Monday, March 17, 2008

Heat Wave

For all of you readers in the UK, USA etc... who are wishing for Summer please know this, I am wishing wishing wishing for Winter like crazy. Its been 35 degrees (that's 95 degrees Fahrenheit for those in the USA) or more for the last week here in Melbourne, Australia. Before coming home I was really looking forward to my first Australian Summer in 2 years (I was in Tokyo for the Aussie Summer 2006/2007 so I had 1 whole year of winter basically!) I couldn't wait to go swimming at our beautiful beaches and eat ice cream on the pier with it melting down my hand. However now I have done all that numerous times and I am getting tired of it and the extreme heat is just making me tired and sweaty! I'm hating the hot weather even more now that I'm at uni all day because it seems even hotter there if that's possible. It seems that when you leave the city with its tall buildings creating shade and go out to a suburb with its low level housing the temp rises about 5 degrees (well not really, but it feeeeeeeeels like it does!) It also doesn't help that the bus I have to catch from the train station to my uni is not air conditioned...Ahhhh its hell. It doesn't help that its full of sweaty bogans asking me for"$2 to buy a chiko roll"

For those non Aussie's a Chiko roll is kinda like a springroll, only they are sold at fish and chip shops or truck stops. A bogan is kinda like a British Chav or an American Red neck...kinda a mixture. However the word has changed meaning over the kinda now includes Junkies who ask from money on the street who are really scary sometimes.
Bogan: "Gotta dollar?" (Sometimes they tell you a sob story about being on chemo or something or needing a tram ticket)
Me: "No, sorry I am a student" (It kinda makes them less angry...sometimes)
Bogan: "Fuck you ya rich bitch"

I was actually surprised when I went to New York how nice the beggars on the train are. They come up to you and tell you why they need the money like a warm weather jacket, or my baby is sick, and you know its true (sometimes) However the big difference is if you say no I have no money they say "God bless you" and not "Fuck off you slut, I'm gonna deck you"... Please don't be scared to visit Australia, its not always like this I's just as I said my uni is in a bad area that you will never visit (unless you like thrifting...then its got the best Savers ever!)

ANYWAY that was totally off topic. Back to my point of me wishing it was winter already! One of the main reasons for this is I have a beautiful Hooded rain coat/parka thing on layby (I believe in the USA you call it lay-away) at Target. It's only $90 but seeing as I wont need it for a while I put it on layby so I can use my money now to go swimming or something.

I am unable to find a photo of it on the Target website, but it is very very similar to

and It's a bit Personal's

H&M Parkas!!! (Fops and Dreams are the same parka and Personal's is a different parka but all 3 are from H&M!)

Mine is black with a huge hood like Personal's, with giant pockets like Fops and Dream's. Around the pockets on mine are draw strings, and around the hem is also some draw strings, so you can play with the shape of the jacket. It also has a waist belt so I wont be drowning in fabric and thus won't look fat. Oh and my jacket is kinda wet look and shiny...I can't wait to show you all. Its gonna be so warm for when winter does eventually arrive, and it will be so handy for when I'm in Tokyo for winter again (it doesn't really get that cold here even in winter, not like Tokyo...or New York brrrrrrr freezing! In New York I got wind burn all up my legs from the cold! That doesn't happen here.)


  1. I loved when you wrote ANYWAYS in big bold letters.

  2. dont u wish we had h&m in australia?

  3. Yeah I do wish we had h&m. I love h&m, so many of my fave clothes come from h&m. Did you know in August H&M opens in Harajuku, Tokyo??? Its one step closer to here in Aus I guess. At least when I move back to Tokyo I can shop there...till then Target will have to do.

  4. hi hayley,

    i don't think it will be too difficult - the subway map and system is actually pretty good to figure out, and you're familiar with character languages by this point, so you'll have it easier than others. but in terms of haggling and buying in markets, hmm, i think that might be a bit difficult. just make sure you know your korean numbers, both how to say them and how to understand them.

    have fun!!

  5. oh my, I want to bet that about 1/4 of the hobo's/homeless bums are super mean here in the US. you just met some nice ones by chance.

  6. oh tokyo is one lucky bitch. haha

    i heard we were getting zara ages ago but there have been no further reports of it. :(

    hm.. target is pretty much the closest thing we got to h &m

