Snapshots

Wow – it’s been way too long since I last wrote about my adventures down under. So much has happened since I came back from my ‘winter travels’ that I’m not sure how else to catch up on the many tales to tell, but to give snapshots of the past 4 months. So here it goes:

July in Eire.

How do I begin with this tale?

Once upon a time…
In a land not so far from here…
There once was a girl who met a boy…

Really, no matter how I start this tale, the fact that the 10 days I spent in Ireland was a romantic fairy tale will be utterly blatant. But I do need to first lay some background tracks to give points of the story relevance.

When I moved to Australia, I was single. Free as a bird, ready to soar through countries and spaces unknown without a care in the world. I arrived in the Auckland airport, chatting to a girl I recognised from the LA airport, who was on my same flight. From behind our module of seats came a bright eyed, blonde North American who introduced herself as Rebecca. She had overheard me say I was moving to Australia without a job and without anywhere to live – so of course her ears perked!

Fast forward 2 months – Rebecca and I are moving into an apartment together in South Yarra (a suburb SE of the CBD) and are tied to the hip. I clung to her as my ‘first friend in Australia’ and she had been here for a year at that point – so was more than willing to show me around the town so to speak. On one particular weekend, we headed to a local pub to watch the rugby match. Clearly I had no interested in rugby, or even knew what was going on during the match, but it was an excuse to get out of the house and meet some new people. A friend of hers from work came for a bit, and then she informed me that another friend from work, Ryan, was also coming with a couple of his Irish mates.

Well, I’m always up for meeting new people, especially Irish boys with fantastic accents – so when they traipsed through the door, acting as suave as can be, I also played it cool, despite my giddiness inside. They introduced themselves, and just like any other time you are introduced to people – you shake their hand, try to remember their name, but 2 seconds later, you’ve already forgotten (especially when they have a name like Paedar, pronounced ‘Pah-dur’ which is ‘Peter’ in Irish.) Well there was name that did stick out, and of course it did, because it was Dave. How many David’s can I meet?! I mean – really! I shook off the thought and continued on through the night, not paying much attention.

Fast forward a couple of weeks – Bec and I went ice skating – and who else was there, none other than the Irish boys again. All I heard as I entered the skating rink was ‘Dave, Dave – looks who’s here!”

Forward another couple of weeks – Bec and I decided to throw a ‘North America’ party – and we of course had to host it at the Irish’s house, because the place was so big.

Now all the way to July 2012. Sitting on a plane, taking off to Dublin. Dave finally admits to me that he was planting seeds all along the way. Waiting patiently for the seed to take root and grow into a full blown love tree that I couldn’t shake. We like to reminisce about that first night we met – I thinking, oh great, another David. He was thinking, ‘Hey lads, Bec invited us to go out with her and her new friend Bethany from America. She sounds hot.’

He then had used his best friend Dave and his fiancé Sorcha to invite me to their wedding in Dublin so he could ask me as his date. I would just HAVE to go back with him then to meet the family!

So there we were – touching down in Dublin after a painfully long couple of flights. Meeting his mom and literally 20 minutes later, Dave rushing off to the bachelor party, leaving me with the family for the weekend while he was off with the boys. But of course I didn’t mind – his mom, Sorcha and I had a ball! The rest of the week’s time was spent shopping, visiting the grandparents, helping Sorcha with final touches of wedding planning, rehearsal dinner, wedding, day-after-the-wedding garden party (very Ralph Laurenesque).

Time flew entirely way too fast. It was just enough time to give me a taste of life in Ireland, and I have to admit – I’ve got the bug pretty bad! Every person was just brilliant. They were incredibly friendly, thoughtful and fun people. (I went for a run along the beach one morning – and stopped to have a chat with a lady for about 20 minutes about why I was in Ireland!)

So – it appears that I need/want to make my way back very soon - I mean, I became a socialite (known as Pocahontas because of my dark hair and skin)! So, here’s to planning my next trip back soon, which will hopefully be just as beautiful weather and romanticised as the last time (here’s to wishful thinking!).

August’s Winter Blues.

Well, I must admit – once I came back from all my travels to the US, KL, Singapore, Ireland, I returned to Melbourne and it was STILL cold, wintery weather. I was hoping that I had been travelling long enough that I wouldn’t have endure cold and rain, but alas – this proved to be one of the longest winters ever in Melbourne. I think I just came off of a high from travelling and I sunk into a depression. Not much was going on social wise. Work was ho-hum. And it seemed to rain about every day of that month.

I was pretty much ready to say adios to Melbourne, when Dave surprised me with a spur of the moment idea to go to Sydney to see Dave and Sorcha the first weekend of September...

September in Sydney.

So that brings me to September. We flew up to Sydney for the weekend – and there’s never a doubt that a trip visiting our dear friends Dave and Sorch won’t be a brilliant time. We had an awesome dinner and night out on the Friday and on the Saturday, we took the ferry to Manly beach where we hung out along the water all day long. The worst part about trips like that, is that we have to say our good-byes and head back to work.

Not a bother though, because a couple of weekends later, I was heading back to Sydney to compete in the Tough Mudder competition! There was  team of 8 of us – and through the thick and thin of 20 kilometers of running, mountain trails, obstacles, mud, mud and even more mud, we stuck together as a team and finished 5 hours later!! The day after the race, we hung out at the beach, went to see the Opera house, and sat around the Botannical gardens (getting stuck at the airport with a threat to have to sleep in the airport for the night was only a side issue).

I could feel spring in the air – the warmth was in the air and the number of activities was increasing. I had come out of my seasonal depression, and all of a sudden, my email inbox seemed to be flooded with invites to different things going on for the next few months. Finally!!

October, Frocktober.  

One event in particular that I was excited to participate in, was Frocktober. Now, to explain, dresses in Australia are called Frocks. The idea of Frocktober started alongside an event called Movember.

Frocktober – to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, individuals, groups, etc can pledge to wear a frock every single day of October and their friends and family can make a donation on their behalf. Many groups arrange Frock parties (where even boys dress up to get the big bucks donated!) There are a few of us girls taking on the challenge at work –and so far, so good. I guess I didn’t realise how many dresses I owned until I had to start wearing on every day. Some of them are a stretch to wear into the office (not really ‘corporate wear’) but I’ve gotten away with it – and have a couple more weeks to go!

Movember – Same concept, except boys have to grow Moustaches for the whole month of November – to raise money for Testicular cancer. Really, offices just start to look like one big 80’s dad party, but it’s pretty amazing.

Let’s see, what else has been going on this month? Oh – I finished my first 10k race since my broken ankle. Ran it in 48min 23 sec – which isn’t too shabby considering! I was very proud of myself.

Works been going great, all the friends are tip-top shape, the sun is finally shining – I really have every reason to rejoice at life at the moment!

Some big events (ie. My 25^th birthday, the Colour Run, Thanksgiving, etc) are coming up next month – so many activities to look forward to!

So – hopefully this snap shot has helped to catch up wear I’ve been the last 4 months. So while the US is heading into Fall, Winter, I am in Spring, heading into Summer and couldn’t be more happy.

So until next time – sending everyone a bit of hot hot Australian sun and big hugs and kisses.