Australia is in mourning...

...one of the members of Men at Work has passed away.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/friends-tell-of-love-for-eccentric-star-greg-ham/story-e6frf96f-1226333756338

Update

Lately I’ve been getting anxious because it seems like the year has gone by MUCH quicker than I thought it would. In a couple of days, it will have been 8 months that I’ve been in Australia, and for the most part it’s been really great. The thing that sucks is that it feels like I haven’t even gotten around to doing what I wanted. I originally came to do some volunteering with the symphony, but mostly to do a bunch of travelling throughout Australia and New Zealand. When I initially got here, the cost of living was an enormous shock, and I went through my (pathetic) savings quickly, so I’ve been working nonstop to get to the point where I have a little more disposable income. Also, while I do like my job, it’s the kind of thing I actually have to take seriously, which limits the amount of free time I have.

I recently asked my employer to sponsor me on a 457 temporary visa, which would allow me to stay up to four years. I’m not sure I would want to stay that long, but I do feel like I could use another year to get some more experience at my job and of course to have a chance for more of the fun stuff! She agreed, so now I’m in the process of applying for it. There’s no guarantee I’ll get one; 457 visas are often used to exploit overseas workers, so I’m a little nervous that the Department of Immigration is being extra picky about granting them. I’m already looking at plane fares back home on August 25^th-hopefully it will be for a fun trip to Seattle and not a permanent move back.

Lunchtime Snapshots

It’s starting to feel a bit like fall in Sydney. We set our clocks back this weekend, so I was confused to wake up at 6am Monday to blinding sunlight coming through my window. It’s still fairly hot during the days, but the nights are getting cool enough that a few leaves are starting to fall from the trees. Luckily I only work four days this week, since both Good Friday and Easter Monday (Easter Monday!?) are public holidays in Australia. The forecast is for good weather all week, so I decided to scarf down my sandwich at my desk and then use my lunch break for more worthwhile activities like walking around Hyde Park, which consists of about 40 acres of trees, walking paths, and monuments right in the middle of the Central Business District.

One of my favourite sections of the park is a long path that is lined with fig trees that arch all the way across the walkway. During the hottest part of summer the trees are filled with cicadas that make a really loud humming/chirping noise, but today it was mostly quiet.

At the end of the path there is the Archibald Fountain. It’s apparently there to commemorate the close association France and Australia had during World War I, but I don’t really see the connection because it portrays Roman gods grabbing on to bulls' horns and shooting arrows and playing lutes and stuff. I really like it though, because if you walk around it there is always something new to look at. It points east towards St. Mary’s Cathedral, and since it was almost time for 1pm mass the bells were going off.

There were lots of schoolkids around the park eating lunch, which is always sure to attract maybe the creepiest bird I’ve ever seen: the Ibis. The ones in the park are not shy at all and you can frequently see them diving into trash cans or trying to snatch people’s lunches with their disgusting beaks.