Exit Australia

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Hello again.
I've been in Perth now for almost five weeks, and I will leave West Australia in one week...
It has been an 'up and down' experience. In the beginning I was glad to find some rest from travelling
all the time and being in civilisation... But after the first joy... being in civilisation made me somehow sad.

All the capitalistic aspirations come back to you, even without realizing. Suddenly you need "nice" clothes
again, you need some deodorant ( you can't smell anymore), you want to 'have' things (books, cd's,...), you
want to do things (going to the movies, pubs, ...), you need fixed friends,..
And if you try not to do all these things, somehow you feel that you don't fit in the system for a moment.
As well I had some bad luck with searching a job.. I planned to work here one month, but by the time I found
a job, there were only three weeks left...The first weeks I spent more or less waiting for an architect who would
call me back, and in the end didn't have enough work to employ me..

Anyway, all these sad things vanished somehow when I was in my warm home where Judith and Luc always tried
to entertain me, with everything possible. Thanks to them I saw a lot of the surroundings of Perth as well. We even drove
in one day to 'the Pinnacles' wich is about 4 hours driving and 4 back!!! Incredible. It seemed like they have an endlesly energy
and hartwarming friendlyness to keep their guests happy. And I didn't mention the food!O my god, everyday I got a homecoocked meal, wich 70 percent of the time was Belgian winterfood (wich I love), (sometimes I could be the sous-chef if Luc 'Ramsay' let me into the kitchen) and the other times they took me on a trip through the worldkitchen: I ate Lebanese, vietnamese, thai, indian, turkish,... ! If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have survived Perth.

So the last three weeks I found a job in an architectrue office, and in the weekends I work in a caffee...
I think I win the award for the worst waitress ever! I am completely not made for the job
and I thank the lord (and my parents) for having a diploma. After three hours, they sent me back to the dishes,
where I belong! As well, I would be possibly one of the most happy dishwashers in the world, not feeling ambitious at
all to climb up this waiting staff ladder.
The architecture office is really nice and very similar to european office. The only thing that's different is that the sun goes from
East over North to West, and it is the South that never sees the sun.. Not only the architecture is pretty, but also my boss (!).

I realised that I'm ending up with strange collections while being away: simcards (Italy, Spain, Belgium, nz), bankaccounts (Belgium, nz, Australia), job experiences (builder, waitress, dishwasher, vineyardworker, architect, mosaicmaker, weeding, painter, assistant of Margaret making prints on concrete, being model for judith's sculpture...), visas, business cards of architects, ....

So next week I take the plane to Melbourne, and from there I go to Sydney, where I will fly to Singapore,
for the next adventure in Southeast asia. Back in the bush, back in the wild, back in the tent, back to basics ... back to where I belong for this moment of my life!

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