Hello All,
My friend Ethan, all the way from Seoul encouraged me to do a blog ! Thanks E !
Let's see, I'm a little behind as I've been here in Sydney already for 6 months. The first impression when I got here was that I wasn't lost. Funny feeling. I wasn't expecting anything in particular since I had never been to Australia but I was really happy to see that the streets, the shops, the people were much more as I remembered them from Europe. Yet it has this US influence ... a good influence ;)
I arrived in Sydney on Friday August 27th (left SF on the 25th!), at 6:30am after a 13 hour flight.
The last week in San Francisco was really intense and the last few days were just hell !!
I got to the hotel around 7:30 8am … nothing fancy but the guy is nice, an older Greek man, from Peloponnesus.
The room is fairly small and simple, pretty ugly decoration. I found out that Philip Reed is here. I met him back in SF, I knew his girlfriend Yvonne from ILM.
After a shower, I go to see the Opera, like the perfect first day of the perfect tourist. I still don’t realize I’m here, it’s strange. The only thing that gives me a clue is people’s accent …
The Opera house is beautiful, smaller than I thought. I wonder around for a while, taking strange shots. Then I see people on the bridge, it’s pretty high and seems quite fun to do. Why not ? I walk around, trying to find my way to the bridge, discover a nice vista point and finally see a sign “bridge climb”… so here am I, at the entrance J What a disillusion when I read on the brochure the mere sum of $155 to climb ! Oh well, I’ll reserve this for later, on a special occasion.
I then go grab something to eat, go in the Botanical Garden, Hyde Park, Chinese Garden (very similar to the Japanese Garden in SF) and walk around there. Close by there’s the hospital with Il Porcellino. Quando si tocca suo naso, porta fortuna … beh, chiaro lo faccio !
Back to the hotel around 4pm, Jessica, from work, had called to tell me to stop by Animal Logic. There’s a little get together (I found out later on that this is a regular thing, every couple of weeks, they treat us to wine and beers and we see work in progress) and she wants to introduce me to the crew. I meet Jon, Alex and Robyn’s friend and he introduces me to a lot of other people. I was not jetlagged but definitely in a strange space. I kept looking around, looking at those new faces, one was familiar but that was it (a gay guy from SF, how ironic !). The more I looked the more guys I'd see ... 1 woman for maybe ... 10/20 guys ???? ouch ...
After the get together, we went for a drink in a pub, The Royal Cricketers Arms in Surry Hills. That was my first introduction to the pubs' life in Sydney ! There I met Niki, an australian woman who's now left to sunny England ... why did you do that Niki ?! Good luck to you. I also met Eoin, whom I probably had met in Rome 5 years ago ...
I go back to the hotel around 1am ... exhausted but happy, that was a very nice introduction to my new life.
Saturday 28th :
Philip and I went to Bondi. Nice beach, a bit too touristy for me but … (he he he, who knew that I would end up living there !)
We stopped by Target !!! at Bondi Junction.
At night, I met up with Eoin and his wife, Alessandra for dinner. There’s also Mike and Massimo. I'm surrounded by italians again ! (don't worry Guido!) After a nice Indian meal on Oxford Street, we all go out for a drink. Massimo and I talk quite a lot. He offers me to come and live with him for a couple of months, until his sister gets here. He has a spare bedroom, that would be really good for me.
Massimo and I decided to go for a last drink at Coogee, where he lives. We talked all night, very nice conversation, very nice guy.
On Sunday, Massimo calls me and I join him around noon for lunch. His flat is nice, big and clean J, with a beautiful view on the beach. He seems definitely ok with me moving in. I’m trying to give him more time to get to know me, in case we don’t get along. We hang out together for quite a long time, at his place after lunch. It’s raining and grey and it’s quite comfortable hanging out with him.
We’ve decide that I’d move on September 11th …
I go back around 4 or 5pm and relax at the hotel.
