Timeshare to Open in Late February

Michael and I signed the lease and put in the deposit today for the new apartment we will move into in about 2 1/2 weeks. It's on the small side, but it's in good condition, in a location we like, and we will legitimately be allowed to have our cats (without paying cat rent like they try to make you do in Ballston). I like to think we got it because I wrote a very convincing persuasive later. I'd like to thank my 5th grade English teacher.

So, once our new place is furnished we will be accepting applications for couch-surfers. We can't promise much space, but it will be sufficient. I'm thinking it will be a twist on the bed n' breakfast idea. You stay with us for free, but you cook us breakfast or the meal of your choice.

I have been warned about the annoyances of dealing with some of the realty companies around here, but it seems, at least so, far that we have lucked out and have to deal with a decent one (fingers crossed). 

Ahoy Mateys!

Our flatmate Liz sails competitively, so she invited along yesterday. We sailed in our first race in Sydney Harbour on a 32-foot boat (for some reason boats are the one thing they don't measure metrically). Mainly we moved from one side of the boat to the other to keep it properly weighted or handed the people that knew what they were doing the things they needed. Apparently it is not that difficult to show up at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia on a Wednesday evening, put your name on the marker board, and pick up on a boat that needs crew (or eye candy if you're a lady), even if you have little experience on boats. 

This is the only picture I took of Michael before we started because I didn't want my phone to fall in the water during the race. 

The race lasted a little over an hour and we came in 8th out of about 15 teams. We met a lot of nice people and had drinks afterwards at the yacht club. Talk about experiencing how the other half live. 

Australia Day Weekend

For those of you that don't know, today is Australia Day, and thus it is a three day weekend. 

Saturday we went lawn bowling (essentially, bocce) with some ultimate players. It was pretty fun.

Sunday we met up with our friend Monty. We know him from trivia and ultimate in the states, but he's been living in Taiwan teaching for the last several months. We took the ferry through the incredibly busy harbor (everyone was out celebrating the holiday on their boats) to the Taronga Zoo. 

Michael is not in the witness protection program, he was just very back-lit. 

In the evening, we had a local beer and dinner at the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel, Sydney's oldest hotel, pub, and brewery, located in a neighborhood known as The Rocks. 

Waiting for the bus to go home, we got to watch some of the Australian Open finals with 100 strangers.

Everyone's wearing red hats because that red tent was giving them out for free - not to show allegiance to anyone or anything. 

Today we did the Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach cliff walk. It's about 6km, pretty picturesque, and at the end you get to swim. 

Not a bad way to spend a holiday weekend.

New Friends and Visitors

Meet Charlie. She's our new flatmate, along with a kiwi frisbee player named Liz. We've moved into our new temporary apartment while I continue to look for a more permanent one. 

This week I have been able to meet up with different people from different segments of my life. Monday I had lunch with one of my grad school professors who happened to be in town for a few days while on his sabbatical. Tuesday I met up with Iris, a frisbee acquaintance who has coincidentally moved to Sydney at the same time as us from the DC area. Thursday I had dinner with Keto from the Camp Friendship "family". You can't tell from the picture, but we are in front of a fountain in Hyde Park in order to poorly replicate the last picture taken of us together in Berlin in 2005.

Meet dfdfd

What snow?

While most of the people we know are being pummeled by snow up north, we have been enjoying temps in the 20s - celsius, that is. 

Michael and I went to our first ultimate frisbee game. He saw an old friend and we met a lot of new ones. It was pretty wonderful and it has already opened up a lot of social and active opportunities for us. We were also very very lucky to meet someone with whom we can do a temporary "flatshare" - a.k.a. sublet a room in her apartment. We're happy because this means we don't have to blow all our money on a hotel room while we look for a more permanent place. Also, our roomie seems pretty cool and has a cat.

I'm starting to get the hang of the public transportation system in Sydney. Today ventured up north to view an apartment and had a few extra minutes to walk around nostalgic and creepy Luna Park. Apparently in Australia, cotton candy is known as "fairy floss". It sounds less appealing.

After walking through Luna Park and seeing the apartment I took one of the harbor ferries back, which was quite quick and pleasant. Below is the ferry stop and in the distance you can see the opera house.

Out and About

We discovered that the newer Sydney train seats can do this:

It's good to have options.

But more importantly, food. Sydney cuisine is heavily influenced by Asian food. My favorite cheap/on-the-go food these days are these large sushi rolls that are about 4-5 inches long and cost $2-3 dollars. They have traditional fish and vegetable ones as well as cooked teriyaki chicken, tuna, beef, etc. One is perfect for a snack, two or three could be a meal, and the price is right compared to other options.

So many inflatables!

For some reason, all the Sydney Festival events we've gone to have involved large inflatable structures....

Can you tell I'm so happy to see this guy? I was worried when he heard he deflated somewhere. You will be happy to know the giant rubber ducky is alive and well, or at least has an identical twin. 

After visiting the duck and having a picnic we went back downtown. The Architects of Air present Exxpolois, an Illuminarium. It is a traveling installation that is currently right in front of the Sydney Opera House. Here is a little walkthough.

In other news, we have found that Kent Street will be a favorite for a lot of our friends who might visit. There are about seven or eight outdoor apparel/gear stores in one block. This will help our REI withdrawal.

Also, I have found my favorite Australian kids' show. It's called Steam Punks! It's similar to Legends of the Hidden Temple in that there are trivia questions and physical challenges, but they also teach science lessons along the way (usually by showing explosions and whatnot). At the end, the winners get to go home and the losers must stay in the dirty steampunk world and do chores. You can't beat a gameshow where there's no real reward and the losers are punished. Here's a photo of the inquisitor. Usually he has dirt smeared on his cheeks, though.

Oh, Australia, what will you think of next?

Sydney Festival, Chinatown, etc.

         

          

You know, just us hanging out at the inflatable Stonehenge replica in Hyde Park. The first picture is of Michael waiting in line - they had free umbrellas for everyone in line to use. Michael, as always, had to do a flip. 

As luck would have it, we happened to arrive right in the middle of the Sydney Festival. There are lots of random events and installations around town. 

As if the Sydney Festival wasn't enough, it's also the beginning of the Chinese New Year festival. Here is a super short video of a lion dance.

We took a walk down to Chinatown, which puts Washington, DC's Chinatown to shame. We tried some Emperor's cream puffs - essentially mildly sweet donut holes with warm custard inside.  

I got to haggle in the market for a cheap iphone case. I also realized need to practice my haggling more. I only brought the price down 20%.

I went grocery shopping for the first time, just for some lunch items. Only you foodies will care about this. One thing I got that I have never seen before that's pretty good is a tapenade-like spread/dip made with Thai chilli, lemongrass, coriander, and cashews. Pretty good.

In Sydney parks, there are not only pigeons. There are these things that are twice as big as the pigeons but scavenge with them. Say hello to the ibis.

Enjoy the posts while they last folks. Hopefully at some point I will be employed and not have all this free time.

Sydney Arrival

We just spent $8.95 (Aus.) on a box of cereal. I really hope that was just an expensive convenience store and not the regular Australian price.

Thanks to our friend, Steve, we were upgraded to business class and enjoyed the most wonderful 14 hour flight of our lives. We had reclining beds to sleep in - they were almost like cribs for adults (weird, but comfortable), were waited on hand and foot, watched a bunch of movies, and the food was half-decent. This experience has ruined us for future long rides in economy class that will be inevitable at some point.

We spent a lot of time today walking and waiting. At times it kind of felt like we were playing an adventure video game where you have to go to one person and they give you one item, and then you have to bring it to another location to use that item to get another item, and then eventually after a long chain of events you get the one thing you really need. Signing up for a phone plan requires more paperwork and proof of ID than starting a bank account, apparently. There is an overly complicated system where you have to have a certain number of points to identify yourself to get a phone plan - your passport is worth a certain number of points, a bank card is worth some, etc. But, if you're like us and just arrived in the country, you can open an account but you won't get the actual card for several business days, and some phone companies won't accept an official letter from the bank saying you have an account with them. I think they just want you to go on a scavenger hunt. If you don't have a local address yet, they make you jump through these hoops to get all of the things that would make it easier to find somewhere to live. Anyway, after picking the phone company that gave us the least grief, I now finally have my first iPhone. 

I have no more working brain cells at the moment to come up with a clever ending to this post.

California Waypoint

En Route to Sydney, Michael and I have stopped in San Diego to drop off our cats, Eve and Ninja with our friends, Rachel and Steve. Sorry to any of my California family reading this - we didn't have time to factor in a stop to see you too. 

The cats travelled surprisingly well on the plane and in the rental car. Ninja found a favorite spot resting underneath the driver's seat and was almost impossible to pry loose. Now they are adjusting well to Rachel and Steve's townhouse, finding high ledges and furniture to jump on and hiding spots. Ninja is typically a grump when we move him to new surroundings, and that has already worn off. We will see the cats again in about two months when they come join us.

I promise to take more pictures and post them when we get to Sydney. Michael has been taking lots of GoPro footage that will eventually be edited and posted. 

The joke is on you, leasing company.

We have officially turned in the keys and no longer live in Arlington, VA. 

When the woman from the leasing office did the walk through of our apartment, the one tiny thing she noticed and noted was a chip on the counter that had been there before we moved in. She did not note the countless marks on the walls, carpet damage, the chipped stone in the kitchen sink, or any evidence of our cats. We probably won't, but it will be ironic if we end up having to pay for the chipped counter, considering the other damage is disproportionately higher in cost. Win!

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday...

Michael and I spent our last night in the apartment we have lived in for the last five years. We spent all day getting everything out and tomorrow we turn the keys back in. The cats are confused and probably will be for some time.

We have said goodbye after goodbye after goodbye to family and friends. It's bittersweet. I've received some really cute and sweet going away gifts and cards. My favorite is a homemade mousepad (made out of paper, but it says "mouse pad" on it) with pictures of koalas on it printed from the internet, from my little cousin. One of my students really wanted to give me fruit salad for some reason, but he ended up giving me a tupperware container with two apples, two clementines, and two baby carrots in it because that's all he had. Little did he know produce is the main thing you can't take with you to Australia. The fruit was a good snack to have around while packing up all our stuff, though.

There are some people I feel weird about not saying bye to - the people I see very often but barely know - the ones I see while around the building, on neighborhood walks, or at local businesses. They all know my face and sometimes make small talk. I will just completely disappear out of their life without a trace. I wonder if they will notice; what will they think happened to me?

Just one week left...

In one week, +Michael Chirlin and I are relocating to Sydney, Australia from Arlington, VA, USA. This is where we will share some of our videos, photos, and anecdotes.  For the time being, we are tying up loose ends at work (I will be ending my job and Michael will be continuing his in Australia with new clients), packing and storing our belongings, and preparing our cats for the move too.