So, I arrived....I was hoping to be able to post something sooner than now, but it has taken me a while to figure out how to best obtain internet access here. It's not like the States. Upon the advice of some folks at work, I ventured out to Chinatown and purchased a prepaid wireless card with a limited amount of gigs to be used over the next 30 days. So, it's slower than molasses, but it's working.
Anyway, the jet lag has been a little rough, although I now feel like I'm adjusted. I arrived Saturday morning at 8am, after having slept about 6 hours on the flights. I made it until about 3pm and decided to try to take a nap. Bad idea. I slept through the alarm at 5pm and awoke at 11pm. At this point, I realized the best option was to try to continue to sleep, which I did until about 2:30 am and then was wide awake. At this point, the options of activities were limited - especially w/o internet access. So, I watched several reruns of Will & Grace on the tv channel that seems to play nothing but American reruns (including VH1 Pop Up Videos!). I then worked out a bit and decided to try to find my way to church. Afterall, it was Sunday morning and I was awake, so why not?
Well, being in Sydney, I decided to google from my blackberry Hillsong and found that there was a campus not too far from a major train stop that was nearby. So, out I went. Hillsong was a good experience, and not too different than my church experiences in college. I ended up meeting a very friendly girl - Naomi - who introduced me to a few of her friends and invited me to join them Tuesday evening. I'm so looking forward to getting to know these girls. I love exploring different cultures, and what better way than to do life with someone who lives this culture everyday. Speaking of cultures, that is one thing that was so striking about being at Hillsong. As I walked in, I quickly realized that as a caucasian blonde girl, I was in the minority. It was such an empowering feeling....being in a new place, realizing that while I might be the new kid on the block, there were so many people around me that likely had very diverse experiences, yet shared a similar basic belief.
The rest of Sunday consisted of me not being at my amazing apartment for fear of falling asleep again. So, instead, I ventured out to Darling Harbour - which is right by my apartment - and then on to Circular Quay (pronounced "key"), which is home to the Sydney Harbour bridge and the Opera House. Here is a picture I took on my bb from a great park bench where I sat and read for a bit in the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was so amazing. I had one of those, "holy crap - I'm in Sydney Australia" moments sitting here.
I ended up making it until about 8pm, and then went to sleep. I woke up about every hour beginning at 4am this morning, but forced myself to sleep until 7am. As a result, I think my body has successfully adjusted. Work today was good. Typical first day kind of stuff - orientation to office, orientation to new computer, including time sheets, etc. Left work by about 4pm. Also a nice thing. Everyone that I have met is so nice. There were 4 other secondees in my training today - 2 from NYC (financial services, of course), 1 from Canada and 1 from Papua New Guinea. I also met my "buddy" today, which is a girl who has worked for the firm about 2 years and was born and raised in the Sydney suburbs.
The weather has been amazing. The locals claim it's "freezing." However, if I had to guess, it was probably a high of 60 degrees today. This evening, as I ventured out with one of my new NYC friends - Liz - I wore flip flops, jeans and a t-shirt. Everyone on the street looked at me like I was crazy, but I was sweating by the time I got back to my apt from work in a suit. A guy at Woolworth's (the big supermarket here) commented that I must be from the Northern States, since I think this is amazingly warm. He gave the example of North Dakota. Too funny!
Anyway, tomorrow's agenda consists of confirming my identity with the bank here so I can access the $$ they are giving me and hopefully obtaining an Australian pre-paid cell phone. I'm sure this will be equally as interesting as the internet card experience was today. Things are quite expensive here - even according to the NYC folks. The craziest thing so far might just be that in Woolworth's, I went looking for mustard to go along w/ my bread and turkey. I found 2 bottles, on the top shelf, labeled "American Mustard" for $3.50 AU. This a bout $5 USD. Holy cow! Obviously, they have to import this stuff. I bought it - don't get me wrong - but that's just crazy. Oh, and everything is in kilograms at the grocery, so that took some adjustment. At the deli, I just asked for about 5 or 6 slices of turkey, as I didn't know what the common request was. Do you ask for 1/4 of a kilogram? Or do you actually ask for grams? Who knows? However, thank you Laura Hatcher for the lesson in the airport regarding the conversion of pounds to kilos. It was very useful. :)
Ok, well, I'm going to continue to try to figure this place out. I will upload more pics once I get them downloaded from my camera. This always seems to be a challenge for me. I hope you are all doing well! Cheers!
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