Anyways. I spoke to Sara a little while, and then Mrs. Ward came in and talked with me for a bit and explained that the house was so cold because nobody really has heating in Australia and they rarely turned theirs on. She also said that Mr. Ward had taken his car that morning because he was angry at Jono for not cleaning the shopping car, and so Jono and I couldn't go bike riding because the other cars don't carry bikes. Naturally, I was devastated (just kidding, we were going to have to bike up a mountain) and so I went to Jono's little separated house/room to wake him up. Which was funny because he was still very tired.
He got up and we had some leftover Pide (my second breakfast!) and he told Brad how we couldn't go bike riding. We all decided to go see Bruno together, which is funny because the last movie I saw with Jono was Borat. Jono and I both showered, Jono cleaned the car, and then we set off for the Gordon train station.
My first train ride was spectacular, although I imagine it wouldn't have been nearly as exciting if I had been in America. Jono purchased black pepper chips for me to try (they were covered in little lime salt crystals!) and then we rode the train to Town Hall, the station at pretty much the center of Sydney. Brad met us up at a station on the way.
We went to the theatre (tickets were $15 AUS for students!!!) and I bought little Cadbury chocolates for quality movie snacking. The movie was hilarious, but horrifying, and a completely enjoyable experience. We then explored the city a bit and went shopping. I bought a pair of very inexpensive but very popular shoes, and they're comfy and feel like your foot is being carressed by a pad of air. I love them; they're from the Rayben company.
We went to Queen Victoria Building (QVB) to check out the shops and try to find some food. Jono had gotten a little hungry. The thing about the QVB is, however, that it's directed toward the very rich. Food was ridiculous there. Although I did find some nice Aboriginal artwork for a relatively moderate price. It's a piece of sliced polished agate stone, hand-painted by Aborigines, depicting a nice little scene involving a very black didgeridoo and two very black figures. It's very pretty. I also got a little rock hand painted with a kangaroo on it. Very classy.
I got sushi at a cute little shop on the way to this fried chicken place. I had it with some tropical juice, and it was the most delicious lunch ever. It was brown rice and raw salmon with avocado. The avocado was literally perfect.
We then rushed to catch the train back to North Sydney, and by that time it was colder outside. It was drizzling a bit, and the wind had picked up. Not to mention that it was six o'clock and since it's winter here, it's dark already by then.
Jono and I went home quickly, and then he took me up to the University of New South Wales to see what he does at the community theatre there. He's playing main trumpet for a production there. I sat for about an hour and watched him play. The production was, unfortunately, mediocre. And my chair was very uncomfortable. My butt was very sore by the time the Wards came and picked me up. We went out to a good Asian restaurant that I think was called White Lotus Restaurant. Maybe I'm just imagining that name because of Avatar, but I know Lotus was in the name somewhere! It was really good. It was just the four of us: Mr. Ward, Mrs. Ward, Sara, and I. Sara broke the news that she's going to be on television tomorrow for the morning show, modeling clothing that her friend's sister designs. I probably won't be awake when she's on, though.
Well, that's pretty much what went on today. Tomorrow is going to be exciting. We've got lots of ideas of what to do. We're probably going to go to The Rocks on Sunday to check out the market and maybe get some pancakes. I'm apparently participating in what Jono's parents called a "Pub Crawl" later this week with Jono and his friends. Since I'm eighteen I'm legally allowed to go into bars and such, so the point of the evening is to go to a lot of bars/pubs in a row and you're supposed to be crawling by the end of the evening, and if you're not, you haven't been to enough places. It's weird because I've been in plenty of places to order alcohol but I've literally had none so far. Not even at Jono's house, and he has beer with dinner. Australians drink a lot. Like...a lot.
Oh, and Jono is setting up a temporary phone for me tomorrow probably so that I can stay in contact with his family while I'm here. So nice!
Jono will be home in about half an hour, and then he and I are going to watch the Tour de France together with popcorn (hopefully, unless I get too tired). That's gonna be fun.
I'm sooooo super happy I'm here. I love everything about this place. Except when I get freaked out while we're driving on the left hand side of the road.
New blog post soon!!
Love,
Janet
