bondi kites

breakfast!

my eggs are never intentional

if i had it my way, all my eggs would be soft boiled

fluffy, yolky, inchoate beauties

this egg-pancake had no instruction

it became whatever it wanted to become

it was here, at the kitchen counter, that my plan for the day changed from Chocolate Festival at The Rocks, to Festival of the Wind at Bondi Beach

C, in a burst of goodwill, asked me what my plans today were

i think, at this point in time, i still hadn’t enacted the self-protective policy of being deliberately vague

so i told her about the Chocolate Festival, and she promptly informed me of the massive kite-flying festival that she was going to check out, being someone who used to enjoy/make kites in her past life in Hong Kong

i’m glad i decided to forgo chocolate for the beach

above: EVERYBODY AND THEIR MUM was going to Bondi Beach

(this syntax, “everyone and their mum” is something i picked from J — J, C, and myself shared an apartment on ‘Rose Street’ in Istanbul; the first night i arrived, when the taxi driver and myself asked people on the perpendicular street where exactly Rose Street was, we were met with good-meaning shrugs)

i waited nearly 50min before being able to board a packed bus

i was in a good spirit, with my data on* and my New Yorker in hand

even a lady, who lied about being in the queue so that she could go home without waiting behind all these damn beachgoers, couldn’t compromise the cheer

when the beach was in sight, the busload of passengers sighed a collective “yay”

 

*i’m using a prepaid where $30 lasts about 200 days, or until you use it up; at time of writing, i have spent $13.50 on my phone bill, which comes up to $4.50 a month;

this is my second time at Bondi, the first time being when b was here

the atmosphere, packed with sunshine and children, was so uplifted, i was surprised to see kites fall from the sky

i took so many film photos, leaping and running (not exaggerating; i was running) from spot to spot, like a little scout

there were many families and many dogs

there were many tourists too, but i didn’t know who they were

(there are many tourists because there are lots of hostels in the area, ostensibly for surfer-tourists or young travelers from landlocked countries who want to live by the beach during their backpacking trip)

(i don’t know the tourists from the non-tourists because: the families speaking Asian languages to each other—Japanese, Chinese—might have properties and roots in Hurstville, Chatswood, Artarmon, etc.; the Caucasian boardwalkers, who might look like European Australians, could be tourists from Macedonia)

muogamarra (nature reserve) and memory (lane)

the sun rises early enough, that by the time there are a bunch of early-birds, roosting at Central Station, it doesn’t feel like dawn, and instead, “just” a bright-eyed morning

i’m comparing this to Singapore, where the sun rises at the same time, whether it’s 30 June or 2 Jan

JUST KIDDING

in Februaries, the sun rises at 7.17am

in Octobers, the sun rises at 6.46am

i never knew

(in Sydney, in September, the sun rises earlier and earlier, rising at 5.32am until finally, Daylight Savings brings sunrise to be 6.32am)

above: EGGS AND BACON

this is the Visitor’s Centre of Muogamarra Nature Reserve

i’ve written a post about this on a baby blog, which will be ready to run/jump/play with more than a handful of us, in….another month or two

i think i’ve shown four or six other people this baby blog, which currently has about fifteen posts on it

each post is under 250 words!

no photos!

no bullshit!

JUST KIDDING

i know the caps are ANNOYING

Hike Out is one of the MeetUp.com groups that i’ve “joined” (joining is as easy as clicking; when you actually attend for events, you’ved joined; but joining is a process, not a state — it is affirmed in its enactment..)

this is the first time i’m hiking out with these guys

the guys i went outdoor climbing with were the Outdoor Rock Climbing hangdogs

MeetUp.com has this feature where you can choose what you and your members call yourselves

the Indoor Rock Climbing members are called “Geckos”

Hike Out’s members are called “friendly & inclusive people”

a week (or two!?) of food

this is a week of food because besides having fun with food, i don’t have much time to have fun with the other things that Sydney is dripping in

whenever i’m at any of the public libraries, the postcard rack is ALWAYS advertising a new film festival (i’ve mentioned this a few times; i’m still very impressed and proud of this city’s denizens)

if there isn’t something to do indoors, at night, there’s ALWAYS something to do outdoors, whether you’re into beach sand in your speedos or bike polo

(i do neither)

anyway, i don’t normally have no-time, i only have no-time because i’m sprinting uphill to catch up on three weeks’ worth of homework (see previous posts for: funeral and fun; ok i hate to alliterate like this; i know many people say that their grandfather is the coolest badass, but…that dude, whose carefree, content, Let’s Go Eat Satay Beehoon attitude i grew up with, was a rare gem of a man)

grilled tuna steaks; i’m using the blue skillet on the left — the pot, pan-with-red-stuff, and white bucket were the remnants of C’s cooking earlier

(again, because i don’t know what you know: C is a mother, whose daughter i live with (but C comes along, free-of-charge, with the daughter, R*); C is taking adult learner classes to get accreditation in Australia, with the hopes of migrating here from Hong Kong; C works hard and works late into the night, using a solitary IKEA floorlamp to illuminate her 2am textbook-reading, saving the living room lamps from burning utility bills)

(*they share a double bed in their en-suite bedroom; this arrangement makes me wonder whether it ever gets awkward or unbearable, given that they occasionally raise their voices to each other (or rather, C screams and R replies), for matters such as: C is late for work, as a kitchen hand in a nearby mediocre (she says) cafe, but C insists on folding clothes/drying cutlery herself, which causes one or both of them consternation)

anyway, the power discrepancy in the house is such that: C can leave her dirty dishes in the sink and “it’s fine”, but if i were to leave so much as a spoon, you can bet a good dollar that she’d come knocking on my door, asking me out of my room, to tell me my mistake and that, “nevermind!, i’ll clean for you this time”

this semester is the first time in my life that i am keeping a dedicated record of my expenses

the excel categories are: STUFF, LONG-LASTING FOOD, FRESH FOOD, FUN FOOD

so, it’s a new game, with myself, to see how cheaply i can eat per diem

i never used to do this in Boston because expenses never felt crazy, and i never had to write down my expenses to confirm that they were reasonable and good value

biking to an outlet mall 7km away to get some hiking shoes

my selfies are primarily to show b what i’m doing

and/or to show that i’m wearing the same shit every day

anyway, i pick up a pair of non-waterproof shoes, a pair of hiking pants, and an embroidery hoop + thread + a big rectangle of fabric

all but the last few items were on sale

Sydney is hopping expensive

i assumed that a city/country with a larger population and a larger market, would see cheaper goods

but there are many things that are cheaper in Singapore/Boston than in Sydney

if you were to ask me ‘would you recommend/promote Australia/Sydney as a destination for school?’, it wouldn’t be easy to say Yes or No

there are many international students though, and many fellow Singaporeans