Art and Entertainment in Sydney

 

Emma Hack and I



One great thing about living in the world’s greatest city is that the Sydney offers so much every day. Last week I’ve had a super packed Tuesday and I was kept busy with art and entertainment.   After a morning of classes I caught the subway to the eastern suburbs. For those of you fellows who don’t know it, here is a small insight into Sydney’s social structure. If you live in the eastern suburbs, you are probably twice as rich as the ones who live in the southern or western suburbs and you eat your morning breakfast with a golden spoon. So why did poor Jana (who is technically only poor in money, not poor in spirit or life, since I’m living the dream here) go to the Eastern subs? Because she got to meet her current favorite artist in a Gallery! On Tuesday Emma Hack, an Adelaide based body-art artist had an opening and showed some of her latest works and since I’ve been emailing with her for a while, she invited me for a coffee. I almost felt like a little teenage girl getting to meet a popstar, but surprisingly I didn’t start screaming and crying when I saw her, so I guess I am a little more mature than Tokio Hotel fans. So we talked for a like 2 hours before she had to open her exhibition.



copy right Emma Hack

After the opening I left and went back downtown, where I meet up with some friends for dinner. Since I was way too early I walked down the main street and passed the movie theatre. And surprise, since Sydney is slightly bigger than Münster, there was a Movie Opening Night with a red carpet. It was the Pirates Movie Premiere, but Jonny Deep had better things to do, so the only “famous actor” was Geoffrey Rush, the guy who played the bad guy in the movie. But still, it satisfied my temporary need to see a famous person ;)  From there I passed the I-max and once again couldn’t believe I actually have a job there. I work a lot at the moment and I actually really enjoy working at the moment. It’s still very exciting to work at the Imax and I can’t complain. Anyway.  The night wasn’t over yet. After the dinner, all the exchange students went to a laser-tag place next to the restaurant. There we had the chance to satisfy our need for adrenaline. So we were teamed up in a blue and a red team, got some vests and a laser gun. So we were running around trying to shoot laser beams at each other. Some guys got sooo into it. So while most of the girls sucked and were just giggeling, the boys were crazy into scoring and winning. But it was really exhausting at the same time, cause you had to run and hide all the time. Overall a fun night.

  



Darling Harbour and the I-Max at night



My days in Sydney aren’t always as eventful as on the Tuesday on which I got to meet Emma Hack.  In general my days are a little more laid back and instead of meeting “stars”, playing lasertag and eating out, I cook cheap but yummy food, don’t shoot people with lasers and do art myself.

So after meeting up with Emma Hack, I felt the instant urge to do a facepainting of my own. So the next week I made two new ones. The first one I did, was at the northern Olympic pool. It was actually quite difficult to find a good spot from where to start, because this is the first painting I’ve tried twice. On my first try I chose a bad angle and my outline, which I drew on the face, was positioned so badly, that my model looked like the McDonnalds Clown Ronald McDonnald, because the arch I’d outline looked like a giant M.  So the second time, when I started over again, I had to choose my models location in front of the arched background more carefully ( since the arches in the background created this horrible McDonnalds Image;). Plus it was quite difficult to get it right without making the colors look to bright or my model Thomas appeared like an avatar.  It’s so funny that I ran into Thomas in Sydney!  Come on how small is this world? Two sport science students from Münster both in Sydney at the same time? So of course I had to paint on his face.

Then a week later I met up again with Trine from Denmark, with whom I had done a previous painting, so I knew she would be a good model. Even though our intention was to go to the Aquarium, we ended up in a different location that morning. The stupid Aquarium people told us, they would have too many school kids there that week so we should come back next week. So since the weather forecast was lying (supposingly it was gonna rain, but the sun was shining more beautifully than ever) we went to Darling Harbour Park from where we had a good view on the Skyline. So that’s were my latest painting came to life.

Besides Painting on Faces I’ve been starting to draw on my photo prints from my photography class and I’ve been painting occasionally on canvas. But since I only have so little time in Sydney left and I can’t afford big canvas anyway, I keep painting on small sized canvas.

"Knock knock"..."who is it?"..." It's cuteness!"

Personally I’m convinced Australians divided their animals into two groups when they named them. The “S” type and the “K” Type. The S-animals are the nasty ones that can kill you and start with an “S” , like Snakes, Spiders and Sharks, the K-Type, are the cute ones, like Kangaroos, Koalas, Kookaburras. I believe the most dangerous animals in Australia are not the poisonous snakes though, but the cute ones. The K-animals are just too cute, they make you forget to breath or watch where you are going. I went to Featherdale Wildlife park this weekend ( since I had a job and could afford the entrance fee now;) , where they had free roaming kangaroosJ so I got to pet some the aussie icons.  I even had an owl sitting on my arm. Apparently it liked me and decided to chill on my arm for a bit. How cool is that, I am as appealing as a tree.  

  

Then a weekend ago I went to another bushwalk to the blue Mountains. We hiked forever, first on touristy paths, then we  walkd along muddy paths and then trough a forest area were a million birds were singing. Behind me, there was a teenage girl and I can’t believe she was listening to music on her ipot on the entire walk. On our lunch break we climed on a small hill, where we’v e had a great lookout over the valley. One of the local birds came to visit us, begging for food…the little bastard was too cute, so I couldn’t resist the temptation of not sharing my sandwich with the fellow.  See I told you, the most dangerous animals are the cute ones! I was hungry but I wasted my food on a bird;) 

Ganz ehrlich, ich glaube ja dass die Australier als Tiere systematisch in zwei Gruppen eingeteilt haben, als sie ihnen Namen gaben.  Meiner Meinung nach, wurden die Tiere in „S“ Tiere  und „K“Tiere eingeteilt.  Die bösen Tiere, die dich umbringen können fangen alle mit nem S an…Spinne, schlange, shark…die netten, niedlichen Tierchen alle mit nem K, Kangaroo, Koala, Kakadu…Ausserdem glaub ich dass die Niedlichen Tiere viel gefährlicher sind als die Bösen bösen giftigen Tiere. Die Koalas und Kangaroos sind einfach so niedlich, dass man vergessen könnte zu atmen oder einfach nur noch duziduduuuu sagen könnte.  Diese Woche war ich nämlich im Featherdale Wildlife Park, da ich dank meines neuen Jobs nun ein bissl extra Geld hatte. In dem Park konnte ich endlich Australias Iconen hautnah sehen und streichelnJ Sogar ne Eule wollte auf meinem Arm chillen und hat sich dort nieder gelassen als ich mich neben die auf ne Bank gesetzt hab.  Cool cool, anscheinend hab ich ne Ausstrahlung wie ein Baum.

Dann am letzten Wochenende, war ich noch mal mit der Bushwalking Society Bushwandern in den Blue Mountains.  Erst auf touristischen „Wanderwegen“ von Aussichtspunkt zu Aussichtspunkt, aber dann gings ab durch den Schlamm in die etwas  ruhigeren Gegenden. Zum Mittag essen sind wir auf ne Felsformation geklettert, wo uns die örtlichen Vögel besucht haben und ein bisschen nach Essen gebettelt haben. Ich sag ja, die gefährlichsten Tiere hier sind die niedlichen, da ich trotz Hunger meine Stulle mit nem Vogel geteilt hab.  Ich glaub ich hab nen Vogel.

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Money Money Money...

I would have never thought i would admit it, but yes, it does get freezing cold in Australia! For the last week I had to wear my warmest jumper at night in order not to freeze to death.  And all of that because Australians are incapable of building walls that have a proper isolation. That might be why they then created the hole in the ozone layer, so at least the sun produces some heat at day time.

Besides the conclusion that the aussie winter is cold, I came to another conclusion. You can actually get an awesome job in Sydney if you are lucky.  This week I’ve had two job interviews and got both…Well first  I got a job in a small café on Darling Street, the beautiful main road in Balmain, where I live. And there I’ll hopefully literally become a millionaire one day, because I clean dirty dishes!From rags to riches... Vom Tellerwaescher zum Millionär, hell yeah.  I do all the dirty work, I clean the dishes, swap the floor, carry the garbage bags outside and I experienced how strong bleach is! I got bleach on my shirt and now the navy blue sweater has light pink spots all over it;) And the bleach really burnes on your skin, so after ignoring the cooks advice to wear gloves ( where I was like, naaa I’m fine I don’t need gloves, gloves are for girls),I decided, that I like my fingers and that I’d rather be a girl and wear gloves;) I only make 30 dollars in two hours, which is below minimum wage in Sydney, but that’s some sweat earned money  and it’s in cash without tax …and I enjoy every penny I make, because it’s all gonna go into my traveling money savings…and actually I like the job there.



For my second job, which I is super cool, I have to transform a chameleon like transformation.  While I get all dirty on my first job, I have to wear a uniform on my second one. I got a job at the Imax, which Is awesome. I basically get paided to watch awesome 3D Movies! After a 5 hour training shift on Friday after my cleaning job, I had a first real day on Sunday. I had to check tickets and swipe up popcorn, clean 3D glasses but also check if the “sound” or the movie itself is working and  get to watch the movies. Unlike the other workers, who have seen the movies 50 times already I still enjoy the movies.  How cool is my job, i get paid to watch 3D movies.



my 1 $ home made lunch



 So besides getting a job and making plans to start traveling, I went on a field trip to Canberra. And it’s hard to believe, but it’s one borring city. The museums where awesome and had a great selection of aboriginal art work, but the city was so plain.  I’ve been working in the dark room a lot. I really enjoy making photos at the moment.  Then one day after class, I just went for a run, across one of the many bridges in Sydney to another Suburb and couldn’t stop thinking “Geeze, this is the sweetest sweat ever;)” Running across this bridge reminded me of the fact that I hadn’t walked across Sydney’s most magnificent bridge ( god I already sound like an American, by declaring the bridge as most magnificent).  So I walked across the Harbour Bridge one day and passed many busy looking and dressed up models, in the Rocks, because the Australian fashion week was going on.  The walk across the bridge felt awesome and then I took the ferry back to my suburb. Two days later I visited a German friend, who is living in Crows nest on the north shore at the moment.  So since it gets dark at 5pm, I’ve had the best view on the City on my ferry ride home…Home sweet home.

Unglaublich aber wahr, ich hätte auch nicht geacht das ich es zugeben würde, aber auch in Australien wirds richtig kalt!  Jede Nacht, wenns dunkel wird, wird’s überall so kalt, dass ich selbst in meinem Zimmer friere und nen dicken Puli anziehen muss um nicht zu erfrieren. Das könnte unter anderem daran liegen, dass die Australier unfähig sind ne Isolierung in ihrere Häuser zu bauen.  Diese Unfähigkeit wiederum könnte der Grund sein, warum die sich nen Loch in die Ozon Schicht gebaut haben um wenigstens ein bisschen Sonne abzubekommen.

Neben der Schlussfolgerung, dass australische Winter kalt sind, bin ich noch zu einer zweiten Schlussfolgerung gekommen. Man muss hier seine Lebensläufe aufpeppen.  Nach 2 Monaten Jobsuche, hab ich aufeinmal 2 Jobs  aufeinmal. Nun ja , aber in meinem anderen Job, hier in meinem Viertel, hab ich vielleicht Glück und werde Millionär.  Vom Tellerwäscher zum Millionär, denn in dem Café wo ich arbeite, bin ich ne Küchenhilfe und putze Teller, räume den Müll raus, putz den Boden etc. Na ja is nicht super bezahlt, aber besser als nichts! Und jedes bisschen extra Geld geht in meine Reisekasse. In meinem Zweiten Job arbeite ich im Imax, dem  Kino mit der offiziel groessten Leinwand weltweit;) In dem Job unterlaufe ich einer Transformation. im gegensatzt zu meinem anderen Job, wo ich Essensreste aufs Shirt bekomme und alles Einseife was nicht bei 3 aufm Baum ist, muss ich im Imax ne Uniform tragen, immer schoen laecheln und Makeup tragen. Aber der Job is super cool. Im Prinsip werde ich dafuer bezahlt super coole 3D Filme zu gucken, da ein Teil meines Jobs beinhaltet zu checken ob der Film problemlos laeuft...how awesome is that!

Und da kommen wir schon zum nächsten Punkt…ReeeeisenJ Letzte Woche hab ich endlich meine Zugtickets für den Ghan und Indian Pacific gebucht.  Dann geht’s für 3 Tage durchs Outback nach Perth an die Westküste, von dort ne Woche später nach Allice Springs und Uluru und von dort nach Darwin, in den Tropischen Norden.  Und das alles für 40 $ ( nun gut, plus die 300 die ich schon für mein Zugpass bezahlt hab;) Aber ich freu mich so wahnsinnig in den Zug zu steigen und kann fast an nichts anderes mehr denken. Hab mir gestern erstmal gebrauchte Bücher gekauft, da die meine einzige Entertainment Quelle für Wochen sein werden.

Neben nem neuen Job und Planungen fürs Reisen, hatte ich neulich noch nen Tagestrip nach Canberra mit der Uni. Unglaublich, aber in Canberra ist tote Hose. Da ist nichts los und die ganze Stadt ist mir zu steril und strukturiert geplant. Dafür war das Nationalmuseum super! Die hatten ne rieeeesen Samlung von aboriginal Art.   Außerdem hab ich noch viel in der Dunkelkammer gearbeitet und nach wie vor Sydney erkundet. Damit ich doch ein bisschen in Form bleibe bin ich neulich erstmal joggen gegangen und über eine der vielen Brücken in Sydney gelaufen. Da kam mir die Idee dass ich eigentlich auch noch mal dringend über Sydneys schönste, tollste und beste Brücke gehen müsse( boa jetzt höre ich mich schon an wie ein Amerikaner wenn ich so die Brücke preise).  Also bin ich einen Nachmittag über die Brücke spaziert, vorbei an vielen hungrigen Models, die alle in der Nöhe der Brücke versammelt waren um an der Australien Fashion Week teilzunehmen.  Über die Brücke zu gehen, wa echt cool und noch cooler war es im Anschluss mit der Fähre nach Hause zu fahren. Die Feerfahrten sind jetdes mal wieder cool. Nen Tag später hab ich nen Freund in Crows Nest, nördlich vom Fluss der Sydney in Norden und Süden teilt,  besucht.  Und da es schon um 5 Uhr dunkel wird, hatte ich ne fährfahrt im Dunkeln nach Hause mit der besten, tollsten supuerduersten Aussicht auf die Brücke hatte.