P.S. Wish you were here...

(Post written on Thursday night)

11:00pm – Back at the apartment, watching Eagle Eye with Suny and it’s getting mad intense. I watched this movie a while ago when it came out in theatres but I forgot how good it is!

In any case, so earlier today I spent about an hour writing up my update for the day, and I was pretty disappointed my dad didn’t want to go to the mall with me, especially since I was writing only because he said we would go – otherwise I would have just taken a nap like everyone else and not been so grouchy for the rest of the day. Once everyone finally woke up, I planned out our next few days here with my dad. According to that schedule, we’ll be checking out both the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Center tomorrow. It’s also supposed to rain tomorrow so we figured it would be better if we could do some indoor things.

When everyone finally got up and dressed to go, I was beyond exhausted, but at the same time so excited to check out downtown. We took the monorail from the convention center (also right across the street next to Harbourside) to get to Paddy’s Markets, which is another mall type area within Chinatown. The monorail is kind of like a cross between the metro and the Hogwarts express, seeing as how each compartment only had about 8 seats – two rows of four facing each other. Also, the train was decorated to advertise the Harry Potter Expedition which I really really want to go see! I took that as a sign that it’s sitting there just waiting for me to visit.

Hopping off the monorail! I rolled up his sleeves.

Sign from God that we needed to go!

Unfortunately for us though, by the time we got to Paddy’s Markets, it was almost 8pm, when most of the stores were closing. There were so many things I wanted to check out just by window shopping through the place, and I wish we had more time/the stores were open longer. There were a bunch of stores with SUCH pretty dresses (for anyone who hasn’t seen my closet – beautiful, UNIQUE, preferably flowery dresses are pretty much my biggest weakness and I for whatever reason feel compelled to buy the most unnecessary ones which still have their price tags on them.)

Fierce competition.

I guess it was in that moment while window-shopping and seeing all the closed shops with things I wanted that I really started to miss certain people from home. Traveling with my family is great for so many reasons, and I love them all more than anything in the world, but I can’t help comparing what this trip would be like if I were with certain friends/Neetu rather than them. It’s so hard to find activities that all four of us want to do, especially since my parents constantly need to rest and my brother and I are for the most part always ready to get up and go. I’ve never really been on vacation with friends before, never been on any crazy spring break trips or anything like that, and I felt myself longing for those sort of adventures. While I want to spend a few hours shopping in the markets, go to see the Harry Potter Expedition, watch live performances, climb across the Sydney Bridge, go scuba diving or swim with dolphins…and those all seem to be the farthest things from what anyone else wants to do.

I know if Neetu, or Nicole, or even Neerali were here it would be a lot different, simply because all of us 1. Would probably want to do the same activities or at least tolerate each others’ choices, 2. Are so freaking indecisive that we couldn’t really care less about what it is we’re doing, so long as we’re having a great time and enjoying the city, and we would eventually get around to doing everything, and 3. We’re all girls around the same age who tend to have the same interests anyway, so it would just be a lot easier to find common ground. (If I’m wrong about any of my assumptions, ladies, feel free to correct me!)

While exploring Paddy’s Markets, we eventually got to the top floor with all the restaurants and decided to eat at a small Japanese place. It took us about 10 minutes to decide where we wanted to eat, and another 25 minutes to decide what everyone wanted to eat based on the pictorial menu on the wall…and then we got seated and took another long freaking time to order. In all that time, since the wheels were already turning about my friends back home, I started thinking about how this winter break was really one of the last times I’ll be guaranteed to be able to see my friends from home while at home. We all have different spring breaks and after May, it’s graduation and then we enter the real world.

Just in case you were wondering what your dish would look like...

At the Japanese restaurant, I believe it was called PoPoRo or something (I’ll double check this name if we go back), I ordered teriyaki salmon, Suny ordered noodles, my mom ordered a spicy fried chicken, and my dad also ordered the teriyaki salmon. Also, the table was about a foot taller than it needed to be, or the seats were a foot shorter than they needed to be, which led to the need to sit up straight the entire time if I wanted to reach my food. This is probably why the Japanese have such great posture. About half way through dinner I gave up, took my bowl off the table and sat back on the chair to eat it. I was so depressed about all the thoughts running through my head that I could hardly enjoy my meal. Everyone around us was so lively and talkative, but our table was almost dead silent. I’ve begun to notice how if I don’t get the conversations going at our table, no one really says anything, especially if Suny is too busy eating to talk. Either that, or everyone else was just tired/sensed I was upset about something.

Freud, Shakespeare, and Dostoevsky all believed humans are self-loathing creatures that are always seeking to make themselves depressed/miserable, and I oftentimes fall into that trap. On our way back from dinner, I was definitely getting a little teary-eyed thinking about all the people I miss back home and how badly I wish they could be here with me. I thought about how my other friends go on vacations and what they do or how they react differently to certain situations, and just how amazing it would be to enjoy not only the more urban day time scene, but also the night life. I’m not saying I want to go get drunk and party till I drop, but some letting loose would be nice. I wouldn’t imagine getting much sleep while here if my friends were around, but that’s the beauty of being young and full of life.

I know this post probably makes me sound like the most selfish little seasquirt in the world, I mean what kind of a brat would be complaining about being in one of the most amazing cities in the world while not having to worry about expenses, safety, food, lodging, etc.? I’m sorry if I made myself sound that way, but sometimes it’s just really frustrating to feel so…trapped, for lack of a better word. I don’t really have a lot of freedom when I’m under my parents’ roof, especially what with them wanting to supervise every move I make, so I shouldn’t have expected a lot here either, but I can’t help but think about how different things could be…

At least for me, when on vacation I don’t mind waking up early or going to bed late so long as I have a great time and enjoy each moment to its fullest. One of my new years’ resolutions was to stop dwelling on the past or living in the future, and to just stick to the moment. I think I should really start doing that. One day, some day, I’ll have the opportunity to vacation with friends and see how it goes, but for now I should try my best to enjoy what’s in front of me with the great people around me, especially because I have no idea when the four of us are going to be able to vacation together again.

In any case, it’s time for bed. I’ve gotta wake up early (not at 3:30am hopefully) to see some native Australian wildlife! I keep seeing koala and kangaroo souvenirs everywhere, so I really hope I see some of those – how wicked would that be!? Kind of reminds me of those rare Pokémon that you would never find in the wild unless you went to a certain place…like a Laprus or Zaptos or something.

Well, now that I’ve further established my dork status, I think I should probably just stop. Good night and sweet dreams! J