Land of Maddy's

I decided to venture out for lunch today and figured out that despite the fact that Aussies are a fun, loveable bunch of blokes, they are still people, and people can be annoying.

Let me explain... I find people live in their own little world where no one else exists which means they are oblivious to everything going on around them. Now if it were one or two people it would hardly be noticeable. However, when there are hundreds of people milling around it is rather noticeable and dare I say a nuisance? I do my best to keep to the left but find it challenging to avoid the numerous people who have their heads down because they are looking at their mobile phone (there are a tremendous amount of iPhone users here) and to make it worse, are wearing headphones. People will stop without warning or simply stand in the middle of a busy sidewalk. Sounds trivial but when you are trying to get somewhere it can be frustrating to continually be body slammed by people who look at you dumbstruck because they didn't see you coming. It's a lot like playing dodge ball without the ball. This is probably karma trying to teach me patience. For some reason, I have trouble relaxing and going with the flow (it would help if the flow would pay attention to where it was going and even better do it quickly). It's a lot like walking with my niece, who has no sense of personal space or direction. You can be the only two people on a rather wide sidewalk and I will guarantee that she will step on your feet and run into you several times. It takes a lot of patience and, well... we won't go there.

On the bright side, I had no meetings and actually spent the day working in my room (not that I'm caught up). The sun was out and despite the foot traffic, it was nice to get out for lunch and an afternoon coffee break. I was even treated to a firework show this evening - the start of the winter festival in Melbourne (I must say it was a little depressing to seem them putting in an ice rink by the river today).  But I'm looking forward to the weekend and moving into an apartment. Hotel living gets old, even a nice one. I may even cook to celebrate... whoa! Now that's something new. Maybe there is something in the water but I'm anxious (desperate?) for a home cooked meal.

PS - The title is a tribute to my niece, Maddy, who lives in a world where there is no such thing as personal space nor is there a need to be aware of others who may be around. Think "bull in china shop." Enough said. 

I'm living in a land down under...

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a writer; nor do I have aspirations to be. The past two years I have been writing a lot of academic papers and in fact had one instructor tell me I should write a book (should have kept his notes as I'm sure no one would believe that). My point is, don't expect anything along the lines of To Kill a Mockingbird but more along the lines of a mediocre attempt at poking fun at myself as I stumble through life down under.

I have been here 12 days now. Although I love Australia and the Aussies, the adjustment was not as easy as I would have thought. I could sum up the reason in one word – winter. When I was packing during my 72 hour turnaround I was in denial about how cold 50 degrees is. I convinced myself long sleeves and a sweater would suffice. Wrong! With my thin blood, I should have known better. Moral of the story – winter is winter. Pack a coat or you will be running around a strange city trying to find a coat that will work for both casual and business during a lunch break. The next challenge is figuring out what size. So I normally wear a 6 (sometimes an 8) so imagine my surprise when I tried on a 10 and couldn’t even get it on (ended up with a 14 so either I’ve gained a lot of weight or they size things differently in the Northern Hemisphere – and of course as a woman you have to believe the latter).

Of course my BFF Murphy is my ever loyal constant companion. He has made sure that I had some misadventures along the way which has prompted a few to tell me I should be blogging for prosperity.

For instance…

Because it was raining last night, I had to borrow an umbrella from the concierge desk last to go to dinner (I would eat at the hotel but it is a little too spendy). After filling out a two page form and showing my passport (I kid you not) I was given an umbrella along with a set of instructions. I threw the instructions out as I walked out the door. Of course, it didn’t operate like an ‘American’ umbrella so I had trouble getting it up. Fortunately, I was protected under an awning as I figured out how to operate the darn thing. I walked across the street to a food court for a piece of pizza but wasn’t as fortunate as before. I stood outside the food court at the casino and got soaked as I tried to fold it back up. Seriously, how hard can it be to engineer an umbrella that open and closes? I had been craving chocolate for a few days so I decided to walk to the 7-11 for chocolate. At least this time was able to fold the umbrella more quickly as I was becoming an expert at this point. I wanted to have something I couldn’t find in the states so I probably took 15 minutes to find the right chocolate bar. Then I saw the price of my first choice and ultimately decided that I didn’t want to spend 3.50 on a candy bar when I could buy 2 for $4 (not my first choice but was Cadbury and not something I typically have at home). So I stick the two bars in the pocket of my hoodie and walk out of the store (yes, I did pay for them) and immediately the umbrella blew up when I opened it which again lent me to getting soaked. Finally after getting the umbrella working I head back to the hotel. As I’m crossing the street (had to hurry as it went from flashing red to solid red and the drivers here do not believe in yield to pedestrians) I heard something drop. I get to the other side and reach in my pocket and sure enough I dropped not one but both candy bars. As I’m debating of whether or not I should go back for them a taxi rushes buy and runs over both. I felt like I was in a bad situation comedy. I guess the moral is I didn’t need the chocolate. Needless to say I was bummed but too wet and frustrated to walk back to the store. Sigh. It just wasn't my day.