Wanderings: Down Under
Here is the photo version of Wanderings: Down Under. A photo book with stories and narration of my travels in Australia and New Zealand is in the works. To read the text from the upcoming book, visit SaintProse.com.
View and purchase Wanderings: Down Under below.
The Beginning
It’s my dream to turn this blog into a book but I’ve long struggled with a beginning. As I’ve laid here tonight, stressing over my midterms in organic chemistry, biology and South Asia studies, I began facebooking my guide from the Red Center, Kate. That inspired me to read my Enter the Red Center post, which got me thinking about the blog and wishing I had time to finish it. Laying in bed at 2:00am spawned this. I think I like it.
“There you go,” the driver grunted, handing me my luggage. “Follow this pathway around the corner, take a left up the steps. Your doorway is the third on your right. Take the stairs to the top, apartment 61. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, I think I got it,” I muttered exhaustedly. I thanked him and he drove off.
I started rounding the pathway, stopped to look about and was hit with a 100-lb ball of reality to the chest. It was as though I was watching myself on a camera. It slowly began to zoom out, picking up speed. First a view of myself slumped over my luggage, then the apartment complex, the suburb of Marsfield, then city of Sydney, and finally Australia as a whole. I started to feel the 7500 miles of ocean between myself and those I loved-heck, those I knew.
Goodbye
Less than an hour ago I said goodbye to Reese, and just a handful of hours ago I hung out with Kel for the last time (for a while). Later on tonight I’m heading to my final game of Ultimate.
Today was a good day, full of weighty goodbyes that set a slightly somber tone. I met Kel at the Mac Centre, as she was shopping for a few books for her trip to America. It was a most unceremonious goodbye; she rushed for the train, gave me a wonderful hug, too quick for emotion, and hopped on the carriage. She remarked that I would see her soon, and I believe her. I waved at her as the train lumbered out of the station, but she missed it, gazing at the floor as she rummaged through her things.
On the heels of her departure I caught a train to Epping, where I met up with Reese and his friend (now mine as well) Andy. They both ride trials, a bike riding sport that involves ‘navigating man-made and natural obstacles’ using only the tires of the bike. Reese wanted to get one last ride in before heading off to America tomorrow, and as time was running out for us to chill, invited me along.
He brought a bike along for me, and after departing the busy train station lugging that beast around, we road along the busy sidewalks, weaving in and out of business men and tourists alike. Over the Anzac Bridge, down into beautiful, clean Darling Harbour under a blazing sun, stupefying the notion that it was winter. The guys messed around on some concrete blocks, then proceeded to a wonderful area full of flowing water and fountains that they were promptly asked to vacate.
We ditched Darling Harbor for a park near Hyde Park, a ‘water garden’ beneath the spires of St. Mary’s Cathedral. Reese was determined to drop from a 15-foot rock fountain onto a metal electrical box, but due to the fact he was flying out to America the next day, smartly decided against it. We grabbed slurpees, then elbowed and pushed our way onto a train carriage at peak hour, bikes and all. I had a man pinned to the wall with my handle bars, it was quite the awkward experience.
The carriage began to thin out as we got further and further from the city. It was difficult to comprehend that this would be the last time I would be seeing Reese for an indefinite amount of time. As the train lumbered to a stop at the Eastwood Station, I knew I had less than five minutes remaining. Standing up, I reached out to Reese, shaking his hand. I thanked him for showing me around Sydney and all he had done for me. Then, reaching Epping, I gave a half-wave and disembarked, the train leaving me behind. And that’s my last memory of Reese Toase.
–ζ——δ——ζ–
These two people, Kel and Reese, were absolutely instrumental in my happiness and broad range of experiences in Australia. I met a multitude of friends through them both, and they led me on many wonderful escapades. They helped me achieve my true goal of this experience-assimilating with Australian culture.
Homecoming
Tonight is my last night in Australia. I’m all out of my room, with all my stuff in a corner. My flight takes off tomorrow at 2:45pm on July 10th, and arrives in Eugene, Oregon at 2:45pm on July 10th. No joke. Tonight should be chill, after last night: a chill free dinner with Ashleigh, then going to a little party at a gallery in Newtown.
Last night was a doozy. Tiger held a little going-away party at his place in Newport. Way too much alcohol and a crazy drinking game that I lost, but good people…great people. I’m going to miss them all. Ugh, and I missed Mona today, no face-to-face goodbye…
Ok, here’s a NOTE-
The blog will not end when I get back in Eugene. I have many things to write about that I haven’t had time to finish…trip to Melbourne, goodbyes, hang out at Reese’s, and a few others. Also, I’m kinda serious about putting together a photo/blog book with big glossy pictures and a few stories. I don’t know where that will go, but you should always dream. Alright, this is my last physical post from Australia (though I have many partial posts that I will finish when in Eugene.) Alright, I don’t really know how to sign off here from Australia for the last time…so here’s my usual…
I’m OUT
Day with Kel
This past week my good friend Kel took me on a wonderful beach tour. She was just horrified that the only beach I had visited was Bondi, and took it upon herself to expose me to some of Sydney’s northern beaches. It was a weekend of track work so I had to catch a few busses to get out to Hornsby, but it was well worth it.
First we visited West Head, a nice little beach area in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park with a viewpoint that looked over the ocean, with multitudes of sail boats gliding along the water. We walked down through the bush, then reached the beach. The tide was in so we had to perch ourselves atop rocks, but it was beautiful and serene nevertheless.
Where we chilled
We then headed towards Mona Vale Beach. Kel improv’ed the drive there, and took us on one of the most beautiful roads I have experienced here in Australia. It wound around the bay, with sail boats docked off to our left and a lush, green hillside to our right. Quite stunning.
Mona Vale Beach was quite a sight. Kel parked on a hill with a luxurious golf course to our right which abutted to the beach. We chilled on the sand for a bit, talking and watching the surfers. What a pleasant time!
The golf course
All in all, it was a wonderful day, another highlight of my trip. I value these sorts of experiences over things like clubbing, seeing the Opera House or even going on a harbor cruise. These are real experiences, a ‘day in the life’ sort of thing. Again, I see my objective of being here to assimilate, not simply be a tourist. And that’s exactly what Kel gave me. Thanks girl!
AUS vs. Bahrain
I have already written an extensive post on my experience at the Australia vs. Uzbekistan game, which can be found here, so this will be more of a summary/pictures. Enjoy.
–ζ——δ——ζ–
Last night Heat, Vasya and myself trekked from North Ryde to Olympic Park for the FIFA World Cup Qualifier Australia vs. Bahrain soccer match. Much of the significance had been lost due to Australia already booking its ticket to South Africa with a draw against Qatar the previous week, but it was still an enjoyable game with nearly 40,000 Aussies braving the frigid weather (it was around 50ºF, plus wind). The first half was relatively slow and nearly boring, but, as we saw in the AUSvsUzbekistan game, the ‘roos really brought it in the second half, closing Bahrain out 2-0 amongst a multitude of “Aussie Aussie Aussie/Oi Oi Oi!” chants. Below are pictures from the night, a video of both goals and a news article.
Vasya and I
Verbeek content with weakened Socceroos
From ABC.net.au
Slideshow: Photo 2 of 2
Culina does an overhead kick (Getty Images: Matt King)
Australian coach Pim Verbeek says he was happy the way his different-looking side worked its way to a 2-0 World Cup qualifier win over Bahrain in Sydney last night.
A crowd of just under 40,000 welcomed the Socceroos home for their first game since qualifying for next year’s finals in South Africa.
There were seven changes to the strong starting team that secured a World Cup spot with a goalless draw in Doha.
In the end, second half goals from Mile Sterjovski and David Carney gave Australia the win after a frustrating opening 40 minutes.
Verbeek says it was not easy for his team to play to its full potential.
“If you see the amount of new players we had to bring in,” he said.
“If you consider the long trip back from Qatar, the jet-lag. We know we were qualified already so you still have to get mentally back in the right shape to perform.”
“Then I can only say the only thing we didn’t do was score more goals.”
Verbeek said he was still planning on fielding a strong side for the final qualifier against Japan in Melbourne.
The coach said he was keen to get senior players like Tim Cahill back in the side next weekend.
“Josh Kennedy will be ready. Timmy was too risky today but will be ready next week,” he said.
“That’s also the reason why I saved Grella. I didn’t want him to pick up a yellow card because I need him next week.”
“So if you look for the players who are still available I think we can make a very strong team next week.”
One player sure to be there will be goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who extended his run of international games without conceding a goal last night as he assumed the captaincy for the suspended Lucas Neill.
The Fulham custodian has gone nine games without conceding a goal for the Socceroos and is closing in on Italy’s Dino Zoff’s international record of more than 12 clean sheets.
But Schwarzer says he wasn’t aware that he was close to a world record.
“I knew obviously we broke the Australian record. And as far as we’re concerned we want to continue that run regardless of whether that’s going to beat the world record,” he said.
“It’s a sense of amazing self-pride amongst all the boys that we can go into crucial games, World Cup qualifiers and not concede goals. That’s an unbelievable foundation to have.”
…
This blog needs to turn away a bit from the whole ‘Travel Log’ thing that it has become. Those posts take me so long and consume me; it keeps me from writing anything else. At the moment I’m sitting on the couch in a quiet, sterile apartment, my head in a haze from over-sleeping and under-exercising. Finals are coming up for me and I literally haven’t gotten as far as checking the due date of my first paper, which is either this Monday or the next. When studying is on my plate, inevitably depression is as well. Studying feels like such a waste to me. I know, that’s such a teenage-angsty way to look at it, but it really feels that way. Jumping through these irrelevant hoops just seems ridiculously trivial, and just acts as a catalyst to plummet my seemingly-fragile wellbeing.
Also constantly on my plate and mind is the reality that I will soon be leaving the dear and close friends that I have made here. For some reason I never thought I would form such incredibly intense bonds during this time, but for some reason inexplicable to me I have. They are like brothers, sisters, and my roommates aunts, uncles, even parental figures. The thought of never seeing many of these people ever again is one that I cannot grasp, but one that rationally I know is based in fact. I will see many of these people again, but many others, I know, will only remain a memory.
I haven’t seen Mona in two weeks due to school sputtering to a halt. Reese and I see each other sparingly, and a few days that we had been talking about spending at his place before he flew to America in late June now seem like they might not come to fruition. I haven’t seen Dulce in a while, and Ryan and I are for some reason relegated only to conversing around class periods. It is as if the transition has already begun.
However, thankfully but also prospectively painfully I have made two new friends, or rather gotten closer to previous acquaintances: Ashleigh, a close friend of Reese’s, and Kel, a friend from frisbee. Ashleigh and I have been hanging out pleasantly frequently in the past two weeks, taking in Angels and Demons and going to the city for an art exhibition, among other things. Kel and I have been hanging out between and after school, and she’s been planning on taking me on a bush walk and a tour of a few northern beaches. Why these relationships had to begin a month before I was to leave the country I will forever be curious of.
People ask me if I’m excited to go home, and its a question that can’t really be answered by a simple, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I’m excited to get back to see the friends and family that I’ve desperately missed, to congratulate and rejoice with a future cousin and meet my new ‘nephew’. I’m excited to move back in with the BUX307 boys and virtually live with the Corvallis girls again. I’m excited to talk and take in football and basketball with Dad, and help Mom in the garden. I can’t wait to cuddle Charlie and be enthralled with his exploratory personality. And I have wildly missed the family parties and gatherings, a place where I can truly be at ease.
All of this comes, however, with the trading in of my present life, the life that I have come to form here in Sydney. I feel as though I have swashbuckled my way into these people’s lives, and I will soon swing back out, leaving a hole of ‘what once was’. And along with me leaving a hole, they will keep parts of me, an act that will undoubtedly force me to return and continue to carry on with people who at this point, and undoubtedly more intensely in the future, seem like dreams, a reality that just could not, cannot be true.
In short, I’m excited to go back, yes. I’m excited for the friends and family and comfort of home, but I’m not excited for the monotonous life that I fear will resume mere months after I land in Eugene. And I fear going back because I fear that I may not return whole, that I’ll be caught between this dream I’ve been living these past four months and the reality that is Oregon.
This post was supposed to help me get everything out there, all on the table, and make me feel better. It’s just left me more unsettled than before. Oh, and I’m sure it will just read like a bunch of melodramatic crap that some whiny twerp sitting in his apartment in Sydney threw together in a desperate attempt at attention. But it’s what’s inside of me. Take it or leave it.
A Father’s Perspective
I arrived back to the apartment from the Red Center to receive this e-mail from my Dad, his account of my parents’ first week in Sydney with me. It hasn’t been edited, or read…
–ζ——δ——ζ–
The following are the words of Franz St. George.
Australia: 4/12- Arrived in Sydney at 6:10 AM, tired and cramped from the tight space on the plane. Impression of the flight?: comparing the SAS flight to Stockholm in November to this United Air flight to Australia, this flight was definitely several stars under the SAS flight. During the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel, I noticed that the trees looked tropotypical (a word I just coined), some palms and some very tall, somewhat open types ( maybe acacia?). It was also strange to have the driver on the right side of the car and driving on the left side of the road.It was overcast and humid, temp in the mid 70s. We we lucky and were able to check into our hotel room, downtown Sydney, 10min walk from the harbor and the Opera House. We met Peter outside the hotel at noon. It was wonderful seeing him walking the sidewalk towards us. He’s lost just a little weight and he looks great! We hung out in the room for a little while and then walked down to the Circular Quay (harbor), touristy, but very cool (temp wise, the sun came out and it got very warm). Lots of street performers; watched several groups of aboriginal men in their traditional garb and face-body paint playing didgederoos (sp). We had lunch on the water and made our way to the Opera House and through the Royal Botanical Gardens-hundreds of large flying foxes!. Each of these places, along with the sights on the water front were incredible by themselves.All of this is inside Sydney! We got back to the hotel room at around 4:30, rested and then walked to the train station and took the train to Peter’s college, MacQuarie University. We walked through campus to his apartment. Due to the Easter 2 week break, it was dead quiet except for the incessant bird sounds (lots of large yellow cockatoos (sp) and other tropical types of birds). At the apartment, one of Peter’s roommates, Vasya, had prepared a Russian-type meal for us. Peter’s roommates are very interesting. Vasya and his wife, Jenya (sp) live in one room. They are from Moscow. Heet, a Japanese man from Tokyo lives another room. All three are graduate students. Heet is currently writing his Ph.D. dissertation in environmental law-Peter says he is constantly sequestered in his room. Jenya is a Russian-educated lawyer and is studying environmental law and Vasya is studying business administration. He already has a Ph.D. in laser physics, but says that there are no employment opportunities for his skills in Russia. What an incredibly intelligent, interesting and motivated group that Peter is fortunate to be living with. Vasya prepared a three-course meal of salad, stuffed pancakes, mozzerella, tomato eggplant and salmon. After dinner Peter walked us back to the train station and Nancy and I made our way back to the hotel room in downtown Sydney-collapsed into our beds. It is now Monday morning and I’m finishing this post. My impressions: Peter seems quite self-sufficient and confident here. He did a marvelous job of showing us the highlights of the Circular Quay area and showing us how to navigate using the train system. What an incredibly diverse cultural place Sydney is. Besides the causcasian and native Australians, we saw many different asian types of people; probably from Korean, Japanese, Chinese to Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. Many Indian people, folks from Africa. It seems that the asian population represents a very large fraction of the local population. All of the different languages was astounding. I was reminded of that scene in Star Wars where Han Solo goes into an intergalactic saloon where so many different species of beings were wetting their whistle. The flora and fauna inside Sydney is astounding! One of those places where, without knowing the political and social problems you think you could easily live. A paradise for those just arriving!
The previous was written about a month ago so some of the details of the Australia visit are somewhat fuzzy. The following are some of the stronger impressions and memories I have. Monday was a chill day where we got some of our energy back. Later in the afternoon Peter took us to see the shopping area, QVB, where it was interesting to see the Aussies spending their money. Not too different than a US upscale mall. I’m still amazed at the diversity in the population here. Its also very obvious that this is a world-class city-the stores, fashions, traffic, 24 hour activity. Also, a tipoff for me is how upscale the women dress.
On early Tuesday morning Nancy and I grabbed our light weight luggage negotiated to the train station and met Peter at the Central train station to take the 2hr train ride to the Blue Mountains (amed for the blue hue of the gas given off by the eucalyptus trees. It was a wonderful train ride through the Australian country side-semi tropical flora. We checked into our rooming house, somewhat austere, but clean and adequate for our needs. At lunch Peter had roast kangaroo. I had a sample-it was very delicious and tender. We bought a bus tour fare good for two days. They take you to different drop off/pick up points and you can explore. Our major stop of the day was the Rain forest area. The tram ride over the very deep valley was cool. But even cooler was the small train ride down to the bottom of the valley. Without exaggeration the angle of descent was about 45 degrees! Wire mesh enclosed the open cars so that people wouldn’t fall out. Wow! It was very cool (literally) at the bottom of the valley, very moist too. We saw lots of flora-the only fauna was birds-very colorful! At the end of the day we ended up in the small town of Leura, where Nancy decided that she’d like to do some shopping the next day.
The next day we jumped back on the bus and for the first stop we went to the chocolate factory for some snacks-yum! We explored some of the other stops and really enjoyed the Leural Falls stop. The long trail of cascading waterfalls gave Peter plenty of photo-ops so he kind of split off for a while. We ended up in Leura for shopping-really didn’t find anything and had a bit of a snack there. At the end of the day we finished our wonderful visit to the Blue Mountains and took a train back to Sydney. We were scheduled to meet Peter’s friend Reese at a Belgian bar for mussels. We got to this incredibly packed bar where they were waiting for us, jammed into the bar for a seat and found that they ran out of mussels-shoot! Well, some other time. I drank plenty of beer-had a beer with my son-very cool kind of bonding experience-our first beer together! You had to be there…
Thursday was a chill day…. We went down to the aquarium and saw some cool sharks, fish, manta rays, etc. Huge tanks with glass tunnels through them for people to traverse and view the ocean life from within the tank.
Friday-the big day! We met Peter at the McQuarie train stop and walked to his apartment. Heet, his room mate was going to make lunch for Nancy, Jenya , Peter and I. He had a special cooktop set up on the balcony to heat the oil he was going to use for the tempura-style cooking. He cooked us several different kinds of fish and vegetable that we thoroughly enjoyed. We had great conversation and a great time. Later Peter took us on a walk through the Aussie neighborhoods and through a remote wooded area. We were searching for lizards. Didn’t see any, but we had a great time! He really knows his way around this area. Later we took a train back to Sydney. We went to the Sydney Opera house to see the dance production Push. Two dancers, man and woman-incredible.! What a wonderful performance. Being at he Opera House on the water front was special. This is an incredibly beautiful building and location. Its located in the city at the edge of the botanical gardens and on the water front. During the intermission Peter and I went outside and looked over the low wall into the water. Such a beautiful sight the city was with all of its lights reflecting on the water! Hey, the taxi rides to and from the Opera House from our hotel were an incredible experience. I don’t think that there are traffic laws for taxis in Sydney. This was more exciting than a carnival ride. These drivers wear racing gloves-I swear that they are juiced! Anyway, the Opera House was an experience of a lifetime!
Saturday-my first big time real, professional rugby game- the Sydney Waratahs against the Western Force from Perth. Peter arranged for these incredible seats-front row, just a few feet from the action. The crowd was juiced, the players were juiced, I was excited for action and big hits. We were lucky to be sitting next to some guys that had been players and were willing to explain the action and rules to us. Man, American football seems soft compared to how these guys play. Lots of big full speed hits, many, many runs. A significant amount of time is spent tackling where the hit does not end play, they keep pushing and grabbing and hitting. Its almost like wrestling during the tackle-I can’t believe the stamina these guys have. There are very big, stout players and smaller, very quick players. The hits are viscious-I saw lots of blood-play on!! There is no roughing the kicker, I saw kickers spun around like pinwheels! What an experience with Peter! Thank you Peter!
Sunday-off to New Zealand with Nancy and Peter.
My thoughts? The part of Australia we experienced was beautiful and awesome. Really nice, diverse people. Sydney is a wonderful experience. So may things to do and see. The quality of life here must be good. Lots of parks, beach, city entertainment, museums, restaurants, etc. Peter did an incredible job creating an itinerary that gave us a taste of many aspects of life here. Peter, you really impressed me with your resourcefulness and independence! I’m so proud of you-what you do, who you are, how you think… Dude, thanks for making our trip such a special experience. We just wanted to see you and you made it so much more!
Kings Cross shooting seals busy street | The Daily Telegraph
Last night I was at a club in Kings Cross called Candys. I had heard much about Kings Cross as it’s the red light district. Prostitution, violence, the lot. Stories of stabbings and fights all came to characterize this place for me before I had set foot on its streets.
During the day its just like any other street, but after midnight it turns into a different place. We exited the club at about 1:45 or so to find the streets FULL of club-goers. As we strolled along the sidewalks, making our way to a bus stop we passed one man flat on his back and another man crumpled up by a tree with a crowd around him. I didn’t see it, but apparently his face was drenched in blood.
After being ditched, Ashleigh and I caught a bus around 2:00am to head back to Pennant Hills. (To be fair to Reese, we weren’t maliciously ditched, more like passively ditched. We didn’t keep up with the group, focusing on our conversation instead…) Shortly after we left the following took place. Note that the Kings Cross train station is in the picture below, the start of my experience in the Cross…
Kings Cross shooting seals busy street
May 17, 2009 09:00am
POLICE sealed off part of a busy street in Kings Cross last night after pursuing a hooded gunman they believe had shot another man twice in the leg.
Officers chased the gunman down Bayswater Road after the shooting near Darlinghurst Road before losing sight of him around 2.40am.
A search of the surrounding area for the man was unsuccessful, police said.
Paramedics were called to the scene and the injured man was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital, where he remains in a serious but stable condition.
A crime scene was established and a number of witnesses interviewed while forensic examinations were conducted.
Crime scene … Police in Kings Cross after last night’s shooting. Pic: Gordon McComiskie
via Kings Cross shooting seals busy street | The Daily Telegraph.
An Unexpected Relationship Part II-Genesis Realized
DISCLAIMER-Those who read the below text forfeit their right to be mad/frustrated/angry with the author.
An Unexpected Relationship Part I
–ζ——δ——ζ–
I have been single for one year, five months and a few days. I feel petty and immature for calculating that number, and more-so for the effect that it has on me. I am a person who requires intense relationships in order to flourish, relationships with deep love, caring, intense debate among trying topics, and shared experiences. I have many wonderful friends who I have made and retained over the years, but for some odd reason these relationships, as loving and wonderful as many of them are, don’t have the same intensity that dating relationships have.
The month before I left for Australia I had this thirst quenched by a quite unlikely source-my good friend Nick. I feel awkward to saying that, and it will no doubt be awkward for Nick to read, but we have been through a great deal together. I have known him since kindergarten, and since then we have changed drastically from the preps we were in middle school-him to the more artistic, drama-ish side of the cultural/clique landscape, and me to…well, whatever the heck I am. He is about as close as I have to a (human) brother (Beau will forever hold that absolute distinction), and my relations with him quench my appetite for an intense bond.
Now, as I’ve thought about this, it occurs to me that what takes years upon years to build in a friendship seemingly takes mere weeks to build in a romantic relationship. Maybe this is just me. I enter romantic relationships with full intensity, as if the act of commencing a dating relationship directly precedes marital engagement (which I understand is wrong and misguided…I’m working on it!). A bond is created, whether through physical interactions, social or emotional. I latch onto that person and try to create a one-ness of stories and feelings and experiences. (I just got this vision, and it’s quite out there, and has to do with Harry Potter. Haha. Alright, so, the Pensieve. You know, that stone bowl where Dumbledore extracts memories from one’s brain to be viewed? Ok, so, I think of it as extracting our memories and thoughts and ideas and experiences and mixing them in a bowl, creating one mixture. Too weird? Yeah, I thought so…must be the lack of sleep…)
Anyway, I have been lacking this bond with a female for the above-mentioned period of time, and it has really started to kind of get to me. Not ‘get to me’ in the way that it’s affecting me psychologically or physically or whatever, but getting to me in the way of me thinking, “Jeeze, it’s about time!” It would be so awesome to have somebody to just chill with, let out my worries and frustrations, direct love and affection towards, and have someone who is a part of me. That’s kind of what happens when you date somebody; they become a part of you. Your choice of dating them reflects back on to you and defines who you are. I miss that. I miss having that other piece.
It’s no surprise then that the prospect brought about by hundreds of emails, hour-plus long Skype sessions and ridiculously expensive phone calls to a female I’m interested in back home in Eugene is quite exciting for me. Love truly does add an extra perfumed, fuzzy, warm and exciting layer to life. Not love in the sense of ‘I will go to the depths of the earth for you’ or ‘I am committed to you always’ or anything like that; love in the sense of wanting to be in someone’s presence so desperately and it gnawing away at you, having them on your mind way too much, and going out of your way to do something that to the outside observer seems petty or ridiculous, but that shows that other person that you just can’t get them out of your head and that you care for them. That kind of love.
Chloë and I have been fantasizing about our meeting in Eugene and what a joyous and absolutely out-of-this-world experience it will be. The visualization was of us in a park seeing each other, and her running towards me. (I always thought it would be funny if she tripped at the end. That always gives us a good laugh!) We had dreamt of what it would be like to meet here; while I was walking around by the Opera House and bumping into her or something. How crazy would that be? Anyway, we pretty much had it planned out-a park in Eugene, on the river, talking for hours.
Recently I received an e-mail from her, as per usual, from which the following is excerpted:
I’ve got some possible good news – but I’d rather make you anxious and not tell you;-)
And then when I didn’t acknowledge it,
PETER I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU. Remind me to tell you when we skype. actually…i won’t forget soooo I’m a little upset – i totally pulled the “I have a secret but I’m not going to tell you” – and you didn’t get upset!!
Needless to say I got the message, so we set a time to Skype the morning I was to arrive in Sydney from NZ.
The morning before our date I had awoken in Wellington at 4am, flown to Sydney, hopped the train and then lugged my luggage up to the apartment. I got all ready, made sure I had showered, shaved, and looked relatively ‘fresh’, and opened the connection to America. The screen was black, then flickered green. Her face finally popped up on the screen, lagging with the audio, tripped-up somewhere over the Pacific.
We greeted each other warmly and excitedly (and with a little flutter of the heart). I filled her in on New Zealand, and she brought me abreast to life in the Willamette Valley. I then remembered and asked, “Oh, what is it that was your big surprise or whatever?” She looked at me and kind of smiled, then silence. I was expecting her to tell me she had been made Prom Queen, or that she had gotten a nice scholarship to Corvallis, or something of the sort.
She took a deep breath. ”I’m going to Australia…I’m gonna be in Sydney”.
My face dropped from a smile into a gaping expression of wonderment. “What? Holy &!$%, when?”
“June”, she replied, half-giddily, half-cautiously.
“Holy &!$%, holy &!$%”, I repeated slowly but excitedly with disbelief. Our ridiculous, far-fetched fantasy now had glimmers of reality.
She explained that her parents had decided that because she was awarded a free-ride scholarship to the U of O they would reward her by giving her her dream trip as a graduation present. Chloë has always been obsessed with New Zealand and digs on Australia. Her parents felt she had connections here and that she could also fulfill her secondary dream of travelling down under with her friend Katie, also a fantasy of many years.
Chloë also has a random older friend who is Australian and he has a few sons in Sydney. Her plan was to stay with one of them, which sent pangs of jealousy through me. I wanted to invite her to stay with me but wasn’t sure how she would react to that or how my flat mates would feel about it. It was better than nothing, of course, so I stuffed those feelings down my throat and out of my consciousness.
For the next week or so we exchanged e-mails that expressed our excitement and our incredulity and threw some ideas and questions around for the upcoming trip. I then received this e-mail.
Alright so we’ve got a little change of plans… Katie woke me up at 8 this morning to tell me that she can’t go anymore…
Her dad is making her work. Ugh. So I layed in bed for like 800 years just thinking and I feel like it would be so incredible lame to pass up an experience like this – somewhere I’ve always dreamt I would be - that my parents are offering, just because my friend can’t go. But that also completely changes things. I talked with my mom for a long time this morning too and she told me she’s not sure how much she trusts those sons I was telling you about. We talked with my dad too and he pretty much told me that I was still going – it didn’t even phase him that katie couldn’t go anymore. But like I said, that changes things. Okay, I feel like I’m beating around the bush – my parents want me to be with you. To … experience sydney with you. And I would love that, but I want you to really think about it too. Would it be weird AT ALL? I don’t want you to feel obligated to care for me. If I came by myself I’d want both of us to be just…comfortable. I’m also thinking I could turn it into a dance trip. Like, check out different ballroom studios/make connections/take private lessons. My mom thought that was kind of a lame idea though – she thinks I’ll regret dancing instead of just kind of living it up down there. I always feel like a need a mission though. I still really want to do this. But yea…it changes things, that’s for sure. Let me know what you’re thinking. I hate not being able to see your reactions, I always read them.
She was coming alone! IT WOULD BE JUST US! This was perfect, and it just blew me away how all of this was happening. There are certain instances in which things just completely fall into perfect order-like dropping a handful of jig-saw puzzle pieces onto a table and having them miraculously land aligned-and I am convinced God has a hand in this. (What does that mean knowing that she is an atheist, I wonder…?)
Then, a few days later…
Alright, so my mom came to me this morning and said that dad and her talked about the trip last night. They’re okay with me going alone but they also feel uncomfortable trusting you when they’ve never met you. They know that they can, but like my mom was saying – if she were to call me and I didn’t answer, so she called you and you didn’t know where I was – she would freak out. And she doesn’t want to put you in that situation. They still seem pretty okay with me going alone, but my mom also brought up that they talked about her going with me. Hah. But before I could even respond she told me that she just wants to be there as backup. She said I could still stay with you, do whatever – she just wants to know that if …something happens, she’ll be on the same continent. Also, if i wanted to fly off to another part or NZ, she could do that with me. Reh. So that somewhat dappens the me “roughing it” aspect, but I’m sure the discussions not even close to being over. When are your finals? Haha my mom felt bad that she was considering coming and that I would have to tell you that, but I have to understand, I guess. I know she’d still let me be independent. La la la so much to plan!!
I was at first a little disappointed after reading this e-mail, but for some reason it soon calmed me. For one, I’m a master with parental relations, and I am glad that I’ll be able to instill confidence in her for me. I don’t want her parents fretting that she is hanging out and somewhat at the mercy of some guy she really hasn’t hung out with EVER, and who she pretty much only knows through cyber interactions.
I also know the great amount of stress that having a parent in the vicinity relieves, even if Chloë were to never see her. It gives one a safety-net of sorts, financial, emotional and practical, in the case that anything went wrong.
Along with the excitement is a lurking sense of fear. Fear that our interactions won’t be as wonderful or easy or compatible as they are through e-mail, Skype and phone. That she’ll see an ugly side in me, or I in her. We really have no idea of what to expect, and this is the cause of the nervousness. But excitement is the positive form of nervousness, and man am I excited about meeting up with her here!
So that’s pretty much where we’re at. And pretty much all I’m thinking of these days. At the moment we’re in the planning stages: I’m looking into Opera House shows and rugby games that will be on while she is here, as well as talking about the Blue Mountains and other things she will want to do. I’ve also talked to Reese about getting an extra mattress for her.
This is an incredible whirl-wind of emotions and feelings, and man am I excited. I think it would be good to end this post with this little recollection. After the excitement of all of this Chloë made it clear that she didn’t want to disrupt the end of my trip, or take me away from anything that I wanted to do. This felt absolutely ridiculous to me, and I made the following clear. She has been a part of this trip. The daily e-mails, the Skype sessions, surprise phone calls-these things have all come to add to the memories of this experience. Going forward I will never think of my first time in Australia without thinking of Chloë and the unique and improbable relationship we have formed. Her arriving in Australia towards the end of my time here will be the perfect story-book ending to this story-book affair.
–ζ——δ——ζ–
Note-This publication has been approved by the subject.
Eno and the Opera House Sails!
This is gonna be on while I’m here! CHECK IT OUT! (Chad’s gonna be so jealous!)
- PRESENTED BY
Sydney Opera House- VENUE
Fleet Steps- DATES
26 May -21 June- PROGRAM
Luminous
- Event Information Navigation
- DESCRIPTION
In a major artwork by Eno, LUMINOUS launches with the lighting of the Sydney Opera House sails. Like a freeform painting, Utzon’s masterpiece will glow with rich, continuously changing configurations of colour. Presented in association with Smart Light, the sails will remain lit for the three weeks of LUMINOUS.
Apartment Tour
I took this video a day or two after I arrived in AUS, but haven’t been able to upload it available to slow internet. Just discovered this week that the internet at the Uni is a lot faster. Enjoy!
_______________________________ Click HQ button above after you click PLAY…
A Night with the Socceroos
The major post previous to this, titled “An Unexpected Relationship” has raised an unexpected amount of emotion and comments/feedback from (wow, how pompous is this gonna sound) my readers. It caused pain for a couple of people whom I care deeply about, and that was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. My ignorance in all of this was that by being open the only person that could be hurt would be me; I forgot how all of our lives weave and intersect with each other. I apologize to those people I hurt.
Also, one of the most common questions I’ve received is, “So what did that girl think when she read your blog?” I just kind of chuckle at that and feel a tinge of frustration at people’s assumptions of me. The subject of that blog post proofread that post before it was made public, and I made sure to have her permission about posting it before it went public. It may sound weird to most, but that’s just how our friendship is, incredibly open.
I’m not going to change the way I write because of the fallout I received from that last post. It seems as though that would be…lying to myself, compromising myself. I cannot do that. I will not do that. And I don’t think I need to do that. Just know that from here on out I am going to continue to be open, but I NEVER EVER intend on hurting anyone. This is somewhat of a flaw of mine, if it can even be called such. If I think I have hurt somebody, I feel terrible about it until I feel I have rectified it. Which is why I had a half-hour phone conversation with one of the persons I hurt, as well as an internet conversation with another. Please know my motives are not negative in any way, and if I hurt anyone in the future it is due almost undoubtedly to ignorance.
Alright, now read on to some light-hearted recollections. Below is one of my proudest blog posts to date. Enjoy!
School on Wednesday was a routine day with Bio lab for four hours with my friends Ann, Mina, Derrick and Reese. The only difference was that Mina and I were yelled at by the instructor for talking as we came in late from break. I believe her exact words were “Shut up. Just SHUT UP and SIT DOWN” yelled in the most exasperated, Eastern-European-tinged voice possible. Ugh, slightly embarrassing. But we are known as the “loud” table, so it wasn’t all that surprising. Following that was GEO 262-Australians and their Environment; a class that I attempt to stay awake in, but it seems as though this becomes more difficult as the weeks pass by. On Wednesdays I have a tutorial (recitation) followed by a lecture in that class.
It had rained on and off and was powerfully and ominously overcast. Towards the end of the school day, however, it seemed as though the sun was attempting to poke through. This greatly excited me, and is yet another piece of evidence of God’s existence; it was, of course, the day of the Australia-Uzbekistan World Cup Qualifier game at Stadium Australia, the Olympic Stadium! I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a HUGE game for the Socceroos. If they won and the Bahrain v. Qatar game the following morning resulted in a draw, Australia would be the first team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
After my GEO lecture I raced back to the apartment to get ready. I had bought tickets for two friends, Ryan Priest (from now on referenced as “RP”) from Chicago and Ryan Doucette (referenced as “RD”) from Wisconsin. I took a power nap and waited for a call from RP letting me know that RD had arrived at his apartment. I received the text much later than I had hoped, at around 6:00. The game started at 8:00pm, and I had hoped to leave at around 5:30. It takes about an hour to get to the Olympic Park, so that would have given us some time to chill and casually get some food. Whatever. I met them at the station around 6:20 or so.
I love RP and RD. I’ve talked about RP before, he’s the first guy I met and actually had a legitimate conversation with here in Australia. We became friends from day one. RD is in our group of American friends as well, and he is on the Macquarie soccer team. It was good having him at the game in case I had any questions. (That’s of course in addition to his coolness…haha.) We had gone out the night before to see Watchmen, a ridiculous movie, but still my first movie in Australia. It was a surprise for me to be invited because they had been doing things without me, so that helped my confidence a bit.
Man where we pumped! We took group pictures at every train station.
Train Station 1
Train Station 2
Our excitement level seemed to increase at the same level as the Australia Socceroos fans that we came upon; at each stop the throngs of yellow-wearing ‘roo faithfuls increased exponentially.
We had a lot of fun on the train, let me tell you! We made fun of one another, and I made myself look somewhat like a racist pig, much to the delight of the Ryans. To explain this I first have to give you some back-story. This past week I was hanging out with Mona (like always 
), and I met two of her guy friends from her high school. I hadn’t shaved in maybe a week or a week and a half, so I was kinda hairy/dark in the face. (Oh, guys, I’m starting to be able to connect my chin and jaw facial hair with my mustache! THIS IS HUGE!) We were talking about gangs or something in America, and one of the guys jokingly asked me if I was in a Hispanic gang. I’ve gotten this before; apparently I look Hispanic when I don’t shave for a while. Now, this frustrates me, but not because I don’t like Hispanics. It frustrates me because I am proud of my heritage and my ethnicity, and I don’t like being misrepresented. I don’t know…is that racist? I also find it funny.
So I was on the train recounting this story and talking about how people think I’m Hispanic when I don’t shave. I thought they’d find it funny, which RP did. But RD saw who was sitting next to me, and just said, “Peter!” kinda motioning to stop talking. I didn’t care, and kept on with the story, until he kinda made me feel stupid and I stopped. I looked over my shoulder and saw a group of Hispanic young men. Wow. Felt like an idiot. But was I being racist? It was a bit awkward as we disembarked, although they didn’t look at me weird or say anything. We had a bunch of laughs later about it though…
We finally arrived at the Olympic Park Station and followed the sea of yellow, coming upon Stadium Australia.
Olympic Park Station
We snapped a few photos and walked around a bit. At this time it was a 7:20 or so. It was a carnival-like atmosphere, only saturated with alcohol. Mardi Gras is a good way to describe it, sans flashing. Many food stands were set up, the night clubs were blaring music, a live band was playing, and people were EVERYWHERE. I would come to learn later that there were 67,000 of us there…whew!
The throngs of fans with the stadium in the background.
We headed over to get some Makkie’s (McDonald’s) but the line was literally 100 feet or so long. We high-tailed it back to a burger place we had come across earlier, which was much less crowded. It was at that point, running through the park to the burger place, that it began to rain. Well, rain is a bit of an understatement. Thirty seconds in this rain left parts of my jeans wet all the way through. UGH. So much for the rain holding off!
The burger I had was epic, let me tell you. An Australian beef pattie with fried egg, beetroot, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and I think bacon if I’m not mistaken. And hot chips of course. We hurried through our burgers, but at one point we just resigned to being late to the game and decided to enjoy our meals. However, when we neared the end of our massive burger-consumption experience we realized that it was 7:51pm and we might actually be able to make it to the stadium on time. We finished and began to jog towards the stadium.
Cheers began to emanate from the stadium so the jog turned into a sprint through the ever-increasing rain. We made our way through the turnstiles and RD exclaimed, “This is us! 123!” We were on the ground level, which surprised me. I thought we had good seats, but not THIS good! It was comparable to going to a Blazer’s game and sitting three or four rows back; we were about 50 feet from the beginning of the field, in the corner. Best seats in the house. And for $44AUD apiece!
This is how close we were. That's my knee on the right...
We arrived just in time for the national anthems. What an atmosphere, people all jacked up and excited to see their teams play. The rain ceased as if on cue, and we took in the scene that was about to consume us.
The Crew. Ryan Priest, Ryan Doucette and myself
I just kind of sat there in wonderment and amazement throughout the game. The highest level of soccer I’d seen was college women’s, and I’ve been watching the World Cup additively the past two tournaments. To see players of this caliber (even though they weren’t European or South American) was just incredible.
Also, the crowd fascinated me. I kept on coming back to the metaphor of the crowd as an organism; an amoeba that encircled the playing field. You could hear it collectively get restless, excited, frustrated, and angry. When the excitement rose it literally felt like water gathering to form a tsunami; it kept on getting bigger and bigger, louder and louder, and when the first goal was scored it was as if the tsunami had made landfall. You could almost feel it breathe…it was amazing.
This video is from the second half, but illustrates pretty well what I’m trying to describe…
The first half ended scoreless. We were pretty jacked up, and there were some close calls, but the Socceroos were attacking the goal opposite to us so we knew the best was yet to come. I ran outside into the concession area trying to beat the crowd, and came upon the memorabilia store. Those who know me know that I love to buy memorabilia at special events such as these; for some reason I feel like it will legitimize the experience and memory even more if I have something that I can look at that reminds me of the event. I know this is flawed thinking, but it’s how I am.
I bought a cool Socceroos flag attached to a pole to wave around (for only $15!!!), as well as a special gift for someone who doesn’t yet exist. (So, if you exist, I’m sorry…) I really was looking for a scarf but they were sold out at the two locations I checked. Oh well, if I see them play Bahrain June 10th I’ll have one before then.
I made my way back to my seat a tad late, again missing the Socceroos come out of the tunnel. Whatever. Turns out that both Ryans had decided to get the large Soccerroo flags. Pretty funny! The rain started to pick up again, so RD broke his out and we used it as a shield. Not that it helped, being made out of cheep nylon. But it was fun anyway, draping ourselves in the Socceroos’ flag.
The ‘roos kept on getting closer to scoring with each passing minute. It seemed as though they kept sophomoric-ally screwing up on their attacks, frustrating the crowd to no end. They got a few corners, which was incredibly exciting. It was on our side, and as we were next to the crazy cheering section the place just went wild. Everyone stood up and got loud and cheered, then held their collective breaths. When the attack went awry the previously-described amoeba let out a short scream/whimper of pain and took its seat at once.
The first goal came off a cross, a header by a streaking forward who entered the game a mere few minutes previous to his heroics. (I’m such a newbie with soccer that I actually had to google “soccer positions” to come up with ‘forward’…) Man was it tight! I think I might have been caught behind the camera for that one, maybe not. It was just kind of a blur. The place erupted with cheers, and the forward ran to our corner, in front of us, and wiped off the rain/sweat from his brow with the corner flag.
Thanks to Ryan Doucette for the photo.
Thanks to Ryan Doucette for the photo.
We all yelled in ecstasy, maniacally waving our flags. It was my first legit, high-level goal, and man was it memorable. So much fun. To be a part of a crowd erupting with such glee and euphoria was intoxicating. What a moment!
I know, ridiculous. It was such an incredible moment!
Seven minutes later Uzbekistan committed a foul in the box, yielding a penalty kick for Australia. And, in turn, another goal. Do you guys think it was a foul? RD, whose playing soccer for Macquarie, said it was a bogus call…check it out below.
Setting up for the penalty. Thanks to Ryan Doucette for the photo.
After this it was pretty much game over. There were a few scares from Uzbekistan, but as the game entered its 90th minute all was joyous. We left about two minutes early, something that I regret. I really wanted to see the Aussies celebrate their victory and erupt into chaos, but we had to get to the train station before the other 66,999.
As we exited the stadium the downpour began. The weather was quite amazing during the game itself. We were so close to the field that we weren’t under the cover, so it could have been miserable. The soccer gods kept us dry, though, and there were only a few instances of rain, which we somewhat joyously endured; it added to the atmosphere! (And gave us a reason to cover ourselves with the Socceroo flag!) It was as though water was sloshing out of a cistern, and at the end of the game it was overturned. (Too much of a metaphor? haha.) It was somewhat comical to see thousands of people reach for their hoods/parkas at exactly the same time. How lucky we were to have the weather behave! It was probably 68º throughout the match. Perfect.
I sound EXACTLY like my dad on this. EXACTLY! It’s kinda eerie…
We began to sprint through the rain, only stopping to take a few pictures of ourselves with our flags. As I ran I held the flag up, as if I was running to claim land for the motherland. I felt like such an Aussie!
After a little while we figured out we were running the wrong way. What a bummer that was! We left early for no reason!!!
Anyway, after about half an hour we finally pushed our way onto a train, made it back to Strathfield, then took the train to our pseudo-home base of Epping Station. We waited for a bus there, all the while joking about a certain person’s flatulence on the train, my ridiculous Hispanic story, RP looking like a gangster in one of our group pictures, and RP mistakenly refusing a guy a dollar that he actually had, even though our ticket got us free transportation. (Had to have been there. We were giddy and all that was absolutely hilarious.) The night turned out to really be a good bonding time for all of us, it was wonderful. I’m looking forward to doing more stuff with them in the future. I departed the train at my stop, entered the apartment, conversed with Vasya about the game, and proceeded to end my magnificent night.
This has nothing to do with the night, but it’s interesting. For the Easter Break RD and RP have rented an RV and are driving through New Zealand by themselves with three other guys. They are going to a place they’ve never been, driving on the other side of the road, and have no plans for food. And man, I wish I was doing it with them! It was disappointing to not be invited, but I think it was a spur-of-the-moment thing with other friends. And it wouldn’t have worked out anyway because my parents are coming and I want to show them around SYD. Anyway, thought that was quite intriguing. What memories they’ll make!
Just a quick note…Bahrain did defeat Qatar 1-0, so the Socceroos have not officially qualified for the World Cup. They need one more point. The day after this game I got tickets, along with Vasya and Heat, to the game versus Bahrain on June 10th. I am so pumped for it! Now I HAVE to get a scarf!
On Girls
“Girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, I do adore
Put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour
I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls all over the globe
I come scoop you in that Coupe, sittin on deuce-zeroes
Fix your hair in the mirror, let’s roll”
~Jay-Z, “Girls, Girls, Girls”
In the last few months before I left, I remember being so pumped for Australia. It felt like a dream, something that wasn’t actually gonna happen. I couldn’t believe I was actually gonna be living in one of the world’s greatest cities, Sydney, for 5 months. So much to do, such great weather, and a complete sea change!
These were all things to be pumped for, but in all honesty I was especially excited for the girls. The common refrain in the dingy, dark, cave-like Corvallis apartment was, “Duuude, you’re gonna get so many girls! ” (but with much more crude and demeaning language). Apparently all that mattered to the girls, we thought, was that I was American, and they would just LOVE my accent! I forgot who said it, but somebody mentioned that this is one of the only instances where I will have a leg-up on Aussie guys, so I better use it. I remember saying and thinking, “Man, if I don’t get girls in Australia, I should just hang it up.”
Well, maybe I should start hanging it up. Haha. I got here all hopped up on confidence, and I think it kinda made me look stupid in a few instances. The first week or so I was VERY jovial and outgoing with girls. Probably too much so, if that’s a possibility. I’m already pretty outgoing, but it was like hunting season! I was in the land of the rabbit-proof fence and these bunnies were cornered!
One of my first instances of this almost blind outgoing-ness was in a T2, a tea shop. I had headed in there to buy my Russian room mates some tea and a tea pot, and a nice and talkative female Sydneysider attended to me. We talked a bit about America, Sydney, and school, and I was getting along very well with her. I remember asking, “Do you have a Facebook? Of course she did! I said, “Well, I’m Peter, and my last name is that” pointing to her credit card-swiping machine. St. George is the name of a bank here, and it really has helped in telling people my last name in order for them to find me on Facebook. I was lucky T2 banked with St. George! We talked a bit more, and I ended up giving her my phone number. We said goodbye with all smiles, and I walked away giddily. Over a month later and no Facebook friend or call.
On the first day I arrived here we stopped off at the International Housing office and I met the absolute cutest girl I’ve ever seen. (I’ve said that many a time, its an expression at this point.) I really felt the urge to go and talk to her and see if there was some way that I could get us into a situation where we could chill and talk. (I’m very confident, even cocky with my one-on-one communication skills. I feel as though if I get most any girl in a situation where we can just talk, that I have a good chance at establishing some kind of positive relationship with her. Although I don’t really have all that much success to base that cockiness off of…) I talked to an Aussie female friend about how I should go about it, and she said to play up the angle of “American foreigner who doesn’t know any Aussies.” So I worked up the courage, and when I had an excuse to go down there, I went with a plan.
I saw her behind the desk and waited until she was free. I approached her and turned in the apartment checklist, then asked a question. Before I left, I said I had one more question. “I haven’t really met any Australians yet, and-”
“When classes start there will be many more on campus, ” she replied, totally not understanding what I was getting at.
“Oh, nice!” I said, trying to recover. “Well, I was kinda wondering if maybe you would be interested in getting coffee and talking or something…” My heart was pounding and I was flushed, just trying to not look stupid, but casual…chill, like a Don. She just kind of blankly stared back, then looked surprised, and said, “Me?!”
“Yeah”!
She kind of looked around, lowered her voice and said, “I really don’t think we’re supposed to do that while we’re at work.”
”Oh”, I replied, trying to brush it off as nothing, and asked her if I could give her my number. She said that probably wouldn’t be ok either.
“I’m a student here, tho, so I’ll probably see you on campus,” she explained, as if trying to give me a hint.
I saw her a few times after that, and it wasn’t weird at all, which was a good thing. Also saw her in the Macquarie Shopping Center…I wanted to ask her if what she told me was an excuse or the truth, but it didn’t really work out. If I see her again I think I will. (Watch her not remember me and then it be totally awkward.) Whatever, I’m over it/her now. It was just kinda funny. (Not towel-caliber tho…)
I have met many girls, beautiful girls, as school has started. Mona and I met on the first day of Bio, and that friendship has become really cool. She has that M.I.A.-like beauty about her. It was a real disappointment when I found out that she had a boyfriend, but I think that fact has made our friendship stronger; there is no real thought or opportunity of anything going there, no alterior motives, so all of our interactions are just carefree, chill and fun.
It’s kind of funny how most of my Aussie friends here are 18 and 19. I’m in mostly first-year classes, so many of my interactions are with 1st years (they don’t know what freshman are here). That has made things a little weird in the beyond-friend relationship area, but its all good. Met some cool girls at Ultimate as well, but the one that I was interested in has a boyfriend, as do most of the girls my age here.
I have a cool friendship with Dulce, though. I have talked about her a bit before. She’s a 21-year old from Mexico City studying to become a type of engineer (Big Red, I need your help. She’s interested in working with assembly-line stuff, making them more efficient. What is that?), and loves math. It was her dream to come here, and I can tell that she is having a great time. She lives in Darling Harbour, which is downtown, about an hour’s bus drive away. We have hung out a bit, and are talking about possibly going to Melbourne and the Blue Mountains. She is awesome, and we have a pretty cool thing going.
So, as you can see, being an American doesn’t really make it all that much easier to ‘get girls’ here. It gives you an ‘in’ in conversations, they dig the way the accent sounds, but thats pretty much it. It’s been a good experience, and I’ve had a lot of fun meeting many Australian girls, as well as other girls, but its not what my room mates and I built it up to be. Which is ok. Really!
I almost died today.
(Well, I kind of almost died. More like almost got knocked out… Pretty much, I just go for attention-getting titles. I’m a blog-hit whore.)
Today was supposed to be my study day. “Supposed” being the operative, key word. Woke up pleasurably late this morning and found myself with a craving for Subway… I’ve been wondering if it would be or taste any different…So I headed down to the Mac Center and got myself a club (it’s “$7 footlongs” here…don’t know how their jingle goes). Suprisingly they don’t have my favorite vegetable for subs, peperoccini, or bananna peppers, for some reason. Also, only American cheese. I asked for pepperjack and got a weird look. Oh, and no oil and vinegar. Wonder what the reasons were behind those decisions…
Anyway, had the sandwich, then treaded back up to my place. Laid in the grass on campus for a while listening to Car Talk, then walked the rest of the way home and started cleaning. I was checking out twitter, doin some procrastinating before even starting any studying, and saw the following twitter…
tonyhawk Monster Skatepark, Homebush Bay, 5pm. You might not have heard it here first, but that’s beside the point.
Hawk threw his helmet and shirt into the crowd, and the show was over. I went around back to see how close I could get, and there was just a huge group of people around him, pestering him, almost rioting. As he moved this amoeba-like swarm of people followed him.
He got into his car and continued signing autographs. I thought that maybe I’d try to get something signed, but I’m not aggressive enough, so he didn’t sign my little paper of directions. Held some kids skateboard in front of him to try to get signed, but it didn’t work. I was like 5 feet from him tho, it was pretty cool.
See him? He's up against the car, kinda coming out of that kids head in the foreground. Also, look at the joy on the kids face to the right! A signed helmet!!!
Afterwards I just kinda headed back, through the park, looking at all the Olympic stuff. It’s pretty awesome there! There was a rugby game about to start that I kinda wanted to go to, but I had to get back for Heat’s dinner.
Olympic Stadium
Stadium where the rugby game was about to take place.
Some olympic art or something in front of the previous stadium. Looked pretty cool...
I got back and immediately we began to eat, as it was 8. He made a dish where it was kinda fondue style, but it was boiling water instead, and we put vegetables and seafood in, then pulled it out when cooked and into a soy-sauce based sauce. Good stuff!
I was very proud of myself today. This is my maturation. In the past I would have thought that an hour was too little time to get to some place I had no idea of its location. I just kinda soldiered out, asked questions, and made it there. To a part of Sydney I’d never been to before. It was very liberating, and really cool, just how connected this city is.
I was gonna go into town and go on a pub crawl in the Rocks area with Reese and his friends, but by the time I was gonna leave it was already 930, and I was tired of taking trains. I kinda wished that I woulda gone, but I am just SOO tired. That is a bit of the old Peter, as opposed to earlier, which was the new Peter. Whatever, it doesn’t all happen at once.
First Skateboarding 900, EVER. 1999 XGames
This is at the 2001 XGames when he performed the 900 again. Look at how smooth it is!
A Day at the Beach and Hawk Sightings
Today was another early Friday morning, waking up at 9:30 am. I headed down to the Mac Centre (shopping center) to meet Mona, grabbing a kebab on the way. We hopped in her car, and headed towards Bondi Beach!
She hates this picture of her, but I think its a good one! We're headed to BONDI! Oh, and she is driving. Trippy, isn't it?!
It was a fantastic day, and such a fun time. It was kinda sketchy at some points, as Mona just got her driving license last week. We got lost a few times, went through toll bridges when we shouldn’t have, but I manned the maps and got us there properly. The suburb of Bondi (pronounced BOND-EYE) is just wonderful . I really just saw the beach front area that was full of surf shops, tourist places and food. But it was really cool seein’ all the beach bums hang around there.
We headed down to the beach itself, wonderful white, powdery sand and a deep-blue ocean with a blue sky. So incredible. It was probably about 80 degrees or so.
The beach. Ah, image compression ruins another shot!
It suprised me how small the beach actually was, maybe 300 yards long, 400 tops. And so many people crammed in. And on a Friday! Imagine what its like during the weekends and holidays! Mona and I laid on our beach towels and chatted for a lil bit, then soaked in some rays and relaxed. It was so perfect! Oh, and people-watching was prime! Apparently its a bikini-top optional beach (I think they all are in Oz), so that shocked me, but I got over it quick! I wasn’t offended…
Ha, kinda funny. I was taking a panoramic shot of the beach (below) and as I got to my last few frames a girl who had previously had her top on decided to remove it a few seconds before my shot of her portion of the beach. Hence, I now have a boobie picture. Totally not what I was going for, but…its the beach. I ain’t gonna change it.
Bondi Beach Panorama-Click on the picture to see a large size...
After a little while of soaking in the rays and being lazy, we decided to walk along the water for a little ways…
We then headed up to the grassy area on our way to some shops. Mona pointed out a gathering of people, so I suggested we check it out.
Me in front of the gathering of people, as we were leaving it. Read on to find out what they gathered for!!!
We got over there and saw that the people were all gathered around a drained pool that overlooked Bondi Beach, with skateboarders dropping in. Right away I thought there must be something special going on…usually groups of people don’t watch regular people skate, and this was freakin Bondi Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the world. I got closer and recognized what I thought to be Tony Hawk. I didnt really believe it until I snapped a few shots and saw him skate.
Tony Hawk (yeah...it was bright)
I think they were shooting a new skate video or something. Photogs everywhere, with cameramen.
Man it was incredible. Obviously I had never witnessed skating like that before…Tony Hawk is one of the best in the world (or used to be–no offense…well, at least he’s the biggest skating celebrity), and seeing the huge air that he got along with the crazy tricks he threw, it was crazy. I know nothing about skating, and I’m not gonna try to sound like I do, but…wow. The pool was probably twenty-feet deep with near-vertical sides, and the wipeouts were gnarly. I didn’t get to totally see the ending of the wipeouts, as I was maybe four rows of people back, but wow.
The Hawk-meister.
Hawk bailing on a trick.
What a setting! As you can see from the pictures the backdrop to the pool was the beach. The skaters (mostly just Hawk) would rise above the bowl, and as it was on somewhat of a dropoff, the looked like they were flying. I have no idea what kind of tricks they threw, but Hawk was doing stuff like dropping in, shooting out of the pool, doing a backflip or twists or both, and landing it back on the near-vertical side of the pool, staying on his board. Also, tricks where the skaters would ride with momentum up the side of the pool, flip up to a handstand position, one hand on the lip, one hand on the board, then back into the pool. Oh, and of course some grinding as well. (and a few kids, maybe 10 and even less…wondering if one of them was Tony Hawks kid. They didn’t do the huge tricks, obvoiusly!)
I was so lucky to have brought my d80 with me. Oh man! Moved around a bit to get shots, almost fell off a railing, but it was worth it!
We left after about a half hour or so. Later I heard that it lasted about 45 minutes. Apparently it was just a random drop by, I think Tony Hawk announced it on his twitter, but that was it. Just in the right place at the right time. What luck! Man this place is amazing! Always stuff goin on!
Hawk’s Twitter Post…
Well, after that we checked out a few shops, got a gift for somebody back home (??), then headed back. It was the Iranian new year, I think, so Mona had to be back by 530 to help with dinner. What a great awesome day! Another one in OZ!
More pix of Tony Hawk here and more pix of Bondi here.
Oh, lastly, got home to see that Obama had recorded a video directly to Iran. Thought it was pretty cool, so I sent it to Mona (who was born in Iran). Pretty ironic. I’m so proud of Obama for doing that, and am becoming happy for and proud of this country again!
Wonderful Day with a Wonderful Friend
I feel like a broken record, but yesterday was incredible!!! This will be a long one, so buckle up.
This Tuesday I had a non-existant drink with Dulce (the bar closed early, so we just talked) and she mentioned that she was wanting to visit the zoo. I told her that I was planning on going on Friday, and that we should go together. It was set, Friday was the day!
Set my alarm for 7 on my first day of my weekly three-day weekend, which was difficult. We decided to meet on the Opera House steps at 10, so I had to get going! Got there about half-an-hour late, but Dulce was late as well, so it was all good. Grabbed a fantastic shnitzel sandwich on the pier, and we jumped on the ferry to the zoo.
The ferrys are a LOT smaller than the ones I am used to, the ones that go from Washington to Canada. This was maybe 1/10th or even smaller than that. (They are the green ships/boats in my pics of the Sydney Harbour.) Because of this I was nervous about the vomiting thing, as usual, but as usual I got through it. We stepped onto the dock and both kind of remarked to each other that we felt dizzy, but realized that the dock was moving…hmm. Boats always sway a lot more when they were docked, so it was swayin quite a bit, but it got better as it started to move.
It was beautiful! A little bit overcast, but probably about 70-75. (Later it rained a little bit, but it was ok because it was so warm. After the rain it was sunny and gorgeous!) We just sat and chatted as we crossed the harbor, looking at all the beautiful sights. I still can’t believe that I’m in Sydney…AUSTRALIA. I was talking about that with Dulce and she was feelin the same way…I just hope it hits me before I leave. I think maybe it has to do with the fact that things aren’t really starkly different here…like, if I was in the bush or in the middle of Kenya or something things would hit me harder.
The ferry took about 15 minutes, and we were right at the zoo. It was about a 2 minute walk from the dock to the Zoo’s side entrance. Taronga Zoo!
The side entrance. I'm guessing the front entrance is bigger...
Here’s a little clipping from wikipedia…
Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Officially opened on October 7th, 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman. Taronga Zoo is managed by the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales under the trading name, “Taronga Conservation Society”, along with Dubbo’s Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
Divided into eight zoogeographic regions, Taronga Zoo is home to over 2,600 animals on 21 hectares, making it one of the largest of its kind.
All in all it cost me $33 round trip with the entrance to the zoo included.
The layout of the zoo was pretty amazing. It is literally about 100 yards or so from the edge of the water, on the side of a hill. Kinda laid out in a zig-zag manner.
Map--We arrived at the bottom... Click on the image to see it enlarged.
CAs you can see, it kind of snakes up the side of the hill, with different exhibits and animals sprinkled throughout. As you got higher, you got a better and clearer view of Sydney’s skyline and the harbor. I’m telling you, this place is a dream.
This is a tram that goes over the whole zoo. Just kinda wanted to show you the views from zoo trails...
Dulce and I
There were large netted areas for all kinds of tropical birds. We visited the kangaroo walkabout, where you entered off this fenced-off area where a pathway weaved its way through a bush-like environment, with kangaroos all around. There wasn’t any barriers, really, between the pathway and the kangaroos, it was awesome! Saw a wallaby in there, as well as an ostritch, which was funny.
KANGAROOS!!!!!!!!!
Cue the "Ahhhhhhs"
Dulce was super-psyched about seeing the ostriches, so we visited them. I dug the lions, as it was feeding time, and we saw them play/fight a little bit, and growling at each other. I’d never seen them so active in my life before, just running back and forth. It was crazy!
Oh man, I could write a whole post on the chimps alone. It was so fascinating seeing them, they are so human-like! (But if we evolved from them, why are they still here? Wouldn’t they have died if it was natural selection? Cause you evolve to overcome difficult circumstances…ANSWER MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!) The emotion that they show is incredible! Saw a baby get on the back of what I’m guessing is its mom, and the mom walked around with it. Also saw a chimp using a stick to get bugs out of a hole. At face value that doesn’t seem huge, but it is. Think about it! What other animals use tools, other than their own appendages, to achieve work? This chimp would put his stick inside the hole, pull it out, and lick the ants off of it. This shows just how smart the are. I remember watching a documentary about Jane Goodall talking about chimps’ tool-making. Apparently I was wrong in saying that other animals don’t use tools (as according to wikipedia) but chimps are one of the only animals other than humans to actually make tools. And I saw him pick one up, it was so cool!
Mother with baby
There was a huge one, just HUGE. It blew me away. We also observed one chasing a lizard, which was cute.
Look how huge it is in relation to the other!!!!!
At another exhibit we saw what looked like one doing yoga (on his back, legs spread, grabbing both his feet), and another chimp right up to the glass interacting with kids. It was wonderful.
Look Mom, YOGA!
Saw elephants play-fighting (SO much force, it was incredible. Just pushing each other around), giraffes and zebras with a backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and the skyline. I petted an echidna, went in the dark-room area to see all of the nocturnal animals, saw snakes and other reptiles, everything! A DINGO! “The dingo ate cha baby!” Oh, and a bear. psh. We had bagels for lunch, then headed back to the ferry at around 330.
See the Opera House?
DINGO!
Not my hands, but I DID pet it! Very spiny and plasticky. You can only pet one way!
See the elephant in the corner?!
It was wonderful, we sat for about half an hour in the seal room just talking, not paying attention to the exhibit or anything. I was so at ease with her, it was incredible.
Oh, I lost my ferry ticket, so I had to talk my way off the pier…but I got a little help from Dulce.
She wanted to go to an Opera Show that nite, but they were sold out, so I picked up tix for when my parents come and we headed over to the Botanical Gardens. Beautiful as always. She hadn’t been there, which is suprising because she lives in the city (but Darling Harbor, which is a little ways away) and she loved it! I showed her the HUGE bats, which she thought were awesome…
Sat on a bench in front of a pond inside the fernery, it was amazing. Let me paint you the picture. A wooden garden bench, with huge and small ferns all around, a small bubbling waterfall falling into a koi pond. About 75 degrees, moderately humid, with the fresh smell of nature in the air. Next to a good friend, a beautiful girl, just talking and relaxing after a day of walking and exploring together. Learning more about each other and each other’s cultures, and the culture that we are now immersed in. It was fantastic.
We headed back and she asked if i wanted to get a drink at the Opera Bar. OF COURSE! We headed down there and got some Rosé sparkling wine and some chips (french fries). It was a Friday night, and terribly busy, so it was very difficult to find chairs. I wanted to show my gentemanliness, so I found a chair for her, and stood while she sat. SCORE! About 15 minutes later I found one, but the gesture had been made.
This bar is incredible. Not really a bar, its set kind of below the Opera House, near sea level, right on the harbor. We sat outside, in the open air, with a view of the harbour bridge and the Opera House. Incredible!
The wine hit me pretty hard, I think due to the fact that I was so hungry. Made me tired, a little bit light-headed, and happy. I walked her part of the way back, then caught the train (where my hand/camera was pooped on by a pigeon) back to the apt, and got home at about 7 or so. 9 am to 7 pm, not bad! Incredible day. INCREDIBLE! Such a bonding experience with a wonderful friend. I was so pleased and blessed that I got to experience that day with her.
