Sydney-LAX

I survived the flight from Sydney to LA, I am getting pretty used to this long flights.  Unfortunately I did not sleep AT ALL this time around which was not cool.  I just can never get comfortable on them.  I even forced myself to drink wine hoping that would tire me out but it didn’t do the trip.  I did get to watch a couple of movies and even some Modern Fam episodes, one of which I never saw (how did that happen!).  Finished my book so I feel like I definitely accomplished something.  The food on these flights is seriously amazing.  I got a lunch/dinner and then breakfast and since I had to get a special meal for allergies they bring out my food first so I literally feel like a VIP.  You get a little goody bag with snacks and stuff during the flight as well.  The flight always sounds so long and daunting (14 hours) but it really does seem to go pretty fast once you are up in the air and I am always so surprised when they announce that its time to land already.

Landing at LAX is probably the worst part, its such a HUGE airport with so many international flights landing around the same time.  I got my hustle on after getting off the flight and was one of the first in line at customs, apparently there weren’t many Americans on the flight because I was second in line on that side.  Grabbed my bags, which were sooo heavy and hard to get on the cart (last time some men helped me but no men around today).  Then, I had to drop my bags and find the next terminal to go to, where I asked about three different people to help me because the signs were not clear, and it was early, and I was a bit out of it still.  I had like 3 hours to kill so I got some snacks (wasn’t sure what to eat considering I ate breakfast at 3:30 AM and now its 8 AM and I want lunch.  Saw HELEN HUNT buying gum and water with her daughter at one of the shops.  Wanted so badly to say something, but I was in a bad mood and didn’t want to cause a scene.  Now I can finally say I got my celeb sighting.  I’m also pretty sure I saw some sort of athlete I am going to say a basketball player judging by the body type.  He was so tall, pretty skinny, sunglasses, and had some pretty fancy luggage.  Wanted to stalk him but thought that wouldn’t quite be appropriate.

Goodbye my lover goodbye my friend

And here I am on the plane making my way back to Chicago.  The long distance relationship with Australia has started all over again.  I thought it would be easier this time but it is ten times harder as all my relationships with people have grown stronger and I have met even more amazing people that I will never forget.  Thank you to everyone who  made me feel so welcomed and at home.  I am about to get really emotional and really don’t want to cry on the plane so I will leave it at that.  I know that I will always have a special bond with this country and will not be able to stop going back.  I am already looking at my calendar trying to find the best time to go back. 

Things I will miss most about Australia:

-the amazing accents and slang words that people use…hopefully I don’t try many of them in America

-attempting to do an Aussie accent when all that comes out is British

-slow cook dinners that Freddie made for me

-night time chats with sis

-baking yummy gluten free desserts and learning new recipes from my fellow GF mum

-cover bands at every bar

-and of course all the people…you know who you are!

Things I am looking forward to in America:

-MY CAR!!!

-cheap prices

-family, especially BROOKIE!

-friends, so excited for nights out in Chicago while its still warm

-summer weather

-internet on my phone again

Professional Bush Walker

I was actually relived to not have to work my last day in Berowra, its always nice to make money but I wanted to be able to do whatever and not have a schedule.  I woke up and it was beautiful out!  About 21 degrees Celsius AND the sun was shinning so I had to go for my last run, which I got to do in shorts and a tee shirt, remember it’s the dead of winter over there right now.  I almost got hit by a car, while technically I did get hit but luckily I put my arm out and it protected me.  I still have a hard time figuring out which way to look when crossing the road especially at those round-a-bots which are always confusing.

After all the food I ate before I felt I needed a lot of exercise (especially because I would bit sitting on a plane for the next 24 hours).  Emily and I decided to go for a different bush walk, this one at a well known national park in the area.  This walk was even MORE intense and I was a little nervous halfway through, especially when it started to rain and we still had to walk all the way back up.  The cool thing about the bush walks is you start in neighborhoods and then somehow you end up really low near water.  You cannot see the water or really even know its there when you start the walk but after lots of steps and winding its just there.  We had a great walk and it was wonderful to get last minute bonding time in together.

Walking buddy

Huge pelican....and his/her poop

A walking we shall go...

The dreaded day came where I had to say bye to my favorite Aussie boys.  Honestly these boys have proved to me that there still are nice guys out there who do really care for you.  You boys are some of the nicest, most thoughtful, and caring people I have ever met!  I miss you all already!

My brilliant American mind thought it would be a wonderful idea to go for a bush walk or something active rather than the standard meeting in the city for some over priced meal.  Then we decided to make a BBQ of it, but this BBQ did not include burgers like the standard American ones do.  But the food was still amazing and of course we had way too much.

Back to the bushwalk (which is walking in the bush pronounced like “boosh” sometimes there are dirt pathways, sometimes there aren’t, sometimes there are bugs and animals, sometimes theres a million steep steps when you thought it was all downhill, it can be pretty unpredictable you get the idea).  Anyways while living in Berowra I was always hearing about this bushwalk that goes down to Berowra Waters, which is a little river that you would never expect to be there.  Anyways the hike/walk/whatever you want to call it was pretty intense and we did not look like professionals like some of the intense people with backpacks, sticks, and hiking shoes looked (although Ben tried to make his own walking stick but that’s another story).

Kitcheners!

Bush walking crew

Sorta my backyard

Self timer at its finest

Getting close to the bottom

After dinner we all sat around the table for hours, laughing up a storm.  My host parents couldn’t believe that there was never a silent moment the entire day.  The group gets along so well and we constantly make fun of one another but each of us takes the others sarcasm well and laughs it off.

Leaving with a bang

This weekend I had my last night out in Sydney.  We finished the night off at my new favorite bar "The Crowie" where they had an amazing cover band playing.  I think I have already commented on the fact that so many bars here have cover bands and I absolutely love them.  This band was by far the best I have heard yet and Elyse and I sang and danced the night away right up with the band.  I finished the night off with an Aussie kebab and it was definitely a successful last night out!  I will miss going out with all these girls and how much fun we have out together!

I whip my hair back n forth

Farwell BPS

Last week I had my last days of substitute teaching at Berowra Public School.  I went back to my duties as the librarian and taught the kids all about Cadel Evans.  For those of you who have no idea who I am talking about, he just won the Tour De France and was the first Australian to do so.  He was also one of the oldest.  According to the kids he has a major "butt chin" and they really couldn't get passed this after I showed photos and video footage of them. (at least they can put a name to the face though right?)

I also subbed in second grade, which was probably my favorite day at school yet!  I definitely prefer the younger grades and think second might be my favorite.  I had a minor freak out when I got to school that day and realized that the teacher left NOTHING for me, no plans, no worksheets, nothing.  But I survived and was able to be creative and use my own ideas and basically do whatever I want, which made for a really fun day.  It's days like these that remind me why I want to be a teacher!

After school when I was on bus duty one of the parents came up to me.  She heard my accent and asked "Are you Miss Alley?"  Of course I said yes and she proceeded to tell me all about how much her kids have talked about me and how much they have loved learned about America. (I guess she was a little confused when they brought home pictures of the American flag and state map)  But the best part of all was when she said that her kids were so confused how a "teenager" was able to teach them.  So apparently I look like a teenager and all the kids are so confused as to how I have graduated school and am a "real" teacher.

I am really going to miss BPS and feeling like a celebrity to the kids there.  Hopefully some of them will come visit me in America someday!!!!

Proud Sister

Host sissy got elected SCHOOL CAPTAIN!!!  Which is basically the American version of school president.  So so proud of her and so happy that I was able to attend her induction ceremony.  Front room VIP seats!  I was literally beaming and smiling like a proud sister during her speech.  I love being able to live through a 16 year old again and am going to miss my Aussie sister so much!

How adorable is the little tie?

My lovely Australian family!

Lauryn attends an all girls high school (same sex schools are very common here) High school is grades 7-12.  It was crazy seeing so many teenage girls and I could not believe how short some of their skirts were!  Everyone looked adorable in their cute little uniforms.

Lauryn and my attempt to make a dairy free gluten free jumbo cupcake!

League NOT union

Since I have been here all my friends are trying so hard to help me master an Australian accent.  Unfortunately every time I test this accent out, it comes out British.  Even a cab driver (those men never talk!) told me that my Aussie accent is terrible.  Guess I won't be able to trick anyone into thinking I'm Australian when I get home.

Nick's birthday weekend celebration continued with a trip to a rugby LEAGUE game (there is league and union apparently both very different and people get very angry if you get them confused).  The place where the game was played was tiny, slightly bigger than WWSHS stadium.  Again the game was pretty confusing, but I definitely understood it more than the AFL game the week before.  Basically the guys just keep running into each other and wear no pads (scary).  The players wear really tight jerseys and very short shorts, I still don't understand how they feel comfortable running around and tackling people with those really short shorts.  Manly won the game and obviously I was rooting for them because the boys were more attractive and Manly Beach is amazing.

Manly vs. Penrith

Who wears short shorts

Karaoke Superstar

So for a really long time now I have always wanted to do karaoke (another item on my bucket list).  Whenever I am at a bar that just so happens to have karaoke I am very open about the fact that I WANT to do it and practically try to drag my friends to come up with me (altho never has this actually been successful).  Sometimes I wonder "would I actually go up on stage and sing in front of a huge group of strangers?"  Probably not, which is why I try to drag a friend up there with me to make it less awkward.  Anyways over the weekend it was Bonnie's boyfriends birthday and late at night totally spur of the moment we decided to call over to this karaoke place where you can get indivudual rooms.  They had rooms avaible so we hopped in cabs and made our way over there (altho our cab took us to the wrong location so we had to get in another cab...but really that's another story).  We finally got there and it was absoluetly amazing!  We had our own private room, two mics, and a HUGE book full of songs.  Like honestly every other song I saw I wanted to sing, who knew there were sooo many good ones!

If you know me well you know that I have always always always said that "Sweet Caroline" would be my first karaoke song (it's just such a crowd pleaser and sing along song, especially if you get really into the BUM BUM BUM!).  Of course we did the standard Spice Girls, MJ, Hanson, and Backstreet Boys (the boys were not very impressed).  Even tried a little Bieber but oh my goodness are those songs high, I had to give up half way in.  My favorite was definitly singing Afroman with Nick because I mean I saw that guy in concert at Bluebird (Btown represent!)

It was a crazy night filled with hilarious stories and I really wish we had a video camera there to watch back the next day.  Look out Chicago friends I have already looked up a place in the city for us to go to :)

Trying to stay classy with wine

Fist pumping to Sweet Caroline, obviously

Rockstar mode

Getting pretty into it

Afromannnn

 

Winter weather blues

It hasn't been a very eventful week, there has been nonstop rain here for the last 6 days and I really just cannot take it anymore.  Found out from my host parents today that this has been the wettest July in 50 years, funny because it was the most snowy winter at home this year in however many years (I must have bad winter weather luck).  Finally the sun came out today and I can already tell that it has done wonders on my mood (plus it's the weekend).  Not many updates but I have started reading a new book called The Help, pretty excited about it especially because the movie is coming out and Emma Stone is the lead.  I finished the Hunger Games series on vacation and would definitely recommend that series to everyone!  Since I didn't have much work this week I was able to skype with lots of people so that made me happy.  Time to get ready for the weekend festivities.  Still can't believe I will be home in a little over a week.

Swans

Last Sunday I was able to go to my second Sydney Swans game!  I must be becoming quite a fan right?  Wrong.  Although I really enjoy the games (I pretty much enjoy all sports though) but this is one of the most confusing sports I have ever experienced in my entire life.  I really did try so hard to pay attention and understand the rules, but it is sooo different than any sport in America that I just can't follow it.  I even try watching it on tv and still no luck.  (Sorry Andrew for asking so many questions and distracting you during the game!)

The Sydney Swans played Fremantle which is a team from Perth so quite a ways away.  The Swans were down most of the game and then made a big comeback at the end but unfortunately it wasn't enough.  So for the second time I saw the Swans lose (I must be bad luck).  Halfway through the game it started to rain so we whipped out our handy dandy ponchos and sucked it up.

Lets go Swans!!

Crazy hats, crazy kids

Hester where you at! Reppin the Bears jersey

Short shorts, no pads, intense

Lauryns boyfriend

My boyfriends

Sliding all over the place from the rain

Wet & cold but success!

These boots were made for walking

Manly Wharf where the ferry leaves from

 Alright so we didn't actually wear boots on our walk but it was the only catchy title I could think of.  When I was here last year the girls would always talk about this LONG walk from the spit bridge to Manly, with beautiful views and what not.  Unfortunately we never had time to do the walk last year so I made sure it was on the top of my list for this year.  When my parents came to visit last year we stayed in Manly so it will forever be one of my favorite places in Australia.

The walk is 10K, which is a little over 6 miles for us Americans (I am getting pretty good at converting distance, weight, and temperature...but seriously why can't it all be the same around the world?)  We had to take a bus to the spit bridge and then when we were done we ended up back in Manly.  It took us about 2 and a 1/2 hours to walk it.  It was absolutely beautiful, most of it was on cliffs near the water and was actually more strenuous than I had imagined.  Ash and I were lucky to get a day with no rain!

Part of the walk was on the beach

Sydney in the distance

Indiana represent!

Self timer at its finest

Back to Manly, and its dark out

Check surfing off my bucket list

Learning

Words cannot describe how amazing this experience was for me.  Ever since I can remember I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to surf, to have that California girl lifestyle that you see on tv, shopping at PacSun and pretending I need board shorts. When the tv show MADE was on MTV I always dreamed of writing in to become a surfer (then one girl actually did and boy was she terrible).  The last two times I was in Australia I really regretting never having an opportunity to learn.  This time was different because we were in Surfer's Paradise, the mecca of surfing!

The company where we had the lesson was actually started up by a world champion surfer named Cheyne Horan.  I got to meet him before my lesson so I guess now I can say I met someone famous!  Anyways, they drove us out to this one location that was pretty private and had lots of waves.  The 2 hour lesson FLEW by and I was so sad when it was time to come back in.  I know surfing looks hard and all but let me just tell you that its EVEN harder than it looks.  The next day I could hardly move my body hurt so much, and that was only from a couple of hours.

I was so happy when one of the teachers pulled me aside to really help me (I was basically freaking out the first half and kept saying "we don't have waves like this in Chicago" therefore my nickname become Chicago).  With his help I was able to stand up!  It really is a confidence issue and for most of the time I was just scared to actually try and stand, I would make it to my knees and get too nervous.  But I am proud to say I got up and even have pictures to prove it (courtesy of the company. of course it costs extra but totally worth it. and how cool do we look in our gear?)  It was everything I could have dreamed of and more.  As soon as the lesson was over I wanted to go right back out there and keep trying.  Hopefully I can go out surfing again someday in the near future.

Happiness :)

Laughing at Bonnie's wipe out

Made it to the knees

So very Blue Crush of us

The board is heavier than it looks!

Almost all the way up

Hurray!!

Do I look like a real surfer now?