My Boring Life

Apologies, again, for going so long without an update. I suppose it's just not something I think about when my day-to-day life seems so regular.

I feel like it's been so long since I've written, that it's not even worth it to play catch-up. Especially because I haven't been doing much.

Now, I know what everyone must be thinking: You're living in Australia, how can you be doing nothing?! Well the answer is simple enough: money. The world revolves around money and I need to make sure I have enough of it to live for the next 2.5 months. Especially because for 6 weeks of that time I won't be working. Yay for summer holidays.

So basically, we can't take a weekend and jet up to the Gold Coast to surf or down to Tasmania to hike. I wish. That would be fantastic. But we need to be smart about money and right now that means saving rather than traveling. I know for a fact that traveling will occur in the new year, though. I have too much I want to see for us not to.

What have I been doing, then, you ask? Well here's a quick list of what I've been occupying my time with over the last few weeks:

• Work, but I suppose that's a given. I've been pretty lucky and have gotten 4 days of work almost every week for the last 4 weeks.
• Knitting! Becca taught me to knit. I'm a fast learner, and I utilized YouTube to learn new knits. So I've kept busy by knitting some Christmas gifts.
• Regular, day-to-day necessities. Laundry, groceries, cooking, bill paying.
• Exploring the city. I've been trying to do this more often, just getting into the city to explore and walk around.
• Movie watching. Looper is a fantastic film, see it!
• Coughing. We're going into summer and I've caught a cold. Fantastic.

Welcome to my boring life.

A New Life in Melbourne

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Things are starting to get more settled here. Yesterday (Tuesday) we picked up our bank cards and started looking at apartments and cell phones. We found out that we can’t use our iPhones from Canada since they are locked into our Canadian providers. There is a place here that can unlock them, but it would cost $160 to unlock mine, and $220 to unlock Becca’s. So that’s totally not happening. Cell phones makes so much more sense here. The providers can unlock them, you can buy SIM cards pretty much anywhere for $2, you don’t get charged for incoming calls or texts (including international!), and the plans are cheaper, too.

Today, we went to get phones. It feels like an official step towards a semi-permanent life in Melbourne. The part that sucks is having to get used to a new phone. It’s not a bad phone, but I know I’ll be missing my iPhone. I like that I won’t have to pay for incoming calls. So to my family and friends that want to call and talk to me and pay for international charges, ask for my number! Hahaha.

We also had our interview with ANZUK today. Now THAT’S an official step for sure. We finished all the registration, signed the papers, gave our start dates (available as of Monday), and can now teach in Melbourne schools! We even have ID cards on lanyards that we have to wear at schools. It says “Teacher.” That’s me. I’m a teacher, and very very soon, I’ll be getting paid to do just that. Crazy.

Now the biggest thing on to-do list is to get an apartment. Ugh. Of course the hard part. We have a couple inspections set up for tomorrow (Thursday), so I’m hoping one of those is our new home. If not, there’s about 3 or 4 open inspection times on Saturday that we’ll go to. We’ll have a pretty big problem if we don’t have a place by the time Becca’s parents leave. We’ll probably stay at a hostel, but we have a lot of stuff... so it’ll be pretty difficult to transport it all to a new place when we do get one. So we’re crossing our fingers to find a place soon.

In other Melbourne news, it’s rainy. It’s windy. It’s cold. And it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. Apparently winter in Melbourne means rain and wind. So... yay. It doesn’t seem like we’ll have to right weather for it, but we’re planning on going to Phillip Island and see the penguins. Hopefully we’ll also go to the Koala Conservation. No other big plans yet. Just find a place, get set up, and get working. Hopefully it happens soon.

Today's the Day!

Yes, that's right. It's flying day. Moving day. Goodbye Canada day.

It's ridiculous to think that in less than 12 hours, I'll be taking off from the Toronto Airport. How can it be so close, and yet still not seem real?

I think the biggest thing is that I don't know what to expect. I've never been to Australia. I've never been on a 15 hour flight. I've never moved to the other side of the world. There are so many I've nevers. So how is it even possible to imagine expecting what it will be like?

Yesterday, Becca and I were talking about how we keep getting asked if we're excited or nervous. Of course, we're both, but neither of these emotions is really showing outwardly. The explanation I came up with is something like this: Excitement is a high feeling, a positive feeling, whereas nervousness has more of a negative, low feeling, more reserved. Pair these two together, and they kind of cancel each other out. We've just kind of platformed in the middle near a feeling of numbness.

So I'm not uninterested or bored with the fact that today is THE DAY. I'm terrified and ecstatic, nervous and excited, and somehow still feeling unprepared. But the one thing I know I am for sure:

I'm ready.

I'm off to Melbourne, Australia!

Yep, you read that right: Australia. This is actually a dream come true. Whenever I thought about traveling, I always thought: Man, would it ever be amazing to go to Australia! And here I go.

Not only am I going to Australia, I'm also going to be living there! Since I've finished school and graduated with my University degrees, I'm off into the world. You know, big girl job, and whatnot.

Well, looking for a big girl job has landed me on a plane to Australia. Melbourne, to be specific. I've been hired as a Casual Relief Teacher (CRT) (supply teacher, to us Canadian folk) with ANZUK Teachers, a company based in Alberta that sends Canadian teachers to the UK and Australia to teach! Like I mentioned, I'll be a CRT, which basically means I'll be working day-to-day. I'll get a call in the morning with a "Yes, you get to make money today!" or a "Nope, sorry. Maybe tomorrow." Either way, I'm going to be in friggen Australia!

I've started this blog more with the purpose of keeping my family and friends back in Canada updated on my life. Since I intend to do a lot more traveling, I've made this blog non-specific to Australia. I hope to fill it with my adventures; with my life.

I hope you're ready to take this journey with me.