Miss J: It's Official!

Happy Sunday friends! So I have decided to move my weekly blog updates to Sundays - good day for me to recap the week/weekend, a lazy Sunday read for you mates back home and a day where I can sit and not be rushed to write! So as the title of this post indicates, I'm officially moved in and man, I don't know how I accumulated so much stuff in the span of a 6 weeks. It was enough to fill up the entire boot of Lachie's car - I am curious to see how much I will have to ship home at the end of the 8 months! It's so nice to have my own room and be able to hang up all my clothes! Not that I don't love you, Tess and Lachie - and most recently, Qibo (haha I had to)! I just feel more settled now. I'm further from the tram stop than I used to be - a 10 minute walk versus the 3 I've grown accustomed to. I'm in a cool area though; a few blocks from one of the main roads in the suburb of Brunswick. My new roommate, Matt, seems like a cool guy. He's as much a morning person as I am, into fitness and our kitchen is loaded with our vitamins and protein. Hopefully we get on as well I did with my old mates - miss you guys already! It's much more quiet in a pad with 2 people, in comparison to a house of 5.

This past week was a bit crazy. I worked 11 hours on Monday and then another 12 split between Tuesday and Wednesday. Aren't I supposed to be on a "working" holiday? With an emphasis on the word holiday... It was good though - made a killing on commission this week with heaps of people coming into the store looking for Spring Carnival outfits. Myself included! Procrastination is something I can't shake, no matter what country I'm in! I put in more hours than expected and to say thanks my boss hooked me up with a fascinator for the races. Score! One less thing I had to do during the week :) Laziness is starting to settle in.

The weekend started on Thursday for me. Met Reg for a sushi lunch at Yuzu, followed by a martini at Lui bar in Rialto tower, which used to be the tallest building in Melb'n (now it's the Eureka tower). The view up there was breath taking. Although another urban jungle from above, seeing how close we were to the coast and the surrounding beach... Just a reminder of how far I am from home. There has always been something about being near water that I have found comforting... At home, if you will. Definitely some residual feelings from my Hong Kong days. Thursday night, Sosan and I decided we would hit the town and enjoy Halloween. Original plan was to hit up 18o6 with some of the other girls but since it wasn't a costume party, we decide to hit up another Halloween party in the city. Going in costume on public transportation was an experience to say the least. I got many quizzical looks on the tram and even more while waiting for Sosan at Flinder's Street station. Along the way to the party, we got stopped by couples, families and creepy dudes for pictures. Definitely an usual occurrence if I was at home with y'all. The party was tame compared to our usual Halloween antics. No candy handouts; no pubcrawls... Even at the party, only 40% of the people were dressed up... It's a silly reason, but it did really make me miss home.

Friday I spent the entire day in recovery mode. Lachie and Saqib were great and fetched me much needed water/coffee. Side note, fetch is a common word here and in no way am I referring to them as my bitches lol. It was a hot day out so I spent the morning tanning and sweating out the vodka/tequila mix that was still circulating my system. I followed tanning with a hard leg workout. I felt 100% until I met up with the newbies group at Rah Bar on the South side. My tolerance is definitely not near what it was! I had a drink and felt sick all over again! The upside of this party was that 80% of people were in costume! Hoorah! I sort of got the Halloween I wanted. I was home and chillin' with the boys by 1; I even had time to review Qibo's cover letter! Bat Girl to the rescue!

I needed to rest as much as possible for Saturday - Derby Day at Spring Carnival. As much as my friends tried to prepare me for this day with words of wisdom from past experiences and mishaps, nothing they said could have prepared me for the day! Derby Day is one of the biggest days for horse racing in Melb'n. Everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE looked so glam! It's like they stepped out of the pages of Vogue to strut their stuff. The best way to get to Flemington was to take the train and everyone treated the platform like their runway. I was blown away by the conglomerate of Louboutin's, YSL clutches and intricate fascinators and hair pieces! Say what you will, I know not everyone is into this style, but I LOVE fascinators! It's like stepping into a fashion time machine! Combine that with modern day hair porn... OMG! Yes, I just referred to great hair as hair porn. Reg and I made our way to the car park (Aussie for parking lot) and there were hundreds of tents set up near people's cars. Legitimately, it was a fancy tail gate party; where we have trucks, they have fancy SUVs. Where we would have a keg, they have linen covered table cloths with champagne and wine glasses. Instead of a George Foreman grill, people had catered staff serving BBQ, sandwiches and mini desserts. I tried to take as many pictures but it was impossible to capture everything and the pictures just doesn't do the experience any justice. It was all very posh!

That is until the champagne started to flow... Then everything just started to get Stampede messy! Stumbling is much easier to do in cowboy boots than in heels! Even wedges. I was one of the very first to tap out at our stall. A few too many champagnes and Reg's signature house drink (the Woowoo, which I proudly know how to mix now!) combined with the scorching weather (28 degrees) and I was out for the count. Luckily, the passenger seat was empty and I was able to have a mini afternoon siesta; otherwise who knows if I would have even made it until 6 PM! Luckily, I was coherent enough to join Reg in the members area and place a bet on the actual Derby race and two of my horses ended up placing first and second. Yay, me! I didn't get the trifecta (having three of my bets place 1st, 2nd and 3rd); otherwise would have probably won some big money. I only lost $10, NBD! Don't ask me which horses I bet on, I got a great tip from Danny (thanks buddy). After the races, we headed to Spice Market in the city on a shuttle; where I again passed the F out. We danced, they drank some more and I called it a night at 9. I don't know how these Aussies do it but we started at noon and even with my second wind, I couldn't keep up!

I need to take a moment to say that I have never seen this many good looking guys in one place! Perhaps it was the alcohol; maybe it was the suits; or most likely everyone's over-sized sunglasses but everyone looked dapper <3 Everyone obviously puts in quite the effort to look their very best! A crowd of 130,000 in mainly black and white! Gorgeous. Reg has generously offered me a pass to Oaks day, which is ladies day and the theme is floral. A much more tame day, I was assured but I am not sure my liver can afford anymore damage. Although the temptation of buying a new floral dress is very alluring... I am on a detox until boozy high tea/An's birthday party.

Much like back home, there is a divide between the north side versus the south side. North (being north of the river) is much more hipster, ghetto if you will; whereas the south is more "yuppie," and full of the corporate types. I have been told, I am much more south side gal (I don't know if that is a compliment or not but I take it as one). But here I am, a girl from the NE living on the north side. Guess you can't take the girl out of the 'ghetto' afterall LOL. Sydney road is very culturally diverse; Vietnamese/Chinese restaurants, Italian cafes and kebab shops line the streets. It's a mish mash of ghetto 17th back home but with a Kensington vibe to it - fedora wearing peeps riding bicycles in their maxi skirts/skinny jeans wearing their Converse kicks. But if I ever need to go for after bar eats, I am apparently in the right spot! Kebabs or Macca's are the go to's while drunk. No You & Me or Golden Inn over here. We did go to a Chinese restaurant after Shauna's going away and it was shit house! Food and service.

I spent most of my day exploring my new neighbourhood. Found a great cafe where I wrote the majority of this post - channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw (a SATC reference for those who didn't get it) while waiting for my washing to finish. I had to ask where a laundromat was and the guy at the shop was so confused. Coin laundry is what I was looking for. Mental note made! Something I'm not sure I will adjust to is the lack of dryers in this country. Everyone hangs their laundry out to dry but with the unpredictable weather (cloudy and overcast with sporadic showers all day today) I don't know how things dry in time. Call me conservative, but I am not a fan of hanging my undies on display for my neighbours to see; no matter how cute they may be! The street was much more quiet than I have experienced on a week day or any other weekend. Races are huge here. Tuesday is actual a public holiday for Melbourne Cup; however, yours truly will be working. Probably until midnight - sad face.

A few things I have forgot to mention in my previous posts that differ on this side of the world:
Dim sum is called "Yum Cha" (literally drink tea) here. You say dim sum and give you a raised eyebrow in response. They do have this deep fried mystery meat called a dim sim, which looks like a chicken nugget - I have yet to try and don't know if I want to.

They have water closets which is genius! Having the toilet separate from the shower is much appreciated in a shared house; anyone who has been on a snowboarding trip with our beloved D-man would greatly appreciate this!
Chocolate wafers as straws aka Tim Tam slams! I have yet to try one but most definitely will! Bite the ends off a Tim Tam and use it as a straw until the inside wafer part starts to melt together and then you 'slam' the whole piece of chocolate into your mouth. Yum!
Where's Wally? Perhaps Aussies have a hard time finding this red and white striped dressed lad because his name is Waldo!
Much like the one in Vancouver, the suburb of Richmond is the home of most Asians! LOL not the Chinese though, I'm not sure where we dwell, but the Vietnamese have taken over Richmond.

My social calendar has tapered off for the week and I am excited to catch up on shows and start eating healthy again. Cheat days were equal to the amount of clean eating days this week. Joined a new gym which I am super pumped to start going to! I went today but they were closed, again, sad face! I took a 30 minute tram ride into the city for the sole purpose of getting my sweat on... Oh well. Meeting with a trainer tomorrow - time to turn this setback into a comeback! Aside from work and working out, Benny and I are planning out our New Zealand trip this week! Am I going to be brave enough to cross off skydiving from my 30 before 30? Time will tell!

My IG and FB feeds have been inundated with pics of the snowstorm that has hit back home. The grass is definitely greener on the other side; ironically, I miss the scenic peacefulness of fresh snowfall, despite my literal effort of chasing summer this year. I will just appreciate it more when I'm back next year! Stay warm & drive safe!

xx