Un Luck

Thanksgiving week on Australia St. was a rocky one. Our Aussie flatmate, Aaron, went to America and his name was on the lease. Since he was moving out and we are unable to sign a new lease (because we are short term and foreigners) they decided we had to move out. This was not good news. In a strange city it is hard to set up a life and we were finally getting settled in Newtown only to find out we had to up and move again. At the moment in Sydney it is near impossible to find housing, and short term housing is even more difficult. So we were back on gumtree looking up share accomodation. I was coming up with nothing and getting really stressed out. One of the pluses of being forced to vacate the house has been we get to sell everything. So Saturday we had a yard sale. In the midst of that we met an old man who lived 3 doors down. He coincidentally had a room available. I was so desperate that I actually considered moving into his loft even though is 12 year old vegetarian daughter runs his life. But at the last minute Noemie's friend had 2 rooms available in her house so Ed and I went to check the place out yesterday and it is gorgeous. The room is a studio out the back with our own bathroom and it reminds me of an island holiday. I am very excited to move in. I truly believe that if you are a good person things will work out for you in the end.

I will post a few pics..There are some of our early Christmas. Ed's mom and dad sent us a Christmas package and it arrived on the day that we found out we needed to move out, so we decided to open them up to cheer ourselves up. Also, two weekends ago Noemie and I did a 10 k walk from Manly to the Spit bridge which was lovely as well. Hope everyone's holiday seasons are going well.

Lucky Me

This photo is funny because Sydneysiders are often found walking around the city barefoot (even in the CBD). So in a city where people don't often where shoes this little dog was prancing around.

I have had a lucky streak since I have been in Sydney. I don't often enter contests or can be bothered with gambling but I have had a few strokes of luck. The first being Vodafone. I received an email from them saying I have won a customer appreciation prize so I got to choose a gift from 8 offerings. One was a 20% off phone upgrade, travel books, and other things. I chose a pocket knife (which I was about to buy before I came to Australia) so I was quite pleased with that. My second bit of luck was when I won money betting on the Melbourne cup. Finally, I entered one of my photos in a contest for Time Out Sydney Magazine (a guide to what is going on in Sydney). You are meant to send in a funny picture taken in Sydney. I just found out today that my photo will appear in 21 November addition and I will get a free subscription to the magazine. Shall I try my luck some more to see if it really is a lucky streak?

It helps to be Efficient

Went to the aquarium last weekend with Noemie. I was pretty impressed with it however it is quite odd to go to an aquarium after you have been scuba diving. You feel a bit cheated since I have seen many of these fish in the wild and not in a glass box. I guess that would be similar to going on an African safari and then attempting to enjoy a zoo. But it was a decent thing to do on a rainy Saturday.

This past Tuesday was the Melbourne cup. I was quite excited about my first real cultural experience here in Sydney. The whole country shuts down from lunch time on. In Melbourne it is a state holiday. At my work it was mine and another girl's responsibility to organise the office sweepstake. We have a $1, $2 and $5 pot. You draw the horse's name out of a hat so it is a random chance to win. We all headed over to the pub for lunch and to watch the race. I didn't really think I had a chance so I enjoyed watching everyone place their bets at TAB but I didn't participate. The race started and one of the donkeys was leading the whole time, with a favorite in 3rd place. The last 10 seconds of the race they don't show you what the standings are and wouldn't you know my $5 bet Efficient won the race. I won the most money in our office sweeps than any one else at the table (it was $50). So beginners luck has struck again.