Thursday was 1000 meter race day. The US did well.
My team the Premiere Women, made the Grand Final in our first heat. We had an awesome race, the boat felt tight, and we were nice and relaxed and strong right to the finish.
On to the Grand Final... it had rained for most of the afternoon and then the winds picked up, as we are at the foot of the Blue Mountains. We took our place on the line; the starter called "are you ready" and all the boats were pushed off course by the cross winds, so we backed up, and approached the start again. The winds were still pushing us a bit sideways, we were in the start, the starter called "are you ready" and again we were crooked, our drummer put her hand up to signal we were not aligned but the starter called, "attention", "go", right away so we were off, we straightened fairly quickly and stayed with the pack of boats, there were 6 boats in the grand final. We kept with the pack and the finish was really close between, Canada, Great Britain and China, US Premiere Women took fourth. But all in all a good tight race. We have a solid chance to medal in the 500m on Saturday and the 200m on Sunday.
The US premiere men took the Gold, in their 1000m event, which was awesome, and the Masters men took Bronze in their race.
US Master's women went on to the minor final, and both the A & B boat had a nice race. Maybe Jenny will give her perspective on those races??
Friday, September 21, 2007
Signs
When I travel to other countries I like to look at their advertising, it's always a bit more adventurous that what we are used to. One the way to the race site we pass the Museum of Fire (which brings to mind a new twist on Johnny Cash) and the sign out front says "Flaming Marvelous Fun for the Whole Family." Makes me want to check it out.
We have also seen a lot of adds for Fish Oil with the tag line "Omega-3 Fish Oil with a taste kids love." Really?
We have also seen a lot of adds for Fish Oil with the tag line "Omega-3 Fish Oil with a taste kids love." Really?
You can find good mexican food in Australia
Last night after a long day of racing, we went to a Mexican place in Kings Cross. Tomatillo (thanks for the connection Mirs). The food was awesome, the owner Bill was happy to see some Darlings from the US, as well he confessed his secret for the ability to have the great Mexican taste. He imports most of his items from San Diego.
Today we are off to be tourists since I have yet to really see much of Sydney. Looking forward to a day of exploring.
Today we are off to be tourists since I have yet to really see much of Sydney. Looking forward to a day of exploring.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday's Lessons
1. I am a total nerd. (Ok so really not a new lesson)
I love public transit. My goal is to ride at least one form of public transit everywhere I go. Two days ago I bought a weekly transit pass for Sydney--yup that means I can take, trains, busses and ferries as much as I want!!!! OOOOOOH boy this is fun!!
Yesterday, I took trains and ferries!!! OOOOH what fun.
Side story:We took the ferry into Sydney from the suburb where we are staying. I got chills going under the Sydney Harbor bridge and as we docked right next to the Opera House, I couldn't help but turn to my friend Jocelyn and with a huge smile on my face and say "It is Wednesday and we are in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA!!!" OH MY GOSH!!!!!!
2. Did you know that the Opera House is actually 3 separate buildings? I had no idea until I saw it from a landside perspective. Such an amazingly cool building. It was $10 million over budget and the architect had long abandoned the project when it was finally finished. He never got to see the completed structure. Apparently, this happens a lot in Oz.
3. I am a nerd! Oh wait I already said that. I met up with a friend I knew in Israel who took me to Bondi Beach (famous surfing beach) where we went to pay homage to the Crumpler bag store! I love Crumpler bags and well they are from Australia. Ahh what a lovely time it was looking at the bags. The store keeper gave us playing cards with pictures of the bags on the cards! I guess I am not the only Crumpler bag nerd in the world! Oh and Bondi Beach is quite beautiful!
4. You can't order a "cup of coffee." coffee here seems to all be some sort of take on espresso--so if I just want black coffee, I order a Long Black which is essentially a few shots of espresso, I think. Yesterday, I shocked the waitress at a cafe because I don't take milk in my coffee and she was stunned. All the other coffee options have some type of milk--froth, light froth, no froth--but all milk oriented. ahh well.....
5. You stand to the LEFT on escalators so people can pass on the right.
6. They are very very serious about traffic safety! $234 fine for the driver and passenger if the passenger is not wearing their seat belt plus 3 points on the drivers license. $1,800 fine for driving too quickly in a school zone plus your license gets suspended for 6 months!!
I love public transit. My goal is to ride at least one form of public transit everywhere I go. Two days ago I bought a weekly transit pass for Sydney--yup that means I can take, trains, busses and ferries as much as I want!!!! OOOOOOH boy this is fun!!
Yesterday, I took trains and ferries!!! OOOOH what fun.
Side story:We took the ferry into Sydney from the suburb where we are staying. I got chills going under the Sydney Harbor bridge and as we docked right next to the Opera House, I couldn't help but turn to my friend Jocelyn and with a huge smile on my face and say "It is Wednesday and we are in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA!!!" OH MY GOSH!!!!!!
2. Did you know that the Opera House is actually 3 separate buildings? I had no idea until I saw it from a landside perspective. Such an amazingly cool building. It was $10 million over budget and the architect had long abandoned the project when it was finally finished. He never got to see the completed structure. Apparently, this happens a lot in Oz.
3. I am a nerd! Oh wait I already said that. I met up with a friend I knew in Israel who took me to Bondi Beach (famous surfing beach) where we went to pay homage to the Crumpler bag store! I love Crumpler bags and well they are from Australia. Ahh what a lovely time it was looking at the bags. The store keeper gave us playing cards with pictures of the bags on the cards! I guess I am not the only Crumpler bag nerd in the world! Oh and Bondi Beach is quite beautiful!
4. You can't order a "cup of coffee." coffee here seems to all be some sort of take on espresso--so if I just want black coffee, I order a Long Black which is essentially a few shots of espresso, I think. Yesterday, I shocked the waitress at a cafe because I don't take milk in my coffee and she was stunned. All the other coffee options have some type of milk--froth, light froth, no froth--but all milk oriented. ahh well.....
5. You stand to the LEFT on escalators so people can pass on the right.
6. They are very very serious about traffic safety! $234 fine for the driver and passenger if the passenger is not wearing their seat belt plus 3 points on the drivers license. $1,800 fine for driving too quickly in a school zone plus your license gets suspended for 6 months!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Rugby World Cup
While we are in Australia the Rugby World Cup is going on.
All Blacks, the New Zealand team, is the favorite to win. Australia's team is their arch enemy.
All Blacks, the New Zealand team, is the favorite to win. Australia's team is their arch enemy.
Woolworth's is a grocery store
Did Mr. Woolworth have a brother who emigrated to Australia? Because there are Woolworth's all over here and they are lovely enourmous grocery stores.
I love foreign groceries stores. In this one the names are all in english and the items are close to what I am used to but not quite right. It adds to the disorientation of travel. Today we bought the Kraft's "In a Biskit." It's chicken flavored like the chips Kris talked about and it's "ALive with Flavor!"tm.
This was only one of many "In a Biskit" flavors. Yum.
And whole wheat bread is wholemeal bread. Oh those wacky foreigners. ;-)
I love foreign groceries stores. In this one the names are all in english and the items are close to what I am used to but not quite right. It adds to the disorientation of travel. Today we bought the Kraft's "In a Biskit." It's chicken flavored like the chips Kris talked about and it's "ALive with Flavor!"tm.
This was only one of many "In a Biskit" flavors. Yum.
And whole wheat bread is wholemeal bread. Oh those wacky foreigners. ;-)
Science!
Last night Jenny and I tried an experiment. We wanted to see if the whole countercloskwise draining in Australia was true or not. So we flushed the toilet and watched. It just looked like a lot of water. Next, we filled up the bathroom sink and watched. Hmm.. clear water...white sink... we needed contrast. So we got a tea bag, filled up the sink and put a few drops of tea in to follow the journey from sink to drain. We tried it a few times and determined a couple clockwise and a couple counterclockwise. Sadly, our results are inconclusive. We can confirm that things do drain in Australia, however, we have no idea which way. We will try again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)