Hello Livejournal
Omg I can't believe I'm writing an LJ post, it feels like forever since I have done so. Sorry I have not been following much happenings on LJ as of late, due to being overseas and interstate and etc. Now I shall summarise some bits and pieces from the last few weeks:
Sydney:
I stayed at my best friend from high-school, Deidre, 's apartment in Camperdown. It was right near Sydney's China town. I have been to only several china-towns in my life (Perth, Melbourne, London, Yokohama, Kobe); but all of those china-towns felt like tourist attractions only, with the standard bunch of restaurants and chinese-type stores. Sydney's china-town seemed to be filled less with tourists, than with actual residents. I could've sworn that I was the only white person on the street hey. That whole experience was exciting. Deidre took me into this little mall there, and it was just like an ASIA mall. I felt like I could just live in China-town and live in an asian bubble. Here is Deidre about to eat unagi.
While I was in Sydney, I caught up with my aunt and three cousins who live in Dee Why, near Manly. I now realise that this is my favourite aunt (I have about 6 in total), and favourite cousins (I have about 200 in total). My aunt does volunteer work for St John Ambulance or Red Cross or something, to the effect of assisting in first aid tents at youth events. She says this mostly consists of helping young binge drinkers, and talking to kids who've had really bad nights and need to get picked up by their parents. We drove to Newcastle to visit her daughter/my cousin and her kids. So now I've been to Newcastle. Here is Newcastle beach:
I also found out my other cousin has a particularly cool job. One section of the Snowy Mountains Hydro project relates to WEATHER CONTROL/SNOW CONTROL, ie, shooting bombs of some biodegradeable crap (like I dunno, a nitrate? or an electric charge? I have no idea), into clouds, in order to make snow fall in certain spots. My cousin does field work for that, but as she is currently living in Trieste(?) Italy, she is working on computers remotely. (Ie, from the opposite side of the world, she is pressing buttons and things on her computer that make "snow/cloud-bombs" that make snow happen in NSW!). I never knew that sort of thing happened.
Another cool part of being in Sydney is that I got to go INSIDE the Opera House. Not just like, INSIDE, but INSIDE the hull, like the bit between the building and the hull. I didn't realise this, but the hull/shell is not actually attached to the buildings inside. You could dismantle the buildings inside, and the hull would still remain. So anyway, I got a tour through all the airconditioning areas, and the ceilings above stages etc, thanks to Deidre, who works in there doing lighting etc. This was very neat. Here is a picture:
Another neat part of Sydney was that I caught up with Jeni, and ate vegemite toast at her house. We drank wine at her house and ate dips. Then another night we went to some place and ate soup, and then went to a bar someplace. It was very nice to see Jeni. Here is a photo of the vegemite toast:
So, that's my summary of the top highlights of my trip to Sydney. I'll do Melbourne later.
Sydney:
I stayed at my best friend from high-school, Deidre, 's apartment in Camperdown. It was right near Sydney's China town. I have been to only several china-towns in my life (Perth, Melbourne, London, Yokohama, Kobe); but all of those china-towns felt like tourist attractions only, with the standard bunch of restaurants and chinese-type stores. Sydney's china-town seemed to be filled less with tourists, than with actual residents. I could've sworn that I was the only white person on the street hey. That whole experience was exciting. Deidre took me into this little mall there, and it was just like an ASIA mall. I felt like I could just live in China-town and live in an asian bubble. Here is Deidre about to eat unagi.
While I was in Sydney, I caught up with my aunt and three cousins who live in Dee Why, near Manly. I now realise that this is my favourite aunt (I have about 6 in total), and favourite cousins (I have about 200 in total). My aunt does volunteer work for St John Ambulance or Red Cross or something, to the effect of assisting in first aid tents at youth events. She says this mostly consists of helping young binge drinkers, and talking to kids who've had really bad nights and need to get picked up by their parents. We drove to Newcastle to visit her daughter/my cousin and her kids. So now I've been to Newcastle. Here is Newcastle beach:
I also found out my other cousin has a particularly cool job. One section of the Snowy Mountains Hydro project relates to WEATHER CONTROL/SNOW CONTROL, ie, shooting bombs of some biodegradeable crap (like I dunno, a nitrate? or an electric charge? I have no idea), into clouds, in order to make snow fall in certain spots. My cousin does field work for that, but as she is currently living in Trieste(?) Italy, she is working on computers remotely. (Ie, from the opposite side of the world, she is pressing buttons and things on her computer that make "snow/cloud-bombs" that make snow happen in NSW!). I never knew that sort of thing happened.
Another cool part of being in Sydney is that I got to go INSIDE the Opera House. Not just like, INSIDE, but INSIDE the hull, like the bit between the building and the hull. I didn't realise this, but the hull/shell is not actually attached to the buildings inside. You could dismantle the buildings inside, and the hull would still remain. So anyway, I got a tour through all the airconditioning areas, and the ceilings above stages etc, thanks to Deidre, who works in there doing lighting etc. This was very neat. Here is a picture:
Another neat part of Sydney was that I caught up with Jeni, and ate vegemite toast at her house. We drank wine at her house and ate dips. Then another night we went to some place and ate soup, and then went to a bar someplace. It was very nice to see Jeni. Here is a photo of the vegemite toast:
So, that's my summary of the top highlights of my trip to Sydney. I'll do Melbourne later.