Sydney, Australia

Sydney! 24hour trip from Amsterdam. The first flight took 12 hours to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then another 8 hour flight to Sydney. Including the layover time, it was a 24hour trip. If I count the time difference, it took a day and a half. I arrived on the 21st of November, and I am going to leave on the 25th in the morning. It is only three day (actual) trip, but I’m happy to be here!

The hotel I am staying at is located the opposite side from Opera House. I love seeing this view on the way to work every morning. Of course, it is almost summer in Australia. It is very strange. It was 38 degree (100F) yesterday, and the air condition in the building was not properly working, so we were sweating at work. It seems January is the mid summer here.

The decorations are already Christmassy (no Thanksgiving here) everywhere, and it is hilarious to see people walking by in short sleeves and short pants. I love it! Since I was a child, I was very curious about this country having the opposite seasons compared to our standard ones. To actually be in the situation is pretty cool, especially, this Christmas season; “Santa clause on a surf board” kind.

Today, when I went to Starbucks, my latte came in a red Christmas cup. But once I step outside, it’s totally summer; a gorgeous sunny day. It is hard to describe, but you would feel something is not right.

I’ve been to Australia ten years ago. Sydney was one of the cities that I visited. I was still a student, and I had no English speaking ability. So, now that I speak English, I can enjoy the stay here like for the first time. It is certainly a totally different feeling to be here. Especially, to be able to hear Australian accent is a bonus for me now. It is an interesting accent. To me, it sounds more like British accent, but Australians don’t think so, or at least that’s what the people who I work with claim. When I told this person that I’d been here ten years ago, he goes “so you must have been eye-t.” I had no idea what he just said. I was going through my “translation” dictionary between Australian-American English and realized that he meant “eight (8)”. Oh man, it is hard! Anyways, I answered, “No, I was four back then.”

The first night, I was taken to this Australian BBQ place. They have a grill outside, so you pick meat or fish from showcase, and then place it on the grill by yourself. It is totally up to you how you want to cook it. There is a cheat guide by the grill that describes how long you should leave the meat on the grill depending on how you like it. It was something that is new to me, and I really enjoyed being around the grill with people chatting while my steak is cooking! Of course, guys started talking about their home BBQ grills even after we sat down to enjoy our lovely steaks.