentally too I think. It’ll be sort of emotional leaving Australia behind, but this way instead of going straight back to reality, I have one last fun stop before I head back and need to find a job. The Olympics!!!! I’m going to get to see Olympic gymnastics in person! And even though I’ll still have to watch the finals on TV, I’ll get to be IN London, right where all the action is happening. Plus I’ll get to hang out with Suzy again, and she can meet Stewart. Suzy was the one who helped me realize that Stewart needed to be purchased.

So that’s what’s new in my life. Today I took the ferry over to Manly and walked around, then had my last quickie dumpling session with Cheryl. Tomorrow I’m moving to the outback! The ACTUAL outback, as in the place in the world that the horrible chain steakhouse is based on. I’m excited and nervous as well. Moving to a new place in the world where I have no friends, plus I have to learn a new job. I hope it’ll be fun, and I really hope that I can save up some money. Now that Europe’s been thrown into the mix, I have to be a bit more cautious about funds.

No mobile phone service for me until I’m back in Sydney. Based on what I understand I will have internet though. Gosh I hope that’s accurate. Not so much because I’m a princess who can’t live without it, but I need to keep my blogs coming – plus I need to plan my backpacking journey around Australia, my New Zealand the Sequel trip, and this freshly tacked-on sojourn in Europe.

Wish me luck in the outback! Just checked the weather in Alice Springs, which is where I’m flying into. It was 42 degrees Celsius  today – that’s about 107 F for us Americanos. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice J