I did it! I survived Sydney and the big 3-0! I had an amazing time and owe eons of gratitude to the lovely Sam Boongum and her wonderful boyfriend, Justin. I've never experience such hospitality! Definitely recommend Chez Boongum to prospective Sydney Vacationers.
June 8, 2017- Day of the Dead: 29 years old
First though, I need to discuss the day prior to 30. I had a little celebration with my students at school. I'm the recipient of numerous drawings, cards, and chocolates. Even though they got a little bit hectic at the end of the day, I felt very lucky to be celebrated by students that I've only known for 3 weeks.
Following that somewhat wild afternoon, I called and Uber to take me from the school to another school for an informal interview. This informal chat went well. I wasn't to have prepared anything as it was informal, but my thought process was when is any discussion about your potential career informal? I brought a portfolio of exemplars for good measure. I have been recommended for a formal interview and demonstration lesson (intense, huh?) on Friday.
Oh, apparently this is one of the top and most prestigious schools in the country!
Oh and it would be teaching secondary sciences.
Oh and it's a private, wealthy school that could potentially put me in a good position to be sponsored for a second visa should I wish to extend my stay. I've learned through Sam it a difficult/expensive process to extend a Visa.
Fingers crossed for me!! I think my first impression went over well! The topic of my lesson is definitely more intense then Grade 10 science back home. Providing evidence for evolution including DNA similarities of cellular organelles. I've a little prep to do haha.
Anyways, I leave the interview feeling pretty happy and make my way home to finish packing and head out for some drinks with my new Canadian, teacher friends Amber and Robyn. We went to a cool little pub called, "Day of the Dead St. Kilda." Well, Kate had a few drinks and decided to arm wrestle the bartender. This led to his (preinjured) shoulder popping out of the socket and he had to go to the hospital. Oops... is that not how you make friends? I had a great time with the girls and the bar was a really funky and fun. There was an awesome young performer who did really unusual mash ups including a TLC/Ed Sheeran performance that I was really into.
June 9, 2017- Day of Departure: 30 years old
So I wake up an hour after I had planned on and have to call an Uber to catch my skybus to the airport.
Katelyn does not feel good at this time. I hadn't quite finished packing so I haphazardly threw some crap in my bag and hopped in my Uber, who thankfully did not talk to me.
Five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I get to the airport- which is devastatingly far away- only to find out my flight is delayed by two hours.
So I check in and go grab a beer (hair of the dog?) and grab some brekkie in a packed pub in my terminal. Here, I met an interesting, older, Tassie man who told me of his travels to a number of countries that I can't remember. He actually was going to be traveling to Canada 🇨🇦 in July!
We cheers-ed, he wished me a happy birthday, and we went our separate ways.
Following this, I spend a long drawn out 2 hours waiting for my gate to be announced and half sleeping on my purse like the champion that I am. After a small, shitty bit of Mcdonalds, I'm finally able to board my plane. My seat wont recline, so I slept for an hour and twenty minutes with perfect posture.
I arrive in Sydney far too soon.
I wasn't done napping yet.
I leave the plane and text Sam that I've arrived. I quickly followed that up with a specialty juice from the airport food court. I then walked away from the airport to save a 5$ Uber surcharge. As I'm walking aimlessly, a Chinese lady asks me for directions. I tell her that I can't help her, yet she persists. So we walk together toward what appears to be a main road.
The Sydney weather is SO much warmer than Melbourne. Melbourne gets chilly and with that moisture in the air, it feels colder than it is.
Anyways, I'm collected by an Uber and pull into Sams apartment a short time later. So weird! Two small town girls meeting across the globe.
I mentioned Sam was a phenomenal host right?
After a quick shower, Sam calls an Uber and takes me to the most iconic spot in Sydney. The Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
Is this real life?
We meet up with Justin and their friend Tianna and indulge in some cocktails under heated umbrellas in the pouring rain, all the while, taking in a light show called vivid.
Oh and my hair, which was straightened, is at its pre-fro stage.
Cocktails are so expensive! Eighty dollars for a round of 4! They were delicious.
We followed up this by going to a German bar in the Quay. We shared a couple tubes of beer and some big German sausage platter, complete with Pork Knuckle. The bar had this hip groups of old dudes that belted out some classic hits as well as some Justin Bieber. Sam and Tianna became part of the show. Tianna rang a bell and Sam got to honk a way on a big tuba thing. Both did an outstanding job. I won't even mention Justin claim to fame that night.
Me, I slowly got fro-ier and "happier" as the night went on.
Tianna then found a door near the ladies room where you could hear the classic bass of the club scene. So we headed next door to a club called, "Argyle."
Luckily, you didn't have to be wearing argyle to enter. We danced, drank, and laughed into the early hours of the morning.
A successful 30th birthday, I'd say.
June 10, 2017- Day of Bouncing Back: 30 years and 1 day old
Woke up around 9:30(?) on a very comfortable couch. We shower and head to breakfast.
Oh, yeah, you can see the ocean from Sam and Justin's apartment, which makes up for the fact you have to climb a million stairs to get there.
After a 5 minute walk, we decided on a nice, little breakfast place near Coogee Beach. We shared teaching and traveling stories, while the rain wore itself out.
Justin then had some laps to swim at a pool located near Bondi beach. Icebergs*****
Sam and I take on a coastal walk through a few beaches to get to the iconic Bondi Beach. Surreal to say the least.
I have more photos hidden in Snap Story videos that I'm going to montage together after notable increments of time.
We stopped at Bondi Ink to look at possible tattoos that I could get to commemorate hitting a milestone birthday in a highly sought after international destination. The woman gave us some $20 vouchers and I made the decision to return the following day. Was I chickening out? I didn't "feel great."
So we grabbed the vouchers and met Justin for drinks at a cool little place called, "Bucket List."
We return to the apartment and I'm treated to the gourmet stylings of this lovely couple for dinner. Justin then pisses off to make some money Ubering around Sydney for the evening, leaving Sam and I unsupervised for a night out. We spent our night split between two bars just a stones throw from her place.
Oh, Sam drove me back to the apartment! Two small town Canadian girls cruising the streets of Sydney on a Saturday. Despite a navigational error (that's on me,) and a couple accidental windshield wiper turn ons, we made it unscathed.
The first place we chatted on the patio and enjoyed some beers. After making a quick exit to avoid some intoxicated, fist bumping enthusiasts, we made our way to the rooftop patio at the Coogee Pavilion.
This place was bumping. We cut laps like Olympic marathoners in order to find a seat. People are really drunk and feeling each other up enjoying themselves at this place. My favorite part was when we had to move downstairs and found a large basket swing (is that what you call them?) to sit in together.
Word to the wise, it's a great way to make friends. We got pushed and rocked by so many strangers.
There was a hilarious, tipsy Australian girl who chatted us up. We knew we liked her after she introduced her friend by saying,
"This is my friend. He really hates being my friend."
We also got to bear witness to some hilariously dressed people that had come from a 90s party. Our favorite was a mullet-donning, cellphone belt clip-wearing fella that we affectionately called, "Wisconsin," due to the tshirt he was wearing. It was yellow. It had pictures of cartoon cats and dogs on it and had, "Wisconsin" written largely above a second bout of text that said, "Party Animal."
He actually pulled it off some how. He attempted to share our swing the subtle charade movements and backing his big, old, juicy butt at us. No words. Nonetheless, we were surprisingly impressed.
We capped the night off by dodging some creeps and running into a group of European expats. Two British, two Irish, and a German.
I talked to the one Brit for a while. Him and his friend were amazing dancers and I'd been mesmerized by them for a while.
Amazing dancers from London who were in Melbourne studying medicine and neuroscience. Cool.
Oh, we actually capped the night off by getting crummy "loaded" gravy fries at McDonalds. Really quite disappointing.
We saw many familiar pub faces at McDonalds.
June 11, 2017- Day of Reckoning: 30 years and 2 days old
I wake up in Sam's roommate's bed, who was kind enough to let me stay in her room while she was away for the weekend.
I'm rested?
Again, I'm treated to a wonderful meal by Sam and Justin. Bacon and eggs :)
We then treated some rainbow lorikeets to a meal of honey on their patio.
We then made our way to the Harbour to catch a ferry to Manly Beach. Highly recommend. Ten dollar return trip. The beach is gorgeous, there's loads of surfers, and a number of cool restaurants and shops to check out.
We enjoyed some lunch at an Italian restaurant called Critinis, I think, at Justin's heavy recommendation.
I've never seen a restaurant with a menu that size. I took me forever to decide.
Ended up getting 4-cheese gnocchi. Every bite was so sinfully good. I'm not kidding. So rich and decadent.
I can still taste it. It's currently made itself at home against my waistband.
Damn 30 year old metabolism
Delicious. We made our way down the beach and enjoyed the sights. Please remember, it is winter here.
Every time I catch myself whining about the cold, I look at the above picture.
Sam and I went for one last coastal walk. This is where I realized the constellations are different here. You can't see the North Star! Whoooaaaaa. There's a whole slough of new ones that I need to check out. That, coupled with the beauty of the Sydney coast line, is enough to send a small town prairie girl into a constant state of shock and awe.
I'd planned on getting a small flash tattoo, but the shop had the incorrect hours posted online, so that didn't happen.. yet. A bare canvas for now.
Seeing as I had to fly out early (7 am,) we kept it pretty tame and just had dinner at a cute little Thai restaurant in Coogee. A successful trip; such an understatement.
What a way to enter my dirty thirties!!
June 11, 2017- The Day of the Return to Reality: 30 years and 3 days old.
The alarm goes off at 5:00 am. I shove my possessions carelessly into my backpack, eat some candy, and put in my activewear to make my journey back.
My ever-so-generous hosts graciously offered to drive me to the airport. I really can't thank them enough!
June 12, 2017- The Day of Resurrection: 30 years and 4 days old.
Here, I sit, a small town girl, on a bus to teach a grade six class in Melbourne, Australia.
This is my reality right now.
Talk about a shake up.
