Day 3 - Don't Stare at the Americans!

Day 3

So, today was an eventful day.  Not because we saw amazing sites, or learned something really cool, (by the way we saw some amazing sites and learned some really cool things), but because we went to Subway (which is fairly new to Aussie Land).  Here’s the story:  Kristen and I were walking back from the Observatory is the super cold, uncomfortable, lets make everybody’s nose run wind and we decided to go to Subway!  So we find one randomly, and go in and order our food and turn around to sit down.  Apparently in Sydney Subway’s, you either have a choice of sitting and staring at a wall, or sitting and staring through a window at all the people passing by.  Naturally, being the socially awkward girls that we are, we choice to stare at the people walking past.  It didn’t take long for people to notice us, and one guy even made it a point to turn his head around and smile at me being uncomfortable with the attention.  Then we started playing games with our audience.  Kristen decided that the next person who stared at her for a period of time extending the socially normal laws of unfamiliar eye contact was going to get a scare.  So she scrunched up her Subway bag, and created a ball that she could throw at the glass window, hoping to trick someone into thinking that they were going to get hit.  We sat there, and sat there, and sat there waiting for someone to have a lingering eye contact, our anticipation building.  Someone would look and then realize we were matching eyes, and then look away. 

Finally, a man in a red sweater walked past and we both stared at him.  He looked up…the moment of truth, would he look away?  He kept his gaze, Kristen took aim, and fired!  She threw the ball at the glass and with a thud it bounced back at us.  We instantly started cracking up, so proud at our little joke.  We looked at the man to catch his reaction, our crowning glory…he half grinned, looked down at the ground, and kept walking.  No arms up to protect his face, no dodging body movements, not even a flinch.  Total and epic failure.  But now our laughter was uncontrollable with our eyes watering and our bodies hunched over the table because our stomachs hurt from laughing.  We had to try again.  We waited and waited for another innocent victim.  Not long after two men held a gaze into our puppet theater and Kristen took aim and fired again.  We instantly broke into laughter again and looked up to see the reactions.  The first man just looked away and kept walking.  The second man kept looking in and when he caught our eyes again, stuck his tongue out, laughed, and then moved out of sight.  Well this was just too much for my dear friend Kristen.  Her laughter exploded, along with a stream of water out of her nose…and onto the window…and table top…and floor.  Not to mention, at this point she had also fallen out of her chair, which had created a very abrupt and obnoxious noise of the metal chair legs scraping across the floor.  The quiet, polite mannered man next to us was unappreciative of the show. 

After that we decided to face the cold and go back to our hostel.  P.S. Kristen is making me tell you all, that I tripped about 10 times today.  Oh, and we chose our super powers today.  If possible, I would have the ability to find anything and everything that has been lost and Kristen would like to have super-strength or the ability to be super-stretchy.  We also made up back stories for strangers we saw in the park and walking around the streets.  According to us, this city is full of mobsters, secret porn stars, adulterers, and drug dealers.  And we agree Batman is the best super-hero.  We’re going out with the French men tonight, good times to follow. 

Day 2 - Little Children Scare Me

Day 2

           The weather here is kind of cold (which I knew, but brilliantly did not pack for) so my little sweater that does not cover the entirety of my arms causes for some strange looks.  Being here makes me think this is what New York might be like.  There are a lot people in suits walking as if on mission, cool looking buildings that beg to be admired, crowded sidewalks, little stores beckoning you in wherever you go, the wind stinging your nose, and homeless shouting obscenities at you.  I like it. 

The nice thing about falling asleep in your new clothes…you don’t have to choose your outfit in the morning! Kristen and I got our free breakfast (cereal) and headed out for the day.  We decided to go to the fish market…because I think we were temporarily insane and this sounded fun for some reason.  Thankfully, we never made it.  We took some weird side streets and ended up at the Convention Center, which was pretty rad (like us) so we found lots to do there.  We got tickets for the Aquarium and Wildlife World, both of which were right next to the bay which made half of the exhibit feel out of place to me.  But hey, maybe kangaroos like the smell of sea air? Probably not though because they were moody, and the zoo keepers had to stop people from going in and petting them anymore for the day.  I also had the worst hamburger of my life, but that’s completely unrelated to the fact that I was just talking about kangaroos, which they are more than willing to eat here.  Kristen can’t wait to try it.  I think I’ll just watch. Also, at the aquarium I got scared by a 5 year old boy who had wandered in front of me without me knowing, and I almost pummeled him.  Kristen saw the whole thing, instead of warning me she just laughed.  We got along, her and I. J

We also saw the Maritime Museum.  It was way more interesting than I thought it would be, and a little bit moving too.  Hooray for unexpected experiences.  Back at the hostel, we met up with our roommates (Oliva, from France and Kai, from South Korea), and Olivia’s friends, Matthew, and Whatshiface.  Whathisface doesn’t know English very well, and I’m too embarrassed to speak my 6 years of French to him…so I don’t know his name.  Instead I just smile and nod a lot.  In Australia, instead of Taco Tuesdays, they have $7 Pizza Tuesdays.  So of course, we had to assimilate ourselves into their culture and buy 5. On the way back I tripped over a curb, everyone saw.  Again, instead of being helped, they laughed and Olivia rated it a 9.0.  I get a 10.0 next time if I flail my arms and fall.  Challenge accepted.   Kai is cool, he’s into photography as well and showed me some pictures on his camera.  He’s really good!  Then we ate, made plans to meet up again tonight, and headed off to bed.  Oh, but not before Kristen creeped on some people outside the window of our room.  Our view is of a brick wall, with windows into a studio of some sort and they can completely see everything we do.  So she stared at them for awhile until one finally felt awkward enough to wave, and she was proud.  Like I said, we get a long she and I. J I’ve decided she’s the perfect travel mate.  She’s sarcastic, has a similar perspective on the world/society as I, is willing to dance with me, enjoys me falling, is determined to skydive/climb the bridge/surf/bungee jump, and made an inappropriate “that’s what she said joke” in front of a large crowd that was primarily small children.  Essentially…she’s me. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Day 1 - "Cheers, mate. I found another body"

Day 1

Happy to report no dingo has eaten my baby yet.

The plane ride here was not so bad.  I spent most of my time overcrowding the Australian woman’s space who was sitting next to me with my knees over her arm rest.  She was kind enough not to care though.  +1 for the Aussies.  That, coupled with the fact that the airline provided us with so much free entertainment that I never once had to reduce myself to reading my travel books, 2 novels, book of poetry, or anything else slightly intellectual or educational whatsoever.   (Because who studies abroad to actually learn anything?) Instead, I spent my time watching the Maltese Falcon and HappyThankYouMorePlease.  I also sent chair-to-chair IMs through the in-flight TV screens with Kristen…who was sitting right next to me (because talking is so outdated).  Want to know the other wonderful thing about V Australia?  The pre-departure safety run through! (Not kidding)  They show a video onto everyone’s monitor and it is HILARIOUS.  Besides the fact that the narrators have accents, the graphics are not to be beat.  It look exactly as if you were playing The Sims: Airplane! It had everything to dorky dads making corny jokes, embarrassed teenagers full of angst that were obviously too cool to be seen laughing, surfers that were more into reading magazines than listening to the attendants, and random walking babies in the background carrying huge water bottles the size of their body.  Add the sarcastic jokes that were carefully folded in, and we have a winner!  I actually watched more safety videos of my own accord just because I wanted to.  Anyways, we landed right just as the sun rose in the sky and set off to get our bags.

 Customs was a breeze, and none of our stuff got lost in transit.  Kristen and I each packed 2 bags.  2 big bags.  2 heavy, big bags.  You know what’s hard to maneuver through a very crowded airport and a tiny train and up hills into a tiny hostel?  Answer: 2 heavy, big bags x2. But we managed and I am proud to report we now have very strong muscles in our arms that were sore the next day J Our hostel is wonderful.  Kristen honestly could not have picked a better place.  Its cute, clean, has lockers for your bags, the lobby plays dance music all day (and the staff occasionally puts checking you in on hold to bust a move), the stairway has really cool art on the wall, has free breakfast, a fantastic view from the rooftop lounge, shares a wall with easy access to the bar next door (The Winking Lizard) and has plush toys of angry birds in the windows.  Oh yeah, and the bathrooms have access to condom machines, tampon machines, and a flat iron for our hair.  Obviously I’m only going to need two of these…but I’ll let you decide for yourselves which ones I mean.  We got here around 8 am and couldn’t check in until 2:30 pm so they held our bags in their office for us, and Kristen and I went out to explore. 

We took a free walking tour (Thank you Russ), that showed us pretty much the entire city in one day.  Our tour guide, Russ, had some pretty cool stories.  Like how bartenders would get people drunk, open a trap door that they’d fall into, and then wheel them off to a ship before they sobered up and SURPRISE, they woke up enslaved and pretty much headed straight for a disease ridden life.  Also, where Town Square is sitting used to be a burial ground with bodies buried just below the surface.  So when they started to rot, the whole town could smell it so they dug them up and reburied them elsewhere and built Town Square in its place.  However, they didn’t get all the bodies, so now and then when they renovate or expand the building someone has the pleasure of saying “Cheers, mate.  I found another one.  Let’s go surfing, eh?” (This particular guy apparently originated from Canada)  Also, as our tour guide stated, Australian’s are very unoriginal when they nickname their architectural structures.  For instance, the bridge is known as “The Ugly Coat Hanger”…because it looks like a coat hanger.  And an apartment building facing the Opera House in known as “The Toaster”…because it looks like a toaster.  By the way I saw the Opera House J Oh, and he also made it a point to show us the last public urinal.  Good times.  Once we reached the harbor, which was clear across town, he left us there.  Luckily, Kristen and I are GENIUSES when it comes to using maps and we found our way back…eventually. Then we checked in to our hostel, met some of our roommates (who are all lovely people), showered, got all fancied up to go out on the town for some pizza….and fell asleep in our clothes before we got the chance to do so.  End day 1.