*Warning - extra long post ahead*
Wow. For having such a bad rep, 2012 is turning out to be pretty amazing. It’s only been a week and many new and exciting things have already happened bringing with them the promise of future adventure.
I “rang in” the new year standing underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge to watch the city’s incredible fireworks display. The show cost a whopping 6.5 million dollars to put together with over 1.5 million people crowding the shores to watch it live and another several hundred million tuning in to watch it online and on the air. Fireworks were being launched off the bridge, the shores and even from the boats floating in the water. I felt truly honored to watch the stunning pyrotechnics in person and was again reminded just how truly beautiful my life can be. Sometimes its so surreal I get the sensation I’m watching my life from an outside perspective.
The next day I kept the party going and headed off to another one of Sydney’s crazy music festival. This one was called Field Day and had Calvin Harris, Example, Gotye and Justice as the headliners. I went with Amanda and her friend Rhys and it turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL summer day. Field Day was located at “The Domain” which is a park located just in front of the Central Business District which provides the venue with a stunning cityscape backdrop. The best performance was Calvin Harris and although Justice was the main headliner (and had a great light show), everyone seemed a bit burned out by the time they came on stage. Overall, the festival was excellent and can’t wait for the next one coming up in March!
Another new thing to welcome the new year showed up on my doorstep last Wednesday. My flat-mates decided to start the year off with a new investment, and you can’t argue that it’s the cutest investment you’ve ever seen! His name is Coby and he’s an English Staffi. He enjoys biting everything he sees, sleeping in awkward positions and punishing Santa with his razor sharp puppy teeth. He’s still a riley puppy but is learning quickly! In a few weeks he’ll master his unpredictable potty skills and begin taking on bigger challenges like facing his deepest fear: the Vacuum.
To wrap the week up, I thought it would be appropriate to end it with yet another of Sydney’s summer festivals :) I thought Germans loved their festivals but those summertime beer parties are nothing compared to the full on city-wide music fests that take place during the HOT HOT summer months between December and March. The Sydney Festival is an annual event which celebrates summer in Sydney. The first night is always free and takes place throughout the entire downtown area of the city. I went with Ryan, Nate, and Amanda and we ended up at the Domain yet again. It was really nice to lay on the grass and simply enjoy the warm weather, drink wine and take pleasure in each other’s company. The headliner for the night was a genre-bending artist called Manu Chao; I was amazed at the amount of people gathered to see the band perform. They were a mix of Latin, African Tribal, and Ska music who perform their songs in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic and more. Whatever you want to call them, they got the whole crowd (read “sea of people”) up and moving. It was impossible NOT to dance to the rhythmic drums, cool voices and tribal sounds of this worldly band.
With such a great start to such an inauspicious year I can’t help but be excited for the weeks and months to follow :) In just a few short weeks I’ll be getting scuba certified! I start my 3 day intensive course on the 23rd of January and am really hoping the sharks will stay away long enough for me to receive my life-time certification. It’s something I wanted to do since arriving and although I’m nervous about what might happen if I meet a wild Jaws or Shamu I can’t wait to experience breathing underwater for the first time! Only time will tell what the rest of the year has in store, but if it’s anything like January I’m more than optimistic about what’s to come...
No comments:
Post a Comment