On Sunday night, after returning from Stereosonic and stopping by McDonalds for some food, I battled to stay awake through the Man Utd game as we drew away 2-2 away to Spurs. I was so tired from the weekend and it was bedtime for me as soon as the final whistle blew; my head had barely hit the pillow before I was asleep. Monday morning brought a well needed long lie, after which I got up and did absolutely nothing all day except watch Netflix and eat. The most productive part of my day was sorting out the various photos and videos from the weekend and compiling some of the better clips together to make a YouTube video. Here is the link to it, if anyone would like to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5W26lISxs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUYFev9KKJGt7jKnRlQlJEuQ
On Tuesday, I started picking my classes for next semester. Although we won't have them confirmed for quite some time yet, we are still required to submit the list of classes we want to take just now - in fact, it was supposed to be done before the end of the semester, mines was late. After strategically picking through the timetable and reading some of the class descriptions, a final selection was settled and I headed into uni to hand the form into the International Office on campus. In the afternoon, I decided to update and add to my list of things which I want to see and do in Sydney whilst I'm here - given that it is summer and I'm not at uni at the moment, now seems the best time to see some of the sights. After drawing up my list of sights and places to visit, I finally got my last blog post finished off and posted online.
Inevitably, when you first finish a semester at uni after an exam period, or back in the school days as well, you seem to spend a lot of time doing nothing at all with your time. It is sort of enjoyable at first to just be free from any obligation to study although it does get boring quite quickly. On Wednesday however, I was still happily procrastinating my days away and spent most of the morning after breakfast watching the Sound City documentary, on the recommendation of Andy. It turned out to be a very strong choice and I really enjoyed it - well worth watching if you're into music at all. Later in the day, the first headliner for the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2014 had been announced as Blink-182 and it looks as though there may be a few of us going to it next summer after I arrive back home. After cooking dinner and catching up with home on FaceTime, I got an early night since the football was on early on Thursday morning again. It was another poor result as United lost 1-0 at home to Everton, so I was happy to go back to bed and get some more sleep when the match finished.
The sport continued after I got up again the next morning, as the second Ashes test began on Thursday morning in Adelaide. I'm starting to quite enjoy cricket, even though I've always taken a slight interest in the Ashes when they've been contested over the past few years and I found myself watching most of the play up until lunchtime. Since food supplies were running a little low in the flat, I headed out to the supermarket in the afternoon before returning to watch some more of the cricket. One of the best things about watching cricket is that you can do other things whilst it is on, unlike most other sports - I guess that is why many people find it so boring really. Whilst the match was going on, I sat and downloaded some new music, particularly the back catalogues of Paramore, You Me At Six and Nine Inch Nails in anticipation of seeing them next year. In the evening, Claire, Jess, Khurram and I went to Pancakes on the Rocks, the 24-hour restaurant near Circular Quay, famous for their awesome pancakes. I had chilli beef nachos and a chocolate pancake which was to die for, but so incredibly heavy that none of us managed to clear our plates. Later that night I watched 'The Usual Suspects' on Netflix; I had never seen it before but it was really excellent and I'll probably watch it again sometime soon, which is unusual for me. The big news event of Thursday, 5th December however was the passing of Nelson Mandela, the influential and brilliant former President of South Africa. Tributes poured in from across the world and the television was dedicated to stories of his life and achievements. What an incredible individual.
We saw this tall ship sailing into Circular Quay when we were trying to find Pancakes on the Rocks. I still haven't got tired of going down there and seeing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
On Friday night, we were planning to have an early Christmas dinner of sorts, before Lian left to travel around New Zealand, after which she was heading home to Singapore where she would be getting married. We had divided up various parts which we would be responsible for, so on Friday morning I headed down to Woolworths to get potatoes and some wine from the liquor store nearby. I was also tasked with picking up a bottle of champagne to go with the Vera Weng glasses which the girls had already got as part of a wedding present. I ended up buying two bottles of Promised Land Moscato - which turned out to be lovely and we've since bought more - as well as a nice Australian champagne on the advice of the shop assistant. I returned to the flat to peel and prepare the potatoes since I had a shift at work from 4 until 7 in the evening. After getting my part of the dinner ready, I had some lunch, got ready for work and headed to Broadway for my shift. Work went by fairly quickly and when I returned home the dinner was almost ready to go - always welcome immediately after work! When I checked my phone though, I discovered that our exam results were out and the inevitable nerves sunk in; it doesn't matter how good or badly you think you may have done, the moment of actually getting the results is always pretty horrible. Gladly, the three results which were available were all decent enough and I was relieved to have safely negotiated another semester of exams. One more result to come still, but it was good to have the majority out of the way and I was looking forward to our evening of food and wine as a small celebration. We enjoyed some roast chicken, potatoes, carrots, baked fish and a takeaway pizza followed by a brilliant chocolate cake. Lian really appreciated her gifts and card too, which was great! We ended up staying up until around 2am before calling it quits; I was totally stuffed and ready for bed, especially with work again the next day.
I was starting work at 12, so at least I had time for a decent sleep before needing to get up, having some breakfast and a shower and getting ready to leave. Once again, my 6 hour shift went by fairly quickly and it even included a break long enough to go and get a sandwich from Subway. I had found out the previous day that Alex was back in Sydney for a few days after his trip to New Zealand, so we planned on having a night out on Saturday before he flew back to the USA on Monday. After work, I headed home and made myself some dinner and chilled out for a while before we were due to head out. Jessica came over to mines for a drink and we were then going to head out to Kings Cross. Although, Alex didn't get into the club where we were meant to be going, so Jessica and I ended up finishing our drinks and not going out. I ended up going to McDonalds around midnight and watching the football on my laptop; unfortunately United lost at home for the second time in a week.
On Sunday morning, I had a long lie and woke up to check the rest of the football scores from through the night. Rather fortunately, both Chelsea and Man City had dropped points too which meant the United result wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been. I had been planning on going to the pool at the Prince Alfred Park to spend the day relaxing in the sunshine, but shortly before I was going to leave I received a Facebook message from Robert, a guy I met through the Soccer Society, asking if I wanted to play that afternoon. I decided to play football rather than go to the pool although in hindsight, the pool would have been a far more relaxing day, as the afternoon heat beat down on us as we played. I even managed to get a little sunburnt from the few hours which we played. It was good to meet yet another decent group of guys who enjoyed a game of football though and it was also the first time I had been down to Wentworth Park, where they play. The park is near the Anzac Bridge and not far from another amazing marina on the waterfront - it's a very picturesque place for a kick around. On a related note, unfortunately, there was an email sent out to those players who hadn't been picked for the Hakoah squad and I was one of the people who hadn't made the team. Gutted. I'm still hoping to find another team though.
I was working once more on Monday - a fairly long shift too - which is great for making money but also dreadful knowing you have to get up and go to work all day. The shop wasn't too busy, which was unusual considering how close we are getting to Christmas, even though it was a Monday. I had a bit of a headache in the afternoon and I was glad to be finished work and get home. After dinner, I spent some more time hunting for Christmas presents online to send home, but I was still struggling to come up with an idea for Kerry. When I woke up on Tuesday morning, it was alright bright and sunny and the weather forecast was for a really warm afternoon, so I decided to get up and go to the pool at Prince Alfred Park. Disappointingly, the free swimming there has finished now, but it's only around $3 for a student entry - can't complain at that! Just as I was heading down past the reception in the common area, one of the staff came running after me - I didn't hear him shout on me since I had my headphones plugged in - and told me that I had a parcel waiting for me. He said I could pick it up later in the day, so I headed off to the pool wondering what could have been sent for me. Surely it couldn't be my Christmas package from home, I considered, since that had only been posted around a week earlier and previously my birthday presents had taken almost four weeks to arrive here. I enjoyed my afternoon relaxing in the sunshine at the poolside, topping up my tan which is actually reasonable now, although I'm still far from bronzed. There's still time! When I returned, I discovered that the package was in fact my Christmas gifts from home - I have no idea how they arrived here so quickly, but I'm not complaining. I opened my cards from Dad, Mum and Kerry as well as one present which was labeled "OPEN NOW!" The present turned out to be a Christmas decoration with the dog on it, which I pinned up on the wall for the time being.
My presents and cards from home - including a card from the dog! Haha!
Playstation 3 and Pro Evo hooked up to the TV in the living room!
Since Jessica and I both had a day off work on Wednesday, we decided to go to Bondi as it was supposed to be another scorching day. We were not disappointed and managed to catch the train then the bus out the Eastern Suburbs shortly before 11am. The beach was remarkably quiet and free of people, since it was before noon on a weekday - I had never been to the beach so early before but it was well worth it. The peace and quiet was promptly interrupted by some European guys blaring dance music from their portable speakers though. It was fairly annoying at first, but then they began playing some decent tunes and it was fairly enjoyable to just relax on the sand with some background music. After a few hours of sun-worshipping, we headed to the restaurant at the pavilion for some lunch and a beer. It was great to sit and look out at the sea as we ate and it was definitely one of those moments where you had to pinch yourself to remember that it was actually real. A Wednesday afternoon in December and here we find ourselves on Bondi Beach. Living the dream. On our way back to the city, we stopped by a shop called Hot Dollar, at Bondi Junction, so that we could both buy some cheap Christmas decorations. We ended up buying quite a lot of stuff and my room in the flat is looking suitably festive now!
This giant turtle, made from recycled car tyres, was in the restaurant where we had lunch at Bondi.
On Thursday back home, my Christmas cards which I had posted finally arrived. Rather unfortunately, only the cards for Dad and Kerry had arrived by Thursday, which was funny since it was Mum who most wanted a Christmas card! Her own one did arrive on Friday morning though, luckily enough. My plan for the day was to finish my Christmas shopping - finally! Just after lunchtime, Claire, Jess and I headed to Paddy's Market to get some fruit and veg which we were all needing in the flat; we headed home and dropped off our shopping and then I headed back out to the city to take a wander around the shops. My shopping trip took me to a few places I hadn't really been in the city before, for example the Queen Victoria Buildings which I had only really passed through once before, as well as the Westfield Shopping Centre near the Town Hall. I also found an amazing bookshop called Kinokuniya, which was comfortably one of the most impressive book shops I have ever seen in my life. The majority of the presents I needed to buy were all done in a few hours, so I spent some time looking for some things for myself as well, although I ended up not buying anything. I always find it easier to spend money on other people, which is unfortunate when you could really be doing with some new shoes!
Friday meant that I could look forward to another game of football in the afternoon. I didn't really do much all day, apart from watching the recently aired ITV documentary, 'Keane v Vieira: Best of Enemies' which was brilliant! Roy Keane is such a legend at United for what he achieved as a player, it's just a shame he feels the need to constantly bad mouth Sir Alex Ferguson and just generally act so bitterly towards the club. In the early afternoon, Jessica dropped by with some more Christmas decorations for me as well as some surprise presents. I had no idea what she was on about, but soon discovered that there had been some behind the scenes chat between her and Kerry on Facebook which had led to Jessica buying some things for me which were from Mum, Dad and Kerry back home. Very sneaky! Jessica was keen to point out just how well wrapped her ones were and I believe she may even have suggested they were better wrapped than the ones I had received from home! Serious fighting talk when it comes to present wrapping! Haha!
After playing football and arriving home, I got showered and changed and ready to head out with Claire and Jess from the flat, to go to the night market down at the Rocks. We walked some way down George Street before catching the free shuttle bus the rest of the way to Circular Quay. The markets were extremely hipster, but also quite cool - there was an old fashioned barber, ghost-walk tours, fortune tellers, a silent disco, stalls selling all kinds of jewellery, masks and other small gifts and even a karaoke machine which had gathered quite a crowd as enthusiastic tourists murdered some well known hits! There was also numerous amazing food stalls and we each regretted having already had dinner before we left the flat.
Here's a photo of the three of us wearing our headphones at the silent disco - we didn't stay long, although some people were really getting into it. Always a laugh!
Even though we had already eaten earlier we decided to buy some cannoli from one of the market stalls. It was a sort of crispy biscuit tube, with a filling almost like ice cream. Again, it was something which I hadn't tried before I don't think, but it was excellent! We walked around the rest of the markets and then began walking home, back up George Street. We also stopped by Chinatown where I bought a few cream puffs again - they're just too good and too cheap to say no - and Claire went to a place which sells Taiwanese desserts and that was also fantastic!
Here is Jess and I posing with the cannoli - superb!
On the walk back, we also stopped by the Town Hall to see the lights, which never seem to get boring either - they're fantastic! There was also a music performance happening on one side of the building, in time to the illuminations, which was really cool and I managed to catch a short video of it.
This is the side of the Town Hall, all lit up.
Finally, I also noticed that the monkey statues on top of the Three Wise Monkeys pub had been dressed up in Christmas gear, which was funny!
Yesterday, I was working from 12 until 6 again, so I got up in the morning, had a shower and some breakfast and headed off for my shift. The day went past fairly quickly and I also had a break to go and get some food, which was very welcome since I was starving. Jessica and I were planning to go out for a few drinks that night, but eventually we decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe at Darling Harbour. I'm fairly sure the only time that I have been to a Hard Rock Cafe before was when we were in Disneyland Paris years ago and I've never been to the one in Edinburgh, so I was really looking forward to it! We ended up getting a really good table with a view of the harbour, which was great for the usual Saturday night fireworks. I had brisket with coleslaw and chips, whilst Jessica had fajitas and we drank a really nice bottle of Marlborough Upside Down Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I'll be like a Scottish Oz Clarke by the time I come home.
Hard Rock Cafe Sydney!
The Christmas tree at Darling Harbour.
Inflatable floating Santas on the water.
Afterwards we went to another bar on the harbour-side where we had an awkward conversation with a random Scottish woman, before we moved on to Cargo Bar. I'd never been to Cargo before, but it was really excellent; the DJ was like an old man - he looked like Judge Jules - but he played some great tunes. There was also an awesome guy with dreadlocks and a beard who had some brilliant dance moves - Jessica thought he was the coolest guy in the world and then we discovered he actually worked in the bar! Haha! We headed home around 2am, shattered. What a good night - I'll definitely go back to Cargo!
I woke up fairly early this morning - I can never seem to have a decent sleep after a night out - but since it was around 8am, I decided to use the time to catch up with home. I chatted to Jonny in Valencia on Skype for a while and also spoke to Mum and Kerry for a bit. Afterwards, I went out and finished off the last little bits of my Christmas shopping before getting everything wrapped. Wrapping is such a chore, even more so because I appreciate presents really should be properly and nicely wrapped, but I'm not very good at it. An infuriating task, really. I spent this evening finishing off this post and cleaning the flat since we have an inspection tomorrow; gladly the place is looking like a show-home. We've done a really good job of getting the kitchen and living room looking spotless. Only a few hours until the United game now - big game away to Aston Villa, we could really be doing with a win!
Here's a picture of my decorated Christmas tree - thanks to Jessica - with presents underneath!
Only 10 more sleeps now!
Until next time,
Jamie
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