The alarm clock went off at 3:45, but I did not want to get
out of bed. Today was Anzac Day and we had agreed to wake up early and
experience the Dawn Service at city town centre at 4:30 in the morning! To
start with Anzac Day is similar to our Memorial Day where they honored those
that have served in the Armed Forces especially during the first fight between
New Zealand and Australia in World War I. We had read about the Dawn Service
being a popular event in the city with thousands of people attending, but we
had no idea what this would look like the middle of the city. We soon found out
though whenever we couldn’t even cross the street or get anywhere close to the
front of the crowd. We were stuck way in the back and with the wind blowing in
between all the skyscrapers we had to focus intently to just decipher a few
words. We were that it was more important to just be there and experience it
rather than exactly understand everything that was going on. We were able to hear
a few speeches from various Australian figures and then a bugler doing the Last
Post as well as Reveille. The moment of silence was probably my favorite part
since even the city street lights turned off for the somber occasion. The wind
and cold were getting to us so we were more than happy to get back to our beds to
catch the rest of our sleep! We still had a full day ahead of ourselves and
mine started with finally skyping my family again. I was very excited to see my
mom, dad and Leah especially since I hadn’t really talked to them in just about
a month. Our main correspondence has been email which is great, but definitely
not the same as seeing them face to face (or as much as skype allows). It feels nice being caught up on all the family news since I am so far away.
I had more Australian stories to tell than I thought I did, but they all seemed
to like them. Even got a few laughs out of my dad! For the second time in a row
my brother, Alex, tried to call me on skype while I was skyping someone else and
I was definitely starting to feel bad about this. Plus I didn’t have any time
to talk to him afterwards since Riley and I were meeting up with Niell to try Lebanese
for lunch. This was somewhat of a holiday tradition for Niell since it’s a holiday
off of work for him and one his friend’s favorite restaurants had a great lunch
special. We took a bus to Leichardt and sat down at this Lebanese restaurant to
wait for one of his friends, while the other one had joined us at the bus stop.
We had a lot to choose from on the menu though and with the lunch special we
were able to choose 2 kebabs (chicken or lamb), a salad, a dip and a side. Since
lamb isn’t on our everyday menu we decided that now would be a good time to try
that so Riley got two while I did one of each. We both got the hummus dip, and
he also tried the falafel. The chicken kebab was probably the juiciest, most
tender chicken I have ever tasted, but the lamb was a little fatty. We were
both proud of ourselves for trying new things, considering we were actually
starting to like the taste of hummus. Usually I am not a fan of it! The
conversations were great for everyone since we got on the topic of traveling
and Niell’s friend was able to tell us a lot about his adventures through
Europe. He gave me a lot of tips about where to go while I’m in Germany next semester,
but I think he forgot that I am only going to be there for 6 weeks. It was
great to meet some new people and try something new at the same time. Then it
was time for more Anzac day traditions; another rugby league game. We were a
little late to the game which was unfortunate since they were doing more Memorial
Day type of things flashing the Australian flag on the field and having army
vehicles circle the stadium. The stadium was absolutely packed with over 40,000
people that came out to this one game.
Not to mention, it was the most intense
game we’ve seen since we’ve been in Australia! The crowd truly made the game,
especially since there weren’t any annoying fans behind us. However, there were
a few people next to us that thought the seats were first come, first serve and
had waited 2 hours at those seats for the game to start. However, our class
buys group tickets so that we can all sit together and they were right in the
middle of our group. The older couple got extremely mad and told our classmates
off. Even after the police came to check the couple’s tickets a few uneasy
things were said. We had obviously ruined his day, but what else were we
supposed to do? The stadium was packed! It was great being part of an
Australian tradition and seeing all their support for the team and country. In
the end, the team we were going for (Roosters) smashed the other team (Dragons)
by something like 30 points.
Little bit of an embarrassment, but it was about
time that our team won something. We were hoping to catch a pub on the way back
playing a game of 2-up but we weren’t so lucky. This is a gambling game that
was playing in World War I where the Australian soldiers got all the Americans money.
It is apparently illegal in Australia except for Anzac day. The game is a
simple game of heads or tails with three coins. One person flips the coins
(referee for the game) and then the two players had to call out heads or tails
and how much they were betting such as “Five on Heads.” Some players bet up to
hundreds of dollars and with the game being purely about luck there really is
no winning for long. We were both super hungry so we knew we wouldn’t enjoy the
pub much anyways. We also knew that we had to get back and start packing for
the weekend of bushwalking in the Blue Mountains that we had ahead of us. It
was also the time that Alex was getting up for school in Vermont so I was able
to multi-task and talk with him while packing. He is insanely interested in
hiking/bushwalking so I know he was super jealous. Nonetheless, it was great to
see and talk to him since it has been a while. I always enjoy telling my
Australian stories and he had plenty of Norwich news to relay back to me. It
was just a day full of catching up with family; something that I truly missed
and needed!
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