It's Christmas Time in the Sydney

I’m going to usurp all the belated posts that I haven’t had time to finish (I’ve been working on a slightly different job at the call centre taking calls from people needing toy deliveries by Christmas, which was a lot better than calling out to charities but ends after Christmas so I wanted to rack up as many hours as possible, hence the absence of blog posts) and ramble a bit about the fun Christmas stuff around the city. I don’t have many pics, just because I saw it all on the fly, but still fun.

1.       Christmas trees and decorations: a giant tree in Martin Place (here’s another of the 1Cover pics to demonstrate the size and scope of this behemoth), a super-tacky neon tree in Darling Harbour (which is a rather over-the-top place anyway), a santa climbing up the side of a building (also in Darling Harbour) and wreaths and décor in most stores, plus red and green streamers and puffy baubles on a lot of the buses!

2.       Shop windows at the downtown mall: animatronic animals in different outfits (most of them rabbits, dogs, and sheep, which I thought rather ironic) singing along to different songs, depending on the window, which also had the lyrics posted around. Not that unusual really, but there were a lot of different windows and they were pretty elaborate.

3.       Random carolers:  a small group were doing cool a capella arrangements outside the Queen Victoria Building; a small jazz band (saxes and French horns) played tunes inside Central Station; a lone saxophonist oozing jazzy carols outside the Broadway Mall; a lone trumpeter behind the Christmas tree in Martin Place supplying an accidental background to one of our 1Cover morning concerts; various other Christmas-themed busking around town…

4.       Lots of Santa-dressed people: girls and guys in these thin hats that look like the summer equivalent of furry Santa hats. The best dressed prize goes to a guy in full-on Santa costume chilling at an intersection on George Street in a bright red, sleigh-styled motorcycle.

5.       Christmas carols playing in all the stores: not particularly unusual, although once I heard an Aussie one, which made me happy. It was something like “come down for a Christmas in the sun” and talked about a  BBQ and how “Daddy’s got a cold one [a beer]” and it’s all good fun.

I also had my first office Christmas party at a venue other than the normal office (thus excluding the Earth Systems one in 2010, as fun as that was): there were a lot of people there, all dressed up (but not in Christmas attire), and they gave out prizes to the best employees and supervisors. Most of them I didn’t know, but I visited with a lot of people from my two teams (outbound and inbound calls) and chatted with Kayleigh while enjoying lots of free champagne and shishkababs (barbecued shrimp and chicken, which I devoured because I had come straight from the last 1Cover sing and I had forgotten to eat much beforehand). Here’s a pic of me and Kayleigh (and some of her inbound buddies that I don’t know).

I also went to Coogee Carols, which was a free outdoor show alongside the Coogee Beach (my favourite and most conveniently-located beach). It showcased local TV celebrities, musical theatre stars, and ordinary locals singing a range of Christmas carols over a 2-hour show (that’s A LOT of carols, if you think about it, and they didn’t repeat anything). Most of the show was really good, after a few cheesy versions of children’s songs at the beginning, though a lot of it was very pop-induced and some notes were drawn out a bit more than I would have done normally. Highlights included a musical theatre bloke who did a tap dance halfway through Deck the Halls,  another guy who was starring in Priscilla, the musical, who sang a lovely song that I didn’t know called the North Wind (there were a few odd ones, as well as some traditionals that aren’t common in America, like Mary’s Boy Child and Once in Royal David’s City). There was also a very well-sung All I Want For Christmas Is You, which reminded me of Love Actually (this girl was older than 10, though, but probably not older than me), and a Little Drummer Boy that involved a baby and a lot of audience participation on the “patapans.”

The funniest thing, though, was the number of people that forgot or mixed up the verses in the songs. Now, I understand that not everyone obsessively knows as many words as I do, but lots of them were holding lyrics and still got confused! An entire “Kings” verse was left out, so we went straight from frankincense to “Glorious now,” which wasn’t too bad since the myrrh verse is so depressing (“sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying”) but it was funny to see the looks on the other two kings’ faces when the third one launched into the finale a verse too early. The 11^th day of Christmas simply didn’t exist (that song was particularly weird for me, since I had sung the 1Cover version so many times and kept forgetting the original lyrics). But still it was a lot of fun, and all the locals were picnicking in the grass, so that as the evening progressed, the voices grew more boisterous and people actually started singing along (we were supposed to anyway, but not many were). At the end of the show they had a fireworks display right over the beach, which was a fun surprise. Definitely a highlight of the season.

I’ll be back soon with more posts about various earlier adventures (the Zoo, my birthday, and Christmas Day itself). Merry Christmas for now!  

A 1 of a Kind Holiday Job

I looked up “Christmas carols” on Gumtree, the Australian version of Craigslist, and found an advert for singing “1Cover Christmas Carols,” which was intriguing. Apparently they will pay you AU$50 an hour to sing Christmas carols in downtown Sydney during peak times on Thursdays while wearing lycra suits advertising 1Cover Travel Insurance. For example:

And here’s a shot from the morning session.

But the suits and the setting are just one part of the hilarity. To be clear, these are not normal Christmas carols, they’ve all been rewritten to be about having accidents and travel woes – but 1Cover saves the day! From 8-9 in the morning and 5-6 in the evening (while standing outside the busiest mall during the busiest shopping day of the week, Thursday) we sang these four songs over and over and over again:

1.       Jingle Sells: Dashing through the snow, on my skiing holiday, off the cliff I go, screaming all the way! Left arm’s in a sling, both legs plastered tight, what a relief it was to ring 1Cover on that night! (This one had a weird tune that went in and out of different octaves, which was funky)

2.       Deck the Halls: Tis the season to be traveling, falalalala lalalala. Stay 5 star or go backpacking, falalalala lalalala. Before you go give us a call, falalalalalalalala. Just in case you have a fall, falalalala lalalalaaaaaa

3.       1Cover is On to it Right Now: No need to stress out, no need to cry, when you land in New  York but your bag’s in Shanghai, 1Cover is on to it – right now! (The rhythm at the end of this one took a bit of getting used to)

4.       12 Days of 1Cover: On the twelfth day of holidays Bad Karma gave to me: 12 days of hell, 11 car pile-up, 10 fingers stealing, 9 spider bites, 8 dodgy meals, 7 scary cyclones [with a dramatic pause for effect], 6 stolen cards, 5 broken ribs! 4 cancelled tickets, 3 puking kids, 2 lost bags, but 1Cover looked after meeeeeee! (Our least favourite one, because it was kind of high-pitched and so hard to do breath control)

It was pretty ridiculous, but also fun, and we had someone filming us for part of it, so there’s at least one youtube clip as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33bAT9YTXPU (those of you on facebook can see more of the pics by visiting the 1Cover page). We made quite a spectacle, and lots of passersby stopped to laugh and take pics. Sometimes people edged in next to us and awkwardly had their picture taken while we were singing. Once an old lady tried to give us some change, but we waved her off because it was a commercial endeavor, after all.

Here’s a last pic of all of us posing with the big cut-out that we had next to us while singing (they’re really into the lycra onesies, their main ad campaign). 

Definitely one of the weirder jobs I’ve done!

The Ultimo Roomshare

A bit of a pun, but the suburb is called Ultimo, so there you go. Just to be confusing, Sydney is subdivided into tons of little neighbourhoods, called suburbs, which you put on your mailing address instead of Sydney even though some of them are only a few minutes’ walk apart. 

The apartment is located in a small building around a courtyard formed by the other apartment complexes with lots of trees and ferny things (which is pleasant and there are some loud birds that live nearby). Inside is nice and clean but it’s not air-conditioned, which was a bummer the first few days I was there when it was over 30 degrees (that’s like 90 in Fahrenheit) and pretty stifling. There’s a small kitchen with an additional fridge and shelf space to support the food of the 12 or so people sharing the space. There’s a large living room, a small balcony, and at least 3 bathrooms between the two levels (one’s in my room, which I share with three other girls). The bunkroom itself is small, but there’s a drawer and some closet space and it’s not any worse than a hostel room, plus there’s the ensuite bathroom and the whole downstairs (and kitchen!). Internet is also pretty good, so no complaints there. 

As for my fellow housemates, here’s the rundown:

Nick – from Taiwan, has a habit of playing his iphone club music and singing along to it in the shower, and is always cooking some kind of meat…he also plays this one Chinese song over and over again, which I think is from some sort of TV show but I’m not sure

Anne and Jenny – also from Taiwan, they live in my room, but I hardly ever see them because they study all day and come home late (I hear them occasionally in the morning or when they come in at night)

Daniel – from Taiwan (I think there’s a pattern here) who is around the apartment more than the rest and always offering me various Taiwanese food items and wanting to make sure I know that they’re especially from Taiwan (so far I’ve tried noodle soup, funky puffy cookies, and veggie dumplings, and no complaints about anything!)

Antoine – French chef who is always out late cooking at a super fancy restaurant downtown near the Opera House

Robin – French bartender, I don’t know if he’s working yet or not, the Frenchies are traveling together

Veronika – also from Taiwan (I think) with dyed red hair, she hangs out on the couches a lot and is trying to find a job

[Ketsh] – I have no idea how to spell his name or even if I’ve got the right syllables, but he’s Japanese and for a while thought that I was from Canada (I was introduced to a few people my first day, but others I only met later on)

Angel – also from Taiwan and moved in to my room on the second week, she already knew Daniel from somewhere but doesn’t speak very good English so I haven’t talked with her that much

There’s also two other guys, one of them is Anne’s dad and the other one is another student, but I can’t keep track of their names and feel bad asking them at this late stage (we’ve got a list of names on the wall, but it doesn’t help that some of them are written in characters!)

Anyway so lots of Asian influence, as you can tell, which is interesting, and makes sense because of the location right near one of the schools and Chinatown in Darling Harbour. I am learning a bit about Taiwanese cooking, and would love the chance to practice my bad French (I think I won’t have too much luck trying to learn Chinese) but the Frenchmen are never about. Everyone’s very nice though and not too loud, which is good for me, and they’re hardly ever around it seems so I haven’t had any trouble cooking during the day or anything, which is good.

In other news, more updates on jobs coming soon…

Any Way You Want It, That's the Way You Knead It

(That was just for you, Kaitlin). But seriously, I am very proud of myself for my first challah-making experience! I made a full amount of dough, which is like 8 cups of flour and 4 eggs, which meant that the actual kneading took a lot of effort (I have new appreciation for arm and wrist muscles). But I only baked half of the dough and froze the rest, so that I can enjoy fresh-baked bread again. Check out the masterpiece (except next time I think I’ll braid it a bit more enthusiastically so it’s not quite as lumpy).

That week was pretty good for food at any rate, because I moved into a roomshare (more on that to follow) and so I could spread out my stuff a bit more, buy some things to store in bulk, and most importantly use the oven (hence the challah, and I’ve also been enjoying roasting vegetables). I’m a bit behind on posts, so this is from the week of the 3^rd, but I’m working on getting some more tidbits out asap.

1.       Broccoli

2.       Flour

3.       Butter

4.       Eggs

5.       Milk

6.       Leeks (on sale!)

7.       Sugar snap peas (so exciting!)

8.       Kiwis (which will ripen in 2 weeks probably lol)

9.       Baking powder

10.   Coconut milk (big plans for this)

11.   Cucumber

12.   Potatoes

13.   Cherries (couldn’t resist, and very tasty)

14.   Bananas

15.   Yeast (had to get instant dry, which wasn’t actually what I wanted but the other yeast packets were so expensive and so tiny, so hopefully it will work okay)

16.   More trail mix (on sale, so that should last for a while)

17.   Honey (for the challah and tea)

18.   Pasta (finally had to buy some more)

19.   Oatmeal

20.   Peanut butter (finished up the others in the sauce, see below)

21.   Tiny can of tuna (on sale and lemon pepper flavoured, which sounded good)

22.   Chick peas

No more acquisitions, since I finally moved out of the hostel.

I made my meal for the week on Sunday night, finishing up a lot of my excess peanut butter in a carrot/potato/spinach/onion peanut sauce combination, stepping it up a notch with the coconut milk (it was really good and lasted for about six dinners, usually between call centre shifts). I made my first use of the oven (and the baking sheet and measuring cups/tsps I had to buy to supply the kitchen) by baking biscuits, which came out good except the oven was a little strong on the bottoms, so I’ll have to work on that.

I also roasted broccoli and made my trademark Dijon/parmesan coated leeks, which is out of the Redwall cookbook and is very tasty.

I lucked out as I was walking down George St and saw some frozen yoghurt tasters. Even better, it was the grand opening of this new froyo store, and they were serving full froyo with 3 toppings for just $2.50! Needless to say, I stood in line for a bit and was rewarded with a biscotti and green tea froyo with strawberry/passionfruit/honeycomb toppings! Score!

I Don't Hate Snakes, I Looooove Snakes!

So I don’t know if/when I’ll be helping them out again, but for two weekends I went up north to help out Anthony, one of the reptile guys at the Travel Expo, with his animal shows. He actually has a bunch of different animals (not just reptiles) and does freelance animal talks for festivals, kids’ fairs, birthday parties, and school events. He’s apparently got a lot of people who do shows for him, although I don’t know if I will make it to that stage, haha, especially since I’m not planning on being in Sydney for that much longer. 

But anyway, the first trip took me up two hours north of Sydney, after some confusion on the train where I almost got on the wrong one and missed the right one because they were both leaving at the same time, but only one of them went to the right place on the weekend (yes, it was confusing). I made it there and Anthony drove us out to this park in Hornsby that was having a festival to celebrate becoming an official national park (the community petitioned to get it upgraded, which is cool). We set up a fold out tent canopy, and stored the animals there, and then Anthony started his loud speaker and the kids flocked around.

His talk reminded me of some of the animal shows I saw when I was little at the library or at school. He brought each animal out in turn, telling the kids about it and why it was good to have around, and most of them we could let the kids touch (I helped carry around the big python, but otherwise I was just watching and keeping the kids from crossing the rope around the tent). We had a tawny frogmouth (so cute and funky-looking!), a possum (very sleepy and cuddled inside a makeshift leaf nest), a treefrog that was 30 years old and about the size of a saucer (super cute), a goanna named Joanna, a diamond python named Precious, and a fruit bat named Annie (no one could touch the fruit bat, though)! He also brought out a fox pelt and told the kids about how he had saved the tawny frogmouth from the fox and how foxes shouldn’t be around in Australia. The whole tone of the talk was about protecting the animals from cats and foxes, providing habitat for them in their gardens (all of them were from the Sydney area), and teaching other people to like them by saying “I don’t hate snakes, I love snakes!” (this mantra was repeated many times for a lot of the animals and usually followed an anecdote about someone who wanted to chop down a tree that housed a possum, or was using pesticides that harm frogs, etc). He also stressed how happy he was to see the kids outside and not inside “watching a stupid DVD!” (which you have to say with a really strong Aussie accent). Anyway so that was fun and I got to play with the snake a bit and wind it around the upper spokes of the tent so it could explore.

Just to be confusing, here’s a picture of me from the expo after-party with an olive python and Rex, the guy who works at a reptile centre in Alice Springs.

The second time I went to a wildlife show run by Tom, one of Anthony’s workers. We went to a kids’ “fate” (spelling?) which is apparently like a school fair to fund school activities or something. There were lots of stalls with food you could buy and garage sale-style tables of used clothes and toys, as well as a jumping castle thing – and us in our tent. We had a few different animals than the last time, and I helped pass around more of them. First we had a blue-tongued skink, which was chilled out and fun because when its tongue flicked out it was like a big blue flower petal, and the skink gave lots of the kids little lizard kisses. Then one of the kids found a wild skink with a banged-up nose, and I ended up sticking it in my backpack for us to take back to Anthony’s place. We didn’t want it to interact with the show skink, just in case it had any diseases that could infect the captive one. I didn’t really mind having a skink in my backpack, it just made it hard to get to the rest of my stuff, including my camera, so I didn’t get any pics of anything.

We had the possum again, but this time it was a bit too inquisitive and started climbing out of its bowl of branches as I was showing it to the kids so then Tom took it back to keep it under control. No bat, but we had the ancient tree frog, the goanna, and the tawny frogmouth again, and a different type of python. This time it was a black-headed python which is just as it sounds, with a big black head but bronze everywhere else. Its name was Princess and I got to drape it over a few of the kids for them to hold, as well as wearing it looped around me for a while, which was fun. 

And we had a crocodile! He was pretty small, only about a metre long, but thick around and Tom said he was really strong and could thrash a lot. He let me hold him briefly, with one hand clamped around his head/neck (his jaws were taped shut, so no worries there) and the other at his tail. He was very well-behaved when I was holding him, and I was annoyed that the skink in my bag kept me from accessing my camera (well, holding the crocodile also made that difficult). Maybe I can get a pic next time.

We swung by Anthony’s place on the way back to the train station and he showed me some of the animal pens that he was finishing building where he had a bunch more snakes, bats, possums, and tawny frogmouths. The house was in a newly cleared area up a hill in the rainforest (subtropical, like what I saw in the Blue Mountains) and it was so pretty around there. I heard a bird with a very clear tone, and he said it was a Bell Mynah, which made sense. It was cool helping them out and learning about the animals and the presentations, and I hope I can do something again with them soon.