So Many Wines and Lights

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

                Second day of class.  I was very happy to sleep in an extra 45 minutes this morning. Got up with no problem like normal and I’m a little nervous about being late somewhere with the buses so I left at 7:40 and got to north Sydney 30 minutes early so I went to a café.  Not as good as my one in Bondi, but it did the job.  My internship focus class for the first hour was boring. We talked about the different language, many of which I’ve already shared the differences in words.  Then we talked about some cultural differences in the work place and I have noticed some differences.  For instance there is less of a hierarchy it seems.  Many people aren’t worried or nervous to challenge those who are above them.  When at home I feel like people have the attitude of sucking up to the boss, always doing what told, not asking questions kind of thing.  Granted each work place will be different. 

                Wine class then came and it started off rough.  I failed my test, but then again everyone in my class did.  No one got over a 50 percent so it was pretty frustrating. At least now we know what to accept but it will definitely require more work than what I thought.  Our professor talked so much about how he understood that we aren’t there to jus take the class and he knows we want to do fun things.  He also talked about the only reason he was having tests is because the Purdue curriculum is making him.  Well if he said all that stuff why did he make the test so hard? Oh well, come next week I’m sure it will go much better. In the morning session we learned about how what to look for, talked about aromas, and taste wheels.  The day dragged on so much.  I think it was because I’m becoming accustomed to running around all day which helps wake me up.  Yet in class I just sit there in this warm room and drink tea the first half.  At lunch we all walked to a new food court that we were told is better than greenwood plaza.  It was so crowded with everyone on lunch and there were a lot of different places to choose from.  I got a turkey, avocado, sprouts, and cranberry wrap from monsieur baguette.  It was really good.  Im not sure in avocado are in season right now but they are all over the place.  People bring them to school and eat them on chips.  Maybe I just didn’t pay as much attention at home, that’s probably the case.

                Afternoon session of wine was long also.  We scored wines the whole time.  We got to try 9 different wines. It was way too much. I ended up only taking one sip of each and wasting the rest of it by pouring it out.  We had 18 bottles with just different scents we were supposed to try and recognize and I think puffing the air out of the containers one after another gave me a headache and then going and sniffing each wine just made it even worse.   We had a Riesling, Chardonnay, sparkling wine, light red wine, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, dessert wine, tokay, and a port.  I wasn’t really in the mood for wine today probably because of my headache.   The whole smelling and tasting thing doesn’t come easy to me either.  Some people pick it up and smell it and can recognize that oh yeah that’s fruity or that tastes like peach or what not.  Hopefully I get better at it. 

                After class I went straight home but stopped at coles to do grocery shopping since I haven’t gone since I got here.  I got some peppers – which later at self check out I couldn’t find peppers, which is because they don’t call them peppers they call them capsicums. But I also bought onions, (which for a bulk of about 8 was a dollar I got excited) mushrooms, spinach, ham, cheese, pasta, cereal, rice cakes, pitas (instead of bread) and probably some other things I can’t remember off the top of my mind. I found some weird things that I either never see at home or just don’t pay enough attention – custard apples, durian, chokes, and lime leaves.   

                I came home carrying the three very full bags to my apartment, unloaded it all and made dinner.  I made some baked pasta which the remaining I’ll bring to work tomorrow I’m sure, if the container will fit in my purse.  Then I went to Sydney’s vivid light show. It is absolutely amazing! I am so happy I went and I plan to go again tomorrow night.  It’s been going on since the weekend I believe and ends this weekend I think.  But they basically light up the whole city along the harbour.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHycEJthnHA this is a good link of what I got to see on the Opera House.  I saw the exact thing, it’s so sweet that lights do all of it.  But there were a lot of interactive things.  Such a huge tic tac toe board two people play on or bikes that when you cycle light up massive wings behind you.  There was an igloo that was lit up.  I found a fish from finding nemo. There was also this thing that when you screamed it lifted up this flaps that were covering bright lights.  So when a lot of people screamed it would get super bright.  There was a massive pink chandeliers hanging at the end of one of the docks that looked like it was hanging out over the harbour water.  All of it was just so cool and it is definitely something you can’t see everything in one night.  

Off to bed I have about 5 hours before I have to get up