Sunday, May 25, 2008

Well...even though we had made the extra trip to find our church yesterday, we still managed to get lost and found ourselves 30 minutes late! And we even left an hour early. I wore these new heels, that apparently hadn’t been broken into because after we had walked all over town, by the time we got to church I had multiple blisters and very soar feet. The church we go to is a YSA ward (young single adult ward). Most of the ward is return missionaries, with very few australians, and quite a few asians. (Apparently the missionaries have a lot more success with the asians than they do the australians).

Church was good, and Wendy was able to get a few leads for a job, so we’ll cross our fingers! We went home and made dinner, then later that night our flat mates invited us to walk to Coogee Beach to meet up with some students from Jorge’s uni (that’s what they call a university here). Coogee Beach was like 25 minute walk, but the weather here is pleasant all day and night long, so walking aint too bad. (I’d still choose the alternative, but I guess its keeping me healthy).
We got to the beach and it was so pretty, unfortunately it was too dark to get a good picture, but I’m sure you could imagine. Then Jorge’s German friends Tobe and Yasmine met up with us. They were really the cutest couple. We followed them to a bar, and Wendy and I were curious as to how we would go about the whole we don’t drink alcohol thing. (I know it was Sunday, but we didn’t know going to the beach meant stopping at a bar, and it was too dark to walk home alone)!

We sat down and it didn’t take long till they were ordering drinks and we just said we didn’t drink. Tobe said that he wasn’t surprised cause we were from Utah. (It still amazes me that you can be completely around the world, and Utah still has that reputation. I think it is great!) Other than trying to convince our flatmates that we were fine just conversationalizing, (I made up that word) the bar wasn’t bad. At least until Jorge had some more friends come and one of them named Sobe from the Middle East took a special interest in Wendy and I. He thought that because he didn’t drink either, we should be instant best friends! It sounds like I’m being rude, but he really was kind of creepy, but I was coerced in playing him in a game of pool, and am happy to announce that I won. But really I was more happy that the game finally was over so we could leave. All in all in was a good night. One thing about Sydney, is that it is very much like London in that it has people from everywhere, it is literally a melting pot for so many different cultures and races. We got a taxi to drive us home, because it was late and between the four of us, it would be super cheap. Then our adventures for that day was over.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

We woke up and got ready for a day of exploring Sydney on our own. Jorge was nice enough to give us a map and help us figure out how to decide what stops to get off on the rail. Then we were on our way. We decided to try to walk to Bondi Junction where we can get on the rail to see if it was close enough to walk to, cause using a bus just added more money into our daily travels.
So there we were off on our journey with our little map, I am sure we looked just like little tourists! We only managed to get lost a few times, but just used it as an excuse to get to know the city. We did finally find Bondi Junction but then couldn’t find the building that the train stop was at. When we finally did find it, we took a long time trying to figure out how to get a ticket to the place we needed to go to because we needed to stop at multiple stops. The guy at the ticket booth was very amused, and after our many questions, we finally were able to get on the right train.

(Above: Me trying to figure out where we are)

We went first to the Center exit which is the one I get off for my work. We found my work with a little help from some australians. I got so excited and nervous when I realized I was actually here in Sydney to do my internship! I guess seeing the actual building made it feel real or something.

(This is the outside of the building I'll work in!)

On the way to my work we had walked by a Subway, and it had made us so happy because it was American. (Kind of pathetic when you go to Australia to get excited when you see American things). We decided Subway would be the cheapest meal option for us so we got sandwiches and ate them in a nearby park.

Then we were off to figure out where our church would be the next day. When we were walking past a bar, a drunk guy walked over to Wendy and I and asked us what the score was of the game the night before, when we told him that we weren’t sure, he said of course you know, you’re australian. It took a bit to convince him that we were actually american (cause he was that drunk, oh and as a side note he was Irish), but he kept offering to buy us a beer, and I told him that we didn’t drink, and he wouldn’t believe that either. Finally we just walked away, but he made sure to tell us that we were pretty and to F-off (only using the real word, which we’ve found to be a very common phrase here).

That was just another great adventure figuring out how to get to church. It was in the Connaught Building, which was a huge business building, so we kind of just didn’t get where we were supposed to go. Luckily we saw the missionaries outside the building so they were able to direct us where to go the next day. Then we made our way to Circular Quay (pronounced key), probably the most recognized places in Sydney. This is where the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge are.


We got there in perfect timing because it was right as the sun went down so it was so pretty. That is when it really hit me that I was in Sydney! All of the pictures I’d seen before, I was actually there!

Then we went home and after making dinner I turned on the t.v, and Napoleon Dynamite was playing. Funny that we were in Australia, and the show made by a BYU student was playing on TV. After that we went to bed because we still hadn’t completely adjusted to this new time zone.

(P.S.This is a spider I walk by everyday on the way to work with massive webs, I'd show you but the camera doesn't really capture them great! This spider is like the size of my palm.)

We are actually in AUSTRALIA!

Friday May 23, 2008

Yes...I did skip a day, that is because Thursday almost didn’t exist for us, at least only 8 hours of it did, and most of those were spent in uncomfortable sleep on the plane. Other than the ornery man we sat next to, the flight pretty much consisted of food, sleep, food, sleep, and then some more of food, and sleep! Literally! Oh... and my feet got so swollen that they were spilling over my shoes and this caused them to be very uncomfortable. After getting through customs, which was a breeze, we were supposed to find Michel, the guy we were renting our apartment from. When we found him he was with Jorge, our new flat-mate from Equador. When he saw the amount of our luggage I think he was a bit overwhelmed, and he had reason to be concerned because when we got to his car we quickly realized that there was no way that it was going to fit in a little convertible. We even tried putting the top down and stuffing everything on top of our laps. After realizing that wouldn’t work, Michel sent Jorge home in a cab with our luggage! We felt so bad, especially when we found out that gas had just hit $8 a gallon in Sydney.

I was standing outside the left side of the car and Michel told me to get in, I tried to make my way to what I thought was the passenger side until Michel quickly corrected me that I was in Australia honey, and there they drove on the right side of the road (I would call it more like the wrong side rather). My first embarrassing moment in Sydney! On the way home Michel drove us by the beach, which is literally minutes from our place, and it was amazing! Really! We eventually got to the apartment to find a cute little bedroom with bunk beds already made and Michel had even left us two cell phones we could load so we wouldn’t have to buy them. I don’t know why these people were treating us so good!

After Michel left Jorge kept making sure we were fine, and we began unpacking our luggage. Jorge left to go to school and we found a few spiders so we had to play terminator for a bit. Around 2 came home with food for us and told us he was going to give us a lesson on Sydney transportation so we were to go with him. We went to the place where is girlfriend Ely worked (Harvey Norman, a small version of Best Buy) to pick her up and then the two of them took us shopping for food at the grocery store at Bondi Junction, a shopping center near our flat. We got home around 5:30 and then honestly I can’t tell you much of what we did after that. Yes...I am sad to announce that jet lag did catch up with me. We were trying to do everything we could to stay awake, but it was so miserable that the minute we reached 9pm we got into bed and quickly fell asleep.
(we thought this was a big spider, but just you wait till you see some of the others we've seen)

(me playing terminator)

(we may look happy, but all we wanted to do was go to bed!)

Our Journey Begins!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

We started our adventure around 5 pm Wednesday, May 21, in Salt Lake, making our way toward the airport to start our very long journey to Sydney, Australia. It didn’t take long to realize we were in for a treat, when we some how managed to almost miss our flight in Salt Lake, even though we had come plenty early. After arriving in Los Angeles in time to watch the end of game 1 of the Lakers vs. Spurs with all the Lakers fans (unfortunately Lakers were able to come back from a 20 point deficit and pull off a win), we had a 2 hour lay over before we could board our next flight, a straight shot to Sydney.

(above: picture of view outide our window on the way to LA)

We had much to look forward to, for sure the top on the list was the 15 or so hour flight. Just reminding us that we were the intelligent gals that we are we missed when they called our numbers to board the flight, and ended up boarding late. This wasn’t that big of a deal, but when we boarded the man that was sharing our side with us seemed very disgruntled to have to let us in our seats, he was so unfriendly that he even made Wendy’s bladder only have to use the bathroom one time for the full flight. Miracles do happen!

This is the beach just minutes from my apartment in Sydney!