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

pictures are worth more than i can say...

So, I just spent a couple of hours loading pictures to my computer and then facebook (dude, you have to check them out!) and I'm sick of sitting here on my computer so this will be shortish. Sorry about that.

Now, where to begin?! Tasmania was fabulous! It was a bit chilly (um, especially at night) but beyond gorgeous. I met Manon in Hobart Wednesday night after spending the day traveling and exploring Melbourne. Luckily she got to town before I did and booked us a place to stay for the night! We both hadn't eaten so we grabbed a pizza and had leftovers for breakfast the next morning because Manon had never had cold pizza for breakfast... crazy, I know. She liked it. :) The next morning we rented a car that we named Chunky. She's adorable, but a manual and to be driven on the LEFT side of the road... obviously it was interesting. I was supposed to do most of the driving for insurance purposes because Manon isn't 21 yet, but I'm so glad we split the driving in half anyway.

We headed up the east coast of Tassie and stopped for the night in St. Helen's after seeing the Bay of Fires (those really red rocks by the white sand beaches). Our hostel was tiny, but luckily we weren't the only ones there. A few Germans joined us and we all made dinner and watched Juno together. It's amazing to me how American movies are everywhere! We left the next day and headed to Freycinet National Park and walked around (for five hours). We saw the most beautiful views and kangaroos! The walk to Wineglass Bay lookout, then to Wineglass Bay, across the isthmus, down Hazards Beach, and back up to the car park took a very long time, but we enjoyed each other's company and the beautiful nature. :) Once we finished there we stayed the night at a very clean YHA that had a nice cozy wood-burning fireplace thing. It was very nice because there aren't any central heating systems in Tasmania that we saw. I really don't get how people can live with their homes being so cold all the time! I suppose they just get used to it... I was for sure not built for cold climates.

The next day we drove around, picked some strawberries at a fruit farm, and saw more breathtaking views. We made it all the way down to the Tasman Peninsula and saw all of the major things to see there including Port Arthur. It was random because we also ran into the Germans there! We never thought we'd see them again, but the world is proving to be an increasingly small place. We stayed that night at a tiny hostel that only had 4 beds and the water supply was only rainwater that had collected. It was a trip. The couple that owned the place told us about this quiz night that they were having, so we went. We were like 30 minutes late (oops) but we joined teams and had fun. Manon's team actually won! The prize- chocolate! After it was over we mingled and the quiz master invited us to stay at his house with him and his wife when we went to Hobart. It was a very nice offer so we said of course we'll stay! The next day we toured Port Arthur and then drove more (continuing south down the island) to our next destination. Once we found the hostel, the sign said "no vacancies" and we momentarily freaked out. Then we remembered Lum's offer (the quiz master) and since we weren't that far from Hobart, we headed that way! ***** Note: this entire time neither one of us had mobile service because Tasmania only has Telstra, NOT Vodafone. We did, however, get service while we were in Hobart so we drove that direction with only the hope that once we got service and called, we could stay at their house. Our risk paid off and they graciously hosted us for two nights! They cooked us dinner and we had pleasant conversation all evening. Maureen even gave us hot water bottles for our bed which was AMAZING! The next day (after they made us breakfast! so nice!) we went to Bruny Island and drove around and took in some more views. This island has mostly gravely dirt roads so our little Chunky didn't fare so well and it was a bit more stressful than we had expected. The ferry ride was really fun though. We got back to their house and went with Maureen to her choir practice which was so fun. Then they cooked us dinner again (steaks! wow!!) and we went to quiz night with them at a bar. Our team won!! It was really fun, but I wish I knew more of the answers. The prize this time was money! Lum gave us our share ($10 each) and it paid for lunch the next day. We returned our Chunky the next morning and walked around the city with our hosts all day. We had fish and chips down by the water and it was quite good. They drove us to the airport that evening and were SO nice. I can't get over how great it was to be at their house. It was as cozy as being at a friend's parent's house or something even though they were strangers.

Our flight was 2 hours late out of Hobart (blah) but we finally made it to Melbourne where we stayed up all night and met some friends at the casino before catching our early flight back to Sydney. Once we got home we slept for a while and then I had work! I was kinda tired, but it was great to be back. Now my life is back into a semi-schedule. The only new thing is that I worked behind the bar Friday and Saturday night! It was great! but now I don't have any bar shifts this week so that's interesting... whatev. I still like my job. We said goodbye to a few people who are traveling on and they will be missed. :( It makes me really sad actually because I really liked them. I guess I'll have to get used to saying "see you later" to all my new friends. It's not goodbye. :)

i. love. my. job.

Get this, Friday I worked a double, Saturday I worked a double, Sunday I worked a double, and today I worked the lunch shift. This evening was my first chance to sit around and be lazy and can I tell you I enjoyed it! My legs are tired and I swear my wrist could hold up an elephant by now after carrying all those trays! But seriously, I love my job! I have so much fun at work (most of the time) that I honestly don't mind the double shifts. The people are great, like I mentioned before, and I'm getting to the point where I'm pretty good at what I do. I haven't spilled a drink in over a week now! haha, hilarious that that is an achievement. Today I was even a cocktail waitress in the bar area and possibly might start training behind the bar soon? We'll see about that, but if I do that'd be so fun. My work mate/ flat mate/ IEP mate/ good mate Allie starts behind the bar this week and I am so excited for her. But she worked at a bar back home and actually knows what she is doing, while I know absolutely nothing about making drinks. It would be totally awesome to work WITH her behind the bar, but right now that is only a dream. :) Who knows, it may happen... and we'd get SOOO many tips! haha

So, tomorrow I have to get organized (you've got to get organized, you've got to get organized... if you know what that is from you're awesome) for my trip! Wednesday morning I am flying to Melbourne then on to Hobart, Tasmania! Manon left this morning with her boss and I am meeting her there for a week of fun roomie-bonding traveling! I am so excited, but I've been gone so much lately that I have no idea what the plans are. I'm totally winging this trip and it's super exciting for me. I will miss work, especially since so many of the cool people are leaving soon :(, but no worries! I just hope it doesn't rain all week and that I can fit a week's worth of needed stuff into my backpack... this will be interesting.

Love and miss you all! Hope things are great back in the states. :)

Daily Life

Hi there! I haven't done any more super exciting things (like throw up after drinking wine, ha!), but I'd like to tell you about my semi-scheduled life here in Sydney since things are starting to become routine. Since I work at a restaurant I usually work the dinner shift (so far) so my evenings go fairly late usually which means I sleep later and later into the day. I haven't gone past noon so far and I'm going to try to maintain that. Once I get up, I do the usual breakfast, shower, get ready for the day thing like everyone else on the planet, but then I have some free time. Some days I choose to surf... the internet. Thanks to Abbey showing me a blog a while back (gofugyourself.com) that keeps me fairly entertained for a bit. Other days I walk around the city, go to a park and read a book, or meet friends for lunch, etc. Normal random day things. Then I usually have work in the evenings. I leave my uniform in the change room at work so I just go wearing whatever and get ready there. At work I run drinks to tables mostly, but I also wash glasses, polish wine glasses, fold napkins, make settings, clear and re-set tables, and whatever random things the managers come up with for us to do. It sounds terribly boring and it does get monotonous, but the people are fantastic. I genuinely like almost every single person I work with which is a big deal since it is a huge restaurant. Jordon's has room for 600 guests to eat dinner so there are quite a few staff members. The other "support" girls (my job) are awesome, the bartenders are hilarious, the "captains" (waiters/waitresses) are mostly amazing, the "foodys" (guys that run food and work in the kitchen) are generally good guys, and the chefs are nice but they don't wear name tags like everyone else has to so it's harder to get to know them. I have closed almost every shift I've worked so far and almost every night someone is going "upstairs" (to COHI BAR) after work for a "cheeky beer." I've gone fairly regularly since I like everyone so much. I only dislike 1. the fact the the drinks at COHI are pretty expensive and I worked so hard for my money and 2. almost every single person I work with smokes so it sometimes bothers me and I think I would smell bad when I got home if I didn't have a nice 10-15 minute walk home to air-out. After the walk home I try not to wake Manon as I crawl into my top bunk to crash and do it all over again. :) Life is good. I still don't really know my purpose here, but I'm enjoying getting to know everyone!!

Miss you all! Send me mail! :) Cheers!

Taronga Zoo

Friday Russo and I went to Taronga Zoo! You have to ride a ferry to get there (love!) and it's a huge zoo set on a massive hill. We rode a gondola to the top and started checking out the animals. The most interesting part was this emu that was walking around the path on this walkabout. It walked RIGHT in front of me. I could have touched it, but look at those eyes! I was scared of it. We also saw kangaroos, wallabies, a wombat, and a platypus. The bird show was really awesome too. These birds just flew around and looked awesome. It's hard to explain, but it was fun. There will, of course, be pictures on facebook soonish. The giraffes there were sharing the branch! I loved it so much. And in that picture I was "filing" an elephant's toenails... it was a kid's toy thing, but I liked my outfit that day and I wanted to share that with all of you. I bought those shoes in Bondi (the i heart billy! shoes!) and I got those shirts at the mall near the grocery store. There are a lot of stores here... I need to cut myself off soon...

Anyway, the zoo was super fun. I kept thinking of how you would hate it Danielle! The pictures will tell the stories better than I can, so look forward to seeing those soon.

Hunter Valley

Last Thursday we took a trip to the Hunter Valley (just north of Sydney) to go on a wine tasting tour! Amazingly, Allie, Victoria and I all had the same day off! Clark and Russo came as well and it was a great group. We visited 5 wineries and a cheese shop and a chocolate shop. It was INCREDIBLE! I learned so much about what wines I liked and what makes what taste good, etc. We left at 7:15 in the morning and started drinking wine around 10:30. We drank a bit here and a bit there and never really got drunk, but were all pleasantly chatty all day. :) Russo borrowed my camera for most of the day since he forgot his, so check out the pictures on facebook once I post them - they are amazing.

Since we drank so much, I napped the whole ride home. Once we got back to the flat, I watched Glee!! then I promptly threw up (twice). It must have been a mixture of all the wines (white, red, blush - yuck, and dessert wines) and the food we tasted or something. I felt awful. I even missed an International night with my housemates! Somehow the others managed to go out that night, but not me. Russo was really nice and pretty much took care of me and set me up with a movie on my laptop in bed once I was all done puking. At that point, I was really homesick. :( I just hate throwing up!

Overall, it was a great day... it just had an interesting ending!

cool people

So, just so you know, my third shift at work went much smoother. I didn't break or spill anything and Allie and I went for a drink with everyone after we closed. I didn't work today and I don't work again till Tuesday so I'm happy about having a break. Although Allie did just freak me out a bit ago and asked me, "aren't you supposed to be at work?!" which literally made my heart skip a beat. But I'm 99% sure I don't work again till Tuesday... I think. Blah!

So, I wanted to tell you a little bit more about my housemates. Let's start with Manon, my actual bunk-bed mate. She's French so she's instantly cooler than any American because she speaks French, English, Spanish, Italian, and German which just blows my mind. Her English is amazing, but most of the time she chooses words that I say to repeat in my exact tone. Her first choice was "groceries." Try saying that word over and over and NOT making it sound weird. It's all cool though because I have started to do the same with her, but the words I enjoy hearing her say the most are usually curse words. I have decided that cussing is so much more hilarious and inoffensive with a French accent. She also jokes around in English which I have heard is the hardest thing to do in a foreign language. Today at the beach, for instance, was pretty much a non-stop giggle-fest on my side. She is so much fun to be around! We co-bought a shirt/dress today at the Bondi market and we are going to send it back and forth to each other traveling pants style. I can not wait for that to start. Anyway, Manon is 20 and is here on an internship dealing with human rights. After this she goes to Argentina to study (in Spanish!) for a semester before returning to France. We get along SO amazingly well. I can't wait to make her come visit Texas!

Next we have Mike and Philippe. They live in the room next to ours and they are from Belgium. Both studying and here on internships as well. They also speak a multitude of languages and have such a good grasp of English that they are hilarious. Mike was having trouble saying the "ow" sound so he repeats the word "Howard" all the time but his mouth opens incredibly big when he says the "ow." He chose the word Howard because of the show The Big Bang Theory; he loves it. Now we have taken the word "Howard" and changed it into a way of saying something is cool. Today I got a text from him that said, "Hey roomies, the temperature is Howard in bondi, just perfect. We're waiting on you! :-)." I almost died laughing, but he was right it was perfect out there. His friend, Philippe, just got here last week and hasn't stared working yet. When Clark and Allie first saw him they couldn't believe he was real because he's quite pretty. They both have such a big crush on him, but not anything compared to this Chloe girl. She's French as well, but not a friend of Manon's, she's just random. I first met her Thursday night and she was ATTACKING Philippe. I mean hard core trying to make out with him at this bar. He was pushing her away and almost knocked over the table. I could not believe it was all really happening. When I first got there I said hi to him and we were talking and she came and stood right by my face inbetween me and Philippe and wouldn't let me talk to him. I had to grab his arm and drag him away from her when we wanted to leave. It was so nuts! Now it's a joke/threat for Philippe every time we go anywhere. She actually came to the beach today and set her towel right in front of Philippe's even though there wasn't really room. I mean, he is really cute and he's a totally nice and funny guy, but chill out girl! I havn't gotten to know him as well as some of the others, but I like him a lot so far.

Katie moved in the same day I did and she is from Germany. She's really funny as well (I really like the way they explain things in English... we've decided that Americans speak lazy English and the foreign speakers all use many more words to explain things, most of which are perfectly appropriate). She is a world-champion walker and has been everywhere! When you see her and ask what she's been up to you're amazed at what all she accomplished in one day. If I ever want to go anywhere, I can ask her and she's already been there, twice! She also has a bunch of random job-ish things like handing out flyers for this yoga place in exchange for free yoga classes (I was J). BUT, the most hilarious thing about Katie is that she recently got a "real" job where she will be decorating Christmas trees all around the city! She had like 3 interviews for this position and they are really serious about their decorating styles. She can't wait to start and I just can't wait to see her trees!

Katie shares her room with two girls from Columbia who are here studying English. They don't really hang out around the apartment much. They seem really busy, but the times I do see them they are nice! Hopefully they will cook some food for us soon and be a part of the group more...

The back room has Bastian and Michael, both German. Michael is here on an internship like everyone else pretty much. He's really nice and went to church with me and Allie last week. He works kinda late every evening which is a bummer because he's super cool. He met a bunch of people at this other church that he goes to and he hangs with them a lot, too. Tomorrow is his night to cook though, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with him more! Bastian is here on working holiday like me. He's 19 and just finished his service year in Germany where he worked with Alzheimer's patients. He is living and working in Australia for a year before he starts Uni because he doesn't know what to study. He'd like to study fashion merchandising, but apparently that's expensive to study. Hearing about their college experiences makes me so annoyed that we have to pay so much in the states to go to school. It's kinda ridiculous.

So that's pretty much my house. There are apartments above and below mine and there are usually people in and out from both of those. For the most part everyone is cool... and I'll just leave it at that. I'm going to take a page out of my friend's book and not talk bad about people... or complain in my blog. :) Hope things are going well back home for everyone! I'd love to hear about it, either way!

second day on the job...

So, if my first day of work was good and easy... my second day was an almost total disaster. It was Friday night so I was expecting it to be super busy and hectic, but it really wasn't. The night before was crazy busy for a while because we were under-staffed because two people didn't show up or something. Anyway, that was the good news. Bad news, I still don't know what the heck I am doing most of the time and there are like thousands of table numbers to remember. I ended up spilling a Stella on a lady (she was super nice about it though and I said at least I didn't spill your red wine on you!), then I broke 3 glasses over the evening and the last one cut my right hand and my left arm. I also ALMOST fell up the stairs at one point, but I caught myself (yes, it's possible to fall UP the stairs). The manager mercifully let me and Allie go home at 11 after only 5 hours of work since it wasn't so busy. We ended up meeting our friends at the Cargo Bar across the harbour. We danced for a little while then (I was exhausted) we went home.

Hopefully after a day at Manly Beach my shift tonight will go smoothly... fingers crossed...

International nights, beaches, and I got a job!

SOOOOOO sorry that it has been over a week since I posted on here... it's not even like I have a good excuse like Courtney or anything, I DO have internet access at home pretty much all the time. But, there has been a lot going on lately so let me get to it.

I wish I could share all the stories but I simply do not have time to type them all here, so I'll just highlight some of the good ones. Russo and my new friend Clark moved into the apartment downstairs in the same building and now we have taken over the building. I love all of the people here. My apartment has 9 people in it and since we are all from different countries I had the idea of doing these "International Nights" where we cook food from our home country for everyone in the apartment and whoever else wants to come. Manon went first and cooked us some French food and made crepes!!! They were delicious. We ended up having 15 people in our kitchen just hanging out, drinking wine, and eating. It was exactly what I had in mind. I cooked on Monday and made fajitas because honestly, what IS American food?? Everything came from somewhere else anyway. I did look up some American foods as research and found out that while we usually think of fajitas as Mexican food, they originated in Texas. They were the obvious choice after that and they ended up being delicious. I made cupcakes and brownies for dessert. If you've looked at my facebook pics the cupcakes were very photogenic. Wednesday night Mike and Philippe cooked some food from Belgium. It was really good. And since we'd been eating so many desserts (Manon made crepes again on Sunday... with Nutella for sure, no worries) the boys made us some fruit salad and it was yummy as well. That's as far as we've gotten on International Nights but we still have German, Columbian, and and more German food to eat. It's like a trip around the world! haha

Inbetween all the international food, Russo and I went to Manly on the ferry (it was so freaking exciting!) and hired bikes for a few hours. We got lost at first, but we rode the bikes along the beach and found this really cool hole through the rocks (see photos on fb). Sadly, it started to raid so we didn't get to go to the Northhead, but we will go back. Russo, Manon, Clark, Mike, and I also went to Bondi beach to go surfing last weekend. We hired surfboards and wetsuits from this shop and my wetsuit looked like a shark had taken a bite out of it. Mike's didn't even have a zipper pull! It was pretty funny. Clark put his on backwards at first until Russo helped him out. Finally, we got in the water (which was like 14-15 degrees celsius - COLD) and my feet went numb almost instantly. Manon was a badass surfer and stood up all the time and Russo was out there with some of the larger waves (which were REALLY intimidatingly scary and they hurt when they crashed on you). As for the rest of us, we played in the smaller waves and never really surfed. We did a lot of body surfing which was awesome. I maintain that my board was too short to be good for a beginner and that it's impossible for me to stand up on feet that I can no longer feel. I'll try surfing again when it's warmer... and maybe I'll take another lesson. Allie said she'd do a surf school with me.

Allie had been hating her job and wanting to quit for a while, so we signed up to do this RSA (Responsible Serving of Alcohol) course that you have to have to work in a restaurant or bar just in case we got jobs like that. It was over 6 hours long on Tuesday and was super boring. The man just kept telling us what drunk people looked like and how to refuse to continue serving them. Good info, but 6 hours?? Anyway, it was a good thing we did the course because we now both have jobs! I went walking around on Wednesday handing out my resume like candy to everyone who would take it and finally walked into Jordon's seafood. They handed me an application to fill out and asked if I had time for an interview. I said sure and waited for a while, had my interview, and got a job as a drink runner! Basically you order drinks from the waiter, it goes to the bar where the bartenders make them, then I take the drinks to your table and serve them to you. I open bottles of wine and champagne in front of the customers (which I totally suck at, but I'll get better), pour your wine or beer into your glass for you and it's all very fancy. I feel like I'm awful, but I didn't break anything or spill anything on my first day so I guess that's good. Funny enough, Allie got a job at Jordon's too! She starts tonight. I think it's going to be really fun to work with her. The other people I met last night were good too. AND it's incredible money! minimum wage here is like 16 or 17 an hour and I think I'll make around 20. Isn't that ridiculous?! Sadly it's like the most I've ever made. But good for me so I can save some money and then TRAVEL! whoo hoo!!!

So lots more stuff has happened, but those are the major items (and the ones with corresponding pictures on fb). Hope everyone else is doing well!! I would love some mail/email/texts/messenger pigeons from y'all!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

week one.

I'm here in Australia now and I've been here for one week exactly. The first day I was here was sorta rough... I got to the YHA hostel at 8am but couldn't check in until noon so I had these two huge bags plus a daypack backpack and 4 hours to kill. I had to put my stuff in lockers and that required paying $6 and lugging my stuff up the stairs and shoving it into these lockers. I almost cried it was so frustrating/seemingly impossible to do, but I made it happen. Then I grabbed breakfast and wandered around the city. I was all by myself and it got really lonely because at that point it had been two whole days since I had held a conversation with anyone. I spent the rest of the day (after checking in) down at Sydney Harbour (I'm not misspelling it, that's how they spell it here) and the Royal Botanic Gardens. There was a party at the hostel (celebrating 100 years of hosteling) and I met some nice English guys there, Nick and Philip. I was so glad to be talking to people again! haha

The next morning, Russo found me in line for breakfast and we went to our IEP orientation together. It was long and informative. Then we went to the bank and set up stuff and just found our way around the city some more. We went to Allie's (my new friend... from TEXAS which makes me feel lame... I come all the way here to meet someone from the same place) apartment and had "mexican" food and "margaritas" with her and her roommates. It was a BLAST but we both were totally exhausted and left around 10. The next day we went to the aquarium (sorry no pictures, Russo took some though) and I came to look at my apartment to see if I liked it. Turns out it's the apartment directly below Allie's apartment. I wasn't sure if I wanted it, so I thought about it over the weekend, then moved in on Monday. After the aquarium we went to Paddy's market and the mall above it and got these much needed 15 minute massages. I'm telling you, my shoulders were killing me from lugging all my crap around.

That evening we went and got dinner down at Sydney Harbour to see it at night all lit up. The food wasn't that great, but it was nice to sit by the water. We were talking and I was kinda upset about not knowing my purpose here. I feel very selfish and listless and like I left a place where I was sure about what I was doing (Austin). Russo did a great job of calming me down and now I feel way better because I've made some friends and found a place and I'm working toward figuring out why I am here. After dinner we came back to the hostel and met up with Nick and Philip and went to this club down at Darling Harbour. It was super fun and I like those guys a lot. Too bad I didn't get their last names or any other info so we could be facebook friends. :(

Saturday we went to the grocery store since we'd been eating out so much and the hostel has a kitchen. Then we sat down and made some plans about what we want to do in Sydney and then Allie called me! It was my first random call from a friend here in Oz and it made me so very happy. We met up with her and one of her roomies, Victoria, and went to Paddington Fair market on Oxford St. and The Rocks market down by Sydney Harbour. It was so much fun! We also sat and had a beer at The Rocks until Russo and I had to leave to go to the Sydney Swans (Aussie Rules Football) game. It was fun too! We shared an Aussie dog and a beer and learned all the rules and such for the game. It's very complicated but super fun. I met this guy, Jonas, who was sitting next to me at the game and he invited us to his housewarming party the next night. He is from Sweden and is studying at the University of Sydney. So, Sunday I went to church at Hillsong church with Allie and her housemate Paul which was totally fun. Very different from what I was expecting, but still a good message. We are going back next week. Then we went shopping at Paddy's market again (Allie really wanted this hat...) and then hung out for the rest of the day until that housewarming party. Russo went with me and it was SO much fun. It was like a regular house party so it really felt like I live here. We mostly hung out in the backyard and it was freezing that night so there was a fire in a trash can... probably not the safest thing but it was warm. We met all sorts of people, mostly Swedish people, and they were so interesting! One guy asked me if I wanted to go take a walk (he was really cool), but it made me nervous so I pretended like I didn't know what he meant and just said something lame about liking the fire. I don't even remember how I played that off, but then the dude left the party so I was glad I didn't go with him anywhere...at night...in a new city...yeah.

Monday I moved into my apartment!! I share my room with Manon from France and she is soooo cool! She's 20 and here on an internship with an NGO working for human rights. After Australia she's going to Argentina for another internship for the same thing I think. She's awesome. My other housemates are cool too! I'm the only native English speaker, so they were all super excited that I moved in so I could help them all with their English. Mostly they are great with it so they don't need help anyway.

After moving in, Russo and I went to Bondi Beach and checked it out. The water was ICE cold so I did not get more than a foot in. It was also only like 19 outside (Celsius, it still cracks me up) so it was pretty chilly with the breeze. We walked around, took pictures, and shopped a bit. Once we got back I went to the grocery store with Allie which was hilarious. It was an Asian market and all the food was crazy and in all sorts of other languages. I got some stuff that I can live on for now. I need to go to Coles, the other grocery store, soon to get some more basic, Americanish food.

Tuesday was amazing. Russo and I had booked a trip to go to the Blue Mountains for the day so we went and I SAW KANGAROOS!!!!!!! It was a mom, a baby (11 months), and another mom with a joey in her pouch. I could not have been happier. They are my new favorite animal. Then we went and had a great cup of coffee in the town and headed up to the mountains. We bush walked around for a few hours, had lunch, bush walked some more and then rode the steepest railway in the world back up to the bus. The pictures describe it better, so I'll post those to facebook soon. That night we went and had chinese food with my housemates and checked out the rest of the building. We met all the neighbors (up and down - I'm on the middle floor) and hung out. My apartment isn't laid out very well and does not encourage hanging out as much as the top floor does, so we all ended up there. Then I went to bed because I was exhausted.

And that brings us to today! I slept in (to 8:30), did nothing but look online at facebook, gmail, and such all morning and finally got out of the house around 1:30. Russo and I walked down to Darling Harbour to check out a place I might work since one of the girls upstairs is about to leave. Now I'm supposed to be looking for a job, but I figured you good people deserved an update since I had the time... ;)

OH! and one more thing! I have a phone here and it's free (for me) for you to call and text me!!! I can also call and text back, but that's not so free for me (but I will do it since I love you). So here's what you do... To call/text me this is my number: 0011 61 406 198 853 that includes all the country codes and everything... so call me or text me!!! It would make my day.

I love you all and miss you!!! I will write again soon (maybe). Until then, I'd love some emails or letters or anything letting me know how your life is going. I'm not exactly homesick... but I'm friendsick and I miss you awesome people!

It's so close now!

So I leave in 4 days and I am really ridiculously excited. I took the GRE on Wednesday (did well) and now all I have to do is get ready for my trip! My to-do list is long and as I cross things off, I keep thinking of more to add! The items that are biggies like packing and working on my resume are not getting done because they are the least fun. It's pretty much crunch-time now though, so I'm sure I'll get to those soon...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I'm going to miss Austin and everyone I love here in Texas. I know y'all will have a lot going on in your lives, but just know that I'll be missing you and would really appreciate a letter or package or anything. If you have skype, my name is shalynelise and I'd love to hear from you. I think I should have reasonable access to the internet and I will be sure to post pictures and stories about what is going on.

Now I better get back to that horribly long list of stuff to get done...

Before I go...

I wanted to set up a blog before I leave on my glorious adventure mostly so I won't forget to do it, and because I'm super excited about my trip! I feel sorta silly writing one of these things about myself and my life because I don't honestly feel like anything that happens in my life is exciting enough for other people to care about, but that is all soon to change! I have exactly 33 days until I leave and soooooo much to get done in that time.

Before I go I am taking the GRE so that once I get back I can work on getting into grad school. Right now I'm planning on becoming an Occupational Therapist and UNC is my goal. I'm setting this blog up right now instead of studying... I just can NOT focus tonight! Now that I have a real goal hopefully studying will be easier since it has a purpose. Hopefully. So far that has not been the story.

But this blog is about Australia! I do have some information to share with you. My mailing address while I'm away will be:

Shalyn Elise SHANKS

c/o IEP, Locked Bag 5065

Sydney South

NSW 1235

Australia

The IEP office in Sydney will hold my mail for me or forward it to wherever I am. The last name underlining business is just so they don't confuse anything, same with adding the middle name. I will be there starting August 26 (even though I leave on the 24... ahh traveling for a day straight and losing a day!), so feel free to write me as much snail-mail as you'd like! I love it!!!

I will keep you updated on everything else before I leave and once I get over there. This will be the place to find out where I am, what I'm doing for a job, what I'm doing for fun, and who I'm meeting! Fingers crossed that things start to get exciting...