So the weekend has been fun! Thursday and Friday were rainy so we didn't do too much during the day, plus I was still recovering from Jet Lag and my terrible sunburn. One morning, however, I did get out to the local bookstore, Gertrude & Alice, to purchase the book club book for this month, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, and have a coffee. (Yes, book club ladies, I am reading the book club book!) I met two really nice people there: one was a twenty something Australian girl who is currently living in LA and working as an actress in the movies, the other is a local yoga teacher who spent 4 years living in Japan studying Tai Chi.
Friday night we (Kelsey, Phil, Andy (Phil's Cousin), Scotty (Phil's friend/old roommate), and myself) went out in Bondi for drinks and fun. We went to two bars, Bad Mama/Mamasan and Beach Road Hotel. For those of you in Mpls, Bad Mama would be the equivalent of a cool sushi place, maybe Fuji Ya, and Beach Road Hotel feels kinda like 508 or The Pourhouse.
Saturday morning I went to breakfast with a couple of Phil and Kelsey's friends, Scotty and Popy, at Sun Cafe. I had a breakfast baguette which consisted of baguette bread stuffed with bacon, fried eggs, spinach, roasted tomatoes, and garlic aioli. Delicious! Saturday night Phil and Kelsey had a work party to go to so I hung out with Phil's sister, Rose, his brother, Patrick, and cousin Andy. We went out for Mexican food at a place on the beach, Beach Burrito, and then got ice cream at a local ice cream shop. The night was stunningly beautiful and we got to eat out burritos and ice cream with the South Pacific ocean in the background. It's just amazing, the beautiful weather and the sandy beaches. I can definitely see why people live here! It's kinda funny they are really into Mexican food here. I find this slightly amusing since there are very few Mexican people here and they are an ocean away from Mexico. The tacos I had were decently authentic, however, and very tasty.
Today, Sunday, I spent the morning at the beach (now that my sunburn is finally starting to heal, only 5 days after getting burnt) and browsing the local Bondi market. The market was cool but not what I was expecting. I thought it would be like a market in Eurpoe, with mounds of beautiful, fresh food. Instead the market was selling goods, such as clothing and jewelry. It was still a nice experience but I didn't buy anything. I did, however, find a great used book dealer that I can visit next weekend to get a cheap read for my time here. This afternoon I sat at a cute little cafe across the street from where I'm staying, Bondi Organic Republic Bakery, and spent my time watching the people and reading my book club book. The barista, Matt, suggested I get the chocolate cupcake to go with my latte but I wasn't in the mood for something so sweet. Instead I got a great little Portuguese muffin thing. I will be going back later for the chocolate muffin and I'll let you know how it is.
This afternoon Kelsey and I walked around Bondi a bit and had a drink a happening little cafe/bar on Hall Street, Cafe Bikini. The vibe there was really cool and the place was nice and chill. This evening we went out for a few drinks at a local bar here in Bondi, Ravesis Hotel. This place feels kinda like Seven in Mpls but not as busy, at least not on a Sunday night. Over all nice chill day. Tomorrow I am finally going to start the sightseeing part of my trip and hopefully continue with this for the rest of my time here in Sydney.
Now for a bit of commentary on Sydney/Australia in general:
This country is super expensive. Here are a few examples: a bottle of water at a casual dining place, $3.50; a hamburger at a casual dining place, $20; a normal sized bottle of sunscreen, $15; paperback book, $20. If the exchange rate was good for Americans this wouldn't be such a big deal but it's almost 1:1. With this, I've had to be a bit carful about my spending. It would be nice to eat more meals out but I just can't afford to be spending $25-$30 on each meal every day. If I can manage to control my spending while I'm here in Australia I know this trip will go okay. Fingers crossed!
There are tons of foreigners here. I have already met people from all over the world and I've only been here a few days. It is so fun and inspiring to see how ofter people from other countries travel and where they've been to. It's also cool how many foreigners live here in Bondi. I'm sure there are places in America like this, probably NYC, Miami, LA, but in Minneapolis most people are born in MN, live in MN, and have little/no intention of ever leaving MN. I actually met people in MN who didn't understand why I'd feel the need to go on this trip because "Minnesota is the best place in the world." I would agree that MN is very nice, but there are just too many places to see in this world to stay there forever.
Okay, I'm going to now abruptly end this blog post. I will try to get back to this tomorrow and improve this blog post so maybe check back here again later for updates/corrections. I'm going to bed now, chat soon!
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