Melbourne Monday
Is that like "It's Tuesday it must be Belgium"?
As if the Monday morning blahs weren't bad enough - exacerbated by certain travel related challenges - a phone call woke me up at 4a. And then, that's it, I was up. So I got up and went back to work. Mid-morning I went to check out the little rooftop gym. It's okay - the stationary bicycle works. There is an upside and a downside to that - the upside, of course, is that I am not continuously taking my life in my hands in this very bicycle unfriendly country. The downside is that you don't get anywhere - the view never changes. I made it an hour by listening to my favorite podcast (SYSK - episodes on bartering and scooby-doo). That came out to about 26km I think. Hard to tell for sure because of stops and starts and technical difficulties with the device. I met an interesting man in the gym - an Englishman who relocated here 14 years ago and has no patience with the Aussie bumpkins. We exchanged cards after a rousing political debate - turns out he writes the science column for the local paper. Says Astrophysics is just a hobby. :) I can see now why he has such impaticence with the natives. After cleaning up I went out in search of food. I wandered a bit further afield – had a Thai lunch and got my nails done. Took a few pictures (see below). There are thousands of University students around here. On my wander back I decided to boldy try one of the weird teas from the many tea shops and stands. They offer a wide variety of hot and frozen teas (no, that red bean one with my lunch is not the weirdest one I've seen). Often they have tapioca in them. I'll get a picture of it next time... it was strange, but repeatable - especially because there are so many flavors yet to try! Back in the room I worked through the afternoon and evening. I am much more in control of things now after spending most of two days catching up on stuff.
As if the Monday morning blahs weren't bad enough - exacerbated by certain travel related challenges - a phone call woke me up at 4a. And then, that's it, I was up. So I got up and went back to work. Mid-morning I went to check out the little rooftop gym. It's okay - the stationary bicycle works. There is an upside and a downside to that - the upside, of course, is that I am not continuously taking my life in my hands in this very bicycle unfriendly country. The downside is that you don't get anywhere - the view never changes. I made it an hour by listening to my favorite podcast (SYSK - episodes on bartering and scooby-doo). That came out to about 26km I think. Hard to tell for sure because of stops and starts and technical difficulties with the device. I met an interesting man in the gym - an Englishman who relocated here 14 years ago and has no patience with the Aussie bumpkins. We exchanged cards after a rousing political debate - turns out he writes the science column for the local paper. Says Astrophysics is just a hobby. :) I can see now why he has such impaticence with the natives. After cleaning up I went out in search of food. I wandered a bit further afield – had a Thai lunch and got my nails done. Took a few pictures (see below). There are thousands of University students around here. On my wander back I decided to boldy try one of the weird teas from the many tea shops and stands. They offer a wide variety of hot and frozen teas (no, that red bean one with my lunch is not the weirdest one I've seen). Often they have tapioca in them. I'll get a picture of it next time... it was strange, but repeatable - especially because there are so many flavors yet to try! Back in the room I worked through the afternoon and evening. I am much more in control of things now after spending most of two days catching up on stuff.
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| Lots of students |
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| Thai Chile Rice for dinner |
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| Red Bean Tea (frozen/shaved ice) |
