It was celebration time this past weekend. Just one good excuse after another to go out and have a good time.
Two long weeks of midterms for the AGSMers finally came to a close on Friday, and the school sponsored a BBQ at Coogee Beach for everyone to chill out and blow off some steam. A large group turned out with partners and a few with kiddies. Kate chased Maria and Peter's adorable twins around the park for a good while. When she needed a break, I took a turn, but it was clear that they were already smitten with her chasing styles.
First, we stuffed our faces with burgers and sausages. Then it was time to work off some of those calories in a nice game of kickball. I hadn't played kickball in . . . oh, maybe a decade, if not more, but somethings you just don't forget. The really funny part was that this is a very international group. Very few people had the benefit of year and years of recess kickball games under their belt. You don't realize how complicated it actually is until you have to explain it to a group who has never played it before. Before too long though, everyone had it down and we were into a very heated game. Scorekeeping somehow fell by the wayside, but it didn't matter. Our team kicked major booty!
The BBQ started pretty early, so afterwards everyone still in a celebratory mood. We moved over to the nearby Beach Palace Hotel and hung out a while longer.
I didn't get any pictures that night, so I got this one from their website.
Now, a word on G. He is an illustration in the principles of momentum. It is sometimes difficult to get him out of the house, but once he's out, it is just as hard to get him to go back home. After a few hours of chatting and drinking, if there are even a few people left, he wants to keep going. After we moved on to yet another location, with people splintering off every few minutes, he still gave me a “do we gotta?” look when I finally got sleepy.
The next day was Halloween. Granted, it's not as widespread as it is in the States, but there are plenty of ways to mark the occasion. Kate found a little Halloween themed musical going on in Glebe at the Roxbury Hotel. Even with midterm exams done, G still had a lot of work to do, thus Kate and I ventured off together.
The hotel was pretty cool, but sadly, the show turned out to be pretty bad. It was a cabaret-style show put together by a small band of players. The group could sing, but their dialogue was in need of serious rewriting. Ah well, cheesy as it was, it still hit the Halloween spot. And Glebe, the surrounding neighborhood, was awesome – just full of funky little cafes ad shops. We explored for a while and found a fantastic little chocolate cafe, called Chocolateria San Churro. They have all kinds of confections and amazingly rich hot chocolate – including a super spicy Mexican-style, Azteca Hot chocolate. My favorite. What would Halloween be without a treat?!
Festivities continued on past the weekend with the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. The Melbourne Cup is Australia's Kentucky Derby – except bigger. You've got all the crazy hats on an even larger scale, because it seems to me that everyone gets in on the party. At the pubs everyone looks like they're dressed for New Year's. It's like a national Holiday.
Standing out in the sun drinking beers can really take a lot out of you.
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