So...
I have to admit that I have had some emotional issues regarding home-sickness, my latest relationship and money. I can't promise that it's all behind me. There will be some shitty days. But I have no reason to complain and nothing to regret. Why? Well follow me and I'll recapture how I've settled into a new life and home on my two days off from work.
Yesterday morning I woke up at Alex's very tired. I took a shower, ate some breakfast, got my bags ready and went outside to play with the dogs. Sascha, my new German roommate, was coming to pick me up after eleven. So I waited. I must have thrown the drool covered ball more than a hundred times before I got bored of watching Hazel jumping for it. So I waited. And I waited. It was already over 1 PM so I decided to exploit one of the rules of the universe. You know if you are waiting something to happen, it rarely does. And when you least expect it, the universe gives you what you wanted. So I watched an episode of The Wire (I bought Season 2 on DVD from Melbourne, a gamble that paid off, twice). With less than 10 minutes left, Sascha came. He did have some business to attend to at the company but after that we took one of Alex's extra beds -- Sascha called it a "prison bed" -- and a mattress and loaded them into Sascha Pajero with my backpacks. Then we drove to Lillydale and left the stuff there, in my home to be. Right away we took off, cause we had to get Ana from the train station and head to IKEA to get some new furniture. Going to IKEA was not only for my sake even though my room was empty if not for the bed parts and the mattress. No, Ana and Sascha also needed furniture caused they moved in only 10 days before I came. So they fought over which couch they should buy for a long time as marveled at the weird sense that IKEA is really close to home. I have a lot of the same stuff in storage that they sold here. Globalization...
I wasn't part of the selection process but Sascha and Ana got themselves a new couch and some little stuff and I got new dark blue linen for my bed, a pillow and a cover. Very nice. We filled the car up and got the stuff home.
After loading up the car and setting up the bed I started settling in. Then I was welcomed into their lives with a glass of white wine -- Shiraz, I think. We ate some dinner and I retreated to my room where I got more payoff for my DVD gamble with my hosts portable DVD player. Now I don't have to buy a laptop or a portable DVD player until I leave here.
For our second day off we went to a shopping mall in the city. It was the South Bank shopping mall in a new unreasonably expensive part of the city. In the end I just followed Sasha around as he bought some nice new clothes that I'd never dream of buying. It was a higher end shopping mall, but there were the exact shops I like -- JayJay's and JB HIFI -- so I will be going back there when I get money. After that we picked up Ana from her job -- she's a dental hygienist, besides sometimes waiting tables at Rochford -- where she's been having a moral dilemma because her co-workers have been lazy and not doing their job properly. But she might be getting another job closer to home. A long drive later we got back home.
How good do I have it? I get payed every fortnight (that's two weeks) and my rent and expenses will be deducted on pay day so I don't have to worry about money. I will have three paydays before my brother comes to Sydney and I have to actually spend some money. Sascha and I go to and back from work together. The only minus might be that he has longer days so I might have to hang out in the staff room after work.
But who are these people, my new family? I got to talk a lot to Sascha these two days and I learned that he used to be a chef and then he moved into the hotel business. He did apprenticeships all around Asia -- Bangkok, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur. Then he traveled around the world on a boat enjoying it. Back in Hamburg he was in charge of one of the best hotel restaurants in the world. Then he started his own business, a restaurant consulting company. He still has it but he came to Australia on a working holiday with Ana. Rochford Wines came along and they stayed. But they're not staying here forever. Ana is getting work experience while Sascha is the restaurant manager to keep himself busy. He has his company to go back to when they leave.
I don't know that much about Ana. She's born in Poland but her family moved to Germany, where he and Sascha met. But I can say that they've welcomed me to their life. They are very, very nice people and they've given me valuable advice on backpacking in Australia. I'm very fortunate and even though I feel a little guilty of how good I have it compared to someone in, say, Proserpine, I am going to take advantage of the situation.
So, 2010 will be a nice year and I'm going to make some money this month with 4 special weekend events starting with a Simply Red concert this Saturday. I'm going to save money for 3 - 4 months and then do some traveling without too much hassles looking for jobs. But nothing's set in stone. All I know is now I'm here and in no hurry to go anywhere. Summer's coming. I'm happy.
High note.
Nice!
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