Better Off Canadian

I’ve now been here in Sydney for over a week, and I thought I’d take a bit of time to reflect back at my first week in Australia in a more bullet point fashion.

• The most common thing I’ve done in my first week is hop from hotel to hotel. I am writing from my third hotel room. Tomorrow morning Marshall and I are moving into the fourth hotel room. When we haven’t been changing hotels, I’ve been looking for the next hotel while Marshall is preparing for his year of schooling.
• I’m excited about this new hotel. It’s located pretty much across the street from where I would like to live—the Lansdowne Hotel. I will be there for a week (so will Marshall if his living arrangements fall through), and this will hopefully allow me to relax and settle a bit. Ideally I’d like to get into a bit of a flow in Sydney . This hotel will be the cheapest yet, but it is still a little more AU$ a week than I’d ideally like to be spending. If I end up staying in Sydney and not traveling to other cities right away, I’ll be looking to get a room at a shared house. A private bedroom is all I really ask for.

• As I have already mentioned, I have a lot of change. I don’t think I’ll ever spend all of my change. This morning I tried to use up a lot of the change I had when buying a train ticket, but alas, there is a 10 coin limit for the machine. I really pissed off the machine and had to watch as all of my silver dropped back in the tray to be collected and thrown back in my pocket.

• Another common theme is not going to Star City, Sydney’s only casino. I would often make plans to go there, but when the time came to head on over and check the place out, either something would come up or I wouldn’t feel like going. It’s not like it’s in a bad location or anything. I’m just lazy.

• Surprisingly I have spent a majority of my time here sober. Part of that has to do with the comparatively weaker beers than I am used to and not drinking enough wine. Sadly only last night was I able to keep my white wine count high. Australia knows what they’re doing when it comes to wine, and it certainly packs more punch (economically and alcohololy) for your AU$ than your other choices at the bar.

• I realize now that the title of this blog entry doesn’t really make much sense for what I have typed. In general it comes from the idea that it’s better to pretend you’re a Canadian traveler if you happen to be an American traveler. I really haven’t noticed any anti-American sentiments in my travels, but then again I’ve only traveled to other English speaking countries.
• The other day while Marshall and I were hanging out at a bar. It was noted by a lady that we were “rather quiet for Americans.” I brought this up with a couple of my Aussie friends, and they too acknowledged that I am rather quiet for an American. I know I am perfectly capable of making quite a lot of racket, but I suppose I do refrain the best I can from being an obnoxious asshole, at least when meeting someone for the first time.

• That still doesn’t exactly justify keeping this title for this blog entry, but I do think it has a nice ring to it. No offense to my former neighbors to the north, but I have yet to wish or pretend that I am from their kind nation.