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Published: February 26th 2008
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I have to be honest. When I told everyone I was going to come to Australia, find a job and a place to live…I had no idea how I was going to do it. After about two weeks when we had nothing, I was beginning to think I would come home early with my tail between my legs. Luckily it worked out because I am really enjoying living north of Sydney five minutes from the beach, working five days a week, and spending my days off seeing the sights. I found more steady work at a deli in Manly where I work the counter, and make sandwiches. It’s a pretty nice situation. He pays me cash, and is flexible with me taking days off to do things around Sydney. I work the afternoon shift from 2-6 on mon, tues, wed, fri, and Saturday. I can pick up other hours if I want, but I’m still working on this guys house some mornings which pays well. I'm not looking forward to the day I quit. The guy who hired me is really nice, and his whole shop is basically run by people who have been working there for years. To get a
Picture from Circular Quay
Place where the ferrys arrive and depart from in Sydney job, I told him I was going to be able to work for 5-6 months, so he agreed. I feel kinda bad about it, but to get a job in Manly where it is so competitive, I had to tell him that. Overall I’m making plenty of money to survive, and plenty of money to take a two week trip to Asia with Jake in April before I come home! The first week in April, Jake and I are going to rent a car, and drive north 10 hours to the Gold Coast where we have a flight on the 8th to Kuala Lampur. Over the next two weeks, we’ll get to Phuket, Bangkok, and Hanoi. The flights weren’t too bad, and everyone says once you get there…everything is dirt cheap. We get back to Sydney on the afternoon of the 21st, and I fly back home to Detroit the next day. I don’t like flying at all, and I’m pretty sure with the amount I’m doing… I’m going to go crazy!
Despite working a lot, I’ve had time to see a good amount to Sydney. Last week on our day off, Jake and I went to the Sydney
Wharf at the Sydney Fish Market
A huge strom rolled in while we were there Fish Market. If you love seafood this is an amazing place, but if not…coming within 200 yards of the entrance will make you sick. Jake and I both love seafood! We walked around for a while, and then ordered a giant platter of seafood to share. Yesterday we went to the Toronga Zoo. It might not be the biggest zoo in the world, but it is definitely one of my favorite because of the animals they have there. I saw so many animals I have never seen before!!! They also had great shows, and feedings that you could go to. We stumbled upon the lion exhibit, and we walked right up to the glass, I had never seen one that close before. The huge male lions walked right up to the glass. Somehow the three inches of glass didn’t make me feel safe when two giant lions were standing 3 feet away from me. The other thing I’m glad I finally saw was a kangaroo! I have been here for six weeks and I had yet to see a kangaroo! We even drove around in the countryside in Melbourne looking for one. I was starting to believe it was one
giant hoax! Well, we finally saw some. They didn’t do much though…pretty lazy creatures. So for the next six weeks, I’m going to work five days a week, and then play tourist the other 1-2 days. This Thursday we have tickets for a show at the Opera House, and next Thursday we are hoping to take a wine tasting tour in the Hunter Valley.
Now that I have been here for 6 weeks, I have came up with a short list of three things that amaze / confuse / startle me about Australia. Here are three of them.
1) No one wears shoes! I’m literally in heaven. Not only do people not wear shoes, but a lot of people don’t even wear sandals. You can walk into a grocery store with no shirt on and nothing on your feet and no one even gives you a second look.
2) Beer. I’m a college student, so I have done my proper research on the subject. Lets say after a long Saturday of work with the Michigan Football team, Mark and I wanted to split a six pack to celebrate another great win over Penn
State. We could each put down three dollars, and enjoy watching highlights on ESPN from the games that day. Here, you want to split a six pack, you have to put down 10 dollars EACH! I have lost weight since I have been here simply because I cannot afford to drink beer.
3) I know we are in Australia and a lot of people are narly surfer dudes, but do they have to put a Y on the end of every word? I live on Freshwater beach, but they call it FreshY. Breakfast = BreakY, Chips (or French Fries) = ChipYs, Snack = SnackY, Board Shorts ( or a bathing suit) = BoardYs. Plus if I hear another person say to another person, “you’re a cheeky monkey”...i'll go nuts!!!
In other news, Jake and I got our first random, "GO BLUE" yesterday. We try to not go out in public without some sort of Michigan apparel on...just incase we see someone from Ohio.
Hopefully everything is going well at home, and soon the snow will start to melt!
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