On Groceries, Melbourne and Canada Day!

Yesterday I went to the grocery. Now I've always been a grocery girl. Mum used to take me when I was small and it was actually a skill I had even before I moved here. I remember living in Cebu with 7 girls that were perpetually excited about the grocery store. It seemed that we all loved food and that someone seemed to always be going to the grocery and you would open the cupboard or fridge and go, oh, food! And it was bountiful and that was good. That said, I must say that this being my first trip to the grocery since I moved (and brought groceries with me) I found myself with feelings of trepidation as I rolled my little cart down the aisle. I had a list, because, well, that's something you should never go without, and there were so many nice things lining up the aisles that were intimidating me because unlike in Cebu, I dont have a steady income coming in and its not like I could just go, oh I like that I'm going to get it. This, I think was my first actual lets live on a budget kinda grocery.

I was determined to find whole wheat spaghetti and cook myself something that wasnt out from a can but my God. The minced meat looked so lanta (I see now why my tita goes to the butcher!) and should be consumed by June 06 - hello, im one person, i cant eat that much minced meat in two days. Ive decided that I'll just buy the meats when Im going to actually cook the thing, so that it will be fresh. Then all the pasta said "made from durum wheat" aba, malay ko ba kung anong wheat yan. So I texted my mom asking if that was the same as whole wheat, but she had no idea. Am now experiencing the conflict: healthy vs cheap. For example, my cereal, which techinically since its made from wheat and stuff and has sultanas and almonds is the healthier alternative to coco puffs. Next to it is a cereal that says, whole wheat achoovalooh with berries, something something fat free. Now I would buy that. Except its a dollar more expensive and malay ko ba if I'll like it? If I dont, its so sayang. No one is going to eat it.

I was so excited when I came across the Asian section. Look, they have nissin! Something familiar. Got self some Indonesian pancit canton. I really want to buy longaniza, but Jojo and I have never made it to a Filipino store. Have asked him over next week and we're going to cook sinigang, although his exact statement was, "You think I'll be better than you in cooking it?" at which point I replied, "You're the one who owns the rice cooker so you have to bring it." On a side note, i got a non stick pan on sale for 13 bucks! Go me!

After doing the groceries I knew my laundry wasn't dry so I figured, never mind the dew, lets just leave it overnight. This morning, only half my clothes were dry. My jeans were still so damp. I took out my Napi San and proceeded to wash out some stains. I swear I love Napi San. I couldnt buy the soaking powder because it was huge and built for families of four with little boys that play rugby and slide on the ground so I bought the soap. Works just as well. I love Napi San. (i cant say that enough)

Off I went to meet Jojo. I got my stuff, including my dvds galore (Thank you John & Joey!!!) except upon inspection it didnt include the bumbay film that Sacha and I wanted to watch (Joooohn, where's my bride and prejudice?!??! :( waah.). Oh well. We had dinner in Chinatown where we suddenly created a plan to go and visit... Melbourne!!! I've never been anywhere outside Sydney except to the Blue Mountains and Canberra, which anyone who has been here will say doesn't count. Jojo's been to Melbourne but for two days with his parents so that doesnt really count either. Dan mentioned that he had a free ticket for himself and that he wanted to go somewhere during Stuvac (Study Vacation - they give us a week off to study) since he's leaving for the US right after exams. So Jojo and I conceptualized the Melbourne trip. Dan will take the plane and Jojo and I will... drive. Down south, on a Friday and drive back on a Monday for the Queen's birthday weekend. In true backpacker style, we'll stay at a hostel and well, bahala na since none of us know anything about Melbourne. The only problem is, it keeps getting longer and longer when I ask people how long it will take to drive. Jojo reckoned it would take about 8 hours. My housemate Handle, who just got back from there on his motorcycle, says it will take 12. My other housemate, Miki, who travelled around Australia in a car for a year, says 13 hours. My cousin Andrew reckons 14. Miki also said it would be better to drive and break the journey somewhere. The thing is, I've got a very small budget that generally, only driving can accomodate. Flying costs more than a hundred bucks - almost two hundred, and driving is just a heck of a lot cheaper, even if we go through 2 full tanks both ways. (Gas is 40 bucks for a full tank, Jojo reckons it will take only one tank... Im not sure) Anyway, were going to work it out but we're definately going to Melbourne!!!

After dinner we met up with Laura at the bottle shop on Broadway on our way to a party at her friend Matt's. Laura came with her housemate Victor, who is Swiss and his friend David. Colin joined us and we all walked over to Matt's house in Glebe. It was, being Australia, right off the corner (a nice corner/triangularly shaped house that looked Dutch to me!) where the next house, as Sacha discovered later was number 357 or something. The party was to celebrate Canada day, which is actually on July 1st but since most of them are leaving by then, they celebrated it yesterday. None of us had ever met Matt, except for Laura and the party was full of people Im sure he didnt know. We all brought wine. It felt like an American college party, complete with guys with beer bongs and two guys wearing the Canadian flag as a cape, standing on chairs and chugging the beer bong (yes, straight out of a movie). We met lots of people, like Heather this american who lived in Australia for 6 years, Zeb, who is this Irish chick who is moving down to Melbourne. She's a chemical engineer and this company sponsored her to work there (hey, all my engineering friends who are interested, there is a big demand for you!), and a whole bunch of other people.

Sacha arrived later and announced to me that she hated men (which she later amended to except Jojo because she was discussing it with him as well). I announced that she was in DABDA - denial, anger, bargaining, depression acceptance - specifically the first A, and that it was nice that she moved from denial to anger very quickly and let's hope she get to acceptance soon. Since she came from her capoiera class we started discussing the stuff that goes on in our respective classes and we both got up to "demo our moves" to each other. At some point Sacha said she'd do a kick and I would duck. In kickboxing when you dodge you just sort of squat and turn your body and head to the side, since you are after all blocking a punch. Apparently in capoiera you bend down and cover your head with your arm. This is why Sacha ended up hitting me on the head with her heeled boot. In fairness it wasnt strong enough to hurt.

We left soon after Dan - late due to rock climbing - arrived. As we were leaving, the busted bottle opener that we just bought (the corkscrew tip was twisted at the wrong angle) got stuck in the cork and Colin and friends were trying valiantly to get the cork out of the wine Laura got, which was a red cabernet sauvignon known as "Joey's Nose". And that was the end of my evening.