This is it. This week is our final week of work. We came, we worked, and now we're just about to get the heck out.
It's been a good time here in Aus, let us recap:
Arrived December 15 2007: acquired furnished apartment
Traveled to NZ March 2008: acquired work and holiday visas
Got jobs in April and May 2008 (Angie and Kane respectively)
Signed 9 month contract and received sponsorship for long-term work visa August 2008
Visit USA November 2008
Visit Tasmania December 2008
And now, May 2009 closes out 10 months of working on our long-term visas and begins our second round of travel adventures.
We will kick off our 4 month vacation with a 3-week road trip up the east coast of Australia. We will drive 3500 kilometers (approx 2500 miles) in 21 days and then fly over to Darwin in the Northern Territory for a short 4-day stint around the famous Kakadu National Park.
After that, in early July, we fly back to Melbourne to take care of any last odds and ends and say goodbye to our awesome Melbourne friends (sad face). On approximately July 9 (happy birthday Kane) we fly to Germany to begin European adventure.
European Adventure summary:
Fly to Munich: hang out with Jon
Fly to Stockholm, witness other blond people for 6 days, return to Munich
Pick up long term rental car in Munich
Road trip with Jon starting Munich: Vienna, Zagreb, Budapest, Krakow
Jon leaves us and we continue to: Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels
Then through the ridiculously expensive Chunnel to England, Scotland, Ireland
Back through rip-off Chunnel: Paris, Switzerland, Italy
Then over to Greece sans automobile.
And that, my friends, is how you do it. Will be blogging the whole way through, please do join us.
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Melbourne Mews
That was my attempt at using alliteration to be cute. Sorry, it won't happen again. I will, however, deliver the intended message: an update on some local news. To start us off, the bushfires are still going, though I'm not sure if any of the ones currently burning are left over from the original fires. I do know that new ones have been lit and that there's a suspected sort of copycat arsonist thing going on here. I have hypothesized that it is a phenomenon not unlike the Columbine shootings in the States; it becomes a sort of "fad" for a while. Sad, but could be true. I'm pretty sure that no one has died from the fires except on that first day, though the count from then is up to 209. Firefighters have been flown in from all around the country and internationally to help fight the fires, and they're still hard at work.
Kane's dad and stepmom were in town for one night last week and will return next week for a couple more nights. They are finishing up a cruise that went around New Zealand and ends in Sydney via Melbourne; we were able to have dinner with them on the night they docked in Melbourne. After the cruise they will drive back down to see us for a couple days next week. It was really good to see them and we're looking forward to hosting them next week as well.
Work has been pretty good; our office is still very busy even with the downturned climate of the economy. Kane and I put in our three months notice and advised our bosses that we will be leaving in June. We haven't sussed out the dates yet, but we intend to do our East Coast of Australia road trip in June, then head over to Europe in July. We have only been doing half-assed planning for both of these trips up until now and we'll need to get it together in the next couple months. We will surely keep you apprised, beloved reader.
I finished my photography class the week before last and I think it was really good for me. I learned the basic functions of all the buttons and gadgets on my camera and how to set them to "standard" settings. We then learned when to deviate from these settings and why, etc. Photo shoots and sharing helped emphasize the points the teacher was making. I feel that I got a lot out of the class and am hopeful that I can use some of the skills that I learned in our upcoming travels. Here are a couple shots (some in collage format) from a shoot we did in the class at Montsalvat.
Next weekend is our big trip with Marc and Alana to Uluru! Will certainly have pics and news (not mews) after that.
Kane's dad and stepmom were in town for one night last week and will return next week for a couple more nights. They are finishing up a cruise that went around New Zealand and ends in Sydney via Melbourne; we were able to have dinner with them on the night they docked in Melbourne. After the cruise they will drive back down to see us for a couple days next week. It was really good to see them and we're looking forward to hosting them next week as well.
Work has been pretty good; our office is still very busy even with the downturned climate of the economy. Kane and I put in our three months notice and advised our bosses that we will be leaving in June. We haven't sussed out the dates yet, but we intend to do our East Coast of Australia road trip in June, then head over to Europe in July. We have only been doing half-assed planning for both of these trips up until now and we'll need to get it together in the next couple months. We will surely keep you apprised, beloved reader.
I finished my photography class the week before last and I think it was really good for me. I learned the basic functions of all the buttons and gadgets on my camera and how to set them to "standard" settings. We then learned when to deviate from these settings and why, etc. Photo shoots and sharing helped emphasize the points the teacher was making. I feel that I got a lot out of the class and am hopeful that I can use some of the skills that I learned in our upcoming travels. Here are a couple shots (some in collage format) from a shoot we did in the class at Montsalvat.
Next weekend is our big trip with Marc and Alana to Uluru! Will certainly have pics and news (not mews) after that.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Down Under
Yep, that's where we are. Just sitting here, way down here. I actually recently read a book by Bill Bryson by this name (Amazon will sell it to you or at least tell you way too much information about it) which was rather amusing. He's a funny guy and though some of it was a bit boring, other parts had me laughing out loud on the tram and it provided a bunch of good info about Australia. I digress. The most recent book that my book club read was Rebecca, apparently a classic novel written in 1938. It was heavy, but I was glad I read it. Very reminiscent of English class in high school. I double digress.
Work is going well for us both, Kane is settling in nicely to BHS. One of my bosses told me that Kane is doing well - good work Kane. Now we can eat lunch, ride the tram, and go to the gym at lunch together again - weee! And, the best part of course, we can talk about work people and work things all day every day. We are immersed. So, that's our life Down Under. We work, we play, it's cold. I can't wait for this stupid winter to be over, it's quite oppressive. I don't think it's much worse than a California winter, but when you don't have a car, leaving the house inevitably means being assaulted by the cold, and even worse, by the wind. Wind that penetrates any type of warm clothing; living by the water has its down sides.
But when Christmas time rolls around, we'll be soaking up the sun. From our apartment. With the air conditioning on. No, we're never satisfied. Still, Australia is treating us well. I even get my driver's license on Thursday, wish me luck!
Work is going well for us both, Kane is settling in nicely to BHS. One of my bosses told me that Kane is doing well - good work Kane. Now we can eat lunch, ride the tram, and go to the gym at lunch together again - weee! And, the best part of course, we can talk about work people and work things all day every day. We are immersed. So, that's our life Down Under. We work, we play, it's cold. I can't wait for this stupid winter to be over, it's quite oppressive. I don't think it's much worse than a California winter, but when you don't have a car, leaving the house inevitably means being assaulted by the cold, and even worse, by the wind. Wind that penetrates any type of warm clothing; living by the water has its down sides.
But when Christmas time rolls around, we'll be soaking up the sun. From our apartment. With the air conditioning on. No, we're never satisfied. Still, Australia is treating us well. I even get my driver's license on Thursday, wish me luck!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Together Again
Monday was Kane's first day at my work! He put in his 2 weeks notice at his work 3 weeks ago (duh) and this was his first week at BHS with me. Thank goodness, we are together again 24/7 and can talk about work people and work things. Ahhhh. I thought maybe we should try working apart, but his job wasn't what he hoped it would be and my job was looking for more help since we're super busy. So, he works 15 feet away from me and is getting settled to the new standards and people and everything else.
In related news, we joined the gym that's right next to our work and have started working out at lunch. We had been doing virtually nothing since we started our jobs 3 months ago. So now my legs are way too sore and we'll be slowly getting back into shape. The down side is that the gym is freaking expensive. We seriously debated joining for like 20 mins sitting in the little foyer/interrogation area at the gym. It costs about $117 per month each. Yep, you read correctly. I believe my dad pays somewhere on the order of $20 a month in Hayward. We used to pay about $40 per month each in SLO. Anyway, now that we've come to terms with them basically stealing from us, Kane has found out that they don't provide towels. He wanted to shower after his workout on Friday and went to ask for a towel only to find that they don't offer them. He's been very pissed about it ever since, mentioning it multiple times outside of the gym. It's just ridiculous. But hopefully we'll stop being so lazy which is basically the goal.
In related news, we joined the gym that's right next to our work and have started working out at lunch. We had been doing virtually nothing since we started our jobs 3 months ago. So now my legs are way too sore and we'll be slowly getting back into shape. The down side is that the gym is freaking expensive. We seriously debated joining for like 20 mins sitting in the little foyer/interrogation area at the gym. It costs about $117 per month each. Yep, you read correctly. I believe my dad pays somewhere on the order of $20 a month in Hayward. We used to pay about $40 per month each in SLO. Anyway, now that we've come to terms with them basically stealing from us, Kane has found out that they don't provide towels. He wanted to shower after his workout on Friday and went to ask for a towel only to find that they don't offer them. He's been very pissed about it ever since, mentioning it multiple times outside of the gym. It's just ridiculous. But hopefully we'll stop being so lazy which is basically the goal.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Busy Week
Well, I've finally found a job, started work, and am way too busy. I've said it before and I'll type it again - when it rains, it pours. I started my new job Monday at a small firm a few miles outside of central Melbourne, only to get an offer on Tuesday from another company that I had also interviewed with. Sheesh. I haven't turned down the offer, but I probably will next week - they really didn't offer me a very high salary in my opinion. Plus I like the work the smaller firm that I'm at does. My bosses are really nice (two guys own the firm together) and the office is nice and easy going. I'm still managing work from Thom, which basically takes up my (early) mornings, nights and weekends, though that work seems to come in waves. We'll see if I manage not to explode from all this - so far so good.Kane is still on the hunt for a job. We talked to a guy at the Engineers Without Borders meeting on Thursday who said he'll talk to some friends of his to see if any of their firms are looking for people. We'll see how that goes - Kane longs for the structure that a job adds to your life. Apparently video games all day every day aren't cutting it. Imagine that.
So, that's the only news here, really. Work work and more work. I'm still managing to juggle EWB meetings, a book club that I recently joined, volunteering for events with the RSPCA, and our American Expat meetup group along with actually doing fun things with our friends. I'm also going to sign up for a photography class at the local Center for Adult Education, just to make sure I really plug up all the possible free time that I may have. I wish I were one of those people who only need like 4 hours of sleep a night, I could be so much more productive. As it is, I succumb to the request of a full 8 hours and sleep away a third of every day. In exchange, my body rarely gets sick - it's rare if I get a cold in a year's time. So, there's trade-offs I guess.
Ok, now I'm just rambling without anything especially interesting to type. So, I bid you adieu until next time. Pictured: "professional Angie".
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Workin' It
A couple weeks ago (they use the term "fortnight" here like a normal word, hehe) we went to a sustainable living festival here in Melbourne and stopped by the Engineers Without Borders booth and subsequently joined the group online. Tonight we went to our first EWB meeting in the city along with about 20+ other local members. We met at a downtown bar and fully expected a handfull of middle aged men in suits dryly discussing engineering topics. We were pleasantly surprised to find a mostly younger crowd (our age or a bit older) about half of which were females and who were all very into the multitude of projects, big and small, that the organization orchestrates. They were also a very social group, appearing to be "our kind of people": smart, involved, fun, professional, extremely good looking...you know who I'm talking about.
As an added bonus, we talked to a few people who suggested that we send our resumes their direction to be passed along to interested parties in their respective companies. Frankly, we were hoping for some sort of networking like this to occur, so we're glad that we fit in and got to talk to some nice folks who may have openings at their places of employment. A group of them even invited us to dinner after the meeting, so we shared a nice meal around a lazy susan in Chinatown. All in all, it was a success and we will be contacting the 2 represented companies tomorrow with our resumes.
In other news, our travel visa runs out (i.e. requires us to leave the country and come back in to renew it) on March 15th. We are planning on heading to NZ just before then for a couple weeks to meet our visa requirement and to apply for a different visa that will allow us to work. This temporary work visa was not available when we left the States and it should help us to get work upon our return. We have to apply and receive this stupid visa while outside the country, which is the only tricky part. They say it only takes 2-4 weeks to process, so we're really hoping that they go faster than the US government is known for so that we can come back and get one of these jobs before the fire goes out. I have faith that we will 1) get our foot (feet?) in the door at at least one company, 2) have an awesome NZ vacation, 3) receive our new work visas in a timely fashion while on vacation, 4) come back to a nice job that pays us money. Cross your fingers for us.
As an added bonus, we talked to a few people who suggested that we send our resumes their direction to be passed along to interested parties in their respective companies. Frankly, we were hoping for some sort of networking like this to occur, so we're glad that we fit in and got to talk to some nice folks who may have openings at their places of employment. A group of them even invited us to dinner after the meeting, so we shared a nice meal around a lazy susan in Chinatown. All in all, it was a success and we will be contacting the 2 represented companies tomorrow with our resumes.
In other news, our travel visa runs out (i.e. requires us to leave the country and come back in to renew it) on March 15th. We are planning on heading to NZ just before then for a couple weeks to meet our visa requirement and to apply for a different visa that will allow us to work. This temporary work visa was not available when we left the States and it should help us to get work upon our return. We have to apply and receive this stupid visa while outside the country, which is the only tricky part. They say it only takes 2-4 weeks to process, so we're really hoping that they go faster than the US government is known for so that we can come back and get one of these jobs before the fire goes out. I have faith that we will 1) get our foot (feet?) in the door at at least one company, 2) have an awesome NZ vacation, 3) receive our new work visas in a timely fashion while on vacation, 4) come back to a nice job that pays us money. Cross your fingers for us.
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