"Excuse Me"

I love chemistry. I think. I'm actually not sure if I love chemistry but I've told myself I do so that I can treat chemistry with adoration and wistfulness instead of a burning hatred.
I start to remember my complex relationship with chemistry as I hunker over a geochemistry book I am flipping through for one of my classes.
"Excuse me," the student sitting a seat over from me at the library says to me.
Thinking she will ask me to watch her bag while she goes to the bathroom, I turn to her with a look of minimal interest.
She is holding out her hand, offering me a handful of green grapes.
I feel my eyebrows shoot up. "Thank you!" I stutter as I manage to collect most of the grapes from her hand.
I know I am not supposed to accept candy from strangers, but does that policy extend to fresh fruit? Can you drug a grape?
I turn back to my work, befuddled and confused.
You might think that an interaction this weird would lead to a conversation of some sort, but we don't exchange any words for the next hour and a half. I am still confused.

Catching a Wave

"There are a lot of bluebottles out today, so surf on the other side of the beach where there are less of them" the man behind the counter tells me immediately after taking my money at the surf shop. 

I'm a bit incredulous that this man waited till after he had my money to alert me of the fact that there has been a friendly invasion of killer jellyfish at Bondi Beach. I know I used a coupon, but this seems like a cruel way to pay me back for being cheap.

Okay, so I am a bit melodramatic, bluebottles in fact are not killer jellyfish. They are blue jellyfish who have tentacles that can reach up to 1 metre (3.26 feet). As I waddle down the beach, dragging an eight and a half foot long surfboard behind me, I try to avoid the bluebottles littering the beach.  Their tentacles, which are the color of techaylit, are supposedly extremely incredibly painful when they make contact with skin because the jellyfish sometimes cling.  I tentatively wade into the water after Flora, my surf buddy, taunts me till I HAVE to prove I am not a chicken. 

Did I mention that the sky is completely leaden, looks extremely unfriendly, and it is drizzling in this scenerio? 

I wade into the water, trying not to get knocked over by the relentless waves which are stirred up by the wind.  Instead of the calm and well spaced waves I experienced yesterday at Bondi beach, the waves seem to be feeding off of each other and coming continuously. To make it better, the wind is driving some waves sideways, so waves are crashing into each other at 45 degree angles. 

I follow Flora into the water and hope I don't die. 

Needless to say, this story does not end tragically.  

I surfed for two hours and even managed to catch a few waves. I have been finding it frustrating that I am not immediately good at it but am trying to be patient. Patience is over rated by the way.  

Redfern

Today Valerie and I set our sights on Redfern and ambitiously walked over from Glebe. It took us about an hour to get there and we popped our heads into second hand clothing stores, vegetarian restaurants, and weird 'religious' organizations. At this so called religious institution they had a shop selling jewelery and things like "Dragon Blood" (I'm including pictures).  We went to an Indian vegetarian restaurant where I tried a vegetable Samosa (which was delicious) and different Indian desserts (which I didn't love). We stopped at a second hand store that looked like it was in fact a costume store, and on their sale rack I found a pair of leather pants. As a joke, I tried them on. They fit me like a glove, were 15 dollars, and I just find the idea of wearing leather pants hilarious. So.... I bought them! And... I was introduced to an incredible flower that grows here whose name I can't remember! Pictures included below.

My new leather previously loved pants!

Directions for how to go to the bathroom

Funny grafiti

Wild parakeets

Funny missing finger ad

Why can't I  buy dragon blood powder at shul?

The incredible flowers

Vegetable Samosa and desserts!

My Interesting Shabbat

This week I called a Chabad rabbi to find out where the closest Chabad rabbi is in relation to where I live. I wanted a free Shabbat meal. He told me he was the closest to Glebe and invited me over. When I talked with his wife, she invited me to sleep over so I wouldn't have to walk back by myself, which I readily agreed to. I arrived at their home a little disheveled as a result of getting lost for a while. It turns out I am very bad at following directions because I only really pick up bits of directions given, and inevitably they are the parts that start "Don't do this..." and then I do that thing.
Anyway, I arrived at the Rabbi's house right before Shabbat started. I was greeted by three adorable children, Menachem who is 7, Libby who is 5, and Moshe who is 3.
Libby was wearing a special pink Shabbas robe with matching pants underneath.
"Do I look like a boy?" she asked me. I stared at her, trying to understand why anyone would think she looks like a boy. She was literally wearing a pink robe and her long hair was in pig tails.
"Why would anybody think you look like a boy?" I asked her, honestly puzzled.
"Because I am wearing pants" she responds, pointing to her ankles.
I lit candles and then started playing with the children, Menachem and Libby (aged 7 and 5 respectively). I agreed to play a board game and the next thing I know, we are playing chess. First I played versus the two of them playing on a team, however Libby wasn't good at teamwork, she always wanted to move the pieces although it was clear Menachem was the better player. Libby kept getting upset and was slowly turning petulant. Every time she lost a piece, her brow became little more furrowed and her bottom lip started sticking out farther and farther. Grandiosely I offered to let Menachem  play on my team, but when we started winning Libby quickly charged us with the heinous crime of cheating!
"Menachem is cheating!" she wailed.
"I'm not cheating," Menachem countered.
"I know you are not cheating," Libby responded, instantly changing her story in the face of opposition "I meant she is cheating" she said, standing in the doorway pointing her finger at me.
Lesson number one I learned from this weekend: when you are beating a 5 year old girl at chess, she will accuse you of cheating and honestly believe that the only reason she is losing is because everyone is trying to trick her.
Later as we sat down for dinner, Libby turned to me and asked "Why isn't your shirt covering your elbows?" I was not quite sure how to respond to her, so I dug my elbows into my sides and tried to distract her with another children's book about Judaism.
Lesson number two I learned this weekend: children ask extremely awkward questions and will call you out for not living up to their standards
All these experiences amounted to a very interesting Friday night. I actually really enjoyed myself, and it left me with a very good feeling about Judaism. And then I came back to Glebe on Saturday after going to the Great Synagogue for shul, and went to a gay parade with my roommates.
All in all, an extremely interesting experience.

Meet the New Barbie and Ken of Bondi Beach!

Sydney has some of the nicest beaches I have ever seen. The sand is soft, the water is beautiful, and sometimes there are topless women! On the bus to Bondi beach I was people watching and found some interesting people. There was Barbie, who had bleached blonde hair and a hot pink bikini. Her eyelashes were on steroids and were about 6 inches long.  She looked dainty and rich. And yet next to her sat a man who looked homeless. I thought the contrast was pretty remarkable.  I'm posting a picture.

Today I found my way to Paddy's Market with Valerie. We stumbled around stalls selling touristy crap to find the precious gems in the rough. There were wigs, phone covers, t-shirts, and kangaroo pelts! It was extra money if you wanted the tail still attached to the pelt. Deliciously gruesome and soft at the same time! At the back of the market was a fruit and vegetable section where we recognized some of our favorites from home and were greeted by some new though friendly looking fruits.  These varieties, such as Dragon Fruit and Extremely Large Sweet Potatoes were just yet another reminder that though the people around us are speaking English, we are no longer in Kansas, nor have we ever been for that matter. Actually most of the people around us at Paddy's market were in fact not speaking English. When I bought fresh basil, the woman I bought it from gave me some fresh marjoram as well. The fresh basil smelled so good I wanted to pull a Winnie and just roll around in it. 

Kangaroo with some Uggs in the background, what could be more Australian?

Dragon Fruit

Making friends

"What is the origin of your name" Valerie, a tall blonde haired girl asks me as we walk around Glebe, hunting for a bar where we can get a beer.
"Hebrew" I respond without hesitation.
 "Oh I should have guessed, what with the hair and the nose" she causally replies. Like a boxer punched the stomach, I feel a whoosh of noise leave my mouth that sounds vaguely like "what!"
Valerie is not trying to hurt my feelings or make racial slurs. In fact she has many Jewish friends, has eaten Matzah, and attended  a Jewish funeral (which she swiftly endorses and tells me she wants one). Quite honestly, Valerie is just the most honest person I have ever met in my life.
We find a karaoke bar and it turns out Valerie not only has a penchant for the truth but is also a very good singer. As we sit around the bar, we (Valerie, Jill, Kaila, and myself) all belt out the lyrics to popular songs from the 90's while Kaila deflects the advances of a 30 something man. However, before we can get up in front of the crowd to sing and make fools of ourselves, karaoke night is over.

New Apartment!!

Today I moved into my new brand spanking new apartment in Glebe! Glebe is a south western area of Sydney, its about 3 km away from the main city (1.8 miles). It is supposedly popular with the young hipsters, there are a bunch of 'ethnic' restaurants and a lot of cafes. Glebe has a large outdoor market on the weekends as well which I'm looking forward to going to. It's called Glebe because it used to be a glebe, an area of land given to a priest so the priest can use the land to support himself either by renting it out or farming etc (Wikipedia).
My apartment opens up into a hallway with a small bathroom to the left. To the right is a stairways leading upstairs to the 2 bedrooms and the full size bathroom which has a bath and a shower. Walking a few feet forward from the entrance brings you to the kitchen and the dining room/sitting room. There are 2 bedrooms in my new apartment, I ended up in the big one that has a balcony. We did a lottery where we all wrote our names on slips of paper and then drew from a bowl. My new roommates seem nice.  They are named Mariya ( who is actually in my room), Lindsay, and Lyndsay. Mariya studies animal science and goes to Cornell. She likes to party. A lot.
Other than that I have just been unpacking and buying groceries.  It is really nice to just have a place to relax and that I can call mine.

Double Decker Metro!

My living room, there is a big tv facing the sofa that can't be seen in this picture

My bedroom! To the right is the balcony -->

The view out of the balcony off of my bedroom

My kitchen