Eggs on a shelf

Sunday March 9th ~11am
I have arrived in Sydney. The plane landed around 7am Sydney time Saturday morning (about dinner time friday Syracuse time). Breezed through immigration, baggage claim and customs in about 20 minutes, which is absolutely unheard of in London. When we would go for ISIS experiments we would wait in the immigration line for at least an hour...pure torture. The first thing i did was purchase a phone from vodafone at the airport. Heres a pick of the thing compared to a normal size card; its too darn small!!

But they include a hands free device with your phone because its illegal to drive and talk without it. Thats what i call smart. If you want us to use it, give it to us when we purchase the phone.

Dr. John Stride from UNSW picked me up from the airport. So far he's a cool guy. Easy to talk to, funny, smart, considerate. We will see tomorrow how he is as a boss! I think its going to be just fine.

Then i checked into High Cross Park Lodge in Randwick. Nice place, a good size, inexpensive, clean, and your own bathroom and kitchen (fridge, toaster, kettle, sink, dishes), and actually across from a park. Heres some picks of my room. So far the Sydney metropolitan area reminds me of Boston... we will see.

Theres the little kitchen! and the moo cow Keith won for me playing the bowling game at the fair this last summer!

The bathroom is nice and big! Large shower stall too!

A little desk and fireplace. Super cute. Notice the window is closed because it looks out into someone elses window...yummy!

Then went out for a walk. Got a 3 dollar newspaper thats good all weekend! At least i dont have to go buy another one today. Bought Australian Vogue for 8 $! argh! and is 1/4 the size of this months US vogue. Bought a 4 dollar iced coffee. Yes iced. i was too friggin hot for regular coffee. Then went to the local grocery store.
ahhhh, the grocery store. I spent 36$ and bought one reusable bag full of groceries. One. My mom will be happy...the store is called Coles. My mom loves Kohls!!
One thing is for sure, with these prices i am going to be broke sooner than later! at least i dont have to buy petrol, which is twice as expensive as the US, but half the price of England.

Then i inspected an apartment in the Randwick suburb that is about a 15 minute walk to UNSW. It was a cute place and in my price range; 250 per week. But i am sure its going to go fast and i would like to look a little more.

By this time it was only about 12 noon.

I decided to watch some tv. They have some of the same commercials we do. Like the V8 commercial where there is a man and woman at the dinner table and the man gives his veggies to the dog and then the dog bops him in the head. EXACTLY the same commercial, only everyone has an Australian accent. Thats not the only one either. I saw the today show this morning.

i also saw my first bug. Nothing impressive, but i am not dissapointed, i dont really want to see any at all. And my first bird. Crow like in structure and color, but with white on the outline of its body and wings. pretty.

I got up this morning around 5 because of the jet lag. I thought it was 6 because i had set my phone an hour fast at the airport when i got it. oops. who needs to set the time and date on their phone anyway. Its supposed to automatically appear when your phone and the satellite talk to each other...

I unpacked all my clothes this morning and put them in the drawers. I did not use the closet because the handles are grimy and it smells funny...eeeww. i also packed 7 pairs of khaki pants. 7. i dont even like khaki pants that much, but apparently they remind me of warm weather. Maybe i will send some back to Keith...eh, probably not.


i will leave you with this. The cars here are like the US. The food here is like England, and they sell their eggs on a shelf in the isle next to the granola bars. Blech! put those things in the fridge! they dont sell that fast! It would be better if the cars were little like England and the food was yummy like the US.

xo S*