Elsja Down Under

FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS August 31, 2006

I got it. Who wants it? Well, maybe you already have it but if not… let me know. I can’t say I really enjoy it much because it’s mostly R&B which I hate… but looks like there are a few fun songs. Maybe you’ll like it if you like Usher, I however freaking hate Usher soooo its not so much my style. I’m sure some of the songs will grow on me! Thanks to my myspace friend Nick for passing it along.

Devil Birds… Part 2 August 30, 2006

My appologies to you Mr. Kookaburra bird. I know I was very mean in saying you sound like a devilish monkey. I mean, you do have a very interesting sound, but I must say-I appreciate that you only are loud for about 1 minute. I know you wake up every morning at 5:30 and say hello to the day with your shrieking, laughing, cackling noises. You are kind of like a rooster, saying good morning to the world. But I really really really do appreciate that you only do it it once or twice, and then you stop. It’s like you just need to let it out and then you’re good to go for the day. Unlike the devil bird that greeted us this morning. Now, I don’t know the type of bird… it wasn’t a cheep cheep sound, or a chirp chirp or a tweet tweet even. Heck, it wasnt even a caw CAW like those annoying crows. Hmmm so hard to describe… maybe a combination of a tweet tweet and a hooo hooo (like an owl). Ok… so anyways back to my point. You, Mr. Kookaburra are kind in that you dont keep me awake for hours like my feathered friend… actually feathered faux this morning. Here’s how the morning went:

5:20am

chirrrrp chirrrrrp

5:21am

chirrrp chirrrp

5:22 am

chiiiirrrrrrrpp chirrrrp

…..Skip ahead…..

5:46am

chiiirrrrp    chirrrrp

5:47am

chiiirrrrp chirrrrp

5:48am

Andrew: “I’m sorry the wildlife in this country is so annoying”

5:50am

chirrrp chirrrrp

5:51 am

chirrrrp chirrrp

Ok you get the point. Anyways, this is just a letter to all the kookaburras out there to whom I say “THANK YOU.” Even though you are horribly annoying, your 1 minute of annoyance is really 10 times better than the sweet innocent cheep cheep that keeps going for HOURS!

Edamame Update August 27, 2006

Just went to the Asian super-market and bought this entire pound of soybeans for $2.90. Beats the 10 measly beans we got yesterday for $5.00. I’m a lot happier now.

Another Weekend Gone

Ok I know I still have 2 1/2 more weekends left but it’s kinda sad that another has come and passed. At least it was a good one though right? Here’s a quick rundown of the weekend’s events.

Friday:

Andrew took me to Wagamama’s down in the Darling Harbor area. This used to be my favorite restaurant in Sydney (the first time we came here it was the only restaurants we found that we actually liked)… but now, I’d just say it’s a good one since I’ve been introduced to some even better ones. Still it was De-Lish! It’s right on the water so it has a nice little view too. After dinner we stopped by The Loft to say hi to a few of Drew’s friends- we only stayed about 10 minutes though. It’s a little bar down the street from Wagamamas and it is SOOOO cool inside! 

The reason we only stayed a short time is because we were on our way to the Nova 96.9 studios!! Nova is a radio station that Andrew’s bro Paul (a.k.a. Fridgy) works at. He is one of the DJs… They are probably comparable to a mix between KIIS and KROQ. Check out their Myspace page. Anyways- Paul gave us a little tour of the station and it was really nice! We even got to sit in the booth while Fridgy, Matty and Mel were on air for awhile. Evidentely, Thursday night they talked about Andrew and me on air because they were discussing meeting people online. Kinda cool to know we got talked about on the radio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we stopped by some friends of Andrew (Kim, Stu, Bec and Oli) and just hung out and talked for awhile. Finally it got late and we took off! It was an eventful night and lots of fun!

Saturday:

Saturday was a lazy day. We went to get a “Mona Burger” from this chicken place about 30 minutes away with Paul and Veronica and then we came home and Andrew and I just kinda lounged around watching TV. We tried to go on a walk but we just kinda walked down the street and ended up at Blockbuster. We were there for about 20 minutes and decided there was nothing we were interested in so we just walked home. We ended up just ordering a pizza, drinking some wine and watching Wimbeldon on Showtime.

Sunday:

Sunday Funday. We woke up lazy again but today we actually got up and got out of the house this time. We went down to Manly (the little beach town where we actually met for the 1st time) and had lunch. There was a little street market going on but it was pretty small and didn’t have anything I was too interested in. The beach was pretty crowded despite the chilly weather.

Later in the day we walked to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. I made some Thai-ish chicken and rice and Andrew walked to a Japanese restaurant to get some take-out edemame. It was the worst idea ever. I mean, refer to my last post when I stated that I miss the cheap stuff in the U.S.- The edemame he got was $5.00 and look at the size of it. It was the biggest rip-off I’ve ever seen. This picture doesnt even do it justice… really!

The little take-out container wasn’t even full!! Oh… but we could have had it completely filled though- if we wanted to pay $9.00!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? That little bit of soybean goodness would have cost like $2 at home max!!

Anyways- we didn’t let it get us down… for long. We made some yummy sauce to dip the entire 10 beans in… (you can see it in the pic on the left… mmmmm). We ate our dinner and watched some depressing movie about a girl who was dying but didn’t tell any of her family (and then we watched some better stuff)… we just talked for a bit and went to bed. It was a really nice night.

 

Ok- did I seriously manage to make another blog almost entirely dedicated to food? Well I guess I’ll include a few other bits of info:

1. My assessment on my psychology qualifications STILL hasn’t come. I’m getting very annoyed.

2. Andrew got side-swiped on the road this morning. The guy evidentely had some road rage and did it on purpose. Didn’t even stop! Luckily Andrew is ok but now he has to make a police report and deal with insurance and all that crap! Pain in the ass but it could be worse.

3. It’s my birthday in less than 2 weeks. I will be old. I will be older than Andrew even and that makes me feel REALLY old.

4. hmmm I can’t think of another so I guess I’ll just write more later when I think of something! I’m off to upload pictures from the week! Oh- and I didn’t spell check this… so I’m sure my own personal spell-check Andrew will be emailing me soon to tell me about all my spelling errors!!

Adios!

Date Day August 23, 2006

Andrew got home yesterday from work pretty early and I was in a good mood! Then I got in a bad mood when he told me some bad news about our whole visa situation… but then my good mood came back when we decided to go for a walk. I really never go on walks at home unless it is the walk to my car in a parking lot (although my sister and I do walk around her neighborhood from time to time). I think if there were these beautiful places to walk to nearby… and I had my boyfriend nearby… I may actually go on more walks. Now yes, we have the beaches etc… but they are always so crowded with annoying people and they don’t seem as special and fun since I’ve grown up by them my entire life. Just look at some of the places we go to on the walks near Andrew’s house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was quite enjoyable as well. We went to dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant (yes, ANOTHER Thai restaurant that I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and then we went and saw “You, Me and Dupree.”  Here’s a picture of us being silly in the theater-or cinema as Andrew would say- before the movie stared. Yes, I know we are retarded!

What a fun date day/night I’m really getting used to this and it’s going to severely suck when I have to leave again and go back to my lonely dateless life. 

Also… I thought I would share a few things with you that I miss about home and some things that I love about Sydney.

Things I miss from Cali:

My family and friends 

Parking lots

Warm weather

Cheap stuff (food, drinks, clothes… etc. everything here is so expensive)

Driving on the right side of the road

(p.s.- I don’t even miss Tsunami because the food here is just as good) 

Things I love about Sydney:

Sakata rice crackers (I’m perfectly happy giving up my baked lays for these delicious little snacks)

Thai food (ok they have that at home, but I never eat it there)

Yummy dip (notice my first 3 items are all food related)

Walking down the street to shops/restaurants/yoga

Andrew’s bed (so much more comfy than my distorted, concaved mattress)

No tipping at restaurants

 

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A Few More Pics and My Morning Alarm August 20, 2006

From the weekend… these all are related to my last post- so read that first

 

One of the views from our walk on Saturday

 

 

This is the beach that we ended up on at the end of our walk

 

The chef at work on the 2nd course

 

Dinner with Andrew’s family (minus his dad the chef)- From left to right- Me, Veronica (Paul’s girfriend), Ben (Andrew’s brother), Carmen (Emma’s Mum), Emma (Andrew’s sister), Simon and Paul (Andrew’s other brothers), Andrew

 

 

And lastly….

Here is what wakes me up every morning. I found a video so you can all feel my pain! You can’t see it- but you can hear it! It’s called a Kookaburra. It’s a little bird that sounds more like a devilish monkey to me. Shannon- I think this is worse than your stupid crows! Maybe I need a super soaker too!

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

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One Weekend Down

Ok this is really long- but I have a whole weekend to catch up on!!!

We made it through our first weekend and we really enjoyed ourselves… as well as stuffed ourselves with massive amounts of food. I think I’m still full from yesterday – but I’ll talk about that later! Friday night one of Andrew’s friends/students had a party in Newtown and Drew, Sparkes and I took a taxi there to check it out. Oh- this was after Andrew and I had a really nice dinner at a little thai place (thai is my new favorite by the way). We hung out at this party for a little while and got pretty boozy… Andrew more than I. It was just kind of relaxed and laid back, more like a get together. A bunch of Andrew and Sparkes’ students from the Uni were there and the question of the night to Drew was “When did you get your lip pierced??” (He’s had it pierced for 3 years… but never wears it at work). Anyways, it was a pretty fun night. Nothing too crazy which is perfect for me.

 

 

Saturday was kind of a lazy day. Well, at first. Just slept in- (andrew enjoyed not waking up at 5:30am for the first time during the week!) We managed to get up and go for a walk in the afternoon. We went to this old military base that is being turned into some sort of park. There were walking trails and nice views of the harbor. There were also lots of stairs. Lots and lots of fun and exciting stairs to walk up.

 

Also- one of Andrew’s best friend’s Kris flew in from Darwin up north. Just hung out with him for a bit and then he took off to a party. We were going to go see a movie… but when 7:00 came around and we were already tired- we decided that we wouldnt make it through a movie that started at 9! Sooo…. we just walked down to Blockbuster and rented a movie.

 

Then there was Sunday. Sunday was the day of food. Literally. We started off going to Andrew’s mum Lesia’s house for lunch. First we had yummy dip (they have the best dips here in Australia), then she made some breaded chicken, salad and bruschetta. It was nice to just sit and chat for awhile, just the 3 of us.  It was a good way to start off the day .  Andrew attempted to wash his cousin’s dog Keshi and then we took her for a walk so she could dry off. Then… it was off to his dads.

 

We headed over to his dad Michael’s house at 3:00. Andrew made me drive the entire 20 minutes from his Mum’s to dad’s. That was fun. Actually, it wasn’t fun at all… but its getting a LITTLE easier now. Now, Andrew’s dad is a good cook. He loves to cook and today- he did just that… COOKED… A  LOT!!! Not only did he have 3 types of dip out to munch on (again, wonderful dip)- he also made a 3 course meal. (Luckily he knew I only eat chicken so the 2nd course was made specially for me). These weren’t little courses either. They were full meals- 3 full meals!!!

 

 

 

 

 

So here’s how it went: 

1st course: Pork with veggies in this really yummy sauce (I had some of the sauce over rice).

2nd course: Homemade fried rice with this wonderful honey glazed chicken

3rd course: Spicy prawns (shrimp for all you Americans)

 

 

 

 

Seriously- I only ate 1 course (plus some rice and sauce from the pork) and I was STUFFED!!! Look at Andrew and his brother Paul after all 3 meals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After all that food… how can you do anything other than go home and go straight to bed?? Well, you can’t… so that’s what we did. One weekend down and 4 more to go!

Adventures in Shopping August 17, 2006

I’ll give you a little background info on shopping in Sydney before I explain my day yesterday. In the city there are 3 main shopping areas, QVB (Queen Victoria Building- seen in the picture here that I took around New Years), Pitt Street Mall, and the Cetrepoint Tower Shopping Center. They are basically all connected by underground walkways and above ground bridges etc… Now, Jen can back me up to expain just how big QVB is all by itself, but add the other two areas and we’re talking major shopping confusion. Pitt Street Mall isn’t actually a mall even, it is similar to 3rd Street promenade, one long shopping street with stores on each side, but the interesting thing is- you can go into the stores and behind those stores are more stores and behind those are more stores. Its like a maze! This shopping area is HUGE and neverending. Literally, NEVER ENDING!

So yesterday I decide to go buy a few things. I take the bus down to the area where all the shops are and I begin my quest. I’m on the lookout for Supre (the store that has all those belts you girls want). I remember from last time that it isn’t in the QVB and its kind of off by itself, so I start walking. Here is a little tale of my journey, told in the first person.

“Ok I remember Supre was off this way, so here I go” (walking, walking). “Oh there’s Pitt street mall, let me walk down here and just look around. Oh that store looks cute on the right, I’ll check it out. Hmmm theres more back here behind this shop, Should I keep walking on Pitt street or go back here? Hmmm…. I’ll go back here.” (walking, walking). “Oh look you can go up, AND down! Crap, which way do I go? I’ll try up.” (walking). “Oh.. that store is cute on the left, I’ll check it out. Oh wow… this store is 3 levels, Ill check out the bottom level…. hmmm have’nt seen these shops before… look there are more over there on the left” (walking)… “oh look theres another level. CRAP I’m going to get lost.”

I’ll modify the next part for you-

Walking left…. turn right…. go up… go in a shop…go over walkway… “oh, now I’m in Centrepoint shopping- how did I get here?” hmmm…go up again…. go left….. go down…. go in a shop… go straight… find a department store and think “oooo I need running shoes since I forgot mine”… go to 4th floor of 8 floor department store… buy shoes… go back down to floor G… exit in a different place than I came in… go across walkway… go left… go in a shop… go right…. go straight…. go in a shop… come out another shop…. walk left…. walk underground…

AND HERE I FINALLY AM….

IN CHINA!!! How the hell did I get to China?? Well duh! That’s what this whole secret shopping disguise is! It’s a secret maze route to china… and I found the way!! It’s funny though… all I had to do was turn left again and I was back in Sydney- and there it was… SUPRE! But… sorry to say ladies- no fun trends this time. Pretty much the same crap they had in March. I’ll keep looking though, but this time I may sprinkle bread crumbs along my shopping quest so I can easily find my way back.

 

Oh and I won’t even get into the food court! That was a journey all on its own!!

Hello Again from Australia August 16, 2006

Well not too much has gone on in the last few days. 2 nights ago we got some yummy yummy thai food from a place down the street called Bow Thai… hehe how cute. Yesterday Andrew got off work early and we went to the store to buy some more food for dinner and we made chicken burgers last night- pretty tasty! Other than eating and talking… we haven’t done too much since Andrew has been working all week. Tomorrow night I think we are going to a party that one of his friend’s is having and Saturday one of his best friend’s Kris flies in for the night, so I will be able to meet him. I think after I work a bit today (and wash my hair for the first time since I got here) I am going to go shopping. Even with as much stuff as I brought, there are a few things I feel like I am missing. It is colder than I anticipated so I need a few more things to keep me warm!

Poor Baby August 14, 2006

My niece fell off the couch today and bit her lip open (taking after her aunty who did practically the same thing when I was about her age). My brother-in-law just sent me a picture. Notice the big hole in her lip So sad! When I bit my lip open as a kid they couldn’t put in stiches because I would have bitten them out and they said the same thing about Emma… so now when she gets older we will have matching lip scars. Poor baby girl.

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Lazy Day

Today is Andrew’s first day back to work after the 2 days he had off with me! I am being very lazy this morning- just writing back to emails and stuff like that. Last night Andrew had Oztag which is like a rugby league. His team won of course because they are sooo good  Andrew’s brother Ben is on the team as well as his flatmate/friend Patrick. It was freeeeezing last night but I was told that it was actually one of the warmer nights. Andrew’s dad also came out to watch so I spent most of the time talking to him which was nice (although I can’t say I actually saw toooo much of the game).

 

Ooooh something kinda exciting thing to report (well, maybe only Jen will appreciate this) is that Dashboard Confessional has the Australian leg of their tour while I’m here. YAY!! I think they are performing on Sept 6th so we are trying to get tickets for that.

 

Hmmm… other than that, not too many exciting things going on today. It’s just nice being here. Yesterday Andrew and I went to breakfast at a little cafe and then went grocery shopping together. How cute! He cooked me a yummy dinner last night- it was nice!  I’ll post some more pics of this stuff eventually.

Pictures of My First Day August 13, 2006

Here are some pics from yesterday (and one of today)ÂÂ

The first 2 are from wine tasting at the beach (see blog below). The 3rd is me drinking some Aussie beer (Victoria Bitter) at Sinead’s and the last is obviously me driving… on the other side of the road…scary!! hehe.

 

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I’m Heeeeere

So I got here FINALLY after my plane was delayed almost 3 hours. I was supposed to leave at 11:50 but we didnt take off until almost 2:45am. Seriously- a 15 hour flight is long enough, I don’t really need to sit at the airport for an addtional 5 1/2 hours! (got there at 9 or so). But now I’m here yay! My first day was a crazy one. Andrew and I decided to go down to this beachy area called Balmoral because there was a food and wine festival thingy. We didn’t really get involved much in the food part of the festival… but we sure had our share of the wine! It was sooo cool, it was a mini wine tasting event right on the grassy area near the beach. We paid 20$ and got 2 wine glasses and 7 tastings each… (it helped that Andrew’s friend owned one of the booths so we got a bit more than 1 tasting there… and we visited it several times). It was soooo cool! People all had brought picnic blankets and cheese and crackers and fruit. I wish they had things like that at home.

I was a little tipsy after a few hours so I had this super power feeling in me that said “yes Elsja, you can walk back up the GIANT ENORMOUS hill to the car, that would be a GREAT idea.” Seriously, this was the biggest hill ever and by the time I got to the top I felt like I had done the stair stepper at the gym for an hour!

We then decided to stop by Andrew’s friend Sinead’s house nearby so he could sober up a bit before driving (yeah that didnt happen). This was a fabulous idea. What did we do when we got there you ask??? Well, drank MORE wine of course!!! Just chatted for a few hours on her patio with her and her friend Tracy, ate some cheese and crackers. We had a really nice time. I tried some Aussie beer when the wine was gone… (because i really needed more alcohol at this point). By the way, Andrew (who is sitting next to me) just said that my last comment about needing more alcohol didnt sound sarcastic. It sounded like I really really did need more… so just to clarify- I DID NOT NEED MORE!  

Eventually we left. I don’t really remember much about this point of the night. We got in the taxi and I’m sitting there thinking… “geez what a fun day and night. It’s so dark, I’m so tired, we’ve been drinking for ages…. I can’t believe I made it out this late… time for bed, etc.”

Then, I looked at the clock. 7:30pm!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHA I seriously thought it was midnight! That’s ok, we still came home and went to bed around 8:30 (after I puked). Woke up at the usual time, 4:30am. Chilled for awhile… had a nice conversation with Andrew. All the stuff you normally do at 4:30 when you are wide awake. Luckily I was able to fall back asleep and sleep until about 7:00. Geez I wish I could get up this early at home!

I did end up making one drunk call (that I hardly remember). You can read all about it on Jen’s blog… which by the way– thanks Jen- without your blog, I honestly wouldnt have remembered calling you for another few days!

Soooo anyways, overall it was a very nice start to what I know will be a wonderful trip (except for the puking part!)

Now we are going to eat… I’ve really only had a little bit of food from the festival in the last 24 hours. Yay food- I’m so excited to eat!!

Ta Ta for now! 

 

Ciao Peeps! August 11, 2006

I’m leaving in 8 hours for Sydney! Just saying bye to you all one last time I hope the next 5 weeks in California are fabulous for you all. Even though my boyfriend thinks 5 weeks is NO time at all- I think it is a lot of time and lots of things could happen in 5 weeks.

When I come back, it will only be a month til Shannon’s wedding, Preston will have started 1st grade, Emma will have started pre-school, I will no longer be 25 years old, everyone will have celebrated Labor Day in some way, my sister’s bday will only be 1 week away… so much can happen in so little time

 

I will blog often about my adventures and the exciting things I do while away so check back often! I will miss you all. Well, maybe not ALLLL of you hehe jk!

CIAO!

 

and p.s. for those of you who requested belts- I advise you to really really think about whether or not you will still want them in 5 weeks. I mean seriously, the belt trend here has arrived and it could go pretty quickly. Ill email you in September to see if you’re still interested

SERIOUSLY??? The Day Before I Leave??? August 10, 2006

Let me just clarify something…

No… I am not freaking out because I think my plane will be bombed. I am angry that I now have to wait in lines that look like the one above. Also, I am not allowed to bring any liquids, gels or creams on the plane.

This includes things like:

sunscreen, toothpaste, hairspray, hand sanitizer, beverages, lotion

But most importantly- I cannot bring the following:

CHAPSTICK, LIPGLOSS (no im not vain, people who know me know I can’t go 15 hours without one of the two) my lips will be all peeled off by then!

EYEDROPS- I will die. My eyes dry out soooo bad on planes! I will be getting cups of water and pouring them on my face. Or maybe I’ll just bang my head on the wall so hard that it hurts really bad and it forces me to cry. That will get my eyes wet.

CERTAIN MAKEUP – ok maybe I AM vain, but when I haven’t seen my boyfriend for 2 1/2 months, I want to look good when I walk off the plane… and with no concealer, mascara or lip gloss- this is going to be difficult. It’s not like I can just apply before I leave and expect to still look decent after sleeping minimal hours in a tiny seat on a 15 hour red-eye flight!

WHHHHHY?? Why the day before I leave? Why couldnt they make this rule on Saturday? Well, I hope some lives really were saved by the Brit government foiling this plot… if this terrorist plan wasn’t real and I’m sacraficing chapstick for nothing… I will be very angry!

One guy at LAX just said… “If you don’t have carryon luggage- that would help us out even more”

UMMM… YEAH RIGHT!

For the full story click here: STUPID SHITTY ASS TERRORISTS