I'm so that person....

So lately I've been doing longer bus rides out to where my management project is for school. With this ride I've gotten in the habit of listening to the weekly podcast "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me." Now for those who don't know about this podcast - it's an American comedy/political/news show where they quiz both a panel and listeners on current affairs. And it is HILLARIOUS.
today I managed to catch up on a back episode and on the ride back realised I am totally that person on the bus who is laughing and smiling and everyone around me thinks I'm crazy... but it's too funny!!

What makes me feel better is I'm sure Jodie is right there with me, only laughing in her car and not on a bus during rush hour. :)

The New Digs

So over the weekend I moved from my very large house - 6 rooms w/ 6 women, 2 bath, etc - into a more livable place - 2 room w/ 1 flatmate. Now one of the trade offs was that I now have a much smaller room and a much smaller closet... So to help give an idea of the move I documented it with pictures.

All my shit going into my room...




I was miraculously able to fit everything into my closet and have since bought a couple of shelves, but here is the final results.



Now a couple of people asked me why I left my old place with the amazing kitchen and decent living space. To give you an idea of why, here are some pictures of my new living space - which is furnished so I didn't have to pay for any of this.


(Note the flat screen TV...)



Yes the kitchen is smaller but it is still workable and fits my needs. :)

My new address is as follows for those who send me things every once in a while. I'll try to put together another post with info on whats around me because that is significantly different than before too...

New Address:
18/20 Harbourne Rd
Kingsford, NSW 2032

A Good Day in Sydney

While everything has been very negative lately with trying to find a job and figure out what it is I want to do with my life it is good to have days like today. My day started off being productive with a meeting with one of our career services people, where we outlines some ways to potentially reach new areas for employment (always a good thing at this point). The rest of the morning was spent working on networking and how to potentially approach new people.

The fun starts in the afternoon when I went to meet the Academic Advisor for my management project (which essentially an MBA version of a short consulting project). She asked me to meet her near where she works in North Sydney, so I took the bus to Mosman. Mosman is an area of Sydney which is notorious for having lots of Americans and being a very nice area of Sydney. I was happy to see the main street with the cool shops and cafes, along with the very gorgeous houses on the side streets. We had a very producting meeting and have now identified additional areas where I can look for potential jobs. (again, always good)

To top off the afternoon I took the ferry back to the city. Now the ferries here are different than those in Seattle, in that they are more like buses on the water - more frequent stops and shorter trips. But you get the same effect as on the Sound. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera and can't find any pictures which do the view justice so again, no photos. But the weather was fantastic and it is one of those days where I felt like no matter what things will be alright... which is very cheesy and cliche but hey, if I'm not honest here then what's the point. :)

6 Flights and 48 stairs total

That is the number which I was continuously counting while carrying all stuff into my new place... I'm not sore yet but am waiting for it to hit me because that was a lot of work. Although I am happy to say that I am all moved in, unpacked, and was able to fit all my cloths in my new closet which is about 2/3 the size of my previous one. I'm very proud of this point in particular :)

I moved from my 6 bedroom 2 bath place which I was sharing with 5 other girls into a 2 bedroom 1 bath place with a friend. Now for those who visited my last place they may be wondering why I moved... I had a massive room (the equivalent size of a masters in the states), a closet which was big by American standards, and an insane kitchen. The downside was that this was shared with 5 other ladies. With the territory of this many people (and little living space) comes issues like only 1 or 2 of us actually bought toilet paper on a regular basis, and when others chipped in it was a 6 pack. I'm sorry but a 6 pack of toilet paper doesn't last very long with that many women. Then there were the particular people who never washed their dishes.

The new place is very nice, has a big flat screen LG tv, each room has a balcony, the kitchen is nice, top floor, and there is a big garage for me to stash my luggage in. The only down fall is that the rent is higher and it puts a massive hill between me and my current work (good old Poco's Cantina). However last night Gloria (my new flatmate) and I ventured out to see where things were. In doing so we realised we are much closer to our new local pub - about 50 meters to be exact - which is dangerous considering it's open till 4 AM. We also walked by a really nice looking Italian place where I asked if they were hiring... so I will be droping off my resume tonight to them in the hopes that I can get a job there.

I have pictures, but forgot my cable at home - and we don't have internet yet so it might be a while before I get them uploaded. But once I get some pics I'll post them for all to see.

Great time to get a job...

This is the understatement of the century. All of the consulting firms here have laid people off in the last couple weeks. Companies are not wanting to sponsor foreigners to work for them, and it just overall sucks.

I have applied for over 20 jobs, most of which I don't even hear back from, have interviewed for a handful, and nothing. I'm trying not to take this as a complete moral crusher, but considering I'd never not gotten a job from an interview before it's a bit demoralising.

So right now my plan is to potentially do a quick graduate diploma in a related area which will allow me to apply for permanent residency here. This essentially means I'd be employable and companies wouldn't need to pay for my visa. Now this would mean I wouldn't get the amazing tax benefits of being a foreigner living and working here - but considering getting that is only a potential at this point I'd take the chance. The unfortunate thing is that I'd then be looking at an additional batch of tuition payments, which is not at all something I want to deal with now. But I'm pretty sure my chances of getting a job here are better than in the states.

We'll see how it all plays out, right now it's pretty grim though.

Unwanted Guest

Most everyone knows about the massive insects that are found all over Australia... I've learned to cope with them as most won't hurt you and at most they are just creepy. I'm not sure if it is the season or what, but lately there has been an increase in the number of insects which have made it into the house, and even worse - into my room.

Now I'm not stupid and don't leave food out in my room so am lost as to why they would wander to the complete opposite end of the house from the kitchen... but they do. I've adapted by having a can of roach spray handy in my room at all times.

However I had a new and very unwelcome guest last night when I got home from work. To set the stage a bit let me tell you about the spiders here... there are little ones which can kill you with a bite, then there are ones the size of softballs which eat birds who fall into their webs. So we have the whole menu of spiders. There is one in particular which, while isn't particularly harmful to humans, is massive and can be found pretty much everywhere - this would be the Huntsman.

After working for 5.5 hours at the restaurant I came home to find that one of these nasties had somehow managed to get in between the sliding and stationary panes of my window. How it managed this I have no clue. But I did the smart thing in dealing with this - called one of my the Aussie guys from school who lives near me to come get it. Lucky for me he was home. Lucky for the spider he didn't want to kill it and instead took it outside.

Just to give you an idea of the size of these things here are a couple pictures... I'm hoping it doesn't find its way into my room again any time soon.

Yes I know I'm lame

Yes I know I've been a complete slacker the last month and haven't posted anything... but I'm enjoying my last few months of having nothing to do. :) I took my last written final last week and not just have papers and a couple of presentations to make then am DONE!!!

I'll try to be a bit better at updating as there should hopefully be a couple of new things coming up... more specifically a change of address (not that anyone but Jenni and my parents have sent me anything), hopefully a job (still keeping the fingers crossed and applying like a mad woman), and taking advantage of the beach and the free highlights I'm gaining.

Just for those who might have had a bit of wishful thinking going on... no I don't have a date for Valentine's day. This officially makes this a very long streak of nothing much going on in my life and my last 'romantic' v-day was with Kirby in Paris so that gives you an idea of how my Valentines have been. lol but at least I can laugh about it!!