Dodgy stuff

Paint it black

2006-06-11T02:55:00.000-07:00

Oh well, there's nothing really to write about except that it will be Queens birthday tomorrow so we got the day off.... I'm more or less happy about that I mean I would like to work to get some money but then again I can't be bothered to work... everyone in my flat is lazy including me and then I just feel like sleeping all day. It must be the hibernation time ;). And no one is really well, Chloe has got a headache, Caroline is still fighting with cough and me with some kind of weird cold. And the frenchie is drinking ;) but he's not teh kind to pass out... just sits around and has fun.
Well I am off listening to some music... there's nothing on TV, it's just as crappy as TV in NZ .. even i they have more channels here it's the same bore ;) hahaha. So I never watch TV here, except the new Simpsons ;).

"But Angie, Angie, ain't it good to be alive?
Angie, Angie, they can't say we never tried"
(Rolling Stones)

It's raining cats and dogs

2006-06-06T04:45:00.000-07:00

Oh dear another day... it is raining so heavily that the streets are impassable. Where I work my shoes are soaked just by passing the street. Well I wouldn't mind in my Jandals but still I have to wear some "nice shoes" hahaha. Just to keep up appearance? for what? Nevermind it is quite funny. At work a nice woman (originally from Switzerland) was talking to me yesterday, today she came and told me another girl from East Germany applied to the company, told me her name and asked me if I know her. Hahaha that is too funny. It's like asking her: do you know this and that person from Sydney? Well chances are 1 to some millions... well nevermind she's such a nice lady. Another one was bitching at me today. I always thought she's bitchy the way she appeared. But now I know for sure. But well I don't care about what she has to say, so I just smiled and went away. I can walk away, but an asshole stays an asshole. Hehehe. I read the book "he's just not that into you" and it's so true. And so funny. Well Gregs advice is common sense but I know that it is so true. Women always make up excuses for the guy... so Greg's telling not to put up with anything because we all deserve the best. And the funniest (but of course very true) are:
Freaks should remain at the circus and not in your apartment. And: You already have one asshole, you don't need another one. Well, good advice!
Anyway I am off planning my trip with Charlotte... Dear I am so sorry. I don't know too. But don't worry we'll figure something out :)

Rainy day

2006-06-05T02:48:00.000-07:00

Today must be the worst day since I arrived... it was raining all day and believe me Sydney is the same like everywhere... not pretty when it's raining. My job was annoying today and generally everyone seems depressed. Except Sha whose girlfriend arrived today from Japan :) how sweet. As for me I bought some good Aldi food (hahaha) and they had some kind of Italian crackers. Very yummy.
Unfortunately Caroline is sick... she is in bed and sleeping, couldn't sleep all night. She said she's gonna do her teaching tomorrow but maybe she will not go, if she's feeling too crappy.
Well apart from that no news, except some horrible incident. I told you about all the homeless people in Sydney right? Well there are not only many - there seem to be suicidal ones as well. I mean, in this weather, without a home and probably without hope in such a city I can understand that. Today on my way home I hear an old woman screaming, I just arrived and saw why. She tried to wake up a homeless old man who was lying on the side of the road near an entrance... his head covered with a plastic bag. I mean not only covered but the head fully inside! I got so scared that he was dead. Luckily after like 30 seconds of her screaming he moved his hands. She told him to take off the plastic bag and said that this is dangerous. I don't think he understood properly but finally he obliged. Well that was scary and I think this is the really sad side of Sydney.
I am off to eat something...

Weekend blues

2006-06-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

(I wrote this last night but just posting it now... )
What a pity, the weekend is nearly over! I wanted to write something on Saturday but I just couldn't get my lazy self to go near the computer... hehehe. Anyway, the weekend was quite dodgy! Of course ... it was my weekend! hahaha just kidding. Well I have to say I miss the Family and Nathan and Olgun of course! So on the weekend I tried to get a little bit into the gay scene of Sydney. But it was more complicated than I thought! ;-)
Friday I came back from work and was bloody tired... every day I get woken up by this girl that lives above... that is so annoying. She gets up at 6 and seems to be jumping around until 6.30 when she finally leaves! I can't believe it is so annoying but it must be the house. Living with 25 people was easier ! ;-)
Anyway I passed out as soon as I came home and woke up somehow desoriented at 8.30pm. Caroline (my room mate) asked me when we should go out, but the weather was so crappy (raining!). I was too tired but as we had made the plan to go into a gay bar on Friday she was in the mood to go out. So around 10.30 pm she said I gotta go out and got me n the mood as well. After trying on a lot of clothes she found some good ones (dodgy enough?) to go out, she just couldn't decide how to wear her belt. Women's problems I say! I am quite happy not to mind. So we went out, because the rain had stopped, and walked all along into Darlinghurst. The problem was I had spend my last 6 dollars on my train ticket to work, so I had exactly 45 cents in my pocket, and I didn't receive the pin number for my bank card because that went to Pepe's address in Darlinghurst. So I dragged her to the old house there, to get my pin number and to be finally able to get some money with my bank card. Luckily Yvette and the dutch girl were there, and my letter as well. Equipped with my pin number we went to Oxford Street, which was easy to find... just walk along Palmer Street (where I lived before). Well in that moment I regretted moving. Darlinghurst is a better place if you wanna be in the scene... gay scene along Oxford Street and there's also Kings Cross just 5 min walk from my old place... hmmm. Anyway we even found the bar where I wanted to go - "Midnight Shift" - only to be stopped by the (gay) bouncers which told me they can't let me in with my shoes. Oh %$&# !!! In Auckland in all gay and latin bars no one cares if you try to go into with Jandals (yes what a NZ word... I know... also called flip flops hehehee). So I couldn't get in with my shoes, and I tried to convince the bouncer but he wouldn't let me go. And of course it is quite useless to shake your butt to a gay bouncer... hahaha. So I didn't even try. We went on and at the next crossroads is the Colombian Hotel - also a gay place. We managed to get in as the bouncers were busy checking other people out... and inside it was quite weird. Well I don't trust these Lonely Planet guides anyway, but at least they give a good overview over the places. The description about the Colombian contains something along the lines of "has a decor to die for". Hmm... well it's not bad (quite good) but under to die for I understand something else! Anyway it looked quite nice to us. A lot of weird people around, some kind of strange love triangle (Caroline said this), because there were 2 guys and a girl and the guys seemed gay but one of them always hugged the girl which was indeed a bit weird, with the other guy staring at him. Maybe he was bisexual who knows. None of my business so I didn't really care. Then it got funny when I tried to get drinks (just coke!) and the barman told me my card will not work there only credit cards?! How weird is that? Oh sorry we do not have Eftpos only credit card? Do these people know that the charges for credit cards are much higher than the usual Eftpos card? Anyway I went back up (upstairs is the cocktail bar) and Caroline went down to catch us 2 cokes. She got the coke and when she came back some kind of weirdo came around. Old crazy looking guy... and started asking us all these questions. Aka what are you doing, where are you from, why are you here, how long are you here... bla bla bla. He bored me and I told him thatI'm a stripper. Well the look on his face was worth it. Of course I had to dance a bit to prove it. The guy (he said he is an Editor... of what I forgot) started to try to chat up Caroline, which she didn't like and soon she turned to me for help, so we started pretending we were lesbians. She held my hand, and he asked for her number, so she said sorry, I am not interested. He asked "in me"? and she said "no in general in guys" hahaha that was funny. Another guy turned up and started asking us, and as I was dancing a bit his friend came over. He looked so gay and danced so well that we assumed he is gay. We had some fun talking to him, and finally the other guy buggered off. The gay asked us if we want a drink, and we said no. Two minutes later the same, so we said ok a coke. He was like "What? Drink your softdrinks at home", so he convinced us to get some vodka and coke. He told me to come over to the bar with him so we went off, and got come drinks. Well that is when things got weird, as he started hitting on us. When I gay guy passed and accidentially seemed to touch his butt he got quite pissed off and started shaking his butt, and said if he liked his hairy butt. We had quite a laugh but then he said "I'm not gay" and we couldn't believe it. He confirmed it again, and now it was not really funny anymore. Well Caroline wanted to stick to the lesbian part and we acted some more to convince them. It was quite dodgy because they started to dance and try to go near Caroline which she didn't like at all, so we soon left the bar and went home at 2am. These guys were so weird, surely one had taken something, as his eyes were weird and he was drinking loads of water.
Anyway Oxford Street is quite funny because they have rainbow flags everywhere, and a lot of funny shops: wig and weird clothing shops, and of course booze stores (oneos called "Lick-her shop" (isn't that dodgy), and a costume shop called House of Priscilla. Hahaha watch their website it's houseofpriscilla.com.au.
Saturday we were so tired again getting woken up early by the same girl. We went to Paddy's Market because I wanted to buy some fruit and Caroline was bored and just wanted to come with me. I bought some stuff, later we went to the Broadway Shopping Centre and tried to find something nice to wear in the gay bar (aka some funny ears, a magic wand or some wings ;-)) but we couldn't really find anything. When we got home we found our flatmates Thomas (French) and Sha (don't know how that is written but he's Irish) already quite drunk.
We made a funny picture session, and everyone agreed to go to the gay bar. Thomas had a pink T-Shirt which we urged him to wear, and because it was too big we told him to put it in his pants because the gay guys will be able to admire his butt. Hahaha that was funny but he didn't take it serious so we all had fun. Soon we found some Santa hats, a big Mexican hat (Miguel told me it's not Mexican! ok) and Sha found some reindeer ears to wear. Some funny pictures were created!

We left for the Midnight Shift and it was definitely full of gays. No straight men in there. That was great, but Thomas couldn't stand it anymore, after about 1 hour we left. Sha was happy and just dancing (enough Alcohol hahaha), and Chloe and Sha managed to get Caroline to dance. Unfortunely we couldn't go upstairs (there was another floor) because you have to pay $20 entry. Now that was too much for us and we moved on. Outside Thomas told me how he hated it to get stared at and checked out by guys! I told him now he knows how the girls feel when guys always check them out! Ha I don't think he found that funny. Anyway they wanted to move on and go to straight bars but I didn't see any drag shows yet and went on to Flinders Street, while they went to Darling Harbour. I found the Flinders Hotel, but there were only butch lesbians in there and a couple of dodgy looking gays, so I left (was a bit too weird for me). Then I found the ARQ which is famous for the drag shows.
I couldn't miss that and I have to say that the $10 entry are well invested. It is really a very nice place with a great lightning and sound system, and downstairs were drag shows on from Midnight until 1am. It was good fun and there were 5 people on stage at once, which is really cool.

The drag shows in the family are not so professional. Best was the entertainer, he came in the innocent schoolgirl look (hahaha) and made a lot of funny jokes. Both a lot of gay and straight people around, a couple of chicks in fancy dresses, probably a hen night and a lot of people wasted (on drugs and alcohol). It was great fun to go to the toilet and meet a lot of drag queens there (they have better bodies than a real girl hahaha).

One of them put glitter on all the girls, and said "a bit of glitter makes everyone look good!" Having learned my wisdom for the night I went out smiling and glittery.
A bit sad though is to see that some people take a lot of time on the girls loo. Doing drugs of course. It seems the gay scene is quite a lot into such things, the same as in Auckland. Anyway between two drag shows a guy came up and asked me where I am from and the usual stuff, turned out he was a catering manager in the Navy. A nice guy, danced very funny and asked me to watch out for his lager when he went to the loo. Now I assume he's gay (he was acting very gay) but as I was bit suspicious from the bad experience the day before I took my distance. It is quite sad as usually gays are great people and good to have fun with. But he told me he goes there often so if I go there again I'll probably meet him again.
I also met a gay couple from Adelaide (where the hell is Adelaide hahahaha), they were quite drunk but loved the drag show. They didn't manage though to get their admiration (in the gay bar no one cares where you are from hahaha).
After all the drag shows I was dancing with some other girls I met, and some old guy started annoying me. First he asked me if I wanted a drink and I said no I have one (as if he couldn't see!). Later I sat down and he came and asked me if I wanted to dance. Well I as pissed off and went upstairs on the other dance floor. Why do straight guys go to a gay bar? I mean I don't mind anyone going there but if he would have a bit of brain he would go to a straight bar where the girls are waiting to be chatted up. Guys I am not going to a gay bar to find a guy! I'm happy the guys are into each other and leave me alone. But some dorks don't seem to get it. Anyway I had a good night and came home about 3am. Chloe was already home but the others came 20 minutes later.
In general I think the gay scene really is quite big in Sydney. And the best thing is that people are more open about it and there are a lot of gay bars. One day I will check out the one where part of the movie "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" was made. Well that place is a must see, but otherwise I think I prefer not to go out too much here. It is so expensive and I went out so much the last months in Auckland ;-) I already caught up for it.
The funny thing is that I never saw the movie "Priscilla..."! I think I have to watch it now. Good to know that they are making a stage show "Priscilla..." now, and one of the drag queens from the ARQ will be part of that! They were quite proud. And the funny thing is that on Saturday night one of the guys that made the movie was in the ARQ as well. They even gave him the microphone and he said he works in Asia now and is just back in Sydney for some days. Funny what kind of people are going around. And I have to say in all the gay bars are a lot of Asian boys. Much more than in Auckland. But well in Sydney live much more people as well so maybe the percentage will be the same, who knows.
Today I woke up early again (fucking hell! 8 am!) I think I have to start sleeping with ear plugs.
I invited Miguel for lunch, as he is leaving on Tuesday morning. That is sad, the first friend I made in Sydney is already leaving. He said he doesn't like to go back because it is too hot in Mexico. Oh well I prefer 45 degrees to freezing my ass off here... but ok I can understand after 6 months here .. like a holiday (and some language school) he will miss his friends and of course in Mexico he has to work again.

Now I will go to bed soon... it is already 9.30 pm.
Oh and something else about Sydney... people are trying to be posh here. That sucks. At work I have to wear only posh clothes (where should I get these from?) and I have to wear closed shoes. After 1 and a half years of wearing Jandals I just don't want to go back into this. But I have to... and on Saturday I bought the most old-fashioned shoes in my life! They are so embarassing... wow I would never wear such a stuff if I wouldn't have to. But at least I can practice for later (hahaha) or maybe get used to wearing some shoes like that. I'm already starting to feel old. Or maybe better I am starting to feel that I am too young for this stuff. Or maybe I will never grow into this hahahaa. Anyway it is again so true: you only really appreciate something when you've lost it. So I miss NZ even more... even some managers go to work in Shorts and Jandals hehehe.
Good night everyone...

Life's a journey! Enjoy the trip !

2006-06-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Hi again... that's me... yes... I am trying to keep with with emailing everyone. I am so sorry if I didn't email someone yet. Actually I need Toto's email - can anyone help me? I am sure the frenchies can. Please send me Totos email at least you are living with him and Pili in Christchurch now so ... do your best! Let me know! Thanks a lot.
Apart from trying to catch up with emailing all my friends I need to catch up with all the pictures ... hahaha... some are too dodgy but well I am trying. All the ones from the Family, especially from the last night in the Family... Miss Ribena is waiting ;). I miss it so much! So tomorrow me and the girl I share the room with (she's in one of my pictures!) will go to a gay bar. Hopefully. She said she's never been but she would love to go. And I really want to see if Sydney's reputation for having a great gay scene is true. Nathan when are you coming to see me? :) It'll be much better to go in the gay bar with you.
So today was another day at my job... the third day if I remember right. Yes I have never worked in insurance before but there's always a first time. And it is quite interesting... I mean when you know it it is boring but as I said before it is the experience that counts. So after doing a lot of invoicing, filing and rate calculations I will be doing something else tomorrow. I can't see it happening yet but we will see. I learned some stuff like: that Australia has different GST rates in its states, NSW has only 5 % and WA has 11% ! And the Income Protection Insurance which my company is doing is calculated at different rates. Rates have just gone up so I have to make sure to use the correct rate for each calculation, and then there's something called EBA or similar (whatever that stands for) it means they guaranteed a rate to a company for a certain time, until the EBA expires. Or somethign like that ;). Anyway I still don't know what underwriting is. But maybe I will find out. Anyway very funny stuff seems to happen in Claims. Someone filed a claim for "infection of the skin of the penis caused by a bite" hahahaha. I can't believe it. How can someone claim something like that? The best thing is the people that work in claims have to call him up and check if the claim is valid. Hahaha. "Hi Sir, I hope you are having a nice day, so how's your penis today?" hahaaha. I don't want that job! That is just cruel and I am sure it is impossible not to laugh.
Anyway ... in the office... life is going on... nothing really important happened so far. People are all very nice, and an incredibly high number of girls work there. And most of them are very good-looking. That is not bad. In general in Sydney there seems to be a craze for fitness studios or however these places are called. Everyone from the office seems to go there. Someone asked me to go and I said that I have never been in one and I don't want to start now. Well they looked strange at me... but I can't afford to do that... I have no patience anyway to go everyday.. of even 3 times a week...nah. It is funny how interested everyone is in what I eat, or what I am doing, where I have been... probably nothing ever happens there so they are like the typical office ;). Well I know now how funny it was in Auckland. They lack the humour here! And I miss everyone from RH. You're doing good to have fun!
I am just thinking how to get another job to maybe work evenings as well. I mean I am tired enough from that office job and being woken up every morning too early but well.. I could use some more money. I think my camera is dying soon... too crappy. I am healed now from that company... next time it will be a Sony. Remarkably my Mini Disc from Sony still works although it fell down numerous times, I didn't keep it in a proper place and the display got affected in the plane but it is working, and that for 5 years now, so I will try a Sony camera. If someone wants to sponsor me a professional one i would be happy ;) hahaha... just kidding. Anyway next thing I spend a lot of money on will be another camera. My luck is that they die after exactly 2 years, when the guarantee time is over. Happened to my first one, 600 Euros died exactly after the guarantee expired. So just before flying to NZ i bought another one, and now this is like 1 year 6 months old and it starts making dodgy noises. Well that's life. I have to admit though I didn't keep it too nicely packed up while using it.
Anyway I watched the "2006 World Press Photo Exhibition" in the NSW State Library last Friday. AMAZING... if there's such a word for it. Most pictures are incredibly sad... you can't help it but cry. A lot of pictures of the devastated people in Pakistan after the earthquake (and I have a thing for Pakistan since my best friend is from there :) as you know). People after the tsunami. People after a suicide bomber attack... Incredibly moving pictures and I saw many people drying off the tears from their eyes... so it was not only me. Anyway if you get the chance to look at these pictures so do it! It takes about 2 hours but it is worth it. And it was free here... I would have liked to buy the book with all the pictures but it was $40 and another book to carry... I just can't afford that. I just wish I could travel a lot more and have a better camera and be more professional to make great pictures. Maybe I should skip that teaching stuff and study Photography ;) - I just love it. That's when I remember my friend Markel from Spain (Basque country! hahaha) who studied Photography in Bolton... and dod an exchange year to China... well yuo can see his website here he's fantastic!!! I am really thinking to buy a better camera...
Oh by the way if someone asks: I got the message from Nadine (thanks!) that Waseem's door is still always open (haahaha) but he changed rooms with Pili so now if you open his door there will be Pili inside (hahaha).
And: I didn't meet with Eneko - he sent me an email the next morning that he arrived at midnight and it was too late... he left 13.15 from the YHA hostel but then I didn't get his message that day... another opportunity missed at least to catch up for 30 minutes! How sad. Anyway Spain (or Basque country as he says... I say "Basque province!" hahaha) doesn't run away and hopefully we will meet another time. Who knows.
I am eating something now (dodgy noodles... cheap!). I guess if it wasn't for my mothers education I'd die of missing vitamins ;-). Just kidding.
Ciao

Dodgy job

2006-05-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Incredible how dodgy my new job is... hahaha... I got no clothes posh enough... hahaha... more stuff tomorrow it is late... but definitely.. I put the pictures up (finally.. I know I am too slow... after a day on the computer I just can't get myself to switch on my laptop at home! No geek stuff!).
Here's a link to some...
more stuff tomorrow.
view my photos here

New job

2006-05-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

Hey again, I already feel like a geek doing all this posting stuff... well I guess without too many dodgy people around and me being just plain lazy or too bored to go out I got nothing else to do. (I know that's no excuse for geekiness... oh well we will see what I can come up with).
Started my job today, as expected it is plain posh deadly boring office job. How can these people do that for years and years and years... oh dear... anyway people were quite nice and apparently I am replacing someone who is leaving for 6 weeks to Europe... hehehe.. that is nice! But still an insurance company and of course office stuff with lots of girls, and lots of repetetive boredom... but I get money for it so why not. At the moment I don't understand anything - what the hell is underwriting? can someone enlighten me? but anyway it doesn't matter and I guess it is a good experience of what don't want. Has to be in life... if you're not sure what you want it is at least a great step forward to know what you DON'T want.
For now I am wondering again on how this all works out. Gotta get some more of it ;-). A great thing though is that where I work there is an Aldi! Woohoo. Found only 2 German products in there though - Haribo (yeah... had to buy some of course!) and some Marzipan stuff... yummy. But at least - all the stuff they sell is CHEAP which is really helpful. Now I know where I will do my shopping the next 6 weeks. Carrying it in the train will be a nightmare though... after all there's the rush hour back into the city when I leave. And with $5.6 each day the train is not cheap. I am still thinking to buy a bike again that would be great. Just wondering where I could find a cheap one that is not dodgy. Hahaha. I will see.
I gotta say something else: today I treated myself to another of these beautiful teas... hahaha.. but it was too dodgy even for me. It was called oatmeal and almond delight. And it was full of stuff what the birds eat... hahaha... I mean what can I say I expected that.. but not that much. The Wheatgerm tea and the Osmantus Pu-Erh tea I had in Auckland were not comparable! hahaha. Watch this here under promotions... http://www.easywaytea.com.au/
Anyway I think the stuff they have in AKL is similar but they offer different teas. It doesn't seem to be so commercialised as here in Australia. I recommend you to go to Dominion Road and treat yourself. Hehehehe.
Anyway I will go to bed now... it's 11 pm and I gotta get up in the morning.

Finally moved

2006-05-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

Today I had a weird day... couldn't really do anything because the move was planned. So now I am in my new flat, you can't believe how relieved I am because smoking is not allowed here. I can look over the dirty carpets, untidy kitchen, rotten windows, wallpaper coming off etc. ... but the smoke just killed me. So now I got a clean place with nice girls around, and a smoke-free place with free internet and that means finally I will be able to upload some photos... wait and see!
Tomorrow I will start my new job so I can write something about that... hopefully it will not be a too posh office environment and hopefully there will be some young people as well... I miss the RH people, they were so great to work with!
I finally managed to get a library card from the Sydney library because I could provemy address! woohoo! So I took 5 books home and can inform myself with every lonely planet guide possible (hehehe). I might to see where I can travel around Australia, for now I will more likely stay in Sydney until August and when I return from Europe go to travel. Because cars here are more expensive than expected (if you want one that can travel more than 500 km hahaha) and the time I have is just too short. Also I might have another cunning plan of mine (hahaha) which is to go to India for the 2 months of September and October, and then return... hmm don't know if that is so good but for the people that don't know it I actually would like to study Education, a Masters degree, and got no money for the tution fees. So I need to apply for a scholarship, but having studied (bloody! ahaha) Computer Science people will ask me why I want to study Education. So the best thing to show commitment is to go to India (or another poor country as for that I would actually prefer Pakistan) and do a voluntary project - teaching English. And when I return to Australia I will know for sure if teaching is for me or not. The problem is just money - they make you pay so much for these voluntary projects that it is nearly impossible to go if you are not rich. That's why I would love to do a UNV project :). Still need to wait until September so that I can apply for that. But soon... unfortunately they don't seem to need dodgy people like me :'( probably I really should have studied something else. They always need environmental engineers or health related stuff. Maybe I should change my mind and study something like that :)
Anyway anyone got comments about that: http://www.gapguru.com/ProjectDetail.aspx?ItemID=103 ?
Sounds great ... I don't think New Delhi will be my favourite place but it should be ok (the most polluted place in the world... who wouldn't want to go there ! hahaha). OK anyway I was thinking about that. Would cancel all my plans to travel around Europe immediately but at least it would be for a good cause and Europe doesn't run away right... hahaha... i don't need a visa for it either so I prefer to use my time reasonably well by going back to Australia and using up my visa!
Anyway I will see if I can do that, probably it is too expensive. Maybe I will just go back to Australia end of September and travel here. It is definitely much cheaper. And less dodgy in my mother's eyes I am sure ;-). And maybe I should just do some voluntary work here instead.
Anyway I don't want to bore anyone with my crap... better get going and do something useful! Too much planning never works out anyway (erstens kommt es anders, zweitens als man denkt - for the Germans here hahaha).
Sydney is beautiful... Sunday I walked all around circular key again, went into the Rocks and crossed the Harbour Bridge, went to Luna Park and made a lot of beautiful pictures! (At least I hope so! hahaha) but what is not very nice... there are so many homeless people around. It is quite a sad place, maybe it is just the suburbs I am living in. In Darlinghurst you see a lot of homeless, they have either just a blanket which they put on the floor and sleep in dark dodgy corners or some have a kind of matress somewhere and sleep there. Very sad. And where I am living now some drug addicts are going around, and some Aborigines live somewhere near... just heard about it didn't see it yet. Who knows what that is about.
I am going now... gotta get prepared for tomorrow (very German! No I am not tedious!).
Good luck to everyone.
PS. It is sunny here, every day, but still COLD... luckily some degrees more than in NZ but still I feel cold...

No need for stripping

2006-05-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday and I managed to do nothing useful all day. But I think I deserve that because finally yesterday I found a job! That's great because I just arrived last Friday. I just had another interview and after the interview an agency rang me and said we got a job for you, for 6 weeks in an insurance company, just doing office work. $18 per hour. Sounds good to me and although probably the typical 9 to 5 job it will give me money and I can be more relaxed. Talking about money, I finished my last 3 dollars on Friday and had 60 cents left, was starving and thought about what to do... Ok so I went to check my accounts and found out that my money from NZ was transferred to my new Australian account already! Wow it took only 2 days, that's surprising. My money that I transferred to Germany still didn't arrive what will my mother think... probably that I a dodgy and unreliable and whatever...hahaha. So well I will wait for next week and probably call them to check where the money went. I don't like banks but at the moment I qam so happy that the transfer to Oz took only 2 days. So first thing I went to the bank and got some money out... and later went shopping with Miguel which was great... finally some chocolate and cookies and all this dodgy stuff that I couldn't afford with my $240 with which I arrived here. Rent is just too expensive here hehehe. Funny thing as well I was right with my suspicions about this place / suburb I mean. During my interview on Friday the woman (Managing Director or something like this, seemed like a very serious but very nice and posh woman) saw my application form and said: You live in Darlinghurst? The look on her face told me everything but I didn't feel the need to defend myself. Why not! as Waseem would say (heehehe I miss you guy). So I told her yes, and asked why? She said that this place has a reputation and is really dodgy but just some streets further from Kings Cross is Potts Point and that is a beautiful place again... I agreed but anyway I told her it is not too dodgy. At least not for me but that is nothing I would like to discuss with a woman that owns a recruitment consultancy. hehehehe. Anyway time has come and I am moving on Monday, into a flat with 4 rooms nice and very big and I share the room just with 1 english girl... a german girl is moving out Monday so I have to wait for her to leave. Anyway that flat is managed again like in AKL and they got cleaners, it is big and with a big kitchen, bathroom and everything new and it is next to Central Station. 10 dollars more per week but everything inclusive and I don't need to pay money for internet cafes anymore because there is a PC with internet for free. so that is definitely worth the money... and finally no more dodgy flatmates (or probably yes but not SO dodgy hahaha). Speaking of which I just had some fun last night... I was deadly tired and starving and managed to buy some food and cook some pasta. Miguel came around but he didn't seem to like the food. My flatmates were drinking and waiting for the 2 irish guys and one irish girl to come back, who had left 2 hours ago to get a pizza... hahaha. they returned 2 hours later they "got lost" in a pub and had a couple of drinks before returning home. Hahaha same what happened last weekend. Anyway they didn't buy food so Thomas my Scottish flatmate (yes he studied in Paisley where I wanted to go as well which didn't work out but he was surprised I know Paisley hahahaha) got very drunk... and today he has a bad hangover... poor guy. Anyway today the Irish guy cooked for him now so I guess he should be alright soon... because I bought a bottle of Vodka today to have a drink with Miguel and the others. My first alcohol after I left NZ... really! But I guess that will be it because it is even more expensive here than in NZ. Incredible. But good for the liver hahahaa.
The Irish girl was supposed to fly out today, and she missed her flight. No speculations why... hehehe.
Tonight I will meet Eneko I hope that works out... we'll see! Shit that he arrives here so late. 10 pm. Hmm. Anyway some gay bar will be open for us hahahaahha at least it's Saturday. And today was my lazy day anyway. Oh actually I did something good. I read the whole book of Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez "The dirty girls social club". What a book... Olgun you were right it is great. Funny. And so true. Oh dear. It seems every girl got something of these girls... anyway no more about it next will be a book from the library which I can finally get a card for because now I got a bank letter so I can prove my address. The wrong one but i don't care. God in Sydney they need 2 forms of ID and a proof of address to become a library member! But at least it will not cost me because I live in city centre. What kind of strange mindset is that? They only charge you if you live outside of the centre. Hmm weird. Another thought ... last week (actually this week hehe it is not over yet) I met the weirdest Indian ever. Hahaha. I was walking around on George Street after an interview just daydreaming, enjoying the sun and looking for a McDonalds - well I didn't have money to buy food but at least you can use the toilets there for free! In Sydney they make you pay for public toilets! How cruel and stupid... so many homeless people here no wonder they are sleeping in the streets and peeing in the parks. I wouldn't wanna pay for the toilets either. Anyway so I was walking around and suddenly this guy started to ask me how he can get to the opera house. I told him I have no idea I am just here for a couple of days (nevermind I have been there last weekend with Miguel but I have no orientation as my friends know .. ) and I wanted to continue. He stopped me and started saying stuff like "your energies are blocked", what are you doing... asked me some stuff and asked me why I am here.... that I don't seem happy and bla bla bla. I found that funny and told him it was my wish to come here because I like travelling. He said but you want some security and I said yes of course but everyone wnats that. I can still afford to do such things as I'm young enough. He continued to talk and said " you wanna go for a coffee with me I will explain to you". Hahaha. I said I would but I gotta go and meet someone to look at a flat. He was like come on just let them be and come in that cafe over there. I said no I really gotta go, maybe tomorrow. He said he's leaving tomorrow to Melbourne, but I said ok then goodbye. He said ok maybe tomorrow I can meet you for lunch? I said I got an interview and he said ok mabe later. I was very amused until he asked me if I wanted to have sex with him. I could just laugh, and said no. How can someone be so fucking dodgy?! Meeting someone n the street and bullshitting them 3 minutes and asking for sex? hmm I think it is either me I seem to attract dodgy people (oh dear what did I do wrong) or maybe that was just a funny incident to make me laugh. Haha sometimes it is so weird. Anyway I was quite sad that time so at least he made me laugh again. Some things fulfill a good purpose even if they are VERY dodgdy! And I think how wonderful it s that I got time to move on Monday and start my work Tuesday. Unplanned but so lucky and maybe there is something about "Il porcellino" in front of Sydney hospital. I rubbed his nose because that is supposed to give you good luck :-). Sorry I just love this stuff, reminds me of Firenze (Florence) there is a similar thing... or maybe the same... Anyone who doesn't know "il porcettino" is a pig, like a statue and some people belief that if they rub the nose they get good luck. Anyway I gotta go now and see if i can find out how to meet Eneko tonight. Ciao until next time!
PS: just remembered it was Ade's birthday. I managed to call him on his cellphone but because I am too ignorant or better unable to coordinate the times I didn't know it was 2 am in Canada. Anyway we had a great long talk and he said he was still working. Ay, dios mio! Despite the crappy connection he was so great to hear and now I'm even more excited ! I will start saving now for my ticket to Pakistan :)

Sydney is stressful

2006-05-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday already... wow incredible! The time went by so fast, I have been looking for jobs all the time. Sydney is incredibly dodgy in that case: full of travellers with working holiday visas (of course... and I am one of them! scary) and just LOADS of companies around which do "event marketing" or some call it "customer services" (yeah right) or "sales and marketing". What they all want is to get people to stand outside somewhere on a stand and try to get people to sign up for something, may it be cable TV or a new mobile phone provider or whatever...
So without knowing it I stepped into this and had a lot of interviews after answering good sounding job ads. About 80 % of interviews have been for these kind of jobs! Not that I mind, but really this kind of job is probably too much in Sydney. Standing in the streets and dealing with people is not the worst thing to do, but not if you have to sell them something. Everyone is so busy, the streets are full and surely people are annoyed being chatted to at every corner. Everywhere I see people are passing these kind of "event marking" people. So these marketing companies promise you $1000 - $1500 per week... hmmm if that was true all travellers must be rich here. Unfortunately I never heard of a traveller who earned so much money.
One company promised me road trips. Told me that it is impossible to get more than $600 per week in Sydney with this sales stuff, because Sydney is over saturated. Oh yes? I didn't notice that at all. So they do road trips to other places, where this sales stuff is not common, and people make up to $2000 a week. And they stay in backpackers or similar places and the company takes out 2 or 3 of your sales to pay for that, so you don't need to pay money to stay there. And sometimes they rent out posh places and pay some 5 sales or more for that. Will be decided by the team. Oh dear. Nearly all projects work on commission only, that means no sales - no money for your work. Most people don't mention that despite my repeated requests to explain to me how and when I get money for doing that. One particular "Managing Director" told me the same thing 3 times despite me asking precise questions which he skilfully avoided to answer and gave me his sales bullshit. Oh dear. These people seem to think their sales pitch works on everyone. After questioning me I questioned him and he seemed to develop a disliking against me, which I could feel the moment he stood up and said: but come back tomorrow to try it for 1 and a half hours so you can see how it works and we can see if you can do it. Come back at 8.30 am so we can team you up with someone for "training". I thought that this is extremely dodgy. How can it be 8.30 am? No one will be going around shopping at that time, people are going to work and the people that are free will not come out before 10 am! I decided not to go, and the next morning the girl from that same agency called me at 9.30 and apologized that the manager made a mistake in the time, if he had called me to let me know that I have to be there 9.30? I said no, she started apologizing. Now I knew that the guy is a %$#&@ and I told her no need to apologize I did not go there anyway and I have no intention to go there now. She swallowed and put the phone down. Oh dear. I think Sydney is not a good place to be, except you have a good working visa / residency because otherwise all these companies just try to use the travellers with the working holiday visa. The restrictions on that prevent you from taking proper work, because you are only allowed to get "temporary" or "casual" employment. all good jobs even if they come with an expiry date are "permanent". Anyway I will not complain I prefer to be free and travel. Hopefully I will get a reasonable job next week. I will try to avoid this sales stuff it is just so hard to make out when they call you for interviews.
Some more about my house hehehe. The dodgyness is incredible. What reminded me of Grafton: One night all had a party and later they went out... some came back at 7 am... and one passed out on the sofa in the kitchen... hehehe. I found him in the morning when I tried to get some food. The kitchen was a mess but I am quite used to that from Grafton. Only thing is: there is no cleaner in this house! Even if Grafton cleaners are not very good at least they make it look good once a day.
Some dodgyness I didn't experience in Grafton: One night I woke up because someone was singing very loud... the next morning I could hear my phone ringing distantly (time to get up? what?) and didn't seem to be able to open my eyes... well is it just me? Usually I am not that lazy? I managed to open my eyes and wondered about the smell... I know that smell... weed! the whole house smelled from weed and my bed is next to the window...all the smell from the kitchen came up into the window. My flatmates had been smoking weed all night probably thats why someone was singing at night? who knows. They were stoned on the sofas in the kitchen... oh dear! I felt stoned as well I was pretty slow that morning and my interview with an agency didn't go very well... hehehe. Now I really know it's time to move on. I went yesterday to see Oscar and he said OK I will sort something out. Come back today.. I will surely do.
Any more news... hmm not yet really. I've been to the cinema because Miguel invited me... it was very nice of him I was so tired because I went around in the city all day... how stressful to look for jobs! and so I allowed myself a tea - they got the same Taiwanese tea places here like the one in AKL on Dominion road! Yay! I just love them. The pearls always inside hehehe. Miguel had missed the movie 6.30 pm because I wasn't there yet... I met him in the cinema and we took the movie at 8pm. His friends didn't wait they watched the earlier movie but he didn't mind to wait for me... how lucky ;-). We watched the Da Vinci Code was quite nice... very interesting anyway.
Yesterday Miguel took me to a party of his language school... very early though at 7pm in the Scubar. Was quite nice his friends are really nice. And some Brazilians as well hehehe. I need to learn more Portuguese that's for sure. We went home early just too tired.... but on the weekend I promised Miguel to have some drinks because he's leaving 6th June... how sad! Well he told me he prefers cold Sydney to Mexico because it is too hot there... oh dear at the moment 47 degrees? Maybe that is really a bit too much. But right now I'd prefer some more than the 22 degrees here. Luckily the sun is shining nearly every day here... can't say that I miss the rain in AKL ! But otherwise I miss AKL guite a lot it was just easier... hehehe.. food much cheaper than here. One bad thing about living in the city is that the food is so expensive. No cheap fruits here as well. I guess I'll stick to the chocolates. I didn't have chocolates in Fiji !!! I have to catch up a lot hahaha.
Going now... more soon...

First time in Sydney

2006-05-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all more or less turbio friends... How are you?! I hope everything is alright! I have finally arrived and kind of settled down in Sydney... oh it is fucking big ! "it's huge!" (one for Carlo) hahaha. I moved in the house where Carlo and Maria used to live... for those of you who knew them... it's incredible how dodgy it is... seems to be in the red light district as well and I already know one Maori transvestite from Auckland! what else can you say .. nothing is better than "HOLY SHIT!" hahaha. Anyway i don't like the house... it is so dirty and old and rotten wood in the windows... ewww. I would like to move into the good house where Rodrigo lived but it seems that Pepe has all his places booked out for the next 2 months... so at the moment I am living with his brother Oscar. They are both from Peru so I think I will go Salsa dancing from now on... instead of the family! They already tried to drag me into the salsa place on Saturday but I felt like I had a bad jetlag. Oh I miss the Family so much but actually I live in the right place to compensate for that... many gay places are around kings cross so just 5 mins walk... hmm I didn't have time to check that yet but I shall try soon. At the moment I am looking for a job and it seems I gotta go either back into a call centre or do dodgy stuff... hahaha.. no I don't mean stripping at least not yet hahahaha. Probably I will end up doing the same stuff as before like customer services... but anyway this job will come with an expiry date of very soon so no worries... maybe I should try to join "event marketing" hahaha... at least they give you more money for less work. But of course there's always Show girls ! hahaha. there is a "showgirls" here as well. 5 mins from my house. so it seems all similar to auckland, just the place where i live is more dodgy! and the accent of the scottish and irish guys is incredible. but apart from that a lot of south americans again. I already met some more turbio brazilians and i live with a colombian and an italian in one room (scary eh) but unfortunately the italian is inutil hahaha just playing computer games and doesn't talk too much. the colombian just arrived one week ago and is studying english and working. but i met a nice mexican guy who showed me around a bit and of course through him i met some more turbio people. and I scared a brazilian by telling him vai se foder (is that written like that) hahaha! At least I learned something useful in Grafton ;). ....

Anyway that's it for now I gotta go home and get some food... too long time at dodgy internet places could damage my eyes... hahahaHope you are all having fun!

ciaoD.

PS: can someone tell me: is Waseems door still ALWAYS open?! ;)

PPS: any more sightings of Bex? hahahaa