Recent Events

For the past 2 months or so I have been updating my blog rather sporadically. There are two main reasons for this. First, I continue to encounter technical difficulties with my internet, wireless router, and most recently my camera and printer. These issues are more or less resolved now, but the router does require a good kick every few days. Second, there simply hasn't been much to show and tell. My life since the start of this semester revolves around school, work and going to the gym. It's quite routine actually. I don't go out and explore nearly as often. However, I decided not to finish my year abroad like this. Let me say a few things about my plans and then I will talk about the latest news which, as I mentioned above, is quite sparse (its been a slow month).

I have booked a flight to Melbourne which I will visit with my friends in November. It should have been simple task but I was met with unreasonable obstruction. First, my newly issued credit card, which I activated weeks ago and has served me fine since, was declined at the final purchase screen on the Jetstar Airways website. I decided then to book by phone, but after going through the booking process with the agent on the line, she also told me my card had been declined. Very well then. I'll pay using another method. For this I must go back onto the website. Once again I'm at the final purchase screen, but this time I use the direct payment method. The system books my flight and tells me my payment status is "Awaiting Payment". I am instructed to go into my internet banking system and pay using a direct transfer method. When I pay bills, I usually use BPAY (literally bill pay), but this apparently doesn't work for Jetstar. There is another option with Wespac's online banking which reads "pay anyone". I click on this option only to be told that I must apply for a pay limit (mine currently being at zero) before using this method, and that I must be approved through a process that takes 5 business days. Jetstar wants payment by 5pm today. There goes that option.

Next, I call the Visa Desjardins hotline to find out why my card isn't working. They are closed, of course. I then think of AccesD, Desjardin's online banking system. I can access my account, find out why my credit card isn't working, maybe even fix it, and if not I can make a direct payment from there. Wouldn't you know it, though, AccesD is "temporarily unavailable due to technical issues", a phrase I have heard and seen so often here that it has almost become my life slogan.
So as it stands, I have an unpaid booking which is probably canceled now. I guess I'll just rebook tomorrow. And that's my flight booking story.

In other other news, my good friend Gina had her birthday on Monday! Judith, Gina and I celebrated by going to this Mexican restaurant I found in Kensington. It was really good, probably the best Mexican you could get in Sydney. We have some pictures which I will post once I get them from Gina.

Montri will be leaving us. He has been accepted to speak at a linguistics conference in Sweden and will depart on Thursday. First he will go to Bangkok and spend time with his family. Then he will fly to Sweden for the conference, and afterward explore Europe for a few weeks. Congrats to him for this opportunity and I hope he has alot of fun! We had a sort of potluck yesterday with Thai foods and some Filipino cuisine as well. I made a big Greek salad that complemented the rich and spicy Thai dishes will. That was sort of Montri's going away dinner. I won't see him again after he leaves because I will be back home by the time he returns. He's been a good flatmate and I'm glad I got to know him. All the best to him in the future!

Other than that there hasn't been much activity. I find time going by fast lately, I can feel the days and weeks slipping away. Judith, Gina and I were struck by that realization when we had dinner together at Judith's on Friday. We've all decided to make the most of the precious little time we have left together here in Sydney. That's why we planned the trip and why we're now making all sorts of little plans to go to the beach, explore some new suburbs, check out new pubs, clubs and restaurants. With Judith leaving first, me second and Gina last in February, our already shrunken circle of friends is going to get smaller quickly. Gina has made friends with her coworkers so she won't feel alone after we're gone. I'm proud of her for staying the full year, in a way she's doing what we all wish we could do. But it takes guts to be that last one to leave. Good on her for making that decision.

I'm sure I have a few more stories to tell and some pictures to post. They're kind of a mess right now so I need a bit of time to sort through them. I'll be posting some of my wine and beer reviews in the next update. By my count I've tried about a dozen beers and at least that many wines, so I think that's a nice collection to publish. Look for those soon uncle. Until then, goodbye everyone!

Signs of Life...

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I owe a mega update. And that's what I'm gonna do! I'll start where I left off last time. On Sunday, September 30th I went with Mert, Steffen, his cousin Tomas and Tomas' girlfriend Susan to the NRL Grand Final. NRL is the National Rugby Leage, Australia's top competition for rugby league football, and is the most popular sport in New South Wales. The match was between the Melbourne Storm and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. The Storm came out as the premieres for the 2007 season after beating the Sea Eagles 34 to 8, one of the largest spreads in league history. The game was held at the Telstra Stadium in Homebush Bay, Sydney. Steffen, Mert and I were seated in Row 37 in Section D, which was high up but on the sideline. We had a perfect view of the pitch. Tomas and Susan were seated in section A, behind the Melbourne end zone. Unfortunately the pictures from the game didn't turn out so great. Here are some of the better ones.

Mert eating Adana kebab. We stopped at a Turkish restaurant before the game.

Me in front of Telstra Stadium

Fixed on the game

Manly and Melbourne End zones

On another note, I'd like to thank Mert Karaçim for my new title picture. He took it with his digital SLR camera and enhanced it with software. It's a panoramic shot of Sydney, the North Shore is on the right.

Back to the Hills

Spring is here, and along with it the warmer weather and the new cycle of life. Flowers are blooming and the scenery is getting greener. The air is starting to carry the scent of eucalyptus, however faint it might be at the moment. The perfect time to go back to the Blue Mountains. The first time I went was in July, which is the middle of winter here. This time it was much warmer and greener. I was accompanied by my friends Steffen and Mert. Mert has a digital SLR camera, a Canon, that takes high quality photos. So some of the shots we got this time are just stunning. We took a different path through the cliffs and the forest than the one me and Andy took on our trip, so there were new sights for me as well. Here are some photos of us and the scenery taken with Mert's camera. Some of the shots are in black and white for artistic flare.

Mert Karaçim

Steffen Müller and me

More Internet Drama...

Some of you may be aware that my wireless router has been out for repairs for 5 days (instead of the promised maximum 3 days). I still have internet access, but I am currently sharing a single ethernet cable with everyone else, meaning access is limited. Actually, I'm writing this from work right now, a place where I, sadly, have greater freedom with the internet at the moment. Hopefully (how many times have I used this word on my blog?) my router will be returned to me soon, preferably in a functional condition. Then I will pray that this is the last act in my internet saga and the epic tale of our struggle with the evil Telstra Corporation and D-Link will come to close. I know, I'm making a bigger a deal out of this than it actually is, but how many of you have had this much trouble with their internet? Any one?

In other news, my friend Judith will soon be back from her trip to Darwin and Kakadu National Park, with thousands of pictures I'm sure. If she is kind enough to share them with me I will publish some on my blog. I'm sure she'll put them on her's too and I will put up a link to it when she does.

Still in other news, I am now on my mid-semester break, which means I have more time to... work. Yay. I have two weeks, so I'm sure I'll fit in a whacky and potentially disastrous adventure somewhere between my shifts. I'm thinking of going to Melbourne on the weekend with my friends Steffen and Mert. We'll see how that turns out. More updates comming soon.

The Chaser's War on APEC

Some of you might be aware that Stephan Harper and George Bush, along with other world leaders, are currently attending the APEC Summit in Australia. APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooporation, and is an organisation comprised of major players on the Asia pacific rim. This year the summit is held in Australia, and as a result Sydney has spent 250 million Australian dollars setting up security zones in the CBD and surrounding areas. This includes hundreds of extra police officers, a 2 meter high, 5 kilometer long fence through the city and search and detain powers granted to police within the security zone. In comes The Chaser. The Chaser is a satire comedy group based in Sydney, and they have a show called The Chaser's War on Everything. In this show they pull hilarious stunts poking fun at various social and political issues, people and events to expose them in a ridiculous light. For APEC, they decided to see if they could breach the security surrounding the InterContinental Hotel where George Bush was staying. How did they pull it off? As the Channel 10 newscast below explains, they rented black vehicles with tinted windows, dressed up as Secret Service officers and Osama bin Laden, and prented to be the Canadian delegation's motorcade. They even made themselves fake passes, which explicitly read "Insecurity" instead of "Security" and the word "Joke" appeared in hologram on the card right below the text that reads "It's pretty obvious that this isn't a real pass". Did it work? They were waved through two security checkpoints by police and were only stopped and arrested in front of the InterContinental hotel. Police are not amused, but we are! The made a total farce of APEC security, and embarrased the police. They were let out on bail but could face trial and up to 6 months in prison.

Wine Series: #2

For my second installement of the wine series I have a special wine to showcase. This wine comes to us not from Australia but from Austria, Judith's home country, courtesy of her parents. In fact, the wine comes from her neighbours, the Sax family. Hence the label, Sax Blauer Zweigelt, Qualitätswein. The type of grape is called Blauer Zweigelt, a variety grown mainly in Austria where it is the most popular red grape. It is usually drunk young, but can make a serious full-bodied aged wine given time. It's quite fruity and 'wet', not to strong, an has a neat purple color I haven't seen in other wines. It was very easy to drink, and as I had it with spicy Thai food it served as a fire extinguisher for my palette. It must be very hard to find here in Australia, as the grape is not very common outside Austria, and maybe Czech Republic and Hungary. However, it is somewhat popular in the Ontario Niagara Falls wine region, so it might be easy to find back home. Uncle, if you can find it give it a try.

Fur Nils

This is a regretably overdue goodbye post for Nils Jacholke, my friend and flatmate of 5 months who has now returned home to Germany. Like Marco, he's left an empty space in the house, and in my daily life, that can't be filled by anyone else. In fact, his bed is still unoccupied, since the two guys who where assigned his space only lasted two weeks and 1 day, respectively. I think his evil spirit still lingers in the matress and scares potential flatmates away! (just kidding Nils :) I look back on the last semester with fondness when I think of all the memories we made in this flat, and in Sydney and general, memories I will keep with me forever. Coffee, kebabs, beers on the balcony, underwear fishing, wasting hours away in our boxers drinking instead of studying... But alas, it appears that returning home, finishing a master's degree and starting a life with his girlfriend (Doerthe, a lovely woman I was happy to meet) is more important than getting fat and drinking beer in a rundown flat with his pet Canadian. No worries mate, we'll see you in a couple years. I wish you and Doerthe the best until then, and I miss you buddy. Take care, mein Freund!

Who will kick the furry yellow friends to my room?

Wine Series

This post marks the first in a series of exposes on Australian wines. As I've only had a job for a couple of months now I've only just started to explore Australia's world-renowned offering of wines. I've also made an effort to explore the different local beers, and I will be posting my thoughts on them in a separate series. Neither the wines nor the beers will appear in the order I have tried them. But once I have caught up and posted on all the wines and beers I've enjoyed, then they will begin to appear in sequence. The first wine exposed will be the Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet – Barossa Valley, South Australia. As I am not a wine connoisseur, I have supplemented my own experience of the wine with information found on the label and the producer's website in order to give a fuller description for those (like oncle Michel) who have a finer palette than mine and may be able to appreciate the subtle qualifications used in the wine lingo. Included with each wine, of course, is the recommended food to serve it with. Cheers!

Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet - A medium-bodied wine that really carries the best of two worlds. The shiraz variety is the most popular red grape produced in Australia, and it epitomizes the scent and flavor of Australian wines. Its rich, warm texture with peppery overtones and fruity, plum characteristics is complemented by the cabernet sauvignon’s black currant flavor. Finishes smoothly with a fresh leafy aftertaste. Apparently goes well with red meat, chicken, pasta and older cheeses. I enjoyed this wine, like most wines of tried so far. Its not very dry, like a shiraz would tend to be. Not that I mind a dry wine though. It reminded me of the Lindeman’s Bin 45 Cab, which I will be showcasing later, but it was not as pungent. Although it is touted as a very versatile wine that goes with almost any food (except fish I suppose), I think this is the kind of red I would also enjoy on its own with a friend.