Day 14: MARDI GRAS!!

Saturday! My one goal? MARDI GRAS!!! The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was happening all month and there were a ton of (kind of expensive) events going on throughout February that all culminate in the Mardi Gras Parade. The Parade is free and seeing as I'll probably only be in Australia once I thought I just HAD to attend. The day started with some much needed sleeping in time, making some phone calls and actually making myself some food. As soon as I got ready I was off to wander Sydney once again. I wanted to go to Paddy's Markets (a huge indoor flea market) in Chinatown to grab some nail polish (nail salons are far too expensive to go to them here) and a few other nic-nacs. I walked down to the market going through Darling Harbor and the various shops and restaurants they have there. On my way I passed the Sydney Entertainment Center building, and though I have no idea what actually goes on in there I was impressed by the building itself. I also passed the Chinese Gardens on my way and tried to stop and have a look, but they have an entrance fee so I figured I could go without. When I finally got to the Markets I tried to tackle them by going row by row and comparing prices so I didn't get scammed into buying stuff at the most expensive place. I ended up getting some sunglasses, nail polish, and a purse. I was so proud of myself with buying the purse. Now, normally I am a terrible negotiator. Like, when I went to hawaii my bartering with the shop owners there went a little like this: me "How much is this?" them: "30 dollars" me: "How about 20?" them: "30 dollars" me: "uhmm, okayyy." haha. So, yeah, I give in too easy. BUT, I've been watching Pawn Stars lately thanks to Omar's recommendation and seeing them negotiate so many times their skills have rubbed off on me i guess. The purse was 35 to start and I talked it down to 20! After finishing my shopping there I walked over to Harmony park to chill for a while and read. After sitting there for about 20 minutes it started to rain, so I figured sitting on a park bench might not be the best decision seeing as what I was reading is electronic. So I walked the rest of the way to Oxford street where the parade was supposed to be, and BAM crazy people running around everywhere! People were dressed in costumes, in boas and beads, or not really dressed at all. Everyone was running around fairly drunk and having a great time. Also, apparently walking with open bottles in public is legal cause everyone had booze with them. After walking around for a while to take in all the sights and sounds I settled into where I was going to watch the parade. I started standing there at about 5:30pm and was in the second row. I was standing behind a lesbian couple and a dude with a bright orange mohawk. Soon I was joined by a 26-yr old woman from india and 3 friends from Perth. The three from perth, Sebastian, Linda, and Piper were extremely friendly and we talked for a little while. Sebastian was seriously gorgeous and gay and lovely. He was a hoot (he actually made me really really really really really miss Anthony). They all were sharing around their alcohol and Sebastian and Linda schemed to get Piper (straight) to make out with the random indian girl and lemme tell you, it really really reallyyyyy worked. The hours waiting (the parade started at 7:45) were spend laughing at their antics and viewing all the crazy costumes. Sebastian gave me a Happy Mardi Gras peck and then the Parade was ONNNNN. Okay, now I've never been to New Orleans Mardi Gras and I haven't been to WiHo on Halloween so I don't have a lot to compare it to but the parade was CRAZY TOWN. I have never seen so many topless women, thonged men, or leathered up people in my whole life. Sooo many boobs and butts hanging out it was ridic. There were some hella legit drag queens and a couple actually came over to where we were to kiss Sebastian. LOL. There were a lot of super hot looking gay men and I have never before wanted to be a gay man so badly in my life. haha. During the parade it kept raining on and off, but I guess the bonus of being smooshed like sardines was that I only ever got wet on my head and shoulders so as soon as it stopped I dried quickly. There were a few funny guys standing behind me on egg crates that kept shouting "Hold IT" and "Picture here, Picture here!" At about 9 (3/4 of the way through) my legs and feet were killin' me. I hadn't really sat down since 2pm and I had been standing in one place since 5:30 and my body wasn't too happy. But, I had almost made it through so I stood my ground and enjoyed the rest of the parade. It eventually ended at about 10pm and I bid the Perth peeps farewell as they headed to the Mardi Gras after party. I trekked back to my apartment running into a few fun characters on my way back and stopping by the Scary Canary for old times sake. By the time I got home at about midnight I was soo readdy to just lay and not move for a while. My roomie, Yalin and I chatted about this years vs last years Mardi Gras, and apparently this one was a huge improvement. She also had just made a NY lemon cheesecake from scratch so she offered some to me and it was delicious. Proof that she must be a ballin' pastry chef :D The rest of the night was watching scrubs with Yalin and Willy and resting my feet.

I stayed away from some of the more explicit photos, haha, but you'll get the right idea ;)

Mardi Gras 2011: SUCCESS

Day 13: The Invisible Roomie Emerges!

My work station :) Soon it will have a shnazzy new computer and lots of moths, butterflies, and caterpillars covering the desk!

Wayyyyyyy overslept. I don't know if it was the exhaustion from the previous day or the aversion for going out in the heat I could already feel rising but I woke up a solid hour late. Lucky for me Dr. Mitchell has kind of just said I can come in when I like, so I texted to let him know but I'm definitely not going to be making it a habit. When I got to the office I was greeted by the task of editing, croping, and brightening all the photos I had taken the day before. This took almost as long as taking the pictures themselves but I slowly worked through the stack on Andrew's computer taking a PBJ lunch break and supplementing with some coffee he supplied. Once all the photos were up to par I renamed them all to their proper scientific IDs and organized them numerically. The last task of the day was to enter a bunch of data on spreadsheets to get even more specimen ready to test. Near the end of the day we went down to the collections area to gather more specimen and chat with the collections manager, Dave. They talked for a while and I chatted with a woman that shares dave's office who does all the billing information. She was frustrated by a bad invoice and we shared billing horror stories, me about DM and her about the Museum. We talked for quite a while, and I really like her. She's really funny and just kind of a warm easy to talk to person. After the guys were done talking we went to the collections area to pick out specimen and its weird, but seeing a bunch of specimen all pinned up I got this HUGE urge to rearrange them into block and script UCLA! I don't think they'd appreciate that very much, but I really really wanted to do it! I controlled myself and just helped Dr. Mitchell carry up some trays to start working on for Monday. By about 4pm we both decided to call it a day. I took off back home and stopped by the grocery store (i know, i know, AGAIN) to catch some items I missed so I wouldn't survive on rice and PBJ alone. I came home to a full(ish) apartment and got to see Yalin for the first time since I moved in Monday morning! Anton, Willy, and Yalin were all home and it was nice to see her and Willy both of whom normally work the night shifts of their jobs (I leave at 9am and get home at 5pm, they both leave at 4pm and get home at 4am). I chilled out in the living room as usual snacking on some avocado dip and chips and listening to Anton play guitar. A little while later Yalin, Willy and I chatted for a while about video games, Wii mishaps, our jobs, and how they all knew each other so I could get to know them a little better and get a general rundown of the apartment. Willy said he'd show me where the gym and pool are over the weekend and I found that I really liked both of them. They are upbeat, funny, and generally just nice people. Yalin works as a pastry chef and Willy is the night manager of Woolworths, a big grocery chain in AU. After, I cooked the same dinner as the night before and ended with a rice dessert I make which is basically just white rice, milk, cinnamon, and sugar. I spent the rest of the evening catching up on things I kept pushing aside all week and watching Grown Ups with Adam Sandler. I also paid rent since this was the first time I'd seen Yalin and found myself to be much poorer afterward. haha. Overall I think I'm going to really dig living here. The location (Pyrmont) is awesomely close to downtown (CBD), the people are nice, the room is spacious and clean, and the atmosphere is very laid back and not party party crazy so I know I won't ever have to come home to drunken people throwing up everywhere or rando's that I have to worry are stealing my stuff or anything. I would say thus far the apartment is a success, the job is pretty ballin', and the city is a wonderful. Sydney is a WIN :D

Random moth I found in my apt (apparently now I'm obsessed too) but it's so cool - it's GREEN!

Day 12: Pictures and Dramzzz

I woke up to a lovely text from Dr. Mitchell telling me to come in at 11 instead of 10, yayy! Another morning of oatmeal, watery chai, and a little bit of good news from some grad schools. When I got to work I discovered that my project would be to organize and photograph about 90 moth specimen to get them ready for more collections. Now, I know taking pictures is fun, but boy-o-boy insect pictures are hard work. It literally took me from 11am till 4pm to photograph all 90 because they require special light, very specific camera settings, and manually focusing each because they're so small and detailed. Manually focusing was probably what sucked the most. I took on average 5 pictures of each specimen and kept the one that was best in focus (meaning the middle of the wing was completely in focus and the rest of the insect was as in focus as possible). It was a long day, but I was proud by the end of it because I was able to finish the whole thing. I took a short break in the middle to eat my packed PBJ sandwich (so yummy, something about the PB here is wayyyy better than in the states) but otherwise I worked through and accomplished the task. I went home with a little bit of blurry vision (lol) but otherwise happy and arrived home to just Anton in the apartment. I was trying to figure out if I should go out, but because of the combination of heat and exhaustion I decided another night in was acceptable. I sat down at the computer and figured out a way to make netflix work for me in AU which made me super super happy. None of my other tv websites work here, so I was getting a little bored since we have 9 channels and AU is about 2 weeks behind the most recent US episode of all the shows. Right as I was settling down to watch a tv ep there was a knock at the door. Anton opened it and I heard a few voices asking if they could come in. I was a bit confused, but figured they must be friends of his or something, but I was wrong. 5 people came inside and immediately announced that they were from immigration and they were looking for someone that they heard from a tip lived here. Now, I just moved in and to be honest was struggling to remember everyone's name so I stayed quiet on the couch. When they got into the living room they asked Anton for his name and asked me for the same. They said they were looking for Jae Thi Li Chan and when the lady looked over to me and asked if he lived here I told her I had no idea (real helpful, right?). Anton also said he didn't know, and because his english isn't as strong the speed and accent with which the main lady talked was a little too much for him I think. They requested to see identification from both of us and while I went to get mine Jonathan came home. I came back in the living room as he was being asked to sit down in one of the computer chairs to show his ID as well. Turns out Jonathan = Jae and I guess he must have overstayed his welcome in AU. They took both Anton and my passports to verify them over the phone and ensure that we were both on valid visa's and apparently Anton has also only been here for like 2 weeks kinda like me. They asked Jonathan to talk to him in his room and he and two of the Immigration people disappeared into his room for almost 30 minutes to talk. When they finally came out he had a bag packed and they basically all left with him. As soon as they were gone Anton and I both looked at each other and simultaneously were like WTF!?!? He said that when they first asked to come in he thought it might be a robbery since they didn't say much, but that the whole situation was crazy strange. Neither of us really knew what to do, and since I just moved in and he moved in a few days before me we just kind of sat there talking about how ridiculous it was and how weird it was that they just kind of took him away. Now, I have no idea what they do with people that have overstayed their visa, nor do I know when/if he'll be returning but I assume they have to let him because he only took a duffle bag worth of stuff and things like his computer and dvds and such are still here. It was a very strange experience to have and I sure hope I never get on the wrong side of immigration people cause they were intense and one of the guys was effing HUGE. A little while after they left Anton said he needed to go on a walk because the whole thing kind of startled him and I decided to try and make some dinner. I ended up making rice with grilled red peppers, carrots, chicken, and soy sauce. By the time I was done making dinner Anton came back and we talked about how awkward it would be to have to tell Willy and Yalin that Jonathan was gone. Luckily for me Anton had known Yalin a little before moving in so he called her and let her know and then had to leave again to get to a study group. The rest of the night I was mostly flabbergasted by the days events so I just chilled, watched a movie or two on netflix and decided to take it easy.

Day 11: PCR - no, that doesn't stand for Pretty Cool Reseach, though it could!

Morning two of waking up in my own apartment and it was just as pleasant as the first! I woke up again to see Yalin sleeping in bed after getting back from work at about 5am. I overslept a bit, so I hurried out the door but was still able to make some time for oatmeal and a very watery homemade chai latte. When I got to work Andrew (Dr. Mitchell) said we were starting off the day with the next step of the Barcoding Process, PCRs. PCRs, otherwise known as polymerase chain reactions is a very intricate process that luckily a machine does most of! We went up into a different lab in the super sterile clean area to prepare the samples which basically means adding a bunch of different chemicals, binders, and catalysts to actually sol and replicate the DNA. Once all the proper chemicals are added we put it in a machine to do the actual reactions which involved three major steps: denaturation, annealing, and extension - all done at different temperatures for different lengths of time to produce copies of the DNA. The process takes about 2 hours so while we waited we went out to lunch with the other volunteers in the Entymology Dept. Now, I am by far the youngest volunteer (by at least 20 years) but it was really fun talking with everyone. I was sitting next to a woman that's volunteered for over 5 years and she ended up being a flute tutor! Her granchildren are all in band and her oldest grandson recently traveled to the US with his band to play in a concert which was so cool. I had a slice of banana bread at lunch which was absolutely delish toasted with butter and passed on the lattes everyone seemed to be having because they were ridiculously expensive. When we got back to the lab we retreived the samples from the PCR machine and did what's called a Gel experiment that tests whether or not we got suitable DNA. The test is really pretty and creates kind of a rainbow effect in the otherwise clear gel - it was probably my favorite part of the day. On the way home I stopped by pizza hut to get a $5 pizza mia! I didn't feel much like cooking, and let's be real, who can pass up The Hut?! On my way home I also noticed that there was a HUGE American Express building in downtown and observed that no other major credit card company had a building (that I could see) in downtown Sydney. I found it fairly ironic that of all the credit card companies AMERICAN express was the one doing the best in AU. haha. I went home to enjoy the pizza and once again found myself in the living room with two of the boys while I did some laundry. One of them, Jonathan, saw me sitting on the floor to charge my laptop and actually went and got me an extension cord which was really really nice of him. He also taught me how to use their TV since the remote is tricky and helped me to navigate the kitchen a little better than I was previously. I learned than Anton, the other male roomie is attending UTS in Sydney for engineering and he can actually play the guitar quite well. Jonathan made a little bit of small talk with me which I appreciated, but was mostly into watching The Simpsons on his desktop computer. Mostly they were quiet, sometimes stopping to talk to each other in Chinese, but it was kinda nice just being able to chill out. It's a little strange not having Yalin around in the evenings. On the one hand its awesome basically having my own room, but on the other it could be interesting to see how all these boys warm up to me. LOL. Who knows, maybe we'll all be besties ;)

Pretty American Express Building!!

The Harbor I walk by on the way home.. There was a lightning storm I was trying to snap a pic of, but unfortunately my eyes and my hands didn't move fast enough to snap a pic. To the right of the end of the pic is the Sydney Aquarium and Animal World and to the left is the Maritime Museum :) Nice walk homeeee.

Day 10: Well Hello There, Qiacube!

My bedroom! My bed is the one on the right, and yes, its on the ground, but its surprisingly comfy and the room is pretty large comparatively to the other apts. I looked at! There's a lot of storage space - so much so actually that I can't fill it up at all.. about half of my space is empty! :)

The front of the apt building! Washer and dryer in my unit, gym, pool, and secured access. Woot!

My first full day in my apartment started well! I woke up to get ready for work at about 9 and found that I was the only person awake in the apartment. I took my time getting ready and actually made myself breakfast which is fairly unheard of... Don't worry people, it was only oatmeal! Once I got to work I was excited to see Dr. Mitchell and get working on continuing the barcoding that we had begun on Monday. When I got there in the morning we went straight to work on the 12 samples. We took them out of the heating station we had them baking in at 50'C overnight and headed straight to the lab. I unfortunately committed the faux paux of wearing flip flops on a day that we were heading up to the lab, but Dr. Mitchell said not to worry about it so I guess they aren't too strict around these parts. As we walked up I met the man in charge of the lab area and Dr. Mitchell set up next Monday for me to do my official lab run through with him so I would be able to work through the process alone in order to get as many samples done as possible which made me really happy. I don't know why, but I didn't really think he would trust me with all the lab work alone. I'm just a girl with a degree that doesn't know diddly-squat about DNA Barcoding. He kept using lingo as we went along that I was hard-pressed to keep up with, but he was also good about trying to explain everything thoroughly as we went. In the lab we donned lab coats and gloves and continued the Barcoding process. This basically involved transferring the DNA solution into new test tubes (leaving behind the actual moth matter) and putting them into a machine called the Qiacube. Now this machine is hella legit. Dr. Mitchell thought we were going to have to do all the stuff by hand, but luckily the machine was available and it apparently saved us a lot of time using it. After we headed back to his office and he informed me that they were having a free BBQ for Museum staff for lunch, which was awesome. I had a turkey dog and a beer for lunch (who can say no to a free Australian beer that you've never tried?). I spent the lunch chatting with a couple of the Museum staff and specifically this very interesting woman who does a lot of agricultural research in Papua New Ginneau. It was good stuff. After lunch I worked to photograph the specimen that we were currently testing and called it a day by about 4pm leaving with a print out of a 50 pg. manual Dr. Mitchell wrote for one of his classes on DNA Barcoding, PCRs, and some other stuff I should really bulk up on. I walked home, stopping to buy a few more groceries and necessities I had forgotten to buy earlier at one of the larger markets. When I got home two of the boys were home, but Yalin my roomie wasn't because she works night shifts. So I basically hung out in the living room (that's where the strongest internet signal is), surfed the web, and tried to get a little more acquainted with the apartment. I made some dinner with the rice cooker and worked my way through the manual. It was a little awkward since I had only met the guys once, and since everyone was doing their own thing we didn't talk at all, but I figured that's the way it starts out. So no biggie. I worked my way through the entire manual and thanks to a couple videos that Dr. Mitchell showed me before I left I actually understood most of what it said. After a long hot day I decided to pass out after I finished settling in so I would be ready for another day.

Day 9: Real Live Science!

Morning started far too early for my liking. I woke up at 8am to get ready for the day, shower, and use my last breakfast coupon from BASE. Once I was ready I went back to my room, grabbed all my stuff and headed down to check out of my hostel. My lovely, happy, hostel. BUT, that also meant that I was headed toward my own happy apartment. The first obstacle was trudging through the city with my two very full very heavy suitcases. Normally walking from my hostel to my apt would take about 10 minutes. With the luggage it took about 30 and even that was only because I was going as fast as I could just to get it over with. By the time I got there I was drenched in sweat and my muscles and hands were not happy. But who cares, right?! I was there! I walked in and met two of the three male flatmates who I hadn't met yet, said hello to Yalin my roomie, dropped my bags, and rushed off to work. Work, however turned out worth rushing too! The morning started off a little slow running around the museum trying to get me my own online sign-in and grabbing some display cases. But, at about 11 we sat down and did some real science! Together Dr. Mitchell and I started a batch of 12 DNA extractions from moths. He did everything first, showing me the steps on about 3 of the specimen and then he would let me take over with the rest. First, we removed legs (for their DNA) from the moths (don't worry people, they've been dead and on display for about 5 years). Then, we mixed a solution of two compounds that I got to pipet into their individual test tubes. After, we put them in a warming machine and will be leaving them there overnight to break down the DNA. It was really really cool going through the process. I felt all science-y and happy that he trusted me working on his stuff. After, I grabbed lunch at a local sushi place where a lot of Museum employees eat and spent an hour or so enjoying the semi-rainy semi-warm weather. Because the specimen test tubes require overnight heating that's about all we were able to do on them for the day. So, after lunch we set up all the necessary equipment to photograph the various moths the next day and that was about it for the day. I headed back to my apartment, taking a slightly scenic route and even stopped to watch some lightning shoot off in the distance. I dropped in a convenience store on my way back to buy some ramen, bread, PB, and jelly so I would have some basic food in the apartment so I didn't have to eat out every night. When I got back I met the third male flatmate and he helped me figure out where everything was located. I successfully unpacked, and boy-o-boy did I have so much space unused. I was unable to fill even half the drawers and shelves I had in my room, but it was good to know I have space to expand ;) hahaa. The rest of the evening was spent being lazy, making myself some ramen, chattin' online, and reading some more books. I'm burning through them, and at this rate I will have read through 100 books by the time I'm back in the states! Thus far the apartment seems cool. The people are nice, the room is definitely fine, and Yalin and I share a good sized bathroom. It's a little strange living with 4 strangers that all know each other. I feel a little like and invader, or like I'm in people's way, but I keep reminding myself that I'm paying rent, so I shouldn't be meek. I also learned today why everything is so damn expensive in Syndey. Their minimum wage is like 16 dollars or something ridiculous. So no wonder the cheapest meal is like 10! I've been thinking maybe of getting a part time job in the evenings just for fun, so we'll see what happens with that.

Day 8: The First Repeat Day!

Woke up with my cold even more advanced, FAIL. But other than the slight sleeping in I was determined to not let it ruin my second Sunday in Sydney . I relaxed most of the morning, made some phone calls home, and walked over the Darling Harbor and Cockle Bay just to have a look around. I meant to wake up to walk over to a Pakistani restaurant for lunch, but I failed miserably in the waking up process. So instead I walked the harbor and all the various shops and souvenir carts. I stopped for lunch at 'Grill'd' where I ate probably the juiciest burger I've ever had and then pranced off to the Maritime Museum. I spent a solid hour in the museum checking out the cool boat exhibits and the shark exhibit. It was good stuff even though I refused to spend the money to buy a ticket to get on one of the old boats. Too much money, and not nearly worth it enough to me. They were showing Finding Nemo in their theater for free so I of coursed stopped for a while to enjoy the banter of Dorey and Nemo's Dad. The rest of the time I spent wandering (my new favorite past time I guess) and eventually decided to go see TRON at the IMAX in the Harbor. Now, I have never before seen a movie in IMAX and I generally refuse to see things in 3D, but I figured what better movie to see that way than TRON? Overall I thought the movie was good. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece or really anything wonderful in the storyline. I was expected a stunning visual 2 hours and that's exactly what I got. My first IMAX experience was a success and though I don't think I'll be shelling out the money to experience IMAX again anytime soon it was a pleasant way to spend my afternoon. By the time I got out it was evening and it was raining lightly. I wasn't exactly dressed for the rain so back to my hostel I went to pack for the move on Monday and to (surprise surprise) read! haha. One last night girl talking with the roomies and the night was called to a close. Thanks BASE Hostel, you made my week stay without an apartment very entertaining XD I will be sad to say goodbye to you!