Manly and St. Patty's Day

Friday, March 16

I went to Manly but first drove past the beach to see what was just beyond.  I discovered the north point of the land with a perfect view of the ocean and harbour.  It was stunning.  I’ll have to go hiking there again sometime.

Then I found a university that looked more like a castle.  I walked around on the campus grounds and meandered through a few gardens.  Then I found a Catholic school with an open gate to another garden.  I wish our schools looked this nice.  They even had a view of the harbour as well.  Next, I hopped back in to the car and made my way to the beach for some reading and sun.  Because the rip tides are so dangerous in Australia, the lifeguards set up red and yellow flags on the beach.  All swimmers have to stay between those flags.  It is so funny to go to the beach but only be able to swim in a small portion of it.  Lifeguards here actually have to work and pay attention.  I have even seen a few rescues.  In Bondi, they have a TV show called Bondi Rescue.  They regularly are filming the lifeguards and rescues there.  I think I may have been in the background of one of their shoots the other weekend.

I made a special dessert for the kids.  It’s called dirt cake.  It consists of layers of crushed up Oreos, whipped cream and a special home made creamy concoction.  I made the layered dirt cake in glasses, so you could see the different stripes of goodness.  When I taught science, I used this recipe for a lesson on the layers of the earth.  Each ingredient represented a different layer of the earth.  I also had gummy worms on the top to indicate the soil and it’s living organisms. J I love science. Especially when you can tie in food to teach a lesson.

That evening, I met up with Mary in Manly.  We had a glass of wine at a bar right on the beach and talked.  Then we walked along a street festival.  There was live music and food from all over.  We tried Dutch pancakes.  They were delicious! Dutch pancakes are like quarter-size pancakes with toppings.  We both decided on chocolate, whip cream and powered sugar.  Yummmm.  We decided we wanted to see a movie, so we hopped over to the local cinema.  There were only 2 theaters at this cinema!  It’s very different from America.  Most people don’t go to the movies.  They just wait for the movie to come out on DVD.  I think that’s probably because of the limited number of theaters as well as the cost.  It was $17 to see a movie!  I could buy a DVD for that! But we saw “This Means War” with Reese Witherspoon.  It was very entertaining.  Mareike and I had a lot of fun laughing.  Then I made my way back home.

Saturday, March 17

I slept in until 11 for the first time in months.  It was joyous.  Then I read more in my new book, Fire.  It’s a medieval adventure mystery trilogy series.  Then, I met up with several other au pairs down town.  We went to a club called The Three Wise Monkeys.  At first, I wanted to leave right away because I wasn’t in the mood to listen to loud music and stand around.  But then I started getting to know the other au pairs a little better and decided to stay.  I also met some Irish guys.  We had fun talking about Ireland and rugby. 

Sunday, March 18

I met up with Mary in Manly and we took the ferry into the harbor.  Then we went to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on George Street in front of Town Hall.  There is an abundance of Irish immigrants in Australia, all quite proud of their heritage. 

At Town Hall for the St. Patty's Day Parade
on George Street

We saw some river dancers and other Irish musicans in Hyde Park for the festival.  We ate and drank for a bit there, but we couldn’t find a place to sit and didn’t bring a blanket, so we made our way to the Rocks.

Lena, Laura, Mary and Me in Hyde Park

We shopped a little in the shops there and I found some cute hand made leather booties with koalas on them for my new second cousin- Kayla, my cousin, just had her baby boy, Josiah.  I’ll have to mail them to her as a congrats gift.  Then we found an Irish pub with authentic Irish live music.  We were with 2 other au pairs and talked about our homes and past relationships.

Ed and his friend, Tom, and Brian

Then some guys joined us at our table.We had a lot of fun talking and flirting with Aussie boys.  I especially enjoyed talking to Tom, a funny, easy going, Aussie male nurse.  He’s taking me out to dinner this Thursday.  I’m excited J Then, we ate back at the harbor until our ferry came and headed back home.  What a fun St. Patty’s weekend!