Five Ways Cafe By Cornell Lemons

Here is a poem that my Best friend wrote about his last meal in Sydney. Cornell Flew over to sydney this past March to cheer me up.

Five Ways Café


Each breathe you borrow
to light your cigarette,
walking up Paddington Hill,
cannot be rescinded.

At mid-morning, a famished
wind casually invites himself
to share our meal:
whispering eggs over
sourdough, circled by spiced
sausages and mushrooms.
Across the street, a chocolate
labrador’s gentle yawn excites
your retentive tongue. In two
glasses, fleshy blood-orange
juice sits patiently, unencumbered.



Cornell Rocks !!!!!!!!!!!


To clear things up .... I am moving back to New York at the end of May and me and Christian aren’t together anymore. I stop writing my blog for a whole year so I thought I would go back and try to make up for the time I didn’t write. So a lot of this is from my past experience and feelings.

Hope all is well
Jonathan Vargas

HOME!?!?!?!?! May 2008

FYI THIS IS VERY SCATTERED WRITING LOL

Being back on land was a relief. I hate flying and its not because I am scared ( well maybe just a little ) but I hate flying because I hate being confined to a seat for more then 2 hours. So being on a plane for 22 hours is torture. All I did was eat, poop, and sleep. Kenny was the first one to greet us and pick us up. He was so welcoming and he got me a really sweet “welcome to your new family” card and a tub of peanut butter (at the time I was addicted to the stuff). We then to Bondi and had coffee with Adam and Allen I think. Moving my stuff in was easy since I didn’t bring much but clothes.

I remember feeling really torn at the time because I was really happy that I was with Christian but at the same time I was already missing my friends. Christian did his best at making me feel welcomed and so did Kenny. In my head I was just hoping that I could make some friends who were just half as good as the ones I had in New York. We had a dinner party with a few of Christian friend who welcomed me into Sydney as well. Dinner was good but my Chocolate treats ended up in the garbage bin.

After settling I started the process of looking for a job. I hadn’t had a “conventional” job in a very long time so my resume needed to be updated and tailored for Australia. I applied for work via online, recruiters, CT friends, and walking around to see if anyone was hiring. The biggest issue I faced with applying was that I wasn’t an Australian permanent resident and business were looking to hire permanent staff. I was feeling really frustrated since it had been 4 weeks that I had been searching and still nothing. I was bored of doing nothing and having no one to talk to other then Christian. But he was at work during the day. It wasn’t till the end of June that I got a temp role at Citigroup. I worked at Citigroup for a full 6 months and I met a few friends there that I will tell you about later on. I left Citigroup because of my visa restrictions. You see on a work and holiday visa your only allowed to work for a company for 6 months after that you have to move on and find something new.

Other things I did during my first few weeks in Sydney was to open up a bank account. I choice Bankwest as my bank since it had bright colors and it looked inviting. I got a gym membership at Fitness First. I shaved off my hair off. We went to a big dance party Called DTPM which was Awesome for the long weekend. I also set up a surprise birthday dinner for Christian. Well it was supposed to be a surprise but Adam told Christian about it Grrrr. Christian was down because he thought no one had remembered and that I didn’t bother to make it special for him. So in order to cheer him up and for him not to have a miserable day he told Christian about my surprise. I understand what Adam was trying to do, but had it been me I would have let him wait till the surprise. Anyways we ended up having a great time and I got him a cake and I made him his birthday gift. I assembled a cute photo album with pictures from our first meeting and my first time in Australia. I made little comments for each picture and it was just super cute. I kind of wish I could scan it and show you what I mean.

Anyways that all for now….Hope all is well
Jonathan Vargas

Ohhh I saw two really good movies the past 2 night.
I went to see “Elegy” with my friend Wade and I also saw “The boy in the striped pyjamas” with my friend Dennis. Both movies were incredible.

Leaving everything behind MAY 2008

Saying Goodbye to my family and close friends was extremely hard. I know the day I told Cornell he was sad for weeks. I was sad that I couldn’t take him. I knew he was happy for me but was gloomy that it came at a high price. My mother did the very typical thing and worried  she loves that I am adventures and spontaneous but like all mothers she had her fears. Erika was also upset but I knew her reason and she too was happy that I was happy. I cant remember detail to detail but what I do remember was that I had the most amazing going away party EVER!!!

Christian flew into New York to come get me and this also gave him a chance to meet my friends and family. I needed them to meet Christian and get the OK…..  . I picked Christian up from the airport and booked a hotel room for me and him. I had laid out some chocolate and drinks plus a card to make him feel special and to welcome him back. That same night I took him and a few friends to see Fruta Bruta which is this spectacular show in NYC.

Anyways I decided to have a going away party on my rooftop and let me tell you it was a SUCCESS!!! I had elementary to high school friends. Friends I met in college and friends I met when I have gone out. The weather ended up working out for us since it was forecasted that it would rain but nope we had nothing but some sun and clouds. I think it drizzled for a moment but that was it. Erika helped me with the barbeque and getting the food. Everyone got to meet Christian and Christian got to meet everyone. It was truly one of the best BBQ I had ever been too.

On that day Cornell also presented me with one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever gotten. He made me a very special and unique video with clips of New York, Best wishes interviews with my friends, and just random stuff that were edited beautifully. It was creative and wonderful. No words can describe how it made me feel. I cried and cried with Joy when I saw it and its unbelievable sometimes how someone would go so far just to make someone happy. I will never in my life forget it. I cried for almost all the video which went on for like 25 minutes. THANK YOU CORNELL and everyone who helped or spoke in the video you guys are Priceless! And thank you everyone who joined me in the celebration!

After the rooftop party we had a very long and festive night at Peter’s “WORK” party then after we went to Pacha. We danced and laughed the night away and I was just so happy to have my friends and Christian all there. It was one hell of a night.

On the following day I took Christian to meet my mother. We had a small gathering with my uncle, aunt, brother, sister and a few family friends. It was a bit weird for CT since everyone was speaking in Spanish. I showed him a few baby pictures from when I was cute thing. Pictures of my family and old letter I had kept. We all ate and chatted for a bit before I said goodbye. You know what’s really astonishing…. I can’t believe I have managed to survive a whole year without having my mothers kiss or hugs. Its one of the things I miss the most and I am curious to see how much she has changed over the course of the year. she probably wonders the same thing.

The next couple of days were really hard for me and Christian. I was crying all the time because I got scared. I was afraid to leave my home and friends. I was very much bi polar and poor CT was thinking I was having second thoughts. But I knew deep down in my heart that I was doing the right thing by following my heart. I knew that it was going to be hard. I just didn’t know how hard. Before the airport I thought I wasn’t going to see Erika and that made me really upset. But I got to say goodbye real quick and she handed gave me a poem. I will post up the poem if she gives me permission. Saying goodbye at the airport wasn’t any easier but I was thankful that some friends took the time to come with us. After saying goodbye it was just me and CT from now on. I was going to begin my life as a kangaroo. Our flight was delayed so we just sat and ate at the airport. I remember having lots of cookies and treats.

Take off was awful!!!! We had tons of turbulence and I could have sworn the plane was going to come crashing down. 22 hours later I would begin my life in Sydney

That’s all for now
Jonathan Vargas

Traveling 40,000 miles in under a month April 2008

Hello New York!!!! “shhhh go pack your bags we are heading back to SYDNEY”.
So I got back to NYC and said hello to all my friend, only to tell them that I was going back to Sydney for another Vacation with Christian.
Well I wouldn’t say it was a vacation but more of a getting to know one another holiday. I didn’t leave immediately!!!! I waited 2 weeks lol.
On the plane ride back to New York I was a mess!! I cried, slept, ate, pooped, and cried some more. I really hated the idea that “that was it”.
I couldn’t get it around my head that something so wonderful could be over. So we spoke on the phone and decided that a second trip was in order.
Besides I left my brand new sweatshirt over there and I had to come back for it (any excuse would have done really).

Once again Christian and I had an amazing time. We laughed, cried, giggled, and made fun of one another.
This trip is also the trip where I said 3 little, but powerful word. I LOVE YOU. In my head I felt funny saying them since we had only known each other
for just a few days but in my heart it felt so RIGHT. He didn’t say back when I said it which I was comfortable with. He said it closer to the day I was leaving back
to New York. We were sitting in the car probably making out and he whispered in my ear I LOVE YOU TOOOOOOOO. Knowing me I probably cried but dont actually remember if I did :)

You guys are probably feeling sick and nauseas with all this love talk lol. So here are a few pictures from one of the things we did on my second visits.
We went to an auction that helped raise money for an AIDS foundation. I think it was Malcolm Turnbul home which is one of Australia’s elite. His home was amazing and right
on the bay. It was intriguing how people would spend thousands and thousands at the flick of the wrist. I was tempted to raise my hand in the bid just for fun but was afraid that no one else would bid and I would get stuck. It was a great night and we both had a lot of fun.

A few days later I was back on a plane to NYC . I was coming back only to say goodbye again and this time for Good!!! well sorta lol

Hope all is well
Jonathan Vargas

Ps I love this song

Near the end March 2008

I am going to keep this blog post quick and simple. So I have already spent a few days in Sydney. Christian took me on a ferry ride from rosebay to circular quay. It was really cute and I got a great shot of the Opera house. I think on the day that CT introduced me to Martine we too the train over the bridge and then walked it over. Martine is in the picture with me as you can see. The black and white photo of Christian is one of my favourites. I think he looks super duper cute in that one. And the one where he is holding me is one of my favourites of him and me. It was the picture that would pop up every time he called for a long while. On one of the nights Christian took me to the rotating restaurant at Sydney Tower. That was also the day I met Kenny for the first time. Kenny is kind of like CT best friend/father figure. He is a beautiful person all around and I love Kenny to death. I remember the meal was really nice and I had my first Pure Blonde beer. The bill ended up being crazy expensive but luckily we had a voucher so it made the bill a lot easier on the wallet.

I know my last days in Sydney were a little ruff. I was having the most amazing time with Christian and in Sydney and I didnt want it to end. I remember one night he drove over to Bondi beach and just talked around the cliffs closer to iceberg about what we should do. I mean we lived in different parts of the world. He was living in what I would call the “Future”. How would we manage to see each one another? We both knew something really special was there but we were separated by 10,000 miles of water and land combined. Besides it had only been two weeks and that’s a short amount of time to know someone…

Anyways you guys have a pretty good idea how the rest of the story ends lol
Till next time
Jonathan Vargas

Meeting Sydney for the first time March 2008

Goodbye Townsville and hello to SYDNEY!! Wow it felt so good to finally get to a big city. Just being at the airport I could tell I wasn’t in “Kansas” anymore. I don’t remember things detail to detail but I will try my best. We first went home to Christian house which was in this little suburb called Bellevue hill. Bellevue hill is incredibly beautiful. Some of the most beautiful homes in Sydney are there. It was just to die for! The house he lived in was cute but it didn’t look like the other houses. The house across the street from us was like a mini-mansion. In all the time I spent in Bellevue hill I never saw anyone enter or leave that house. I got to meet CT roommates Adam and Allen. My ears were still a bit off because of the scuba diving and I think we had a really relaxing day that day. Christian and Adam took me to Bondi beach and to Bondi junction mall. We probably got thai food that night at bondi.

The next day CT had to go to work L so me and Adam drove CT to work and Adam took me all the way up to the Northern Beaches. I don’t remember the names of all the beaches but I do remember him taking me to Manly which is one of the more popular northern beaches. Adam also took me to Bronte and Coogee beach. There I saw the pools that were carved into the rocks. I saw people walking around the street barefoot, which I thought was a little odd at the time.

Most of the sightseeing I had to do on my own since CT worked during the week and so did everyone else. I managed to learn how to get around the city pretty easily as well. I would walk to bondi beach in the morning and on other days I would head into the city. I walked in hyde park which is at the entrance of the city if your coming in from the eastern suburbs. I went to a saint Mary cathedral because I knew Cornell would love a picture of the church. I went to the Queen Victoria building which was a small but upmarket shopping centre. I also went to the gym at Bondi junction which has an incredible view of the city.

When Christian would get out of work he would drive me around some more and we would just laugh and sing and be really silly. We usually ate out but on some nights he would cook. One of my favourite dishes he cooked was the creamy chicken pasta which taste amazing and I can now cook. He knew his way around the chicken which I thought was super cute. All I can make at the time was grilled chicken with steamed rice and veggies. Very boring. Now I love to cook and can make some of the most amazing meals known to man J

Anyways there is more to tell and say but for now me go bye bye
Jonathan Vargas

Scuba Divers at Last march 08

Training to become a certified diver ended up being a lot of fun. We got to meet some interesting new people and had a blast with them all. I remember one night during our scuba classes we were sitting at our desk and the instructor was trying to teach us an acronym in order to remember some vital information. Everyone was allowed to make up there own acronym and lets just say mine was filthy!!! It was so bad that I was just cracking up and I couldn’t control myself. The instructor asked me what my acronym was and I politely said that I didn’t want to share it. But he keep insisting that I share it with the class and everyone but Christian was insisting (Christian had a good idea were my mind was). So I caved to the pressure and said ‘Boys With Big Asses Get Filled’. Everyone’s faces in the room just dropped and the instructor pretended not to get it. CT was soooooo embarrassed that when we were in the car he was telling me how I couldn’t say thing like that here because this wasn’t New York blah blah blah. I wasn’t embarrassed to be honest but I guess he had a point. I am not sure if that night was the night that we got on top of his water tank and stared at the stars. There must have been thousands that night.

Before you know it we were on our way to Polaris Island to go for our first real scuba dive. We had practiced first by a pool which ended up being fun as well. Well learned a lot of hand signals and how to empty water from our masks. We also learned how to breath properly and how to adjust our buoyancy in the water. I remember being upset because they didn’t pair me up with CT as a partner when we trained at the pool. Must have been the comment I made a few days ago. Anyways Polaris island is about 1 ½ hours north of Townsville and about a 45 min boat ride off the coast. The boat ride was nice and there was about 15-20 people on the trip. I was so gullible with all the stories the instructors told. In order to keep us away from hitting and damaging the coral he was telling us a story about these coral jumping leeches. That if you got to close to the coral the leeches would jump up and bite you. I was a sucker and believed it. I didn’t realize he was lying till he was telling us about the hoop snake. Supposedly if you went up the mountain there were snakes in trees that if they saw you they would take shape of a hoop roll down the mountain and bite you. I mean there are animals that can camouflage and change shape!! Why couldn’t there be a hoop snake or a jumping coral leech? Anyways a nice American girl told me there was no such thing and I felt so silly. Christian just laughed at me.

Back to scuba diving…. Well we all went back into the water to take our final class to become certified divers. After that we were allowed to take 2 dives on our own with our partners. I made sure CT was with me this time. It ended up being a wonderful experience. We took pictures with our underwater camera. We saw Nimo, and a huge clam. We saw the coral reef which was nice. I had issues going down below
13 meters because for some odd reason I couldn’t equalize my ears so it hurt a lot. I had to go down real slowly. I remember making funny faces to CT and just really having an amazing time.

Funny story….. I never saw where the bathroom was but according to CT it was horrific. It was this spider infested hell hole with a pit that looked like it homed alligators. He felt so bad for the ladies and he decided that he wouldn’t go near it. So we went out into the bush and found a couple of big leaves a small stream of water and did our business out in the wild.

At night time we had a nice dinner around the camp fires. Another funny story was that during our trip we were a little worried that they would be slightly uncomfortable around us being the only gay guys on the island. But boy were we wrong. WE WERE A HIT!!!!! Everyone was so interested in knowing how we met, how long we have been together, if we were planning on getting married. Any question you can think of we were asked. It was really cute when you think about it and it was funny because up till that time we had probably only spent like 6 whole days with one another.

Me and Ct slept on the rocky beach looking at the stars that night. I know its very romantic, but its wasn’t planned that way. When we went to lay in our tent we noticed something moving around. We really couldn’t see so we used the flash from our camera to light our tent. What we found was a massive spider in the tent and me and CT freaked out like girls. First we tried to kill it and we missed so I flipped out thinking “OMG the spider is probably piss off now, she is going to bite us “ and we both flew out that tent screaming. The problem was that we had to get our sleeping bags which were still in the tent and the beach was rocky and we needed some kind of cushion. It took us about 30 minutes to get the stuff out of the tent and onto the beach. It wasn’t the most comfortable night but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. The moon was shining bright and the stars were sparkling.

Anyways this blog post is getting to long now

Hope all is well,

Jonathan Vargas