Living in Sydney!

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NO DRAMAS!

life in Sydney is treating me very well! I did, indeed, start my two jobs two weeks ago. My telesales job is a lot of fun - well, not A LOT of fun, but my work mates are great, and the time goes by quite fast. In the beginning we were signing people up for a competition for Reader's Digest (and slyly adding some sales pitches for subscriptions and a nutrition book to the package). Now, however, I've taken on a second task - I also take order from a make-up catalogue. So it IS still inbound calls, and now I've gotten to know the people I work with. One day at work I came into the kitchen/break room, and there was a guy sitting at the table who looked incredibly familiar. After a short interrogation we pin-pointed our meeting point to my last night in Cairns. He had worked on the pub-crawl that I had taken part in. Ahh...how small the travellers circuit turns out to be.
I believe I'm going to stay at the job a few more weeks, today I called the Emirates Airlines and extended my flights to the 26.06, because I'm quite happy in Sydney. My evening job is....interesting. It is literally just what I expected - a job where you walk up to strangers in pubs/clubs, and ask them if they'd like to have a 5 minute neck and shoulder massage. It's probably one of the best jobs I've had, solely on the level of socialising you're able to do. I probably talk to about 400 people in any single night. Although, the job DOES have it's bad sides. Obviously, if you're not in a very friendly mood, your night would come crashing down around you, and you would end up depressed, rejected, and with zero dollars in your (very fashionable) bum-bag.
The best up-side of the job is probably how much my massage has improved in just a mesely 2 weeks. In the beginning I wasn't very confident, but through watching other angels during their massage sessions, and through having about 40 massages myself, I've come to appreciate which techniques work, and which ones just HURT. Yet...as many things in life make you realise,...every person is different, and while one person might give you $50 for a massage (it happened on my second night), another might walk away saying it was horrible (to put it kindly)...and yes, that happened just the other night. To those of you who are interested, the client pays whatever they believe the massage is worth, and we keep 55% of the money we make (the average per massage is $10) .
Other than that - on my second week in Sydney I found a place to stay. I met a nice Brazilian boy named Rodrigo at the Side Bar on night, and was talking about how I shared a dorm room with 12 people for $18/night. He immediately offered me a place to stay at the house he was staying at - for $95 /wk. So I moved into a nice house in Ultimo - a suburb which is right next to Darling Harbour, and about 10 minutes walk from Central Station (where I walk to every morning to catch my train to Chatswood). The house is full of Brazilians...and true to their reputation, they are loud and full of life. Most days I desperately wish I knew some Portugese. Maybe I'll absorb some of it if I spend long enough sitting in the corner listening intently (or typing at the computer as they get excited about the up-coming World Cup game...as I am at the moment). It truly is the best time to live with Brazilians...I'm sure with every World Cup win, we'll be partying the night away. Tonight the game Brazil vs Croatia starts at 5AM....making me wonder 'am I going to get ANY sleep 5AM-7AM?!?'

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Photos

Sydney
I've adopted the Brazilian nationalism of my flatmates...since soccer isn't one of Finland's strong points

Sydney
Brazilian Flatmates

Sydney
Darling Harbour Bridge

Sydney
Friends from work; Rob, Jon, and Gemma

Sydney
Rodrigo