Live, Love, Feel, Grow

Amazing how time flies. As I look at my last entry, it has already been 5 months since I’ve been in Australia!

Quick catch up of the things I’ve done and places I have been since then…

1. Tasmania – went there on the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ overnight cruise with friends/co-workers. Tasmanian devils, koala bears, kangaroos, and way too many drinks’n bus rides…great time!
2. Australian Open in Melbourne – Wandered around and saw Amelie Mauresmo and other great players and games. In the end Federer beat Gonzalez, and Williams beat Sharapova.
3. Formula One – 2 words…LOUD! AWESOME!
4. New Zealand – Flew to South Island (Christchurch) and then drove to Lake Tekapo (stayed a night on the gorgeous Lake), then drove to Queenstown and went through Milford Sound. This place is truly awe inspiring and after being there, I can see why Lord of the Rings picked this place for filming. Very surreal and beautiful. Oh yeah…and definitely sheep country!
5. Lake Eildon, Victoria (138km NE of Melbourne) – Spent a weekend here on the lake on a house boat with friends. What better way to spend a weekend then being on a moving house surrounded by scenery, friends, and fun?
6. Footie Game! Collingwood Magpies defeated Carlton Blues – fun game and very easy to understand
6. Metung, Gippsland, Victoria (314km E of Melbourne)- charming village on the Gippsland lakes.

For the last 5 months, it’s been a mix of work and play. Checking out the Melbourne surrounds, taking advantage of the great events that happen in Melbourne; sports, festivals (comedy fests, exploring the different precincts of Melbourne, discovering the little alleys/streets filled with cool shops/restaurants/bars, as well as have my friends visit (Mindy/Linda! =) ) and making friends down here has all kept me sane and enjoying this wonderful part of the world. Definitely miss my family and friends, and can’t wait to fly to see them or have them come visit me.

Well, I’ve been here in Melbourne for just about exactly a month…Its amazing how quickly time flies at times, and yet other times, each second ticks by and the light at the end of the tunnel seems so far away.

So, what have I done in the last 4 weeks? …as I look back, truly quite a bit…

Jan 13 – My first weekend after a work week, I checked out the Docklands area while peeps were playing american flag football.

Jan 19th/21st – Went and checked out the Australian Open…saw Amelee Morrismo play in doubles, watched a few games, chilled with friends

Jan 25th – We got Friday off due to Australia day so took the long weekend and went to Tasmania. We took the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ cruise ship there and then Virgin Atlantic coming back

Feb 4 – Went surfing about 1.5 hours west of Melbourne. Took lessons and attempted to stand on the board…hehe…3 seconds counts right?

Feb 11 – First weekend of no events planned. It was nice to just be in town, chill. I moved into my apartment finally…its small but its located in a great location. Corner of Little Burke and Elizabeth, pretty much the heart of the city.

So now that I’ve jotted my last few weeks of my life in a few paragraphs…some thoughts?…

I guess of all my assignments, this one has been the easiest to get acclimated. I’m here in a country that is not truly unlike the US…in fact Melbourne reminds me of san francisco with all its trams/metro/etc. The docklands remind me of south beach, looking out to the bay. And right now my apartment looks out to Flanders Station which reminds me of the Ferry building in SF. With all these correlations of similiarities, it still gets me now and then that I’m not in my own country. The G’day mate, cheers, people picking up my accent and my choice of words as American…the list goes on. As I was giving money to my taxi driver and said ‘Have a good one’…he said, “Ahh…i know where you’re from now. Wasn’t sure until you said that.” Apparently ‘have a good one’ is VERY American.  Part of the easy transition has also been just the amount of people I know here from previous projects. People whom I’ve worked in Slovakia, Europe, China, around the US, seem to have all converged here for this project. The world truly is small!

Well, its sunday night around 11pm…time to try to get some sleep and prepare for another grueling week. As always, i’m already looking forward to Friday…ready for that friday afternoon pint!

cheers!

So my travels continue…

On Jan. 5th I arrived in Melbourne after a long flight from LAX to Sidney to Melbourne. As I descended and looked out the window, I reminded myself what a lucky girl I am…able to see so many things and travel to so many places.

Initial Impressions of Melbourne…
It is VERY diverse. I was quite taken aback by how diverse the place is and the extent of asian influences on Melbourne. They have exclectic foods and many cultures. The place is also very reminiscent of San Francisco with its trolleys/trams.

Jan 5 – First night at Melbourne, we went to a Vietnamese/thai restaurant: Melbourne Vietnamese Noodle House on Little Burke Street. Great Pho…and since I was sick, it was great to just get a wonderful hot bowl of rice noodle soup. Yum!

Jan 14 – There was a huge American football game and BBQ held my a co-worker.

Jan 18 – Today is my bday…and yeah, its a Thursday so I had to work. However, afterwards I headed to the Docklands to an amazing Indian restaurant called Bhoj. The roti, chicken vindaloo, scallop vindaloo were awesome. Walking around the Docklands was also fun…with all the sailboats parked around, made me think of home and friends.

Jan 19 – After a day of hard work, we headed over to ‘Duke of Kent’ on La Trobe street. As apparently is their tradition, a lot of co-workers were there. You know its gonna be a long night when we start off with a few shots of car bombs. Afterward over drinking and getting the munchines, we headed out to eat in chinatown. Afterwards we headed to ‘ Kitten club’ where they had a live band upstairs. Of course, in line with drunken bar hopping, we then finished the night off at ‘The Long Room’.