Kangaroo Crossing

Kangaroo Crossing Sign

I love how these really exist on roads here.

After 21 hours of traveling, I arrived in Sydney, Australia on June 16th. With $500 AUD in my pocket, I picked up my luggage and took a WELCOME photo at the Sydney Airport only to be accosted with a smile by security. “No pictures.” I’ve yet to read the Aussie tone. They sound so friendly, but could it be condescending too? Let’s go with friendly. Seeing the Australian basketball team leave the airport (not as cute as the Rugby team I just saw on Sex and the City 2), I wondered how Dave and I would get to Balmain Backpackers.

Welcome to Sydney
Sydney, Australia Airport

Back at Incheon Airport in Seoul 21 hours ago, Dave and I came to our first road block. At the check-in counter, China Air gave us our first reality check. Each passenger is only allowed 20 kg. Dave and I had 50 kg each! We figured that by North American standards, each passenger was allowed two 50 lb bags and that if we were over, we’d pay the excess. Researching beforehand, Air China claimed that 1 kg would cost 1.5% of the highest priced economy one-way ticket. At the airport, that figure turned out to be 1 kg for 32,000 won. We set aside a lot of t-shirts, old shoes, all my DVDs I bought at Yongsan, and most dear to my heart-- my backpacking backpack.  Starting at 900,000 won in excess baggage fees, we shaved off 10 kg, therefore spending 650,000 won. Ouch.

 

Our Lives in 8 Pieces of Luggage
2 Duffles + 2 Suitcases + 2 Backpacks + 2 Laptop Bags

This is what happens when you move away. It’s a life cleanse. We literally threw out the “trash” to make room for our new lives in Sydney. With our massive bags, we opted for a taxi to our hostel. It cost $55 including “tolls”. The hostel manager told us we were ripped off since there is no such thing as paying “tolls” and that we should have only paid around $30. Great. Aren’t first-impressions everything? Despite this let-down, our spirits weren’t crushed. We set-off for the city to see Visa First, the company that handled our visas. Immediately, they set us out to take care of our bank accounts and cell phones *excuse me, mobiles. Although we paid Visa First a lot of money ($440), they really made our transition into Australia painless. We had our Working Holiday Visas, tax file numbers, bank accounts with ANZ, and sim cards with Vodaphone.

Our spirits were later crushed when we returned from the city to finally move into our 4-person dorm. It was a converted room with gypsum board as a wall. It smelled of cannabis and dirty socks and our two roommates had claimed the bottom bunks since October 2009. Always ones to look on the bright side, we repeated meditations of “This is only for a little while.” We stayed only 3 nights.

We moved to Maze Backpackers right in the Sydney CBD. More expensive ($350) than the $280/week spent at Balmain Backpackers, we at least had our own room and a clean kitchen. For 6 days, we ate nothing but pasta or ramen. We didn’t know how long we’d be unemployed or homeless. During those 6 days we frantically searched for apartments and jobs. We were impeded by lack of internet at our hostel. City wireless is $1/15 minutes or $10/day! We would go to Visa First, but then our backs would get stiff sitting on stools. We would go to Gloria Jeans or McDonalds but the connection was spotty. Finally, I found the city library with free connection. During those 6 days we visited 15 properties between 5 and 15 km away from the CBD—mostly walking. These places varied from shared student housing to studio apartments. In Sydney, rent is per week. At first we wanted to pay less than $250 per week. Those places included either very grungy rooms living with other university students or very lavish serviced apartments where 16 people would live sardine-style in two rooms. The Sydney rental market was not what we expected. We upped our maximum to $300/week. We found a completely different realm of properties. We saw cute studios fully furnished in better areas closer to the CBD. We had a hit-and-miss when we found a studio in Paddington with a gorgeous view of the bay. The owner dismissed us even when we even offered our passport photos, bank statements, and resumes after she got an offer for $310/week. We finally got our studio when we went to one last inspection on the eighth day of living in Sydney. Already broken and tired, we walked completely across town to see this last inspection. We walked to the quaint neighborhood of Darlinghurst with only 10 minutes to spare. Scared of my laundry list of inspections on Saturday that would have us running together or separately to overlapping 30 min time-slots all over town, we were really hoping this would be our last inspection. We saw a very modern studio apartment with a queen sized bed, night stands, desk, armoire, and mini fridge and were sold. The next day, we walked over 15 km to and from the realtor’s office, the hostel, and the post office to hand off resumes, visa proof, drivers’ licenses, passports, and money orders for the deposit and rent.

First Apartment Together

Top Left Window, Victoria Street, Darlinghurst

Luckily, we were approved and we moved in the next day. That night we celebrated by cooking our first meal, that was not pasta or ramen; lamb chops, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots with steamed jasmine rice. We joked about buying a bottle of wine each dancing naked around the apartment, but we decided to save that for the day we get jobs.

First Home-Cooked Meal
Steamed Rice & Veggies with Lamb Chops

During this whole housing ordeal, we applied applied applied with Seek and other job boards. It’s been two weeks now and Dave finally got an offer to do a 1 month contract of data entry and I have two PR internship interviews tomorrow. They say Patience is a Virtue. This mantra has been one of the most challenging for us so far. I’ve been rejected or ignored more times than I’d like to see on my Gmail account. Dave and I have had more reality checks than we’ve experienced in our relationship. And I’ve never worried about my financial future as much as now. Nevertheless, I’m very happy with this move and wouldn’t change anything at all.

Home Sweet Home

Sydney Opera House

Shady Travels is Under Construction

Moved to Sydney, Australia.  Sorry, but my blog will be back soon.  Keep checking for updates!

World Cup Red Fever

Every four years, I look forward to FIFA’s World Cup.  It truly is the definition of a worldwide event.  If I could guess, I think more people care about it more than the Olympics or dare I say the U.S. presidential election.  Since 1998, when I began taking soccer seriously, I have whole-heartedly watched the beautiful game.  I remember seeing my favorite soccer commercial of all time where Brazil kicked around a soccer ball through an airport to the sound of samba.  I knew that from their dominant yet graceful play advancing with ease to the final against France, why they were called “The Samba Kings.”  From then on, I not only played soccer, but I was a fan.  I followed La Liga, Premiership, Bundesliga, Serie A and even MLS.  I watched my favorite players like Beckham to Ronaldo go from play to injury while the rising stars like Ronaldinho and Christiano Ronaldo took soccer stardom to new heights with their multi-million pound/euro signings and sponsorships.  Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong weren’t in my realm of sports heroes like the rest of the U.S. was obsessing.  Mia Hamm was what I wanted to be.  I remember telling my mom that I no longer wanted to be a doctor, but a professional soccer player when I grew up.  Imagine the surprise and uncertainty on my mother’s face.  Regardless of this pipe dream, I developed my passion for the sport into my central universe.  I worked towards Varsity, club, and coaching soccer almost playing collegiate level.  I settled for captaining the intramural dynasty “Mabakyao” at Fordham University.

*This team name derives from Marco’s relentless pursuit to use it despite it being my grandfather’s birth name before adoption.

From that very first World Cup, I have avidly watched each one thereafter.  I spent Japan/Korea World Cup 2002 in the Philippines thankfully watching in the same time zone.  At 16, I spent a month reconnecting with relatives I hadn’t seen since I was 3.  I went to a local university everyday and played with both their mens and womens teams then coming home by 7pm to watch those Samba Kings.  For the Germany World Cup 2006, I had to leave my beloved NYC for the summer to earn and save extra money for my trip around the world with Semester at Sea.  I returned to my first job at Outback Steakhouse not as a hostess, but as a take-away server.  Thankfully, I had my friends Chris, Matt, and Paul to watch every game and then go out to the Kiwanis Park tennis courts to play short-sided soccer past midnight.  Now, I’m starting the South Africa World Cup 2010 in Korea.

Korea is really getting ready for the World Cup to begin on June 11^th.  All over Seoul, I see advertisements exclaiming “Fighting Korea”, “Red Devils”, “Dynamic Korea” etc.  Random vendors are selling Korea fan jerseys on every corner.  The likes of Park Ji Sung, Lee Chung Yong and Park Chu Young have replaced Kim Yu Na’s image as the main celebrity spokesperson for various brands like Samsung, Tous le Jours Bakery, Hyundai Motors, and Hite Beer.  Don’t worry.  Korea hasn’t forgotten its ice princess.  She teamed up with Big Bang, arguably Korea's favorite boy band and created “The Shouting Dance” for Korea to do during the games.

I just hope with all of this excitement, Korea will increase its recognition of the sport of soccer as a leader in sports.  It makes me so sad to hear that women’s soccer virtually doesn’t exist here.  If I had more money, more connections, and the ability to speak Korean, I would create a Seoul youth soccer league much like the U.S.  Growing up, organized sports fueled my weekend.  I want these children to experience being part of a team and playing against other clubs from different areas.  But, as anything goes in Korea, it’s all about making Korean mother’s happy and all they care about is a die hard no non-sense pursuit to be the best academically.

This Saturday, I’m going down to City Hall to watch the game with the rest of Seoul.  I had the chance to go out with some girlfriends to an all you can eat and drink hors d’oeuvres and wine bar.  I’d rather go out with the masses and drink Cass on the streets while Korea defeats Greece for its World Cup opening match.

I am beginning the tournament in Korea, but I will be ending it in Australia.  I’m excited to see how the tournament unfolds.  Below are my picks from the Round of 16.  Based on the Champions League outcome, I’m guessing Germany will be victorious.  Despite the wins and losses, I hope nations like South Africa and Korea will see the importance of sports and the advancement of global unity through sports competition allowing repressed nations like North Korea showcase their abilities.