Dumpling and Kindertransport

After going for a run this morning (O.O) I know! First time in yonks! Margaret and I went out for lunch in Chatswood at a legit Shanghai restaurant for some realy dumplings! I've never had dumplings before- at least, not that I remember-- and we ordered 3 dishes + jasmine tea! Jasmine tea was very lovely, we ordered some fried chicken with chili sauce which was delicious, some green beans with shrimp and something else-or-rather which was also quite yummy and the best of all was some pork and coriander dumplings. They were absolutely divine. Yum yum.

This evening I went to a play with Margaret called Kindertransport. Directed by Margaret's lovely friend Caroline (Carole Moore). It was absolutely fantastic! Absolutely incredible. Pretty much, this nosey, selfish bitch of a daughter (called Faith) comes up to the attic and starts nosing around and finds this old suitcase with letters, documents and a German edition of the Pied Piper, all belonging to a girl called Eva. A Jewish girl sent to Manchester, England to escape Nazi Germany. She was 9 years old when she was sent to England. Faith questions her grandmother about it and gets all upset when she tells her to put it away and to stop it, and keeps right on nosing into this painful affair and discovers that this little girl that was sent to live with them in refuge from Germany is her own mother Evelyn. Faith gets absolutely upset and starts yelling at everyone how this is so unfair that she doesn't know this part of her heritage and why did everyone lie to her about everything and how she hates them. During this, you get scenes on the other side of the attic which doubles as a train station very convincingly, which is Evelyn's life starting when she was 9 and sent to England, and her life in England. It is absolutely fantastically done. So Faith is pushing and pushing Evelyn to remember everything- bringing up painful memories that Evelyn has put in the back of her mind to protect herself- and Faith (having no empathy for her mother what-so-ever) brings those things forward on a very selfish basis. Everything for this Faith character was all about me me me. (From the moment this character stepped on stage, I wanted to slap her, and especially by the end I definitely had a strong dislike for the character. The actor wasn't great either.) So Evelyn's character as a young child goes through all this painful hustle and bustle of life during the war, and then when Evelyn turns 17, her mother turns up having survived Auschwitz. Her mother wants Eva to come to New York with her where they can start a new life, but Evelyn having gotten settled in England doesn't want to leave, she doesn't remember this hollow-eyed, gaunt looking woman who she used to call mother. Evelyn does not pass this on to her british mother- that her real mother showed up until much later when she's telling her life story to pushy, selfish Faith.
In the end, it was a very, very well-done play. The set was amazing- spectacular. Lighting was superb as was the sound! Definitely one I would reccommend. I'll write a little bit of the director's notes because it is quite interesting:

Kindertransport was when 10,000 Jewish and other children went from Europe to England on the brink of World War 2, and was brought on by Kristallnacht (Night of broken Glass) on November 9 1938. The British governement allowed the children to come to England, and the first of the Kindertransport arrived on December 2 1938. At least 2 transports were made each week, and the children were placed in private homes and institutions where they were cared for. After the war, many chose to stay, some reunited with family members but most lost their entire families. As the director mentions there is a commemorative statue at Liverpool Station in London. This play deals with the emotional and spiritual dislocation of families after World War 2.

This play is one of the best I have ever seen.

Royal Botanical Gardens in 24C!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Sydney! I was planning on going to Manly but after sleeping through my alarm, I was too late and decided to enjoy a day reading in the Royal Botanical Gardens instead. Lovely hot day :) Thoroughly enjoyed myself.

 The walk to the Gardens. The Rocks.

 Circular Quay.

 The big blue!

 The Gardens

So after pampering myself, lying on the grass, reading in the sunshine, I was looking for a place to eat. And didn't come across one that tickled my fancy or if it did, it was much too expensive. So I decided to get on the bus. I only had cash with me, and finally after 20 minutes of waiting in a crowd of people the bus driver shook his head at me and said, "Monday-Friday, 7 until 5 only. You should know that." Only when I looked like he had punched me in the face did he add, "Pay at the booth over there. There's still a few minutes." I got off the bus and went straight back into the Queen Victoria Building thinking how the %&(# am I going to get home. I walked around the entire building again and told myself, go find that booth that idiot was talking about. And sure enough it was right next to where I had been standing and easily bought myself a ticket, and only 5 minutes later did another bus come by. I was home just after 5 and relatively hungry.

Today I'm supposed to be cooking dinner and I'm just thinking of going to make some fresh pasta with pesto and salad, or if all else fails, frozen pizza. But for dessert I'm making a raw chocolate pudding it should be delicious!
I have no idea what the plans are for the next few days but I'm sure it will include some cleaning as well as cooking. I seem to have earned the nickname here of Cinderella or Cindy while staying in this marvelous household.
The weather was so fantastic yesterday +24C with not a cloud in the sky, today is not quite as nice, but still not bad at all for a winters day! +19C with clouds...and it might rain a bit this afternoon.

Chatswood: Full of eye-candy

Today I walked to Chatswood which about about 1/2 an hour walk. It was quite nice and I didn't get lost! I was originally out looking for a sweater to replace this canada one..and first bought some chocolate which I saved until getting home to share, and may I just say, it was DIVINE!

So after wandering around and not finding anything else, I decided to find a place for lunch, and it turned out to be a large Korean restaurant. It was run by Koreans, the menu was in Korean, there were Korean posters, Korean music and full of Koreans! And then a little white blonde girl walks in. hehe ^.^ I managed to order some beef short ribs soup otherwise known as galbitang or 갈비탕! I'd never had it before, but it was absolutely delicious. But first, arrived the side dishes. I was a little gob-smacked. I had absolutely forgotten about the side dishes, and it took me a while to figure which ones were what..
The red one is kimchi (I believe,  there's broccoli..not sure what the other ones are called..

But regardless it took me an hour and I still didn't finish it. But it was absolutely delicious. (Plus I got to enjoy some eye candy.. hehe)

I was tempted to buy some makkoli (막걸리) or soju (소주), but I didn't because I had already treated myself to buying some chocolate for later.
I then began to head home, and was pulled short at Kathmandu by a sign that said "Clearance." I went in and found a sweater! Yay! And it was on sale, so I got a new sweater than I needed to replace the canada one :)
Successful day, and I got home nice and safely, listening to the kookaburra's in the trees and a whole ton of other birds who fills the air with their songs. It was lovely walking home.

I just looked up and the sky is actually purple and pink. Wow. That has never happened before! Purrrdyyy!

Anyway, tomorrow I'm planning to go to Manly Beach for the day! Some more photos should be hopefully coming your way for that!

Post-haircut

So last night, or rather, early morning, 2:30 am I was woken due to a horrid feeling in my stomach. I vomited and I believe it was all due to that powerful stench that reeks from my hair because of the perfume of shampoo, conditionner and mousse and whatever else they used in my hair. It was so gross and I will never go to an expensive hair salon again. I don't like being sick because of smells. Nasty chemicals.

I've never liked strong perfumes or any kind of perfume at all really, but I never had it made me sick before. And that's horrid, when perfumes are so strong they make you literally sick to your stomach. Something is wrong.

Anyway, this morning I had a long shower and cleaned my hair with non-perfumed shampoo to get rid of that disgusting smell. Now I'm feeling much better but still a little hollow-stomached.

I tried to book my tour and decide on dates that I should leave to Melbourne. I feel bad staying in one place for 5 weeks less 1 day in a welcoming home. I don't want to over-stay my welcome. And I feel that that's what's happening. I don't know where else I can go though.

I am about to go with my book and a cup of tea and sit out on the porch and read for a while. Sounds very nice and relaxing especially because the sun is out and shining something lovely.

Haircut

It was definitely a good thing I put my alarm clock on yesterday. It woke me up from the deepest of sleep at 9:30. I had a hair appointment at 10.30. It was totally overpriced and expensive, but it was very nice to have my hair washed by someone else and then cut and styled. Wow. I'll probably never do that again in my whole life but it was nice while it lasted.

Pretty much the same as before. It was amazing how much thinning he did, but I think I like it. Well, I better like it after how much money I spent. Goodness. lol

After that, I went and closed my bank account that I didn't need anymore and took out all the money which should leave me enough cash for the rest of my journey in Australia and New Zealand.

This afternoon I looked up transport from Sydney to Melbourne and Darwin to Cairns, via trains, buses and airplanes. It looks like there are no buses from Darwin and Cairns with greyhound, so I'll have to fly that section...I think. So from Sydney to Melbourne I'll probably bus it because of that credit I have on my account from my cancelled return to the Snowy Mountains. Otherwise, I'd take the train. Other than that, not alot has happened. Last night, Margaret and I watched Mao's Last Dancer. I will never get sick of that movie. Ever.
It's been quite cold today, the wind is blowing and it's not sunny. I have a feeling it could rain.

So still I have no indication of my dates yet. But I am planning to book my tour tomorrow that goes from Melbourne to Darwin! Eeeeeeekkk!! So excited.

Successful dinner and Volunteering!

Last night for the dinner...*drum roll* was.....!!! Thai style vegetables with rice! Turned out to be a huge hit, and for dessert I made a brownie cake with vanilla ice cream and some chocolate on top for decoration. I believe Laurie and Margaret liked it very much, so much that we ate the whole stir-fry in one night. I thought it would have lasted for at least 2 meals, but it was liked so much it was gone within 30 minutes of me completing it! I'm very happy ;)

This morning I went to volunteer with the RDA, riding for the disabled. It was very interesting, the people were wonderful and friendly. But it was a little boring. All I did was pick up poop. Twice. In the whole 1 1/2 hours. But that's okay, it was nice to watch! I definitely miss horses. I so wanted to ride myself. Oh well. I'll save that for Cape Tribulation. Oh, there has been a huge change of plan about my trip which sounds much better! And I've booked a hair cut for tomorrow which I'm very excited about.

So the plan is now, go down to Melbourne, around beginning of August. From mid august, do a tour for 18 days from Melbourne to Darwin. From Darwin go to Cairns. And do the trip I was planning from Sydney, backwards. So start in Cairns (maybe visit kuranda, palm cove, port douglas, daintree, cape tribulation and cooktown), and work my way down visiting the Whitsundays, Great Keppel Island, Fraiser Island, Noose, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Byron Bay, back to Sydney. I haven't planned what to visit between Sydney and Melbourne yet because I've only been focusing on going north of sydney because that was the plan until yesterday afternoon! So I've still got lots of planning to do, but I have lots of time to do it in. I am very excited I have to say! It sounds much more organized, and relaxing! I am ready!! WHEE!!

Coffee Festival and Backpack!

A big day today! Went out with Margaret into the city and visited to Aroma Coffee Festival. It was so busy, one lively market day! So busy, in fact, we couldn't even get a cup of coffee, so we satisfied our needs with cupcakes instead. After wandering around there, we saw a man playing the fire torches, juggling chainsaws and even climbed on top of a pole with a bike on it, and while sitting on the bike swallowed a blow-up sword which was so gross I stopped watching there. I was excited though to finally see a fire-eater, but he wasn't one. Pooey. Oh well, we then made our way up to the Quen Victoria Building, and had a coffee and a bite to eat. We made a trip to an outdoor store too where I bought my travel backpack which is the one that's coming with me all around Australia! It's so big and roomy and super comfortable to carry on my back...so far anyway ;) So I'm that one step closer to my voyage!

I've also started looking at the Queensland Railway, and I can't find a map that tells me where the stations are in certain areas/towns. It's so ridiculous, I might have to go into somewhere where I can talk to someone who knows things about this train! I'm very excited if I get to travel up to Cairns on the train!! *squeal!*
I can't post any photos I took today because I seem to have run flat all my batteries. So that's on my shopping list that I'm going to pursue tomorrow.