Basketball and Cricket

My sporting weekend...well, watching that is.

On my way home last Friday, I got a call from my friend telling me to get off the bus now and head back to the city coz he had an extra ticket for a basketball game. Its the game between the Sydney Kings and the Cairnes Taipan of the National Basketball League (NBL). This is their professional basketball league equal to the NBA. Well, not exactly equal because they suck! They play like high school. Not even as exciting as the college NCAA. Most of the players were caucasian, they had a couple of blacks (but we think they're Americans who never got the playing time in the NBA so they joined the NBL).

The Kings won! Yay! The Sydney Kings have won the last three championships of the NBL. Unfortunately, most people probably don't know that because Australia is just not into basketball. Forget that they have Andrew Bogut who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks or Andrew Gaze who played with the San Antonio Spurs in the early days, Aussies still prefer cricket and rugby over basketball. Australia winning a cricket game could be top news of the day.

Next day, I was invited to go for dinner at Pancakes on the Rocks and a karaoke night at the Retro Bar on Sussex St (by Darling Harbour). So I got to meet a few more people and hopefully through them, I can branch out. Its really hard to meet people and get your own circle of friends. Anyway, I didn't do any singing coz the bar was public. You get up on stage and sing infront of people you don't know. I guess that's better than people you know coz you'll never see these people again.

Sunday was the big cricket game between Australia and Sri Lanka. My first taste of Australian cricket. As I call it, being cultured. I went with Natasha and a couple of her friends to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). SCG was packed that day.

I'm beginning to understand cricket now. It gets complicated on how the players get taken out of the game. But scoring, I'm getting it. Of course with international competition comes rowdy fans between the two countries. You won't believe how many Aussies and Sri Lankans were thrown out of the game.

Here are some pictures:

Watson's Bay

Another nice place to visit is Watson's Bay. Here's a website talking about Watson's Bay (so I don't have to retype a whole new story):

http://watsonsbay.visitnsw.com/HolidayLocation/TNSW500224CR.htm

That's the great thing about my weekly red pass which costs me $32 AUD a week and includes all my bus transport (as many times as I want at most places in the city) plus trains and ferries to most places. So I have to take advantage of it.

The ferry to Watson's Bay was free, of course, passing by ferry stops to the Garden Island (Botanical Gardens), Double Bay, and Rose Bay (take Wharf 4 in Circular Quay to catch the ferry).

First thing when you get off at Watson's Bay, you'll see Doyle's restaurant. One of the expensive restaurants here in Sydney. This is the original one. You'll find a branch at Circular Quay by the docking area overlooking the Opera House (expensive because of the view).

I started walking towards the South Head, one of the two stretches of land separating Sydney Harbour from the Pacific Ocean. Along the path was a walkway strategically placed so that you'll walk pass by Lady Jane Nude beach (sorry, no pictures taken or will be shared on this blog). Great views...I mean overlooking the South Head. Besides, the nude beach was mostly older men and probably a couple of young guys...gay guys! Hey, Sydney is the #2 gay capital of the world next to SF, if not #1. Someone actually told me that Sydney may have already surpassed SF to become the #1 gay capital of the world. Below are some pictures along the way:













The Hornby Lighthouse at South Head

I didn't realize there's more to see besides Doyle's, the Hornby Lighthouse, and Lady Jane. There's the Mrs Macquarie lighthouse and the Vauclause House. I'll have to come back again. Anyone interested in coming with me next time?

So I took the ferry back to Circular Quay, went straight to the Custom's House where I had my chai tea and read a book. I waited til about 6pm then I walked to the Domain where they had a free Jazz concert from New Orlean musicians. Its similar to the Xmas Carols in the Domain back in December where you bring your picnic basket, relax, and just listen to the music...except they don't have the "Hoff" this time.

Through the Eyes of Celestine

Hey all!

I've created another blog. This time, it will only contain pictures I've taken along the way.

Be the judge. Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder.

Here is the website (http://pictures-celestine28.blogspot.com/) or you can click on the link from my original blog (it is called "My Picture Blog" - how original!)

Any comments, good ones, will be appreciated. Thanks!

January 2006 - Sydney

Leeeeet's see. The first couple of weeks of the year 2006 has really been uneventful. That's why I haven't updated my blog for a while. Jan 1, 2006, however, is in the record books for being the hottest new year's day in Sydney. That's eventful! And I took part of it for being here. Sigh!!!

But even then, I still went out to check other parts of Sydney. Next stop...Wooloomoolloo. Yup! That's an aboriginal word (but I don't know what it means). A lot of the towns/cities here are named after aboriginal terms. Just like California towns/cities are named after spanish terms as it used to be part of Mexico. At Wooloomoolloo (let me just call it wooloo for short...better yet, just woo), I wanted to check out the 'W' hotel (yes, its one of the branches of the same name, the 'W' hotel, in San Francisco). FYI before I forget...this is just for my reference in the future...take the 311 bus from Circular Quay if I want to go back there again and I plan to. Or get off at the city townhall, walk to Liverpool St and catch the 311 bus.

The 'W' hotel is located by the Woo wharf and the hotel shares the building with residential homes. From what I hear, one of those residents is Russell Crowe. The hotel is really nice. Very trendy. Nice reception area, nice cafe and bar. Will definitely check it out again later on.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1295

The other "uneventful" thing during this new year's weekend was that I had to work on Jan 2nd so we can do our year end closing of our books. The finance team worked that day (and I'm sure other finance depts from other companies had to report to work, too). The city was pretty much "dead" except for employees from finance departments coming in to work and those unlucky ones who have run out of vacation days. By working on Jan 2nd, which is a holiday, I have accumulated 2 vacation days in lieu of that. Not bad at all. Wooohooo!!!

The following weekend, I've organized a bowling event where bowlers who scored 200+ are frowned upon. And sure thing, none of us scored 200+...not even 125+. That night, I was invited to a trivia night. It was a fundraising event for some kids to go to the Philippines and help renovate an orphanage. To my surprise, a lot of the questions were about US history and a lot of them knew the answers. On the other hand, do we know a lot about Australian history?

Next day, I went to Piermont to check out Sydney's fish market...its supposedly a tourist spot so I had to check it out. I think I've mentioned before that I'll be a tourist in Sydney forever. I was hoping to get some cheap seafood but because the place is touristy, Paddy's in Chinatown was cheaper. Oh well.






During the week, the finance team celebrated our year end closing by going to dinner at Phillip's Foote restaurant at the Rocks. Its a steak house. You choose your meat and you BBQ it yourself. I told my boss, "man, I have to work hard for my own food?" He says, "oh, you Americans!" He doesn't like the US and George W Bush (well, nobody likes Bush anyway). But remember, my boss works and reports directly to our US HQ...and he hired me! He calls Americans 'Sepos' as in septic tanks. I told him I've been applying for a credit card. He says, "oh, they don't issue credit cards to Sepos." He wishes! Anyway...my motto is, if the company is paying, order the most expensive one. So I ordered the fillet mignon. After dinner, we went to check out "The Establishment"on George St, one of the "it" bars in Sydney these days. Another place to check out if that's your thing to do. I asked my coworker. It appears Aussies hang out more in pubs and bars than going out dancing/clubbing. They just love their cold beer over here!

My first Christmas and New Year's in Sydney

I can generally say that my first Christmas in Sydney was relatively hot/warm compared to all my Xmas celebrations in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet Earth. Something different. One of my coworkers actually told me that her feeling of a real Xmas is with cold weather, just likes the ones on American TV and movies. Same with an article I read about an Aussie's "true" feeling of Xmas when she first celebrated the holidays in NY with the snow, the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, the Xmas lights, and the hustle and bustle of people doing last minute Xmas shopping on 5th Avenue. I mean, they sing Xmas songs like, "Dashing through the snow" or "oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh" or "jack frost nipping at your nose". Its summer over here! I think secretly they all would like to have the typical cold weather on Xmas holiday that the rest of the world is used to.

We started off our Xmas attending a latin midnight mass. The next day or a few hours later on a warm Christmas day, we joined our roommate Natasha's family for a picnic at Centennial Park. Nice and relaxing day. Not much action this weekend but eat. The next day, Dec 26th, is Boxing day in Australia (just like Canada). I guess this is kindda like my 4-day weekend to replace the non existent 4-day Thanksgiving weekend I missed this year. On Boxing day, we went to Hunter Valley wine region similar to our Napa Valley in California. I'm sure you've been to Napa Valley during the Summer. That's how the weather was like when we went to Hunter Valley. But dissappointingly, most of the wineries were closed on Boxing day, which is a public holiday in Australia. Well, none of us has never been there and nobody told us including the dumb lady at the Information Center at Hunter Valley. Oh well, what can you do. If and when I go back should be around fall/winter. Too hot to go now! Dec 27th is shopping day...just like our biggest day after Thanksgiving shopping day. Mad house everywhere!!! I don't think I need to do that again...besides, its more expensive here than in the US. Imagine, this same exact item I bought back in the US for $1.99 costs $16.99 here. And another item for $15 in the US was $45 here! Yikes!!! FYI. They are a season behind here with fashion. And what I've started to do was get online for the US Winter Sale, get them ordered, and ship it here in preparation for our winter here.

Hunter Valley






As for our New Year's celebration, we went to Mrs Macquarie's Point overlooking the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. There were two fireworks presentation. One at 9pm for the kids show so they can go home and sleep early. And the adult version...nothing explicit about it...the only difference is the fireworks are more and better and it happens at midnight, obviously. By the way, new year's 2006 is delayed by 1 second all over the world. Its a "leap second", as they call it. The Earth's rotation rate generally slows down or speeds up throughout the year. Some facts to note:

"Time is determined by atomic clocks that are synchronized with the Earth's rotation, and an international community of scientists has agreed the two should never differ by more than nine-tenths of a second...the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which coordinates universal time, uses sophisticated software and many atomic clocks and determines averages to deliver the best time possible."

And as such, we get one additional second in 2005...woohooo!!!! Happy New Year + 1!!!

The fireworks in Sydney were great...I'm sure you've seen clips of it on TV. Fireworks on the bridge and on barges overlooking the famous Sydney Opera House. Beautiful!!! I think next year, we should rent a boat and watch it to get a full 360 view.

Christmas 2005

I would like to wish each and every one of you, especially the Alviar and de Leon family, a wonderful and joyous Christmas this year!

To my family, I miss you all. Even without me, you should still make the most of what you have. Enjoy your time with each other.

To all my friends, thanks for all your Holiday greetings. Its good to know we haven't lost touch. Please stay in touch always and keep me updated with life back home.

Look forward to the year 2006. It is the year of the dog. Taken from a website, in the year of the dog "We will become more idealistic in our views, shedding some materialism by doing charitable acts or otherwise championing some worthy projects. It is a year in which we will shift away from the pursuit of the almighty dollar and become a little more reflective. A perfect time to reassess our sense of values, polish up our virtues and go on crusades against tyranny and oppression."

Be good in 2006. Here's a quote I'd like to share with everyone:

It is not the number of breaths you take in a moment that matters. Its the moments that take your breath away that counts.

Happy New Year!!!

Engagement Party

Dear Michelle & Andrew,
Congratulations again on your engagement. I hope you enjoyed your engagement party with your closest friends and family. You picked a great Indian restaurant (Indian Palace in Balmain) and sorry the food was kindda late. I told the waiter we were starting to get wasted upstairs (we had the whole upstairs, front balcony for the engagement party) so better serve the food soon.

The best gift Natasha and I could give you was letting you eat the tiramisu/chocolate cake when technically, you're on a chocolate diet! But tonight was an exception and the next day since we had some leftover cake. We'll give you that one. Hehehhehe.

Cheers to both of you and I wish you all the best going forward!

Xmas Carols at the Domain

I was asked, "do you have something like this in the US?" Not that I know of. It was 'bring-your-picnic-basket to the park' Xmas Carols in the Domain. Obviously, its too cold to have a picnic at night during winter back home.

We packed our picnic basket and met up with Natasha's parents and friends at the park. For about a couple of hours, singers from Australian Idol (the American Idol version) ie. Shannon Nolls, TV personalities, The Wiggles, and featuring the "Hoff"...as in David Hasselhoff (yes, he did sell a lot of albums and is apparently BIG in Germany), sang christmas carols all night. I can't believe I'm seeing Michael Knight/Mr Baywatch singing Xmas Carols in Sydney. And they had fireworks, too!!! Hopefully, we can make this a tradition every year.



















The following day, my company had their second Xmas get together. This was just for the Sydney office. We had dinner at our Exec Mgr's home in Artarmon (pronounced Artaaamon) across the bridge (in the north side). This is one of the rich areas of Sydney and his home must have been at least $1M...maybe even $1.5M or more. The lamb was great and many more courtesy of Terry. Below is one of the recipes I got from Terry...its easy to prepare and I really liked it. I'm gonna try making it one of these days. Try it!

Bean & Pea medley with mint & almond pesto (Serves 12)
Ingredients
450g soya beans (edamame)
Note you can get these from Japanese grocery shops (frozen)
800g green beans, trimmed
4 cups shelled peas (or 1kg frozen peas)
½ cup sliced almonds, toasted in the oven at 180C for 5 minutes until golden
Torn mint leaves to garnish

Method
Squeeze the soya bean pods to remove the bright green beans.
Cook the green beans in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 2 minutes.
Add the peas to the saucepan and cook for 2 minutes more, or until beans and peas are just tender, then add the podded soya beans and cook for 30 seconds more.
Drain well and toss in mint and almond pesto (recipe follows) while hot.
Scatter with toasted sliced almonds and torn mint leaves and serve immediately.

Mint & Almond Pesto
Ingredients
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1 cup tightly packed mint leaves
½ cup toasted blanched almonds
½ cup almond oil or extra virgin olive oil, plus extra if necessary
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Place the garlic and mint in the bowl of a food processor and process to chop.
Add almonds and process again until coarsely ground.
With the motor running, drizzle the almond or olive oil through the feed tube and process until incorporated – adding more oil if necessary to bring the mixture to a smooth and flowing paste.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Company Xmas Party - Verisign

The day before our company Xmas party, the finance dept (including me) stayed up until 12:30am reconciling and closing for the Nov month end. My first month end closing (if you're an acct, you would understand what month end closing is all about). Since we stayed up all night working, we get to have a choice of dinner. And of course, you know how I love sushi so much, we ordered japanese food from downstairs (Masuyas at O'Connell St). The restaurant downstairs is supposed to be good. But I was disappointed. Asian food here is not as good as back home. The unagi I ordered was just ok. Ray's sushi in Hayward is still better.

Anyway, the following day was our Xmas party. But before we could go, we had to finalize everything for month end closing. I get to the office and the controller tells me that the master file we saved last night was corrupted. This is the MASTER file with all the reconciliations, data, everything (my boss calls it his "whole life"). Its a big OH NO!!! And not right before our Xmas party...our boat leaves at exactly 1pm from the harbor. But thank goodness, after talking to the IT people, we were able to retrieve 99% of the file about an hour before the boat leaves. Thank you!!! Oh, and by the way, it just so happens that the day of our Xmas party has been the hottest day of the summer (39 degrees celsius - that's about 102 F degrees...yikes!!!). See our boat below.

After 4.5hrs on the boat eating, drinking, and others swimming, we docked in Darling Harbour and headed to Bungalow 8 for a couple more hours of drinking. It was still scorching hot everyone was sweating like a pig. Finally, we headed to a Spanish restaurant (Capitan Torres) at the Spanish Quarters for dinner...with AC. Whew! We needed that. Here's the roasted pig we ate to finish off the night:

Driver's License

Make way for Celestine!!! She is now allowed to drive on the other side of the road without even having to take any written or actual driving test (isn't that scary). But they really made me work hard for it. The first time I went, I didn't have a proof of address. The second time I went, the issue date on my California DL was only 11 months old. In order to get the full driver's license without having to take any exams, I would have to prove I've been driving for at least 3yrs. So I got my mom to send me my old DL's (keep your old ones just in case). Thanks, mama!

So I finally went the third time. And they still gave me a hard time. My signature on my passport did not match my other signatures. To make the long story short, the clerk asked her manager, came back, and told me that next time, I should sign everything the same (coz my name is so long and I have different versions of it...Maria, Celestine, Maria Celestine, etc.). Take note of this. Then finally, I got my picture taken. Within an hour including all my waiting time, I got my Australian Driver's license. WOOOHOOOO!!!! (not that I have a car to drive anyway...but just in case).

Watch out for Celestine on the road !

3rd friend in Sydney

I was so happy when I got an email from Tina Lou letting me know she's back in Sydney for work with Oracle. My 3rd friend from back home within two months. Now I'm beginning to think, I'm gonna have a dry spell for soo many months that nobody will be visiting me anytime soon. I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts. So I freed up my weekend to spend time with her.

After a long working day on Friday (its my first month end closing with my company), I met up with Tina on Saturday at her Intercontinental hotel (on Bridge and Phillip St near Circular Quay...for my future reference when Tina comes back...if you decide to stay at the Intercon again and hopefully, upgrade to the Executive Suite so we can get the free VIP dinner on top of the hotel... OR, Hilton Hotel is pretty good, too). From her hotel, overlooking the Domain/Botanical Gardens, we walked through the gardens towards the farm cove.







From there, we took the bus to QVB (Queen Victoria Bldg), did some shopping (Tina did...I did window shopping - remind me to check out that blouse you liked at 'Jigsaw'. Clothes are soo expensive over here and sizes are bigger...really makes you feel fat), came out of the building and started our long, I mean loooooooooooong walks. We started looking for this restaurant, couldn't find it, walked a few more blocks (basically going around in a circle), then decided we're done walking and taking a taxi cab instead to Darling Harbour for lunch. Ahhh, relaxing lunch! From there, we took another cab to King's Cross, the red light district of Sydney. It wasn't a happening place...since it was daylight but I'm sure there's lots going on once the sun sets. So we walked some more, and more, until we reached Pott's Point where we had a nice coffee break. The waiter said there were some really nice cafes, bars, and restaurants in King's Cross. That was what we were looking for in the beginning but didn't see any...I guess it was off the main road. So we gave it another try. And that means, more walking back to King's Cross. Ay yay yay!!! Here's a couple of pictures on King's Cross:






So we finally got out of King's Cross and went to the Circular Quay to meet Tina's friend, Jonathan. But first, we went to the Contemporary Art Museum (for free, of course). It was almost closing time so we were able to see some of the exhibits. We did get on the top floor where they were setting up a dinner party and got a good view of the opera house and the harbour bridge. I don't think I can ever get tired of the view.






We met up with Jonathan and we had a couple of drinks at "The Cruise" by the cruise ship docking area. See harbour bridge picture above where you will see the tables with white shades (bottom right corner). We then had dinner at "The Italian Village" nearby then went for some more drinks at "The Bridge" bar (see opera house picture above...it is the bridge between the two buildings next to the opera house) - don't worry. I didn't get drunk...I know my limits. After viewing the Harbour Bridge at night from "The Bridge" bar, we went to the "Summit" / Orbit by Australia Square. This is the revolving restaurant in Sydney which takes about an hour to rotate all around. I just had coffee this time. Really great views from this restaurant/bar. I'll take any of you there next time. Just a note. They won't serve just coffee (since its a bar) unless at least 50% of the drinks ordered are alcohol. We were like, "whatever!". Next time Tina comes back, we'll go have drinks at the Shangri-La hotel. She's been wanting to go there all day but Jonathan was just not in the proper dress code.

And that was the end of our night...lots of walking though.

Sunday, the three of us met up again at Paddy's in Chinatown. Jonathan and Tina showed me this good Taiwanese restaurant...it was good! Tina was actually more of a tour guide to me than I was to her. She's been here three times for work and she's checked out a lot of places.

After lunch, we took the ferry to Manly beach where we spent the afternoon checking out the people and just soaking in the water. We ended our Sunday with dinner at a japanese restaurant on Liverpool St and after drinks at the new Hilton Hotel (really nice hotel). By the way, I've observed that asian food here is not as good as asian food in the bay area. I've tried a good (by their standards) japanese restaurant near my work (Masuya) and even their sushi is not as good as back home.

'Til next time. Hope to see you back here in Sydney, Tina! I enjoyed hanging out with you.

My cousin is getting married

A wedding in Sydney, Australia. Congratulations to my cousin Michelle and Andrew. I can't wait for the DDAY! I'm really honored to be your maid of honor and I promise to help you at each step of the way. As long as I don't have to make a speech. Hehehhee. You said its really not a tradition in Australia for the maid of honor to make speeches. Very good! I'll stick to that tradition.

Always a bridesmaid, never the bride!

My 2nd Visitor

About a couple of weeks ago, I got a call from my friend, Geoffrey. He left me a message to say hi and to ask how I was doing. So I thought he was just calling from back in the bay area. A couple of days later, I got another message from him leaving me a call back number. Well, what'd you know? I have my second visitor here in Sydney within two months (I hope you guys keep coming so I don't feel lonely). Geoffrey and his mom are staying over with relatives in Ingleburn...about 40 minutes train ride to our place. During the week, him and his niece (Diane) went to the city to meet me and Michelle for lunch at Wynyard Station. Its really nice to see a familiar face! I can't believe Geoffrey is here. Geoff, hopefully your cousin/niece will get married next year so you can visit me again.

Next day (Thursday), I went to RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) similar to our DMV to apply for my driver's license. From what I read, I can just tranfer over my CA license and get a full driver's license here if I've been driving for at least three years (only in certain countries such as US, UK, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Spain, France, Germany, etc). Otherwise, you have to go through a series of tests and will take a few years before you get a full DL. First timers get a RED 'P' placard to be displayed in their car (lots of teenager driving accidents here that's why its good to know who the drivers are around you). After 1 to 2 years, you take another test. If you do pass that test, then RTA will replace your RED 'P' placard to a GREEN 'P' placard...not that it looks any better. After a couple more years, then they issue you your fill DL. So I'm glad I don't have to go through all that. I don't think I even need to take any written or actual driving test. Just the regular eye test and photo op and you get your DL card in 5 minutes. You just need to turn in your old DL and they'll punch a hole on it. For tourists, you can use your existing DL for 3 months to use.

I actually didn't get my license yet. I forgot to bring my proof of address to RTA. So I went back the next day with my coworker who's been here for a year and a half and still hasn't gone to get his DL. So next day, my coworker got his within probably 30 minutes including waiting time. Again, I couldn't get my license issued because my issue date on the DL is this year (I got it renewed this year)...so I cannot vouch for myself driving for at least 3 years already. Arghhhhh!!!! I'll have to wait for mama to send my old DL with an issue date of at least 3yrs old.

Thursday, Mitch and I went to Martin Place to see the Xmas tree lighting. Of course, Santa Clause was there, too, and the mayor of Sydney. And they had fireworks!!! See pictures below. Doesn't the clock tower look just like the one on Embarcadero? More similarities between Sydney and San Francisco. Ahhh, I just thought of what the Sydney Opera House could be an equivalent of in SF...possibly the Palace of Fine Arts??? Ayaw patalo, eh!







Friday, Geoff and his relatives (Diane, Christine, and George) came over to the house. We had dinner at Bar Italia (thanks for dinner, Geoff!!!) just around the corner from the house and took them around Norton St.

On Saturday, I went to the city at the intersection of Pitt/Hunter/O'Connell St (I work nearby on O'Connell). They were filming a scene of the new Superman movie. It is set on the streets of New York with yellow taxi cabs and police officers on the set (I don't understand why they have to film in Sydney for a scene that takes place in New York). No actors/actresses around. They were just shooting a scene where everyone was running around...I guess I'll see it in the theatres if it made the cutting room floor.

That night, one of Michelle's friends from church came over to show his slideshow of his pictures from the US. He brought his own projector and screen and showed us his pictures (including the twin towers of NY and scenes from SF) of when he lived back in the East Coast.

Notes:
This weekend, I saw a woman walking around the city carrying her surfboard...only in Australia!

Nothing Much

Things have been pretty quiet and back to normal these past few days. But we're trying to keep ourselves busy especially on weekends.

On Friday, we met up at the World Square in the city after work for dinner. World Square is a very conspicuous center in that the main building is named Ernst & Young...yes, one of the big 4 accounting firms... and its the building that took about 14 yrs??? to finish due to several building issues (don't think its related to EY). Its a business complex with shopping and dining area. I've noticed that companies here are really proud of naming their buildings with their huge and bright logos seen even from across the water (but then again, the water is not as wide or as far as the SF bay). Among the Big 4, I've seen two EY buildings, one PWC and one KPMG. I know they have Deloitte here but I don't see them among the skyscrapers. From Balmain Wharf (north west and overlooking the city), to your left would be North Sydney (I hope I'm getting my directions right) where you'll see buildings such as Cisco, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hitachi, Optus...I call it the Silicon Valley of Sydney. To the left of the Harbour bridge, you'll see the bright lights of Luna Park with its ferries wheel, rollercoasters and other rides...reminds me of Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. And yes, its by the water, too. Apparently, this was based on Coney Island of New York. Nearby is Fort Denison...a small island with a prison cell. Yup, you guessed it. Just like Alcatraz. And of course, the Sydney Harbour Bridge equals our Golden Gate Bridge. I have yet to think what the Sydney Opera House would relate to. Hmmm??? Let me know if you have any ideas.

I digress. We went to the World Square to check out the jazz bar at the Avillion Hotel. Not bad...something relaxing and to unwind myself after a long second week of training for me. Too much information overload.

Saturday, I went to Kim's 23rd bday party (Tita Terry's daughter) at Crunella beach (my 3rd beach...but I haven't swam yet...I need to take swimming lessons first by the pool). We played beach cricket...similar to baseball...but I still think baseball is more exciting than cricket (sorry if I offend anyone). Now I'm beginning to understand cricket a little bit. I gotta go to an actual game and get the Aussie feel (but nothing like hanging out with my RHI coworkers when we used to watch the A's (and Giants) baseball games back in the bay area. I hope you guys take me back to our baseball club when I come back).

On Sunday, I went to check out the Xmas tree at Martin Place. They are now setting it up for the official Xmas tree lighting this coming Thursday. We will be there!!! About the same time last year, every Friday after Turkey day, I went to see the Xmas tree lighting at Union Square in SF. It was beautiful. You should check it out this year...and maybe get star struck to see some celebrities. Its a great idea for a date!

Mommy Lourding

Please pray for my grandma..."Mommy" Lourding. She passed away on Sunday, Nov 13th. I'm sure she is happy to see my grandpa "Pop" and papa in heaven. May she rest in peace!

Pet Peeves

Pet Peeves - Sydney
1. No paper toilet seat covers in public places or anywhere else
2. Too many flies. For some reason, there is an explosion of flies every spring/summer. Wherever you go, they seem to swarm and get fixated with you even if you try to shoo them away or walk away. They just seem to follow you around and stick to you. And its just not you. It’s everybody. You will notice other people trying to shoo away the flies with those hand gestures infront of their faces. A fly that followed you in downtown, 30 minutes away from home, could end up at your home. The flies! The flies!
3. Too many smokers
4. Cockroaches

Back to Reality

Life was sweet for about 6 weeks from the time I left my firm at Hood&Strong, a week in Hawaii, and some free time to roam around Sydney. But eventually, things had to come back to normal (that's why I haven't updated my blog for a week). I started my new job at Verisign - Australia on Monday, Nov 7th.

So what did I do to celebrate the remaining days of my so-called- life- is- sweet- I've- got- too- much- time- on- my- hands free days? Nothing really! I was supposed to go to Brisbane with my friend, Amin, but of course, I had to stay for that fateful 2nd interview with Verisign that got me the job. Friday night, Andrew had some friends visiting from Germany. They came over to the house and we all had dinner at a Thai restaurant just around the corner.

Saturday was more of a laid back day. Just resting before the big day on Monday while Natasha was preparing for her trek in Nepal at Machupuchre.

Sunday, Michelle and I took the train to Milson's Point and walked back across the Harbor Bridge to the Rocks.





Monday is the big day. I arrived in the office even before the controller came in. Pretty much the whole day I was trying to memorize everyone's name (I finally got it by the end of the week!), doing some admin paperworks, and started training. Not bad at all. Knowing what the company does, there's lots of room for growth and success in this company... especially working for the AsiaPacific division (ie. China). My office is less than a block away from cousin Michelle's office. So this week, I've met up with her twice for lunch already. One day was 'Welcome, Celestine' lunch...but they forgot me on the email invitation. Another thing I like about this job is the business casual dress code and Friday jeans are ok. No suits...and my boss doesn't want me to wear suits anyway.

Tuesday, Amin was back from his trip to Brisbane. Had dinner along Circular Quay and walked along the harbor and at the Rocks. Wednesday night, the whole gang (Me, Michelle, Andrew, Natasha and Amin) went to Balmain to celebrate Amin's last night in Aussieland. Thanks for dinner, Amin! After dinner, we checked out the wharf at Balmain overlooking Sydney Harbor bridge and the city. Great view...especially living in those million dollar homes!!!

Thursday, another dinner out...I guess this seems pretty normal because we used to eat out alot back home (except that they don't have In-N-Out burger over here!!!). But on Thursday, we went to a $5 steak restaurant called the "Slip Inn" along Sussex St and King St. This restaurant is a special one because back in 2000 during the Sydney Olympics, the Crown Prince of Denmark (Prince Fredrick) met his wife-to-be, Mary, a commoner. She is now a princess! Maybe I should hang out there more often and maybe I'll find my prince charming. The food was great and its cheap. What makes it cheap is the beer they sell all night. Well, we were there for the food...not the beer. We're in for any cheap deals! So lugi sila sa amin.

Saturday, we went bowling at Randwick. Not one of us got even close to making 100 points...well, its been years since we all played bowling. Oh well. Warm up for a bowling get together we're planning for next time. After that, we went to Coogee beach, another nice beach you will find in Sydney.

Andrew bought a badminton set for our backyard. After the beach, we set it up at the backyard. You think its pretty easy but it could be a good work out especially running after the birdie (called the "shuttlecock") and always having to pick it up if you're on the loosing side of the net.

I got a job

After my first interview with Verisign on Monday, they asked me to come in on Wednesday to meet with the HR Manager. Michelle and I went to the city together and she bid me good luck and hoped that I get the job because her office would just be a block away. The interview went well. By that afternoon, they offered me the Sr Financial Analyst position reporting directly to the Controller of Verisign – AsiaPacific division. Verisign is a really good company and their parent company is located in Mountain View back home in the SF bay area. Overall, I liked the company, the people, and the job. So I accepted the offer and will start working on November 7, 2005.

Yes, finally. A job. At first I was hoping to get an extra week off. But then again, I don’t know what I’ll be doing for the rest of that week. I hope if they ever do anymore business trips in SF, that they bring me along. That would be cool so I can get a free flight back home.

Next day, I went to Bondi Beach, most famous beach in Australia. Check out my pictures below:

Melbourne Cup

Dig this. Do you know of any other country that celebrates a horse race as a public holiday? Australia it is! Melbourne Cup is the most famous horse race in Australia that happens every first Tuesday of November. It is so much celebrated that pretty much all companies shut down for half a day to watch and bet on the horse race…not to mention, the city of Melbourne declares it a public holiday and everyone gets a day off. They call it, “the race which stops a nation” for a horse race that runs for about 3 minutes (3200m track). It is similar to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs where people dress up to see the race. Of course, there are other smaller horse races during the day which then leads to the main event.

So since most companies are half day on Nov 1^st, I did not have any interviews scheduled. I went down to a local pub around Norton St appropriately called “Nortons on Norton” – very original! The favorite horse this year is Makybe Diva (pronounced Makaibe Diva). For the past two years, the horse has won the most prestigious cup. A three-peat has never been done before. The main race starts at three and a couple of the guys in the pub told me to bet on a horse. So I did. I made a bet on another horse (Railings) that has had a good record from its last four races (I believe 2111 – 1^st place in its last three races and 2^nd place on its 4^th race). I betted $2 for Win and $2 for Place/Show (I’ve been to the race tracks in Bay Meadows in San Mateo with my brother Michael and cousin Francis at one point. Funny story. All day we were betting on the horse races. Overall, I lost $2. On the way home, I had a lottery ticket that I needed to get checked. Guess what? I won some money…$2!!! I broke even at the end of the day. Cool!). FYI: “Place” is 2^nd place and “Show” is 3^rd place. Obviously, “Win” is 1^st place.

Unfortunately, my horse did not win…not even on the top three. Makybe Diva set the record for winning three Melbourne Cup back to back to back.

It was a great experience. My first Melbourne Cup. Maybe next year, I’ll get half a day off from work. This year it didn’t matter. I was unemployed anyway.

One other thing, Australia doesn't really celebrate Halloween. It is slowly coming here so I'll miss it for a few years. But anyway, a few teenagers rang our doorbell for some treats. Of course, we didn't really have anything to offer (I said, how about some unagi...that was our dinner that night). But since Michelle and Natasha are on a chocolate-nuts-sweets diet, we had a box of chocolate sitting in the cupboard and we gave it out (I wouldn't really miss it too much. Besides, I had some Tim Tams from Verisign that day).