annnd we're back.

Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park

A few weeks ago there was a special series sponsored by the Sydney Morning Herald called Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park. Basically, all these delicious Asian restaurants come set up booths for a massive food fest and everyone enjoys the park lit up at night. Louise, Matt and I met for an incredible evening of skewers, dumplings and noooooodles.

Hunter Valley.

Our wine-tasting tour to Hunter Valley was so wonderful and relaxing! We caught a tour that picked us up from Central Station and then took us to five vineyards, the famous smelly cheese shop and a chocolate/gelato place. I mean, heavenly. And we lucked out and got incredible weather!

I think my facebook photos document the trip a little better than this, but here are some highlights:

Suuuuuuuper serious about the tasting.






Our tour group! :)


Ending the day with some gelato.

Picnic Rally in the Botanic Gardens.

Hannah was so sweet and invited me out to her friend's picnic-rally called Justice for Jock a couple weekends ago. Long story short, her friend Lauren's ex-boyfriend's brother (convoluted, I know) has been imprisoned in Bulgaria for the past three years for a crime he committed in self-defense. It's a pretty complicated story, so if you're really curious you can read more at www.freejock.com. The actual rally was pretty heartbreaking -- testimonials from his family/friends, explanations about the case and preparation for his appeals hearing the next week. I guess it's been a pretty sensationalized news story, so it was interesting to get to be there for the rally.

The rest of the day was so lovely, though, to just celebrate Jock's positivity and hope for the future. We just lounged in the gardens (overlooking the Harbour Bridge) and enjoyed some delicious snacks.

Remember how I said I'd take a better picture from Matt's window once we were better friends? Well, he's practically my brother now so I do a photo shoot nearly every time we hang out. Haha. GORGEOUS day this day, eh? Can you see the Harbour Bridge and the tip of the Opera House in the distance?

Breakfast boyfriend looking adorable in the park. :)


Our FEAST. I wish I'd set it up to look more attractive but it includes: Matt's homemade guacamole, olives + stuffed tomatoes, crackers/dip and the most delicious cheese selection from a fancy cheese shop on Bourke Street. Seriously -- when I bought (or, invested in rather) in these fancy cheese I got to sample like dozens of options. HEAVEN.

Botanic Gardens. Lovely day with a lovely lady.

"She Works Hard for the Money..."

So, I'm surviving in Sydney! Physically and economically. Quite a pleasant surprise for me. :) Haha. But really -- I'm having the time of my life and hardly dipping into my savings which is very, very reassuring that maybe I won't be broke as a joke the rest of my life. Here are some quick updates about my jobs:

AMADEUS IT PACIFIC

• Corporate offices waste a lot of money on mailings, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. One of the best parts of the day is at 3:45 when Peter from TNT stops by to pick up the satchels. He's been coming to Amadeus for 10 years -- and he just dyed his hair blonde to look younger. He's quite a character. :)
  
• Daniel is the sweetest co-worker ever. EVER. I'm going to miss him so much when I leave. He's the best gossiper (because everyone talks to him), but so very tender-hearted. He saves me food and brings me little treats (everyone knows sweets are the way to my heart, right?) Yesterday he had homemade bread pudding and scones. Made me a little plate with jam and everything -- delicious!! I also love when his partner, Stuart comes down because he always says "how's it goin' chickadees??" Hehe. (Bets -- remember "Chick-a-billy" ?? SO WEIRD. ps what were our nicknames for those t-shirts?)
  
• When I make coffee carts, I tend to give people my favorite kinds of cookies aka biscuits-- makes my clean up better when I get to snack on the leftovers. Hehe. My favs: the Caramels and the Venetian biscuits. Yurm.
  
• Catching the window-washers on the twelfth floor and waving is very exciting. They make silly faces at you. Haha.
• One of my "important projects" was to handle the authoriz(s)ation forms for the big important people's corporate AmEx cards. They trust me with important info, yaknow. No big.
  
• We get a lot of wrong number phone calls.
  

SUMMIT RESTAURANT + ORBIT LOUNGE

• After work my mouth hurts from smiling so much -- but people are surprisingly friendly, complimentary and always inquisitive about my accent. The funniest thing is how often I have the exact same small-talk conversations. Usually it's "are we moving now!??" or
  "don't you get seasick??" or "don't you want to come with us?" (when I lead them to the elevator).
• You'd be surprised how many people don't really understand the concept of a revolving restaurant. So many times I seat people at there window seat, but it's currently by a steel beam (yaknow, to hold the building up) and they get all huffy and puffy about not getting a "window seat." Once I explain, ummm just wait like 20 seconds, they usually feel pretty silly. Love seeing posh/pretentious people feel silly. Haha.
  
• I got a paper-cut on my pointer finger (worker's comp...?) so I can't sign into our fingerprint time card system. Eye scan, perhaps?
• Michael Moore, our celebrity chef, just published his first cookbook and we had the big launch last week. I guess there were a ton of really famous Australian celebrities, but unfortunately I didn't know who any of them were. But I did seat one of the "richest men in Australia" who was having dinner with not one, but two beautiful older women. Very typical. Haha.
  
• People say "ta" for thank you in Australia. Never thought it would be irritating, except when I'm "lapping" people and every single person at the table says it. Haha.
  
• Folding napkins is surprisingly therapeutic.
  

MARs ATTACKS @ Red Bull Headquarters.

One of the perks of Abrye being my official Australian girlfriend is I get to reap the benefits of her employment with the Red Bull Wings Team. Last week, she invited us to the MARs ATTACKS group exhibition at the Red Bull Headquarters in Alexandria. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures of (a) the artwork, (b) the amazing decor in the offices or (c) the torrential downpour we were forced to brave at the end of the night. But below are some highlights from the photos I did take:

My new friend Rahil -- he's from Sydney originally, but went to uni at Georgetown. I was connected with him through Spencer Almy (who I know through Sarah Malachowsky, college roommate) and could not be more grateful. He's a really busy investment banker who usually works crazy hours, but after our Friday happy hour at Tank Stream in the CBD, he totally gave in to my persuasive invitation and accompanied me to the exhibit. What a champ.

Selfie @ the exhibit. Please note the large flowers in my hair. Those were secretly extracted by Daniel and me at work from our front-desk arrangement. I'll plan to do this most Fridays from now on. Haha. :)

TRIVIA CHAMPS (what, whaaaat?)

The Fringe Bar is an awesome place on Oxford Street that hosts events nearly every day of the week. For example: Comedy Night (Wednesday), All You Can Eat Pizza (Thursday) and Artisan Markets (Saturday). But my new favorite? TUESDAY TRIVIA NIGHT. Trivia is a pretty common social event in Australia (right up my alley) and we have assembled the International Trivia Dream Team -- Michael Twemlow (representing Sydney), Louise Davis (representing the UK), Abrye Redeker, Sara Smith and Matt Harkenrider (hailing from CA, CO + FL and representing the US of A). (Note: Matt was deathly ill last week and couldn't stay for the main events. Sad.).

Questions are mostly about pop culture -- I dominate the celebrity identity questions and obscure 80s TV shows. (Who knew watching hours of I Love the 80s on VH1 for all of high school would pay off?). Twez the lawyer has most of the sports/political stuff covered. Aubs the music expert came in for the clutch Puff the Magic Dragon question and other lyrical references. And Louise is always a champ with the obscure ones -- chemistry, pentagrams, 60s rockstars, etc., etc.

So last week our team placed first (out of like, twelve teams). We didn't get a single question wrong in the first two rounds! And in the end, we were rewarded with a $50 bar tab. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it back this week (I had work/Aubs had surf camp), but we'll be back to defend our title next week. Wahooo!

Our massive celebration was just as obnoxious as it looks. I don't even care -- proudest moment of my Australian life.


Louise brought us little Kinder Egg surprises to keep us energized during the later rounds. The toys were really important for entertainment as well.

And let's be real -- the real reason we wanted to win was to impress the cute-patootie trivia guy. He was obviously surprised that we were the grand champs in a room of suits and trivia regulars. Remember these faces....we'll be back.