Leaving Sydney...

So as of Thursday I will be officially homeless again! I have had such a lovely time in Sydney and I will never forget all of the wonderful people I've met. I know I haven't done a great job of keeping you guys back home updated on what I've been up to, but I will let you all know ALLLLL about it once I get home in May! Lately I've been:

1. To Melbourne and Hamilton Island (where I caught some fish and ate them, AND caught a shark... almost). That trip was amazing and I can't do it justice in the amount of time I have right now to write this.

2. Working a bit more to save up some moolah to travel. I've been working events at the bar next door (same company) a lot lately and I was completely flabbergasted when they said that was because they requested me and wanted to steal me away from Jordon's to work at Watershed! AND that Jordon's didn't want to let me go! It was amazing that someone at my job actually thinks I'm good enough to want to steal/want to keep me. Made. My. Day.

3. I have acquired the cold that my roommate had. Blah. And on top of that I have a rockin' eye infection that I've been battling for the past few days. That has kept me from working (ugh, even my Sunday double which would have been such good money!). And it means I have to wear my glasses all the time - no contacts. If you know me, you know how I hate to wear my glasses out of the house. Hate it. I'm not really a happy camper right now. BUT I have this amazing mum looking after me and I have no idea what I would do without her! Seriously, she's wonderful.

4. I've also spent some of my time panicking about leaving. Every time I remember I'm leaving in __ number of days my chest gets a bit tighter and I find my eyes start to swell with tears. I'm SOOOOOOO lame! ugh, I'm about to leave on these adventures and I can't help but know that I've met some amazing people here and I might never see them again. But I can't think like that. I will love these people forever and I hope they all know if they ever want to come to Texas (or wherever I am) they are welcome to anything I have to offer! Every ending is just a new beginning.

So that's it basically. I'm getting ready to head to Fiji where I will spend some much-needed girl quality time with Court! :) I will get open water dive certified (if the cold doesn't get in the way! blah!!!) and we will do whatever it is that you do in Fiji... relax I guess! Then I'll head to NZ for three weeks with Clark and Victoria. We're doing a Stray bus tour across the north and south islands and I plan on sky diving. I'm crazy, I know. We'll see if I can actually get the guts up to go. After March 22 when I return to Australia, I don't know exactly what I want to do, but there is a music festival in Byron Bay that I want to go to on April 5, so hopefully I can find someone to go with me. Other than that, I'll just be going around the continent until I return to Texas on May 25. I've decided to abandon the trip to Asia and I've made that the plan for my next trip to this side of the planet. I came to do Australia, and I'm going to do it properly! :)

2010!

Happy new year to you! I hope you all had a great holiday season! It has been a long, long time since I blogged (laziest blogger ever)... so I can't update you on EVERYTHING that has happened since that would take forever and that daunting-ness is one of the reasons I put off writing new posts anyway.

Christmas was good! It never actually felt like the holiday season because here in Aussie land they don't play Christmas tunes in stores (except the Aussie version of songs in the Australia Geographic store, that was hilarious!) and it wasn't cold at all. I didn't feel any of the usual build-up to December 25th, so I wasn't homesick at all. Manon got an advent calendar and we shared each small bit of chocolate together after we scoured the faces of the High School Musical cast for the correct date to open the window. The chocolate was terrible, but I loved sharing that with her since our time together was coming to an end. We both moved out of the 617 on Dec. 21 and I've seen her a few times since then but she's been traveling with her family and now boyfriend. I'll see her a little more before she goes home for good, but I will definitely go visit her in France someday soon!!

I worked a TON in December since there were many holiday parties and lots of visitors to good ol' Darling Harbour to keep us busy. I didn't get scheduled on Christmas day which was mostly good and only a bit bad since it was a holiday and holiday pay is around $45/hr and would have been uber nice to have... BUT. I have learned money isn't everything and I had a great day anyway. Allie and I went to Hillsong church for the Christmas morning service and it was nice. After that I went home and talked to Mom and Ken on video gchat and it was really good to see and talk to them. I was insanely jealous that they were having a white Christmas (seriously? the ONE year I'm not in Texas??) but was happy that I was having a cultural experience and embraced my Aussie Christmas. Mom even let me talk to Hunter even though I'm sure he had no idea that I was on the screen in front of him... he just wanted to play fetch. Let me tell you what, I can not WAIT to see that dog again! :) After talking to them, my friend picked me up and we went over to his house for a proper family celebration. It felt like a real holiday with all the food and hanging out and watching movies on tv and stuff. Not to mention the food was SO good! I'd have to say the mango cheesecake was at the top my list. We even had a white-elephant type gift exchange and it was really fun. I ended up with a game that is exactly a game my friends and I call "the picture game" only with a few more rules. I traded it with his mum before I left for a box of Ferro Rocher chocolates. :) Overall it was a very lovely day!

Time between Christmas and New Year's flew by. Abbey and Danielle were supposed to come visit on their way back from Fiji but ended up having a change of plans. I was bummed, but I understand. Now I can't wait for my turn to go to Fiji (which I booked for Feb 18-28!)! Anyway, I just did a lot of working and hanging out. My work schedule was frustrating, but I got over it. Some times money just isn't everything after all! I did end up working NYE like I was afraid I would have to, but it turned out so much greater than I could have imagined! I worked the boat that Jordon's has for hire and we were out in Sydney Harbour the whole evening. The people were nice, the food and champagne were good, I saw the fireworks off the bridge, and I got paid for it all! It was sweet as!! We got back to Darling Harbour around 2 and I went out with all the other people who had been working and we had a really good time. Overall, best start to a year I've ever had! And, get this, it's the first year in a long time that I didn't have a midnight kiss and I was strangely thankful for that. As I was watching the fireworks I was thinking, "hey, I don't need to kiss a guy to make my 2010 a good year... I am a strong, single woman and I will have a great year no matter how guys are involved!" The thoughts went deeper than that as well, but that was the bit about the lack of lip-locking at 12.

Since then I've been settled into my new place. I live with three Aussie dudes and one French girl and they are all really nice. I cleaned my room yesterday and made a pile of clothes to send home. I am amazed at how much crap I have! BLAH, I hate my accumulation of stuff. But it felt really nice to have a clean space finally. I've been here for a month almost and it was the first time I actually organized my stuff. I've been crazy busy... spending time at work, the gym, out.... My life is about to change completely though. Next week I'm taking a trip to Melbourne and Hamilton Island and it's going to be a blast! Then I only have a few weeks of work left before I leave! Ahh!!! I still don't know what to do about SE Asia since I don't have anyone to travel with me, but I'll figure it all out soon. I'm sweet until March 22... then I haven't a clue where I'm going at the moment. Anyone want to come join the exploration of Thailand/Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam with me??? Pretty please? :)

no news is good news, i promise

The less I blog, the more you know I'm out and about having fun... or just at least out and about. ;) The Christmas party season is upon us and Jordon's has been pretty busy accordingly. Today was my first full day off in two weeks (my paycheck better reflect that!) and I realized it has been just as long since I last wrote you. AND I forgot to tell you how I spent Thanksgiving! So that first...

Plans sorta fell through for a 617 Thanksgiving (or so I thought...) so I was a bit bummed out about that. A mate from work has an American housemate and had invited all the Americans at Jordon's over to his place for a celebration. Allie, Jordan, Brittany and I went and ended up having a BLAST! I made the broccoli rice casserole that I love and brought it along. Good thing too because all the other girls brought desserts (which are always appreciated!). The guys got a turkey and it was spot-on. Wow, it was really delicious! We also had mashed potatoes and rolls, so we were missing some important elements, but it was wonderful anyway to be around friends and celebrate the holiday. We drank wine and had good conversations and it was an all-around very pleasant evening!

Since then I've been working and hanging out a lot. I have decided to move out of the 617 and into a place that is closer to work (hard to imagine, but it's true!) and a bit cheaper. I haven't met my new roommate, but the other guys in the apartment seem really cool. I move on Monday so after that I'll be able to tell you more. Packing up all of the things (mostly new dresses...) I've accumulated already will be interesting. How have I gathered so much STUFF?

I've also joined the Ian Thorpe Aquatic and Fitness Center and could literally spend all day there I love it so much. It is absolutely the best place to work out! I haven't even spent any time in the pool/sauna yet so I'm really excited about doing that soon. I went to a yoga class today and it was okay (the first thing I haven't LOVED about the place... it was only okay) but I still feel so much better now that I'm more active. Not like my job isn't enough of a work out. Dang, for real, being in hospitality is hard on your body. My legs are almost always dead by the end of a shift and my arms are definitely stronger than before I started. At least when it's busy you don't realize how tough it is physically.

As far as travel plans go... I bought my return ticket home! I'll be flying back to Austin on May 25! Just in time to have a blow-out combined birthday/coming home party, yeah? You're invited. :) Besides that, I've signed up for an environmental conservation program for two weeks in Thailand where I'll get dive certified and I will participate in reef checks and cleaning up the beach, etc. I don't know exactly what I'll be doing every day yet, but it will be for two weeks in April. After that I'll probably travel around Cambodia (maybe volunteer in an orphanage there for a week or two?) and Laos. Most of March I will be in New Zealand (hopefully with Allie and Clark!). That's as far as I've gotten, but I think February will be for around Australia and maybe some more of that in May before I come home. I just hope I can fit it all in/pay for everything! Ugh, side note there: my credit card got used online by someone other than myself and I've been dealing with that for the past couple of days. Lame. It's made even more complicated by the fact that I'm in a totally different time zone. At least I had internet and can check the status of things like that. I'm fully thankful for that.

Today I listened to a podcast from the Austin Stone and it was about honoring the sabbath and it totally hit home with me since I've been working so much lately. I'm going to try my best from now on to have a day where I devote the whole day to honoring my physical and spiritual rest. If you want to listen to the podcast too it can be found here: http://austinstone.org/resources/sermons/ It's the November 1 one.

Hope y'all aren't too cold there in winter! The weather here is not as hot as you'd think most days. I don't think it can really make up its mind. One day will be cloudy and chilly (today, my day off, of course) and the next will be hot and sunny and a perfect beach day (usually saturdays when I work a double). And now I just realized how boring I am talking about the weather... I'm going to go have crepes with my French roommate now, Nutella and all. ;) LOVE YOU!

update!

Sorry that is has been so long since I've blogged! I really didn't come up with a good excuse, so I'm not going to try anymore. Deepest apologies, but get ready! This will be a nice update. :)

Mom and Teresa's Visit

I am SO glad they got a chance to come to Sydney to visit me and see my life here! They arrived and we spent that day walking around and (for them) getting oriented to the city. I showed them where I work and Darling Harbour, Sydney Harbour, the royal botanic gardens, the bridge and opera house, etc. We did a lot of walking and a lot of taking the 555 free bus! My favorite day was probably when we went to Watson's Bay and had lunch at Doyle's right on the beach. It. Was. PERFECT. I couldn't get over how good the food was and how nice the place was and how great it was to have a bit of family around me! They got a chance to visit the Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains while I was working and they really enjoyed that. We also got to do some nice shopping in the QVB, Galleries Victoria, and The Rocks Market. I'm really glad that they got to meet a lot of my friends here when we got lunch at Blackbirds. Mom only embarrassed me a little bit with a few pictures... haha! The worst part was once they left (on Thanksgiving day!) I got quite homesick and missed things from back home. I've gotten over it a bit, but it's still really hard to be so far away during this time of year. Thing are so different here (hot for one!) and it definitely isn't the Christmas-time feel I'm used to. BUUTTT, I will only have this opportunity to spend December in Australia once probably, so I'm going to enjoy it. :)

Work

Things are good at work still. We've been getting busier now since it's summer (today is officially the first day of summer in Australia!). I'm behind the bar/cocktail waitress all the time now, so I am learning how to make cocktails and coffees and it's been slightly stressful, but mostly fun. The people there are still amazing and I have had very few shifts that I didn't at least somewhat enjoy because of them. :) Once I learn a bit more, I will make you guys some awesome cocktails once I come home! I did work a function last Friday night at the bar next door that is owned by the same company called Watershed and it was really fun! It was a Moulin Rouge-themed 21st birthday party and it was so cool! The room looked amazing and the people were all dressed up. It was a nice break to the monotony of the same old restaurant. :)

Home

The 617 has been losing/gaining some new members lately. The Belgium guys have flown back home, Sam leaves tomorrow, Allie and Victoria are moving next week, and by the end of December I don't even know who will be left! My love Manon is leaving to travel with her family on December 21 and I think I am going to start looking now for a new place since no one can replace her in my room (or in my heart). I think I'd enjoy my own room for a while, but we'll see what I can find. I want to stay close to work and maybe gain a bit of air con, but again, we'll see... I haven't gotten to spend much time with the new people that have moved in, but the English guys in the next room are cool. My work schedule just doesn't match up with everyone else's it seems so I don't hang out with everyone as much.

Travel!

I've been spending a lot of my time lately thinking about my travel plans. I can work at Jordon's until around March 10 if I want to, but I don't know if I want to stay that long. Things here are much more expensive than I guess I thought at first, so I need the money to travel so I might stick out the full 6 months. I want to do the east coast of Aussie land FOR SURE and that will probably end up happening by myself (which I'm okay with). New Zealand is happening as well, and Allie and Clark bought the same pass as I did, so we are going to try to go together sometime in March, but we need to sit down and pick dates, buy flights, etc. I also want to see the western side of Australia, but I might not have enough time/money to get over there. South East Asia is in my plans also. I realize I'm going to be spending a lot of time and money traveling in a few months and I'm really excited. I want to get organized and start setting some things in stone soon, so I'll let you know! :)

Random

My computer's hard drive is full and I had to buy a new external hard drive. It's being shipped to my parent's house and then to me, so once I get it I can finally start updating pictures again. I saw my first movie here in Australia! It was.... New Moon. Should I be embarrassed? Because I'm not. It was alright, I liked it better than the first one, but not earth-shattering good. I've spent my last three mornings at the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center fitness room thanks to Allie's pass and have loved every second of it! I had no idea how badly I needed some physical fitness in my life, but now I know and knowing is half the battle. I am thinking about adding some swimming laps to my workout, but that's still a bit intimidating for me. I need a new book to read if anyone has any suggestions (or wants to mail me a cheap one from half priced books... things are seriously so expensive here!).

Love you all and I hope you're having wonderful holiday seasons back home! :)

it doesn't feel like november

Where has the time gone? Halloween flew by (a disappointment for me, I was too tired from working a double to fully enjoy it... plus it's nowhere near as celebrated as in the States) and now it's November. My mom and aunt are coming to visit in a bit over a week and I'm really excited for them to get here! They are leaving on Thanksgiving I'm pretty sure, and I'm not going to lie, that makes me sad a bit. I didn't realize I would miss all the festivities around Thanksgiving as much as I do. I miss the pumpkins at the grocery stores and the decorations and everything that goes with fall in America. There are some tentative plans for an American-style Thanksgiving dinner, but I'll miss my family and the cold weather. I really didn't see this coming... I'm not typically way into fall things. Summer is more my cup of tea.

Anyway, other than the bit of homesickness around the upcoming holiday season, things have been so great! I had a fantastic work schedule last week after it was all said and done (I was only scheduled for 4 shifts at first, but after speaking to my manager I got 2 more). I got to see a suburb called Wollongong for a workmate's birthday on Wednesday. It's a two hour train ride from Sydney Central station and I can't believe she does that almost everyday! It was a charming place and the two clubs we went to were superb. Exceptional dancing at the second one, I must say. ;) I also got to spend a lot of much-needed time with my housemates throughout the week and I'm so grateful for it. I made Fajitas on Melbourne Cup day for everyone and it was fantastic. I throughly love cooking for big groups of friends, it makes my heart happy. The Melbourne Cup was awesome too! I was working and I bet on a horse and it was so extremely exciting! I heard that the entire country literally stops for a few minutes to watch this race and it was true! Sadly, my horse didn't win but it was great anyway. :) Thursday we went out for nachos and a drink at a fancy bar in a tall, revolving tower with great views of the city. It was absolutely lovely! Friday was a girl's birthday from upstairs and there was a giant party up there. I hit it up after work but crashed soon after and when I was trying to fall asleep I thought the ceiling was going to fall in! The dance party was ridiculously loud and some of the housemates weren't very happy about it the next day.

This weekend I spent a lot of time working, as usual. Things are going to start changing up again soon. Some work people had their last shifts today and two of my flatmates are leaving on Friday. I am very curious as to who is going to move in and how things will be at work. I think I'm starting to get used to people coming and going often... at least I hope I am. I will really miss the two Belgium guys and my work friends, but I think I'm getting better at the staying in touch business.

Random side note: while I'm going through my life here, I've begun to think, "I should say this in my blog!" or "I want to tell everyone about this in my blog!" and they are usually clever and funny, but I always forget what I wanted to say! They are more interesting and better organized than what I end up writing so I apologize that you get this version. I'm either going to start writing these gems of thoughts down, or try harder to remember them.

If you'd like a postcard from me, please email me your address. Also, if you have any new music that you think I should listen to, email me that too! or if you just want to update me on YOUR life, email me as well!!! shalynelise@gmail.com

<3

too much fun!

In many ways I'm having too much fun here in Sydney. Let's count:

1. While I may be making money, I also spend it on food, drinks, clothes, rent, holidays, etc.

2. Those drinks I mentioned usually happen post-work and go into the wee hours of the morning.

3. During the day (pre-work) I hang around the house and play online (watching Glee... haha) OR run exciting errands like going to a bookstore and buying a book to help me and my flatmate Dave learn French which may sound non-exciting to some but genuinely makes me so wiggly-happy that I might pee my pants.

4. Let's be honest, I haven't paid for a drink in over a week now and this has never happened in my LIFE. Guys around here are very generous... but that makes me nervous that they expect something? heh, I hope not, for they will be disappointed.

5. Food here is GOOD. I've taken a few pages from my European flatmates' books and showed them some things, but none of that compares to the excellent Thai food that is everywhere. I'm so obsessed that I made Clark and Sam go get this curry with me for lunch yesterday that I had been craving for days. Supposedly there is a good Mexican food restaurant near here, but they only serve for dinner and we know where I usually am at that time...

6. After eating this delicious food, I usually follow it up with some sort of chocolate. Tim Tam's are a fantastic choice... the dark chocolate ones are my favorite.

7. The weather here has started to get warmer and even though it has been raining this week, I can feel that summer is on its way and I can not wait! Days off from now on = beach. Done.

8. My mom will come to visit in less than 3 weeks (yay!!) and Ab and Dg will be here in 2 months! Anyone else want to join the party? ;)

9. I've gotten some good emails/time with friends lately and it feels good. I just need to have those connections I guess... even if they come in the form of semi-sexual jokes made with a co-worker all night long, every time we work together. It's good fun.

10. I've been expanding my plans to include more traveling... I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do. Traveling is like a drug... I just keep craving more!

Love you all!

dunno mate...

This week has been a pretty solid good week so far, but tonight I was getting a bit lonely. In actuality I'm far from alone or lonely really, but there is some sort of funk going on in my head tonight. Lots of people from work have left that I really liked and that's bumming me out, plus it doesn't help that the new people are quite slow. Allie left for holiday yesterday so even she isn't at work with me right now. But then when I think about it, I've had a really good week! I went for a walk from Bondi to Coogee with Clark and Sam the other day and that was great. It has been absolutely gorgeous outside lately (with the exception of cloudy today) and that always puts me in a good mood. I got to update everything on facebook and here and that made me feel accomplished (that's sad, really). I've also enjoyed a lot of time hanging out with the flatmates at various times this week and I really appreciate the time I get with them since most of our schedules don't match up well. Even at work tonight things were pretty good. I got the best compliment I've received in a while from some guys (30's or so) that were sitting outside. I opened a bottle of sparkling wine for a couple and literally ended up showering in it. It sprayed all in my face and got in my eyes and everything and all I could do was laugh. It got on the woman as well, but we both couldn't believe it happened, so we just laughed! It dried fairly quickly and they were cool about it so it was nbd. I must just be letting weird things get to me... I think I've been trying to make plans for what to do next and I need to just chill and live in the moment right now. I'm going to go to a yoga class tomorrow (hopefully... if I can find the place!) and I think doing something physical like that will help. I think I'll also go to a bookstore... that always makes me feel good (and like I want to buy everything). I miss you guys and need to hear what's going on in your lives! Send me an email or letter or something. :) All my love! <3