Weekend. Welcome. Work.

Weekend.

After Saturday, we had the weekend to ourselves. We spent our time getting necessities and exploring Sydney. Our first task was groceries. To my surprise, grocery shopping took over an hour. It was a real task trying to find food that was comparable to what we have in the States while still being affordable. Nonetheless, we all managed to find the basics in the grocery store; so it is cereal, sandwiches, and pastas from here on out. But with groceries out of the way it was time to get into the fun things that Sydney has to offer.

We explored some of Sydney’s main attractions…..

Opera House, one of Sydney’s most famous attractions

and some “not-so-main” attractions.

A random smashed car… I think it is supposed to be art??

Extremely random “tree men”

Unfortunately, the sun did not grace us with its presence this weekend; instead, we spent our weekend dodging the rain. I am sure you are thinking how do you dodge the rain, but trust me it is entirely possible to dodge the rain in Australia. It only rains hard for about 4 minutes at a time then you have about 10-25 minutes of on and off mist. Therefore, you can dodge the rain by strategically walking from place to place. The key is to always walk by buildings that have extended roofs aka a 4 minute shelter. Oh and I guess you can always dodge the rain by buying an umbrella but there is no fun in that.

CAPA got us some tickets to an AFL rugby game. We watched the South Sydney play Canberra. Unfortunately Sydney lost according to the score but if the scoreboard wasn’t there, I would have left not knowing who won. Rugby is a very confusing game but it is a huge deal in Australia so I hope to understand it better before I go to my next game.

They start kids on rugby at a young age.

They cut kids in line to get a picture with the South Sydney mascot.

Our weekend came to a close pretty soon largely because we are still on North America time so we are usually out by 10 o’clock, 11 if you’re daring. Ryan describes jetlag as feeling like an old man all day, weak and weary until you cannot fight off sleep any longer. I would say that’s about right.

Welcome.

Monday and Tuesday were our orientation to CAPA. On Monday, we learned more about the CAPA program and the classes we would be taking. Zara also filled us in on some words that mean different things in Australia. For example, in Australia biscuit = cookie, rubber = eraser. I think the hardest one to remember and definitely the most embarrassing one to get wrong is napkin = sanitary pad, here they say serviettes. To avoid potential embarrassment, I am just going to point or gesture when I need something.

CAPA treated us to lunch after our Monday orientation.

Tuesday was our internship orientation, where we discussed interviews, professionalism, and pub culture. The discussions on interviews and professionalism were pretty standard but the talk about pub culture and its place in the work place was interesting. Our CAPA representatives explained that Australia has a very strong pub culture and drinking is naturally the social and cultural behavior of Australians. Therefore, it is not uncommon for workers to go to a pub during their lunch break and then return there when they got off work at 5PM. Drinks at lunch would never fly in the States. I am interested to see what other differences there are in the workplace.

Work.

My interview is tomorrow. I have planned my travel route, picked out an outfit, and practiced interview answers. I hope tomorrow goes well.

Hooroo.