Christmas in Oz

My first Christmas in Oz was celebrated in style (Filipino Style that is).

At around 8pm, Cherry and I invited a few friends over for a Noche Buena at our new place in Chatswood. Everyone brought their own food--- Noemi, Jun and Gabbie brought yummy grilled chicken, Mike and Lanie brought grilled Tilapia (yum, yum, yum), Agie made sinuglaw (sinugba and kinilaw with pinakurat), Sally brought wine from Hunter Valley, I cooked kare kare and Cherry bought kutsinta from the Filipino store. Pinoy foods we were really craving...




At 12 midnight, we went to hear the misa de gallo and i was quiet surprised to see the church full-packed. I thought Aussies were not into traditional christmas celebration but i was wrong. i saw people of all ages and nationalities (well, i saw some Chinese, Koreans and a few Africans that flocked the Church). I guess being a Catholic school, the tradition of having a midnight mass is being taught too.

On Christmas Day, Agie and I went to the City and had our picture taken at some Christamassy sights ----

Sydney Town Hall adorned with lights

Different lighting of Sydney Town Hall
Hyde Park

We also went to Queen Victoria Building where a christmas tree was adorned with Swarovski crystals was on display; and Martin Place where the Christmas Tree was placed.

The day after, Dec 26, was a holiday in Australia. It was Boxing Day (just look it up, was supposed to be the day that people give gifts or something). And during boxing day, there's a huge sale going on in the City. Myers (a very big Department store) opened its doors at 6am, while the rival David Jones (these are high end shops like Shangrila, Rustans) opened theirs at 6:50 am... Normal shopping day in Australia is like shopping on a weekday in Rockwell, not too many people, no queue in the dressing room nor in the cashier. But come Boxing Day, its like Divisoria!!! Where did these people came from??? There was a queue just going inside the store and people are just everywhere. I had the below shot taken when I was on the elevator at Myers.

It was unbelievable!!! Just so we wont feel that we wasted our time, we just bought a nice China made bowl at 30% discount and some lotion that was sold at half the price. Even on sale, some itmes are still expensive compared to Manila prices. That being said, i cant wait to go home and shop!!!

So that's how I celebrated Christmas this year. Next year would be different, really different! And I cant wait for 2008 to come!!!

Happy New Year!

(nakakatamad mag post at magkwento)

Easter Show

A tiring, expensive but fun day --- sadly I only have a few pix to share. :(

Are we all set?

Am I enjoying this?

My eyes are close!!!

what a lovely day.

wasn't able to ride the ferris wheel...

What a day

Today was a scheduled shopping day for me, Lynn, Vien and Vans. We have been wanting to visit a factory outlet in Parramatta that sells winter clothes at a much cheaper price, almost 50% off the rack price.

Joyride
Parammatta is a suburb West of Sydney, and going there, I can either take the bus, train or ferry. I was looking forward to the ferry ride but the trip that will go direct to Parramatta from the City leaves after 12 noon, and I will be too late for my 1pm appointment with my friends. I ended up taking the bus --- it took me all of one hour and twenty minutes from Chatswood to Parramatta but I enjoyed the view. I got to see Macquarie University, the beautiful houses along the streets, great scenery, weird and funny people and so much more. It was my first time to travel that route and I would love to do it again. Too bad I didn’t have the camera with me.

Bargain
The Factory Outlet Building we went to was noticeably empty --- not a good sign. Most of the shops are close while those who have goods to sell are not really selling them at dirt-cheap prices. To top it all, Paddington Coat Factory is nowhere to be found!!! It was really a sad day for us coz we were so looking forward to our Winter shopping but we went home empty handed…almost.

There was an athletic store that had a vast inventory of shoes and other athletic gadgets that we chanced upon. I went directly to the pile of “1 for $3 or 2 for $5” shoes. I saw a size 5 Sketcher shoes in the pile but when I saw the price, it was marked down to $15 from the original $50 price. Since I am unsure of the exact price (if it was $15 or $3), I asked the cashier and he informed me it was for $3. Without hesitation, I gave him three dollars pronto to pay off the shoes. After punching the sale, he then told me that it was really a $15 shoes but he gave it to me for $3 --- “thank you Mr. Cashier!”, you made my day!

my $3 Sketchers

Near Accident
We concluded our shopping at around 5pm coz all stores are now closing (this is the downside here in Oz, shops close early… weekdays, shops close at 6pm, except for Thursday, which is a shopping night, where operating hours are until 9pm. Saturdays they trade until 5 pm, while Sunday is the worst when shopping is over by 4pm --- made me miss Manila where Midnight Madness happens every so often).

Going home, I took the train since it would be faster (took me about an hour) and safer as well.

When I alighted at Artarmon, I noticed that the train is a little far from the pathway, creating a gap. As I was walking towards the exit, a man suddenly shouted “No! No!” and another one started running towards the middle shouting “Stop! Stop!” --- signaling the conductor not to close the doors, lest the train will start moving. Another person run towards the driver and said stop. In all the commotion, I thought that someone must have fainted or tripped while alighting the train but it was worse than that --- a little girl, around 4 or 5 years old, actually fell down the train tracks. Good thing her father was quick enough to shout that people reacted and helped in notifying the train persons. The father scooped the girl from the tracks and she was just crying her heart out, her father just hugged her and everyone helped them to safety. I couldn’t imagine what could have happened to the girl if the train moved so quickly or if no one helped or if the father’s reflexes were not that good. I shudder at the thought… I felt really sad and teary eyed thinking of the worst case scenarios… The train, which normally departs a minute after arrival, departed after around 5 minutes. I just hope the little girl is now okay.

Earth Hour

Today, at 7:30 pm, we participated in 60 minutes of total darkness -- well not really total darkness coz my computer was turned on. :-)

At 7:30 pm on 31 March 2007, we are inviting Sydney to turn off its lights for just one hour - Earth Hour -to show that it's possible to take action on global warming.

WWF-Australia and The Sydney Morning Herald are asking all of Sydney - its companies, government departments, individuals and families - to turn off their lights for just one hour. It's a simple action if everyone takes aprt, sending a powerful message that we care about the future of the planet. Click http://earthhour.smh.com.au to read the rest of the story.

We took part in it and hope our little contribution will go a long way.

What a nice activity to wrap up my day. :-)

Travel Expo

Vans, Lianne and I went to the Sydney Convention Center earlier today for the Sydney Travel Expo. There was a $12 entrance fee but we went in anyway just to check out the exhibitors and the exciting places they offer.

At the entrance, we were given bags where we can chuck in the brochures we were going to get inside, and boy it was so many (the brochures) that I ended up buying a bag at a steal price of $12.

I got almost all brochures being offered (and the bag that came along with it) and was really excited to see the vacation getaways in Queensland, Canberra and other Australian states which I would like to visit with Wombat soon. :-)

I went home with a bag full of brochures and plenty of shopping bags (not the green ones anymore, yey!!!).

By the way, had a caricature of myself made at the “Incredible India”. But I was not too happy with the result, doesn’t look like me and I look old!!!


My Baguio caricature was way better, but then again, I would have wanted a not so obvious double-chin, hehe.

Overall, it was a fun bonding day with friends. Next week it would be Paddington shopping with the Ashfield girls, can't wait for it. :-)