Long time coming

Right, it’s been a long time coming, but this is my next entry..

Having been in Melbourne for 3 and a half months, I’m settling in very well. I now know where more places are, how the tram system works, places to go out in the evenings and our house is much more lived in! Now to the details..

I have been doing temp office work since just after I arrived, and am doing relatively well! Most of it is basic data entry, which is quick to pick up on and settle in with. One such job, at a university for international students, up until last week, lasted over a month. That was great because it gave me some job security, but was slightly unnerving, as it was the longest I had been in a job and I’d managed to pick up on the office politics I’d hoped to avoid by being in such a job. Bitch bitch moan moan. Several people resigned by the time I’d left and were bouncing around the office, smiles on their faces, knowing they were getting out!

Being so close to Christmas, I had not expected to get more work until after Christmas and New Year - and in preparation for such an event, I sat my Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) certificate, so I could do some casual bar work if required. However, late last week I received a phone call from my angecy offering an admin role in a company I previously did a week’s work for. The last role I had here was to make calls to previous customers doing a phone survey on service satisfaction, so doing admin would be slightly different, but nevertheless, I took it on. Just finishing my first week, I’m beginning to find my feet. Initially I was given a sheet of brief role outlines and tasks, but no one really knew what I ought to be doing - and I’m still trying to work some of it out! However, by asking hundreds of questions and probably getting on lots people’s nerves, I’m gradually catching onto what I do. This morning I was rather unpleasantly surprised by phonecalls for the Perth store being redirected to me for an hour while they had a meeting. I cannot deal with phones at the best of times, let alone when it’s interstate and often a bad line, and asking about things I have no idea of!

In socialising aspects, I’ve been seeing a fair bit of live music. Bodyjar (and their constituent bands), Boot Boy Scally, Bodyjar, The Currency, Boot Boy Scally, The Living End, Ben Birchall.. Most of these shows have been really good, and the nights always turn out to be fun, if a little late for work the next day! The music scene in Melbourne is really good, with lots of little shows worth going to. I think because Melbourne’s smaller than London, it’s easier to find out about them - rather than being totally overwhelmed when trying to find small shows to go to! It is also a very varied music scene, with so many up and coming bands just mashing the genres up.

So, as well as all this, the weather is hotting up! We’ve had several days that were over 30 degrees, so it really feels like a late summer - as before I left England, there really wasn’t a summer to speak of. Unfortunately, I am really not used to this kind of muggy, heavy heat - and the flies! They seem to enjoy getting on my nerves, so I’ve resorted to spraying some insect repellant on me before I leave for work. I just have to brave it on the way home. Trav said it has something to do with the cowpats in southern NSW and the flies following the wind or something..but I don’t really care why they’re here, I just wish they’d leave me alone!!

Both Kat and myself have bedroom upstairs, and although it means we can keep away from the echoing hallway and people coming and going, it also means that the heat rises into our rooms, and the sun beats down on our roof all day. I’m glad now that I invested in a decent fan, as there is no fly screen on my window so I’m reluctant to leave that open a lot during the day. However, being in a pretty old house and having no windows downstairs facing the sun (at any time of day), the loungeroom is beautifully cool so we won’t have to resort to the air conditioner too much this summer.

My photography is going relatively well, having been invited to an information session and interview at RMIT for the degree course. I had heard that is a very competitive course, and attending the information session confirmed that.

However, after an interview that I considered hadn’t gone well (at least I didn’t sneeze blood on the interviewers - Scrubs fans will understand this!), I will find out in the next few days via letter whether I am in or not. At the moment however, I am considering deferring if accepted, as I would like to build up my savings more and will definitely consider studying part time, so I can continue working and be able to meet rent each month! In the time I am deferring, I will hopefully gain more experience with a photographer as an assistant or co-worker, and perhaps go from there into work rather than studying and struggle with finances and finding enough hours in the day to study, work and play!

Last week I received some very sad news about a friend who has been battling cancer and other illnesses caused by the treatment for a couple of years now. All of my housemates were distracted from work and everything for several days but thankfully he’s improving slowly and we’re all quietly optimistic that he’s gonna come back all fists - little does he know, once he’s better we’re gonna beat on him for making us worry!

So once I had my head around his improving, I found out via email from my dad that my grandma was in hospital in Adelaide. Now, if it had been a phonecall, I would have panicked and probably caught a flight out to Adelaide today. As it was, I calmly waited and rung up the hospital when I had a chance, and enquired after her well-being. The nurse put me on hold and said she’d check if my grandma was around, and the next thing I know, my grandma is saying, ‘Hello?’ cautiously on the other end. She sounded alert and bright, quite well actually. They’re keeping her in for tests and she should be home in a couple of days, once they found out what caused her heart to beat so fast. Probably finding out that Robert Menzies wasn’t the prime minister anymore, and this guy, Kev, had replaced him.

So although it’s been an up and down few weeks, I think we’re all on the up. I have work until the end of January, my housemates and I are all settling in nicely together, and the house is very lived in now! Although we still haven’t had a housewarming, we’ve made enough mess for there to have been a party, but the neighbours in the serviced apartments are the only ones making excessive noise; unfortuantely for me, with my window just above their front door. It was due to laptop problems, which are still ongoing, that I hadn’t updated this for a while but I shall try to keep it more up to date from now on.