Elsja Down Under

A Perfect Day January 28, 2010

The sun was nice enough to peep out from behind the clouds for just one day this week.  Of all the days for the sun to make an appearance, Tuesday the 26th was the most optimal day. Why? Because Tuesday was Australia Day… the Aussie equivalent of the 4th of July.

Our day consisted of the typical Australian traditions- a BBQ and lots of drinking. This year we had an added bonus… a swimming pool. I have to say that pools are one of the biggest things I miss from California. It just seems like pools in this country are quite rare and so people typically just go to the beach. While the beach is nice, there’s nothing like lying on a raft in the water for hours on end without having to worry about fish, sharks and seaweed. A big thanks goes out to Alex, Brendan and Kristin for hosting such a fun party!

Australia day was my perfect type of  day. Summer sun, good friends, a refreshing pool, delish food and beverages and of course, Andrew.

Why can’t every day be just like this one?

For more fun in the sun pics- CLICK HERE.

Aussie-ism Slips of the Tongue January 14, 2010

I’ve definitely picked up some Aussie-isms since moving here over 2 years ago. I think them in my head quite often, but I don’t usually speak them out loud. Really I like to think I’m just picking up Andrew-isms but when I was home in June last year my friends quickly pointed out that ‘yeaaauuuhhh’ (probably best if you hear it, not read it) is definitely not just something Andrew says. They all laughed at me and said it was totally Aussie.  But really, that didn’t count as a slip of the Aussie tongue. Honestly, that was just picking up how Andrew talks- it doesn’t necessarily represent all Australians… at least I don’t think it does.

I just don’t think I verbalize many of the Aussie-isms I pick up. I feel that’s because I find it quite annoying when Americans move here and within 2 weeks they’ve acquired an accent, have started spelling differently and start referring to their moms as their mums. I still refuse to write or say “mum” unless I am specifically writing it about an Australian person’s mum. Like today for instance, I was writing an email to Andrew’s brother and I wrote “my mom and your mum blah blah blah…” Yes, I really did spell it differently when I was referring to my mother versus his mother. I clearly filter what I say and write depending on the person I’m talking to. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with picking up the lingo and slang after a few years, but I guess I tried so hard not to be one of those lameos that thinks they have become an Aussie the minute they walk through those airport doors that now it’s actually weird if I say something that sounds Australian.  

So my first official slip of the tongue occurred this week when I was speaking to American clients back home. I said “How are you going?”  No, I didn’t say “how are you doing?”  This was definitely ” how are you going.” I guess it’s good that at least I said how ARE YOU going instead of the traditional “how ya’ goin’?”  I also suppose it’s good that it took me over two years to let that one slip to an American. I was shocked when I said it  and immediately thought “they must be so confused… they won’t know how to respond.” I don’t even remember if they did respond because I was too busy pondering my verbal slip.

But I promise… even though I let that one spill out, I will NOT be saying brekkie, pressies, bikkie, cozzie, dunny or any of those other EEEE words any time soon. Those ones still drive me nuts. Maybe in another two years…

I Live Here January 10, 2010

I don’t know about you but I love vacationing in tropical places with beautiful crystal clear water. When planning a trip I scope out pictures of the beaches to try to find the spot that looks the best. I’ve been to places like Cancun, Costa Rica, Maui and Fiji and the gorgeous clear oceans always make me so happy. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that I no longer have to take a vacation to enjoy these fine beaches. They are right in my own back yard!!

Yes… I live HERE:

This discovery took place on Saturday when Andrew, Mike, Hayley,  Ben and I went on the Bondi to Coogee walk (now I’ve completed 2/5 of#7 from my 101 list). It’s a 12km round trip trek with the most amazing views (clearly). I had heard a lot about the walk in the last 2 years that I’ve lived here but never quite made it past Tamarama.

I always knew Australia had beautiful beaches but come on… these are amazing! Look at that water! Why haven’t you all come to visit me yet? We could actually go to these beaches!

Unfortunately I did not get to go in the water since the purpose of our visit to paradise was to go on this long ass walk. So instead of a bikini, I was wearing tennis shoes and a sports bra. I think this beach is calling me back though… anyone up for a day in the sun in the next few weeks?

Check out a few more pictures if you want to see what else you are missing while you are all sitting in the cold US winter.

The Greatest Show on Earth January 1, 2010

No, I’m not talking about the circus. I’m talking about the Sydney Harbour fireworks on New Year’s Eve. I do believe that Sydney is probably the most amazing place to be to ring in the new year. Watch the video below and I’m sure you will find it hard to disagree. I recommend viewing in full screen mode. It’s a bit long but well worth it. Grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine and check out the view I had last night.

 I hope you all had a wonderful New year’s Eve and happy 2010 to you all!!

A Cross-Country Christmas December 28, 2009

I think 2009 was a really tough year for so many people. Between the economy, illnesses and injuries, relationship challenges, lost jobs and all the other unfortunate things that happened to family and friends, it feels like it will be good to have 2009 over and done with. So it seems only fitting that we should all end the year on a good note with my favorite holiday, Christmas. I think Christmas should make us all happy and put us in the right mood to start the new year off fresh and positive. Maybe we spent a little too much or ate a little too much, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without a few less pennies and a few more pounds, right?

Our Christmas was spent on two sides of a continent, literally. First we started off with a really nice Christmas Eve at Andrew’s cousin’s house. We had a wonderful BBQ and then enjoyed a fun Secret Santa/Kris Kringle gift exchange. We played the version where you can steal other people’s presents and so it made the game super exciting even though we had a $10 limit (it’s pretty hard to find decent gifts for $10). We headed home that night and Andrew and I had our own little Christmas together. We sat in front of our glittering tree and opened all of our presents for each other and also the ones that my parents gave us. It was a bit sad because it’s the first time in my life that I’ve had to open family presents without my family actually watching.  It’s something I’ll get used to eventually but I’m sure it will take some time.

On Christmas morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Andrew’s dad’s house. Each year everyone gets together for a breakfast BBQ to chow down on bacon and tomato rolls. I’m lucky and I got a very special (and delicious) omelette since I don’t eat bacon. After we all cleaned up we sat down to have our annual Christmas Kris Kringle gift exchange. Veronica was my secret Santa and she got me a set of appetizer plates which I had asked for. Yay, thanks VK! 

After a busy morning, Christmas was still just getting started.  Once Kris Kringle was finished Andrew, his mum and I headed toward the airport and jumped on a flight across the country to Perth. We arrived just in time to enjoy a delicious traditional Christmas dinner at Andrew’s aunt and uncle’s house. Dinner was followed by a family game of trivial pursuit and then we made our way to Andrew’s Nana’s house where we all spent the night. The rest of the quick weekend getaway included Andrew waking up at 4:50am to go for a run (even with the time difference he’s still nuts), lunch in Fremantle, a warm evening BBQ, a morning at the beach and finally a flight back to Sydney. The trip was short but sweet.

Being away from  my family and friends on Christmas is never easy, but having so much to do this year and spending it with ALL of Andrew’s family made it much more special. If you’re interested in seeing photos from this year’s Christmas festivities… click here. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Best wishes for a fabulous 2010.

I’m Dreaming of a Humid Christmas December 16, 2009

It may take me some time to get used to combining Christmas with Summer. I’m trying to listen to Christmas music every chance I get since I only have a few more weeks before the holidays are over. So yesterday when work was finished I plugged in my ipod and headed up the hill on my way to the beach. I huffed, I puffed and I sweat in the sun as I listened to “White Christmas” and “Sleigh Ride.” I don’t know about you, but I feel like there’s something really wrong about listening to “Baby it’s Cold Outside” when in fact baby it’s quite hot and humid outside.

I should be drinking pumpkin spice lattes and egg nog. Instead I’m eating watermelon and drinking iced tea.I should be wearing scarves and hoodies and enjoying the scent of burning fireplaces in the cool, crisp winter air.  Instead, I’m putting on my bathing suit and summer dresses and enjoying the scent of the sea salt on muggy summer afternoons.

The only thing that reminds me that Christmas is next week is the colorful Christmas tree standing in our living room. Even that seems out of place when I’m sweating here on my couch in shorts and a t-shirt. I just don’t know if I’ll ever get used to a summer Christmas. In fact you’ll probably see a blog just like this one next year… and the year after.

Since the days of roast turkey dinners and warm spiced cider are pretty much over for me I’ve decided we’ll just have to start some new festive Christmas traditions of our own. I feel like getting married will be a good starting point for us to begin creating these new traditions. I’ve already decided I want to have a Christmas party every year. My parents always had a party every year as far back as I can remember. It is one of my fondest memories from Christmas as a kid. Many times our parties would fall on Christmas Eve and the adults would let us stay up until midnight to see if we could hear the bells of Santa’s sleigh. I figure we can start of with small get togethers and work our way up to larger, more lavish parties once we actually have a decent house and higher incomes. Maybe we can also create some yummy, summery Christmas recipes to enjoy every year. I don’t know what all we will end up doing, but do I know that I need some ideas to help me adapt to this new version of the holiday season.

Any festive Christmas traditions for soon-to-be newlyweds would be greatly appreciated!

More Bad Luck Topped off w/ Some Suave & Sexy October 25, 2009

As if my ipod breaking wasn’t crappy enough after my good deed of helping to put out a fire, on Saturday I was the recipient of even more unfortunate bad luck. While I was simply trying to make some delicious fondue for everyone to enjoy at Yorky’s “Suave and Sexy” party, I had a little mishap.

 My hand caught on fire.

Yeah I didn’t spill something on a brand new dress or slip on a puddle causing my shoe to break or anything like that. I literally caught on fire. Note to self: After spilling methylated spirits on your hand while trying to fill a fondue pot burner, make sure to use soap to wash it off. Evidently when you simply wash it with water and then go to re-light the burner, a fireball will erupt burning your hand, the table and anything else surrounding the fondue pot.  Then you will have MORE bad luck and the brie won’t even melt properly and the fondue will be a disaster and look like a disgusting clumpy mess (although it will still taste alright).

Luckily I was able allow my hand to sit under cold running water for about 10 minutes and then I put ice on for another 15. I really think it helped because it’s just red now and I haven’t had any blister pop, unlike the burn on my arm from 2 weeks ago… yes, another burn… which left blisters and a scar.

What is with me and fire and burning body parts lately? 

Even with all the fire drama the night was still really fun! Everyone looked very suave and sexy… see:

There was tons of great finger food and loads of alcohol and fruit so everyone spent the night frequenting the blender to create fancy, tropical concoctions to sip on… or gulp down.

And oh what an awesome view we had:

Such a fun night, even if I did almost burn my hand off! Thanks to Alex, Kristin and Brendan for hosting a great party. And a special thanks to Brendan and whoever else helped put out the fire on the table while I was trying to put out the flames on my hand!

Two Years September 26, 2009

Two years ago today I arrived in Australia for good. I packed up, shed a few tears and got on that plane so I could head over the ocean to be with the boy that I love so dearly. TWO WHOLE YEARS! It really has flown by.

So what better way to celebrate my 2 year anniversary than to partake in a popular Aussie tradition… I headed to the races. I’ve always wanted to go to the races but in 2 years, I still had never been. I must say a BIG BIG THANK YOU to Audra who was fabulous enough to make it possible for me to attend. What girl doesn’t love getting dressed up and spending the day in the sun drinking champagne? Ok, I’m sure plenty of girls don’t- but I do! I even put one of those fancy schmancy fascinators in my hair- although it took me awhile to figure out how I was even supposed to put it on.

Yeah… so anyways… I’ve never gambled on horses. And guess what happend today when I did?

I WON!

AHHHH I WON SO MUCH MONEY!

I bet $3 and won $960!! Yes, that’s nearly A THOUSAND dollars from a $3 buck bet!! WOOHHOO

HAHAHAHAH YAYAYAYAY

Today was the best day EVER! 

Happy 2 year anniversary to me! YAY!

No Cartoons Please! September 14, 2009

One day we will probably have children and when wedo, please oh please do not buy our child gobbs of clothing with annoying cartoon characters all over them. Seriously- I don’t understandwhy people think this stuff is cute! While attempting to find a birthday present for Andrew’s cousin’s 2 year old, I was faced with the challenging task of finding something cute and reasonably priced. We had a gift idea originally but then I changed our plans and startedspecifically looking for a cute little bathing suit to go with a little bucket andshovel/spade that I found. I love doing theme gifts and I thought that would be a cute one since summer is coming. So we went searching for the suit.

Over an hour later, we settled on buying one of those horse on a stick things. You know, the ones that kids “ride” around on that make the galloping noises? Yeah, one of those. Why? you ask…What happened to your beachy theme gift? you ask…

I’ll tell you what happened… the crappy Australian children’s clothing selection is what happened! And now I will share my experience with you all.

1. First we went to Big W. This is where I had the inspiration for the gift when I found the little bucket and spade. I thought it was a great idea and should be fairly simple! So we headed to the children’s clothing section to look for a suit and after searching for ages we found 1… count that…  ONE bathing suit for a child under 5 years old. ONE! It was hideous.

2. Next we stopped at Pumpkin Patch and found the cutest bathing suite for a 2 year old. SWEET! I thought we had scored in the 2nd shop. This was too easy! But then I had a look at the price tag- nearly $40! No thanks.

3. Next was some other kid store- another CRAP selection of swim suits. We had to hunt and search and finally ask someone where we could find the suits. There were about 2 choices (literally), both heinous! In the U.S. there are whole bathing suit sections in kid stores. OH GOD how I miss Old Navy and U.S. quality Target!

4. Finally we headed to Target – SURELY Target has something right? I thought I had hit the jackpot when I spotted a bathing suit section in the distance. YAY a whole section! This is what I’ve been looking for. I see 3 suits from afar that look decent. I get excited. Oooh a cute little red suit with white polka dots! Woohoo it would even match the red bucket I bought. I grabbed it off the rack with excitement, turned it around and sighed and groaned audibly. Dorthy the freaking dinosaur! WHY oh WHY must people ruin perfectly good children’s clothing by slapping on a big giant ugly cartoon character??? Turns out all the other ones I saw from a distance also were tainted. Dora the Explorer and the Wiggles had to go and ruin them all.

So there we were…Andrew was sick of shopping and I was feeling very homesick… that’s how we ended up buying the horse on a stick (which was the gift idea we had from the beginning anyways)…

When we have kids one day in the far and distant future- please don’t buy anything with Winne the Pooh, The Wiggles, Dora, Elmo, or any of that other crap. I don’t want to have to pretend to like it all and then hide it in the back of the closet only to  pull it out and put it on our child for an hour when you come to visit. Kids have a right to be stylish too!

Join the Club July 28, 2009

We’ve started up this awesome new club… a social club.

It takes place on our balcony all day every day and you must be a bird to join. Here are the membership rules and benefits:

1. Fly over whenever you feel like it and enjoy free grapes

2. Sit around squacking and making copious amounts of noise  for hours on end when the club leaders run out of grapes

3. Crap all over the place 

4. Feel free to invite the non-regulars, even though they are a bit retarded and try to fly INTO windows (twice).

Don’t you wish you could join?

Dear Neighbors, Part 2 May 20, 2009

Dear Neighbors,

No… not you two… I’m talking to the ones upstairs who speak in some language I cannot decipher. I am really getting sick of your late night chats on the balcony. Seriously, I don’t hear you at all during the day or evening but for some reason you must go on to your balcony EVERY single night after 11:00 pm to have your daily 15 minute foreign chat. Oh and I REALLY don’t appreciate the random 1:00 am sessions. Those seriously suck.

It frustrates me that I can’t even eavesdrop and be nosey since I can’t understand you. Where the hell are you from anyways?? It frustrates me even MORE that you keep me awake at night. Don’t you need to sleep too?

Andrew was going to write you a letter once. Even though he USUALLY falls asleep before you start yacking, he really felt bad for me being kept up every night. But I stopped him from putting the note under your door one night at 3am because I didn’t think it was very nice. Here’s what it said in big black sharpie marker:

“SHUT THE F*%K UP”

I thought there must be a nicer way to go about asking you to be quiet, but considering I’ve lived here for over a year and a half and I still don’t think I’ve ever really seen your face, I  don’t exactly feel comfortable approaching you. So instead I just lie there each night waiting patiently for your 15 minutes of annoying chatter to end.

SO since I am afraid of confrontation, I’m REALLY happy that I now get to write this second letter to our OTHER neighbors. I thought I’d run it by you first. Let me know what you think…

-E

*********

Dear Other Mystery Neighbor,

You are wonderful.

When my boyfriend wanted to write a mean note to the yackies upstairs, I stopped him because I didn’t think it was very nice to use the F word. Well, clearly, that’s just something Australians do- or maybe just people in this apartment block. I remember on Halloween one guy in the block yelled “Oi F*%K off kids!!”  to some little teenage punks. That was pretty funny. Maybe that was your husband.

I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate what you did for all of us last night. I could hear you yelling “shut up!” numerous times. I just laid there smiling, comforted knowing that someone else had been feeling my pain all these nights. I always thought I may be the only one who was going crazy from their conversations. But the gabbers upstairs just didn’t hear you. I don’t know why because I certainly heard you, even with my window closed. So I found it thoroughly amusing when you finally screamed in your shrill, angry voice:

“SHUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUPPPPP. You F*%King talk out there EVERY NIGHT!”

Well, I think they finally got the hint because they did shut up and they went inside.

I truly think your message got through to them. Maybe using the F word really is the only way to get things done around these parts! Hopefully tonight we will all sleep a little easier!

Thanks again for taking care of the situation (and thanks to my BF who attempted to take care of the situation 2 weeks ago even though I intercepted his note and threw it in the trash bin).

-E

Is it Weird? May 15, 2009

Today I ventured out of the apartment for a few hours to meet up with some fellow ex-pats. Is it weird that I’ve never met these people in person (until today), never have even talked to them at all (until today) and yet I still know so much about them? No talking on the phone, no emailing, no texting… yet I still know tons of details about their day to day lives. Welcome to the wonderful world of bloggers! Today I met fellow ex-pat bloggers Daisy and Lindsay (and her friend Emily). I missed out on meeting Erin at lunch but there’s always next time right?

I only started reading Lindsay’s blog recently, so I’m not totally up to date on her life, but is it weird that as we walked around the Botanical gardens, I had conversations with Daisy about the guys she’s dated and her uni program? Is it weird that I knew all about the horrible blister on her foot? Is it weird that she was talking to me about the birds that visit my apartment everyday?

Is it weird that a foreign guy stopped us and asked us if  we would mind standing on his back as he laid on the grass while someone else took a picture?

Huh?

Yes, that actually happened. Here was how the conversation went:

Weird guy: Excuse me, are you all travelers? (detected our accents I suppose)

Us: ummmmm uuhhh yeah (hard to answer that one because yes, we are foreign but no, we’re not really “travelers”).

*** we suspect he is about to ask us for directions or something normal, but no… no such luck.***

Weird guy: I’m wondering if you might be able to help me. I’m trying to get a photo (pulling out fancy camera) but it’s kind of hard to get.  I basically want the photo of me lying on the grass with 2 people standing on my back.

Us:    …

Weird guy: You know, like I’m “down under”

Us:    …

Weird guy: I’ll give you $20 between the  four of you.

All of us: Uhhh ummm… ok???

Elsja and Daisy: Oh they can do it (pointing to Lindsay and Emily), they are the smallest!!

Weird guy: Oh how about one of you  (Lindsay/Emily) and one of you (Elsja/Daisy)

Daisy: She’ll do it (pointing to me), she’s shorter! (thanks by the way)

So, we decided to help the guy out. Either he was a really artsy person who genuinely wanted to get a shot to send back home of him “down under” OR he was a complete freak who gets turned on by REALLY weird things. Either way, it wasn’t going to hurt us to help him out. At least we have a funny story to tell now. Oh… and all of us were quite curious- why did he ask us if we were travelers? Wouldn’t local Aussies be better candidates if he wanted to be “down under”? Maybe he’s been told off by too many of them already. Seriously, have any of you out there ever had a weirder request from a stranger? If so, I’d love to hear it!

Lastly, while I’m on the topic of all things weird, I’d like to comment on this tree.  Amanda and Stephen took these photos last week and I didn’t think much of them until I actually went and saw the tree today.

First of all, this tree really DOES mysteriously drop random branches, I saw it happen with my own two eyes. Weird. But what’s even weirder is the sign. I hadn’t really thought about this until some guy pointed it out today. “This tree may drop branches without warning.”

Without warning?

Really? 

Is there any OTHER way this may occur? Like would the tree have some branch dropping alarm to notify you of falling branches? Would some guy sit in the tree all day to yell at people when one was about to fall?

Wouldn’t “This tree may drop branches” suffice?

Now I’m back to my normal apartment where I am doing normal work and am about to eat a normal dinner. Maybe later one of my neighbors will come ask me if I would mind putting on some rollerskates and helping them paint their living room. That wouldn’t be weird at all.

Another Fun Week in Sydney May 12, 2009

So what else did we do while Amanda and Stephen were here?  Well here’s a little list and a few pictures to fill you all in. I hardly have any good photos from their trip (Amanda took most of them)… but in case you are interested in seeing what I DO have, click  HERE  and  HERE.

So now for the list…

We ate dinner at Thai Intra (of course)

We had breakfast at Balmoral and walked around the beach.

We took the ferry to Circular Quay, had lunch at a little cafe in the Rocks and walked around Darling Harbour.

We had 2 fun dinners at home. I made my Mexican tortilla soup stuff and Amanda made her zucchini casserole. Casserole night also consisted of Paul coming for dinner and we all had some wine and played some board games and Wii… it was a fun night.

We went to Centrepoint tower for some ridiculously expensive drinks. Although I must say, Amanda’s lychee martini with”violet ravioli” was quite interesting and worth the $20 she paid for it. It came with this spoon full of little red jello type balls (violet ravioli) that burst open withliquid when you sucked on them. So you put one in your mouth, took a sip of the martini and squeezed the jello thingy and there was a flavor explosion in your mouth. VERY interesting and actually quite good.

We went to Wagamama for dinner, then headed to James Squire to watch some footy and then we headed off to Cargo for some drinks and tunes.

We had lunch in Bondi and walked around the cliffs a bit to check out the views

We went to Kris’ 30th birthday at Corner Bar in North Sydney.  We all proceeded to get quite drunk and I woke up so hungover that it was hard for me to say goodbye to my friends as they left for the airport. I do believe this was a good thing though. If I was in a normal mental state (ie. not overcome by the headache from hell and the need to puke) I probably would have been crying and depressed.

Additionally Amanda and Stephen went off on their own and did the following while I was working:

• Harbour Bridge climb
• Took the Hop on/Hop off bus
• Ate pies at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels
• Walked around the botanical Gardens/Opera house and saw all the bats
• Went to Wildlife world
• Had dinner in Kirribilli- attempted to go to Luna Park but it was closed
• Went to Manly Beach

I think that’s it… I’m sure I probably missed something but I’m sure Amanda can remind me if I did. I think we all had a great week. We packed a lot in to the 7  1/2 short days they were here and I was definitely tired Sunday afternoon… but it was all well worth it!!

One is Silver and the Other’s Gold May 11, 2009

Tonight as I was sitting down to blog, I was reminded of that old song I learned in Girl Scouts…

“Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other’s gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long I will be your friend.”

Ok, so does this mean new friends will never be as precious as the old?? That kind of sucks.

Every time I go back to California to visit , I remember what it’s like to have my best girlfriends there by my side! I love it and miss it and wish I could have my friends with me always. When I come back to Sydney, I kind of settle back in the comfort zone of hanging out with Andrew and his friends 98% of the time and that longing for my friends sort of dissipates. Of course I have made some friends here and they are all great, but the feeling just doesn’t compare to the feeling I have when I’m with the  friends I’ve known forever. It’s hard because some of my new friends live a bit too far to make it convenient to hang out… or, because some are really great but already have their established circle of besties that you only really join in on for special events. 

New friends are great, but do we sit on the floor in the hallway and do each other’s make up? Do I sit on the toilet while one of them does my hair and shows me how to wear my new hat? Do we sip cocktails for the fun of it as we’re getting ready to go out while we laugh and reminisce about things that happened 10 years ago? Unfortunately we don’t. I would love to… but it just doesn’t happen.

Having Amanda and Stephen here this last week reminded me what it’s like to have a best friend around. Sure I remember what it’s like every time I go home, but it’s different when your old friends come and visit you and take part in your new life. Until this week, none of my friends had ever really met any of Andrew’s best friends (with a few exceptions). Until this week, none of my friends had ever seen my apartment or my city for that matter.  Until this week, I had never had a best friend around to go shopping and compare accessory choices with. Having a boyfriend is great and all, but he doesn’t know how to french braid my hair! 

I look at my sister who is 7 years older than me and I know that some of her best friends are friends she’s made in the last  few years. So I know it IS possible to become super close to someone you meet later in life, but I just don’t know how it could ever feel the same as the closeness you share with the friends you make in your teenage years.

I miss my friend and her wonderful boyfriend. We had a great week (which went by way too fast). Now it’s back to reality. Reality of knowing that I will never have my old friends here with me by my side. Sometimes reality sucks. I am now completely dependent on new friends, the silver friends, but hopefully some day silver can become gold.  

And yes, I will give an update on what we did and where we went and all that fun stuff… but I’m waiting for Amanda’s pictures since I seem to have only taken some on 2 drunken nights. I’ll at least post 1 pic for the time being. One of me and my friend Amanda. It was a great week

Tips for American Visitors April 19, 2009

I’m writing this post mainly for my friend Amanda who will be visiting in a few weeks (yay) but I figured some others might get some benefit from it as well. I’ve compiled a list of tips and helpful things to know for your first visit to Australia.

1. “Hotels” are not usually real hotels. They are bars or pubs. So when you see “Mosman Hotel, The Clock Hotel, Cremorne hotel”, etc… they aren’t places to sleep, they are places to drink.

2. Lemonade is not lemonade. Lemonade here is Sprite or 7 Up. You can’t really find what we think of as lemonade in many places , but if you do ever find it- it will be called “traditional or real lemonade.”

3. When you order a drink at a bar, it comes with one shot. NEVER any more than exactly one shot of alcohol. If you want more, you order a double- and pay double!

4. Entrees ARE actually Entrees. And by this I mean they come before your main course, as they should. Entrees in the US ARE the main course, but in the rest of the world, entree means appetizer or starter. So don’t order an entree and expect it to be big enough to fill you up!

5. Don’t tip. It is not the common practice here and many people actually get mad if you tip because they don’t want tipping to become the norm. If enough people start tipping, it WILL become the norm and then it will be expected. For now, you only tip if you really want to because of great service (which as my last post noted, is rare).

6. “Ta” means thank you. Because yes, some people are so lazy that even saying “thanks” uses too much energy

7. A “dunny” is a toilet. And on that note, when you need to find a bathroom, ask for the toilet, not the bathroom. It sounds tacky, but that’s just what people say here.

8. “Pash” means make-out. While this doesn’t seem like a helpful hint for visitors, it has been something that I’ve needed to explain to the last few Americans who visited.

9. If you’re by yourself, get into the front seat of the cab. I still don’t do this- but Andrew said it seems kind of rude to get in the back if you are all alone.

10. Ask for your bill at the end of the meal, otherwise you may never get it!

11. “Light beer” is not light on calories, it’s light on alcohol. If you order light beer to watch your figure, it won’t help. You’ll just be heavier and less boozy.

12. TONS of restaurants are B.Y.O. so you can bring your own bottles of wine… which is a HUGE reason that we end up drinking so much.

13. Nobody says “McDonalds.” It’s Maccas.

14. Chicken Salad sandwiches are not the typical chicken salad you would get in the US (with mayo and celery and stuff). When you order a chicken salad sandwich or turkey salad sandwich it means chicken WITH salad. And by “salad” I mean lettuce, tomato and other typical fixings that come on a burger/sandwich.

15. People will say “How you going?” and you will be totally confused. Your mind will try to comprehend if they are saying “how are you DOING?” or “Where are you GOING?” So… just say “good.”

16. Don’t try to say “G’day.” Americans always sound ridiculous when they attempt to say it.

17. Coffee is different, but I don’t drink it, so I can’t really give tips here. Maybe someone else can chime in on this one.

Anyone else have any handy tips or hints they’d like to share??