12.26.10

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! But first lets talk about the last few weeks…

I have said it a million times and I will say it once more… we have learned SO much through our adventures! Some things we learn through experience, like touring Bali and learning about their faith. Others, we learn through mistakes, like paying for a hotel room before checking it for bed bugs. In this case, John and I have learned to NEVER make assumptions. Don’t count your chickens before they have hatched, right? Foolishly, we assumed that finding a job in Melbourne would be just as easy as it was in Port Douglas. In fact, the jobs are plentiful but we seemed to neglect a few small details. A: It’s the holidays, so every business has made sure they were fully staffed back in November. B: We live in a small town called Epping that is a 1hour commute by train to the city. C: All the jobs are in the city.
Granted, we have gotten lots of calls about jobs, but they all say that they aren’t hiring until after the New Year. No good. My first job trial was on Lygon Street at a small Italian café as a waitress.. We have been there a few times with the Devlin’s, and the street is known for its plethora of authentic Italian cuisine. Now the jobs out here do these things called ‘trials’. Basically, you go in and work for 2 hours or so to make sure that you really do know what you’re doing. The part that sucks is that you have to buy whatever dress they require, work for free, and hope that you get a call within the next few days saying you’re hired. What a draining process! Well, John and I headed out, all mapped out and prepared to conquer the public transport system. Turns out, the website that gave us directions, sent us the wrong way. I was 45 minutes late. No good. Plus, I would have to walk 15-20 minutes by myself, to and from the outskirts of downtown Melbourne at night when I got out of work at 11 or 12. Once John saw what my lonely walk would be like, he pretty much called it off right then and there. Needless to say, it didn’t work out.
Lucky for me, Justine’s friend had mentioned to her that the bar she worked at was hiring. I sent her my resume, and the next day got a call from the manager, Micah. He put me on the schedule for the next four days, right there on the phone. Looks promising! The best part is that it’s Melbourne’s chicest, hottest club called Trak, and I would be bartending. (After working at Zinc, waitressing was the last thing I wanted to do.) I was actually very excited about it. This kind of bartending was right up my alley, and truly is something I enjoy doing. The club itself is right off Chapel Street which is like the 5th Avenue of Melbourne. It’s known for its highly fashionably, and slightly expensive stores and caters to the well-off shoppers. It’s also in the heart of Toorak which is the most expensive, yuppidy city of Melbourne. Anyone with money lives in Toorak, and Len had told us that the smallest townhouses/apartments start at 3 million dollars or something crazy. I was looking forward to the tips!
The next day, we both meet up on Chapel Street with Lisa. We walked around a bit and grabbed some lunch before trying to locate my work. At 6pm, the club was holding a free RSA class (Responsible Service of Alcohol. It’s a license that everyone has to get when working in an establishment with alcohol. John and I both have ours from Queensland, but you need a different one for each state. Luckily, we were able to spare the 140 dollars and do it for free). When I walked in, I asked the manager if they needed bar backs, and when they gave me the nod of approval, John came walking in, ready to work as well. We were both so excited that we were employed.
The next day, we actually worked. Before hand, I had a meeting with a photographer who met me right at the corner of Chapel St and Toorak Rd. It was literally just a block away from the club. We left the Devlin’s house at 2:30 and arrived just in time for John to make it into work at 5pm (I didn’t start till 7). Little did we know that it would take us over 2 hours to get there. Work itself was great. I loved the club, the energy, the music, and even managed to get some tips . We got out at 3:30am and were prepared and ready to catch the night rider bus. We already knew that the trains stop running at 1:30, but Justine had told us about a bus that runs every 30 minutes and stops at all the train stations. John had jumped online before we left for work to verify the info and to map out our route. We thought everything was peachy, until we realized that the night rider stop was a fair walk up the road. Reluctantly, we paid the 6 dollars to catch a taxi. Again though, there was no sign of a night rider bus. Luckily, a seafood shop was open (open late for the holidays), so I stopped inside to ask. Three guys had no idea that a night rider bus even existed and the forth guy said that it was supposed to run down this road, but he hasn’t seen it ever. The bus never did come. Not the most reliable form of transportation. All we could do then was wait the hour forty till the trains started running again. It was miserable. We were exhausted, John’s poor feet were blistered, we were absolutely freezing, and we both reeked of stinky bar. We got out of work at 3:30am and didn’t get home till 7am. That was our last shift. We slept the next day till 3pm.
Luckily, John got a call about an interview at some café that was only a few minutes away from Epping. The next day, Len took him to the interview, and fortunately, John starts his new job on Tuesday! He will be waiting, but he is really good at interacting with people.
As for I, I have an interview at a gym this Wednesday. They need me for receptionist work and want me to run 6 or 8 aerobic classes during the week. The best part is that it’s even closer than John’s job, which means I can safely get to work without John. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
The weekend before Christmas, Justine took us to her friend, Sabrina’s, 21st birthday party. Out here, the legal drinking age is 18, but I guess they don’t make a big deal out of it. For whatever reason, 21 is the big birthday to celebrate. They party like it’s a graduation. They go all out with catering, decorations, dressing up, renting out halls, buying birthday gifts, etc etc. John and I don’t get it, but we went along anyways and enjoyed the food!
As for Christmas Eve, Justine and Jen took us to their friend’s house that is just a short walk away from their house. Eva, and her two daughters, Jess and Tanya were just delightful. John and I had spent most of the day sleeping since we were both trying to recover from our long night of working the night before. But, come evening time, we were both excited to spend it with some friends and family, just like we would at home. They immediately served us several rounds of Blind Russians, and then topped our glasses off with Moscato after. We teamed up and played cranium until 1am. We laughed and drank and played the game until we were too tired to even walk. What a wonderful way of celebrating Christmas Eve.
When we got home, Len was still up, talking on the phone with Uncle G, back home. He passed the phone to each of us so we could say hello, and then all went to bed.
Christmas day was beautiful. It wasn’t hot outside, but it wasn’t freezing and raining either. Jen has made us two dinners really. The first part of dinner was all seafood. GIANT king prawns (shrimp), easily the size of my hand, lobster, muscles and an array of dipping sauces. Being a seaside city, seafood is a big thing here during the holidays. The second part of dinner was veggies, potatoes and squash, turkey, ham and a massive salad. We each had some wine, and ate till we burst. I can honestly say that I am still full! We sat around the dinner table and talked for quite a while after dinner. Jen was slightly tipsy and was making us all laugh so hard!
That night John and I both rang up our moms to say Merry Christmas, who were just then waking up to their Christmas morning. All in all it was a beautiful day.
Now, here in Australia, they don’t have a Black Friday. In comparison, their biggest shopping day of the year is the day after Christmas and is known as Boxing Day. Justine and I got up early to go shopping with the gift cards we got for x-mas. John passed so he could stay home and sleep.
Unfortunately, I had a bad fit of headaches again today. Not sure if it was caused by the wine I had two nights before, or if I was starting to get sick, but when I got home, I got back in bed for a few more hours. We all just kicked back today and relaxed. John was able to skype back home with his mom and April. Mary loved being able to see Justine and Jen and Jen thought it was pretty cool as well. Everyone is getting so excited about his sisters coming into town in only a few days.
I can’t believe how fast time has gone…and I know when his sisters are here, things will only go by faster.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

12.14.10

So it’s been a week and a half that we have been back in Melbourne. The Devlin’s have been so kind and generous to John and I, letting us stay with them and all. We’ve done nothing but apply for jobs since we got back. During the day we go and hand out our resumes, and at night we sit on the computer applying for jobs. We’ve gotten a few calls, but mostly from agencies that are just trying to get us to come in and add us to their database. I have a lot of modeling that I am eager to start, but am going to take the next month off to relax and recoup after the intense few weeks I had been working in Bali. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that we get jobs soon. Need to stay busy and productive!
One of the most depressing things about Melbourne is the lack of Christmas spirit! I thought it would be like it is back in the states, but forget about it! The first day of summer was December 1st, so really all you see is stuff about summer and school holidays! There is maybe 1 in 3000 houses that have any sort of decoration up outside. That’s not a dramatic estimate either, there are NO decorations! You don’t see Christmas trees in people’s windows, and there is no Christmas music to be found. Not in the stores, not on the radio. Even the stores are poorly decorated. The few that are, look pretty dismal. You don’t see signs for Christmas sales and the malls don’t have Santa Clause! There are no TV specials with Christmas shows or Christmas movies, and even the churches don’t seem to be making any effort to be festive. No signs, nothing about choirs or services… nothing. Bali was more decorated then they are here, and at least in Bali people say Merry Christmas. Here they just want it to be over. It’s so sad! So of course, I have been doing my best to keep myself spirited. Listening to Christmas music as we speak!
On Sunday, John, Len and I, went out to the country to cut down a tree! I haven’t had a live tree since my dad lived in Parma. I am pretty sure that dates back to 2004 or something. We stopped at a bakery and had a meat pie, and then cheerfully cut down a Christmas tree in the perfectly warm weather. I indulged on the free cheese and wine tasting and John proudly carried the tree to Len’s car. Just yesterday we finished decorating it, which was so nice. We listened to Charlie Brown’s Christmas CD, and no body complained! The living room smells of pine and I love how the lights glow at night!
On other notes, we have just been spending a lot of time with Justine. We watched the entire series of Harry Potter over the past week, and went out to Crown Casino on Friday to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Shallows part 1. It was really good! I am anxious to see the second and final rendition to the series. We plan to watch a couple other series while we are at it… Narnia, Twilight, Star Wars, Rocky!
The one night we also went into town to meet up with Andy and Scott and Lisa and Kane. John and I had spent a day walking up and down Chapel Street to put our resumes into places, and as we passed a café, I saw Andy waiting tables! We stopped in to surprise him and he invited us over the next time to catch up. Not sure if you remember, but I worked with Andy at Zinc. He and his boyfriend broke up, and it was so emotionally taxing on Andy that he ended up quitting Zinc and skipping town before anyone could say goodbye. Needless to say, we were so excited to see him and Lisa again! Andy and Scott live in a super tiny, but awful convenient studio that is smack dab downtown, literally, right across the street from Flinders station. We all chatted for some time. Talking about what we have all been up to since leaving Port Douglas, and figuring out everyone’s plans for the upcoming year. It was such a joy to see our friends again!
We are just trying to enjoy our spare time. Before you know it, we will be busy with work and modeling again, and time will fly by so fast, we won’t know what hit us! Until then…

12.5.10

Our last day in Bali was Friday the 3rd. Our plane didn’t leave until late at night, so we spent the day walking around, and even went over to the beach to watch the sunset. The few days in Bali we just relaxed and tried to soak up all the last bits of it that we could. The one day we met up with our friend Cass, whom we met in Port Douglas. We helped her find a place, and had dinner with her the one night to tell her of all the things she should and shouldn’t do while in Bali. It was short but sweet, and of course, it is always nice to meet up with friends!
Our flight took us to Darwin at 3am where we had a 4 hour layover. We attempted to sleep but we weren’t that successful. We began check-in when we noticed someone who looked really familiar! He was Asian, and I kept thinking he may have been a photographer. He recognized us too, because he asked us…”don’t you recognize me!” Come to find out, it was the dishwasher from Zinc! John and noticed him from just hanging out the Zinc staff. He and his girlfriend had spent 2 weeks in Bali, so we chatted for a bit, took some pictures and said goodbye. How random and odd is that?
Our flight from Darwin to Melbourne was long. About as long as it would take to get from the very tip of Vermont to the very bottom of California, maybe even longer. We eventually landed in Melbourne around noon on Saturday. Len was there to pick us up, and we were so excited to see him again. When we got back to his home, we gave Jen and Justine a long, tight hug and began sharing all our travel stories. We also eagerly gave them the souvenirs we had bought them in Bali and started to unpack all our clothes.
Bali just flew by. I can’t believe that we got to see and do so many things. I am so happy that modeling was so productive and plentiful, and feel so blessed by the people we met along the way.
Bali has been the one place I have wanted to visit since I was a little girl. It has been a big dream of mine, and I feel so proud that I have accomplished it. We were smart to spend 2 months there, and I am so glad that we ignored all the people who told us we were stupid for going.
I didn’t feel sad when I left though, because deep down inside, I know I will be back again. We love you Bali <3