flaxer

dave flaxer adn his friend sam came to visit me for a a couple nights. they came on sunday and we went to coggee beach. me and dave went to the corner and sat up on rocks, looking down on everyone. it was really pretty and so great to be with him. dave and sam were amazed by the place i am staying. We went to the hot tub and sauna and jsut relaxed. That night we went food shopping and legit made chilli together and it tasted great. The next day they went on like a five hour hike and i was not having that so i went to luna park with cody which i told u about. then at night of course they wanted to go in the hot tub and sauna again haha. The next day i had class and they did things around sydney. then at night lindsey cooked us all food cause i had told them how amazing she is as a cook. after we went to george street and went to three wise monkeys and scruffy murphys. it was a little quiet because it was a tuesday night but still a good time. those are the normal collegey bars in sydney. the next day was rough but i had a presentation in business class and we did great ( me cody and april) we got a igh distinction! the company was great, i enjoyed his stay :)

Luna Park

My work gave me two free tickets to Luna park which is kind of a carnival place that never closes on the other side of the sydney harbour bridge. cody and i went adn we didnt know it was a school holiday, which meant that all the younger kids went. we went on the ferris wheel, got some cotton candy, walked around and such. its free to go but it costs to do the rides but not for us because i had the free passes. We had a good day but it made us feel very old. That night we had the send off dinner from out program. It was a lebanese place and we sat on low cushions. there was great hummus and falafel, etc. and the baklava for desert was deliciousss. we all got joke awards. mine was most "go with the flow" cause im so easy to be around. and then we got a collage of our trip.

Ice bar

During Easter break me and about 15 other people decided to go to minus five bar which is an ice bar in sydney that is 5 degrees celcius. it was a lot of fun, we had a reservation and all went down to circular quay together. we all had a pregame in the penthouse before and then went to the bar. an amazingggg night! and lots of good pictures! they gave us big coats to wear that kept us warm. we were only allowed in there for a half hour because it is so cold. everything was made out of ice, the bar, the walls, the seats...everything. And usually the glasses are ice but they didnt have them so we got in for 20 dollars instead of 30. After we headed to the rocks which is a nice area not too far away. we went to argile which some people couldnt get into because they werent "properly dressed" so somehow lauren and i were left alone in argile. we hung around and met some people and then went home. the next day i did absolutley nothing because i ddnt feel well if u know wat i mean. lol.but it was a great time

Passover then easter

So the day of passover i got really sick and ended up going to the doctor. She thought it was bronchitis and gave me meds. btw their medical system is grrrreat in australia. despite my sickness i went to a passover sedar that night. It was in bondi junction which is about an hour traveling away from where i am staying. It ended up that it was a chabbad and the family had ten children. They were each very interesting and there were two girls around my age that i spent the majority of the night with. we compared traditions in judaism and for countries. The food was also great! there was brisket and potatoes and guacamole. But we prayed for like 4 hours! I left a little early and I left at 1 am. A man at the sedar noticed that I had looked worried and looking at my watch so he figured I was worried about getting home which I was. all of the busses and trains had stopped running. So him and I walked back to his place which isnt far from where i am stayin and then from there he drove me to my apartment.
The next night I wasnt feeling well and knew i couldnt sit through another long service so I cancelled and stayed in. Apparently bondi Junction is where all the jewish people live. I eventually found out that there was a little tiny kosher section in the back of coles ( a local grocery store) right by me. But it was hard to find things around my area that were kosher.
Australians are not very religious people but they do take every excuse for a day or two off. My boss said that if a holiday falls on the weekend, they take either that friday or monday off as a public holiday. They also have four weeks of vacation time, and 10 sick days. And thats just average. I later talked to someone that said the minimum wage is 15 dollars but everyone usually gets 20. and he was older but he said he usually get 45 an hour....wldnt it b nice. Anywaysssss. so on easter they have that friday and monday as a public holiday for everyone. meaning that NOTHING is open. and i mean it wen i say NOTHING. on thursday night all bars close at midnight and dont open till saturday. there was really NOTHING to do. so of course we had to go to the beach and hang out. crazy australians lol. but ill tell u more bout easter weekend later..

another date with linds

Linds and I decided to do some shopping awhile back so we went to paddys for a good portion of the day. We got some good souvenirs and then were hungry so we decided to give china town another shot....BAD IDEA. We thought that it was only that specific place that was bad but it was that bad againnnn. the rice had ham in it...EW. the beef was really chewy, the wanton soup tasted seafoody. it was all just not good. but we thought we wld give it another try cause it was only like 15 dollars for a four course meal.but turned out to not b worth it. still a great date tho :)

IMAX date

April and I had a date day! We went to the biggest IMAX theater in the world which is on darling harbour. We got there by first going to cicular Quay and then taking a ferry to darling harbour. We saw Alice in Wonderland in 3d. It was a great movie and the effects combined with the hugeness of the screen was INCREDIBLE and so real. Then we went to a thai restaurant which i really liked. it was just a lovellyyyy day :)

Brisbane with Sista Marisa

Many things happened in between thailand and brisbane but o welllll. So i went to brisbane to visit marisa, one of my roommates in amherst. I got in at ten thirty at night and on the flight I had a man that just kept talkin and talkin and talkin to me, reminded me of someone but i just couldnt put my finger on it...haha. anyways wen i landed i took a bus to the train and then when i got off the train there marisa was!! We watched a little Dexter which is a tv show we are OBSESSED with. Her roommates are really cool, i got along with them well, and one of the roommate's friend alex who is a backpacker was also staying there.

The next morning all of us got up, hap a delicious breakfast burrito courtesy of marisa, and then headed to the lone pine koala sanctuary. it was a lot of fun! we gotta to see a gajillion koalas and other animals. it was exciting cause they had baby koalas and i actually saw them move cause usually they are asleep,i mean they do sleep for 20 hours a day or something like that. We also got to learn all about them cause we stayed for a presentation on koalas. We went into a feeding section where there were emus (which i am terrified of, i mean NO bird should be that big), and kangaroos! it was fun and we got to get sooo close to the kangaroos and they were just EVERYWHEREEEE. Then we went to hold koalas. You can hold one for free but u have to pay to take a picture with one... its DEFINATELY worth it. I was the last to hold one from the group and wen i got handed the koala, it just looked at my face and seemed to be like, OH NOOOOOOOO. haha. i thought that the koala was just gonna slap me across the face with its claws but luckily that didnt happen. instead they brought out a new koala for me. I turned around to laugh with everyone and then found out that the koala had POOED on me! ewwwwww! but then i held a cute koala who was nice. We stayed for hours at the zoo, it was a great time. Then we all went back for nap time.

That night we went to a club or bar scene called fridays. it was fancy and we had a good time and met a bunch of people. we stayed out and later walked down the streets of brisbane. brisbane is a nice place, it seems like a much smaller version of sydney. and i liked the train system, it was simple like the one at home. We then took a cab home and when you hail a cab they start the meter at 6 dollars! ridiculousness!

The next day we went to the man made beach! it looks exactly like a beach, with sand and everything! but it is enclosed and has a little clorene in it, just like a pool. We stayed for awhile adn then went to the market right next to the beach. it was a nice little area, we got some churros there which were delicioussss. then we headed into town and got really good sushi! then it was dexter and nap time!

We went out again to a really nice place and of course had lots of fun! after we had pizza from a New york pizza place of courseee haha. but it definitely filled my pizza craving.... i mean for a little while.

The next day we hung out and then i headed back to the airport. i was waiting and waiting and zoned out and then realized my flight was supposed to have already taken off. but no one ever came over the speaker and said so. turns out my flight was delayed which sucked but wat can u do. it was a great weekend tho!

lazyyyy

so im sorry ive been so lazy and busy lately. Ive had projects, papers, and of course ive been living it up over here. so ill try and update u on what has happened and hopefully ill go in a good order.

Alright well to wrap thailand up, the last day we stayed there was Sunday and we went out and stayed on the beach as much as possible and then got ready and flew into, where do u think?.... BANGKOK of courseeee. From there we parted ways, and even though I told mom it would only be another month until I saw her, she still cried :) gotta love mom. Then I flew to china first class. I took first class cause it was the only way to get me home on time for my classes. Even though that was a short ride, it was still really nice. i took cathay pacific and it was nice and they were really accommodating.Then i had a nine hour flight back to sydney. the first class to sydney was UNREAL! the seats reclined so that u were completely flat as if u were in a bed, they gave us little kits with special creams and lotions and lipgloss and toothpaste etc., the blankets were basically down comforters. i cld live there forever. the TV screens pulled out and were flat screens, there were games and tv shows, and there werent just a couple movies but rather a tonnnnn of new releases. all these things made it difficult to sleep, on top of all this they served us champagne and food every like two hours which of course i ddnt want to miss haha. there was a nice rose drink that they had which was good. so yea, i got in to sydney and then relaxed for the rest of the day and then that night we had a mid semester dinner with everyone. and where did we go? where do u think haha Thai food hahah. just cldnt get enough.

Overall i LOVEDDDDD thailand and would love to go back. It was a great place and not disgusting like I thought it would be. It was a lovely vacation with mom and dad :) the shopping, the food, the sights, they were all amazing and I would definately encourage everyone to go there. Thanks mom and dad, ur the best! c u soon!!!!

Fridayyyyy

We went on a sea kayak trip! It was a lot of fun! We went in kayaks and one of the tour guides paddled us. We went in a bat cave, saw beautiful scenary, and ate delicious food. It was really a great trip and nothing like I have ever seen. It was a full day event. We saw monkeys just living on an island which was really cool. Then at night we went to the town of karon which was really nice and ate dinner there and shopped. Its not as hectic and we ate amazing food in the middle of markets and for all of us to eat and have water was like 10 us dollars. Craziness. It wasnt far from our hotel so we walked back and on the way we got some drinks together :)

saturday was another beach day! sooo hot tho! i went parasailing which was great! the water was sooo pretty! but i did get a little sea sick ish. at night we went into puhket town weekend market with our driver and it was amazingg! great food, of course crazy shopping, but it was more local stuff and cool close unlike the touristy things we had seen, there were dvds, and just everything u cld think of and it was huge. it was definately my favorite market that we had been to in thailand.

BEACHHHH finally some relaxingg :)

the night before when we arrived the airport was crazyyy, the taxi drivers bonbarded us and of course bardering, it was really helpful that we had someone there waiting. We had a great breakfast and the hotel had these amazing towels that they soaked in lavender and then put in the freezer...amazing, i loved it, it made me feel better all the time. we stayed by the beach for most of the day but it was so hot that we couldnt stay forever. the water was even warm, all three of us went in the water multiple times which is a big deal for me and mom. we had DELICIOUS mango on the beach. then we went to the pool and cooled off. of course the staff came over and offered us fruit and lavender towels. Then there was happy hour! we tried a bunch of different fun fruity drinks, and then there was even a certain time that it was half off at the bakery!we went to patong for dinner which was a good cab ride away, its where all of the backpackers stay and its a crazy place, verry loud, some ppl said it smelled, lots of shopping and markets, but a little too hectic for me. we went to dinner there. you pick ur seafood personally and then they cook it. i got mussels, dad got fish, mom got shrimp and we of course got an order of pad thai and morning glory. daddys fish had bones in it tho :( most of the fish there does, they eat fish kind of like how we eat chicken.

last day in chang mai

we had a deluxe breakfast at the hotel and then went shopping and finallyyyyy found the aladdin pants that i had been looking for!!! we shopped around the city and then mom and i got foot massages! they are really cheap there like 7 dollars for an hour! we laid on these flat beds as the women massaged, slapped and everything else u cld think of to our feet and legs. and of course dad was the little paparazzi over there snapping pictures every second.... soooo embarrassing. Then tony took us to more and more and more temples which by the end all looked the same. Tony told us about a guy that could pick us up in phuket which was really helpful. all the flight again had to go thro bangkok so we went back to bangkok again and then to phuket

tuesday in thailand

We went to the elephant camppP!!!!!! i said hi to the mother and her baby at the front and from there we went for an ox cart ride! the guy loved us and even got off the front, gave me the reigns and said "i take picture now" haha. it was greattt! then we got to the elephant part! mom and i went on one elephant and daddy went on his own. The elephants were so cute! but the ride was really bumpy. There was a trainer who made sure everything went right and they sat on the elephants head! we went up hills, and through water! Then we went to lunch which was really really good! yummmmmm! huge buffet of everything! Then we got to see the elephants and take pictures with them and such. I got to go on top of one bare backed which was really cool! elephants are such lovely animals, and so sweet. then they took a bath! and then they did a cute show! they danced, painted and many other things it was great! then we went on a bamboo ride down the river, felt like tom sawyer.haha. but it was relaxing and nice and definately made us feel like we were in thailand. after the elephant camp we went to the monkey zoo! there was one monkey that we got to hold and the rest were chained to polls or trees. they made a huge deal about the mokey zoo and this and that...and then we walked in and it wasnt too exciting and we were the only ones there haha. then they had a big show to show off the monkeys!... which consisted of the three of us haha. a gay thai man with bleached blonde hair stood there with a microphone doin a show which was really funny and he kept sayin woaawwwwww. it was HILLARIOUSSSS! then we went to tony and meows restaurant and learned how to cook ourfavorite dishes! first we went to a food market and bought a bunch of vegetables and all together it was like one us dollar. we loveeeee morning glory, its a GREAT vegetable! anywyas, we learned how to make spring roll...dad wasnt so good at it haha, had a little trouble rolling it haha. then vegetable stir fry, then pad thai!!! yuM! then the amazingggg soup which wen i get home i want to LIVE off of it was so good. not to burst my own bubble but it i made AMAZINGGGG soup! we were sooooo full after. so much then when we got to the hotel i passed out and mom and dad went to the market wat a shock haha.

Monday

We went to a mall down the street and I tried some cheesy fries from McDonalds which sounds good but its just their greasy fries with gross cheese on top. Then we found Black Canyon Coffee. They have a deal that every Monday you can buy one coffee and get one free so fo course we haddd to get four and then were hopped up on caffeine haha. But it was the first good coffee we had in Thailand. Then we went to the Bakery at the Watergate Hotel and its supposed to be famous and amazing and don’t get me wrong, it was really good but the selection wasn’t too big. I had a spinach quiche, mom had some bread and an apple thing which she really like and dad had some bread thing. It was good. Traveling options included walking, Tuk Tuk, taxi, and sky train. The sky train is a train but its not like ones we have at home, instead its high up above the city. So we decided to walk to the Jim Thompson house. Jim Thompson was an American who started lot of silk stuff in Thailand to put it simply lol. So we saw him amazing house which was both pretty and interesting. Right outside of the Jim Thompson house was a little stand making smoothies and they were delicious! Dad got orange, mom and I got strawberry. And it was like a dollar each, gotta love Thailand lol. Then we flew to Chang Mai where our driver Tony was waiting for us. Tony’s wife is named Meow which I just thought was great lol.

Sunday

We hired a driver for the day who was a cute thai man who loved talking to us. He told us how Thai people love America. He said that he loves the Beatles and named a bunch of other American bands and artists. He told us a joke... What is the difference between a snake and an Indian? A snake you eat first because Indian food is fast food…or something along that line. So anyways he was driving us to the floating market which is kind far away. So we stopped at the gas station and mom and I went to the bathroom…which usually isn’t so hard but this time it was. It was basically a flat bathtub on the floor and then there was no toilet paper but a bucket with water with a smaller bucket… yea it was not what we were expecting haha. And we also found out that the taxi there doesn’t run on gasoline like ours do but instead it runs on natural gas. They put it in under the front hood and its kept in back of the seats. They do this because it is a lot cheaper. We arrived and it was the coolest thing to go to. You pay to be taken around for an hour. Its basically a bunch of canals and a man in a long motor boat type thing there a people on other small boats, they kind of look like little canoes. The “stores” are on the side of the canal so if you want to look at something then the driver of the boat pulls up to the side and you bargain right there….bargaining is a little different in Thailand…you ask them a price and they say o I have a discount for you! And always take out a calculator and put down a price which is usually around twice the price they would sell it to you for. Then you laugh and say that its way above ur price range and then they ask you to type in what you want to pay and it goes from there. If you don’t give them a price and just walk away they usually drop the price to about half. Eventually they say final price and write it on the calculator, but you can usually get it lower. Ok so yea we tried different soups that were made by people on the little canoes and we had the most amazing one ever and then dad and I had the most amazing spring rolls ever. It was crazy, a different thing than I had ever done. Thailand is a place that is very different and I really enjoyed my time there. When our boat person dropped us off we realized that we were the only people who didn’t get to get up and go into the markets in the middle of the canal town area so of course mom complained to the people and we got an extra free ride! Our taxi driver came with us and he was so cute because he had never been to the floating markets and he was so excited, smiling and taking pictures and stuff haha. Then we went to MBK which is a shopping center but not ur typical shopping center… it was a mall but there were small tiny stores and you can bargain with them. One floor is full of technical stuff and there were ipods and fake ipods and stuff for sale, they were definitely cheaper but still not cheap enough to buy because there isn’t a guarantee that they will work. Then we went to the temple where there is a reclining Budha which doesn’t sound exciting but it was pretty amazing. The Budha was hugeeeee….BIG BUDHA!

Saturday

We woke up in the morning and went to the weekend market. There was everything there you could ever think of; from food to dogs to plates to souvenirs. By the way, the shopping everywhere was amazingggg! Not only was there great finds but also everything was so cheap! And they were all happy to bargain with you. 30 baht is equal to 1 US dollar so buying things for a couple hundred is actually a really good deal in us dollars. So of course we had to try the food as soon as we got there! We had the BEST pad thai I have ever had in my life! Dad and I shared a plate using our chopsticks! The shopping went on and on and on. After we shopped we went to the Grand Palace where the emerald Buddha is. And how did we get there? Of course we took a long tailed boat down a canal to get there lol. We got a tour guide and learned a lot about the palace and thai culture and the king. The king is much like the queen of England, mostly just a figure head and there is a parliament. We also had to cover our shoulders, and legs out of respect otherwise they wouldn’t let you in the temple. We also thought that you had to wear close toed shoes but apparently recently that has been changed and they don’t care about your shoes. Actually in order to go into the temple and see the Buddha you have to take off your shoes. The other temples we ended up seeing made you take your shoes off but they didn’t care about the legs or shoulders. From there we took a tuk tuk! Which is like a taxi but not… it’s a small little thing with open sides and …its hard to explain but its cute.

And the explorations of Thailand begin!!

Friday I went to half a day of work and then took a taxi to the airport. Got on the flight for 9 hours which went right into Fiji. Then I searched the airport for someone who spoke English and found out where mom and dad’s flight would come into. I met them at their gate and they were thrilled to see me! We went through customs and of course nothing can be done easily haha…daddy had some issues with getting his picture taken and the whole process. Then we took a taxi to our hotel. It was a really nice fancy hotel. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot and they were very nice. We settled in and went to bed on the hardest mattresses I have everrrr felt.

Before thailand

Ok so since it was so long ago ill give u a quick synopses. So linds and i had a great day which then turned weird to worse. So we took a little journey to the harbour and walked around and then we went to the aquarium! which was really fun! all the pics are up on fbook. and then we went to china town and got dinner and did a little shopping. then lindsey lost her bus pass and then the bus was really late. so we knew the night had to either get better or was just gonna go down hill from there. Basically me and linds went to meet some friends out at bondi on Sunday night…long story short she ended up fracturing her elbow and we were in the emergency room from around midnight to eleven am the next day. The week went well,school and intership as always and then the night before I left me cody and linds went to the clevland bar which isn’t too far from here and played pool with some kiwis and met all of the other capa group who were leaving for home the next day. Then off to meet mom and dad in thaland!!

wednesday, rappelling

ok so wednesday was a crazy intense day, i went rappelling, eventually down a 90 ft waterfall! read all about it at thewordaustralia.com which is where im interning. and then click on blog, you will see a bunch of blogs. the ones writeen by janna g are clearly me and so far i have written three so check it out. the one called abseiling aka repelling and the one called leap before you look are both about my trip. the pictures will be up on facebook soon but if u cant wait that long or dont have fbook here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wordaustralia/show/

enjoy!

Food

OK so they Looveeeee meat pies and what we call chicken pot pie. They put salt and pepper on EVERYTHING including burgers... which brings me to the fact that they put beetroot on their burgers which is what we call beets. They eat a lot of schnitzel and kababs. Sushi and thai food is everywhere. They love their avocados, they put avocado spread on everything. Oh and I did the math and wen I work on Fridays I walk 14 miles a week.

Sunday

Woke up at around 8am, set out to the center of Sydney with linds around 9:30. Went to paddy’s market which is is a great market with clothes, souvenirs, toys, everythinggg…u name it, they got it. I bought some postcards, a really cute dress, and a cheap bag with all the city name of Australia on them. It was fun but overwhelming. And if you want anything let me know and ill get it! At around 2 we headed back and tanned on the rooftop. It was a nice and relazing day. Ive been getting those bad headaches again :( so hopefully ill drink more and keep myself hydrated :)