The Art of Turning Thirty in Sydney

I did it! I survived Sydney and the big 3-0! I had an amazing time and owe eons of gratitude to the lovely Sam Boongum and her wonderful boyfriend, Justin. I've never experience such hospitality! Definitely recommend Chez Boongum to prospective Sydney Vacationers. 

June 8, 2017- Day of the Dead: 29 years old

First though, I need to discuss the day prior to 30. I had a little celebration with my students at school. I'm the recipient of numerous drawings, cards, and chocolates. Even though they got a little bit hectic at the end of the day, I felt very lucky to be celebrated by students that I've only known for 3 weeks. 

Following that somewhat wild afternoon, I called and Uber to take me from the school to another school for an informal interview. This informal chat went well. I wasn't to have prepared anything as it was informal, but my thought process was when is any discussion about your potential career informal? I brought a portfolio of exemplars for good measure. I have been recommended for a formal interview and demonstration lesson (intense, huh?) on Friday. 

Oh, apparently this is one of the top and most prestigious schools in the country! 

Oh and it would be teaching secondary sciences. 

Oh and it's a private, wealthy school that could potentially put me in a good position to be sponsored for a second visa should I wish to extend my stay. I've learned through Sam it a difficult/expensive process to extend a Visa.

Fingers crossed for me!! I think my first impression went over well! The topic of my lesson is definitely more intense then Grade 10 science back home. Providing evidence for evolution including DNA similarities of cellular organelles. I've a little prep to do haha.

Anyways, I leave the interview feeling pretty happy and make my way home to finish packing and head out for some drinks with my new Canadian, teacher friends Amber and Robyn. We went to a cool little pub called, "Day of the Dead St. Kilda." Well, Kate had a few drinks and decided to arm wrestle the bartender. This led to his (preinjured) shoulder popping out of the socket and he had to go to the hospital. Oops... is that not how you make friends? I had a great time with the girls and the bar was a really funky and fun. There was an awesome young performer who did really unusual mash ups including a TLC/Ed Sheeran performance that I was really into. 

 

June 9, 2017- Day of Departure: 30 years old 

So I wake up an hour after I had planned on and have to call an Uber to catch my skybus to the airport. 

Katelyn does not feel good at this time. I hadn't quite finished packing so I haphazardly threw some crap in my bag and hopped in my Uber, who thankfully did not talk to me.

 Five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I get to the airport- which is devastatingly far away- only to find out my flight is delayed by two hours. 

So I check in and go grab a beer (hair of the dog?) and grab some brekkie in a packed pub in my terminal. Here, I met an interesting, older, Tassie man who told me of his travels to a number of countries that I can't remember. He actually was going to be traveling to Canada 🇨🇦 in July! 

We cheers-ed, he wished me a happy birthday, and we went our separate ways. 

Following this, I spend a long drawn out 2 hours waiting for my gate to be announced and half sleeping on my purse like the champion that I am. After a small, shitty bit of Mcdonalds, I'm finally able to board my plane. My seat wont recline, so I slept for an hour and twenty minutes with perfect posture. 

I arrive in Sydney far too soon. 

I wasn't done napping yet. 

I leave the plane and text Sam that I've arrived. I quickly followed that up with a specialty juice from the airport food court. I then walked away from the airport to save a 5$ Uber surcharge. As I'm walking aimlessly, a Chinese lady asks me for directions. I tell her that I can't help her, yet she persists. So we walk together toward what appears to be a main road. 

The Sydney weather is SO much warmer than Melbourne. Melbourne gets chilly and with that moisture in the air, it feels colder than it is. 

Anyways, I'm collected by an Uber and pull into Sams apartment a short time later. So weird! Two small town girls meeting across the globe. 

I mentioned Sam was a phenomenal host right?

After a quick shower, Sam calls an Uber and takes me to the most iconic spot in Sydney. The Harbour Bridge and the  Sydney Opera House. 

 

Is this real life? 

We meet up with Justin and their friend Tianna and indulge in some cocktails under heated umbrellas in the pouring rain, all the while, taking in a light show called vivid.  

 

Oh and my hair, which was straightened, is at its pre-fro stage.

Cocktails are so expensive! Eighty dollars for a round of 4! They were delicious.

We followed up this by going to a German bar in the Quay. We shared a couple tubes of beer and some big German sausage platter, complete with Pork Knuckle. The bar had this hip groups of old dudes that belted out some classic hits as well as some Justin Bieber. Sam and Tianna became part of the show. Tianna rang a bell and Sam got to honk a way on a big tuba thing. Both did an outstanding job. I won't even mention Justin claim to fame that night. 

Me, I slowly got fro-ier and "happier" as the night went on. 

Tianna then found a door near the ladies room where you could hear the classic bass of the club scene. So we headed next door to a club called, "Argyle." 

Luckily, you didn't have to be wearing argyle to enter. We danced, drank, and laughed into the early hours of the morning. 

A successful 30th birthday, I'd say.

June 10, 2017- Day of Bouncing Back: 30 years and 1 day old

Woke up around 9:30(?) on a very comfortable couch. We shower and head to breakfast. 

Oh, yeah, you can see the ocean from Sam and Justin's apartment, which makes up for the fact you have to climb a million stairs to get there. 

After a 5 minute walk, we decided on a nice, little breakfast place near Coogee Beach. We shared teaching and traveling stories, while the rain wore itself out. 

Justin then had some laps to swim at a pool located near Bondi beach. Icebergs*****

Sam and I take on a coastal walk through a few beaches to get to the iconic Bondi Beach. Surreal to say the least. 

 

 

I have more photos hidden in Snap Story videos that I'm going to montage together after notable increments of time. 

We stopped at Bondi Ink to look at possible tattoos that I could get to commemorate hitting a milestone birthday in a highly sought after international destination.  The woman gave us some $20 vouchers and I made the decision to return the following day. Was I chickening out? I didn't "feel great." 

So we grabbed the vouchers and met Justin for drinks at a cool little place called, "Bucket List." 

We return to the apartment and I'm treated to the gourmet stylings of this lovely couple for dinner. Justin then pisses off to make some money Ubering around Sydney for the evening, leaving Sam and I unsupervised for a night out. We spent our night split between two bars just a stones throw from her place. 

Oh, Sam drove me back to the apartment! Two small town Canadian girls cruising the streets of Sydney on a Saturday. Despite a navigational error (that's on me,) and a couple accidental windshield wiper turn ons, we made it unscathed. 

The first place we chatted on the patio and enjoyed some beers. After making a quick exit to avoid some intoxicated, fist bumping enthusiasts, we made our way to the rooftop patio at the Coogee Pavilion. 

This place was bumping. We cut laps like Olympic marathoners in order to find a seat. People are really drunk and feeling each other up  enjoying themselves at this place. My favorite part was when we had to move downstairs and found a large basket swing (is that what you call them?) to sit in together. 

Word to the wise, it's a great way to make friends. We got pushed and rocked by so many strangers.

There was a hilarious, tipsy Australian girl who chatted us up. We knew we liked her after she introduced her friend by saying,

"This is my friend. He really hates being my friend."

We also got to bear witness to some hilariously dressed people that had come from a 90s party. Our favorite was a mullet-donning, cellphone belt clip-wearing fella that we affectionately called, "Wisconsin," due to the tshirt he was wearing. It was yellow. It had pictures of cartoon cats and dogs on it and had, "Wisconsin" written largely above a second bout of text that said, "Party Animal." 

He actually pulled it off some how. He attempted to share our swing the subtle charade movements and backing his big, old, juicy butt at us. No words. Nonetheless, we were surprisingly impressed. 

We capped the night off by dodging some creeps and running into a group of European expats. Two British, two Irish, and a German.

I talked to the one Brit for a while. Him and his friend were amazing dancers and I'd been mesmerized by them for a while. 

Amazing dancers from London who were in Melbourne studying medicine and neuroscience. Cool.

Oh, we actually capped the night off by getting crummy "loaded" gravy fries at McDonalds. Really quite disappointing. 

We saw many familiar pub faces at McDonalds. 

June 11, 2017- Day of Reckoning: 30 years and 2 days old

I wake up in Sam's roommate's bed, who was kind enough to let me stay in her room while she was away for the weekend. 

I'm rested? 

Again, I'm treated to a wonderful meal by Sam and Justin. Bacon and eggs :)

We then treated some rainbow lorikeets to a meal of honey on their patio.

 

 

We then made our way to the Harbour to catch a ferry to Manly Beach. Highly recommend. Ten dollar return trip. The beach is gorgeous, there's loads of surfers, and a number of cool restaurants and shops to check out.

 

  

We enjoyed some lunch at an Italian restaurant called Critinis, I think, at Justin's heavy recommendation.

I've never seen a restaurant with a menu that size. I took me forever to decide.

Ended up getting 4-cheese gnocchi. Every bite was so sinfully good. I'm not kidding. So rich and decadent. 

I can still taste it. It's currently made itself at home against my waistband. 

Damn 30 year old metabolism 

Delicious. We made our way down the beach and enjoyed the sights. Please remember, it is winter here. 

 

 

Every time I catch myself whining about the cold, I look at the above picture.

Sam and I went for one last coastal walk. This is where I realized the constellations are different here. You can't see the North Star! Whoooaaaaa. There's a whole slough of new ones that I need to check out. That, coupled with the beauty of the Sydney coast line, is enough to send a small town prairie girl into a constant state of shock and awe.

 

I'd planned on getting a small flash tattoo, but the shop had the incorrect hours posted online, so that didn't happen.. yet. A bare canvas for now. 

Seeing as I had to fly out early (7 am,) we kept it pretty tame and just had dinner at a cute little Thai restaurant in Coogee. A successful trip; such an understatement. 

What a way to enter my dirty thirties!!

June 11, 2017- The Day of the Return to Reality: 30 years and 3 days old. 

The alarm goes off at 5:00 am. I shove my possessions carelessly into my backpack, eat some candy, and put in my activewear to make my journey back. 

My ever-so-generous hosts graciously offered to drive me to the airport. I really can't thank them enough! 

 

June 12, 2017- The Day of Resurrection: 30 years and 4 days old.

Here, I sit, a small town girl, on a bus to teach a grade six class in Melbourne, Australia. 

This is my reality right now. 

Talk about a shake up.

Punctuality, punctuation, and perseverance

Another successful week of full time work has gone by. I can't believe that of my twelve months here, two have come and gone. Time really does fly as you get older. 

I cannot stress how badly I needed this shake up. I've learned so much since the first moments of this adventure. Most of these lessons are reminders of things that I already knew about life and myself and had simply forgotten or pushed to the bottom of the priority pile.

 I've been compiling a mental list of little life lessons/reminders that I've been encountering. 

Lesson/Gentle Reminder #1

Punctuality. In my teenage years, I was always on time/early. It was an ingrained part of life. Being late wasn't an option. As life progressed, many of the people that I interacted with didn't seem to value punctuality as I had been taught to. I absorbed these habits and they followed me into my adult reputation. All the way to the point that my lack of punctuality became a joke among my peers. I owned that rep for a while, but in actuality, it's embarrassing and disrespectful. 

Without a car and having to rely on public transport, I've been nudged back to my temporarily retired punctual habits. That bus driver just doesn't give a damn if I'm running a little behind. I've had a couple of mad dashes to the bus already haha. Of course, one of those days I was wearing heels, like some kind of chump. 

Being late once in a while is one thing (sandwiched by a preemptive warning and copious apologies afterward), but being habitually late is now a thing of the past for me. 

I promise!!

Lesson/Gentle Reminder #2

Punctuation. Now this one takes on two different meanings. 

"Quotation marks, how are you today, question mark, quotation marks, asked Johnny, period."

"Miss, why do you keep saying period?"

Here, they call a period a "full stop." 

I have never heard of that before!! As similar as Canada and Australia are, these little details are really just fascinating to me. These two countries are like two cousins that share similar mannerisms from the related parents, but evolved independent, intriguing quirks. 

And here I am at the family reunion. 

Punctuation, in the non grammatical sense of the word, is imperative to a life well lived. Punctuating life with the big explosive moments, but still acknowledging the smaller, less splashy daily occurrences. Riding the wave, no matter the size. 

I really needed this big shake up to remind me of what I truly value and cherish in life. 

Like two of your very best friends having a baby, but being 15000 kilometers away and not able to celebrate with them.

 

Too often, proximity leads to procrastination. 

Not this weekend, maybe next.

Then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, its next year and the kid is walking. 

Then you turn around and the kid is driving. 

Honestly, since I've been gone, I've been in closer touch with most of my friends and family. 

Even more honestly, I've been in closer touch with myself as well. 

Monotony can be mind numbing. All the time I spend on the trains and buses gives me ample time to think. 

I mean, sure, I muck around on my phone a bit, but I've got limited data, so, at some point, I gotta rely on my old school imagination techniques to conquer boredom.

Doing more of this thinking and indulging in the things I forgot I loved, has allowed me to reconnect with that old part of me in a brand new setting.

Today I walked around in a suburb that was new to me called Caulfield. I google mapsed (yes, I just used that as a verb,) parks near me and this one Caulfield turned up. I recognized the name because I make a transfer at the train station. So I ventured on out.

 This park was massive! Three soccer games going on, a giant dog park, a tennis walk thing, basketball court, cricket batting cages, 

playground, some other field of sorts, an aviary garden, lush running paths, and historical monuments. 

I laid out my yoga mat (which I'd expertly fastened to my back pack in a MacGyver like fashio), head phones in, listening to John Butler trio, and didn't do yoga. 

 

I started writing. 

Not in a book. To passerbys, it probably looked like I was being sucked into social media. I started writing this blog on my phone.

Outside, in a beautiful park, 15000 kilometers away from where I first discovered my love for thinking and writing. 

In the shade of a palm tree, 15000 kilometers from where I first proclaimed (with some doubt in the back of my mind) that I would maintain this blog and asked my friends to hold me accountable. 

 

Then my phone started to die, so I had to pause my writing and grab a tram to the grocery store. 

Ah, the never ending monotonies of the adult existence.  

I came across another park on my way. Super cool. To my friends with kids, you should come visit and check this place out.

 

 

 

 This place was bumpin'. 

Lesson/Gentle Reminder #3

Perseverance. Life takes time. You cannot give up on change too quickly simply because it's uncomfortable. It's those moments that breed character growth.

 

I love the comparison of stress initiating growth to the shedding of the lobsters exoskeleton. Science meets philosophy. I dig it.

Resilience and perseverance are two characteristics that lead to the development of a fulfilled person. Supporting actors: Curiosity and Drive.

I knew of these ideologies and could couple these words together into poetics stanzas beyond my years when I was in high school. Now, I feel like I truly understand them. I try to inspire my kids (students, but they are my kids. I even let them call me mom) to feel these words in a real and visceral way. Incorporate them into their daily lives. 

As a coach, nothing makes me happier than seeing one of my players embodying resilience. Fighting through the pain, be it physical, mental, or emotional, to get to the other side. Rising to the challenge. 

I sometimes get a little misty listening to, "Eye of the Tiger." 

I'm not kidding. 

Continuing on a serious note, it's hard for kids to truly wrap their head around their own potential. 

I didn't reach my full potential as a kid. I was lucky that I was "pretty good" at "most things." I simply didn't do what I wasn't good at. I didn't fight through things that were really difficult for me. I was just really lucky that I had natural abilities on my side.

I worked hard during practices for the various sports I played. I didn't go home and practice what I wasn't good at. I didn't dribble the basketball in my down time or practice my passing in volleyball- both things that I wasn't good at. As a basketball player, I was too small as a post to move on to a post secondary level, but never developed my skills as a perimeter player. Had I, maybe my post secondary experience would have been different. 

I've learned the art of perseverance in the last few years. It's certainly not something that I'm great at. One thing that has been monumental in the development of my ability to persevere, has been Crossfit. 

I am no where near a natural at Crossfit. There are little to no movements that I'm naturally good at. I'm pretty good at the farmers carry, which is just because of my lack of good judgment when buying it comes to the quantity of groceries that I buy. I can carry SO many grocery bags at one time. It's on my resume, under special skills. At my new gym, I discovered I'm pretty good at a sand bag carry. If you haven't seen it before it's this: 

  

Every Wednesday, Schwartz Crossfit has a focus on Gymnastics training and Strongman movements. This movement was the last thing we did. Having never done it before, I tried the lighter bag, which was 100ish lbs, I think. The women were using this bag. Wasn't horrible. The trainer told me to take the bag the men were using the second time. I didn't know if I was going to be able to. Turns out the 150 pounder wasn't too bad either. 

I'm actually reevaluating my line of work. I think I might just move bags of stuff for a living. Dog food, soil, fertilizer... it's a versatile skill. 

Anyways, it's a very humbling sport for me. I have no desire to compete or make huge gains. I just want to be technically sound (something I didn't care too much about as an adolescent,) and make improvements. It has been a slow, slow play for me, but I've been getting marginally better. However, the points of perseverance that really stand out to me, is in the actual workouts themselves. Pushing myself further than I thought I could. Moving faster while maintaining technical standards. So hard to do when all you want to do is get out of the work out. 

If you're gonna doing something, do it right and do it well. Even if you suck at it. 

As much as I want to throw a kettle bell at the coach's head when they tell me to keep my elbows up when performing my 50th thruster. Stupid coaches looking out for my best interest and trying to improve my overall abilities while keeping me away from injury...🙄

But, hey, I need to practice what I preach. I tell my students/athletes that if there is never a point in the semester/season where you don't want to throw a book/ball at my head, I'm not pushing you hard enough. I'm not doing my job. 

Perseverance and patience.

 That whole "trust the process" notion. These concepts are applicable in all avenues of life. 

So there you have it, a little look inside my brain during the process of creating a new life in a foreign country. 

I actually kind of want to keep writing but I'm getting a little sleepy. 

Five days until the big 3-0 and my trip to Sydney to celebrate. 

Milestones Down Under. 

    

Saturday Night and I like the way you move.. pretty baby

I love having my OWN classroom. As much as the responsibility is much greater, I love the bond that is created with the kids. It's Saturday night and I'm at a restaurant enjoying some

Fantastic calamari and a glass of wine thinking about what to teach these little bastards next week. They're loud, take forever to settle in, and drive me crazy. But I love them. They've already corrected their behavior after one week. Even though my desire to have my own kids is minimal, I love kids. I love imparting my vast amounts of knowledge on them and teaching them how to be an effective part of society. I'm a kid at heart. 

We played a literacy game on Thursday. One was boggle style, which they taught me, the other was a story build where I wrote the first sentence of the story and they had to build the story two words at a time. 

Three out of five stories discussed poop. 💩

One actually mentioned a nuclear brown bomb. That's good. I can feel that description. The word jumble happened to turn up the word penis, which, as a biology teacher, I could not deny. However, I had to deny "T-I-T and the same with an 's'"  no slang just anatomically correct biological words. 

I forgot to mention an actual to-may-to, to-mah-toe experience. I think I forgot. I can't remember and I'm on borrowed data right now so I can't check. Maybe I'll tell it twice. Screw you, I don't care. Anyways, I covered lunch for 4 year olds two days. I read them a story and said 'tomayto ' and they asked me why I was pronouncing it wrong. I expressed that I also speak English, but as a Canadian, we pronounce words differently. 

'Will you teach us Canadian?'

'No, we speak English.'

Idiots. 

Haha just kidding. So cute. But I'm a secondary teacher for sure! It's still illegal to strangle children, right? 

Legal Disclosure: I do not want to actually, nor would I ever, Real Life, strangle a child. Kids love me and I love/hate them. 

Super exciting news though... I'm going to Sydney for my 30th!! Going to go visit my dear Sam Boongum, fellow ed grad and expat. We gon' whoop it up like a bunch of teenagers on spring break. But the kind of teenagers that go to bed by 11. 

Or maybe wilder.

Stay tuned.

My favorite day of the school year is pajama day. Hands down. It's SO comfortable. 

Exhibit A

 

I slept in that.

Working at Crocus, I completely embraced 'lazy day.' One lazy day, I had to tend to a parent of a student who I had in my TA group. Midway through our conversation, I realize I'm in a full gray sweat suit. Most of the rest of the staff did not participate. So I look super slobby. Her sons academic future rests in my capable hands.

I stopped her, midsentence, to explain, "I don't normally dress like this."

She was cool though.

Words speak volumes.

So many volumes.

I'm still in awe at the fact that I live so close to the ocean. Went for a walk today to meet a fellow Canadian. I still can't believe that I live twenty minutes from the beach. She lives near, she's near my age, albeit younger, and she's got prior international teaching experience and has provided me with great tips :)

 

It's weird making friends at (almost) 30. Especially as a supply teacher. There for a day and then gone. The contract has been nice and I enjoy the people that I work with. 

It's so strange. 

I could have stayed in brandon and, to

Be honest, probably landed some type of gig for my third term and been guaranteed a permanent position. People have been confused by my position to choose not to do so. 

I thrive in the unknown. 

I thrive under pressure.

I was bored. It was as monotonous. Staying would have been the easy, safe decision.

A person can't grow within their comfort zone. Thus, I broke free. 

Here, I'm new at everything. 

Crossing the street... which way are you supposed to look first? 

Teaching. Commanding control of a classroom and executing curriculum goals. 

Making friends. I have few friends here. I have to push out of my comfortable introverted self.

 I consider myself an ambivert, but the characteristics of an introvert easily overtake my  reluctant urges to be social. Here, I can do that, but I will be alone. 

Everyone is busy. Everyone has a life to live. Prior commitments. I can only crack into these opportunities peoples life's by imposing myself. Something that I'm not comfortable with. So I grow. 

I had an opportunity to lessen my travel time to my new job. Some drunk with sores on his face offered me lodging at his place near the school. He liked my teeth and asked my name 5 times in 15 minutes. Likely won't take advantage of that. 

Routine is great. Until it becomes boring. Change is great. Until you yearn for routine. 

I feel that this is the life I'm destined to lived, should it be lived fully. 

The constant roller coaster of uncertainty. 

Intermittent moments of constancy, flourished by moments on interruption. 

Coulda, shoulda, woulda, 

That shouldn't be a problem for me, if I continue with this lifestyle. 

Consistent, new challenges. In one way or another. 

Serenity now.

Insanity later. 

Next stop: George's Bar. A bar about nothing 

The Week that I Fell Ill

Well, I hate to say it but I have another relatively boring week to describe to you.

Mostly due to me catching some Australian bug, likely while on public transport, that rendered me bed ridden and somewhat useless. Feeling better now. I took the day off today and had another one last week. Hits me right in the pocket book, but I felt a little better about that decision knowing that I have six weeks of work coming up.

Oh right, I secured the 6 week block of work! While the commute is horrible, work is work. The kids liked me! I didn't even know that I had it until the end of Monday last week, when the teacher that I'll be covering for handed letters out to the students explaining that he would be moving up to assistant principal for 6 week a and that I would be filling in for him! My name was in the letter! The kids seemed excited to have me as there fill in! I guess I'm not just a regular teacher, I'm a cool teacher. 

 I have three days this week starting tomorrow. A bit of team teaching and friday will be a planning day. It's an unusual arrangement as the teacher I'm covering for did not teach on fridays he was part of a different program. So it looks like I will be a floating teacher on fridays or be doing planning. I'm ok with that. As much as subbing has reduced responsibility, the uncertainty and short lived bonds you build with the kids and staff take away from teaching as a whole. I miss walking through the halls of crocus plains and catching up with the former brats lovely students that I used to teach/coach. 

I'm looking forward to becoming part of a school community again. The staff seem wonderful and very accommodating. I'm fortunate for the opportunity! 

I was going to attempt to drive yesterday, as I'm planning on buying a cheap vehicle, but when I woke up looking like I'd been punched in both eyes- not kidding- I thought that that might not be the best idea. Getting a vehicle would shorten my commute from over and hour and a half (I have to take a train towards the city in order to get on a train that goes further east, essentially I travel twenty minutes in the wrong direction to get on the right track) to just over half an hour. I planning on using the commute to get back into reading and listening to music, instead of binging Netflix.

Thanks to the suggestion of my lovely friend, Meghan Miller, I've been using Apple Music. It turns out my taste in music is vast and unusual. I've listened to indie music, contemporary blues, and classic rap in the past week. I miss the days of napster and waiting days to download music and burn cds. I don't actually, but the nostalgia is nice. Having only a radio in my car made my music choices pretty slim over the last few years. I do want to tone down my screen time and I think music is a nice way to do that. And my long ass commute is a way to enforce it :)

I did make it into the city Friday and Saturday. Friday I checked out some highly rated dumpling place off of Flinders street, which is the street off one of the main train stations. Walked down a couple semi familiar streets, using google maps, got asked for directions by some guy from Perth haha, and came to this little spot down an alley. The food was awesome! There was some family recipe sauce that I tried and bought and have eaten with almost everything. I don't know what it's called, but it's kind of nutty, mildly spicy, and oil based. 

 

It's a little leaky and I get oil everywhere, but I don't care. It's so good!

It's tough to make connections in the hustle and bustle of a big city, especially without having had a consistent place of work. I've been using the "Meetup" app to attend a few get together. I've done volleyball twice with a good group of (mostly) expats. I'm gonna try out badminton this Friday and there is a pub crawl on Saturday. Maybe I'll try driving this Sunday.. 

After volleyball, I went for Korean BBQ with a new friend. Korean BBQ is cool and delicious. My chopstick skills are kind of improving. Still embarrassing haha. Sunday I was useless and did nothing all day. I did wish my lovely Mama a happy Mother's Day! The woman does a lot for me, even when I'm not in the same country 🇨🇦❤️. And sent her this touching moment from my all time favorite childhood movie:

I miss my little fur babies! Very grateful to my dad for taking  care of them for me. Why is Australia so far away!? 

 

I really can't believe that I've been here over a month already! I'm still dabbling in possibly spending half my time away teaching in New Zealand... 

As of right now, there is a school break coming up July 1-16. I have been looking at a winter holiday. Was thinking Asia, but most places seem to be in their rainy season. So

I've thought about staying in Australia. My most recent searching has turned up a possible travel sequence punctuated by cheap flights. I'm thinking 8-9 days overall. Fly in Sydney for a couple days, from the fly to Brisbane for 5ish days, return to Sydney and fly home. I wish I had the funds to book the flights right now because the Sydney round trip is 98$ and Brisbane 150$. I've also come across some very reasonable AirBnbs! I wish Canadian flights were this cheap. I haven't seen enough of our beautiful country!!

I've actually been very proud to be Canadian since I've arrived. I've actually been thinking of getting a tattoo. Always wanted one, never had anything really jump out at me. Until I came here and realized how much I value being Canadian. A lot! So much! Not that I'm homesick, because I'm not really. Because I Am Canadian. I will always be Canadian. And I love it. 

Next weeks blog should contain more exciting info! If anyone wants to help me design a Canadian inspired tattoo, let me know! My artistic skills stopped developing at 12. I have some ideas, but would like a sort of amalgamation of them. 

A Taste of Rejection

Well, I had a taste of rejection this week. 

Ohhhh my poor, delicate ego...

I had an interview at a large, beautiful Catholic secondary school. The job was 9-11 mathematics. I felt the interview went quite well and feedback from the agency that set me up with the interview was quite good. However, apparently they felt I didn't have the knowledge to teach the grade 11 math. The kicker for me is that I studied the Victorian Grade 11 math curriculum before my interview. I knew the areas of study by heart. 

They did not ask me one single question about the grade 11 curriculum. They actually didn't ask me any curriculum related questions. They asked me to give an example of a year 9/10 math lesson that I'd given.

I cry foul. Maybe that's me being petty. I've been fortunate to have had all of my interviews yield a positive results in the past. All but one, I guess. But the one was a painting company that I wasn't really interested in anyways due to the door to door sales component. I don't count it. However, it sucks to be rejected for a reason that you were never given the opportunity to demonstrate. 

Oh well, live and learn. Rant over.

This week was fairly quiet in terms of activities. A little busier in terms of work. I have a shift tomorrow that's a trial for a 6 week block of teaching. It's a bitch of a commute. One hour and forty by public transport. On the ride back, I saw some Middle Aged guy pick scabs for 15 minutes. I also met 6 lively (drunk) old chaps that were getting back from their weekly booze filled lunch. 

Oh the things you see.

 If I get the trial, I'll look at buying some cheap beater to get me there and back. Fingers crossed!! I've also been looking into advertised teaching positions that Have been posted online. I applied for 4 of them just today. I'm also in the running for some secondary English subbing blocks. 

In other news, I started working at a restaurant called  Sons of Mary. Those old guys told me it was kind of pretentious. So far it's been decent . I make $22 an hour plus tips. Tips are not here what they are at home, but they are more than none. Serving here is different. It's rude to start clearing plates before everyone at the table is finished. They consider it too pushy, while I consider it dirty and inefficient to leave the plates. It's very much a team atmosphere. Back home, I found serving was every man for themselves. The staff seems nice, albeit young. One of the girls is leaving in June and might sell me her car haha. 

Sons of Mary

 

I saw a praying mantis and a huge spider this week. Spider had a body the size of a plum. Praying mantis had insane camoflauge. Got a picture of the mantis not the spider.

 

I've ended up a little under the weather and a little broke, so my weekend has consisted of Netflix and bed. OH! My correct mattress was delivered and now I have a nice flat bed that is not on the floor, like a normal person. Today, I took a 7.5km coastal walk down to the library to fire off some teaching resumes. I signed up for a library card today! Wild right? 

This place really is so beautiful. Though it is getting cold and you guys are getting warm.. but just wait for November. The cold here is a wet cold though, so I've felt a bit of a wuss sometimes. I could see my breath when it was 7 degrees. 

 

Oh, I bought some Kangaroo Sausages for $5. I haven't even seen the animal yet I've bought it's meat. I'll keep you posted when I get the stones to try them. 

 

I haven't tried vegemite yet either. Slow and steady. 

I refuse to call this city "Melb'n." I'm not going to pretend I'm Australian for one name. Like I said in my earlier post, I like exploiting my Canadian exoticism. I have been asked if I'm American (immediate correction occurs,) Irish (?,) and Norwegian. Apparently, I have an unusual accent and the Australians detect a hint of European in it.

I do remember a man, who worked for Safeway back home, ask me where I was from because I have an accent.

To which I replied, "Here."

He then says, "But where were you born?"

"Here." 

So I talk weird and I'm gonna own it. Adds to the mystery right?

I think that's about it for now. Hopefully, next week brings more exciting news. 

Let Real Life Begin!... anytime now.. Round 2: Pictures and Less Typos?

I've now spent just over three weeks in Melbourne. It's starting to feel more like home. 

I'm familiar with the area that I live in and a few others. I now look the right way before crossing the road. It's actually harder than it seems. We are so accustomed to traffic coming from a particular direction that my first few weeks here, my crossing the road happened only after my head had swiveled back and forth a minimum of 5 times. 

I blend in much better here than in Mexico... I've been asked no less than 8 times for directions. Three of those times I actually gave good directions.

Work has been a little sparse to start. Waking up at 6 am for no reason really sucks. Being the semi-motivated individual that I am, I have a few other leads on the go. One of which is working at a cafe near a beautiful beach in the Sandringham suburb. Most hilarious interview ever. The owner did not ask me any questions. 

 

Sandringham Beach

Actually, that's a lie. I asked him if he had any questions for me, to which he responded, "Do you have any questions?" Either way, work is work. I'm hoping next week will be busier for subbing. I make about 2/3 more here as sub. I've only worked 2/5 possible days, but ive been requested back to a school that was an hour and a half  away by public transport. School was really good though! Kids are the same as here except they wear cute little uniforms. Always some bad boys in the bunch. Almost ALWAYS boys. Haha.. this school was worth the commute. So far the schools are very open air with lots of light. 

 

I've found a gym to continue crossfitting. It's more money than home, so I wasn't going to continue. I tried an anytime fitness- which was fine, but I missed the group dynamic. I tried a few Crossfit gyms and have been REALLY impressed with 

Schwartz Crossfit Melbourne. The owner, Ben Schwartz was generous enough to give me a full week trial period. The level of coaching is phenomenal! There have been multiple coaches working with the group each night. I got no repped and corrected so many times. Felt like I took a few steps back, but I think that their strict approach to technique will help me with some movements that I've become stagnated with. (Is that the proper use of stagnated?) The gym has a reputation for sending many competitors to regionals. Very excited to continue my Crossfit journey! 

After sleeping on a mattress on the floor for two weeks, I've been so excited about my bed frame being delivered! So, it get here last night and I assemble the hell out of it by myself, using only an Allen key (which was provided...).  Hour and half later, feeling quite proud of myself, I throw my mattress on top. And..

It. Doesn't. Fit.

I check my bills. Both the frame and the mattress are doubles. I clearly was given the wrong size of one of them- I think the mattress, as I had trouble with getting the sheets on as well. Needless to say, I slept on it anyways. The head end was inclined like a hospital bed, which was really helpful when you're eating Pizza Hut pizza in bed. Bed food is my favorite. I'll keep you posted on how Super Amart chooses to compensate me.

 

 

FUN FACT: There is no Walmart here! They do have Kmart and target. Apparently something to do with not paying workers well enough...

FUN FACT #2: Now, when the Burger King franchise came to Australia, they were not allowed to have a reference to royalty in their business name. Therefore, Burger King is known as Hungry Jacks here. So someone told me.

  

Today, I'm going to see an AFL game, which my roommate attempted to explain to me. After a couple YouTube videos, I think I get what he was saying. I don't understand what he says a lot of the time. For example, I thought he was a "Buddha," for a full day, before I realized he said "builder." Did I tell that story last post? I don't care. I think it's super funny. Anyways the game is rough, no padding, hard hits. And of course, athletic dudes in short shorts. Don't mind if I do. 

Miss you dear sweet friends! My life will become more thrilling once the cash starts flowing! 

Melbourne is a beautiful place to live :)

 

   

Let Real Life Begin!... anytime now..

I tried to include pictures in this post, but the Blogger app I downloaded for 7.99 is letting me. Expect customer service to get an earful!

I've now spent just over three weeks in Melbourne. It's starting to feel more like home. 

I'm familiar with the area that I live in and a few others. I now look the right way before crossing the road. It's actually harder than it seems. We are so accustomed to traffic coming from a particular direction that my first few weeks here, my crossing the road happened only after my head had swiveled back and forth a minimum of 5 times. 

I blend in much better here than in Mexico... I've been asked no less than 8 times for directions. Three of those times I actually game good directions.

Work has been a little sparse to start. Waking up at 6 am for no reason really sucks. Being the semi-motivators individual that I am, I have a few other leads on the go. One of which is working at a cafe near a beautiful beach in the Sandringham suburb. Most hilarious interview ever. The owner did not ask me any questions. 

 

Sandringham Beach

Actually, that's a lie. I asked him if he had any questions for me, to which he responded, "Do you have any questions?" Either way, work is work. I'm hoping next week will be busier for subbing. I make about 2/3 more here as sub. I've only worked 2/5 possible days, but ive been requested back to a school that was an hour and a half  away by public transport. School was really good though! Kids are the same as here except they wear cute little uniforms. Always some bad boys in the bunch. Almost ALWAYS boys. Haha.. this school was worth the commute. So far the schools are very open air with lots of light. 

 

I've found a gym to continue crossfitting. It's more money than home, so I wasn't going to continue. I tried an anytime fitness- which was fine, but I missed the group dynamic. I tried a few Crossfit gyms and have been REALLY impressed with 

Schwartz Crossfit Melbourne. The owner, Ben Schwartz was generous enough to give me a full week trial period. The level of coaching is phenomenal! There have been multiple coaches working with the group each night. I got no repped and corrected so many times. Felt like I took a few steps back, but I think that their strict approach to technique will help me with some movements that I've become stagnated with. (Is that the proper use of stagnated?) The gym has a reputation for sending many competitors to regionals. Wry excited to continue my Crossfit journey! 

After sleeping on a mattress on the floor for two weeks, I've been so excited about my bed frame being delivered! So, it get here last night and I assemble the hell out of it by myself, using only an Allen key (which was provided...).  Hour and half later, feeling quite proud of myself, I throw my mattress on top. And..

It. Doesn't. Fit.

I check my bills. Both the frame and the mattress are doubles. I clearly was given the wrong size of one of them- I think the mattress, as I had trouble with getting the sheets on as well. Needless to say, I slept on it anyways. The head end was inclined like a hospital bed, which was really helpful when you're eating Pizza Hut pizza in bed. Bed food is my favorite. I'll keep you posted on how Super Amart chooses to compensate me.

 

 

FUN FACT: There is no Walmart here! They do have Kmart and target. Apparently something to do with not paying workers well enough...

FUN FACT #2: Now, when the Burger King franchise came to Australia, they were not allowed to have a reference to royalty in their business name. Therefore, Burger King is known as Hungry Jacks here. So someone told me.

  

Today, I'm going to see an AFL game, which my roommate attempted to explain to me. After a couple YouTube videos, I think I get what he was saying. I don't understand what he says a lot of the time. For example, I thought he was a "Buddha," for a full day, before I realized he said "builder." Did I tell that story last post? I don't care, I think it's super funny. Anyways the game is rough, no padding, hard hits. And of course, athletic dudes in short shorts. Don't mind if I do. 

Miss you dear sweet friends! My life will become more thrilling once the cash starts flowing! 

Melbourne is a beautiful place to live :)