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Saturday, January 30, 2010

So I leave tomorrow

So tomorrow night I leave for Thailand. I am really excited my friend and I will have a great time. Believe it or not Sydney really has grown on me and I will kinda miss it and miss my friends for 6 weeks. Not to mention my awesome roommates who are like the 3 sisters I never had haha. They take good care of me and are fun to be around and I will really miss them. My going away party is tonight so that should be good. Then I gotta tie up my loose ends and get ready to go :) I will keep in touch with yall for sure as much as I can.

I had my party last night on a friend's rooftop overlooking the city and it went over great. I really had a good send off for sure. I have made some good friends here and I will miss them. As much as I have complained about Sydney life on and off it has been my home since Nov. and I will even miss Sydney too. Of course I will only be gone for 6 weeks on a new adventure and I am coming back but, I will miss this city and miss my friends. Luckily I know I will have a good time in Asia with my friend and we will make new friends. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and have fun. I will keep in contact as much as possible. I Fly out tonight  so I will update this once I get situated.


Take care and see you over there,Ty

Friday, January 29, 2010

My last day at work

So Friday was my last day at work before my trip to South East Asia on Monday. I really did enjoy that job,it was pretty easy and I got paid great and worked with great people. I am sure I will find another good job when I get back but, that job did treat me right.

Well I will be having my going away party with my friends this weekend so that should be fun. Just gonna hang out and relax, nothing wild before I leave. Then on Monday I am off with my friend Kevin to start our trip in Bangkok,Thailand and work my way thru SE Asia for 6 weeks. I am really excited! Soon after I return from SE Asia (back to Sydney) I will be going to New Zealand but, one trip at time lol I will talk about that later.

The girls (my roommates) took me out for a belated birthday dinner to one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook everything in front of your face. Only this chef actually involved me in the process since I was birthday boy. I got egg and food all over me  because he threw stuff really fast haha. But it was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot. 

Well I am just tying up my loose ends before my trip but getting excited and ready to go! Honestly I have grown attached to Sydney and I will miss it but, I will be back in 6 weeks. I am now looking forward to a new adventure! See Yall,Tyler

Saturday, January 23, 2010

My weekend so far

I know I haven't blogged in a while I have just been busy with work and really had nothing to blog about haha. But here goes... 

Today I was meant to go to the beach with some friends but the weather turned bad and my plans with friends fell through. This would really bother some people being alone but, traveling alone for a whole year I have really learned how to occupy time by myself and hang out alone and be ok with it. So I went to Subway for some breakfast and at the risk of getting my dear mother a little emotion I will explain what happened next.

So I discovered that Subway just recently has started offering cinnamon rolls for breakfast and they are really really good. They totally remind me of sat/Sunday mornings back at home when I was growing up and mom would have hot cinnamon rolls ready for me to eat once I decided to roll my lazy butt outta bed :) So it was a nice taste of home so to speak.

After that I decided to treat myself to my first Sydney museum. I had a coupon/voucher for The Prison and Justice Museum down by the Quay here in Sydney so I got in for under 7 bucks it was a great deal! They had some really interesting stuff there, neat old stuff and new stuff and a really cool exhibit on women criminals from the 1890's to present. Prisoners sure are inventive with their time sitting in those cells. It is amazing what they make to kill each other lol. There was even a female who pretended to be male ( and she did look quite manly) she would marry women and then rob them blind!

After I left the museum I was walking home and I passed Ken a homeless guy I see quite regularly. He is always in the same spot asking for money. Sometimes I give him money and sometimes I dont. He seems like a nice enough guy but there doesn't really seem to be anything physically or mentally wrong with him. I think he is just lazy looking for a handout. I wish he would get motivated to improve his situation. Anyway, here in Sydney every so often I run across those super religious people and he went up to Ken and started preaching to him about how he was gonna go to Hell and stuff. This was a very interesting exchange to watch because Ken wanted money from the guy and the guy wanted to save Ken's soul. Neither was willing to budge on their position haha. I didn't stay to watch the whole thing but I assume Ken got no money and the guy still thinks Ken is going to Hell lol.

Later tonight I will be going out for drinks with a couple of bud's of mine and also in less than 2 weeks I start my 6 week trek to Asia!  I am excited :) so yall take care enjoy your weekend. -Tyler

Friday, January 15, 2010

Just a little update

I know I haven't blogged in a while but, I have been busy with work since I came back from Christmas holidays. I am glad to be working though. Just a little over 2 weeks from now I will have my holiday with friends to Asia and I am excited about that! I do have a few things to talk about though.

First off I wanted to discuss the birds. No not the Alfred Hitchcock movie, I am talking about the bird that lives outside my window. It is either a crow or a magpie. Now really I have never had any issues with birds before but, since living here we have no air conditioning and no fan so sounds really carry far here. I usually sleep like a rock but this demonic bird which I am pretty sure is possessed by some kind of evil spirit makes a noise like "caw, caw, caw"! really really loud. The agonizing part is I can hear this bird very clearly but I cant see it. This bird isn't limited by day or night it goes off all hours. I mean what kind of crazy animal is this?! I am prohibited from owning fire arms while I am here in Australia and even if I could get one it would be very hard here in Australia they are pretty strict about it but, if I could get any kind of fire arm I wouldn't think twice about blowing that bird into next week and smiling while I do it!

Next I wanna talk about the street light sensors. You know the "red man,green man" that lights up when you can cross the street. In America they dont make any audible noise they just light up but here in Australia they make a clicking noise to help blind people which is good I guess. But, here in Sydney the amount of time you have to cross the street is about 2.3 seconds so everyone jay walks here its just what you do. But, if I jaywalk I do it rarely and I do it safely a lot of people just run in front of cars! The weird thing is even I am guilty of doing this, you will get up to an intersection and push the button to cross the street. You push the button even though there is people there waiting to cross the street so they clearly pushed the button before you. So the crosswalk button gets pushed about 900 times when it only needs to be pushed once haha.

I really do have a good job, they pay me a lot of money for what I do. I do a lot of things but the majority of my job consists of putting stickers on boxes. That is simplifying it a little bit but that is basically what I do. Well as you can imagine after 3+ months of doing this it is starting to get boring so the guys I work with and I we have created the "Stickering Olympics". We do races to see who can sticker a box the fastest, sticker the straightest, sticker with your eyes closed, behind your back etc.... I have gotten pretty good! It breaks up the boring job  somewhat :)

The last thing I wanted to mention is the Internet access here in Australia. The Internet was created in America in 1969 but really rose to prominence in the 90's. Back home you pay X amount of dollars per month and you get Internet access for as long as you want for whatever you want. The Internet is so ingrained in culture now that it really seems more like a God given right and not a privilege huh?  I guess we are a little spoiled. Well here in Australia you pay X amount of dollars per  month and you get X amount of Internet. So basically if yo go over your monthly "limit"they dont cut you off but they slow your Internet WAY down. It sucks. To me it seems so restrictive and unfair I dont like it at all but over here it is just accepted I guess. I know in America that would NEVER fly. We love our unrestricted Internet too much lol.

Ok that is all for today yall have a good weekend,Tyler

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mondays....

This was my first Monday back at work and it was a Monday. But it really wasn't a bad day at all considering it was first day of the new week. Over the weekend I went to Bondi Beach with my new American friend from Boston, he is a cool guy and it was good hanging out at the beach and just relaxing.

Friday night I went to Hyde Park in Sydney for a free music festival and it was huge! there was a ton of people there and a ton of acts there. The best part was I got to see Al Green! You know, one of the God Father's of soul music :) it was really good.

Really I am just working and doing the usually until Feb when I am on to Asia. This will be a short update because I really have nothing else to say haha. Well yall take care.

Oh Good news, the postal and bus strikes ended Jan 2nd so everything I need is working again :) -Tyler

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Back to work I go

I start back at work tomorrow again it was a nice holiday for me but it was unpaid so its good to be back at work! Gotta make that money before I head off to Thailand in Feb. so today I just relaxed and ran some errands went to the bank etc.... The bank hours here are a little frustrating, its M-F 8am-4:30pm and most people (me included) work during that time so you literally have to take time off of work if you wanna go to the bank! Glad I got it all done on holidays.

I have been here just over 2 months now and of course I dont know all of Sydney because its huge but I have really gotten to know my little area of Sydney CBD. Within probably about a 10 mile square radius I can get anywhere I need to go without a map. If my parents are reading this they will be so proud because I am terrible with directions haha. I think I have just ingrained this area in my brain because since I dont drive here in Australia I walk everywhere or take the bus or train. I am willing to bet I walk a good 20 miles a week at a minimum but its good cardio and at first my legs were sore but now I can walk all day and not mind it.

I found out just recently that here in Australia you pay X amount of dollars for home Internet service and you can use the Internet just like it is back home in America but the biggest difference is here they "cap" your Internet usage. You get X amount of bandwidth (Internet usage) for X amount of dollars per month. If you go over your usage they dont cut you off, they just make it REALLY slow. Personally I find that very unfair and restrictive and im not used to that. I think if you pay for Internet you should be able to use it as much as you damn well please. I know that system would NEVER work out in America but there is nothing I can do about it here so I just unhappily deal with it. It is frustrating though.

I went to go sign myself up for Latin dancing lessons today but they require a 6 wk commitment at the place I went so unless I find another I will have to wait til I get back from Thailand. I have really been adventurous here lately and it has been good. Like I said before I have this bucket list of things I want to do before I die and it always gives me a great sense of pride to get out of the norm and do something on the list and just check it off.

I also wanted to mention a few other random things. I have noticed here in Australia when you go anywhere that involves an escalator people almost always move immediately to the left. I mean its the polite thing to do so that people who are walking up the escalator in a hurry can just pass by. It just makes me laugh, reminds me of that Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episodes.... true Seinfeld fans will know what im talking about haha. I think they stand on the left side because Aussies drive on the left side.  In America generally people just stand all over the escalator lol.

Here in Australia tax is already included in everything which is actually a much easier system and I wish America would do it. The price on the tag is just the price. They do "rounding" here though because they have no penny or 1 cent coin. so  nothing is ever 1.99 its 2 dollars etc. They have a nickel,dime,20 cent piece,50 cent piece,dollar coin and 2 dollar coin. No dollar bills here but I have gotten used to their money. Its colourful and cool and its coated with a plastic so if you wash it, it wont matter! pretty cool.

Ok last thing my roommate reminded me to mention our "hobbit closet" I have never lived in a house that has one of these but our house has one. Its like a little storage closet built into the inside of our staircase. Its pretty cool and pretty large too. I just wish it had a light in it and right now ours is full of junk! lol. I think that is all for tonight.

Yall take care of yourself and each other-Tyler :)

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Trivia Night

So last night was trivia night at my former hostel I went there was 3 other friends and we ended up getting 2nd place! earning each of us 3 free beers. Not a bad deal for a little brain work. After trivia I went with my friend Josiah to another pub down the road for Karaoke Night. Now for those of you who know me you know that I cant sing. Plain and simple I just cant sing and I know it. It's ok God has blessed with me other talents just no singing voice and I am fine with that.

That being said, I had just enough liquid courage in me to let my friend convince me to get up on stage with him and sing "You lost that lovin feelin'" a la Top Gun style. I really got a kick out of it. There was this random girl in the audience and we really had this crowd going, I pointed at her with my index finger and she started screaming like a teenager haha. Right then and there I felt like a rock star and had my 15 minutes of fame :)

I seriously doubt I will ever do Karaoke again because I really want to go out on a high note and I think it could only get worse from here lol. But, I have been trying new foods ( yes veggies and fruits Mom) since I have been over here and it feels good to let loose and try new experiences. Next for me is giving Latin Dancing a go. Well thats it for tonight. -Tyler

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Today at Bondi

Today I went to Bondi Beach with my roommate Sandra and her friend Matt and a few other friends. It was the perfect day for the beach! not a cloud in the sky it was nice and warm and the water wasn't absolutely freezing haha. It was still cold but very refreshing once you got in. There was literally 6 to 10,000 people there though! it was SO crowded, it seems everyone else in Sydney had the same idea. we did see a extremely drunk Irish guy in a 3 piece suit literally haha! You aren't allowed to drink on the beach so he was asked to leave but he must have been burning hot in that suit! He was quite the character for sure. I put on sun block and managed to not get extremely sun burned which is good because we are over that hole in the ozone layer and that can happen easy here. I actually spent an extended period of time in the ocean and really enjoyed myself it was a relaxing day before I go back to work soon.

Tonight at my former hostel they are having their weekly trivia night which is always a good time and I will be going to that. Then after that, I will be headed to the Latin Club to take the plunge into Latin Dancing and see if I cant sign myself up for some lessons. It has always been on my bucket list of things to do before I die so I might as well do it while I have the chance. I could be absolutely horrible at this dancing thing but who knows? It might work out for me and I might really enjoy it. so wish me luck lol. Well I guess that is it for now.

Yall take care,Tyler

Sunday, January 03, 2010

A blog about nothing

I really dont have a subject to blog about today so I will just write about whatever. After I woke up today I went to a good breakfast with my roommate Sandra and her friend Matt. My family and friends know that I am some weird food eating habits, I dont like my food to touch at all and I eat one thing at a time so breakfast was a little difficult for me mentally haha but, it was really good! Then after that I went to buy her late Christmas present and the guy at the shop heard my accent and asked if I was Canadian. In all actuality I dont have much of a true Texas accent at all. I have never been able to figure out why but I am just accent neutral whereas I have heard from people that my parents have a strong accent. They dont to me but maybe to others.

I dont have a Texas accent but when I speak they can tell I am obviously not a native Australian so you would be surprised how many times I get the Canadian thing. Honestly I have only had 1 person even guess I was from America straight away. I dont mind it though its all good :) I haven't picked up the Aussie accent as of yet but, I have picked up the Aussie lingo. Really once your here for an extended amount of time you just start speaking in Aussie language. It makes it easier to be understood by the locals. So, in a years time when I come home if I say things that sound odd it is just because I spent a year here lol.

I am doing wash today and a little cleaning up around the house. Just having a relaxing day really. I should start back at work by the end of this week so that is great news! I can start to cash flow going again. I got my first haircut here in Australia and it was only 10 bucks that is right in my price range and amazingly cheap for Sydney! Those who know me know that I am really particular about who cuts my hair, when I find a good hair cutter that is who I stick with for as long as possible. It wasn't an amazing haircut but she didn't butcher it either so all in all I am a happy man. I am also going to to a Spanish club this week and signing myself up for Latin dancing lessons. I have decided to take the plunge into dancing and give it a go :) so wish me luck. I have really been enjoying myself here and having a good time so things are going pretty well for me now besides the fact that I have a little head cold but I have been taking some over the counter meds so I should be all good soon. In less than a month I will be in South East Asia so I am excited about that! Hey if any of yall have Skype and you wanna talk to me on there just let me know.

Ok that is enough for today I think. Yall have a good one,Tyler

Saturday, January 02, 2010

My trip to the blue mountains

Today I went with 5 friends to The Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. It was really nice to get away. it was about a 2 hour bus ride with our guide JC. We got there and got going about 10:30am, it was beautiful day and everything was great. Until it started raining. and I mean raining! it just dumped rain on us until I was soaked to the bone. A little while later we had gone and seen some great views and such and we were walking down a 52 degree inclination going down to some water falls. That was really steep! man those stairs were hard to get up and down! About this time the sun came out and it was hot as ever. At this point I was really wishing for rain haha.

After seeing and hearing everything from our guide JC we were gonna head back but a couple in our group decided they wanted to wander off (knuckleheads!) and we had to wait til JC went to go find them. That really delayed us and he wasn't too happy. I wasn't too happy because we had to miss out on our last stop off due to them being late. But, I did meet a cool British couple who had been to Southeast Asia pretty much exactly where I will be going so I got some good tips from them. :)

After our day in the blue mountains the 6 of us (4 Germans,1 Japanese and myself) all we went to eat Korean food for dinner. Quite the multi national gathering haha. All in all, a good day! I guess I will end it for tonight. Hope your New Years was safe and happy. yall take care and enjoy 2010. I cant believe it already!

Also another thing I wanted to mention, when I first came to Australia this time just like last time I had some "lost in translation" issues. You know things I would say in America that would make total sense but not make sense at all here. For example, I went to maccas today for breakfast before our tour and I ordered a "sausage biscuit" which in America would go over fine but, the girl looked at me like I was insane. So I said it a 2nd time thinking she didn't hear me. Again, same response. Then I finally realised that what us Americans call a cookie is their "biscuit" so I was asking for a sausage cookie! haha.

Well what I ended up getting was sausage and cheese on an "English muffin" for a stupidly high price and it was small but, it was brekkie as they say here. So, my "lost in translations" have become much less since I have been here but obviously I still do have the slip up now and again.

check out my photos here :  http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32044775&l=10528a79e1&id=194600613 

-Tyler