Swim & Swing

Before I left the US, pretty much everyone was saying, "You need to learn how to swim", "I can't believe you're moving to Australia and you don't know how to swim", "What? You lived in the Philippines and you don't know how to swim?"

Beaches and swimming is the culture here in Australia...more likely for Sydneysiders. Most people in Australia live along the coast. So its no surprise if people tell you they're leaving work early to go to the beach. Or one day when I saw a woman walking in the middle of the city carrying her surfboard. And Sydney has a couple of the best beaches in the world. The famous one, of course, is Bondi Beach. The other is Manly beach which I actually read on MSN is one of the top nude beaches in the world ??? I've been there a couple of times but I didn't see it. It must be a secret place I don't know about. Oh well!

Anywho. So I finally signed up for a swimming class at Cook & Phillip Aquatic Centre situated next to Hyde Park and St Mary's Cathedral. Surprisingly, I was able to swim the width of the 1.2M deep (now I better not drown in it!) on my first day of classes (I'm 5'2"...you do the math... well, to save you time from calculating, its actually just below my shoulders). Quite impressive for me. Hahahhaha. I've been to my 4th class and I've learned how to do freestyle, swim sideways, glide, etc...but I still can't float. I guess going to a swim class right after work makes me tense. Or I'm just tense being in the water. I do about 1hour of swimming every Monday including 30min of class time. I didn't know it gets that tiring. Wanna hear the good and bad news about me going to swim class on Mondays? Monday nights is "Desperate Housewives" night. That's the only TV show that I still really follow. The good news is, Michelle gets to tape it for me! Yay! This Monday, I forgot to give her the VHS tape!!! Thank goodness when I got home, she said she had a spare one. Whew!!! Well, she just had to tape it over Star Wars...don't worry. It was just a copy.

Tuesday nights is Swing Dance class. Beginners, of course. Can't believe it took me this long to sign up for a dance class. How come I never signed up for any of these classes back in the bay area? I guess I just didn't give it the time. Too much work to do. Its fun and its a good workout. I didn't think I would be learning all of these here in Australia. That's part of my life experience here.

Hope this inspires some of my readers to try something out. Its not too late. If you've got two left feet or water-challenged, hey, at least it was a workout! Try it!

My First Taste of Kangaroo - Australia, the country that eats their animals on its National Emblem 

Chinese New Year

Its the year of the dog. Here's another excerpt I got from the internet which is about the same as what I've written down from a previous blog:

"So what can we expect from the upcoming year? The Dog is an ethical and idealistic sign, and the year that bears its name will also bring increased social awareness and interest in society's less powerful members. Any tendencies to take, take, take will be replaced by a widespread sentiment of generosity and selflessness. In general, we will all be imbued with the Dog's keen sense of right and wrong."

I've never actually seen the Chinese New Year's parade in San Francisco because at this time of the year, its always cold and raining. Now is my chance as its sunny and warm over here in Sydney. I went to Chinatown with JC (Jean Christophe) who is our guest right now at the house. Just like me four months ago, he moved from France to live in Sydney.




The following weekend, I went to Star City (the casino place over here...the mini mini mini Las Vegas over here - well, its only one hotel. That's about it)...to see the lantern festival. I was dissappointed they didn't have a lot more exhibits. It took about 10 minutes to go around and take pictures. That sucks! Oh well. I do, however, would want to check out Star City next time and see what they have in the casinos.






Some views from the casino:







Next day, they had the dragon boat race at Darling Harbour. It was hot that day so I only went to see one race.

Sydney Opera House

If you're ever in Sydney, try to at least get tickets to watch a show in the world famous Sydney Opera House. And that's what I did. I bought a ticket to watch Tan Dun's "The Map" which includes the 'Paper Concerto' for paper percussion and 'The Map' with a video featuring life in China. And of course, playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the concert hall, the biggest hall inside the opera house. Tan Dun, the conductor, was the same guy that composed the soundtrack for the movie, "Crouching Tiger and the Hidden Dragon". He put on a good show during these Chinese New Year Celebrations in the city.







Here's is the Sydney Opera House's website for more info:

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/

My 2xth Birthday

After Australia Day, which was a Thurs, supposedly I was gonna go back to work on Friday but my boss asked me if I wanted to stay home. Well, OK then! I got a 4-day weekend out of it! I'm glad I did because after kayaking and bushwalking, my whole body was sore. Friday was a good day to relax and enjoy my last day before I turn 2x years old. That day, I went to watch "Brokeback Mountain" (by the way, I saw Charlize Theron one day in the city for her movie premiere of the movie "North Country). After the movie, I went to the Sydney Opera house forecourt to watch the men's semis of the Australian Open (Roger Federer def Nicolas Kiefer). The tennis open is played in Melbourne but the opera house has set up a big screen TV for the public.

The weekend is here and that means its my bday and its Chinese New Year (year of the dog). Victoria, happy birthday to you, too!!! My twin birthday girl! To appropriately celebrate it, we went for yum cha/dim sum for lunch. At night, we went to the Domain to watch a free opera at the park. The opera this year was 'Madame Butterfly'.

And that's how I celebrated my first bday in Australia. At least I didn't get carded this time...not that I went drinking anyway. Last year in Seattle, I got carded on the day of my bday while my coworkers Cheryl and Amin, who were only 23 and 24 that time, got in without any problems! Good times, good times!!!

Australia Day

All I know is I get a day off on Australia Day (Jan 26th), a national public holiday. After reading up about it, Australia Day commemorates the landing of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788. Per Wikipedia:

For a minority of Australians the celebrations arouse hostility; some comment on how the arrival of the British adversely affected the indigenous people of the country. They call the day "Invasion Day," since they regard it as celebrating the subjugation of indigenous Australians. In recent years, some indigenous Australians have also celebrated the day as "Survival Day," thankful that their ancestors were not completely wiped out by the newly arrived settlers.

(to read up more about Australia Day - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day)

On this day, Aussies traditionally get together for barbies (BBQs), go to the beach (as would any other day), watch the ferrython (a friendly race of boats and ferries on Sydney Harbor starting at Circular Quay, around Shark Island then finishing at the Harbour Bridge to win the coveted Lord Mayor's Trophy), listen to Triple J's Hottest 100 songs of the year voted by listeners, and BDO (Big Day Out - similar to Lollapollooza). None of this I did on Australia day except listen to #54 thru #30 something on Triple J's Hottest 100.

So what did I do on Australia Day. (1) went kayaking over at Spit Bridge at 8am and (2) went bushwalking from Spit to Manly in the afternoon. Bushwalking is their term for hiking here. I believe it was about a 10km walk. Along the way were some Aboriginal drawings that have been preserved. Looooooong walk but I felt good after since I haven't really worked out for a while...not that I'm really passionate about working out. Anywho...so we ended up in Manly beach where we had a deserving Indian food for dinner. Below are some pictures from the walk. Unfortunately, I don't have any from kayaking...wouldn't want the camera to get all wet. So I couldn't really prove to you if I actually did kayaking or not. You'll have to take my word for it.