Part 3: Boxing Day and the Move Across Town

Since I put up part 2, I've been sleeplessly spending the last couple days trying to figure out what Boxing Day is, only to find out that it has nothing to do with underwear, sports, dogs OR kangaroos. But it did herald in the arrival of Dylan, after his long journey home; through the mountains of Colorado, over the Pass of Eisengard, battling against orcs all the way, and back home to Sydney. It was a triumphant return, and we celebrated by drinking a lot, again, and having a barbecue, the first proper one that I had had since I got to Australia. All the relatives from Christmas Eve were there again, so I chatted with them a lot, especially his aunt that hardly speaks a word of english, but they were trying to get me to talk to her in German once they found out that I "could". I talked to her for about 5 minutes straight in German, then collapsed on the floor in a heap. It was probably the most continuous German I've ever spoken, even after staying in Germany for a month straight.

We spent the rest of the day kicking back and watching cricket (and I snuck in some american football to blow their minds), then once all the relatives had left we opened presents and started watching Lost from season 1, episode 1, so now I have to see the rest. Damn them.

Then, the next morning, it was time for me to ove across town to my backpackers hostel. They kept insisting that I could stay there for the rest of the trip, but I figured it'd be best to break out and see the city more, even though I'll probably get back and visit them in the future. I hopped a bus into the city and got to my hostel around midday, then immediately set back out. I figured the most logical place to go was the Sydney Opera House, so I walked over that way. This place is beautiful, by the way, if you've never seen it, which kinda surprised me that there wasn't more tourists packed in around there.

I took a couple laps around it, and went inside, but I was too cheap to pay for the tour just to see the concert hall. Instead I spent my money on a nice cold beer at a cafe by the opera house and sat there, taking in the sight of the opera house and the harbour bridge.

Once again feeling slightly disappointed that beer doesn't affect me here, I sauntered off to the botanical gardens to wander through the shade on a hot hot day. The botanical gardens were big and beautiful. Hundreds of plants and flowers from all over the world line both sides of the path, and there's lots of wildlife living in there too. Especially bats. The only thing that really comes to mind is Batman Begins, when he goes into the cave and all the bats circle around him. Of course that didn't happen, but I'd guess there was probably about twice that many bats in the Gardens. There was also a skywriter flying far overhead who wrote SAGEM in the sky. I don't know what it meant really, but I suddenly had the urge to pull down my pants some.

After the Gardens had worn thin on me, I skipped across town to the Queen Victoria Building to do some shopping. Really, though, the 5-story tall QVB is just one part of this gigantic shopping center, that then goes underground and connect to other buildings and food courts, which will take you halfway across town. Shopping is one thing that Sydney got right. I eventually even found my way over to Chinatown where I found some dirt cheap clothes (which ironically enough were probably made in China by underpaid workers... does anyone see the problem with that?) and went down the main restaurant strip. I absolutely love chinese food, so my tastebuds were jumping as I walked through, smelling the smells. I steeles down to eat outside and ordered some BBQ duck. Mmmm... exquisite. They really know how to make chinese food in Chinatown. And you can quote me on that.

I started walking back to my hostel, and realized that I had done all that, and it was still only 7 o'clock. I had a little time to kill, so as I was walking back, I saw a table set up outside of a grocery store. I walked straight past it, but as I glanced back a little, I saw that it was Scientologists, giving people free stress tests. I don't know how there wasn't a wait... it's free, people! but I thought I'd have a little fun, so I went and sat down and introduced myself. The guy hands me two metal cylinders, which look like pop cans without any labels.

"Alright, Paul, I'm gonna ask you some questions, and you can take a while to answer, but these will give me a readout of how you're feeling about what I ask." Simple enough. "Do you have a girlfriend?" BAM! This guy doesn't mess around. I lift my ass up and fix my shorts, and the meter jumps. "Whoa! That's stress right there!" I settle in, and answer his questions, and for the next 5 minutes, the needle doesn't move at all. He keeps asking me more questions about girls, trying to invoke a response, but nothing. Then I start to get a little bored, and I start to move the little cans further apart, then closer to each other, trying not to let them hit, and the needle starts jumping with my rhythm. Now I get it.

So in the end, he tells me I don't have very much stress (though he somehow predicted I had an IQ of 125), but if I'd like, I could still buy the book Dianetics for just $16. I was actually kinda tempted just because it was the cheapest book that I'd seen since coming to Australia, but in the end, I declined and walked away.

I swung by the hostel to take a quick shower, then went and saw Babel. It was pretty good, and if I haven't said it before, Australian movie theaters beat the hell out of American ones. I got back to the hostel late, and found three beautiful girls sleeping in the beds around me...