Photo credit: Sydneyinframe.com
I honestly love my job. I have great hours, my boss is amazing and I got paid to take my reclusive students to the beach for the day.
At the end of each course we take our students on an excursion. Luckily, as teachers, we have the power of persuasion on our sides so I gently coax my students into agreeing to spend the day at the beach, despite the fact that most of my students hate the sun, swimming and BBQ's. But I'm getting them out of the house and they are experiencing "real Australian culture".
Since Lil' A was in town she got to play chaperon/conversationalist too. being that she is cute and blond I knew my students would love her, especially since blond hair is rarely seen in most of their countries.
We woke up bright and early on Monday morning to catch the ferry to lovely Manly Beach. I wasn't surprised when none of my students showed up and only three of my co-teacher's students were present. When asked, most of my students list sleeping in their top three hobbies, so I imagine that most of them stayed in bed. Oh well, that just meant fewer awkward silences and that I could wear my bathing suit comfortably. So the "guides", two Turkish men in the later part of their prime, and a sweet Thai teenager hopped on the ferry and spent "the best 12 dollars of our lives" on the sprawling scenic views across the harbor.
When arriving to Manly we walked over to Shelly Beach, which is a more secluded and less wave ridden area. We took failed jumping pictures, had some giggles and entertained our student's questions about England and California. As the sun crept behind clouds and it looked like rain we headed back towards the cafe riddled streets for some refreshments. Luckily we were with a more talkative group of students and it was fun to swap stories about our home countries. Turkey strikes a chord in my heart so it's always fun to hear about what it's like. I am also dying to go back to Thailand and think Thai people are amazing and love hearing about their food and culture.
After some food we decided beer was the best option. My co-teacher had to go back to work so Lil' A and I said our goodbyes and hit the German beer factory for some steins and scenery. We observed the eye candy in the bar and on the street and chatted with the smiley Canadian bar maid until we saw the bottom of our glasses. At this point we thought wine shopping was necessary so we headed to the bottle shop to stock up for the week.
After our purchases we went to the ferry dock and to wait for our ride across the harbor. Being blond and carrying 6 bottles of wine we attracted the attention of a rather colorful individual. He looked like he had been partying for the better part of a decade with few brakes in between. He made some comments about alcohol and wet dreams and started slurring and flirting with us, most likely in hopes of us cracking open a bottle of wine and sharing it with him. While he was attractive and probably used to his looks getting what he wanted a red flag went off in both of our heads and we politely relocated to a different part of the boat when it arrived. I don't know if it was the suggestive remarks, the slurring or the bottle of prescription pills that fell out of his pocket when he lost his balance and spilled his coffee but he was definitely the kind of guy who would slip coke into your suitcase then leave you with the authorities when you got caught. No bueno. We went up stairs to reenact the flying scene from Titanic along with other tourists and day trippers. We thought we had lost our little friend when a hint of BO and coffee wafted up to my nose and a gravely voice said: "oh hey, can I borrow your phone because I need to call my friend (aka: drug dealer)" I said I didn't have a phone and continued talking to Lil' A. He went on to pester some soccer moms until a nice young dad finally bought his random story about needing to meet a girl about a surfboard. Once he was occupied we left again, this guy was getting to be too much. When the ferry finally stopped we bolted in hopes of leaving Crazy McGee in the crowd. Mission accomplished, thank God. I don't know why, but the crazies love me and are attracted like moths to the light, maybe its my shiny blond hair... or my red lipstick.... whatever it is its this is a constant issue when I go out, but I guess it makes for good stories.
키스
