Weekend in Melbourne

Come Friday, after working all week, all of us were ready for a few drinks. We all bought some bubbly to start the night off with. After taking turns jumping in the shower, which takes awhile when there are 4 people and 1 bathroom, we were finally ready to meet the ANZUK agency at their drink night. By time we got there and asked were the group was I guess they were all scattered about because through the whole night none of us met anyone from the agency. I suppose that’s what happens when the drink night is from 6-11 and you arrive at 10:30. We still managed to have fun and then unfortunately but apparently the whole world does hee hee…we went to McDonalds for a late night snack before returning home.

Saturday was nice! The weather was good and I was able to have a very wonderful day full with lots of things. I first went to my favorite coffee shop down the road. Caitlin and I shared some wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce that was to die for. We had the funny memory of the night before meeting a group of people and sitting down with them. They offered for us to eat some of their wedges and we were laughing about how I bet they didn’t realize that we would chow down on them! While at the coffee shop I talked to my mom on her mobile (they call cell phones mobiles here with the best accent) to find out that tornados had hit down right beside their house and that all of her electricity was out. Luckily there was no damage to her house or street but down the road wasn’t as lucky. Then I skyped with my daddy who was in Phoenix for the week. I played a little more on the computer and ended up spending hours in this coffee shop. At some point the whole gang was down using their computers as well. We were looking up prices for flights, getting more credit on skype, facebooking, blogging and much more. We all agree it will be nice when we finally get wireless at the house and won’t have to run down to a café to internet. Finally Caitlin and I were the last to leave and decided that we worked up a nice appetite and nothing will satisfy like curry.

So we were off to find us some curry. We went down the road and didn’t find anything so we trammed it St. Kilda beach, our old stomping grounds when we were living out of hostel. After going up and down both main streets we finally found a place that had curry as one of their specials for the day. We sat down to enjoy the most amazing meal. Of course we had to get a chai latte after for a little dessert. At this point I got an unexpected call from a not so old friend and him and I talked for quite a bit internationally. I got a little bit more ease about the Titus situation after talking to him but still no real solution. I tried that day and have continued to try to not let it stress me out and just find a good place for Titus until I return. After that it was time for Caitlin and I to get some very important things for the night…champagne (I told you it has become a staple at our house.) We went back to the house to get ready for our Saturday night adventure.
So when we got home we had the best surprise. Our flatmate, Dean, had made us steak, salad, and cheesy bread. You gotta love Italians who know how to cook. When he came over from Canada one of the items he just couldn’t part with was his steak spices. I am so glad now. It was so delicious! If you are thinking is her biggest joys of the day eating then you are correct. After our nice dinner we all got ready for the night.

After what seemed like forever because there were four of us girls all trying our best to get our hair done and gorgeous outfits put together all at once, we all sat down with Dean to play some cards. Poor Dean had been ready for quite awhile. After our very entertaining card game it was time to hit the town and that we did. My new friend Stevo had made arrangements at his bar our names to be on the list to get in. We went to the Poison Apple and he met us out front. It was a really cool club with good music and a couple of dance floors. We all had a blast dancing throughout the night. When it got to be 2am we were all exhausted although the club was still packed and pumping we decided it was time to go. As we were leaving we got the bad news that the trams were no longer running.
Considering the trams are our main source of transportation directly to our house we weren’t too happy but we thought we could get a taxi. If you think it is easy to get a taxi in the middle of the night in downtown Melbourne, think again. We literally tried for hours to get one to stop. There are tons of these yellow cars driving by and when one finally stops everyone rushes to it. Sometimes it will take the person who just jumps in or sometimes they will just drive away without taking anyone. There seems to be no method to their madness but it leaves many people wandering the streets not knowing how they will get home and we were some those exact people. Stressed out and tired, we stopped and ate McDonalds once again before giving it another try. No one seemed to know why it was so hard to get a taxi but the streets we lined with people trying to get one and every two seconds you saw one pass. We kept walking closer to our house while still trying to get a cab to stop. At this point Caitlin and I who happened to both be wearing very high heels could barely walk anymore. We thought about just staying a hostel that we had just passed for the night because it didn’t seem like we had a way home at this point. The rest of the crew decided they were going to take another break for a moment but I couldn’t stand just sitting and doing nothing. So I saw a bus that stopped and I hobbled to it and asked if it was going to St. Kilda rd but it wasn’t. Thankfully one the workers overheard me and told me that the bus across the street did. I called Dean to gather everyone and meet me at the bus. As we got on we asked if it did indeed take us to were we needed to go and IT DID!!! It went around a way I had never went before but then ended up on our street. The bus kept going though passing our place but then finally came to a stop about a 5 minute walk from home. We were almost there. Once we got home we found out that the keys that Dean had just got made for the house didn’t work on the front door. My jaw dropped and couldn’t saw a word while some others nervously laughed. But a few minutes later Dean called on the intercom from inside the house and we were let in. His keys end up working on the backdoor and the night was finally to an end. I laid down and passed out. Time 4:30AM
The next day I slept in as much as I could which ended up only being till about 10:30. I got up and got dressed to go downtown to sightsee a bit and find a few items that had been on my list. I ventured out on my own for the day and had a very lovely day. Even though my feet were literally swollen from the night before I walked around the big beautiful city. I stopped and skyped with my mum (this is how Australians’ say and write mom) for a bit. I then found some great stores. I got flat black boots so that I can look stylish but without the pain. I also got a microphone for my labtop since apparently it didn’t come with one even though it has a webcam. I stumbled upon this amazing 5 story mall called the Melbourne Central. It was designed in such a unique way. The mall had a movie theatre and a bowling alley in it. I decided that I will have to come back with the roomies there because I have not made it to the cinema yet since I have been to Australia. I shopped around for a bit then found me a little café outside of it to eat. After dinner I saw it was time for me to try out this church that I had looked up. It was called Cross Culture Church. It was a nice sermon and I met a very nice girl named Sophie. She had just moved here from Brisbane Australia about a month ago. We decided we would go to the newcomers dinner together next week. The church had great praise and worship however the sermon did last quite a long time. The service ended up being about 2 hours long. I had now been gone all day and it was time to return home to relax a bit. The trams were still running and I got home without any problems. At home I nestled into the couch and watched a couple movies that were on tv with the flatmates. Not a bad weekend here in Melbourne if I do say so myself and fortunately I also have Monday off because it is a holiday for the students.