Mardi Gras 2.0

I have just returned home from a busy, busy day.  I woke up around 8:30 this morning to check out the Eveleigh Market which I had happened upon the other day.  I was impressed (and admittedly overwhelmed – I’m still figuring out the lay of the land as regards Aussie foods and prices) by the selection.  After a walk around the entire market and some debating I purchased some capsicum and proceeded to return home to prepare for a day full of adventure with Paula, my BU friend from Sunday.

Today was the annual Mardi Gras parade in Sydney.  While sharing the characteristics of name and parade, Sydney’s Mardi Gras has very little to do with the celebration I observed in New Orleans prior to my trip down here.  I digress. 

I met up with Paula at around 10:00 at the BU dorms near the central railway station, a fifteen or so minute walk from my place toward downtown.  We continued into the city and up to Oxford Street where the parade was to take place and walked the length of the route, scoping the situation out.  At the end of the route, a large park and cricket grounds, we did a bit of wandering before traipsing back to Liverpool Street and doing some exploring before deciding to return to her apartment to regroup, grab a bite, and pick up another BU student before staking out a spot at the parade route.  At the urging of some of our friends more familiar with the festivities, we planned on getting a spot by 2:00 for the 7:45 parade.

After fortifying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some tea, the three of us struck out in the drizzle (yes, still drizzling….) back to Oxford Street to find a spot.  We ended up at the corner of Oxford and Flinders Street, where the parade turns and where the film crews and main stage are located.  As the hours ticked by and the rain continual came and went with annoying persistence, the crowd slowly built.  At 6:00 they closed the streets to vehicles, and by 6:30 the crowd, now five or six deep behind us, was enlisted to move the police barricades out into the road.  As the crowd built to ten deep, various groups began to entertain in the streets.

Promptly at 7:45 (are you listening, New Orleans?) the parade rolled from a few blocks away at Hyde Park.  The parade was incredible, different from my New Orleans Mardi Gras, but an experience none-the-less.  It lasted almost two and a half hours, and was filled with many a spectacle.  We got to see a few people we knew in it (though not the one we knew was performing – but, rather two friends who were volunteering in important capacities).  We said our hurried hellos as they went about their duties, but it was nice feeling like a part of the puzzle by knowing people so deeply involved in the Sydney Mardi Gras scene.

Yesterday after I wrote my roommates and I went to the shopping plaza near our house to finish getting everything we need for the terrace.  On the way they said we should stop to get burgers.  We went to a fast food restaurant, Oporto, and I was a bit surprised to not find burgers on the menu – after all my roommates had said they had delicious Portuguese burgers.  Despite the language barrier, lunch was rather enjoyable, and we completed our shopping pretty quickly.  That afternoon, I ended up heading back to Tiffany’s new place in Alexandria to meet her roommates.  They were nice and I spent a bit of time with them before making the trek (I seem to be falling into a pattern: taking a bus to a given destination, and then, out of a desire to explore, hoofing it back) back to my terrace.  I made it back about 7:30 or so and had dinner with the roomies and Joe and a nice chat well into the night.

Word of the day 1: capsicum (cahp – si – cum)

Usage: Green, yellow, and red bell peppers, and presumably other varieties. Used in the UK as well, but still odd when I am shopping for peppers.

Word of the day 2: burgers (standard pronunciation)

Usage: any sandwich consisting of hot meat between two buns. So by their definition Chick-fil-a serves burgers, and a filet-o-fish from Mackers is a burger as well. It blew their minds that we would refer to something as a “chicken sandwich.”