Last Weekend in Sydney

Friday, June 22, 2012

                Today was a fun day considering we had a casual teacher. We only had four students which makes the world of a difference.  Our sub teacher wanted to have a very interactive day.  For the first bit I took two of the kids out into the playground to get some extra exercise.  We jumped on the trampoline for most of it.  I was getting a sweat myself, it was a humid. When we came back in the teacher was working with one of the students doing an art project.  It was actually a great idea.  We used black posters and then we had three different kinds of textured balls. Kind of like dog toys.  But we put them in colored paint and rolled them along the poster paper.  They ended up looking great.  A lot of the paint got everywhere but I think some of the kinds enjoyed it.  it is also a very sensory activity and so many of the kids are sensory dependent. The rest of the day at school was just normal.  Trying to keep the kids safe, not running around, sitting down in their seats, and lunch. 

                After work I didn’t do much until the evening. I went out with Purdue and CAPA people and went to the argyle. I was happy I got the chance to go strictly because of the name.  It was a very large and expensive bar. I stole some coasters. 

On the Trampoline

Saturday, June 23, 2012

                Today was a good day.  I woke up early and got out of the apartment early to start the day.  I went out to the markets at the rocks again. It was going to be my last time to be able to go.  After my time in the rocks I got on a ferry and took it out to manly.  I absolutely love manly. It’s so nice, not to so much city life, but still densely populated and still just a ferry ride away from Sydney.  So once I got to manly I did this hike to spit bridge.  It was an amazing hike.  It was about 11k, so around 7 miles.  By the evening I was very stiff.  It was just a beautiful scenic hike.  I don’t know which hike I like better this one, or the coogee to bondi.   The manly to spit hike was nice, we walked through many small bays with sailboats all over.  Part of the walk was through Sydney national park.   I went out to a lookout point that had a small white lighthouse.  There were plenty of moments where we could venture off the path out into the rocks or walk in some sand along the ocean.  The last bit of the walk was along a beach in a small town within the city of manly.  There was a large park where lots of families were out with their children grilling and socializing.  We were walking past one house towards the end and this house had four singles for rowing besides his house. I want so badly to go up to him and ask him about them but I didn’t give into my urge.  Once we hit spit bridge we went and found a bus stop that would take us back to the manly ferry. 

Sailboats

this is where the harbour empties out into the ocean

lighthouse lookout

I got dinner in manly.  I went to mexico via manly.  I have been craving Mexican ever since I got here.  It is very expensive anywhere in Sydney so the prices weren’t surprising but comparing the price and this size of this burrito to what I can get at home from chipotle is just insane.  Not that I need a bigger burrito but they were definitely on the smaller size.  Also they tried to present the burrito in fancy way on the plate when all I could think is I’m just gonna pick this up and make a mess of it anyway.  Even after all that I still very much did enjoy my burrito and I left full.  Something else that was different is in Australia in general you don’t get sides with any meals you ordered.  A girl I was with ordered enchiladas and usually anywhere you go you would get rice and beans.  She just got a plate with the enchiladas and that’s it.  Most places when you order a burger you have to separately order fries to eat with it.  its annoying in my mind   because I already think everything is so expensive and then I’m forced to add on to the bill when buying sides.  On the way home I was exhausted. I spent my night in because I was so tired.

downtown Manly

Sunday, June 24, 2012

                Today was the day I was determined to do everything left I wanted to do in Sydney considering it’s my last weekend in the city.  When I climbed the harbour bridge I got a free voucher to go in the pylon museum on the bridge.  I got up early and headed out to the bridge.  It was a very nice, small museum.  It gave a lot of information of the bridge and the making of it.  I watched an eight minutes film of old pictures while it was being built.  I saw a model of the same size of the pin that attached the two halves of the bridge at the middle together.  I walked the 200 steps to the stop of the pylon and got a great 360 degree view.  It gave me a good view of the bridge and the city and the opera house. 

one of the four pylons

                After I was finished at the pylon museum I decided to take a stroll across the bridge to say I walked across it.  it was a nice walk.  So many people run along it and there was even a sign telling joggers to slow down.  But I enjoyed it, I don’t know how long it took but it wasn’t long.  It gave me a different view of the opera house. Usually all I ever see if the side view, which in my mind is prettier anyway.  But at the north end of the bridge you can’t see straight forward at the front of the opera house.  Once I got to the north end I just made the walk back.  Once I was there I decided to take a ferry to milson’s point.  Here there is this park called luna park.  It is an amusement park.  The city voted of what they wanted to put in the land there and the people voted to have a coney island, so that’s what they built.  I walked around and it was just full of kids running around.  It was also very expensive.  To ride one ride was 10 dollars and then I didn’t even look at how much it cost to have unlimited rides.  They have a nice small ferries wheel though.

 

                I didn’t spend too much time there before catching a ferry back to circular quay.  When I got back I decided to go to the powerhouse museum.  It is a very science industraial trype museum, similar to the field museum in my mind.  It has a Narnia exhibition, but I didn’t pay the extra 6 dollars to go into it.  Now if it was harry potter, that would be a different story.  Luckily right next to the powerhouse museum was the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center.  I didn’t get to go inside, but it is a very nice looking pool.  One whole side of it was glass allowing anyone to look in.  Right by the powerhouse museum just don’t the street is Paddy’s market.  I went in and got some small trinket tourist type things. 

                The whole morning and beginning of my afternoon was packed with things.  So by the time I was at paddy’s market my feet were killing me and I just wanted to head back to my apartment.  When I got back I laid down and took a thirty minute nap.  After I got up I got an invitation to dinner and a movie with some other people.  The place was out in darlinghurst.  It was an Indian buffet and the movie was the woman in black.  The food was interesting.  I don’t think I have had real Indian food that’s not bought from a store and made on the stove.  I found some things I did like, my favorite was fried cauliflower.  I loved it.  It was all vegetarian too.  The movie, well it was definitely scary.  I spent a lot of the movie with the pillow over my eyes.  I like the story of the movie and everything behind it, but I was scared for most of the movie.  Also while watching it I never thought oh there’s harry potter playing the main man.  He does a good job leaving harry potter behind and taking on the new role in this movie.  It was finished around 9pm and I came home and went to bed to get ready for my day at the hunter valley. 

Monday, June 25, 2012

                Today was the day I went to the Hunter Valley with my wine professor and the rest of my class.  We left around 745 to make the long drive out there.  About an hour in we stopped and picked up our professor in some time.  It is over a two hour drive and it felt like forever.  I was sitting on an end seat so I was uncomfortable and never had the chance to fall asleep.  Once we got there we went to Drayton’s winery.  I loved this one the most probably. It felt very family and warm environment.  We tried about 12 different wines.  Besides the ports I liked a lot of the wines.  The man who was giving us the tasting was nice and made it fun.  The second winery we went to I wasn’t a fan of.  They mass produce their wine, plus they don’t even have any vines in the hunter valley.  They take the grapes from somewhere else and then make the wine there.  That kind of turned me off.  The man giving the tasting was nice but I felt like he was trying to impress us all by giving us nice expensive wines.  When to tell you the truth I didn’t even like them.  After that we went down to the village where we ate lunch.  I got a turkey avocado and cranberry sandwich.  I enjoyed it very much.  The third winery was across the road at tempus two.  This place was extremely modern and all their labels are copper plates.  They made it seem like they put so much money into the building and the sushi shop in it and the other cafes.  There wasn’t much either that impressed me too much at this winery.  The last winery came around and I was just exhausted.  I had to stand during the tasting when all I wanted to do was sit.  During part of this I joined a 4 year old boy at the kids table and played with the toys with him.  I was just too exhausted to stand and drink these different wines.  Plus more than half the wines are red and I have yet to find a red wine I really like.  That might changed after Wednesday’s wine class where we are trying 15 different red wines.  I liked this last one though because we were given a tour of where they make the wine.  We saw all the wine barrels which each one costs two thousand dollars.  Can you believe that? Plus after about five years they don’t use them again.  It is outrageous.  I have plenty of pictures of all the wineries.  The drive home I was exhausted and somewhat managed to get some sleep.  Once I got home and made dinner I was out and asleep shortly after 10.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

                 My second to last day at Wairoa School.  im really sad actually I don’t want to say goodbye to my boys.  I have been making sure to take videos and pictures of them so I can remember.  Today we had another casual because our teacher was gone.  We didn’t really do much at all. Just more of tried to pass the time by playing music on youtube for the kids to watch.  I was on duty during morning tea.  Thursday they are having a farewell breakfast for Dorte and I.  I’m really looking forward to that because the last time there was a farewell breakfast it was like a buffet of all different kinds of foods.  I can’t imagine not seeing these boys again.  I would love to be here longer just so I could be around them more. 

                I spent most of my night studying for wine test tomorrow. I made hamburgers and set off the fire alarm in my apartment.  Which my burgers weren’t even burnt.  But we have been specifically told that if the fire alarms go off that we open the balcony doors and to not open your door that leads to the hallway.  If we do that and the fire alarm goes off in the hallway then we are fined.  That is if it was a legit fire that needed everyone to evacuate the building.  I was fairly annoyed that they were going off, it was loud and I didn’t want my apartment to be any colder that it already was.

Sorry about the failing in updating.