It has been awhile since my last update and there has been a lot going on!
For starters, I began a new job. It's a pretty casual job nannying for two girls, ages 6 and 11 over the school holidays (winter holidays here for a couple weeks...still hard to believe its winter in June, but more on that later). I have only done it a couple days so far but they are super easy to watch and I can't complain about being paid almost 3 times the Wisconsin minimum wage in cash to hang out with girls all day and take them to the park and do arts and crafts!
Unfortunately, I won't be able to do the job long since (after quite a turn of events) we are moving in about 3 weeks! On July 15th we will have to be out of our apartment here and will be moving to Raymond Terrace and living with Andrew's parents for a brief time while looking for houses in Newcastle, a city quite a bit smaller than Sydney (about 600,000 people), and quite a bit cheaper, but still with plenty of beach access and entertainment. We were thinking about for a while but hadn't planned on anything until August 15th at the earliest. But, one of our flatmates finding somewhere else to move has sped up the process. It's a welcome change in all honesty and I'm sure our wallets will thank us!
 |
| Rabbitohs...Very intimidating bunny with Xmas colors! |
A couple weekends ago I also checked another item of my Oz bucketlist and went to a live professional rugby game! This story goes all the way back to December when Muzz, Andrew's brother in law, sent my parents and me hats for a Sydney rugby team called the Rabbitohs. The team has a rocky history with some championship wins ages ago followed by such a bad streak that they were almost eliminated from the league. However, Russel Crowe bought the team, pumped lots of money into the players and coaches and VOILA suddenly they are so bad. They finished strong last year but had a rocky start this year. Previously we had only watched one game on TV of the Rabbitohs vs. Tigers and the Tigers, a team that was ranked very low, absolutely creamed the Rabbitohs. So when Muzz asked Andrew and I to attend the Rabbitohs vs Tiger game live with him, his dad, and his brother in law, we of course obliged! We had pretty great seats in the huge Olympic Stadium and tickets were real cheap at around $30 per person (makes me wonder why we charge so much for NFL games in the States?) and after a difficult time getting there, which included 4km of walking, we arrived just in time for the game (and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts from a vendor!)
 |
| Stadium in Olympic days |
The stadium itself was amazing. It was used for the 2000 Olympics and then later converted into a rugby stadium but removing a big portion of the higher up seats and the running track and adding seats where the track was. For your sake, I will try to simplify rugby just so you get a taste of the Aussie equivalent to the NFL... First, the field is 100 meters long (roughly looks the same as a football field) and has a goal post (similar, but smaller than field goal posts) on each end. Basic game play begins with a kickoff and the receiving team attempting to run the ball the length of the field in 6 attempts. Hand passes may only be backward although there are some other rules about kicking it forward (usually used as 6th attempt in order to get the ball further from their own goal line before the other team gets it) but these kicks may also be caught by the kicking team and then play is continued from there. In order to score a "try" (aka touchdown) the played much actually touch the ball on the ground in the goal area. This is worth 4 points. Then the team gets to attempt a field goal (20 meters back from where the ball was touched on the ground, which could make the kicker kick from the far left/right) worth 2 points. After a try the scoring team receives again and the game continues. In this way, the games are often "runaway" scoring since one team is constantly receiving the ball. Two of the biggest differences to NFL is the clock, which rarely actually stops (only for bad injuries-there isn't even timeouts!) and the gear worn by the players, which is just (short) shorts, a polo, shoes, knee-high socks, and the optional (but WAY uncool) lightly padded head gear. This makes the impact hits so much harder and much more dangerous (one guy this season broke his back and will probably never be able to walk again). The game is simple enough to follow and you can't beat the environment, which was great for us because the Rabbitohs won! We celebrated quite late into the night with the boys and actually ended up at a karaoke bar which was a blast (of course).
Recently there was also a big rugby match called the State of Origin which is when the players are either on the red or blue team depending on whether they are from the North (Queensland) or South (New South Wales). NSW was blue this year and although they hadn't won the 3 game tournament in years they came out strong. Andrew and I missed the first game, which was won by Blue (NSW!), but we did see the second one which was more fighting than playing and ended up with another Blue win, giving us the title for the year!
 |
| Vivid lights on the Opera House |
Since I haven't updated in quite some time I missed telling everyone about Vivid and my first visitors here from the States. Vivid is a week-long light festival in the city and harbor which basically lights up buildings and includes cool and interaction art pieces featuring lights. There was a real neat light show ON the Opera House (watch it
here ) but my favorite part was the random lighted kangaroos/clouds/shapes that went across the skyline of buildings! Very neat festival that rang in the beginning of winter. Also during this time the Rotary International Convention was in Sydney. This brought two Rotarians that I know here, my friends Justin and Ann. We got dinner one night and another night went out for a crazy night on the town (which involved dinner, drinks, pickle backs, a drag show, and late night Chinese). I loved playing "tour guide" and I'm happy to say that it won't be my last time as my best friend Litzy just booked a trip here and my parents are also looking to come out, both trips in November...Couldn't ask for a better birthday present!
