Needed: Friends

I made it through my first weekend without my husband okay, but as the next weekend began to creep up on me I realized, I've gotta make some friends.  So what do you do when you're new in town and need to meet some people?  You do what any Chicagoan would do - head to the bar.

A few of my mates from work invited me to hang out with them for the day on Saturday.  We met at what is quickly becoming my new favorite bar The Old Fitzroy.  The original plan was to head to the finger wharf or to Manly for the Jazz Festival.  Unfortunately about 30 minutes after we got to the bar, the skies opened up and it pretty much rained for the rest of the day.  Well, I guess we're going to have to stay here and have a few more drinks, gang.

We had a beer or two then headed to the Swans Club to watch the AFL Grand Final (the Superbowl of AFL).  I realize that except for the beer part that sentence makes no sense to anyone not living in Australia.  All of the sports teams here have clubs that you can become a member of.  At the club you can drink and gamble and of course, watch the game.  The Swannies didn't make the Grand Final but the club was still packed with people watching the game.  For my friends in Chicago, it reminded me a bit of being at Joe's for Sunday Funday.

After the game I was in desperate need of food so we headed across the street to a de-lish pizza place.  The area of town we were in is called Wooloomooloo (I think that's how you spell it).  It's a neat part neighborhood with cool vibe and apparently Russell Crowe lives there.  I'm not a big fan of Russell, but people don't like it when you say that here.  He's a Kiwi by the way, he's not even Australian.

Moving on, things got quite fun once we got to the pizza place.  The pizza was delish (did I mention that  already?) and we were all getting into our prime.  There were a few other people there so the boys began chatting up a few of the ladies.  One of the girls in that group came to sit by me as my friends were hitting on her friends.  In the end, I ended up chatting with the girls and headed to another bar with them for a while.

It was a group of girls that all went to uni together in WA.  Sorry... I'm starting to talk Aussie speak.  "Uni" = university/college; "WA = Western Australia".  They were fun and I needed some new friends, right?!  I hung with them for a bit (don't ask me where I was because I have no idea) then headed back to the Fitz to meet up with the boys again.  It's always fun to end the night where you started it.

The Fitz was quite full at this point, so the rest of the night was filled with meeting some of the regulars and all of the other patrons.  I met some great Aussies that gave me the low down on all of the places I need to visit; some expats from London; and of course some proper Irishmen.  All in all, fun day/night.  Not sure that I have any new friends yet, but at least I'm on my way!