Aussie Aussie Aussie...

I have too much to say about the past week...too, too much!

I started my new job this week. Working in retail in New York has to be the funniest experience. Attempting to help customers when they can't understand my twang is absolutely priceless. Customer's walk in the door and I naturally greet them, "hi, how are you going?" They stop and look at me as if I'm stupid. One girl said, "you're from Australia, aren't you?" "Yes I am." She had just returned from Australia and went on to tell me how strange it is that we say that instead of "how are you doing?" After mulling it over, why on earth do we say going? It makes no sense what so ever. But, at least I'm not asking, "how y'all doin?"

This week has also been the week of meeting 'Southies'. I met a couple from Blakehurst, a bar tender from Oatley, two girlfriends from Oatley, and a guy in a club from Jannali. And that was just from my corner of the globe. I won't even get started on the handfuls of Eastern Suburbs people i've met this week. Every one of them I met had mutual friends I knew too. Such a small world.

I also started a new internship this week, and boy has it been a fantastic learning curve in the American language. You think that moving to another English speaking country means that there will be no barriers. How I was wrong! Today I asked a girl where the powerpoint was. The entire office stopped and stared at me, dazed & confused. "What did you just say Laura?" "Ok. So I guess you don't call it a powerpoint then?" After attempting to describe what I was looking for, I found that it was called a socket! "Ok, so then where's the socket?" But still they stopped and stared. All they heard was "where's the suck-it!" Hilarious!

As much as I hate to admit it fellow Aussies, I have been trying my hardest to change any language barriers over here. My Aussie friends in NY keep paying me out, and pulling me up on many words; ketchup (tomato sauce); cell (mobile); socket aka suck-it (powerpoint); sprite (lemonade); and the list goes on. These are all now part of my natural New Yorker vocab. Sorry Mom (Mum)!

As far as the rest of my week goes, I am going to attempt to sum it all up as briefly as possible for you! Just so you can understand the sheer craziness of it...but too much to say right now!

You will have to wait until the next entry...

Officially New Yorkers...

There's a certain gratification that comes with giving people directions in New York. It's a crazy big place, and when you get to the point of knowing your Houston from your Mott, and your Fifth Ave from your Broadway, it's simply an exciting time in the 'becoming a New Yorker' process.

More and more frequently I'm finding that I am able to successfully offer people directions. And it feels great! For weeks I wouldn't even give people the chance to ask for directions. I would cut them off mid sentence with the ever so quick response "I'm not from here". I did however feel very proud at the fact that so people thought I looked like a local enough to ask for directions. I am asked at least three times a day, every day.

But on Saturday the 21st August 2010, at approximately 10pm, Eloise Kate Andrews and Laura Anne Gammel were officially deemed New Yorkers!!! We feel like we've come home, and couldn't imagine being anywhere else. At least for the time being!

Sorry family and friends back home, but the inevitable has happened...I have fallen head over heels in love...with the most amazing, exciting, unreal dot on the globe...NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

My new place...

After 7 weeks living out of my suitcases, moving from friends of friends' rooms, to housesitting, to a sublet, I am finally home!

I am residing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and absolutely love it. I have a door man...well five actually, & they are so lovely holding doors open for me, holding the lift, asking how my day is, wishing me a good night and all that jazz. Love it!

I am living in a gorgeous new apartment, as you can see in the pics above, and I even have a gym on the huge rooftop. It's fully equipped with outdoor setting and a BBQ, which is about to be used and abused as the Summer comes to an end.

Hope you all love it as much as I do!

08/17/2010 Part: 2

"West 13th & 9th please. And hurry. We are SO late!"

As we arrived at our destination in the Meat Packing District, both Lense and myself reached in to our bags for our wallets. "Shit! I left my wallet back at your place." Not only were all my cards & cash in my wallet, but I didn't even have my ID on me. Lense then went to pay when she realised she bought her cancelled debit card, instead of her new debit card! GREAT! We were sitting in a cab with absolutely no cash, no cards (that worked anyway) and were running very, very late, with a promoter waiting outside the club for us to arrive.

The only thing that could be done was to turn around and go back to the apartment, to pick up my wallet & Lense's working debit card.

We got to the apartment and while I sat in the cab waiting, Lense ran up the six horrid flights of stairs to her apartment. She came back down five minutes later empty handed. "I don't have the key remember...we are locked out until the others get home and our things are locked inside." She whispered this to me while sliding back in to the cab, not wanting the cabbie to hear that we had no $$$. Meanwhile he had already started in the direction of the club to take us back again.

Lense was on the phone trying to get a hold of her roomies, however we couldn't figure out where we could meet them to get money and the keys. Racking our brains, while driving aimlessly back and forth around the LES of Manhattan, we had a thought; Eloise!

We called Eloise as she lives right by Lense, and asked if we could swing by her place to borrow some money to pay the driver. Poor thing was in bed already and I felt so bad. It was 11.30pm on a Tuesday night after all. We went up to her apartment and sat on her lounge (couch) trying to make some sort of a plan. We were stranded, with no money, no keys to Lense's apartment, and a guy waiting for us to arrive at a kick-arse event at Kiss & Fly.

Finally Lense decided enough was enough. "Let's just go to the club.! Eloise can we borrow some money, and possibly your ID for Laura?"

Eloise had exactly $28.50 in cash on her. And with that, and her ID, we were off. The taxi was approximately $10 each way, so we had about $8 up our sleeves to last the night between us. Thank goodness for New York and promoters who buy you drinks!

Wally, who is a huge rapper in the States, (he has a song with Lady Gaga) was the headliner for the night. We arrived at the club (take-two) and the Countess from the reality show Housewives of New York walked by. She posed on the red carpet while the pap's went crazy.

Cover charge was $30 for most, however entry when you're with a promoter is always free. Because of the high volume of the event and because we got in so late, we had to pay $5 to get in. There went our spare $8, plus part of our cab fare home.

This club was OUT OF CONTROL. Absolutely INSANE!!!

Lense and me were up dancing when she realised Wally was sitting at the table next to us. CRAZY. We had the best seats in the house, and even when he got up to sing (the whole two songs), we were the closest people to him in the club.

Super crazy, up & down night, but what else would you expect.....it's NYC baby!!!

08/17/2010 Part: 1

My day yesterday.......WOW!

It began signing contracts and paper work for my new job. Don't get too excited; just retail! But little was I expecting to be held hostage for four hours! What I had thought was just signing on the dotted line, turned in to an hour of signing dotted lines, followed by three hours of computer training! Worst NY experience yet!

After finally getting away from work, I had to get uptown to Grand Central to vote! So exciting. I arrived at the Australian Consulate and it was "yeah mate" in one corner, and "you betcha" in the other corner. I don't know if it's because I'm surrounded by American accents day in & day out, but everyone at the Consulate sounded beyond bogan. After a few Aussie laughs and a VERY casual voting process, I was all done in under five minutes, and I walked out of the Consulate on an unusually strange high! Never in my life have I felt so excited after voting, but I think being on Aussie soil for a brief moment excited the heck out of me.

I continued back down to Chelsea, where I needed to get some money out. I stopped in at a Chase bank ATM, and noticed one of the teller's watching my every move from over my shoulder. On pulling my money out of the ATM she ran over and ripped the receipt out the ATM, congratulating me on winning $125 in a promotion they were running. I was lead through the bank with everyone working at Chase congratulating me as I was walked through. It felt like my name had been called out on The Price Is Right, and I was running up on to the stage getting hi-five's left, right and centre.

An hour later, and I was signed up with Chase bank and have a debit card on its way to me. Go figure. At least it has $125 loaded onto it.

Next task for the day was a trip to Bed, Bathroom & Beyond. I finally moved into my official permanent residence over the weekend, and needed a few essentials; pillows, rubbish bin, brita water jug, coat hangers, wall mirror.....and the list goes on. Long story short, I had to lug my new, large purchases all the way back home on the metro during peak hour. I looked like Santa Clause with my BIG shopping sack flung over my shoulder.

After a crazy long day I hit the shower and put on my pj's as soon as I arrived home. It was 10pm and I was sitting chatting to a friend online, when I found out about a huge event in the Meat Packing District.

To be continued....

Go Go Chicago...

On telling many of my NY friends about my trip to Chicago, they had replied with remarks like, “what a dive”, “why on earth would you want to visit Chicago?” In my defence at the obviously bad choice of city I was about to visit, I constantly heard myself saying “I’m only going for Lollapalooza, not to go go to Chicago.”

Since returning to NY, and to my absolute surprise, people who have asked how Lollapalooza was have only heard 3 words out of me; “I love Chicago”.

I really do. Although Lollapalooza cannot be summed up in a string a logical words, and it was insanely A.M.A.Z.I.N.G, so too was Chicago.

I found myself so mesmerized by the layout of Downtown Chicago, and to date, it is certainly the US city I have been most taken by (bar NY of course). It is beautiful. Laid out along a peaceful lake, with bridges every few streets, skyscrapers forming beautiful lines, both along the lake and weaving in and out of the main streets. And the group of about twenty kayakers that we saw coming out from under a bridge at midnight one night was an especially memorable moment.

Lollapalooza itself was the first multi-day festival I have been to. Although I may be a bit of a festival-whore back in Oz, this was my first International, and the whole thing excited the crap out of me!

The first thing that shocked me were the crowds. They were so calm and collected. Not even so much as swaying side to side for most acts on day 1. Crowds in Oz are OUT-OF-CONTROL. I don’t think I realised how out of control they are until comparing them to that of Lollapalooza. Perhaps it's because the drug of choice in Oz is ecstasy and alcohol, opposed to Lollapalooza's choice of marijuana. It was everywhere. You were high even if you weren't smoking it.

Some of the craziest moments actually came from the Australian & UK sets of Mumford & Sons and the Temper Trap. They pulled the craziest, loudest crowds, not necessarily the biggest of crowds, but certainly the wildest! There was plenty of Aussie support all around too, and we made plenty of new Aussie friends in our travels.

The crowds certainly picked up throughout the festival, and by the final headliner of the 3 days, Arcade Fire, a band I have never really taken to, I was completely BLOWN AWAY! They were insane, and if they are ever playing nearby I highly suggest you buy yourself a ticket!

All in all, instead of the inebriated sensation I usually feel at festivals, I remember everything beginning to end, and I have a much loved bright red, triple tan line (from the 3 different straps I wore each day; racer back, spaghetti strap and micro-sleeve.)

For those of you interested in what has been added to my mental 'the most amazing festival moments of all time' list;

The Strokes – Last Night, Reptilia
The Temper Trap – Fader
Phoenix – Lisztomania, 1901 & Girlfriend
Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man & The Cave
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
F**k Buttons - ALL OF IT!!!
Arcade Fire - ALL OF IT!!!

Cannot wait until next year Chicago!