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Published: July 19th 2009
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Apartment
This was the first apartment we saw. Is this the bedroom or the living room?! On Monday April 27, we began to take our job search seriously. In fact, we spent that morning looking for jobs on the internet, and then pulled out our good clothes and went handing out resumes! Ironing in a hostel is not the easiest thing to do. Lol Hillary and I focused on job agencies around the city. For myself, it started out well, with some companies seeming pretty interested in my experience. But as things went along, it didn’t seem to be getting me anywhere. Hillary on the other hand started out terribly, with some agencies not even taking her resume due to her experience being solely in health care, but later in the day she was offered a job on the spot! This agency specialized in health care aids, and Hillary took it. It was mostly on-call shift work, but at least she was going to have a job.
Tuesday, Hillary spent most of the day preparing for her first shift (which would be the next day). She had to buy new pants and shoes, fill out all the paper work and get a police check! I spent my time at the library sending out e-mails with my
City
A little geography. resume attached, hoping for a bit of luck. Afterwards, I checked out an apartment right downtown in the city. It was in a great location, but our names went to the end of the list since we were looking for a 4-6 month lease (we could not commit to 12 months). That night we saw The Reader. A good movie starring Kate Winslet, dealing with post WWII Germany where Winslet used to be a Nazi concentration camp guard, and her relationship with a much younger man. We both liked it, and thought it was really interesting.
The next few days, Hillary spent working, and I spent looking for a job and an apartment. Although her shifts weren’t always full days, Hillary had gotten work everyday from Wednesday to Saturday! Looked like someone was making sure we could stay longer in Australia. Lol I kept trying to find a place to live. If Darwin was going to be our home base for a little while, we’d need to find a room or apartment to rent. Hostels are cheap, but not cheap enough. Not to mention we’d love to have a place with our own washroom and kitchen. But it was
City - 02
Fancy art in the park. proving tough due to our “backpacker”status. Naturally, most landlords want 6-month or preferably 1-year leases. And supposedly some tenants have had backpackers run out before the lease was up. Of course, with bonds these days, I don’t quite understand how that’s such a bad thing for the landlords.
Sunday was our last day at the YHA hostel. Halfway through the week Hillary and I had to take up separate rooms due to high volume of backpackers at the hostel. So she moved to an all girls room, and I to an all guys room. In my room, I made a new friend from Hong Kong named Wilson (along with his friend Andryi). He just started his travels in Australia, and was trying to figure out how to go about it, whether to stay in Darwin for a bit or continue south right away. He struggled with English a bit, but that didn’t stop all three of us from going to see a movie together (Hillary included). Of course we saw Fast and Furious, so the plot wasn’t the main point, and car chases need no translation. Lol
Kevin (and Hillary)
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