Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Year's Eve Day

Last night we were cooked an amazing Thai dinner by our professional-chef friend. TWO CHEF HOMEMADE MEALS IN ONE DAY! So so so delicious. I felt like I had a private cooking show right in front of me. We toasted our meal with champagne and talked about how happy we are here in the land of Oz.

We woke up today and are just lounging around. We will be getting ready for NYE in a little bit. Tonight should be a blast because Sydney has the biggest and best fireworks in the world apparently! We will be right on the harbor so it should be an incredible night. While I ring in the new year, it'll only be 6am for you all, so I will wish you all a happy and healthy new year right now!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER!

Cheers, mate!
Dana xoxo

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Catch-up Post!


So Tuesday night we didn’t go to the harbor area. We went to the birthday party at this funky tea-room gone crazy style place. Think animal hair wing back chairs, dozens of chandeliers and hanging plants, and really eclectic décor. We hung there for a while and then moved on to a thai restaurant. On the way there one of my sandals broke, so one of the guys we were with went on a mission to find me “thongs”. Luckily he found some, because it was like 7:30 and most shops were closed and I hated walking barefoot in the streets of Sydney. The thai was really good and when we were done eating we moved onto a pub.
Yesterday we went into downtown Sydney to pick up our tickets for New Years Eve. We walked over the Sydney Harbor Bridge which offered incredible views of the water and the Opera House. I took a million pictures and will try to post them soon! The water was the most amazing blue color and I really really wished that I were on a boat. Once we crossed the bridge we decided to go to the Opera Bar, which is a restaurant at the foot of the Opera House, overlooking the water. We drank champagne and ate “wedges”, which are like amazing potato slices that you dip into a chili-garlic sauce with sour cream. They are apparently very common in Sydney and they were delish! They eat chips (french fries) all the time here, too. They also drink champagne ALL THE TIME—the way Americans would have a beer or glass of wine with their meal, in Sydney they drink bubbly. Cheers, mate! We pretty much went on a pub crawl all over “the Rocks” area of Sydney and had a very fun night. Everyone calls me a “piss taker” (I take the piss out of them) because I mimic the accent all the time. They think its so funny but that I am pretty good at it. I sound more British than Oz, but I’m getting better! I am determined to come back with an accent! I try to use Australian lingo as much as possible J
Today we walked around Sydney, had Vietnamese in this incredible food court (Asian food here is amazing) and now we just headed back to Randwick. One of my new friends is a chef, so tonight he is cooking all of us dinner. We bought some champagne (obviously) and we’ll have a nice meal I think. We decided tonight would be a more low-key night since we have gone out the last few nights and tomorrow is New Years Eve. I am loving it here!
Kangaroo Kisses and BHAPpy,
Dana xoxo

Monday, December 27, 2010

First Day

So yesterday, after 4 hours of sleep and ‘An Affair to Remember’, ‘The Backup Plan’, ‘Eat Pray Love’, ‘Going the Distance’, ‘Charlie St. Cloud’, and the beginning of ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’, I landed in Sydney. I struggled with my heavy heavy heavy bags and made my way down to the train to meet my friends. We traveled to Randwick where my friend Emily’s friend Kalee is living. It is a really beautiful townhouse! The houses in this area are really cute townhouses and cottages. We relaxed for a while then went and ran errands with another friend. They took me to get a sim card for a cell phone and then down to Coogee Beach to look at the water. It is so hilly and the houses on cliffs overlooking the water are insanely beautiful. It’s pretty gray out, but it was still an incredible view.
Cool thing: their parking garages are really high-tech and each spot has a little green or red light to assist you in finding a spot. If there is a car parked there, the light is red and as soon as the car pulls out it knows to turn green. This way you don’t turn down aisles aimlessly. It was pretty neat to see.
Today we woke up and went for a 4 mile run to the beach and back. Again it was gray, but so so nice. It was such a hilly run and it kicked my butt but the scenery made up for it.  I ate some ‘brekkie’ and now we’re just getting dressed and heading into downtown for a birthday party. I think we are going to go to the opera house later and see the harbor area!! I’m bringing my camera so I’ll take some pictures and hopefully upload them later!  
Kangaroo kisses and BHAPpy,
Dana xoxo


Brown Hair Au Pair



Hi! I am officially on my way to Sydney, Australia and am now a blogger! It is 4:06am EST, and I am wide awake, eating my meal (steamed green beans and rice—yay for a thrilling vegetarian option) and watching a movie.
I can’t believe that I am actually on my way to Australia! I am going to be in Perth until the end of summer and I am really excited to be able to travel. Lauren created my blog name and wanted me to say: Brown hair, don’t care (See Lu, I remembered!). On BHAP I will chronicle some of the things I will be doing so that it doesn’t seem like I am 10,000 miles away. You can also skype me at dana.mylastname (I got rid of the other skype names that come up, so make sure that this is the one you call).
Weird story: I was sitting in the LAX airport waiting for my flight when a man asked to borrow my phone charger. I said yes, and we started talking and it turns out he is a lawyer from South Africa, but his family lives in Perth and his nieces and nephews go to the same Hebrew Day School as the girls I will be an au pair for. Such a small world! Too bad I forgot his name..
Anyway, I should be exhausted right now seeing as I have been awake for 21 hours, but of course I am the only person on the plane still awake. Hopefully I will get some rest; I know tomorrow will be a looooong day in Sydney. My friend will be meeting me at the airport and then showing me around all day. I’ll try to post some pictures next time I blog.
In the meantime, kangaroo kisses and BHAPpy,
Dana xoxo