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…