Yes, the previous posting is gone. Reason, Sharon read it. That was the first and only time I have ever written anything ill about anyone and of course, I get busted. Don't worry, I'm still in one piece; like I said, Sharon is a nice person at heart. We had a long talk (to about 3am) and sorted out our differences. I made a lot of assumptions about her and I also realized that the situation of this house is a lot more complicated than it looks. I knew that I'd hurt her feelings and that was never my intention. She took it quite well actually...she thought it was funny the way I wrote it. Anyways, to be fair to Sharon, I decided that my false statements should be removed from the net. Afterall, my blog is public and anyone can just read up on this.
Sorry.

I know I haven't been updating for a while (I'm imagining a few nodds of agreement here) but Christa has provided the explanation that we have been doing too much to have time to update(we need to do laundry BADLY) and thus the amount of stuff we want to write about just accumulates. Anyways...that was my apology...sorta.

Well, O-week continued.

On Wednesday, we collected our Sydney Uni(get use to this manner of reference) student cards, which were basically pieces of plain paper with foil stickers on them stuck between laminated plastic. Very very cheap. I like our pretty Guelph student ID cards...it's so professional looking. *sob* I'm so proud to be a Guelph Gryphon. Anyways, the id collecting process ended before noon; and since Triona, Christa and I all needed a desk, we decided to head to Ikea to look for one. Mind you, we have no clue where exactly the closest Ikea would would be located but it's in an area called Moore Park and Triona knows which bus takes us there. That's good enough for us and we (Triona, Christa, Heidi and I) just hopped on a bus (on the correct side of the road, of course) and decided that somehow, we'll get there. This is basically how we get around in this city: hop on the bus going to where we want to go and pray that we'll somehow manage to figure out where our stop would be. It's working quite well for us so far. Well, this time, we were lucky in that a Sydneysider sitting on the bus overheard our conversation(it was the only conversation going on in the bus and I'm sure everyone would be listening because there are three different English accents between the four of us) and she told us where to get off and the general direction in which we should travel to get to Ikea.

Ikea is as wonderful as I remembered. This one is smaller than the one in Burlington but the atmosphere is the same. I still feel like I want to take the entire store home. Heidi is the happiest of us all because she is from Sweden, and Ikea is home to her. Imagine her running around the store going: oh, I have this! Oh, I love this! Oh, I want this! Bless that girl...she is just delightful.

Christa, Triona and I managed to get exactly the same desk in exactly the same colour(it was the best deal, I saw it first though, not that really matters). But then, we realized that the desks had to be picked up from this Ikea warehouse some distance away. Great, another map. So we got out of the store, wondering which direction we should head in, and getting no help from the signs at the major intersection in front of Ikea because there were no street names on them. This where Triona with her excellent sense of direction saved the day. We managed to somehow locate the warehouse after a 25 minute walk only to then realize that we could not carry the boxes with us on the buses. Taxi! Man, the desks were heavy.

At this point in time, Christa's desk is already assembled but mine is still in pieces in a box. It's been three days since we've gotten the desks. Assembly is on my to-do list tomorrow.

On Thursday night, there was a welcome party for international students, so we went. Actually, we went for the free BBQ. After about 40 minutes in line( I managed to down my scooner of Toohey's New) and received a big piece of steak, two shrimp, and potato salad. Good stuff...except that the steak is leaking through the thin paper plate and the cuttery is plastic. This makes it extremely difficult to eat the steak (if you want to give the impression of a cultured individual, that is). It took about 30 minutes to cut a thin piece of the steak with the sorry-looking plastic fork I had. I need some teeth or edge damn it! As well, I had to layer my plate with another stack of clean plates due to the liquid leaking out of the steak. At least I'm not alone in this misery. Nonetheless, it killed time nicely.

Then it's time for socializing. But as it turned out, it was difficult because the Dj was blasting loud music at our eardrums. To make the situation worse, about half the students in the room have English as their 2nd language and then on top of that, there were about a dozen different English accents...you've got one heck of a mess trying to carry a decent conversation. And then when the music didn't suck so bad and the conversation died, people didn't clear up a dance floor so we couldn't even shake things up. Man, I wanna go clubing. But the evening didn't go so badly for some of us. Christa got hit on by some French dude named David and she won a free mobile(aka cell phone). Yes, I'm jealous but I'm not sure if I would want a mobile considering I hardly used mine when I had one then I manged to lose it.

Man, this is going to be a heck of a looooooong entry.

On Friday, the (expanded) group (Triona, Vikki, Heidi, Katie--a fellow Canadian, Gareth, Christa and I) headed down to Coogee beach for the Uni-Mates(a club) BBQ. We met some other postgraduate interational students: Gap(yes, that is her name) from Thailand, Matt from Malaysia and some-other-girl-those's-name-I-didn't-get from China, and Keshin from Japan. Go Asians. My first impression of Matt was that he's very organized and needed to know all the details. He was freaking out on the bus because none of the students knew where to get off, but as it turns out, Coogee beach was the last stop so we all had to get off the bus anyways. One other thing about Matt, he wore blue contacts. It was the weirdest thing ever, looking at an Asian with fake blue eyes.
Anyways, the day was quite lovely: bright blue skies and cheerful sunshine. Too cold to swim, however...although Christa-the-brave battled the waves up to her thighs. The ocean is beeeautiful. The sandy beach felt so good underneath my concret-worn feet. It also blessed us with many gifts: seashells, sea urchins(dead ones). I hope I can bring them home.

After the exhausing day at the beach, I had a long nap but Christa didn't get a moment shut eye and baked cookies and cooked dinner. I managed to stumble out of bed just in time. Amerian Pie 2 was on later on and we all made it to Vikki's house to watch it. On our way to Vikki's, we went to grab Triona at her house, only to meet her very hot Canadian flatmate Derek. Derek did his undergrad at Queen's and he is doing a Masters in Physics Education. He's gorgeous. But meeting him made me a bit angry because I didn't come all the way to Australia only to meet a hot Canadian. Ya think there are plenty of them back at home...wait wait...I'm at Guelph, nevermind.

The movie was great, but I managed to stuff myself with too much Skittles, cookies, juice and dried apples. This is bad...I'm eating waaay more junk food compared to when I was at home.

Then Saturday rolled around...that's today, actually. It was a very exciting day because we went up to the Blue Mountains. At this very moment, I'm supposed to be out in a bar somewhere with the gang enjoying a live band. But actually, I'm quite tired from the day and I think updating this blog is quite worth my while. The entry about Blue Mountains will come sometime tomorrow.

Nite.

Today is the first day of Orientation. It was very very...well, boring. There's no enthusiasm, no school spirit, no cheers, no crazy people making a ton of noise. So to sum it up, it sucked! This is something that this school lacks...spirit and pride! We attend the oldest university in Australia, the campus is amazing, it is beautiful, the buildings all have character. Shouldn't the people be a little more appreciative of that's offered? Anyways, they do feed you well. The morning tea and luch were free and very excellent. Very yummy stuff. I signed myself up to be a member of the Sydney Chinese Student's Association. It's good to speak my native tongue, although it's still a bit awkward because my Chinese vocabulary is rather small. I try, anyways.

I'm just saying all these negative things about O-Week because it certainly doesn't live up to O-Week at Guelph. As well, the president of the Sydney Univerisy Union (equivalent to CSA, or student council) didn't even bother to show up for the Welcome Presentation. No wonder international students can feel left out. IT's not hard thing to do. During lunch, our group (Christa and I, Triona, Vikki, and Gareth) decided to "stand out" by sitting down to eat while everyone else in the large room is standing and walking around. We were hoping that people would randomly sit themselves down beside us and join us. We did get one. Her name is Heidi. She is from Sweden. She is quite nice, although most of the words that escaped her lips got lost in all the noise and I couldn't really catch what she was saying. I'm sure there will be more opportunities to communicate later.

Okay, there was an interesting lecture on Aussie English today. That was the highlight of the day, really. Apparently the reason why Aussie speak the way they do is because of flies. Back when the first European settlement arrived, what they found was a land full of insects. If they open their mouths too much, flies shall enter, it's not pleasant, so people mumble to avoid swallowing flies. Cool eh? IT's a theory. I like it.

I feel lazy today. And the weather sucks. The high in Sydney today(11 C) is lower than the low(15 C) in Toronto. It's official: it's winter.

So to make myself feel better, I've begun the room transformation process. Currently, my room is a mess and horribly undecorated. The lack of colour is just overwhelming. Let's see, I have photos, pictures of Guelph and UoG, free postcards, comic strips, dinner place mats(3D ocean scenes), ripped-apart calendars, a batik(I made myself), small art posters, and flags (Canadian + Australian). Bascially anything and everything. It would definitely take a while to figure out where everything goes. But with Christa as my decorating consultant, I think it would be an enjoyable task. Right now, she is ironing my flags and curtains. Thanks so much Christa! I'll burn something if I dare touch the iron.

Sydney is truly a marvelous place. I think by now, after that amazing concert at the Opera House, everyone's already realized it. But what is truly marvelous is that I'm not tired of walking down the same streets, and I don't think I'll ever will. There is always something new, something different. Sydney has what every metropolis should have: traffic, tall buildings, taxis, noise, people, rude people, tourists, flashing lights, HUGE shopping plazas, musicians and panhandlers on every street corner; yet it has so much more to offer. For example: its many suburbs are littered with unique bookstores, clothing boutiques, eateries, coffee shops, dollar stores, realestate agencies, bakeries, clay supply shop, modelling shop, art studios, even funeral services...Bascially everything you need, in life or death. On King street alone, there are three funeral services, all open for business and doing quite dandy at that. This obviously indicate the need for such a service? Anyways...the point is...sometimes I have trouble believing that I'm here, especially when I leave the house and take a stroll along the lovely suburb of Glebe amongst the brightly painted, picket fenced terrance houses. I actually have to stop and remind myself that I'm in Sydney, not Spain. Sydney has already exceeded my expectations...all of them, especially in the area of living costs.
I'm already almost out of cash. Let's see, eating out, buying bus passes, postcards, stamps, phone card, groceries, movie(Troy), living at the hostel, bond + rent for the house, admission fees (Sydney Aquarium)...yeah. I feel poor.

I have yet to go on a grocery shopping frenzy due to the lack of cupboard and fridg space as well as the lack of funds. But I did make it down to Chinatown today. I found what I needed, but i haven't gotten anything yet. Chinatown is smaller than what I'm used to in Toronto but it's full of eateries and gift shops. I found a place that rents out Anime mangas(comics)...I think I should stear clear of that place during the semester. ONe other thing...prices are generally higher here. I haven't found a true dollar store it...I'm really questioning the existance of one in Sydney. I've found pseudo-dollarstores, like, Bi-way sorta thing.

My room is still quite undecorated but looks occupied nonetheless. Everytime I look at the big chunk of blank, white walls in my room, I'm regretting horribly that I left my posters in Canada. I mean, I had enough luggage space, all I needed was a cardboard tube to put the posters inside so they won't be crushed. Oh well. I'll think of something (and painting it is not an option). Christa is going to exert a positive influence on me interms of cleaniness. My mother would be so happy. ANd speaking of her, she is no longer mad at me. I've learn that she is always grumpy when others asks for money. And to tune down the degree of grumpiness, I should call very very often, as in, more than once a week. Obviously I haven't been calling enough.

I got my class schedule yesterday. I have no classes on Fridays...yeah three day weekends!!! But to make up for that, I have about 6 hrs of Pharmacology & Toxicology on Thursday...I'm so looking forward to that...
Apparently there was a "clash" (ie: time slot conflict) of one Pharmacology lab and Pharacology seminar and the University website saw it as a huge problem such that it refused to show my schedule to me. That freaked me out just a little. I really don't wanna go through organizing my course schedules again. Meanwhile, Christa has a lecture conflict everyweek and the website saw it as a minor clash and displayed her schedule. Man, computers just confuse me.

I know I haven't been updating as much as Christa. *hangs head in shame* But to make up for that, I've been snapping a lot of photos. My mom told me that I should be keeping some type of record of my experiences here. WEll mother, I'm keeping a record but not one meant for your eyes dear...

SHould I bother creating a Auzzie journal fit for my mom's eyes? I dunno.

Here, as in over there, as in in Sydney Australia, as in sitting beside Christa whom has finished all her postings and is now wasting time updating her UoG email address book.

Actually, I'm not really in the mood to update. I hate begging for money; even if it's MY money from MY bank account, but I have to get it through my mother.

*GrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrRrrr

I misplaced the key to our dorm room in the Billabong Gardens hostel. And I've only had the key for 2 days. *sigh* Don't know why I even bother to get a key of my own when I'm moving out on Sat anyways.
That covers "lost".

Found: My UoG library book I signed out. It was called: 30 days in Sydney. I read up to the part where the author was on jetlag high then I losted it. At least I thought I lost it. Haven't seen that book since the second Thursday of May; and I never found it before I left Canada. I was planning on renewing the book every three weeks to avoid fines and hope that no one would ever request the book back. I guess some kind soul found it and returned it to the library for me. It's a miracle!

I watched my first Aussie Rugby game tonight. An exciting experience mixed with confusing moments. I have no idea how the game of Rugby works. I'm pretty sure I will learn soon enough.

House-hunting wasn’t fun. But at least it was short and sweet, over and done with. We will be sharing with two girls who are younger than us, as well as our landlord, Phil. They were incredibly friendly and funny yesterday when we went over to see the house. Christa knew that she would love it there in less than 5 minutes. Eventhough I didn’t make an immediate connection, I know I will learn to love that place and call it home. I mean, I didn’t travel all the way to Australia only to live in an isolated house and hide out in the library all the time. I’ve been looking forward to this wonderful change for a very long time. I’m more concerned with how am I going to cope with living at home again after the Aussie experience is over.

We did a tremendous amount of walking yesterday. It took us at least an hour to get to one of the places we were considering for accommodation. At the end of the day, Christa and I just looked at each other and we agreed to take the bus home. We took the first step of standing under a bus stop sign…then I realized that it was on the wrong side of the road, opposite to the direction in which we intended to travel. So we crossed the road and started walking…only to notice a bus passing us by five minutes later. We looked at each other and realized that that was the bus we were supposed to be on! We were so used to walking that we forgot all about waiting for the bus at the bus stop. Yeah, we were exhausted! Then we laughed and staggered home. Some people must’ve thought that we were inebriated because we were giggling and didn’t walk in a straight line. But it was worth it…we found a house so we don’t have to endure the long walks no longer.
My feet felt quite miserable this morning though.

It's a big city...and a very beautiful place...at least on the outside. I'm starting to settle down a bit and accept the idea that the streets of Sydney is where I'm setting my feet and filling my field of view. It is a very exciting place; with the glorious shops, boutiques, bars and coffee houses...but that's only if you can afford it. Christa and I can't be have like tourists forever. We don't have an unlimited budget. We made some progress...cooking pasta and French toast and having cereal for breakfast. Now, the kitchen we have is...well...not that pleasing at first glance. The pots and pans are all over the place, none of which is decent. For a frying pan, we were forced to use what would be a lid of a pot with a handle on it to make French Toast for lunch. Now, no matter how skillful of a cook you are, with that kind of "frying pan", you are bound to burn. It was sheer misery watching poor Christa struggling not to burn our French Toast. It was like fighting a losing battle. That "frying pan" hates everyone. So right after lunch, I vowed to buy a decent frying pan and show our fellow flatmates that we CAN cook. It worked well. After obtaining a pan from Kmart, we were tasting sticky rice with stir-fry.

Oh, the title refers to the absolutely horrible rooms we viewed yesterday. The landlord is very kind, and so is his wife...but that's the only positive thing I have to say about the flats we viewed. the home is very old, with smelly furniture, creaking floors, and chipping walls. The room is actually not free...it is inhabited by some six-legged creatures know as cockroaches. And they have made themselves quite comfortable here, let me assure you. I was like...em...they are kinda cute...*shiver* No No, they are not.
So starting next week, house hunting is our full time job. Wish us lots'o luck! We'll need plenty of it to find something afforable and livable in this city.

Christa definitely got ahead of me and made an entry earlier than I did.

Our first day was actually a full day. I arrived safe and sound...with the exception of plugged ears. So I sorta missed out on the lovely Australian accents for a couple of hours. I flew before and I didn't have the issue with air pressure change...I guess I'm getting old. The first thing I tried to do was to phone home. It was difficult. I took the hostel owner's advice and bought an international phone card, then ran to the nearest payphone and attempted to connect to home. Well...it didn't work. So I ran back to the hostel owner thinking that maybe he could figure it out for me. After a round of "did you do ____?", he finally asked "did you put 40cents in?" *blank stare* >:< It's a PAYphone dummy! So after that, the hostel owner thinks that I'm a complete idiot. Very very bad first impression! And this even precipitated on Christa as he assumes that she couldn't do anything either. He was trying to teach us how to cook pasta yesterday...

At this point, we are about 90% over the jetlag...actually, more like 100% for me. Christa doesn't enjoy going to bed before 10pm and getting up at 7am, but that's my kind of hours. I'm sure she'll adjust to her normal hours soon enough.

So it's only the beginning of our fourth day here and we've already visited the Syndey Aquarium, the Circular Quay (with the Opera House, Syndey bridge and all) and the Queen Victoria Building(absolutely magnificent building with insanely expensive shops that I won't ever be able to afford to shop in). My feet aches every morning as I crawl out of bed but my heart says that it's time for a new adventure.

Today we'll attempt to shop in Chinatown and get some necessities ie: rice, vegetales, oil, salt. And tonight I'll get to taste Chinese food again...hopefully. But to be honest...I'm not missing Chinese food yet.