What I Learned in Australia, or at least what I thought about on my plane ride back

So I was feeling pretty bummed that my trip went the way it did. Specifically that I was coming back early, that Melbourne and especially the place I was living was driving me crazy, and that I didn't see the things I really had my heart set on seeing.
I got a happy feeling as soon as I was on the second flight out of three to come home however. I realized that the trip hadn't been a total waste (of time, money, and career opportunities) but that I had indeed learned a few things.
So I am going to try to sum up the things I learned starting with what is specific to me and then moving more general to how I think society might improve. A big leap, I know.

So number 1, don't get caught up in the moment and just rush into things without really thinking them through. Pay attention to your finances and how you will have money say in a two months' time and CERTAINLY DO NOT get into a bad situation without at least one good friend to eat ice cream with you when you get depressed about the situation you got yourself into...
2. Don't count on someone or give your heart away to someone before you really know her or him, definitely do not do this twice in a row...
3. Don't get involved with a roommate (a duh...)
4. It's nice to be in a beautiful place with beautiful weather, but it doesn't mean anything if you are sitting alone in your room missing your friends and family.
Friends and family are super super important

ok now getting on to the stuff I thought was super smart of me at the time while on the plane that I want to take to a global level.

There are two things I learned/experienced first hand in Australia

1. The more desperate you feel, the more you will consider doing.

2. The less personally invested/involved we are, the less we care.

So in Australia I went to work on a farm, making practically no money, all because I thought Australia was so awesome and that I was going to want to stay there an extra year FOR SURE. I went to work on a farm, making $100/wk just to be eligible for my second year working visa. When I got back from the farm, I used the money I made to pay my $715 rent in Melbourne for a room the size of a closet. It happened to be the start of the summer holidays when I got back so no there was teaching work and I was going to be BROKE. I needed a job ASAP so I put this add up on gumtree. I said I was looking for babysitting/tutoring or waitress work. I got the creepiest responses and not one that was actually for a decent job. Time went on and I started getting really anxious and wondering what I was going to do. Then I started going through the responses I was getting. Would you like to model? Could I massage you for $50 dollars an hour as I need someone to practice on? Could you put on something similar to leggings and sit on my face? (I shit you not, i really got a message like that) and finally could you meet me in a hotel room, I will pay you $500-1000 an hour.

Wait... $500-1000/hr. There is no way I am going to do it but that is A LOT of money. The would cover my rent for the next month and I would be able to buy groceries. If i did that three times I could also go traveling AND pay my rent, and buy my groceries... hahah you laugh even considering it. But you know what? I wasn't that broke, I had family that would have supported me if I really needed it and I wasn't living on the street. It's not hard to understand that someone in a worse situation could be tempted to do it.

Which made me realize that if you get your average person into a shitty situation (or let them do it themselves like moi), and even worse, a desperate situation, you could probably get them to do all types of shitty stuff that they otherwise wouldn't consider doing. Shitty stuff such as selling an organ, a child, a body, a soul... you know. That type of stuff.
Then I got to thinking (this was all on the plane ride by the way) if we could get people into less desperate situations, there would probably be a lot of less horrible things going on in the world. No one is really going to sell a kidney on the black market for the hell of it, you know?

Now this leads me to point two. The less invested or involved we are in something, the less we see, the less we care. We all shop at Walmart or Target or whatever similar store you have because we want cheap prices and more often than not, we feel broke (or maybe actually are really broke). So we get all these clothes and stuff there and bing bang boom, we're done shopping and wearing the clothes and we're all proud that we got this bargain. Now we see that the clothes were made in: China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India or whatever other third world nation they might come from. Labour over there is cheaper which is why corporations go over there and most likely what you are wearing was made by a 14 year old girl in some sweat shop making 5 cents an hour. To which someone says "well better they have 5 cents than no money at all." Sure why not? I'm not even going to offer a counter argument. But the same person if told that they had to lock a 14 year old up in a room and get her to sew under the threat of her family starving or a severe beating, probably wouldn't be able to lock the 14 year old up or give her said severe beating. The same as how I could easily steal from a corporation and not bat an eye, (like when my roommate "stole" a plant from whatever store we were in and I thought it was awesome and carried it out for him) YET I wouldn't steal from a lady in the streets selling plants, or a farmer, or someone's mother (and I would have a fit at my roommate and not let him do it either.) Why? Because I care a lot more about an individual...
Or like how I could eat beef but I couldn't actually slaughter a cow myself... I'm going a little wild now but you get my point, what you don't have to actually do yourself, or what you don't have to see and can be ignorant about makes a big difference.
Where am I going with this? Right well the more involved people are, the more personalized things are, the harder it is to actually do something bad to someone. At least that is what I think.

Sooo what I'm thinking is that the world could be made a better place by doing two things:

1. Give people more support so they never feel super desperate
2. Make processes more direct, transparent and personal

Teaching people to really value community, to value life, to value compassion and kindness, basically to love I guess is what it comes down to.

Or I mean if you want to make the world a really bad place then do the opposite. Put people in desperate situations, make them afraid, make them not care about each other and then you could probably get them to do whatever you wanted really...

So ya just thinking about how easily I may have considered becoming a prostitute and how easy it was for me to assist in stealing from a corporation led me into all these thoughts.

I haven't slept in about three days so I could probably have formulated everything I am saying in a much better way. But this is what you get for now.

We should also understand that people's situation/circumstances play a big part in their values and how they evaluate situations/think/act.

Let's love more and help others out as much as we can.

Things may be Picking Up

Today I met another Canadian who lives at my landlord's other place.
We went to the beach. His name is Shane and it's just good to know another person.
He goes to beach volleyball on Wednesdays. It's 20 bucks and you play for an hour or so and then have pizza and drinks. Not too shabby. I think I am going to start going. Should be a good way to meet some people.
I've been chilling a lot with my roommate Brent as well and that is pretty awesome. We have fun and for some reason lucky things always happen when we are together. Weird coincidences, finding money in the street, getting a lift home from the cinema. It's good. I'm going to his family's place for the Christmas holidays and for New Years so that should be nice.
Tomorrow I have a job interview for a clothing store. Hopefully that goes well. If not there are two restos like right across the street where I will apply. Just for the short term. I heard that the people make $25 an hour which isn't bad at all for a fast food type place.
Things seem to be picking up. :)

Highs and Lows

I am not doing so well lately.
I think my aunt was right in saying that it was bad timing for the farm. Too bad I didn't listen.
I've got myself into a little bit of a rough spot. I do not have a job until February and my money is running low. Especially considering I will have another month and a half of rent to pay before I start working again.
I took my roommate's bike and went around the little strip looking if any places had wanted signs in the window. I didn't find any.
I put up an add for tutoring/babysitting or being a waitress on gumtree and I got the creepiest replies back. One was for modelling, one was for letting a guy training to be a masseuse massage me, and two others were pretty much for prostitution. Gumtree; not such a good place to look for jobs.
One of my roommates works at a casino and told me I should apply there so I have sent in my CV. We'll see what happens. If worse comes to worse, I can live on my credit card for a month, that will just suck a little bit.
I think even worse than the employment situation is that lack of friends and family. I feel reallllly lonely. I have to make some friends but I don't really have any connections at the moment to do that. I have my roommates but they all work and aren't around during the day. I'm missing my family and friends reaaaal bad. I guess it's all part of the experience. I don't know.

8-year-old boy parties

So I had all these games planned to help animate this birthday party and none of it was necessary. They just wanted to play guns. They played with guns for about 3 hours straight, minus some small breaks for food. Wooden guns, metal guns, cap guns, you name it, they played it.
Pow Pow Pow all day long.
At least they are easily amused.

10 more days!!!!!!!!!!

Why that's a Woolly Fence you've got there

I just learned in part how to repair fences on the farm.
The sheep escaped and they had to put new fencing up to keep them in. It's kind of funny because whatever part of the fence they escape through, they leave wool behind all over it. I should have taken a picture.

I spent the weekend with Dave in Sydney. I met 6 of his friends from Ireland and they were all super nice. We went out on Friday to a lounge called The Argyle. Saturday afternoon I went to yoga for an hour and a half and then for dinner at his friends place and had amazing food, lots of wine and a big game a scrabble. Big Saturday night on the town, I know. It was actually a lot of fun. Sunday we went to the markets and that was awesome. I got to drive part of the way home as well! Driving standard, it's intense but I'm sure it's fine once you are used to it. I'm getting better. :)

I have 16 days left on the farm. Maybe even less but I'm not sure. Can't wait to get back! Also, my roommate who is a singer/songwriter is shooting a music video on the beach and he asked me to be in it. That should be pretty kool. If it's a success I will put the video up on facebook. hahah

Shake Shake, Shake...

Your bloody clothes out after they have been hanging outside to dry in Australia because if you fail to do so you will find a black spider crawling on the inside of your shirt and down your tummy.


It is a most unpleasant sight and sensation. Gah!!! Also me and my trying-not-to-kill-things way is difficult to manage here. I don't like killing things: one because it's killing them, and two because it's not a nice feeling when they go squish but damn, there are sooo many bugs with this heat that it's almost impossible not to resort to killing shit. Luckily at the cottage I have Dave to kill shit, but he was not here when the spider was crawling along my tummy. I know I have really white skin but nothing makes you realize just how white like having the blackest of black spiders set against it. I actually didn't so much feel it at first as see something that looked a little off in the mirror. What is the huge moving black spot? *Looks down* "Oh, yep... that would be a spider... better get it off and put it outside..."

Who am I kidding, if only my reaction was that calm. It was more like this giant panic of thoughts inside my head that resulted in a verbal "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" The thoughts that went through my head after realizing that there was a spider crawling on me were something like (do you use quotations for thoughts?) "There is a spider on me! There is a spider on me!! Oh my god!! Is it poisonous? Spiders here are so black... Ah there is a spider on me. Get it off! Get it off!" That was accompanied by a yip of fear and disgust and then I knocked it to the floor with my hand. Afterwards I have to say that I did pick it up with a book and throw it outside. I didn't actually kill it. Well I may have in picking it up with the book cover and throwing it outside, but if I did, it wasn't intentional.

I realize I have to stop this though. At home maybe I had the luxury of being kind and compassionate to all beings, but that was because none of them could actually kill me. Spiders here can kill me and so maybe I should be more of the mentality 'it's them of me'.

Last night we had ants in our kitchen among the flies and moths attracted to the light. I then saw what I thought was a cockroach and that was it, bam, time for a MAJOR kitchen clean-up! The kitchen wasn't even bad, there were some crumbs and dirty dishes in the sink but now the kitchen is glistening, spotless, and beautiful. Poor Dave for having to entertain my somewhat neurotic ways, but I could almost feel bugs crawling on me and I couldn't stop thinking about a full bug invasion. Waking up, heading into the kitchen for breakfast, and finding human-sized cockroaches eating my oatmeal while sitting at the table type of bug invasion. You know how it is...
So everything was whisked off of every cleanable surface, all surfaces were sprayed and thoroughly wiped down, chairs, table, garbage bin, recycling and table were moved out to completely clean the floor, all dishes were washed twice and inspected (naw only washed once, now I'm just exaggerating), and anything that could contain a bug such as a box, bag or shoe was put outside.
I feel better about the world.


I'm definitely going to have to find someone that will not only put up with but that will also part take in my crazy clean-ups... this is a must.


(ps it's been 30 days that I've been on the farm!!!)

Social Event of the Year

Yesterday I went to the horse races. Oh boy, was it ever an event. People get all dressed up and many wear hats as if they were on their way to a royal wedding. I've never seen hats like that up close. I wore a hat myself. A designer straw hat probably worth at least $200. Crazy!! Social events and fashion is quite different out here although there are similarities, such as teenagers dressing as skanky as they possibly can. I remember that phase. You are just trying to look sexy but you don't really know what's up or how things should fit or how you appear to others. hahah It was kind of funny for me to see and think about yesterday. There was a fashion show and everything! Besides the fashion, there were other similarities, such as drinking. :) Everyone was drinking and we were invited to stay in this big tent with a few other families. There was a lot of wine and a lot of food and that pretty much makes for good times. :)
I bet on a few horses. One had the most incredible name of Captain, my Captain so of course I had to bet on the one. I think it had a bad start and didn't even cross the finish line though. I made my horse bets based on name alone. So I also bet on Kittens got Claws, Tha Hab, Old Mystique, and I wanted to bet on Strike Me Happy but didn't. Of course Strike me Happy was the big winner. There were about 6 sets of races with different horses in each race. Pretty kool. There were like at least 10 tables of bookies there and you got to see the odds written up either electronically with the fancier bookies or by hand in chalk or on white board with the less technology incline bookies. It was my first time at a horse race and my first time betting on horses. Very fun but I ended up losing money which is a lot less fun. However, it was "play money" given to Dave and I from the family so that made losing hurt a lot less. Dave and I lost $97 dollars between the two of us. It was an experience I will remember for a long time. Don't think I will ever turn into a gambler though. Betting is just fun and it makes watching the races a lot more interesting. I advise people with addictive personalities to stay away from shit like that though. Probably for the best.
Oh and I think I've made somewhat of a decision when it comes to vegetarianism. I will limit my meat intake to 2-3 times a week and I will eat only free-range animal meat. That means that I won't eat any beef or chicken that has been kept in a box or cage with 30+ more chickens and god knows what kind of treatment. I won't eat animals that do not get any decent standard of living. At least free range animals get to chill all day out in the sun on the farm and are fed properly and treated well for the most part. Unlike the mass production of meat that goes to supply McDonald's and KFC and all that. So products here in Oz tell you if it's free range. Chicken is clearly labelled and virtually all beef out here is free range. I will have to look up what the standards are back home and how the labelling works. Free range is more expensive but at least I know I am not supporting horrendous cruelty and animal mistreatment. That will make me feel a hell of a lot better about eating meat. Maybe one day I will become a full veggie but for now I think that this is a great start. :) I would also like to encourage others to do the same where and when possible.

Mulching (Day 8.5)

Working with Al this morning went well. We did some animal yoga, some multiplication tables, a science experiment and report, a spelling "test", and a blog entry. I am starting a blog with him to keep record of some of the things we are doing as well as to teach him to blog and to get him writing. Should be good.

After my morning with Al, I spent a few hours with Trish in the garden. She used to work for Rupert Murdoch actually, learning to garden at his cottage. Pretty awesome! I don't know much about the guy but I know he owns a lot of the media. Pretty controversial stuff I would say. People seem to have strong opinions about him. I can't say I know much about the guy or what he owns. Anywho, I learned about mulching today and I mulched. Mulching is covering up the earth with hay, wood chippings, or a few other things I forget, so that you keep the moisture in and reduce the amount of weeds you get by at least 50%. Pretty kool huh? It gives the garden a nice look as well. I really will have to get out and take pictures of all these things like the rock patio, the garden, George the calf, and the chickens and baby chicks.
Gardening is tough work physically but much more enjoyable than castrating calves or lifting heavy stones and digging holes to put them in. The garden here is beautiful! Again, I will have to take pics. There is this wooden walkway/gate you walk through and all along the posts there are roses growing. I really like it there. I did a bit of yoga standing there but it's not like at home where you can chill in the grass and not worry. You never know when I snake might be around and you want to take caution not to be bitten. If you are bitten you need to wrap the bite and get yourself to the hospital asap where they have the anti-venom. All hospitals have snake and spider anti-venom. I've only seen one snake in all my time so far in Australia though so it's not like a common occurrence but you do have to be aware.
I will be spending more time gardening with Trish, probably twice a week so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully I will learn enough and be able to apply it once I start my own garden. Who knows when that will be but it's knowledge I would like to have. One day I will probably have a house and I would like to have my own garden. More a vegetable garden I think but it wouldn't hurt to have some nice flowers around the front and back of the house. They are pretty and smell nice. :)

Teaching on the Farm (Day 7.5)

I've started teaching Al and it's going well so far. He is 8, and although super duper smart, he is still an 8 year old boy. Getting him enthused about yoga is not the easiest thing in the world but I will find a way. Maths are pretty easy to do with him and we are working on English. English is where most work is needed I believe and that's a good thing because English happens to be what I like best. We are also going to do a bunch of kick-ass science experiments and we go rock collecting and jogging outside all the time. Teaching in the country certainly has it's perks.

Aside from teaching, I feed a calf named George whose Mummy died and I feed the chickens and baby chicks everyday, twice a day. I definitely need to start taking pictures but I left my wire to connect my camera to my computer at my place back in Melbourne like a dummy. So there is no rush on the pictures because I won't be able to post them till I get back in Melbs anyways.

The other guy I am living in the cottage with is named Dave. He is 28 and from Cork. That's the same place where my friend Steve, who I went to visit in Ireland, is from. Dave is pretty chill and we are actually building a patio together. That's right, I am building a patio. How you ask? Well we collect rocks from the fields (which used to be glaciers, the rocks I mean), we load them into the back of the truck, and then we dig and fit the stones together like a jigsaw puzzle to make the patio. I will take pictures of this as well. Who knew I could make a freaking patio? I've never really done anything like that before in my life. It's a hell of a job BUT it's kool to actually make something. I always wonder how people build houses and buildings, like how you actually start, and while this is by no means a building, it's at least building something from scratch and therefore pretty awesome. The family is going to use it in the summer to eat on I think. We have to make the stones level so the chairs and table won't be all over the place and so people won't trip. It's a tricky job but interesting and I get to use a chisel sometimes. I've never used a chisel before this! Ha-ha okay, all that being said, I worked for like 4 hours today on the stone garden patio and I don't really want to see it again for a while :P

Moving on to my next topic. I think time and distance are good indicators as to whether love is true. It definitely gives you perspective on the difference between infatuation and love. I thought I was kind of in love with Florian but now that I don't see him, I don't think much about him at all. I mean he was a nice enough, decent, good looking guy and he seemed pretty kool, but I don't think it was love. Maybe there was the potential for that to develop, but it so was not there yet. I jumped the gun on that one. That being said, with distance and time, I am thinking a lot about one of my roommies. It's only been a week really since I've left Melbourne, but it feels like it's been ages. One, it feels like ages because I'm on a bloody farm doing hard work, but two, I miss him heaps!! So two months is sure going to be a long time. Time is my friend though I realize and we'll see what happens. :)

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks,
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Holy Castrating Calves Batman!

Mindy On the Farm, Day 2

Forget easing into it slowly, let's just get right in there.
Today I stood in various paddocks surrounded by cows. Cows are really big in case you didn't know. Maybe not as big as bulls (let's hope I don't have to go near them) but they are still freaking big and their moos are loud. Coming from the city, you kind of think "yeah, cows go moo" but it's not so much "moo" as it is MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
So I watched cows and calves being round up and corralled. Technically I helped because I was in the truck helping to heard them and I got in and out opening gates and closing them. No one else seemed to have a problem with it, but it is pretty freaking scary standing in the middle of a bunch of cows.
Little did I know what was coming up.
Once the cows were rounded up, they were moved into umm the place where they do stuff do them. Vaccines, marking, I guess branding, and of course, castrating. I saw it all except for the branding, which has either already happened or is to come. I helped move cows along and write out the tags and get the instruments ready. I actually felt like a nurse or doctor helping the surgeon. Except for in this case the surgeon was trying to convince me that I could castrate one of the steers myself. Yea... well I'm adventurous and wanting all kinds of experiences in life but I'm not ready to castrate cows. In fact, watching the whole process, I didn't know whether to throw up, cry, or run away. I did not of those things and I just busied myself in whatever tasks I could so I wouldn't have to think about it. But those moos weren't just moos anymore, they were screams of terror. It's not as bad as I'm making it sound, at least not to everyone here, but to me, oh my goodness, way to get traumatized. So marking calves is basically taking two chunks out of their ears (two because there are 3 farms and this farm does two while another does only one, and the other does 3, poor 3 farm cows...) which they likened to ear piercing but I figure maybe if they took chunks out of our ears when they did it then ya, but it's way worse. So they corral them one at a time into this last gate/fence/place where they become locked in, vaccinated, have their right ear get two chunks taken out, and a number tag put in (government regulation), and then if they are unlucky enough to be male, yet not chosen to be a bull, they get castrated. I didn't know what the castration process was but it's basically an elastic that is put around their testicles until they shrivel up and eventually fall off. I guess that is better than them being straight up cut off like I was imagining was happening. But ya, still not a fun process. The worst was the ears though (maybe not for them but for me) because I could see them bleeding and I knew the calves didn't know what the hell was going on, only that it hurt. Anyways, the whole thing just made me feel bad. And I didn't know what to do. I mean it's only going to be like that one other half day but I didn't know what my participation said about me, or about my opinion of farm-life or if it made any different what I thought or not because it was going to happen regardless. If everyday was like that, I would be fruit picking, that is for sure.

Warning, monologue to be or not to be vegetarian debate ahead
So this whole farm-life is making me think harder about being a vegetarian. I've been trying to be one for quite a while, but only half-ass trying. And now I don't know. This farm treats the animals well (in spite of everything I just went through), they have soo much room to roam and be free and frolic, if cows frolic... It gives farmers a way of life, and they cows have a good life as well before they are sent to the slaughter. Well at least from my perspective they have it alright, I don't know how cows really feel about it. I don't know how smart cows even are, they seem pretty stupid to me but I've only spent one day with them and that's judging a little quickly. Then again, does intelligence matter, should I feel less bad about eating things that are stupid? They are still alive after all and maybe the more stupid they are, the more compassion I should have for them. I don't know. I'm a little mixed up. After today though, I don't know if I can eat beef. Like physically, I don't know if I would be able to put it in my mouth, now that I know better what the whole process is about. When I was a kid, I never liked eating meat much anyways, so maybe no one should have made me and then I would have grown up vegetarian. Now, however, there is some meat I like very much, maybe even as a kid I did but ya, I wonder if I can give it up. I would feel better about myself if I was strong enough to be a vegetarian. I can use the whole borderline anaemic line as to why I shouldn't bother or why it's important for me to eat meat sometimes, which might be true, but it feels a lot like a cop out these days. Gah! Can I give it up? I think this experience might be just the thing I needed to become a full fledged vegetarian. We'll see. I know I couldn't kill an animal, maybe unless I had no other choice, so it feels hypocritical to eat them. If I can't do it myself, how is it okay to let someone else do it and eat it ignorantly? That's what I'm thinking atm, I'm open to other opinions. And sorry, I'm kind of using this space to think, probably doesn't make for the best read.

Anyways, who would have thought I'd be a farmer for 2-3 months? I wonder what experience I will have next. I kind of like having all these different experiences and different jobs. Keeps life interesting... Granted I might not be enjoying the day to day here or the castrating stuff, it's still an interesting experience to look back on one day. The lady who runs the farm here with her husband, has never met someone who has never been on a farm before. This way of life is soooo different than anything I've ever known.

Little Mindy on the Prairie

I am calling Jo-Ann tomorrow and most likely going to the farm by train some time this week, I'm thinking Wednesday. My friend Hanna will come here and pay my rent for two months. I am only going to be gone for about two months :) I think it will be well worth it in order to be able to stay for another year if I should so choose.
Also, I do get paid for the farm work! Mind you not much, but still something. And seeing as how my food and accommodations are covered, I can save the little I make for rent when I get back or going to visit Gail on the Sunshine Coast for Christmas.
I'm looking forward to the experience! I am also a little sad to leave my roommates, but really I'm sure two months will go by in a blink. And it will be nice to work with Jo-Ann's son and to learn how to garden :)

Second Year Working Holiday Visa

In order to extend my working holiday visa for one more year, I need to do three months (88 days to be exact) of farm work. I'm pretty sure I do want to get the extension so I've been keeping my ears open about 2nd year farming experiences. Most people I've talked to have said that fruit and/or veggie picking is really hard work. Some people quit after a day or two, other people stick it out and say it was an amazing experience. I guess it depends on the farm,the work, and on the people you pick with.
My friend Hanna, from Back of Chapel Hostel, went to work on a farm to do some gardening work. She didn't go for the second year holiday visa, just for the experience and for a free place to stay and meals provided. We've kept in touch and she's having a great time living on the farm with a family. This family has two sons (one 8 and one 16) and she is working with one other person. She has her own cottage to stay in as well and she's having a blast, says the family is really nice. So I told her that I am interested.
And she said: "Really? You know you will have to get dirty, right?" I said: "Hahah! That's not a problem."
I kind of expected to get a little dirty doing farm or gardening work. Part of the experience, right? People must think I am a little princess-y or something. If they only saw me as a kid. I was dirty all the time. Loved playing in the park and in the sand.
Anyways, so Hanna told Jo-Ann (the lady who runs the farm) about me and when Jo-Ann heard I was a teacher she became super interested. She wants me to go and teach her son for two hours every morning and then do a little work in the garden in the afternoon. For me this is great. The best of both worlds really. I will get the experience working on a farm AND I will get the experience teaching an 8 year old boy. He is apparently very bright, got 100% on his compulsory Australian math exam and Joann thinks that the school doesn't cater enough to his specific needs. He goes to a school in a one room schoolhouse with one teacher for the whole school. Does Little House on the Prairie come to mind here for anyone else? LoL!
So yea, basically I would go sometime in October by train or bus to the farm, teach and work in the garden everyday. She said that she wants me to have a good time as well and it would not be very difficult work. Also she said it's much much easier than going to pick fruit. I'm very interested. We spoke on the phone and she sounded so nice. Hanna also tells me how wonderful she is. So why not?
Only thing is that I am paying $715/month rent here and I need to find someone to come and stay in my room and cover my rent while I go. I don't get paid to do this farming thing, just accommodations and food covered. Maybe a bit of pay but definite not enough to cover my rent. So I told this to Hanna and she said that she is looking for a room and wants to stay in Melbourne until December when she will go to Sydney. So maybe she will just stay here and I will go where she is. SWAP!

Things just work out really easily here. We'll see what happens. I will keep you posted. I'm sooo excited to work in a garden to tell you the truth. And to get to teach a kid one and one. Teachers never usually get that experience. To be honest I'm more nervous about that than the gardening though. I will have to design a program for the kid or something and I don't have much experience doing that. Hopefully I will be able to figure it all out.
Let me know what you think.

Sydney

Sydney is a really beautiful city.
Getting to Sydney was a wonderful experience for the most part. We camped along the way, slept in the car, looked at the stars, cooked and made campfires. I cuddled with Florian and we woke up to the ocean right near us. We went for a refreshing, although pretty cold, morning dip and got back on the road. That's what the first few days were like.
We stopped at a nature park/zoo and got to be really up close with lots of different animals. I saw my first koala and mother kangaroo with a joey in the pouch. The scenery were drove by was breathtaking.

Then we got to Sydney and things got a lot less wonderful, at least for me. Don't get me wrong, Sydney is beautiful. Probably the nicest city I have ever seen. Having been to San Francisco and coming from Montreal, I think that is really saying something. A huge and free botanical garden right in the middle of the city makes such a difference. It is lovely, brings life to the city and breaks up the concrete monotony. People can stroll along, have picnics, learn all about different plants species or just soak in the amazing surroundings. I really, really loved the botanical gardens.

Darling Harbor in Sydney was equally captivating. So much life and energy there. We made it in time for the Latin festival. There was music and dancing all over the place. I was a little surprised how static the crowd was for the show however. There was music that I just couldn't help but start dancing to and when I looked around, I was one of the very few dancing. A few latinas were feeling the music but everyone else was standing still and looking to the stage. It was interesting because I've never been to a show in Montreal without the crowd going at least a little wild. I thought Australia was even more outgoing. So I'll have to observe this more, which means going to more shows :D hehe
I got to eat Paella and it was super yummy. I'm loving seafood these days by the way, I don't know what's up but yay!
So yes, the harbor was beautiful, the festival was awesome, and a restaurant I went to for dessert was absolutely delicious and had a great few. I'm really impressed with Sydney. I will have to begin exploring Melbourne and what it has to offer as well because I haven't seen much of it yet apart from the schools where I've been working.
This is a few of the harbor at night time.

Sydney also has the beach, bondi beach to be specific. It was very windy and rainy on the day we went to check it out so I'm not going to put up a pic because I don't think it does it justice. So ya I think Sydney is amazing and has a lot to offer. I wouldn't complain if I had to live there, that's for sure. We'll see how Melbourne compares once I start to do the touristy thing here.

But now for the shitty side of the trip. So traveling with two guys...Oye!
Maybe a trip with two guys where one is your boyfriend would be alright, or a trip where there is at least one other girl to keep the guys in line or on their best behavior out of amorous interest, but definitely not a trip with two guys looking to hook-up with practically anything. Or maybe even a trip with nice and decent guys (if that is not an oxymoron). I got to know more about the guy psyche than I ever wanted to know. Had to hear shitty pick-up lines being rehearsed. Had to hear how women are irrational and crazy. Had to hear that I should be able to go to the bathroom by the side of the road or sleep in a bloody parking lot. Had to eat fucking McDonald's like a million times. Had to make friends fast at Darling Harbor because the guys said they would be back and freaking left me there on my own for like 2+ hours. Not to mention how at the hostel, at the pub, and at the club we barely talked because I would interfere with them getting their mack on. I've never been so happy about being able to speak French in my life because I was able to make friends with a bunch of people from France at the hostel. (<3 to French people, especially with hot accents.) The hostel we only stayed at for one night because the rest of the time we slept in a car...
Man, I got sick on the way back home too. The needing to use the bathroom desperately kind of sick and what does the guy I'm coming home with do? He pulls off of the highway next to a bloody field in the daylight and says it's a perfect spot for him to go to the bathroom. Gets out of the car, pulls out his obviously superior male genitalia and goes for a piss. Tells me I can go to the bathroom there as well. Well let me tell you, I almost lost my shit.
"Does it look like I have a penis? Do you think I want to take a shit next to a field alongside the highway? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Seriously, I mean have a little decency, I'm sick from eating god damn McDonald's as my main diet, not to mention I've been trying not to eat meat and doing pretty freaking well before this road trip, so now my stomach is majorly messed up. And you want me to go alongside the road? Really?!? really???
And that's just one example. I also wasn't permitted to listen to the radio or put the heat on when I was cold. No no, the AC is a must. We can't open the windows because that wastes gas. I hate the god damn AC and I like the radio and I don't want to listen to your shit music for the 3rd time around. Ok to be fair, a lot of the music was alright. But no one wants to hear the same stuff over and over. And you know what? I'm paying for the trip just like you and who do you think you are? These are just all my thoughts and what was going through my head. So yea, that side of the trip much less glamorous but will probably make for some funny memories later.

Anyways, I'm either a sucker for punishment or wanting a renewal of faith in men because I am going for another road trip this weekend coming up with two other guys. Two of my roommates actually. They seem super nice, but now my saying is, you never know someone until you road trip with him (or her). :P Dylan invited me to his home in the country where he grew up and I'm really excited to see that. Brent is going to come as well I think. Feels like an authentic Australian experience. I'm looking forward to seeing where Dylan grew up, to meeting his family and his friends. Should be really fun! I was also invited to a Canadian Thanksgiving party by some really kool Canadian teachers that I met through work and I would love to attend but I don't want to pass up this country experience. I've celebrated Canadian thanksgiving all my life so I think it's OK to miss it once. So ya, here is to a WAAAAY better road trip, or at least WAAAY better company!

Road Trip to Sydney

Leaving on a road trip for 10 days with Darren and Florian. Will write all about it once I've returned. I'm going to be sleeping in a tent and sometimes in the car. hehe whoo hoo!! Bondi Beach coming up as well as the opera house, the aquarium and all the little towns along the way.
xoxo

"Ms. D, can I please have a rubber?"

"A what?!?"
"A rubber. You know, so I can erase my work."
"Oh, an eraser?"
"A rubber Ms. D. C'mon, we call them rubbers!"


Hahahah!

It's Saturday Night

Saturday night and I am at home.
I would like to go out but I don't know enough people yet and the last train passes at midnight so even if I went to visit my hostel peeps, I would have to leave early and couldn't really go out unless I wanted to pay for a $30 cab ride. :s
I have a few books I want to read so I guess I will do that. I like reading. I just hope that I make a bunch of friends soon. I didn't go to yoga today because I slept in and I don't have work for the next two weeks so I'm just going to have to go out around the city and meet people hahah We'll see how that goes.
Darren and Florian are planning a road trip to Sydney so I might get in on that. Seeing Sydney wasn't on my to-do list so much, but why not?
I have to get to Uluru (Ayers Rock) at some point as well as the sunshine coast, the great barrier reef, Whitsundays, Philips Island, and the great ocean road. I'm going to look into some tours and maybe do it that way. Also, I will go to Bali and perhaps Thailand at some point, so I am excited about that.
Today is the first day I feel a little lonely. It's hard not to have all your friends who you can just call to go out and do stuff. But I'm sure I will make plenty in a short while.
One of the guys from the hostel called before and invited me out to lunch tomorrow with some of his friends so that is nice. :) I'll try to hit up a yoga class in the morning and then do that for lunch. Should be fun.

Is this where I catch the 703 to Middle Brighton?

I just came back from trying to go check out a new yoga studio. I didn't make it. I looked up how to get to the place online and was happy to find it was only a 15 minute bus ride away. The instructions were to take the bus from the Oakleigh bus depot. Well the depot is really big and I thought it was odd that I couldn't easily find a way in. Finally I did through a parking lot entrance and as I entered I got the feeling I wasn't supposed to be there. There we A LOT of buses and barely any people. Lots of machinery and no bus stops that I could see. I went up to two guys and asked if this was where I got the 703 to Middle Brighton. One smiled at me and said "No, this is the bus depot, where we service the buses." "Right" I said and asked if he knew where I could find the 703 bus stop in that case. We all had a good laugh and he told me I could catch the bus in front of the Macker's. Luckily I learned yesterday that Macker's is what Aussies call McDonald's. hahah so off to the McDonald's I went, with barely any time left to catch the bus. I got to the stop and there was no 703 that stopped there either. Ouf. I decided to come back home and ask my roommates for some directions. Along the way I noticed a bus stop down at the other end where I had passed and I went to take a look. Sure enough it's where I catch the 703 to Middle Brighton. Tomorrow, Friday, or Saturday, I will get to that studio successfully. :)
Hahahah, Oye Mindy!

Props to my Back of Chapel Family

So I've pretty much settled into my new home. I need some hangers for clothes, some q-tips, and some ketchup, but a part from those few things, we're all good.
I like my roommates and I love the ambiance here. It's something I've always dreamed about. I bought a new bed set and it matches my room perfectly. I had one of the best sleeps of my life last night.
The only thing I am missing right now is my hostel buds. I know it sounds crazy, but after being there for 11 nights, I got really attached to some of the friends I made and to the atmosphere. There was always somebody there to hang out with, to cook with, to go to hot yoga with, or just to talk to. Not that there weren't a few creeps, because there were, but overall it was really great. I am going to have a few of those hostel friends over for a BBQ soon. I will provide the lemonade and the salad, and they can bring the other stuff. As well as figure out how the Barbee works.
Yup, I said Barbee. That's pure Australian right there. I catch myself saying "no worries" quite often now, and not like I used to say it at home. There is something about the way Australians say it. Also, Declan is a common name here. I just saw someone with that name on The X Factor (Australian) and I had a student last week with that name and I was at a loss for how to pronounce it. So it is said like "Dick-lan". I'm trying to think if there is anything else I've heard that sounds out. My roommate said "I reckon it is going to rain," which I found quite interesting. British right? hehe I reckon it's getting late and I should go to bed now. Goodnight!

(And obviously I miss my family and friends back in Canada! <3 I don't want anyone feeling hurt or left out. )

New Home

I have come home, well to my new home. I absolutely love it. I love everything about it so far and I love everything about this country as well. I can't believe it.
Teaching is awesome, the people are awesome, the weather is AWESOME, everything is just flowing along. Maybe it has something to do with me currently reading "The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra. It's great!

What else?

I went to a meet and greet event last nite put on by my teaching agency and I got to meet some other young teachers. I got invited to a Canadian Thanksgiving potluck, so I'm looking forward to that. :) I also met this girl that I feel I really click with. She likes yoga and she wants to go to Thailand and Bali. She always wants to work on a farm for a bit, so hopefully we will do some of those things together. :) Her name is Jes and she is from Virginia.

The roommates of my new home also seem amazing. I was worried about being lonely after being with such a good group at the hostel, but I think I worried for nothing. The girl, whose name I unfortunately forget at this particular moment, is a wedding photographer. One of the guys, Brent I think, is a singer/songwriter. And the other guy, Shimon, is the father of a 7 year old girl and supremely interesting to talk to. He also started teaching me how to play guitar tonight so I'm very excited about that. I do want to learn to play an instrument. Guitar will be great until the day I can buy my harp :) So we talked all night about spiritual stuff and the world, and the many things wrong with it, and had dinner together. It was really nice. Especially nice that he made me dinner seeing as I have no food at the moment. I need to hit up a grocery store tomorrow because going to Bikram. Oh! And I had the best lemon of my life tonight, straight from the lemon tree in the backyard :D
I'm going to be making the best lemonade ever!! I'm soo looking forward to it. It was the sweetest lemon I've ever had. I barely puckered my lips, I ate that lemon like it was an orange.

I feel super blessed to be living this life and having such a great experience. xox