WEEK 6 - AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIES!

This week's blog is dedicated to our fav place in the world.......home.

There are many quirky differences in the way Americans and Australians pronounce words. Perhaps one of the most amusing differences is the way they say "AUSSIE" here. Australians say "ozz-ee" and Americans say "oss-ee". So when we heard the familiar chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" correctly enunciated, it was the ex-pat equivalent of tapping our heels together three times and being magically swept down under.

And you may wonder where in the Big Apple one would hear such a chant... the "Aussie BBQ" of course. Courtesy of our new friend Paul A, we found out about a mini-festival of Australian bands at the Bowery Ballroom http://www.boweryballroom.com/ and for the bargain basement price of $14 we were treated to a line-up that would have cost us at least $70 at home.

The Bowery Ballroom
(check out the huge front window)

Lineup included:

Katy Steele (solo) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTewDjqvWZU

Drawn from Bees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbNCv8nMiYE

Deathrays (very raucousy 2-piece metal band)

Holidays http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P87Go331uyM

Paul Dempsey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cz0Dd6bxhk

Hungry Kids of Hungary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKw7G6n7U9M

Wagons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEP34Oxf_8I&feature=related

The Jezabels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0xtEmv-67w

Little Red http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQwwcf2ERU

Blue King Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJVoslo_xdM

Bliss N Eso http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b33VWxdHrNk

Sampology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg48i8gfnbA

Drawn from Bees

Deathrays



Paul Dempsey

Hungry Kids from Hungary

The Wagons

The Jezabels

Bliss N Eso

Highlights of the day:

• The venue was very small and never reached more than 45% capacity. This meant we could always see the bands and we could get super close to the stage.
• Introducing our American friends to some great Aussie bands.
• Meeting our aussie music idols: Paul Dempsey & Bliss N Eso.

Paul Dempsey & Kate



Tim & Paul Dempsey
(who stands at 6.6ft)

(who we think is) Bliss, Bek & Paul



Bek, (who we think is) Eso & Paul

The Mulberry Tarts with our newly converted
aussie music enthusiasts

Lowlights of the day:

• $7 meat pies that did a poor impersonation of a traditional Aussie meat pie. Meat was minced rather than chunky.

LITTLE AUSTRALIA

Turns out you can walk from Italy to Australia in no time at all. Only a couple of minutes from Little Italy, is what the locals have colorfully dubbed "Little Australia". In the two blocks between Mulberry, Spring, Elizabeth & Prince Streets are businesses owned and run by very affable Australians.

Little Australia

Eight Mile Creek (down under bar underneath)

Ruby's Cafe



Ksubi Store

Dinosaur Designs

WHERE'S THE LOVE?

Sadly the camaraderie we anticipated from fellow Aussies living in this great city has not been as warm as expected. With exception to a friendly few (ie: those mentioned in this post), we have noticed that the reception from Australians living in New York is a little icy. The cold shoulder treatment was recently diagnosed by a cheery Aussie, who explained that Australians living in New York had harder shells than their counterparts who lived in Los Angeles because of the lifestyle. Our own conclusions about this phenomenon is simply that New York can be rough and sometimes treats you bad, so a little "toughening up" is normal. Please keep this in mind next time you see us! Example: don't judge Tim too harshly if you witness him pushing over the elderly to get on the train.

And for those who might be wondering..... yes we still call Australia home!!!

HALF-WAY POINT
We have now officially crossed the half-way point of our New York adventure. Unfortunately we haven't achieved our "job" and "husband" objectives yet, but every effort is being made to get to this point.

WEEK IN STATISTICS

• No of jobs that Tim & Bek have applied for = 24
• No of job interviews Tim & Bek have attended = 2 (both Timbo)
• No of dates for Kate = 5
• No of times we hit the gym = 16
• No of Personal Training sessions for Kate = 2
• No of rad new bars we have visited = 8
• No of new friends we have made = 9
• No of live gigs = 2

DOG OF THE WEEK

Gorgeous great-dane out the front of Tim's favorite
coffee shop - Gimme Coffee

WEEK 5 - DINNER DATES (AND A TOUCH OF KARAOKE)

"Come celebrate with us and ring in the arrival of the warmer seasons.
We'll serve up tons of delicious food and pour flowing glasses of wine 
as you mingle with old friends and or perhaps make some new ones"

Oh, Apt4 Food and Wine, you had us at hello!  

This week was our first introduction to Supper Club, a NYC craze where folk create a food menu, incorporate matching wines, get a bunch of strangers together and find an apartment to host everyone. We paid our $65 dollars and walked to Tribeca in the blustering rain toward an address that had only been revealed to us a couple of days before. The apartment was magnificent! A huge space, with high ceilings, bold artwork and beautifully decorated. 

There was approx 60 people at our soiree. We met some cool people and enjoyed a pass around menu that included mexican fish rice paper rolls, creamy mushroom risotto, pork croquettes, antipasto platter (to name a few) and for dessert, an apple tart. YUM!!!!! 

Highlights of the evening include :

• Bek enjoying a couple of glasses of Red (for the first time!)
• Tim finding a new man friend 
• Kate not climbing a ladder to the attic in the midst of the party after Tim tried to convince her it was the toilet.

Enjoying red wine.

Amazing space for a NYC apartment.

Apt 4 Chef and his delicious tarts.

KARAOKE

After Supper, we took ourselves down to Mulberry Street Bar the dive bar across the street in Little Italy that has a jukebox & karaoke scene on certain nights of the week. (I must admit, we have walked past on a friday night sniggering at the talent this place attracts). The owner Jimmy was a legend however, and came and had a chat to us after his Frank Sinatra 'New York New York' performance. 

Jimmy singing Frank Sinatra.

Films shot on location at Mulberry Street Bar. Latest is a DeNiro film - Another Day. 

DATES

And while Bek and Tim went on their own romantic dates, Kate was trying to rustle up some of her own! She joined an on-line dating website (assisted by girlfriends, wine and cuddles from french bulldog Bailey.) Thanks to them, she had her first date lined up days later, with 5 more scheduled in the next week. ....Stay tuned!

WEEK IN STATISTICS

• No of jobs that Tim & Bek have applied for = 26
• No of job interviews Tim & Bek have attended = 0 (Unfortunately getting spam from higher education & health insurance sales however...)
• No of boys "of interest" to Kate = 3
• No of dates for Kate = 1 (At laaast!)
• No of days we hit the gym = 17
• No of Personal Training sessions for Kate = 2
• No of rad new bars we have visited = 3 (1 of those was to see our neighbour Ted's DJ gig. Super cool)
• No of new friends we have made = 5 (Including 2 potential man friends for Timbo)

WEEK 5 - MID WEEK BLOG FOR THE LADIES ONLY (WE ARE SERIOUS)

WARNING: THIS POST IS FOR OUR FEMALE FOLLOWERS (ONLY).  MATERIAL IN THIS BLOG IS UNSUITABLE FOR OUR MALE READERS AND IS LIKELY TO CAUSE DISTRESS TO THOSE SILLY ENOUGH TO READ ON.  SERIOUSLY GUYS, PLEASE DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT FEMALE SANITARY PRODUCTS.

DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T WARN YOU!!!

As women, there are some things we love to change & experiment with.  Examples include: nail polish, breakfast cereals & hairstyles. 

However, there are also some things where we prefer to stick with what we know, and what we are comfortable & familiar with.  Examples include: tried & tested skincare products, our favourite brand of jeans & ....................................................

Much to our dismay, the range of female sanitary products in the United States are not the same as Australia.  Pads appear to be much the same, albeit with a larger range to choose from.  Unfortunately the compact & discrete tampons that Aussie women know & love ARE NOT READILY AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Same same

After frantically checking the selection at multiple corner stores, Wholefoods & Duane Reade, we discovered that the only types of tampons available included "applicators".  For those who don't remember "applicators", they were the first type of tampons Mum bought you.  They were most likely Tampax brand, & work on the premise that we need a little more guidance when you first start out navigating that area.  After some time, most of us feel confident with the process & then change to the traditional tampon (with no applicator).

Sanitary products aisle at Duane Reade

Turns out American women always need that guidance because all tampons here come with applicators.



Oh no!

It can't be!

They all have applicators!

Here is a little comparison of the difference in size between the two types:

US standard - Tampon with applicator

AUS standard - tampon without applicator

Distressed at the thought of reverting to "applicators", we started to panic.  How would we inconspicuously carry around what essentially was the size of a packet of crayola texta pens in our evening bags? 

Then we saw something we had never seen before......  another alternative.  Not a pad, nor a tampon, it's something different, something..... instead.

Website: http://www.softcup.com/

Now we will be completely honest.  The first time you open one of these babies, you will be fairly overwhelmed by the size, shape, and how to use it.  Essentially it works the same as a diaphragm.  However upon testing, both females in the house can highly endorse this product.  Checkout the official website for all the details. Note the most impressive feature is the frequency, or infrequency in which you need to change this item - only once every 12 hours.

Looks and works much like a diaphragm

But be warned, this thing ain't small

We were even toying with the idea of importing these suckers into Australia until Mel B advised that we have a similar product already available in Australia.  Ladies, here is the Aussie alternative if you are curious.  Freakishly this one is re-usable (I don't know how I feel about that concept).  http://www.thekeeper.com.au/

Hmmm, just doesn't seem super hygienic

Funnily enough, after candidly discussing our woes with our new American girlfriends, we have since found out that there is one brand of non-applicator tampons available here.  They are called "ob", but there was a shortage of this product recently which sent menstruating women into a frenzy.  Said shortage even led to a so-called black market for non-applicator tampons.   Special shout out to Carly for this very useful information. 

Check out the link: http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/02/pf/o.b._tampons/index.htm

Now for all those disobedient boys who read this post after our warning, please don't be discouraged from further blogs.  We promise to never talk about this again online.  We just couldn't resist sharing the word with the ladies.

WEEK 4 - OUR FIRST MONTH IN NEW YORK

We have now been in the Big Apple for officially 4 weeks.  Here is a quick wrap-up of what we have achieved in this time:

• No of jobs that Tim & Bek have applied for = 49
• No of job interviews Tim & Bek have attended = 0
• No of boys "of interest" to Kate = 3
• No of weddings attended = 1
• No of days we hit the gym = 21
• No of gigs we have attended = 1
• No of sporting events we have attended = 0
• No of toilets unblocked = 1 (well done Tim)
• No of rad new bars we have visited = too many to count
• No of new friends we have made = 20+ thanks to Laura Quinn for introducing us to all her fantastic mates

Let's hope next month leads to lots of job interviews, gigs, dates for Kate & trips to Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium.

Our first pic - on the flight out of Brisbane 1 month ago

WEEK 3 - FIGHTING THE SYSTEM

According to wikitionary, the definition of a con artist is a person who defrauds or swindles others after first gaining their trust; a scam operator.

They say one learns something new everyday.  Well let this be your lesson for today. Never, never buy any electronics from any store in Times Square!  Always do your research before you buy electronics!

These stores intentionally mark up the prices of their goods, with the intention of faux slashing the prices for the unwitting customer who thinks they are getting a bargain.

In this case the unwitting customer was Kate, who decided to take matters into her own hands. Foreseeing that the shop owners would refuse to do anything to rectify the situation after reading the many on-line blog complaints (Virtual Tourist & Why Go New York), Kate rugged up against the cold and the rain, armed herself with photocopies of said complaints and readied herself to warn potential customers not to make the same mistake she did. After being asked to leave the premises with no refund offer, Kate did exactly that and spent 90 minutes outside the store effectively turning away customers. Store folk came out and told her to leave, threatening to call the police, an action which Kate warmly welcomed. When not 1 but 4 police officers arrived on the scene looking for a 5'4, blonde female, the situation turned around with police siding with the consumer and escorting her into the shop and negotiating a full store credit. RESULT!

Kate warning potential customers.

Police on the scene.

NYC cops helped Kate get a full store credit.

LET IT SNOW


NYC experienced an out of season snow storm during the week, with temperatures plummeting to -9 degrees and 2-5 inches of snow falling. It was very cool to wake up in the morning and see snow falling. The City scattered with snow is a truly beautiful sight.

Central Park

Mulberry St

Little Italy

Washington Square Park

Washington Square Park

BROOKLYN 

Bek & Tim had a very productive week, job hunting and sending out resumes to prospective employers. All that hard work deserved some downtime so we took ourselves off to Brooklyn for a day and fell in love with the bars, thrift shops, music stores and general vibe of Williamsburg, in particular.

FREE STUFF IN NYC? REALLY??!!


Yes! Walking home from the gym one evening, we noticed that our local thrift shop was having a $1 clearance sale. After looking through clothes, shoes, handbags and jewellery, we spotted a coffee table and filing cabinet that was FREE. The only condition being, we had to take the furniture immediately. 


It must have been a sight to see Tim & Bek carrying a large, glass coffee table 7 blocks through the Lower East, with Kate coming up the rear wheeling a filing cabinet. Our fellow New Yorkers didn't even bat an eyelid.

Collecting our new coffee table from Soho Thrift Shop

I

The beginning of the 7 block carry home