An Aussie Arvo, An American's Afternoon (Resurrected!): A Necessary Anachronism

I woke up this morning with the full intention following natural order, but due to fortunate cibarious circumstances I'm forced to stray from my intended ramblings. Today was a lovely day. I woke up to find the sun radiantly pouring in through my window and calling Darling Harbour and myself to wake. I worked out in the surprisingly crowded 4 machine excuse for a gym and headed off to work with visiting colleges from the India office.

I also ran into Priya again, and for those of you that don't know her, she was a visiting ambassador to the Boston office a few months ago. I had hoped that our paths would cross, but I never anticipated that it would be in the other corner of the earth. The day progressed uneventfully and I dedicated most of it rejuvenating a series of trainings I'm giving to bright-eyed new hires on Thursday & Friday.

The eventful part of the day was after work with a trip to the 'Night Noodle Market' for the Sydney Food Festival. The Noodle Market runs for 2 weeks and features 40 tantalizing food booths sponsored by some of the city's most well-known Asian restaurants. The comprehensive variety boasts everything from dumplings, Thai buffets, Malaysian barbecue, Japanese noodle soups, kebabs to ice cream & pancake desserts. (You can see why I needed to go to they gym this morning and why I'll be going again tomorrow.) The markets are held in the lovely Hyde park illuminated by the warm glowing reds and yellow hues of oriental lamps and food stations.

I could not but help seize the moment to eat (let's not forget priorities here) and take that next step in the relationship with my new camera. I didn't win this time. I struggled a bit with the right settings, but feel I walked away with a few solid photos and a very full stomach. One of the best parts of walking around with the camera was the air of legitimate photographer its echoing snap and cumbersome black body lent for the night. Many of the vendors as soon as they saw it smiled at me and became immediately friendly, assuming natural, perky poses & giggling. Little do they know.

Dumplings!