Bear Hugs

The Buddy Bears are in Sydney. Life-size bears have arrived and displayed at Circular Quay showcasing the world-renowned United Buddy Bears exhibit as part of Unicef's Unite for Children 60th anniversary.

124 Buddy Bears representing the United Nations member state were painted by international artists in the spirit of their own country of origin.

The first of these similar objects I saw painted by artists was when I went to Toronto, Canada back in 2001. I saw moose everywhere (If the plural of goose is geese, shouldn't the plural of moose be meese? Actually, no. The plural of moose is actually "moose"). An artist would paint one of these moose (not the real one, of course), display it around the city, and sell it for charity. The following year, I went to Catalina Islands in LA. And similar thing. They had painted buffalos (not the real ones) and displayed all around the island. Apparently, they had lots of real buffalos in the island. Then you've got San Francisco. Now what object would you think the city would use to represent SF? The 'heart', of course, as in "I left my hear in San Francisco'. If you noticed about two years ago, you should have seen a bunch of painted hearts displayed in San Francisco. I was at a client's site one time on one of the taller buildings in the city. I peered through one of the windows and at one of the shorter buildings, I saw an artist's work of heart displayed on the top of the building. If you missed any of these, my firm actually bought one of these hearts and is displayed in our lobby (if its still there) at this address: 60 Spear Street, Suite 400, San Francisco. Or if you are assigned to WECO SF Corp audit, see if you could find it in one of the shorter buildings next to WECO's building (if its still there???). If you see it, blog me.

If you want to see these bears, their next stop is Japan this year...in case you happen to be there.

Here's the three bears that represent the three countries I've lived in (Philippines, US, and Australia):

Philippines - featuring the 'agila' - eagle
US - featuring the Statue of Liberty
Australia - featuring aboriginal paintings

St Patrick's Day Parade

There's a pretty big Irish community here in Sydney, as well.

I didn't really do much to celebrate St Patrick's day (ie. wear any green or go out drinking). All I did was sit on a curb and watch the parade on Sunday. Men in quilts, bagpipes, irish wolfhound dogs, leprechauns, and some U2 songs being played out (U2's "I'm a beautiful gay" song being played while the gay irish paraders were passing by). They even had a group of paraders from Boston wearing Boston Celtic jerseys.

Here's some pix from the parade:

"Tuesdays with Morrie"

I went to Kinokuniya at Victoria Galleries, their 'Borders' or 'Barnes & Noble' here (although they do have both 'B's here in Sydney, too).

Today, I read the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom.

The lesson learned was simple:

"ITS NOT TOO LATE"

I also recommend his other book, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".

I haven't driven a car

...in 5 months and I don't see myself driving anytime soon either. Its always been bus, train, taxis, ferries, or riding in someone else's car.

Maybe I'll take up lessons to learn how to drive a stick shift car. In fact, I can just get a rental car and start driving (they do rent stick shift over here. I didn't find any rental place in the US that rents out stick shift. They probably know people like me would rent one to practice on and ruin all its gears). The only problem is, I'll be driving on the other side of the road. That means, I'll be shifting gears with my left hand. Oh well. I gotta try it.

My mom and I used to go to a car dealer, get a stick shift car to test drive, she drives it out of the dealership, and a mile later, I get on the driver side, and start practicing. Hehhehe.

Great Barrier Reef - Cairns, Australia

To save me some time, I'll just post the email I sent to my family.

hello everyone,
i just got home from a busy and tiring weekend. my friend from oracle, tina (who i used to work with at my firm in SF) was back for business last week. she is now the 2nd and 4th friend i've seen since i moved here. when i wanted to plan this past weekend, i just wanted to stay in sydney to watch the mardi gras parade (gay and lesbian parade which seems to be a very very big thing over here). but tina said she wanted to go to the reef coz she might not be back to australia for work. i wasn't sure i wanted to go coz i had mitch's wedding food tasting this sunday. i had to be back by sunday morning to get to the food tasting.

well, i guess you already know which decision i made. we didn't actually book our hotels, the day trip, and our flights until thurs and friday of that week. this is probably the most spontaneous trip i've ever done.

thurs night, i stayed at tina's hotel, Intercontinental. its a pretty high profiled hotel coz the previous weeks, they had guests such as harrison ford and the olsen twins staying at the hotel. that was cool. before retiring for the night, tina and i checked out the Establishment, a bar in the city, where everyone seems to go. but there were too many people so we headed to the shangri-la hotel. they had a bar on top of the hotel overlooking the city. very cool! less people and more relaxing.

the next morning, friday, i had breakfast at the lounge on top of the intercon hotel. this is a VIP lounge for those clients who have upgraded rooms. tina said, all you see are americans eating breakfast there. she was right. most of the people there were americans. anyway, the lounge also has a great view of the opera house and the harbor bridge while eating breakfast. and i get in there all for free!

so i went to work, which is literally two blocks away from the hotel. our flight was at 9pm on friday. there were actually three of us: me, tina, and aaron (also from oracle) that flew to cairns (pronounced caynes...they don't pronounce the 'R'). we got there at around 11pm. they are one hour behind. it was warm, humid, and muggy over there. it felt like i was back in hawaii again...or florida. we stayed at "The Lakes" - kindda like time share type. we got a suite in a gated community. they actually have bars and restaurants inside the gated community for the residents. i think some of the units there are actually owned and lived by the owners...and maybe some are rentals just like maui hill in hawaii.

anyway, we went to bed asap coz we had to get up early for an 8am start. next day was great barrier reef day. we went to the reef terminal in downtown. there were tons of tourist waiting to get on board. the package we got was from "passions of paradise". i would recommend this company as well as the hotel we stayed in. from the terminal to the snorkelling site was actually abt 1.5hrs away...or maybe even 2hours. first thing we did was snorkelling. yes, i'm still unsure about my swimming skills so i had a life saver to hold on to with the floating device around my waist. no melinda to snorkel with me this time. i was on my own. surprisingly, i survived without drinking too much water this time. hahhahha. the corals/reefs were beautiful. very colorful. huge corals. its a once in a lifetime experience to check out the great barrier reef.

next up was diving. i've never done this before and i got kindda worried. but to really get up close with the reef, you have to go deeper into the water. but we did some testing with the breathing on the regulator of the oxygen tank. they taught us how to blow out the water if water gets into your mouth while deep in the water. you just say "two" while breathing into the regulator. if water gets into your mask, you have to pinch in the middle of the goggles, turn your face up, then breath out. it leaves a small opening in the goggles to breath out the water. anyway, we tested all of these while in the water. by the way, i think the oxygen tank and all the gears were about as heavy as i was. i could have fallen backwards carrying that thing behind me. oh yea. while in the water, i had to hold on to the instructor the whole time coz...i don't swim. so i was in safe hands. it was really cool. i got to touch some of the reefs, i found nemo and even got to touch nemo, i saw a giant clam that the instructor touched and it closed and opened. scary if you get stuck in that huge thing. i can't believe i was able to do that and not once did i swallow water while down there. they said its actually easier than snorkelling. all you do is breathe and never, ever hold your breath. and that's a skill we all know how to do since we were born. right?

next stop, we went to michaelbay cay island. its a small island in the middle of nowhere. its a bird island coz its mostly birds in it. a rest stop for them if they've been flying that far away from the mainland. how did they get that far anyway? from the boat, you could either snorkel your way into the island or ride in the smaller boat into the island. i was the lazy one and got on the small boat. hehehhe. but i went back into the water to do more snorkelling. this is where i saw a baby shark (i think its the grey nosed shark which is really harmless). but i still got scared eventhough it was probably 1/3 of my size. maybe even smaller because our goggles actually makes things bigger and closer than you really think. this is also where i got stung by a jellyfish. by the way, they have deadly jellyfish here (called bluebottles). i felt something stinging my arms but when i looked, it looked like nothing. i showed it to one of the crew members and saw two tentacles on my arm. you could barely see it. i think they were just tentacles...i didn't see any jellyfish heads. the crew said, nothing to worry about. if you start to feel getting sick later, then let us know. i asked one of the other crew members for those jellyfish spray and he said jokingly, "well, you don't really need it coz in about 5 min, you'll die anyway". and they keep scaring me and telling me that it will scar forever. thankfully, most of the "scar" went away in about an hour. most importantly, i didn't die in 5minutes. just kidding!!! hahahaha.

on the way back, we got to see some dolphins, too. and also on the way back, i started to get sea sick. the waves were really getting bigger and stronger. with lots of fresh air and a nap, i made it back safe. what a great experience!!! i didn't think i'd get to do this as early as now. its something everyone has to try. well, for some people, its not good if you have motion sickness.

next day, sunday, we have to wake even much earlier...430am to catch a 610am flight back to sydney. geez!!! but i made it early enough to relax a little bit at darling harbour before meeting up the party for the food tasting event at mitch's reception. what a deserving lunch. we got to taste six entrees, six mains, and six desserts. we were to choose two of each and i think we pretty much all agreed with what we liked among the selections. i think it'll be good food. sorry for those who can't make it. hehehehe.

like i said, this was gonna be a busy weekend for me. the food tasting wasn't the last thing i had to do. after that, natasha (my roommate) and her two other friends went to watch the finals for soccer. it was sydney vs central coast for the championship. sydney won! yay! my first soccer game. that's about it.

Sony's Tropfest

A week ago, I joined a fundraising event for the Teresa House where Natasha volunteers and where Mitch used to volunteer in. It was held at the St Ignatius College, one of the best private schools in Sydney, if not the best. Teresa House is a temporary crisis accomodation for homeless people and drug addicts. For a good cause, I went to check out the dinner/dance event and to meet more of Michelle and Natasha's friends. The event was a success and it was a lot of fun. And I got to meet a few more people.

A week later, they had the Sony's Tropfest at the Domain. This is a nationwide competition for the best short film (within 7 minutes) in the country. The theme this year is all about bubbles. Anything from water bubbles to bubble boys. So it was just appropriate that they were giving out water bubbles during the event. The most eventful part was probably when we all got rained out and soaked watching the films.

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.

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.