Well, let's see. As previously mentioned, I am staying at my friend Kristin's house (we were fellow Guatemalan language students back in Xela.) She grew up in a suburb North of Sydney called Mona Vale and has just recently returned from her own extended overseas experience. We have spent a considerable amount of our time simply hanging out and chatting, eating, laughing...and chatting. It's been great. She is not working right now, so we are essentially both on "holiday." Other than showing me around her stomping grounds (downtown Mona Vale, the beach, both about a 15 minute walk away), Kristen has taken me to the nearby touristy area of Manly, where we sat on the beach, had Fish & Chips for lunch, and enjoyed people watching.
We went into Sydney proper last Thursday via bus/ferry and visited many of the stereotypical sites (Walked out on the Harbor Bridge, by the Opera House, through the Botanical Gardens, visited the Sydney Christmas tree, Pitt Street Mall, Darling Harbour, the Conservatorium- where Kristin attended "Uni"-you get the idea). Later that day we met up with a student from Peru (Marco), whom Kristin met through a language exchange, and all three of us spent some time chatting in Spanish and then English (my Spanish is rusty!). We have some tentative plans to give salsa dancing in the city a try this weekend. All in all, I am so happy to be here and very grateful for the hospitality of Kristin and her family. It is just the environment I need to be in right now.
This weekend we went camping with a group of Kristin's friends. We drove up to Myall Lakes National Park, about 3 1/2 hours away. Half of the group went up earlier in the week and one of the guys owns a little speed boat. We arrived way after dark and met him at the dock to have us and our stuff zipped across the lake to a campground area where no one but our group was staying. It was wonderful. We were camping in high style and basically just hung about on Saturday, swimming, eating, reading, napping. It was fun to meet Kristin's friends, many of whom she attended both primary school and high school with. I caught a quick glimpse of a baby Dingo in the morning (aparently they will sometimes drag coolers (aka in Aussie-"Esquis") into the bush
and eat all the food) and we had a small Goanna (similar in looks to an iguana, but not quite) hanging around after smelling the eggs we had for breakfast. It was a beautiful area and fun to get out into the "bush" even if in luxury.
The cicadas here are everywhere and so loud, so much so that I almost stopped hearing them over the weekend. On the camping trip I made a comment to this effect and one of the girls along said the noise was one she had always associated with Christmas time. It is a noise I associate with the jungle... We returned Sunday with plans to make another few excursions of the sort over the approaching summer holiday. (The school year, just like the seasons are backwards here, which makes total sense, but was not something I had thought about.)
I am constantly reminding myself that it is December and am enjoying the month (and, by extension, the Christmas season) so much more than I often do. The longer days, warmer temperatures, approaching summer holidays, and layed-back attitude seems more appropriate for the holiday season. Plus, I am enjoying discovering subtle differences in the way of life while still starting to feel a bit at home. For not being busy, time is still slipping by quite easily and I assume it will continue to do so.
Well, let's see. As previously mentioned, I am staying at my friend Kristin's house (we were fellow Guatemalan language students back in Xela.) She grew up in a suburb North of Sydney called Mona Vale and has just recently returned from her own extended overseas experience. We have spent a considerable amount of our time simply hanging out and chatting, eating, laughing...and chatting. It's been great. She is not working right now, so we are essentially both on "holiday." Other than showing me around her stomping grounds (downtown Mona Vale, the beach, both about a 15 minute walk away), Kristen has taken me to the nearby touristy area of Manly, where we sat on the beach, had Fish & Chips for lunch, and enjoyed people watching.
We went into Sydney proper last Thursday via bus/ferry and visited many of the stereotypical sites (Walked out on the Harbor Bridge, by the Opera House, through the Botanical Gardens, visited the Sydney Christmas tree, Pitt Street Mall, Darling Harbour, the Conservatorium- where Kristin attended "Uni"-you get the idea). Later that day we met up with a student from Peru (Marco), whom Kristin met through a language exchange, and all three of us spent some time chatting in Spanish and then English (my Spanish is rusty!). We have some tentative plans to give salsa dancing in the city a try this weekend. All in all, I am so happy to be here and very grateful for the hospitality of Kristin and her family. It is just the environment I need to be in right now.
This weekend we went camping with a group of Kristin's friends. We drove up to Myall Lakes National Park, about 3 1/2 hours away. Half of the group went up earlier in the week and one of the guys owns a little speed boat. We arrived way after dark and met him at the dock to have us and our stuff zipped across the lake to a campground area where no one but our group was staying. It was wonderful. We were camping in high style and basically just hung about on Saturday, swimming, eating, reading, napping. It was fun to meet Kristin's friends, many of whom she attended both primary school and high school with. I caught a quick glimpse of a baby Dingo in the morning (aparently they will sometimes drag coolers (aka in Aussie-"Esquis") into the bush
and eat all the food) and we had a small Goanna (similar in looks to an iguana, but not quite) hanging around after smelling the eggs we had for breakfast. It was a beautiful area and fun to get out into the "bush" even if in luxury.
The cicadas here are everywhere and so loud, so much so that I almost stopped hearing them over the weekend. On the camping trip I made a comment to this effect and one of the girls along said the noise was one she had always associated with Christmas time. It is a noise I associate with the jungle... We returned Sunday with plans to make another few excursions of the sort over the approaching summer holiday. (The school year, just like the seasons are backwards here, which makes total sense, but was not something I had thought about.)
I am constantly reminding myself that it is December and am enjoying the month (and, by extension, the Christmas season) so much more than I often do. The longer days, warmer temperatures, approaching summer holidays, and layed-back attitude seems more appropriate for the holiday season. Plus, I am enjoying discovering subtle differences in the way of life while still starting to feel a bit at home. For not being busy, time is still slipping by quite easily and I assume it will continue to do so.
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