Sunday, August 08, 2010

Based in Brisbane

I told you my next blog would be more positive and it is. Mostly my days have been largely uneventful, just wandering around town running errands or job hunting online, but I have had a day or two where things just clicked and it looks like my luck is starting to turn. The first good thing to happen to me was landing a regular job at the hostel. Well, sort of. I will be working the night shift at reception a couple times a week for a total of 14 hours in exchange for a free place to stay. Not a terribly challenging job, just dealing with a few late checkins and making sure the drunks don't burn the place down in the night with all their partying. This is a great deal for me as it frees me from the stress of having to pay for a place to stay while trying to look for a job. My expenses have thus been cut way down and it also tipped the scales toward staying in Brisbane longer, rather than start moving around to look for work in other areas. It's actually not that uncommon as there are several people in the hostel working for accommodation, be it reception, cleaning or odd jobs. They have a staff dorm that I have now moved into. Talk about total chaos. Good thing I have all those years of living with my sisters to help me prepare for this mess.
The other great news for me is that I was also eligible to transfer over my expired driver's licence to a local Queensland licence. It is only a car licence rather than the bus one I had before but having it now opens up a huge range of additional work and travel possibilities for me. I also watched "Inception" and thoroughly enjoyed it and then with David and John won a pub quiz that we didn't even realize was going to occur. We just happened to be in the place having dinner at the time and decided to give it a go. The food voucher we won will do wonders in diversifying my currently repetitive sketchy diet.
So, in summary, I will be living in Brisbane for the next several weeks at least, barring any major miracle jobs elsewhere suddenly appearing. I am also going broke slower than before, the stress levels are dropping, opportunities are increasing and I've met a couple of interesting people finally.
Ammon

1 Comments:

At 12:44 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Ammon,
I don't check for a few days and bam, there are real blogs awaiting me!!! I loved the description of the outback farm, and the family feeling there is for the workers. The farm in Ireland doesn't have workers anymore, but Dad says that when he was there the workers and their families lived on the farm and were the responsibility of the owners to house and keep until they passed away. Much different than the North American bunkhouse hired hand mentality here.
I wasn't suprised at your discomfiture with the city of Brisbane. Funny how we adapt to a different culture and then experience culture shock returning to our own ( sort of) city culture. As kids we used to go up to northern BC to my Grandpa's farm, there was not electricity, running water, telephone, TV or even radio to hear. We got so used to it, it was always a shock returning to N.Van, so noisy, busy, and impersonal.
Glad to read your last blog and hear things wer looking up.

Big Bear Hugs Always.
The Bear

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home