It boggles me sometimes to think that I live in Sydney, Australia. Even if it's temporary, I live here right now in this moment. It's a really cool thought I've been having lately that literally makes me smile. THIS is now. THIS is my life.
THIS is awesome :)
Saturday marked four weeks in Sydney! Four weeks away from my Calgary home and the wonderful comforts of. Yes, Sydney is nice and quite comfortable too but there are things that I don't have here [yet]. i.e. a car. And a centrally-located place to live. Dragonboat training takes place downtown and ends around 8:30pm and if I use my own means of transport, I don't get home 'till 10:30pm. My suburb doesn't seem to believe in streetlights either, since people don't really go out where I live, so I walk home carefully and hope I don't step on a snake. (that'd be SO scary!!!)
My current house however IS quite comfortable though, so I can't complain really. My Australian Parents are currently volunteering overseas for the next few weeks though and will be gone for Easter, so when I came home on their last night here, I found a chocolate Easter bunny sitting outside of my bedroom. Very sweet of them :)
Went apartment hunting this weekend. It's really expensive here. Basically, something comparable to my Calgary place would cost about double the rent. I'm not entirely surprised though, as this is a city of 4.5 million people, where Calgary is only about 1.3 million. But that's okay. Cuz I am in Sydney :) Going to check out a few more places in the coming weeks. This time, shared units. Hopefully .will find something soon.
I've been really enjoying my work so far. I'm currently working with some very smart people and I'm soaking up all I can in terms of transferable skills. It's fun working in another continent and meeting professionals from around the world. It really does feel "broader" here than it did in Calgary. I'm so far very happy to have this job here :)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Another time, another town, another everything.
Okay, so I'm currently a little bit homesick at the moment....But that's okay! I knew this would happen eventually, as I am missing some quality people. I blame my new friend Mike, who's actually a Calgary-turned-Sydneysider friend of a Calgary friend, who has helped me get some ducks in order since he moved out here two years ago and has been through what I have been through in terms of settling into this new city. We hung out today at Taste of Sydney (like Taste of Calgary, only yes, more expensive!) and I suppose that the reminder of Calgary (and the sound of a Canadian accent!) made me miss home.
This homesickness is also combined with the fact that I told my "Australian parents" the other day that I would like to move closer to the city (here, the "city" refers to downtown) as I seem to spend a lot of time there and it takes me a long time to commute. They're supportive of it and not just cuz they want to boot me out (I don't think at least)! This conversation took place while we were celebrating my new job over Thai take-away. The thought that I really will be "on my own" soon makes me kind of nervous! But what the heck, I'm almost thirty, I can do this....
Oh yeah, I got a new job. Yay!!! I start tomorrow. Venturing into telecommunications. I'm quite excited for it!!
But yeah, it's been great having a family away from home. It's kind of nice having constant people (that I like) that I see every day, that don't really expect tonnes from me or for me to be a superstar or whatever. And who can "do life" with me! I suppose I have my friends here too but it's not the same. I've only been here for three weeks and we've already celebrated two birthdays and a new job :)
And I'm quite nervous about hunting for a new place! So much stuff I think I have been taking for granted here: the staple foods, the beater-bikes that I can lock up at the train station without worry, the towels, the dishes, soap, the printer. The occasional dinners that my "Australian brother's girlfriend" lets me eat. And, it was a beast packing up my Calgary place and I'm not exactly looking forward to the task of staple procurement. Yar. I hope to get it done soon! I haven't had much time to ponder as I had hoped for, as I've been quite busy and even things like riding the train are still exciting and entertaining for me. And I still haven't discovered my mission!!
This past week was nice to have off. My Australian dad took me sailing on Wednesday! It was pretty cool learning how to move the sails and how to operate the boat. I plan to do more of it while I'm out here. Will post more photos when I have some more time!
Yup. This is the life :)
This homesickness is also combined with the fact that I told my "Australian parents" the other day that I would like to move closer to the city (here, the "city" refers to downtown) as I seem to spend a lot of time there and it takes me a long time to commute. They're supportive of it and not just cuz they want to boot me out (I don't think at least)! This conversation took place while we were celebrating my new job over Thai take-away. The thought that I really will be "on my own" soon makes me kind of nervous! But what the heck, I'm almost thirty, I can do this....
Oh yeah, I got a new job. Yay!!! I start tomorrow. Venturing into telecommunications. I'm quite excited for it!!
But yeah, it's been great having a family away from home. It's kind of nice having constant people (that I like) that I see every day, that don't really expect tonnes from me or for me to be a superstar or whatever. And who can "do life" with me! I suppose I have my friends here too but it's not the same. I've only been here for three weeks and we've already celebrated two birthdays and a new job :)
And I'm quite nervous about hunting for a new place! So much stuff I think I have been taking for granted here: the staple foods, the beater-bikes that I can lock up at the train station without worry, the towels, the dishes, soap, the printer. The occasional dinners that my "Australian brother's girlfriend" lets me eat. And, it was a beast packing up my Calgary place and I'm not exactly looking forward to the task of staple procurement. Yar. I hope to get it done soon! I haven't had much time to ponder as I had hoped for, as I've been quite busy and even things like riding the train are still exciting and entertaining for me. And I still haven't discovered my mission!!
This past week was nice to have off. My Australian dad took me sailing on Wednesday! It was pretty cool learning how to move the sails and how to operate the boat. I plan to do more of it while I'm out here. Will post more photos when I have some more time!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
A Week and a Bit of Sydney Experiences.
It's hard to believe that I've only been here for two weeks! Not that time is doing anything funny, but I seem to have done a lot since Monday: Worked a temp assignment, which involved talking to about 35 people in person a day, cycled at least 70 km, had two interviews, paddled three times with two different dragonboat teams (a crew is 22 people, so this also means that I met about 40 new people), went to the beach, and made some new friends :)
To keep things simple, here is a list of just a handful of things I learned so far:
1. The 8x11 paper we typically use in Canada is not a global standard. They actually use longer sheets here, called A4. I had to tweak my resume(s) to make them look good on the long paper.
2. A drinking fountain is called a "bubla" and garbage cans are referred to as "bins".
3. Generalizing here, but Sydney drivers are not friendly to cyclists. Talking to people, I have found I am not the only one to realize this. I'm quite surprised, because the weather here is great for cycling and some parts of the city have dedicated bike lanes, but drivers will try to run you down. I almost got into two accidents this week! ....only one was my fault.
4. On a related note, last week I was working about 9km away from where I live. It's an hour drive because of all the traffic, or, a 45 minute bicycle ride.
5. On another related note, that's a HARD bicycle ride. I was exhausted by the end of the week and I don't particularly want to build ginormous leg muscles so I have to figure out a transportation solution or make sure I live a reasonable commute from work. Or work a reasonable commute from home...
6. Sydney is probably the most multi-cultural place I've ever experienced. And it's also just interesting because even the Asians have Aussie accents.
7. Sydneysiders are super friendly so far. I don't know if that's cuz I'm new or if its because they just are.
8. There are lots of frozen treats establishments here. It also seems to be when I remember to take photos.
9. You can rent boats and have parties on them! It was one of the girls from dragonboating's 30th birthday so we had a boat party cruise on the harbour Saturday night which was super fun. And of course it had to be themed and I didn't think of a costume 'till last minute. Supplies procurement took a long time. I had to cut up other cheap shirts to make the Incredibles logo. Cutting with non-fabric shears and hand stitching took fifteen minutes. I didn't have time to source gloves and I left my boots in Calgary. But I'm saving the shirt! I hate costume parties so now I will have something in the closet :)
10. It's hot and humid here. I find myself dripping in sweat quite often. I wish I had more Icebreaker gear with me.
Tomorrow is the start of a new week! I'm actually glad that I do not have to work tomorrow. I could use some time off to think and re-organize myself.
Mmm time to make some tea.
To keep things simple, here is a list of just a handful of things I learned so far:
1. The 8x11 paper we typically use in Canada is not a global standard. They actually use longer sheets here, called A4. I had to tweak my resume(s) to make them look good on the long paper.
2. A drinking fountain is called a "bubla" and garbage cans are referred to as "bins".
3. Generalizing here, but Sydney drivers are not friendly to cyclists. Talking to people, I have found I am not the only one to realize this. I'm quite surprised, because the weather here is great for cycling and some parts of the city have dedicated bike lanes, but drivers will try to run you down. I almost got into two accidents this week! ....only one was my fault.
4. On a related note, last week I was working about 9km away from where I live. It's an hour drive because of all the traffic, or, a 45 minute bicycle ride.
5. On another related note, that's a HARD bicycle ride. I was exhausted by the end of the week and I don't particularly want to build ginormous leg muscles so I have to figure out a transportation solution or make sure I live a reasonable commute from work. Or work a reasonable commute from home...
6. Sydney is probably the most multi-cultural place I've ever experienced. And it's also just interesting because even the Asians have Aussie accents.
7. Sydneysiders are super friendly so far. I don't know if that's cuz I'm new or if its because they just are.
8. There are lots of frozen treats establishments here. It also seems to be when I remember to take photos.
Frozen yogurt with Cheryl (friend from Calgary!) at Bondi Beach.
Gelato Messina, with Sophie (and Oz, who is taking the pic) after dragonboating. The clubs here are very social and this club goes for dinner after every practice. Then after dinner, sometimes a "sub-club" goes for gelato since it's out of the way from where we live and its by this park where they have apparently sat on every bench since they have been there so much haha.
Noggi frozen yogurt with Ashra and Henry, a friend from work. For some reason I remember the yogurt being even bigger than what this picture shows. These guys were really good with showing me around: After some Friday afternoon Australian beer in a pub, we went to the night market (a Chinatown street market that's set up on Fridays), for Korean hot pot (with soju!), to a Slip Inn, a famous bar with an outdoor patio to meet some of their other friends, and then to some random other pub to play pool. And then finally Moochi!! yum yum :D Or as Aussies say (phonetically): "real naice"
10. It's hot and humid here. I find myself dripping in sweat quite often. I wish I had more Icebreaker gear with me.
So yeah! There's a lot going on it seems! I slept pretty solidly last night and today I was going to go to the Latin Festival at the beach but I decided to take up an offer from Hal (my "Australian Dad") to run an errand at the sailboat instead. (at the sailboat? How cool is that??!!) The errand was that last week (while I was working), they took the boat out and forgot to bring back the garbage. We drove out to the beach and then hopped into a little rowboat to row to where the boat was tied. Got the garbage and rowed back. Then I hung out on the beach for a bit while he went for a swim. I love walking along the beach when the sand is like new after being washed over with a tide :) Afterwards we got some ice cream and came back home for a barbecue for Chris's birthday (Chris is one of my "Australian brothers"). Yum! Was really nice to spend the Sunday with family....even though it's not my family haha.
Mona Vale Beach
Mmm time to make some tea.
Friday, March 1, 2013
51 Weeks to Go (Pilot Post)
Greetings, from Sydney Australia! It's currently 22 degrees Celcius and rainy, so I am thinking I will stay in today. I did meet some new friends, Jane and Greg, for brunch/coffee earlier and even did some grocery shopping, hiking the two-ish kilometers home from the shoppes, so really, I kind of did have an outing today. I must say though that I really miss living directly across from a grocery store!
I arrived in Sydney a week ago today, last Saturday, actually, almost exactly a week ago today to the hour. Sleeping almost the entire flight and waiting until a decent hour to go to bed contributed to just two days of jet lag. By Monday I was out and about! I returned "home" at the end of the day with a sunburn. Apparently re-application of sunscreen is a must here!
The past week actually flew by. I spent a couple days wandering around the CBD (Sydney's downtown), navigating the area at which I am staying (finding bus stops, train station, grocery store, etc.), setting up necessary things, researching things to do, and of course, applying for jobs.
I met with a recruitment agent the other day and had a bit of a discussion with one of my Australian rents about what I want to do. With the prior, I caught myself at that point in the conversation where you express eagerness...for jobs I don't find interesting. Because I am suppose to be eager, aren't I? In a previous personality I had done jobs that made me miserable, which I only realized the extent of the hatred for when out in the streets, almost hoping a truck would run me over so that I wouldn't have to go to work. Or, thinking that falling up/down the escalator would give me an out. With the latter, good intentions were trying to help me focus my job search, providing me with advice, and I had to admit to her that I didn't want to follow her advice because it was stuff I already knew and yet wasn't going to do not because I am lazy but because I ultimately don't know what I want to do. To zoom in on the micro before understanding the macro is something I need to be careful about. And it's not so much that I'm indecisive (I am, I know) but that I simply don't know what I am doing...in life.
Today at brunch, Jane said to me (cue Aussie accent) "Well, what are you doing? You have to choose, you can't do everything, you know." So what am I doing?
I thought about it on the way home after saying bye to Jane and Greg. I don't know what I am doing because I don't have a mission!
Summer after junior high, I became depressed because I didn't know what I was doing or why I even existed. And then I discovered that there is a God. That's when I became aware that I do have a purpose, even if I don't know what it is, because God wouldn't have created me for no reason: I use a lot of resources, both material and non-material, particularly of other peoples' time/emotions. I wouldn't even create me for no reason :)
And so what am I doing? Well for this year I will: Learn. Push. Expand my personality portfolio and comfort zone.
So even though I don't know what I'm doing, it is okay, because God has His reasons. I just have to be ready! Each day is training for ___________! <-- whatever that is. I've gone through the years knowing that one thing leads to another, so it makes sense that if I keep learning, pushing and expanding my personality-portfolio and my comfort zone, maybe I'll discover my passion and figure out my mission and be trained and ready to take it on. And if I don't, at least I'll have lived an interesting [and fun] life!
Leaping out of my familiar Calgary comfort zone was probably a good start. I love Sydney so far! And in other news, a tenant will be paying my mortgage for the next six months, starting today. AWESOME!!
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I arrived in Sydney a week ago today, last Saturday, actually, almost exactly a week ago today to the hour. Sleeping almost the entire flight and waiting until a decent hour to go to bed contributed to just two days of jet lag. By Monday I was out and about! I returned "home" at the end of the day with a sunburn. Apparently re-application of sunscreen is a must here!
The past week actually flew by. I spent a couple days wandering around the CBD (Sydney's downtown), navigating the area at which I am staying (finding bus stops, train station, grocery store, etc.), setting up necessary things, researching things to do, and of course, applying for jobs.
I met with a recruitment agent the other day and had a bit of a discussion with one of my Australian rents about what I want to do. With the prior, I caught myself at that point in the conversation where you express eagerness...for jobs I don't find interesting. Because I am suppose to be eager, aren't I? In a previous personality I had done jobs that made me miserable, which I only realized the extent of the hatred for when out in the streets, almost hoping a truck would run me over so that I wouldn't have to go to work. Or, thinking that falling up/down the escalator would give me an out. With the latter, good intentions were trying to help me focus my job search, providing me with advice, and I had to admit to her that I didn't want to follow her advice because it was stuff I already knew and yet wasn't going to do not because I am lazy but because I ultimately don't know what I want to do. To zoom in on the micro before understanding the macro is something I need to be careful about. And it's not so much that I'm indecisive (I am, I know) but that I simply don't know what I am doing...in life.
Today at brunch, Jane said to me (cue Aussie accent) "Well, what are you doing? You have to choose, you can't do everything, you know." So what am I doing?
I thought about it on the way home after saying bye to Jane and Greg. I don't know what I am doing because I don't have a mission!
Summer after junior high, I became depressed because I didn't know what I was doing or why I even existed. And then I discovered that there is a God. That's when I became aware that I do have a purpose, even if I don't know what it is, because God wouldn't have created me for no reason: I use a lot of resources, both material and non-material, particularly of other peoples' time/emotions. I wouldn't even create me for no reason :)
And so what am I doing? Well for this year I will: Learn. Push. Expand my personality portfolio and comfort zone.
So even though I don't know what I'm doing, it is okay, because God has His reasons. I just have to be ready! Each day is training for ___________! <-- whatever that is. I've gone through the years knowing that one thing leads to another, so it makes sense that if I keep learning, pushing and expanding my personality-portfolio and my comfort zone, maybe I'll discover my passion and figure out my mission and be trained and ready to take it on. And if I don't, at least I'll have lived an interesting [and fun] life!
Leaping out of my familiar Calgary comfort zone was probably a good start. I love Sydney so far! And in other news, a tenant will be paying my mortgage for the next six months, starting today. AWESOME!!
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