2 Down, 12 To Go

Well, today is the 4th of July. It is quite different not being in the US for the big Holiday. I mean, first off, I am actually at work today, rather than having a day off. Kind of a downer, but maybe there will be some sort of Bank Holiday that I get while I am over here to make up for it. But it certainly does not feel like July 4th. I am sitting here in the office wearing a sweater today. I could actually see my breath as I was walking from the train to the office. There are no US flags waving off the buildings (go figure), and I doubt I will see any big fireworks displays tonight. So it is quite different.

My day started off in a weird way. I can’t tell if it has been a good day or a bad day so far. For the second morning in a row, I actually had to be woken up by my alarm clock, so maybe my pre-7 am wake up moments are passing. (Although I still wake up before my alarm goes off, but I now manage to get back to sleep. Possibly because it has not been as bright at 6 am the past few mornings.) As I said, I am wearing a sweater, which I put on because I read that it was supposed to be between 13 and 16 today (55-60). It looked a little chilly out, so I decided to play it safe. The forecast also said there was a chance of some rain moving in, but it did not call for any storms, but it was relatively sunny as I left the apartment.

I got to the bus stop around 7.33, and apparently missed the 7.35 bus. So when the next bus came along, I decided to take a chance and try out a new route, as it would be another 10 minutes before the next #230 bus (which I usually ride) came along. I live near 2 or 3 wharfs, all of which you can catch a ferry from. One is from the Taronga Zoo, which is supposed to be a pretty cool zoo, if you are into that kind of thing. Apparently Sally and I went to it when we were in Sydney before, because I recognized it as I passed by. The route to the zoo was different from my regular route. I now see why everyone tells me that Mosman is the posh area. For those of you in Charlotte, the houses reminded me of the Elizabeth neighborhood – big houses with lots of old trees. So I get off at the last stop on the bus route (“Taronga Zoo” stop), and start walking in an attempt to find the Taronga Zoo ferry. Luckily another guy on the bus was looking for the same ferry, and he got directions from the driver (I did not hear them, though). So I followed this guy.

Yeah, so the Zoo bus stop is nowhere near the ferry wharf. Complete opposite side of the zoo from one another, and there is no way to get to the two but to walk around (unless you pay to go in the park, I am sure). How do I know? Because I walked down this road for-freaking-ever to find the ferry, and figured out at the end that I went from the front side of the zoo to the back side. Now, I was a little frustrated with this walk at first. (There were absolutely no signs for the ferry until you got to the water. By then, it’s kind of a “duh” factor, isn’t it?) It was a 15-minute walk on a road with a decent amount of traffic and no sidewalks. Luckily the wider part of the road (for the most part) was on the oncoming traffic side (the right), so that the other guy and I could walk along and not worry about getting hit by oncoming cars. He was a few yards ahead of me, so he was kind of my blocker for oncoming traffic before it got to me.

But as I walked, I noticed the woods around me. I passed a big sign for the Sydney Harbour National Park, which looked like it led into some pretty cool nature trails and views. And with the cool air, it was kind of like walking along the Blue Ridge parkway in early October. It was pretty, peaceful, and nice, aside from the lack of walking trails. Plus, to improve my spirits, I was listening to some Jesus-N-Me music on my iPod, so it was kind of my own little time with God and nature. As I turned the sharp curve to come to where the back of the zoo and the wharf was, I saw a cool view of the Sydney city skyline, and then looked over towards one of the suburbs north of the bridge, only to see a rainbow in the sky. Pretty cool!

I boarded the ferry, and heard that we were running late (the deckhands were yelling at people to hurry up and get on). The ferry was packed, but I figured it would be a pretty short trip. Wrong. Apparently something was going on with public transit today. (I had noticed there were fewer buses on the road than on other days.) The ferry went around to the same route that the Mosman Bay ferry (my usual one) takes, and ended up picking people up at my same usual stop. So if I had waited 5-10 more minutes for the correct bus, I would have ended up on either this ferry or an earlier one and not had to do the hike around the zoo. (Again, karma sucks.) The ferry captain came on a couple of times during the trip and announced we were going to Circular Quay (there are never announcements on other mornings), and apologized that we were running so late. So clearly, it was not a normal morning for the ferry system.

On the ride over, I looked up from the book I was reading and figured out that there was a reason why I saw that rainbow in the sky. It was now raining. And, shock of all shocks, I had no umbrella and no rain coat. However, I was not as big an idiot as I thought for not checking the weather again this morning. There were plenty of shops at Circular Quay who had their umbrellas on display by the door, and there were plenty of people standing in line to purchase them. But I waded through the shoppers and made it onto the train, which stopped and sat for a couple of minutes before getting to my stop. Then I got off and walked to work, making pretty much every crossing light I came to on the way. The rain was light enough I didn’t really get wet. Although I think the rain also added to the mist I saw when I blew out my breath to check how cold it was. I was somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes late for work (there is no set start time in the office), but at least I am just doing training right now and no one cares, as long as I get my 7.5 hours in. HA! And a little hot choco first thing will do a cold body good! (Finally, a coffee machine I like – one that has hot chocolate!)

All in all, an interesting start to my Fourth of July morning! So you tell me – good morning, bad morning, or does it all just cancel out to an “okay” morning?

The rest of the day went fine. I finally am scheduled to go out to a client for the next 3 weeks for the consulting arrangement I mentioned in an earlier post. So I plan to post something on Monday about my experience driving here for the first time! Plus I have some training next week, so I will get to meet more of the folks from the Australian offices. And I met another manager here today that I will be working with on one of my engagements while I am here. He introduced himself, and then said, “And you’re from...?” When I told him the US, he laughed and said, “I thought so. it kind of gave it away when I heard you talk.” It’s kind of interesting being the outsider with the funny accent!

I also got an invite today for a birthday party on July 13. Apparently someone here has a birthday on the 12th, and the organizer asked if I wanted to go. Before anyone asks, yes, I am going and yes, the organizer (and the other birthday girl) knows it is my birthday that day. I figured if I didn’t tell her, someone reading this post would figure out how to let the Aussies know about it. But we’ll be going to some sort of floating boat restaurant in Darling Harbour, so it sounds pretty cool! And the girl whose birthday is on the 12th wants to get together to celebrate. (She is a secondee, as well. Apparently I had met her last week, but she had to re-introduce herself at our monthly staff meeting this afternoon to help me figure out who she was!)

Okay, I have to run now. Tonight is the office end-of-fiscal-year party. Bowling and laser tag. I am on a team with 6 other people for the evening, of which I already know 2. So I will get to meet some more folks tonight and have some fun! I will update you guys on my weekend later on, including the events from tonight.

Happy Fourth to everyone!