Aussie Rant and Rave

I don't know what's up, but this week I have been SO tired all the time and can barely drag myself out of bed in the mornings.  When I'm tired I get grumpy.  I've been feeling pretty unmotivated and not feeling so inspired to go to work.  Today I reached my boiling point when yet another Aussie made a dumb Canada comment.  Some of these people are so clueless!  Also had enough of my Aussie co-workers making Canada jokes.  It was funny the first week.  I've been there over two months now, it's not funny anymore.  Here are some examples:

No, I'm not a professional skier.  Do you think if I was I would move to a country that has crap hills?
Do I look like I play hockey or chop wood?  Not really.
Ya, I'm really afraid that when I live in a large city I might find a bear in my yard.
Toronto is not our only city.
Australian humor is NOT the same as Canadian humor.
No I don't speak French as a first language, but if I did I would tell you you're an a-hole.
Is life in Oz the stereotype you see on postcards?  Not usually.  Which means Canada probably isn't either.
Most of us don't say "Eh".

I'm home in less then two months.  This week I wish I'd be staying home for good and getting out of Oz.  Missing everyone, the comforts of home, and not getting made fun of for being Canadian.  I'm so up and down with how I feel about this country.  If Joel hated it here we'd be out of here much sooner, but he loves it so it makes deciding what to do that much harder.

Australian Thanksgiving

 

A couple weeks ago we went over to our new friends Christina and Josh's for dinner.  It was our turn to return the favor this month.  Christina asked if we could do this dinner as an early Thanksgiving  (American Thanksgiving is next week).  We didn't celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October this year (Joel was on the road with Dean and Alana) so I thought that sounded good.

We had ham instead of turkey (which is expensive here), potatoes, salad, and garlic bread, along with a few bottles of wine.  I looked for pie for dessert but couldn't find any as it's not popular in Oz.  But we had an even better dessert- champagne jello shooters topped with pop rocks!  Pretty awesome.

To be like real US Thanksgiving, Christina and I went shopping for Christmas decorations today!  It's pretty odd shopping for that kind of stuff in summer weather, but we still had fun looking.  We ended up having the most luck at Ikea.  They have awesome decorations this year!  It was Christina's first time going to an Ikea and she's hooked!  And she got just excited as me in the storage and organization section, lol.  I picked up a few garland things to put up in our bedroom.  Debated on buying a little tree, but I think I'll just hang them over the windows.  Not sure how soon I'll get this up.  I also picked up some Christmas cards, as I'll have to send them out sooner to make sure they get delivered on time.  I have never brought anything Christmas related this early before!

I also bought a cheapie shelf for the bedroom at K-mart.  Our current storage situation is driving me nuts.  I put it together with a knife (why don't we have a screw driver?) so got a bit frustrated, but it's built and the closet seems a bit more organized now.  Now that I know we'll be here for awhile I'll be doing more of this.  I'm obsessed with organizing things.

48 Hour Birthday

My birthday is on November 15.  This year I got to celebrate it over two days thanks to me living in a different timezone then my friends and family!  Since Edmonton is eighteen hours behind Sydney I had texts coming in all day my Thursday (my birthday here in Oz) and my Friday (my birthday back home).

The day started with a phone call from my Mom singing "Happy Birthday."  At work everyone wished me a good day.  Around noon I got called up to see Steve, my boss.  I thought I was in trouble as he told me to wait in the corner for a minute!  Then the salon burst into "Happy Birthday" and cupcakes and candles were brought out.  I was so surprised!  It got better after lunch when I had a giant bouquet of flowers delivered to me from Joel.  All my favorites.

After work some of the staff took me out to Bar 333 for celebratory champagne.  (We had to have an extra seat for my flowers).  We had a few drinks and fries but weren't out too late as we all had to work in the morning.  I had to carry my flowers home on the train and I almost knocked a few people out with them!

Thanks to everyone for sending me birthday cards and gifts!  I had some great surprises come in the mail (including some Kraft Dinner!).  I lucked out and received FIVE new charms for my Pandora bracelet.  Getting pretty full!

Happy Birthday Jill!

Happy Birthday to my partner in crime Jill! 

 Miss you and will be drinking, I mean thinking, of you today.

Also Happy Birthday to Jacki and Belated Birthday to Cindy!

Christmas in Sydney

Christmas has officially landed in Sydney!  It was starting to appear before Halloween, but is now in full force.  Last night we were cutting through the QVB building from the train and saw their giant Christmas tree.  It is four stories high and is decorated with Swarovski crystals.  So beautiful.  The whole shopping center is lit with lights and is pretty magical.  My replacement for the Legislative Christmas lights!  Normally I say no to anything Christmas related before my birthday on the fifteenth for fear that it will bring on early snow, but there is no chance of that this year so bring it on!

 Hard to believe that Christmas is coming when the outdoors look like this...

Melbourne Cup Day

The first Tuesday of November is a big day for Australians.  It's Melbourne Cup Day, the biggest horse race of the year.  It's nicknamed "the race that stops time" because everyone literally drops everything for it.  It's a public holiday in Melbourne.  The rest of Oz will usually finish work at lunch time, then proceed to drink their faces off for the next several hours, taking a time out for ten minutes at three o'clock to watch the big race.  As the Aussies love to bet, everyone puts down big money on their horse of choice.  There were betting stations set up in Martin Place (one of the main squares in the CBD) and in the morning before work they were all getting their bets in. 

It's also typical for people to get quite dressed up.  Men wear fancy suits, ladies their best dresses and the all important fastenator.  My co-worker Shannon made me one to wear to work.  There were about five of us wearing headpieces.

We didn't get the afternoon off for the cup, but our clients did!  This meant in the afternoon we had all of four clients!  There were a few more booked in but they either cancelled or were too drunk to show up.

I went to The Argyle in The Rocks for drinks after work with some of the girls.  It was still packed and we ran into many people who had been drinking for hours.  Sure there were some awkward moments in the office this morning...

Sculptures By the Sea

On Sunday I met up with Christina, my co-worker and new Sunday sightseeing partner, and headed to Bondi for Sculptures by the Sea.  This is an annual art event.  The cliff walk from Bondi to Tamarama Beach is decorated with all kinds of interesting sculptures, some very modern, some pretty funky, for two weeks.  The day started out cloudy, but as soon as we hit the beach the sun came out.  It was pretty hot and unfortunately both of us had forgot our sunscreen and got a little burned (me more so then California-girl Christina).  The walk was PACKED with people.  After about an hour we'd had too much sun, so went and sat in the shade for lunch.

  I'm glad I have someone to sight-see with now!  Christina was living in New Zealand for awhile with her boyfriend, then came over to Oz to visa hop while her NZ partner visa processes.  She doesn't know a ton of people here either, and we bonded at work over all the great products of North America (ie cereals), so now we both have someone to hang with (and reminisce about all the things we miss from home).

This one was made out of t-shirts.  Can you imagine rolling this many?

Halloween?

This was my first Halloween out of Canada and it was the least Halloween-y feeling one ever.  First, it was like twenty nine degrees here.  Not exactly the trick or treating weather I grew up with!  Half my clients didn't even know it was Halloween today.  There were no spooky stories or festive movies.  Not many stores had decorations out and the Halloween candy selection at Coles was minimal to none.  It didn't feel like Halloween at all.  Not a big holiday here.  It's getting bigger as more westerners move to Oz, but most Aussies don't get the point of Halloween.  I didn't do anything to celebrate, except for eating some of the candy at work!  I did go out with some friends on Saturday and did some drinking and story telling, which is not far off my traditional Halloween celebration!

Here's some spooky Halloween decor courtesy of my friendly neighborhood spiders!

Now it's November already!  Wow.  Ten months in Oz.  Hope my birthday month is as good this year as it was last year.  Already got my first treat in the mail!

Decision... Made!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've written- it's been a busy and stressful few days!

Everyday I've been trying to decide what is the best decision- to stay in Oz or come home.  Last week I talked to my bosses about it and they said they want me to stay and would sponsor me on a working visa, but I had till the end of the week to decide!  Talk about pressure.

I spent every second stressing about what to do.  There was a lot of heated discussions with Joel (who's always been pro-Oz), many skype calls home, and a lot of tears.  I really didn't know what the right answer was.  I miss everyone at home a lot, as well as many Canadian comforts.  But I love Sydney and my job here.  Part of me was saying go home, you've had your adventure.  But another voice was saying stay.  Somewhere deep down I knew that going home to my old life would be a let down.  Not that life was bad, it was awesome, but I've grown so much in the last ten months that it would feel different going back.

The deciding factor ended up being my boss, Steve.  I told him I really didn't know what to do.  He said I'm a very talented stylist and awesome person and that he'd do whatever it took to keep me as part of the team.  He had so many wonderful things to say about me.  That was all I needed to hear to cement my choice.  Working at Detail is going to give me amazing opportunities that I would never have and I'm going to grow even more as a stylist.  I decided then and there that I'd go for it- do something a little scary and out of my comfort zone and stay in Oz! I have nothing to lose by staying.

So we will be living in Oz longer!  How long I'm not sure.  I made one big decision and a huge weight is off my shoulders, so I'm not in a rush to stress about the next step.  I know there are going to be a couple very upset friends and family in Canada about this, but I need to live my life for me and do what I need to do.

The visa that I'm applying for is a work sponsored visa.  I can stay and work for up to three years or terminate it sooner if I so choose.  As Joel is my spouse he is de facto on my visa.  We're getting started on application right away.

As far as coming home, I'm planning to be back for two weeks in January.  Still figuring out dates, as visa dates are a little restrictive of when I can travel.  I have a return already booked (we had to have one to be granted our current visa) so I just have to pay a change fee for a date change.  I've got enough airmiles to get back to Sydney from YEG.  Unfortunately we don't have enough money for Joel to come, so he'll be staying in Oz.  (He already got three weeks off when Dean was here anyway, now it's my turn!).  Hopefully I will have my dates confirmed soon and I'll let everyone know ASAP so I can fit a visit in with everyone!

Both Joel and I will be back mid to late August for three to four weeks.  I'm going to be a bridesmaid for my cousin Larissa (yay!)  on September 7, so I'll be home early for all the fun wedding festivities.  I'm so excited to get to be a bridesmaid again!  This was an unexpected surprise and I feel very honored to be asked to be a part of her special day!