Nov 2008

I'd like to brag about how I get to spend the holidays in hot sunny weather, but as I write this, it's storming outside: thunder, lightening, torrential rain, the whole package. There have been some warm days, but when it gets cold, spring is officially the worst season in Sydney. I miss the crunchy leaves of autumn, but for now, I'll suffice with a steaming flat white (coffee with milk) and the Christmas cd my mom sent me.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving (since I'm a day ahead of you all) and I'd planned to honor it with a turkey/cranberry sandwich, but instead, I decided to kick off the Christmas season and attend the tree lighting ceremony in Hyde Park (which reminds me of a smaller Central Park) and at Martin Place (a block downtown). I convinced Bonnie and her visiting parents to join me, figuring she was the only other person who's into corny Christmas traditions.

On my way to the park, I stopped at Starbucks for a holiday hot chocolate (nothing says "holiday season" like those bright red coffee cups!) and a bagel (there wasn't a deli nearby) before we settled on the grass to watch the festivities. We listened to an Aboriginal man talk about the tribe whose land we were on (can't remember what it was, as most of the tribes have these ridiculously complicated names) and a short performance on the didgeridoo (a long wooden instrument played by subsequently breathing through your nose and mouth or something. I imagine it's quite challenging.)

Next up was what looked like a family band, complete with island-print shirts and fronted by a teenage girl who called herself Babycino. As if that weren't embarrassing enough, they sang songs about jungle animals and made animal sounds through their microphones while Babycino jumped around like a monkey and imitated an elephant. Bonnie and I were pretty much dying of laughter at this point, and her parents were giving me pretty strange looks. Hehe.

A young boys' choir appeared next and led the crowd through a series of Christmas carols, which were all the usual winter-themed songs except for this one:

Dashing through the bush (bush = outback, country)
In a rusty Holden Ute (think General Motors)
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot (esky = cooler, boot = trunk)
Kelpie by my side (kelpie = sheep dog)
Singing Christmas songs
It's summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts and thongs (singlet = tank top, thongs = flip flops)

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a scorching summer's day
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Christmas time is a beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden Ute

Engine's getting hot
Dodge the kangaroos
Swaggy climbs aboard (can't figure out what "swaggy" refers to)
He is welcome too
All the family is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbecue!

(chorus)

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce (how random is that?! I have an Uncle B and he used to live in Sydney!)
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up

(chorus)

Bet you'll be singing this version next month. I'm already obsessed.

Our friends Maud and Raul (both from Holland) came to join us, then we left to watch the other show over at Martin Place (where the Hooley Dooleys - probably similar to the Wiggles or something) were performing on stage. After watching the dancing monkey, kangaroo, and ballerina for a while, we decided to head home.

(Okay, so we didn't actually stay to see the tree lit up. I'll leave you with an image of the one they were probably going to illuminate - a pretty crazy sight next to the palm tree...)

In terms of celebration, Halloween appears to be exclusively an American holiday. I asked my friend Dylan, who grew up in the country a few hours south of Sydney, if he went trick-or-treating as a kid - something I cannot fathom a childhood without - and he remembered going once. He and his friend went door-to-door and apparently his neighbors, disgruntled about being bothered, would simply hand out a few dollar coins or bags of chips from the kitchen. Doesn't sound quite like the traditional group outing around Blackhawk or Greenbrook I remember, where we'd stake out the houses with the king size Hershey bars and haunted houses, filling our pillowcases with enough sweets to last us until Valentine's Day.

This year, my Halloween was a bit different. After getting off work at 10:30 p.m. (oh PS, I got a job. More on that later.) I had planned to watch The Shining with Bonnie and make pumpkin spice lattes (yeah, we're having autumn Starbucks drink withdrawls.) However, since I got off an hour before her, I ended up meeting up with my friends Alex (from LA/San Diego State) and John (from Manchester, England) at a bar near our university. I wasn't dressed up, but they certainly were: Alex donned a cardboard Rubix cube with red spandex leggings, and John was a very realistic-looking iPod. Needless to say, they were fun to walk around with! After Bar Broadway, we headed over to Purple Sneakers, a dance club down the street that was full of other UTS students. John and Alex attracted a lot of attention and had to pose in several girls' photos on the way in...haha.

So, my new job. Just before spring break, I interviewed to be a waitress at Cafe Otto, a restaurant set in the trendy Glebe neighborhood just 10 minutes from my house. Besides one day of catering at a wedding, I've never worked in hospitality, so I was a bit shocked when the owner, Neil, told me I got the job. In no way is it easy; you're under constant pressure from managers, cooks, and customers to run food to tables, greet and seat patrons, take orders, clear dishes, and handle bills. Quickly. I've been working for three weeks now and at times I still take wine to the wrong tables or forget to set tables up with cutlery, but I'm lucky in that my fellow coworkers are all extremely patient and willing to help me out when I have questions. I like the customers too, and I can tell they enjoy guessing where my accent is from (I've gotten Canadian, Irish, Australian, southern Californian, and American in general.) The pay isn't bad ($16/hour) and while tipping isn't customary in Australia, people often just round up their bill (say, giving a $50 bill for a $48 meal.) We combine all our tips and receive a percentage of the total based on the amount of hours we work, so I end up with 5-20 extra bucks depending on the night. Not too bad! I like that I'll be able to use this money to help fund my future travel plans. Nothing's been decided, but there's been talk about a trip to Western Australia (between Perth and Broome) this summer.

In other news, I have officially voted in my first presidential election! Since my absentee ballot got lost in the mail, I was able to get another one sent to my email and I faxed it from UTS yesterday. People keep asking me how likely I think it is that Obama will be victorious, and all I can do is cross my fingers. If the world could vote, he would win by a landslide. I hope that's the case with the red and blue "United" States of America.

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