Monday Sept 22
18:50 Sydney
I feel poor. I’ve just moved into the place on Pitt St. It’s a Regis Tower, managed, I assume, by a Regis corporation of some sort. Just paid a 3 week bond, so my cash supply is quickly running low. I can’t wait till I get my bank card, so I can have access to the money in the bank. Pretty sure it’ll be alright, but it’d just be nice to finally have that card physically in my hand.
Am a big dodo. Left half a loaf of bread at the hostel. I hope somebody enjoys it. On the upside, also just had a free weiner bun. Apparently, a frend of Julie works at the bakery, and brought some over. What comes around goes around, eh?
I am a bit worried that the mattress is going to be too soft. When my weight is undisbributed, the area sinks like there’s no tomorrow. However, it is a spring mattress, so it’ll likely be ok when I’m sleeping. In any case, I’m just gonna hafta live with it. It’s not like my foam mattress at home is any better. Loud neighbourhood. It’s a good thing I’m used to noise, living on 41st. There are currently 2 other guys living here. I’m assuming that they got the room for 2. Just goes to show how quickly places get snatched up in this part of town, eh? Julie’s receipt book is nearly full. I wonder how much she makes over a year.
Nearly called it quits last night. (ok, so maybe ‘nearly’ is a bit of an exaggeration, but the thought definitely crossed my mind.) After installing some updates onto my laptop, I had to restart it. When I tried to log on, IT COULDN’T FIND MY ACCOUNT. So I frantically reboot several times, and when that didn’t fix the problem, I got online (was still at the netcafe), and looked for solutions. All of them assumed that I could still get into my computer, so none of it was helpful. Janett suggested I take it to a repair shop, but seeing how it was Sunday, nothing’s open. Now, I have a lot of memories as well as sweat and tears in this machine, in the form of pictures, practicum stuff and practical stuff that I had not backed up onto disks yet. So I started to panic, even as I was looking for repair shops. Luckily, Will came home just as I was breaking down, and I called him over msn. He, in turn, got a hold of BJ, who is actually in IT, and he walked me through a system recovery and now all is good *knocks on wood*.
Windows got me to do yet another update today, and so I did, with much trepidation. But, things seem fine…I’ll keep crossing my fingers that it remains this way. I’d end up with a major breakdown, similar to the one I had in Japan if I couldn’t (cheaply) connect with everyone in Vancouver.
On a slightly more amusing note, I went to Coles to pick up Gatorade, and as I walk in, I see that the Chiller Bags, the cloth bags that have an insulating lining in them, were on sale, 2 for 3 bucks. They conveniently zip close, so guess what! I’m gonna use them as a way to transport my extra luggage home. Most likely clothes, as they are uncrushable. If I have enough stuff to fill two of them, then I’ll tape em together or something, and check em in as 1 piece =P. Actually, I needed them to move my food to the flat, but hey, multipurpose is good!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Flat!
Sunday Sep 21
13:26 Sydney
I found a place to stay! It is rather pricey, but I think it’s worth it. $170 per week, so it works out to about $700 a month. I’m sharing the master bedroom of a flat with the person who lives there/owns it. Just a 10-minute walk from Central Station, and less than 5 away from Coles, the supermarket. It’s a nice building, with a pool (which I probably will not use) and a gym, which I intend to use. Free wireless! Yahoo! I will no longer be at the mercy of netcafe trading hours or gross keyboards!
I got a good vibe from the girl--heck, I got a good vibe from the ad alone; seeing the place and the girl just sealed the deal. The other ads that I saw were rather shady, or they would have had me sharing with 3 or 4 other people in the same room.. I may as well be living at a hostel, ya know? And it’s impossible to say how well you’d be able to tolerate a person, nevermind 3 or 4. Some had minimum stays that made me uncomfortable; what if I hated my roomies? And then there were some that had a male contact name, but only wanted females, and Asian at that. I know it may not mean anything, but I just got the creeps reading the ad. Gotta trust instinct. I’m also decently sure that if I’m still here when Cindy comes, we can swing it so one of us gets a cheap night or two on the floor (just until we head off to Melbourne). If available, there’s also a second room for 2 ppl for $320pw.
I’m checking out of the hostel tomorrow, and got a refund for the unused nights, too! Too bad the refund was back onto my credit card, and not in cash. Not that I’m running out, but it’d be nice to have cold hard cash, rather than credit into an account that I’m not going to touch much now that I’m here.
I guess waking up early and wandering around town was rather fortuitous after all. I saw the girl as she was putting up the ad this morning. =D
Now I feel ready to tackle the work issue. Though without a tax number, I’m gonna be taxed a whopping 49%. YIKES! Crossing fingers that I will get that number soon.
13:26 Sydney
I found a place to stay! It is rather pricey, but I think it’s worth it. $170 per week, so it works out to about $700 a month. I’m sharing the master bedroom of a flat with the person who lives there/owns it. Just a 10-minute walk from Central Station, and less than 5 away from Coles, the supermarket. It’s a nice building, with a pool (which I probably will not use) and a gym, which I intend to use. Free wireless! Yahoo! I will no longer be at the mercy of netcafe trading hours or gross keyboards!
I got a good vibe from the girl--heck, I got a good vibe from the ad alone; seeing the place and the girl just sealed the deal. The other ads that I saw were rather shady, or they would have had me sharing with 3 or 4 other people in the same room.. I may as well be living at a hostel, ya know? And it’s impossible to say how well you’d be able to tolerate a person, nevermind 3 or 4. Some had minimum stays that made me uncomfortable; what if I hated my roomies? And then there were some that had a male contact name, but only wanted females, and Asian at that. I know it may not mean anything, but I just got the creeps reading the ad. Gotta trust instinct. I’m also decently sure that if I’m still here when Cindy comes, we can swing it so one of us gets a cheap night or two on the floor (just until we head off to Melbourne). If available, there’s also a second room for 2 ppl for $320pw.
I’m checking out of the hostel tomorrow, and got a refund for the unused nights, too! Too bad the refund was back onto my credit card, and not in cash. Not that I’m running out, but it’d be nice to have cold hard cash, rather than credit into an account that I’m not going to touch much now that I’m here.
I guess waking up early and wandering around town was rather fortuitous after all. I saw the girl as she was putting up the ad this morning. =D
Now I feel ready to tackle the work issue. Though without a tax number, I’m gonna be taxed a whopping 49%. YIKES! Crossing fingers that I will get that number soon.
Sydney Day 2
Friday Sept 19
20:59 Sydney
I did absolutely nothing today, and feel kinda, sorta guilty, but hey, this was mainly to help me reclaim a piece of sanity after the hectic B.Ed program, so really, nothing to be guilty about. It’s just a bit odd, being halfway across the world, and doing basically what I’ve been doing at home: chat on the net and eat. That basically sums up the day. Woke up at about 6, but refused to get up till 7/7:30. Headed out for breakfast, and that’s when I really realised just how expensive eating out could be. I mean come on, $6.45 for an egg McMuffin, hash browns and hot chocolate? McD’s is supposed to be the cheap eats.
Headed over to the netcafe, but because no one was on, decided to go grocery shopping. I somehow couldn’t find Coles, even though I shopped in it just yesterday, and ended up at IGA at where else but Market City, “Where east meets west.” So like a good little Chinese girl, I got oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee, of course), chili sauce (the rooster brand), and bok choi. The oyster sauce will go a long way in helping me meet my daily veggie quota.
I later did make it to Coles, and of note, I got marmite. I was debating over Marmite or Vegemite, but in the end, decided to fall for the “Original” rather than Vegemite, “Proudly Australian”. or something like that. Mostly because of price. And Susan LOVES marmite, so I’ll go with that first, and if I find that I like it, vegemite will be next, after I’m employed =P. Which also means I got bread, and eggs, which means breakfast food! No more eating out breakfasts for me. That’s like 6 bucks everyday! Cha-ching! Boy do I sound cheap, eh?
Got in a nice long conversation with Will, who now should have a proper computer chair. Baby chair is cute and all, but not exactly ergonomic. And according to Carson, the seat of the new chair is soft as a baby’s bottom ^^
Am loving facebook, btw. After Chathuri’s messages about how easy it is to find work, I’m feeling better. I also spoke with Anna, a traveller from England, and she says that there are vodafones for sale at the front desk. Will have to look into that, especially if I wanna get a job..kinda hard to get one if I’m not easily contacted, eh? And I figured that Cindy and I could share the phone when she gets here, and she can have it when I leave, since we’re really only using it for jobs. Gotta love cost sharing. ‘Course, I’ve gotta talk it over with her first =P
The hostel offered Thai cooking tonight. We made Tom Ga. It’s pretty easy! Coconut milk, water, chicken, galangal, lime leaf, lemon juice, fish sauce, red pepper, carrots, zucchini, tomato, sweet chili paste, chili pepper, tom paste?, basil. It all seemed to be an art to taste, rather than a set recipe. My kinda cooking =P
Then they made stir fry for us. Wine was thrown into the mix, and it was all just 5 bucks. Talk about affordable!
I am so not a hosteller. Not that I dislike staying in hostels, just that I’m rather antisocial, and so chitchatting with other travellers makes for an awkward situation. It’s weird. I guess I either travel alone or travel with friends; I don’t make friends on trips.
Did very minimal research on travelling. But the more I think on it, the more I think I’m gonna leave Sydney as soon as Cindy gets here and set up camp at Melbourne. Not sure whether it would be better to get a Great South Railways Pass ($450 for 6 months, but there seem to be hidden fuel surcharges), or to fly from place to place. It’s a time-money trade-off, for sure, but if I’m travelling with Cindy, the long hours on the train might not be so bad…
20:59 Sydney
I did absolutely nothing today, and feel kinda, sorta guilty, but hey, this was mainly to help me reclaim a piece of sanity after the hectic B.Ed program, so really, nothing to be guilty about. It’s just a bit odd, being halfway across the world, and doing basically what I’ve been doing at home: chat on the net and eat. That basically sums up the day. Woke up at about 6, but refused to get up till 7/7:30. Headed out for breakfast, and that’s when I really realised just how expensive eating out could be. I mean come on, $6.45 for an egg McMuffin, hash browns and hot chocolate? McD’s is supposed to be the cheap eats.
Headed over to the netcafe, but because no one was on, decided to go grocery shopping. I somehow couldn’t find Coles, even though I shopped in it just yesterday, and ended up at IGA at where else but Market City, “Where east meets west.” So like a good little Chinese girl, I got oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee, of course), chili sauce (the rooster brand), and bok choi. The oyster sauce will go a long way in helping me meet my daily veggie quota.
I later did make it to Coles, and of note, I got marmite. I was debating over Marmite or Vegemite, but in the end, decided to fall for the “Original” rather than Vegemite, “Proudly Australian”. or something like that. Mostly because of price. And Susan LOVES marmite, so I’ll go with that first, and if I find that I like it, vegemite will be next, after I’m employed =P. Which also means I got bread, and eggs, which means breakfast food! No more eating out breakfasts for me. That’s like 6 bucks everyday! Cha-ching! Boy do I sound cheap, eh?
Got in a nice long conversation with Will, who now should have a proper computer chair. Baby chair is cute and all, but not exactly ergonomic. And according to Carson, the seat of the new chair is soft as a baby’s bottom ^^
Am loving facebook, btw. After Chathuri’s messages about how easy it is to find work, I’m feeling better. I also spoke with Anna, a traveller from England, and she says that there are vodafones for sale at the front desk. Will have to look into that, especially if I wanna get a job..kinda hard to get one if I’m not easily contacted, eh? And I figured that Cindy and I could share the phone when she gets here, and she can have it when I leave, since we’re really only using it for jobs. Gotta love cost sharing. ‘Course, I’ve gotta talk it over with her first =P
The hostel offered Thai cooking tonight. We made Tom Ga. It’s pretty easy! Coconut milk, water, chicken, galangal, lime leaf, lemon juice, fish sauce, red pepper, carrots, zucchini, tomato, sweet chili paste, chili pepper, tom paste?, basil. It all seemed to be an art to taste, rather than a set recipe. My kinda cooking =P
Then they made stir fry for us. Wine was thrown into the mix, and it was all just 5 bucks. Talk about affordable!
I am so not a hosteller. Not that I dislike staying in hostels, just that I’m rather antisocial, and so chitchatting with other travellers makes for an awkward situation. It’s weird. I guess I either travel alone or travel with friends; I don’t make friends on trips.
Did very minimal research on travelling. But the more I think on it, the more I think I’m gonna leave Sydney as soon as Cindy gets here and set up camp at Melbourne. Not sure whether it would be better to get a Great South Railways Pass ($450 for 6 months, but there seem to be hidden fuel surcharges), or to fly from place to place. It’s a time-money trade-off, for sure, but if I’m travelling with Cindy, the long hours on the train might not be so bad…
First Day in Sydney
This'll be for those not on facebook.
Some of you asked for notes and whatnot of my adventures in Oz. Not sure how good I will be at blogging, but here's an uber long one to start. Not particularly interesting, so read at your own risk =P
Thursday Sept 18, 2008
20:25 Sydney
So here I am, back at the YHA Railway Square. I’ve got a different room this time, #224, behind a barred gate, then up some stairs. There isn’t an ensuite, just showers and toilets in a different room. I had to go out and buy a basket for all my toiletries. It’s just too much of a hassle having to remember to get everything I need. Everything into one basket makes it so much more efficient. Yea, and bringing full sized bottles makes it very difficult to pack well. Luckily, nothing exploded on the way over, though my medicated cream somehow leaked. The jar’s fine, just that the cap had become loose.
I had the exact same problem as the last time I was here, trying to find the hostel. When I came out of the train station, I took a wrong turn, and instead of walking to the end of the block, ended up circling around the entire complex. I can’t wait to find a place to move into. It’d be nice to have a real bathroom, and to be able to unpack. I hate living out of a suitcase, and rummaging through it everytime I need something. I don’t mind the lack of privacy overly much, since I rarely see my roommates anyway. The other thing that bites is that all internet access is paid by time. It’s rather expensive here, almost double that of Everywhere Internet, so I go out to use the net. I just got an adapter, so starting tomorrow, I can use my laptop at the café. Much more convenient than using their desktops.
Everything’s been good so far. The flight was on time. Actually, the San Fran-Sydney leg was a bit ahead of schedule, but we weren’t allowed to land before 6am anyway, so it didn’t make much of a difference. Earplugs are saviours! Never leave on a trip without them. There were a couple screaming kids on the plane, but they were beautifully muffled. It’s also been quite a while since I’d last flown. I’d forgotten just how loud planes could be, what with the roar of the engines combined with the wooshing of the air vents. I’d gotten lucky, too! I’d picked an aisle seat, and because the plane wasn’t overly full, one of the flight attendants moved me to another aisle seat, where I had a second seat to myself. (It was part of a 4-seater row, and the guy on the other end had a seat to himself too). All that space makes all the difference. This cantankerous Cantonese couple behind me were angry that I’d gotten moved, and not them. Weird, seeing how they had the same arrangement I did. I mean, what did they expect, an entire row for each of them? Yeesh. They kept referring to me as the ‘leng mui’, and here I thought I’d long outgrown that epithet, being at the ripe age of 27 already.
Anyhoo, I just ignored them. The earplugs helped =P
Pretty good experience with United. I had no troubles on either flight. The YVR-SFO pilot had a rougher landing than the SFO-SYD dude. The latter did a really smooth touchdown. Impressive.
No trouble with customs, though they did have me going for a sec. Aussies like to give you a mild heart attack, just for kicks. The coolest basset hound caught my attention. I thought he was a pet at first, then I actually read the vest, and looked at the handler, and he’s a Quarantine Dog, trained to sniff out suspicious objects. It’s a damned good thing I hadn’t reached out to pet him. That most definitely would not have gone over well.
Walked a LOT today. Kinda wished I had a pedometer, just to have a rough idea of how far I’d traversed. Urban planning obviously was not high on the priority list in the making of Sydney. I think it’s somewhat worse than Vancouver, and maybe the slightest bit better than Seattle, though all three could be sisters. Sydney’s a fantastic place for a Vancouverite, especially at this time of year. The weather’s absolutely perfect, if a bit sunnier than what I’m used to. Eighteen-degree high. T-shirt and jeans weather for me, plus a light jacket in the evening. Spring’s barely started. What the heck am I going to do come summer??? And it is set. I shall be proceeding clockwise. Apparently, the north is horrid between October and March: monsoon season. So I will hit up than area near the end, meaning I will not be spending much time. Just as well, considering the restrictions on my Visa. Not allowed to work for any one employer for more than 6 months. Hopefully, by then, I will have saved up enough money to be vacationing full time, and not dipping into credit cards.
I must say, people in Sydney jaywalk like there's no tomorrow. I'll probably eventually join in, but seeing how I can barely remember to look right, rather than left, for traffic, I think I shall stick to following. I'd actually followed this 10-year old girl for a few blocks. She was obviously a local with the way she was so fearlessly jaywalking. I'm totally not ashamed to admit that I only walked when she walked =P.
Feeling decently accomplished. Got a mailing address with the General Post Office:
Sophia To
Poste Restante
GPO Box Centre
Sydney, NSW 2001
Australia
Free service, and as Will says, “Free is affordable!”
Also applied for a Tax File Number (cross your fingers that I did it all correctly… won’t know for a couple weeks), and a couple bank accounts. The guy at the bank was SO helpful! Now I just have to wait for my card, and I’ll be good to go with banking. It’ll be nice to get this cash off my person. I’m turning paranoid.
Up next: Accommodations and Work. Dun dun dun!
But first, sleep. 9pm seems like a decent bedtime, yea?
Some of you asked for notes and whatnot of my adventures in Oz. Not sure how good I will be at blogging, but here's an uber long one to start. Not particularly interesting, so read at your own risk =P
Thursday Sept 18, 2008
20:25 Sydney
So here I am, back at the YHA Railway Square. I’ve got a different room this time, #224, behind a barred gate, then up some stairs. There isn’t an ensuite, just showers and toilets in a different room. I had to go out and buy a basket for all my toiletries. It’s just too much of a hassle having to remember to get everything I need. Everything into one basket makes it so much more efficient. Yea, and bringing full sized bottles makes it very difficult to pack well. Luckily, nothing exploded on the way over, though my medicated cream somehow leaked. The jar’s fine, just that the cap had become loose.
I had the exact same problem as the last time I was here, trying to find the hostel. When I came out of the train station, I took a wrong turn, and instead of walking to the end of the block, ended up circling around the entire complex. I can’t wait to find a place to move into. It’d be nice to have a real bathroom, and to be able to unpack. I hate living out of a suitcase, and rummaging through it everytime I need something. I don’t mind the lack of privacy overly much, since I rarely see my roommates anyway. The other thing that bites is that all internet access is paid by time. It’s rather expensive here, almost double that of Everywhere Internet, so I go out to use the net. I just got an adapter, so starting tomorrow, I can use my laptop at the café. Much more convenient than using their desktops.
Everything’s been good so far. The flight was on time. Actually, the San Fran-Sydney leg was a bit ahead of schedule, but we weren’t allowed to land before 6am anyway, so it didn’t make much of a difference. Earplugs are saviours! Never leave on a trip without them. There were a couple screaming kids on the plane, but they were beautifully muffled. It’s also been quite a while since I’d last flown. I’d forgotten just how loud planes could be, what with the roar of the engines combined with the wooshing of the air vents. I’d gotten lucky, too! I’d picked an aisle seat, and because the plane wasn’t overly full, one of the flight attendants moved me to another aisle seat, where I had a second seat to myself. (It was part of a 4-seater row, and the guy on the other end had a seat to himself too). All that space makes all the difference. This cantankerous Cantonese couple behind me were angry that I’d gotten moved, and not them. Weird, seeing how they had the same arrangement I did. I mean, what did they expect, an entire row for each of them? Yeesh. They kept referring to me as the ‘leng mui’, and here I thought I’d long outgrown that epithet, being at the ripe age of 27 already.
Anyhoo, I just ignored them. The earplugs helped =P
Pretty good experience with United. I had no troubles on either flight. The YVR-SFO pilot had a rougher landing than the SFO-SYD dude. The latter did a really smooth touchdown. Impressive.
No trouble with customs, though they did have me going for a sec. Aussies like to give you a mild heart attack, just for kicks. The coolest basset hound caught my attention. I thought he was a pet at first, then I actually read the vest, and looked at the handler, and he’s a Quarantine Dog, trained to sniff out suspicious objects. It’s a damned good thing I hadn’t reached out to pet him. That most definitely would not have gone over well.
Walked a LOT today. Kinda wished I had a pedometer, just to have a rough idea of how far I’d traversed. Urban planning obviously was not high on the priority list in the making of Sydney. I think it’s somewhat worse than Vancouver, and maybe the slightest bit better than Seattle, though all three could be sisters. Sydney’s a fantastic place for a Vancouverite, especially at this time of year. The weather’s absolutely perfect, if a bit sunnier than what I’m used to. Eighteen-degree high. T-shirt and jeans weather for me, plus a light jacket in the evening. Spring’s barely started. What the heck am I going to do come summer??? And it is set. I shall be proceeding clockwise. Apparently, the north is horrid between October and March: monsoon season. So I will hit up than area near the end, meaning I will not be spending much time. Just as well, considering the restrictions on my Visa. Not allowed to work for any one employer for more than 6 months. Hopefully, by then, I will have saved up enough money to be vacationing full time, and not dipping into credit cards.
I must say, people in Sydney jaywalk like there's no tomorrow. I'll probably eventually join in, but seeing how I can barely remember to look right, rather than left, for traffic, I think I shall stick to following. I'd actually followed this 10-year old girl for a few blocks. She was obviously a local with the way she was so fearlessly jaywalking. I'm totally not ashamed to admit that I only walked when she walked =P.
Feeling decently accomplished. Got a mailing address with the General Post Office:
Sophia To
Poste Restante
GPO Box Centre
Sydney, NSW 2001
Australia
Free service, and as Will says, “Free is affordable!”
Also applied for a Tax File Number (cross your fingers that I did it all correctly… won’t know for a couple weeks), and a couple bank accounts. The guy at the bank was SO helpful! Now I just have to wait for my card, and I’ll be good to go with banking. It’ll be nice to get this cash off my person. I’m turning paranoid.
Up next: Accommodations and Work. Dun dun dun!
But first, sleep. 9pm seems like a decent bedtime, yea?
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