They call it "Australia Day"

Australia day was on the 26th. I went to a festival at a park in Parramatta (a suburb close to the city) and had a fabulous time. They sure are patriotic.

There were flags posted in a U-shape on the field. I think they were there to represent the multiculturalism that is ever so evident in the city and the surrounding suburbs.

I found the Canadian flag standing tall and proud. I smiled and took a shot of it flapping in the wind.

There were several local bands that played throughout the day. In the evening, they sang the Australian anthem. I stood there looking like a fool since I had never heard the anthem before and did not know a single word. The main attraction (besides the fireworks after sunset) was the concert featuring Guy Sebastian, the first Australian Idol...ever. Here he is (on the right) with two other renowned Aussie singers.

He won my heart after I heard him sing "What a wonderful world" and "When doves cry."

The daily word

Tuesday January 24th 2006 7: 23 pm

Hello all. I've decided that I should write on my blog more often. Meaning more than once a week. So today, Grace and I took my uncle to the hospital for his weekly checkup. My uncle is very old. He's married to my aunt, who is the eldest of all the siblings on my mom's side. So the difference in age between my aunt and my mom is something like 20 odd years. Anyway, today the doctor confirmed that my uncle has Parkinson’s disease. So now we can add more pills onto his ever-growing list of medication. That was the low point of the day.

Then Grace and I picked up her son, Sid, from a birthday party. It was held at a sports arena. I walked into a large warehouse like room filled with 10 year olds playing cricket and soccer. Speaking of which, I think I've watched like over 25 hours of cricket this month. My cousin Cozi, his wife Grace, and their son Sid are sports fanatics so cricket, rugby, soccer, and tennis are frequently on T.V. By frequently, I mean all the time. I've always been down with cricket (being a Bengali myself) so it’s nice to once again find myself in a country obsessed with the sport. Bangladesh is playing Australia in April so that’ll be sweet.

Ok, so today I finally went near Tyson and played with him. I steered clear of their dog after we found half of a blue-tongued lizard in our backyard. We suspected that the other half was probably in Tyson’s stomach. So I told him that I thought he was gross while he sat there grinning from ear to ear. I’m still not ready to let him lick my face.

Will he and I ever regain what we used to have? Only time will tell.

Salty fresh air

Friday January 20th, 2006 2:47 p.m.

Last Monday I went away on a little trip with my cousin's family. We drove south for six hours and arrived at a little town called Tilba Tilba. There we stayed in a cottage on top of a hill, in the middle of a farm. We were surrounded by cattle, tractors, more green hills, mountains, and farm dogs. It was quite relaxing. I posted a few photos on here. They didn't turn up in the order that I had hoped they would. So my story will not be chronological in the least.

In this first photo you will see the beautiful ocean in the background, with Sidney (my second cousin) walking along the sand, at Pebble Beach on our way back to the city. I did not see a single pebble there.


Right beside the beath there are forests scattered around a small park. I was pleasantly surprised to find heaps of kangaroos near the trees, 20 feet away from the waves. I was even more delighted when I found out that these kangaroos have been exposed to humans all their lives and are thus, quite tame. I still didn't dare to go near them lest I be kicked in the stomach by one of those incredibly powerful legs. But I finally saw others go up and pet the beauties. So here I am (with Sid), giddy as a four year old holding a lollipop. Especially happy because the first kangaroo I saw in Australia was on my way to Tilba Tilba, and it was dead on the side of the road. Roadkill here = dead kangaroos unfortunately.

This is the view from outside our cottage. Click on the photo to enlarge it and you will find a sign in the middle of the photo with a cow on it saying "Cows ahead." I was really tempted to steal the sign and bring it back home. The time we spend at the cottage was again, as I said, really relaxing. We played pictionary and uno at night, went fishing during the day, cooked and ate whenever we felt like it, and played tag with the farm dogs in the evenings.

This is me, trying to make my mom's side proud by pretending to be a good fisher...woman? The Dhalis (my mom's side) are avid fishers. It rained almost everyday we were there. My cousin fished even when it was pouring cats and dogs and probably even dingos.

Spatchcock and the cityrail

Friday January 13th, 2006 6:37 p.m.

My blog is still set to Vancouver time. Until I figure out how to change that I'm going to type out the date and time on top of each entry. So today my cousin dropped me off at my uni (Aussies, like the Europeans don't say the rest of the word). U of Sydney is a little bigger than UBC so finding my way around reminded me of freshmen year, which was not so long ago. But I loved it. I walked into the first big building I came across. (Look at photo on top)

It took my breath away. I walked inside and went to the information desk and asked for a map. The rest was a piece of cake. I went into the International office. The people there were really nice, just like the staff at the International House at UBC. I asked them a whole lot of questions and they were quite helpful. Then I walked around, found the train station with the help of some locals, and went into the core of the city. It was really fun walking around aimlessly. I had no idea where I was and where I was going. Then my stomach started grumbling so I walked into this place called Central Gourmet Cafe. I was looking at the menu and the dish the stood out at me was the following:

Spatchcock with mushroom bacon gravy. Served with chips and salad.

I asked the waitress what the word "spatchcock" meant. She gave me this look...as if I'd just asked her the meaning of the word "potato" or "sky." Then a smile quickly spread over her face as she told me that it meant "chicken." You learn something new everyday. I ordered it and it was delicious. I came home and looked up the origin of the word. I won't write about it here. That'll be your homework. After lunch I, with the help of my cousin who kept on calling me on my mobile (haha, mobile), found my way back home. Forty minutes on the train, and a fifteen minute walk. All the way from Sydney to Greystanes.

I'm quite pleased with myself. The things I can do on my own. Watch out, big foreign city!

I am down

under. I made a friend on the plane. It was really funny because he was an aussie who was returning to Australia from Canada, after having spent 12 months there. So we were doing the same thing, except his trip was ending and mine was just beginning. Sixteen hours of flying and three airplane meals later, I was at Sydney airport bright and early in the morn. Except it was already 25 degrees celsius. I knew I was in for trouble in my jeans and black shirt. But thank goodness for air conditioning.

My cousin, his wife and their son were there to greet me. We drove back to their place. It's a 40 minute drive from the city, in a suburb called Greystanes. It's ridiculously hot but hopefully I'll adjust quickly. My aunt is already spoiling me with her delicious meals. Like mango daal....mmmm. Anyway, the weather has been fascinating. It's bright and sunny (35 degree) one minute and pouring rain with loud thunder the next. That is all for today. I'm being called to watch Madagascar with my cousins' kids. Tata.

Spendaholics (not so) Anonymous

I was real excited about all the money I had managed to save during the holidays. Somehow I didn't end up spending a lot and moreover, received a lot of greens from parents. I guess I can't really call Canadian money "green."
Purple. Blue.

But this week I managed to use my excellent spending skills and have now reduced the size of my wallet to about this big: [insert picture of emaciated wallet here]
I've spent it all by doing the following:

- going out for dinner with friends
- buying birthday presents
- going out for dinner with friends
- buying belated birthday and christmas presents
- buying summer clothes
- going out for lunch (by myself) in between shopping sprees

If you feel sorry for me and the lack of money in my pockets, please feel free to give me some so I can spend it all in the next two days.

Say what?

Windy rainy days. Oh Vancouver knows how to start the year. Nevertheless, everyday I seem to fall in love with the city more and more. I've actually been out everyday...looking for things. I don't know what exactly but my mind is telling me that I need to be out there looking. So I am.

I shouldn't be, because the doctor told me today that I have a bad case of the cold. A virus. The name, I think, starts with the letter "A". And my voice sounds like that of a 13 year old boy going through puberty. He told me to rest my voice and so if you call my place during the next few days my parents might not let you speak to me. I don't see how "mission shut your pie hole" is going to work seeing as how I am planning to spend a lot of time with my friends this week.

My parents are going to be very annoyed with me. As will my voice.