The Royal Ranwick Races - Ladies Day

So given my lack of time, but abundance of photos, to try to keep you updated with the happenings in my life, I have decided to just add photos and offer basic explanations. Hope this works out for everyone. This last Saturday kick started the Spring Carnival for the Ranwick Races. It was ladies day which doesn't have the same specials as when I went to Pats game (where there was free drinks for ladies) but nonetheless every one dresses up nice, a lot of people wear fancy hats (I opted for the more budget friendly headband with feathers in it) and drink champagne. I only bet once because they were giving out free bets for signing up for something or other, so naturally I bet it on the horse with the worst odds. I figured, if you really have nothing to lose, GO BIG! At least on the outside chance that if that horse came out in front, you'd see a huge payoff. Well, when my horse entered the ring, I realized that was not going to happen. He was fat, even for a horse, and I'm pretty sure he only had three legs. Regardless it was a great time. Also, when you look through the pictures below, you'll see that I found Waldo at the races as well (or Wally as they refer to him over here).









I should also note that Sunday drinks are quite popular in Australia. Below are a few pics of me, my friend Alex from work (who requested a specific shout out in my blog. Hi Alex. Consider this your shout out), and a few of his friends that he introduced me to having a lazy Sunday at Rivisi's in Bondi Beach. It's no daiquiri deck in Siesta Key village but, hey, it'll do.

I left my heart in San Francisco

Just saw this and wanted to share. Watch it with the sound on. It was so good I swear I started to tear up a little bit...

http://laughingsquid.com/the-unseen-sea-a-beautiful-time-lapse-video-of-san-francisco/

Can't wait to come home!

Double Denim Day

So a few weeks ago, I initially had planned to go out of town with some coworkers to Kangaroo Valley. It is a sleepy little area about two or three hours outside Sydney where we were all going to stay in a big cabin, cook huge meals, and probably go hiking and canoeing. It seemed like something I could get on board with...until Pat told me his rugby club was having a double denim day. That changed everything!

Double denim, also known as a 'Canadian Tuxedo' is the practice of wearing denim on the top and denim on the bottom to achieve and delightfully tacky (great, did I just use Hooters motto in my description?) ensemble. It is generally worn in jest, though there are a select few (particularly in America) that wear this without any sense of irony. They generally have mullets, as well.

Instead of trying to explain how awesome this whole phenomenon is...I'll just show you...












Sadly, Pat is leaving next week for his tour in Argentina so I made sure to become friends with pretty much every other guy on his team to ensure I will always be included for any event like this one.

And the group that went to Kangaroo Valley? They said they had a great time canoeing and even saw a wombat. To me double denim > wombat everytime.

Love from the brother :)

HI Emily!!! How are you doing? I was just thinking about you and thought I would write to tell you what a great person you are and how fortunate I am to have such a loving sister!! I love you and miss you!!!
Ben

Looking forward to going back...

With all of my dates of traveling while I'm home booked, I am getting more and more excited to coming home. The other night I spent the evening showing a coworker YouTube clips of Bay2Breakers and telling him about Florida football and I ended up getting really happy that I was going to be back amongst all of that soon but sad because it will only be temporary.

My official itinerary reads like this:

Oct 15 - Boston
Oct 23 - Sarasota
Oct 29 - San Francisco
November 6 - Back to Sydney

Incidentally it just works out that I get to hit the three major places I've lived in my life where the majority of my friends are still at. Merri is going to be out here in November and then another friend of mine is coming in December so those are events to look forward to as well, but really I don't think there is going to be anything like coming back. Even though I will be couch surfing my way around the country I know I will be more comfortable on lumpy hand me down couches as long as I'm around the people I love. As thrilled as I am to be coming back, I already am getting sad that I know it is only temporary and I will have to return once the trip is over.

Getting on the plane to leave the first time was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I knew how much I was giving up, and I knew that I was essentially trading in a really good life that I'd built for the complete unknown. It hasn't been easy. It rained the first four months I was here. I've had countless frustrations setting up banks, dealing with the systems over here and other things that are par for the course when moving to a different country. Things didn't work out as I'd hoped and I feared stepping on that plane may have been the worst mistake of my life. I struggled to figure out why I had done this and given up everything that I knew and loved for something that was so uncertain.

Then I saw a quote the other day that I loved. "Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great." -JD Rockefeller. It struck me particularly because I knew I was giving up something really good when I left San Francisco. And I was scared, but I did it anyway knowing I would always regret not doing it and wondering what if. Even though my time here hasn't been an amazing tropical vacation where I'm hugging Koalas, drinking Fosters and essentially living in a Chippendale's calendar as one may have hoped at its onset, I have faith that something great will come of this. Already, I appreciate my family and friends in a much greater capacity than I might have been capable of even after having them in my life for years. Some friends have continued to be supportive and in my life so much in spite of the distance. With others the communications have somewhat faded but I now know there are people who will really be there no matter what and thats a wonderful feeling.

Even more than that, the quote represents not letting a fear of losing what is comfortable and safe and at least trying for something greater. Pat talks about how he is so frustrated to have his degrees from a great University and be doing menial work (He works for a golf course to supplement the money he makes from Rugby) but he knows that this is the only way he has the chance to really go after a career in rugby, and that is something he knows he'd always regret if he didn't at least try. David Page is doing the same thing in L.A. in trying to become an actor.

For me 'the great' that I'm going after isn't as discernible as theirs. I'm not even sure what it is. In someways I wish I knew and others I know my life to this point has somewhat been governed by random chaos and events out of my control leading me from one place to another, so maybe I should just trust that everything will work itself out as it should and always has.

That's not to say that I've landed in the proverbial 'Bush' that the namesake of this blog refers to. I'm fine and I'm going to be fine. I know that no matter what, I'll move forward and find my way and I know that I'll give it everything I have in me before I bail. I don't want you guys to be concerned. I'm just being reflective of my time here thus far and how it hasn't quite been smooth sailing, but how I have faith that something great will come of it. And until then, I have coming home to look forward to.