7th Ritmo Brazilian Festival

Perfect time to take the Brazilian couple I just met to this festival held at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour this past Sunday. Little did we know, there was a Chinese and Korean festival going on at the same time in the area. So we tried a variety of food all day...that's all you do at these festivals. Eat, eat, and eat some more!!!

There was a samba dance number on stage and I saw my salsa dance instructor choreographing the whole thing. And I noticed that he had shaved his mohawk!!! The following day, I went to my salsa class and I shook my head when I saw the mohawk. There was only one way to find. Nestor, the instructor (wow, it rhymes!), happened to dance with me so I asked him if he had a twin brother. And that was it! Fooled me!

I got to try some of these ACAI (pronounced ah-sah-hee) - a Brazilian berry only found on top of palm trees in the Amazon rainforest. Take note: its got lots of vitamins (B1, B2, B3, C, E), iron, potassium, calcium, protein, high in fiber, lowers your cholesterol, has more than double the antioxidant content of blueberries, and is 30x more anthocyanins than a glass of red wine. So how come I've never heard of this before? I have to find this in stores somehow.

At the end of it all, I didn't even get a chance to meet up with the Brazilian couple. We were both moving targets. We'd be walking back to the Brazilian festival to look for them and they would be walking to the Korean festival where we just came from to look for us. Sigh!

Piety Stall

LJ and I went to help Mitch & Andrew with their piety stall last Sunday after mass. We took over in doing the selling. Needless to say, that was the best day they ever had. Naks! I ended up buying a children's book about Saints. I'll try to be that kid who was so knowledgeable about Saints in the movie, "Millions". That was a good movie, by the way. Go rent it!

Australian Hotel

You wanna try some crocodile, emu, and kangaroo pizza? Check out the Australian Hotel at 100 Cumberland St, at the Rocks.

My boss in San Francisco from almost 10yrs ago contacted me and told me his colleagues are moving to Sydney. So I met up with this Brazilian couple and took them to the Australian Hotel so they can try some authentic food (as in the toppings, not the pizza). Unfortunately, Vinny was vegetarian and Patricia was not too interested in exotic foods. Oh well...I still ordered the crocodile, emu, and kangaroo pizza.

Thredbo - Snowy Mountains

Australia's highest peaks are located in the Snowy Mountains. Not surprisingly, they are known for its ski resorts. During this APEC weekend, we drove down south for a ski trip. The last time I went skiing was about 10yrs ago in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This time around, I wanted to try snowboarding.

We had an early start on Friday morning leaving Sydney, a quick drive around Canberra, one stop shop at Jindabyne for our ski gears and snow tires, and off to Thredbo. We stayed in the little town of Thredbo which was pretty cute, narrow streets, cabins and lodges by the side of the mountain overlooking the ski resort and the snowy mountains. Our house was just next to the resort and my room, waking up in the morning with a view of the snowy mountains.

Saturday was all-day snowboarding!!! I joined a group of people for the lessons and when the instructor asked, "who here is from Sydney trying to get away from the APEC weekend?" Everybody pretty much raised their hands. Yep, everyone I talked to was from Sydney.

First run down the slope was scary. But the second, third, fourth, and fifth was exhilarating. I was liking it more and more, better than skiing! The thing I hated the most was getting on the lift. The first one I got on, I couldn't get on the seat properly and fell. I quickly fell flat on the snow to avoid the lift hitting my head and they had to stop the whole thing to get me up. When I finally got on and got to the top of the slopes, I prepared myself getting off my seat. With my luck, I fell again and had to duck my head to avoid getting hit. Good god!

Sunday, we drove back to Sydney and passed by the Pauline Fathers Monastery (Hanging Rocks) at Penrose for lunch at the park. The monastery had chapels representing different countries and little chapels for different saints. If we only had more time, I could have gotten a 'Saints 101' education from these chapels. We were hurrying back to return the car by 6pm and we just made it on time.

Walking back home, we passed by Kings Cross and entered a pub to watch the Women's finals of the US Tennis Open.

...I'm tired!!!

APEC Summit

21 Leaders coming to Sydney for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Thanks to President Bush (or the 'Shrub'), we get a holiday on Friday, Sep 7th. Yipeeee!!! Sydney was a ghost town. Of course, I had my alternatives. We planned a ski trip to the Snowy Mountains (the highest peak in Australia) by Thredbo.

Its been the buzz all year, the city preparing for a big event since the 2000 Olympics. Presidents such as Bush, Putin, and Hu (China) were all coming down under. For security reasons, during the week of APEC, there were road closures, public transport timetable changes, additional cameras installed, and fences all around the city. I had a chance to see all this when I took the train around Circular Quay passing by the Intercontinental Hotel where Bush was staying (and possibly the 699 people he brought along with him). Fences and security guards everywhere! Notwithstanding, pranksters from the TV show 'Crashers', pretended to form a motorcade and got through security at the hotel with police escorts. And coming out of the car was no other than Osama Bin Laden. Of course, that was the whole joke! But it wasn't funny to the police. They could have shot someone!

One of the highlights of APEC meetings is the traditional group photo of the leaders wearing the host country's national costume. Australia doesn't really have a national costume and we were all guessing as to what it would be: speedos, bushman outfit (as in Steve Irwin), cowboy outfit (Crocodile Dundee). But it ended up with those lame Driza-bone coats. I don't even know what it is. It looks to me like an ordinary raincoat. That's Australia???

And you can't end APEC without a Bush blunder. Here goes: Pres Bush thanking John Howard, our Prime Minister:

"Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit."

I wish we had more of these APEC meetings in Sydney. Til 21 years from now, I guess!