Team Bazinga!

"Garbage day is a very dangerous day." -- Rocco.  I took out the garbage on the morning of November 6th, and it all went downhill from there. WHAT a frustrating waste of a day.  Brief synopsis: stopped by the bus police, talked our way out of $100 each fines, bus trip was a waste anyway because the real estate agent rescheduled, got to the beach and it was raining. AH tomorrow is better, I know, it already happened.

Started off the next day by going to the famous Redbull Flutag! It travels around every year and we got lucky that they are going the 2010 at Sydney Harbour. Kind of sad that we could only stay for less than an hour, but today is full of events we MUST attend!  The first "plane" launched and, as predicted, did a lovely nose-dive into the harbour.  I made a gif image out of the stop motion photography I took, but it won't upload.  Hilarity!

We left as the second contestant was launching off to catch the bus to Bondi Beach for an IEP organized beach walk to Coogee.  They couldn't have picked a more perfect day.... the sun is shining, tons of people are out taking advantaged of the (long anticipated break from the rain) rays, "sculptures by the sea" is in full force... conditions are perfect! 

We had about 15 people in our group and trekked along the coastline taking in all the fantastic views.  I'm still surprised at how cliffy the coastline is, but there are several great sand beaches with brilliant blue water. 

After hiking up a monumental set of stairs and accompanying hill, we finally made it to Coogee, which is apparently the aboriginal word for stinky because the seaweed likes to accumulate on the beach and gives off a distinct smell.  Fortunately, they comb the beach daily so it doesn't smell now. 

Still haven't decided which beach I like the most yet... big pluses and no real minuses to any of them but I'm personally leaning towards the vibe that Coogee gives off... which is good because the apartment that we got shown there the next day is my absolute favorite.  Can you say balcony with a beach view? Sold! Just gotta find some roommies and its a done deal.  We attempted to get some beach time in at Bondi before our apartment showings, but as soon as we stepped off the bus it got cloudy.  I did buy my first souvenir because neither Jen or I brought beach towels, so we ended up getting uber dorky ones from a beach shop.  Turns out we didn't really need them because after we met up with some friends on the beach, it started sprinkling so we had to take cover.  Ducked in to Macca's (or McDonalds.... they shorten every word possible here) for the first time and got a McFlurry to pass the time.  We left just in time, because apparently it started hailing golf ball sized hail right after we left. 

Since beach time was obviously over, we headed back to Glebe and got REALLY excited when we remembered that Monday night is Trivia Night at the AB! A new favorite activity of ours, even though we are terrible at it.  Steve and Julie met up with us to join "Team Bazinga!" and this week was even harder than last weeks because there were very few American questions and the categories were quite obscure.  We even used my favorite purple pen but it couldn't save us.  SO needless to say, we cam in last place..... way last place.  But it was so much fun and with the rain outside, a perfect refuge.  Our British roomie, Lisa, may come with us next week which would be a huge help.... we need diversity!! Steve and Julie are heading up to Hunters Valley (wine country) in a couple of days  and man are we going to miss them! Sad face :(

Sooooo the job front.  I had my first in-person interview and it was a LOT different than I expected.  Interviewed with Esprit and turns out it was a group interview... with 14 people.  A bit of a shock when I was expecting one-on-one but I was just like, ok let's do this thang.  We did a bunch of cheesy ice breakers and role playing scenarios and I was definitely the most relaxed and playful one in the group.  The funniest exercise was our group drew the question "If Esprit was a celebrity, who would it be?".  We chose Sandra Bullock... haha.  It literally lasted an hour and a half which is just nutty! UPDATE: I got a second interview for sometime this upcoming week :).  Had an interview with a sushi restaurant in Surry Hills and it was another odd interview experience... it was quite a hike all uphill from the bus stop and when I went in they just pointed me upstairs to where a bunch of employees were eating an awesome looking lunch.  The manager came over and we talked for 5, maybe 10 minutes, she gave me a menu to study, and said she would call me for a trial later... she even said if I found another job in the meantime to just let her know and they may be able to work around it.  It took me longer to write about the interview than it actually took to do the interview! 

Made it to the second stage of interviews with Sydney Harbour Bridgeclimb! SO excited! It's another group interview with one-on-one's afterwards and it's set for 11/11 which is probably my favorite day of the year.  The group interview was a lot less awkward this time, and actually seemed constructive.  Did about 30 minutes of croup and I think I did a good job of showing my personality, complete with quite a few of my weird faces.  I was chosen first for the one-on-one portion which I'm sure doesn't mean anything at all, but I think it went well....  it sounded promising and the job sounds right up my alley so I'm crossing my fingers, toes and anything else crossible for this one.

Since I was already up in The Rocks for my interview, and we had a happy hour planned their in a couple of ours, I met up with Jen in the Royal Botanical Gardens and just enjoyed the beautiful day.  Mosied up to the Glemore for happy hour on the rooftop beer garden which had a beautiful view of the Harbour.  Sidenote: people under 18 (the drinking age here) can be in the beer garden area of bars, and far too many people bring their children.  Quite a few people turned up and it was a fun time... Bree (with IEP) is really excited that we are probably going to be her new neighbors in Coogee and it helping us find roomies.  And they have beach volleyball teams which brightened up Jen's day.  I say 11/11 was a success!  Now off to get a good night sleep so we can wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go to the Blue Mountains :)