Yay for blogging. And yay for a job. Yep, I have succeeded (well, kind of) in my hunt for employment. I am working at a cafe in a food court, serving sandwiches, pizza, pasta, gelatto (which is like ice cream, so I know what I'm doing there) and various non-alcoholic drinks. I make 11 dollars an hour, which would be quite good in the states, but is not as good here. I've worked for 3 days now, and so far I quite like it. The people who own this little cafe thing are from Syria. Well, the dad is, his daughter is pretty Australian. And they are very talkative (and opionated) people. They don't much care for Bush or American politics (but, who does really?). But apart from that I don't forsee any problems.
I am probably going to find out tomorrow whether i can get a coaching gig going. I signed up with this company that hires coaches on behalf of clubs and private schools. And the Australian school holidays have just started so I could get an afternoon job (like 2 hours a day) coaching soccer to little kids. Sounds like fun to me.
Oh, and yes, they call it soccer here. Which is weird, because the rest of the non-US world calls it football. But, here, football means Aussie Rules Football which is some weird version of Rugby. And it is one of the few sports that I honestly don't know the rules to. I'll have to figure it out.
The social life isn't really going anywhere as of yet, mainly because until today I hadn't actually earned any money and because my partner in crime still doesn't have a job. So, going out pub hopping hasn't happened, because drinks are expensive and clubs have like 15 dollar covers. Either a) we'll both start earning money and start getting out more or b) we'll continue to watch dvd's every night on my uncle's big mac computer screen.
I did get an invitation from the brother of the girl who is kind of my boss to go to a club for his brithday on Saturday. Apparently someone in the family owns the club or they know someone who does or something like that. Either way, Ryan and I could get in for free with them. And apprently this club is located right next to the train station so it gets a little shaky when any late night trains go by, which could either be obnoxious, or kinda cool. This brother of the girl i work for ( I keep saying girl, but she's 27) also said that he knows Mr. Nude Australia. Yes, that's right... nude. And he told me that he could get me and my friends into a "show" to see said nude man, for free. I'm sure he means well, but i am not really that interested, to say the least. But, I guess if we get really bored, it could be umm, amusing? to say the least. Still I was a little creeped out, or bemused, or confused and slightly taken aback by the offer.
Anyway, back to the house hunting, dvd watching, reading, excitement that are my evenings...
oh, p.s. they have very good 5 dollar bottles of wine here. Yes 5 dollar bottles of wine. In a country where a can of pepsi costs 2 dollars, the discovery of said wine (which is very drinkable) was quite exciting.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Week 1
Thus begins the once in a lifetime advenure involving moving to a new country without parents, or plans, or classes or responsibilities. After a week I have:
a) succesfully defeated jet lag (did that in a day by staying up and not napping for like 48 hours; i don't sleep on planes)
b) ridden a number of trams and trains
c) found some awesome running routes (down to the beach and around a wonderful lake/park)
d) discovered the joy of 5 dollar bottles of wine
e) turned in multiple resumes but not yet found a job (sad, i know)
f) realized that eating out here is expensive
g) been woken up every morning by construction out in the street
h) drank a lot of good coffee and done a lot of walking
i) take about 76 pictures, some of which are on facebook
j) sent some postcards (more to come, give me your address if you want one)
k) finally gotten around to starting a blog.
After this first week I've realized that this is going to be a little tough to start off with. Finding an apartment is not going to be easy, especially considering that Ryan and I can't really afford one until we start working. And once we start working, it's going to be hard to go apartment hunting. Kind of a catch-22 thing going on.
I almost have a sort of coaching job thing which won't really pay any bills, but will be fun and a good experience. I have to fill out a lot of paperwork for said job.. ugh.
I opened a bank account today with NAB one of the 4 big banks in Australia.
It's like 60 degrees during the day, maybe a bit colder. And then low 50's or high 40's at the very coldest, at night. I really thouroughly enjoy this kind of weather.
Public transport is the best thing ever. You can ride anywhere around the city for a day for 6.50 for 2 hours for 3.50 and on sundays you can go all day for 2.80... Woo!
Right now i'm still living with my uncle. Ryan and i are sleeping in his spare room. It vaguely resembles a messy dorm room. I say we have about 2.5 maybe 3 weeks before we wear out our welcome. Although he and simon have assured us that we're welcome to stay for as long as we need.
Um, the suburb we live in is pretty spiffy, lots of interesting stores and cafes and restaurants and that type of thing. Melbourne as a city is a little different from most other cities i've been to. Very walkable, lots of public transport, not too busy, seems nice enough. MOre exploring will be done when i have more money. For now i'm going to have to concentrate on job searching and apartment hunting... wish me luck.
a) succesfully defeated jet lag (did that in a day by staying up and not napping for like 48 hours; i don't sleep on planes)
b) ridden a number of trams and trains
c) found some awesome running routes (down to the beach and around a wonderful lake/park)
d) discovered the joy of 5 dollar bottles of wine
e) turned in multiple resumes but not yet found a job (sad, i know)
f) realized that eating out here is expensive
g) been woken up every morning by construction out in the street
h) drank a lot of good coffee and done a lot of walking
i) take about 76 pictures, some of which are on facebook
j) sent some postcards (more to come, give me your address if you want one)
k) finally gotten around to starting a blog.
After this first week I've realized that this is going to be a little tough to start off with. Finding an apartment is not going to be easy, especially considering that Ryan and I can't really afford one until we start working. And once we start working, it's going to be hard to go apartment hunting. Kind of a catch-22 thing going on.
I almost have a sort of coaching job thing which won't really pay any bills, but will be fun and a good experience. I have to fill out a lot of paperwork for said job.. ugh.
I opened a bank account today with NAB one of the 4 big banks in Australia.
It's like 60 degrees during the day, maybe a bit colder. And then low 50's or high 40's at the very coldest, at night. I really thouroughly enjoy this kind of weather.
Public transport is the best thing ever. You can ride anywhere around the city for a day for 6.50 for 2 hours for 3.50 and on sundays you can go all day for 2.80... Woo!
Right now i'm still living with my uncle. Ryan and i are sleeping in his spare room. It vaguely resembles a messy dorm room. I say we have about 2.5 maybe 3 weeks before we wear out our welcome. Although he and simon have assured us that we're welcome to stay for as long as we need.
Um, the suburb we live in is pretty spiffy, lots of interesting stores and cafes and restaurants and that type of thing. Melbourne as a city is a little different from most other cities i've been to. Very walkable, lots of public transport, not too busy, seems nice enough. MOre exploring will be done when i have more money. For now i'm going to have to concentrate on job searching and apartment hunting... wish me luck.
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