Helloooo guys!!!
The first thing I need to say is.... so sorry for such a delay since my last blog, I've been bad :O But I'm back onto it, as from now! So I can let you all know what crazy things I'm doing...... lol!
Secondly wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope you all had a great white christmas back home (yes, I know I'm very late.... well very late... But better late than never I guess)
Thridly, this blog is pretty long (sorry to bore you guys) as it's two months of things to update you guys with! Just a warning :O Anyway hope you enjoy it.......
This blog is all about my time spent in Brisbane with Mary (my aunt for those of you who don't know) from the beginning of November to early January!
After all my travels down the east coast, it was awesome to see Mary again and stay with her! It was awesome to have my own bedroom, a fridge (filled with nice food), a clean bathroom and not sharing with at least 8 other people!!! I won't take it for granted again, that's for sure!! Can't wait till I'm home and I have my own room again, heaven!! Lol!
So my plan was to stay with Mary for a short while to recharge my batteries, before getting back on the travels, but instead I managed staying for two months (much to Mary's joy...) And actually it was a good thing, as I was low on my funds after all my partying down the coast!!
So I started job hunting (I was pretty game for anything as long as I had some dosh!!) so I went for anything I could get into quickly-in Australia that means sales!! After a less than a week, I had got a job (woo) working for Amnesity International. This company is a charity and works as a human rights defender for people who have no voice. Some of their campagins were: 'end the use of child soliders', 'stop violence against women', and 'demand dignity for the world's poorest people'. So it was pretty cool to be working for a charity that was working for such great causes! My job was to be a sales rep/promoter for Amnesity, where I was put on the street in my 'cool' t-shirt and clipboard and had to approach random strangers to spread the word about Amnesity, the work it does, as well as trying to get people to sign up with us for a monthly sponorship. Yes, I know, I hate sales, but I though it would be a good challenage.... More like a TOUGH challenge!!!
I lasted five days... Bascially I was dropped off on a random street and had to approach people all day. It was soo tough because the majority of people ignore you, or reject you, which is hard to deal with for 6 hours straight!!! Trust me! Constanly people were ignoring you, it was difficult to enage most people as they weren't interested!! In five days I didn't managed to sign anyone up (I had a few really close calls) and you have to met targets. I got paid for my trial week, but after that it was only commission based anyway, which isn't that great. So I took the money and ran..... But I worked for a good cause for a week, managed to spread the word of Amnesity and what it does and I managed to get 100 signitures to free prisioners of conscience(!!!!!) in Bali. So I did some good work. I've just learnt sales is definalty not my career path!!
So after that interesting experience I was back on the job hunt, and was lucky enough to find a job only a few days later :) There was a local cafe/resturant in Manly, where I was living with Mary called 'Boats', which was looking for wait staff! I handed in my cv (or resume as the aussies call it) and had a trial shift on saturday morning (always a fun shift..... especially breakfast, manic busy). But they liked how I worked and I got the job, wooo!!! It was great to work there as it was local and only took 20 minutes to walk there and was situated right by the habour, which was super awesome! As I was there for a while, I made good friends with all the employees and socilised with them outside work, which was great. It's good to be able to work in Oz, because, then you get the real experience of living in Australia and can soak up the culture/lifestyle of ozzies!! I also learnt how to fry chips, crumb, battered etc all the types of aussie fish like snapper and buramundi! As well as becoming a trained barista (which bascially means coffee maker) so I learnt how to make fancy coffees; lattes, cappcinos, long blacks (black coffee), and flat whites, chi lattes, milkshakes, iced chocolates, you name it! So I've picked up a great skill, that I might be able to use when I look for a job in Sydney! So after just over two months, I left to continue my adventures onto Melbourne and the Australian Open!!!
But before that, how was everyones christmas?! Xmas down under was great fun and very different! It was soo hot, unfortunalty it rained, so we didn't make it to the beach. It was weird to be celebrating xmas and being so hot (and sweaty....) Lol! We had our own xmas tree, but it was fake, as it's too hot to have a real one (it still looked awesome though)!! Our christmas dinner consisted of sweet potato and pumpkin roasted (yummers), roasted ham, fancy bay leef potatoes and brussel sprouts (I actually liked them, crazy stuff) with lots of cream (that's probably why) and leeks! Lots of aussies usually have lots of seafood on xmas day (it's tradition), but as Mary is allergic we thought it wouldn't be too fun for her! Our main course was followed by the ultimate ice cream cake, which was three layers of chocolate with 2 different sections, mint ice cream with flake and strawberry ice cream with turkish delight (made from scrath by Mary and I) and it was AMAZING!!! So as usual, christmas involved eating tons of food and putting on at least 10 stone :O I have to say being on the other side of the world for christmas was very strange, espeically not being with family and friends and doing all the usual traditions! I have to say as well, aussies don't seem to embrace xmas as much as the english do, I think it's partly because of the weather, but they don't seem to be as festive people! And to be honest nothing beats christmas at home,the UK really is a great place to be for christmas!! And as always christmas involved presents and lots of great ones, thanks guys! Especially Cathy for the stockings, amazing :D
So a few days after christmas and recovering from all the over eating, New Year's eve was here! And it was time to PARTAY!!!! For new year's eve, I went over to a friends for a house party, which was good fun, whlist drinking lots of strong punch! We then headed into the city for midnight, to watch the Brisbane fireworks by the river! They were pretty awesome and lasted for 10 minutes with a huge variety of fireworks, golden ones, explosive ones, rainbow coloured ones, making huge booms and bangs! It was such a beautiful setting, starting the new year by the river with the sky filled with light and excitement for the coming year! After that we headed to Fortitude Valley, known as the 'Valley' for a few drinks..... and dancing! We all chipped in to hire an apartment in the city, pretty central and by the river!! So 2011 started out rather swnaky with great great people, views and weather!!!
After recovering from my toxic state from NYE, I had a week and a half left at Boats to save money for my trip to Melbourne and the Australian Open!!!!
So before I knew it, I was free from work and on a jetstar plane heading to Melbourne to start my next adventure!!!
That's all for now guys (hope you enjoyed my essay, and I know... not my most exciting blog, wait for Melbourne!!)
I'm just in the midst of writing my Melbourne blog, soo watch this space!!!
Until next time,
Angus x
