Half way room swap

To all my fans and active blog readers, I’m sorry for not posting much new news lately. Must say nothing entirely interesting has been happening, or maybe it’s just that I’m too used to life here that everything seems normal. I spent a lot of down time writing papers the last couple of weeks. Ok who am I kidding, me and Kristina attempted to write papers but then you know the sun was shining so we went and enjoyed a day on the beach then when the wind picked up we headed to one of our fav spots the vineyard to sit on the patio and enjoy amazing cider. We are obsessed with this new cider, its Swedish and nothing like the sweet sugary hangover prone growers back home.

http://www.rekorderligcider.com/

They are quite large so needless to say after going through two pints of it, after being sun drained Kristina was giddy and I had to walk her home, then go to work. After our unproductive ‘essay writing day’ we decided we finally needed to crack down and spent the next two days cooped up writing. The essay factory produced 4 essays , two mine, two kristinas. I was pretty happy about my work and productivity in crunch time until I reminded myself that there were 2 more due a week and a half later.

my paper writing process

Anyhow, enough school talk, we took Thursday night to celebrate being done assignments and went to a local hostel for ladies night. In preparation we made about 3 L of home-made sangria with cheap Australian box wine called ‘goon’, it really is gross, and then we headed to ladies night.  Apparently ladies night doesn’t mean you get free cover, free/cheap drinks; it merely means that ladies get to participate in a wet t-shirt contest to have the chance to win $500. I’m so broke that I considered it…joking. We hung back from the stage and just enjoyed the good music and relatively cheap drinks, and didn’t hang around too long because we had to stop by Maccers (McDonalds) on the way home (conveniently it was not out of the way…at all, dangerous). My chicken nuggets were standard, but the fries were very disappointing to say the least. At least I got my 1 McDonalds encounter over with.

Two nights ago Kristina and I also underwent the big mid-way room swap. When we initially moved in we thought it would make sense that half way through our time in Melbourne we would swap rooms since one is significantly larger. This way when the boys come to visit and there will be two people living in my room instead of one it’ll be more comfortable and accommodating. I feel like I’m in luxury. This room allows me to be organized with all the closet space (for my massive wardrobe, a bit ridiculous I know).  Although, now that the room swap is done…it means our time in St. Kilda is half way over. Crazy how time flies…on the plus side, it means my other half will be joining me in no time! And I suppose it also means that my birthday is soon. Will definitely be weird not being with all my closest family and friends on this big birthday, but I will be scheduling Skype appointments in, 15 minute time slots to fit you all in since obviously everyone will want to Skype me on my birthday.

my wonderful closet space

big built in wardrobe=organization

Also, since we haven’t been to the city for a while and we’ve become too comfortable in our laid back nook of St Kilda we decided to make a trip into the city for the Taste of Melbourne wine festival. Kristina, Ellen and I were so amused, it really was like a carnival for grown-ups (except for those misguided parents who decided to bring their children and let them act like it was an actual carnival). The venue was beautiful and so so huge, as much food and alcohol as you can think of was available to test and sample, it really was a night made for me! So many good wines, fudge, organic cheeses, macaroons, coffee and liqueurs that we walked around for nearly 4 hours looking at all the displays, sampling wine, doing shots and moving from one food booth to the next and then strategically coming back for seconds after a few waves of other people passed by to make us seem less suspect. Most interesting drink of the night was AGWA, and even though it is pronounced like agua (meaning water) it was anything but. Made from Coca leaves somewhere in the deep dark central rainforest it was very strong with a huge bite, and let’s be honest the sample size was probably equivalent to a double shot. The best food I had were the caramel salted macaroons, simply amazing, so much so that I paid to sample them. Also, best of all….our favourite cider company was there! I tried the apple black current rekorderlig cider, so yum. Such an awesome Thursday night out and well worth the money we spent.

Now on to the next adventures…. 

waiting in front of the royal exhibition centre

inside the taste of melbourne festival

about to try some agwa

one of many wine stations

Ellen and I feeling the alcohol samples a bit

the massive venue

our favorite cider :)

night shot leaving the exhibition centre

Aussie language 101

So we’re doing pretty well surviving as broke students. I finally got paid which means we took a trip to the south Melbourne market. It’s pretty sad what it’s come down to, but my shopping fix now has to be fulfilled by shopping for groceries. It’s depressing when you’re paying 8$ for a loaf of bread and 32$/kg of olives. Regardless, there is some really good food at the local market and we normally end up buying more than we can cook or know how to cook for that matter. The luxurious lifestyle of living at home is but a distant memory and the ghetto, broken imperfections of our Aussie home have now become the norm. My blow heater broke, meaning resorting to sleeping in a fleece, using my ikea blanket to simulate a sleeping bag and then cocooning myself in my duvet, all the while affecting my schedule by making me late in the mornings because of not wanting to leave my cocoon of warmth. The laundry machine that sounds like a combination of a world ending earthquake and world war 3 has now become only a minor noise once a week. And lastly, the language of the Aussies is finally starting to seep into my daily vocab. It’s safe to say my Canadian roots have left me and I’m well on my way to becoming an Aussie native. Some of the vocab might give you a good laugh so I thought I’d include a running list of the words I could think of that make me question the English language.

Aussie-Canadian Dictionary:

How ya going=how are you

EFTPOS=debit

Take away=to go (food/drink order)

Give way=yield

Brekky=breakfast

Stubby=bottle of beer

Pot=glass of beer

Mate=the term you use to address anyone

Mocha= pronounced Maka

Flat white=cappuccino with less foam

Long black=Americano

Fix up=pay for the bill

Sort you out=help you

Rooting= does not mean to cheer for one’s team but to have sex (I made this mistake, horribly)

Footy=football, not soccer or AFL football but Aussie rules football (looks like rugby but different)

G’day=what’s up

Ta=thanks

Yute=truck

Woolie’s=safeway

Pick up with=to meet someone

Bogan=hick

Tuts=tutorial

Ringa=red head

Capsicum= peppers (vegetable)

Sultana=raisin

Muesli=cereal

Tomoato sauce=ketchup

Pineapple=50$ bill

Macca’s=McDonalds

CBD=downtown city center, (stands for city business district)

Uni=university

Queue=line up

Petro=gas

Hire=rent

Power point=electrical outlet

Flannel shirts=plaid

Entrée=appetizer

Lemonade=sprite/7up

Lemon squash=lemonade

Short mac=espresso

Boot=trunk

Panedol=like advil

The only really exciting news that I have to share is that with the end of September approaching I can look forward to my birthday and of course our semester break (which technically is spring break because it’s in the middle of their spring semester). Mitchell and Kris arrive the very day our break begins and we have finalized our plans and booked a trip to Sydney and Byron Bay. The plan is to catch some rays and show the boys how to have fun Aussie style. As the date is fatly approaching I cannot wait but at the same time I have four essays due before then and need to get all that sorted while working full time while counting down and looking forward to being reunited with those I love most.

Although school is picking up full blast we have been studying and doing homework Aussie style as well. The past week has been sunny out and around 19 degrees and Kristina and I headed down to the beach, aka crossed the road, and did our homework readings in the sun along the water. Although we attempted to tan the wind had us layering up again, but all in all the small doses of VIT D were much needed.

This weekend one of our friends was playing in an amateur footy game so a few of our international friends and I decided to go cheer him on. The weather turned out amazing and even though we walked away losing, I definitely walked away with a t-shirt tan…so I suppose it was lose-lose all around. After this real Aussie experience we went for lunch in Ellwood which is a neighbouring town to where we live and we had some pretty amazing Panini’s. To end the day we visited our Aussie friend Jeremy’s family book shop. I could’ve looked in there for hours, but who are we kidding I had no money to buy penguin classics, let alone anything from the sale section. Then it was off to work for some more slave labour.

Sunday was yet another 13 hour day at work where I didn’t see daylight since I was inside all day. Although I was tired beyond belief I decided to join some people from work and say farewell to one of our co-workers who was taking a trip to Asia. Our venue of choice was Apartment 29 which is about a 10 minute walk from our house, and the inside looks like an apartment. It is decorated with bath tubs and beds, couches and dining tables. The night took off with some wine and farewell shots (which I quickly found out was tequila) and ended with some slow dancing with friends and a trip to the 24 hour bakery. The sad news was that my mars layered chocolate cake saw more of the ground than of my mouth but I got home in one piece and spent the most of Monday in serious recovery. This was my first real drinking experience in Australia since every other time has ended up just being casual drinks and me being too cheap to pay for 15$ highballs at the bars.

Although we have two assignments coming up in the next week that I have yet sat down to enjoy, and the fact that work is over taking any and all of my time, the days and weeks are zipping by which means we are closer to the arrival of some Canadian company. I am happy to report the count for Mitchell and Kris to get here is at only 22 days! I cannot wait! Till then I’ll be a typical uni student and leave all my assignments to the last minute and be stressing to get it done in time. Shall post updates of my mental status soon.

Labor and Chocolate

So it’s been such an exciting and eventful week in Melbourne…the only problem is we haven’t been a part of it because we are now full time students. Cadel Evans, the Tour De France winner, returned to Australia and Melbourne was his first stop. Friday afternoon tens of thousands of people gathered in the city center to watch him do his first victory ride in Australia, and at the exact same time we were franticly writing notes in our youth media lecture. That’s life I guess. School is rolling full on and our restaurant has now re-opened after renovations so we are busy as can be.

me waiting for the tram to school

In hopes to cure our brain overload after class on Thursday we ventured to a mall halfway between our place and campus called Chadstone Mall. It happened to be the largest mall in the southern hemisphere and I was lost, excited, overwhelmed, and anxious to check it all out. Surprisingly we only spent 4 hours there, probably because we didn’t dare venture into the prestigious half of the mall that contained stores like Prada, Gucci, Lois Viton and others I hadn’t ever heard of. Either way, going to the mall was a huge mistake. My feet were sore from walking, my hands hurt from carrying my purchases and most of all my bank account hurt, all in all proving that I have no self-control.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse in Melbourne and the glimpses of t-shirt weather have quickly disappeared. The last few days have been abnormally chilly with the temperature dropping to 3 degrees at night. Needless to say I am a permanent ice cube and my hanging laundry won’t dry, life’s hard. I’m thinking about doing some fundraising to be able to purchase some central heating. I’m open to taking international donations as well.

We have discovered the St.Kilda library and have quickly become frequent members. The library has a very good DVD selection so we are saving money on renting movies and filling the void of our TV show’s that have now ended with at least a movie a night. Definitely have come across some interesting movies, most Australian but lots of Hollywood blockbusters too.

I finally went back to work after my little hiatus and the restaurant had doubled in size and within an hour of being at work and trying to navigate the new point of sales systems that no one had a clue about, the entire restaurant was packed and I was running around franticly. It made my vacation seem all too short. One of my tables with 3 guests spent 650$ on a bill! Pretty different from my Pasta Polo bills. Too bad tipping culture isn’t 15% down here.

I got a little time off before I had to work Sunday evening so we spent the afternoon in the gorgeous sun in the city at the chocolate exhibition. Of course if there was to be something to do with chocolate I would find it. The chocolate was crazy expensive but I treated myself and it really was to die for. Not to mention they had amazing chocolate sculptures that made me want to break off a piece… I decided against it. But by the end of the afternoon I was wearing more chocolate that I had actually eaten and I think I might’ve gone into a chocolate coma. Then to top it off that evening at work I served footy players.

ended up wearing more chocolate than I ate

Monday’s are our one day off school a week so naturally we couldn’t leave the flat because the gas company was coming to check our gas meter, for the fourth time they never showed up. Annoying I know. We spent our afternoon doing a little bit of homework and taking turns skyping at the local café, but the most fun we had was looking through drawers at the apartment and finding angel oracle cards which are kind of like tarot cards. The reading Kristina did on herself kind of…um…didn’t work since they told her to be emotionally devoted to God and become some sort of nun. Who knows, maybe all these years of university were a waste, I’m sure her parents will be glad to hear that their money was well spent. Guess this is what happens when you have no working wifi at home.

Heading into a long week of school and work but counting down the days till a favourite person of mine shows up at my door J Ta for now. 

Ps- Spotted: The dog that poops on the pathway and pees by our steps. Going straight to the strata with this pic:) 

back to normal

This week we went out with a big group of exchange students to this tappas bar called Naked for Satan. It features 80 cent tappas mon – weds, so it fit perfectly with our dwindling student budget. Now that we aren’t getting paid for a few weeks while our restaurant is under renovations, cheap food really is a god send.

My tappas bill came to 11$ so if you can do the math you can determine that I ate my fair share of tappas. Making up for my lack of appetite while sick I suppose. I ate more than the guys at our table (which really isn’t saying much since they are skinny Swedes, or maybe I just tell myself that to feel better). On our way home from a social gathering of tappas for 80 cents we ran into some rowdy ladies on the tram. Me and Kristina were discussing how we wanted to visit St.Patrick’s cathedral on Sunday for mass since it’s a beautiful, huge church and some ladies on the tram got into a debate with us and thought that we were joking, and although I’m religious I’m not a bible thumper but I was none the less offended at her rude attack. Our night got more interesting as I decided to run and jump on a palm tree and coaxed Kristina into trying out her acrobatic skills as well and just as she did it the St.Kilda police (which are very hard to come by since there are about 10 for the entire area) pulled up and rolled down the window and we had to give them apologetic looks and walk swiftly in the opposite direction. Anyways, now that Kristina has almost gotten hit by a tram, gotten us completely lost (consistently), eaten candy from Target and decided she didn’t like it and put it back (aka stolen it), displayed a less than lady like pose in the local newspaper and gotten us arrested for public disturbance and indecency I think its safe to say I’m keeping her on a tight leash. Or perhaps she just has cabin fever since she stayed in to look after me sick all weekend (such a good roomie).

Because our Australian friend base is largely Jewish in Melbourne we decided on the beautiful warm sunny day home from school we would walk down the jewish distric by our house and stop in a bakery called glicks for some famous challah bread (pronounced hallah). By the time we got back on the tram and arrived home (7 minutes later) the loaf of bread was done. I guess it really is good. Anyways apart from the fact that I’m converting to Judaism for their amazing bread we also bought bagels. Good thing im getting over my flu so I can visit my long lost friend…the gym.

This weekend we decided to make up for sitting in last weekend so we went out to the local bar the vineyard. We like this place very much because it’s an older crowd and I don’t have to worry about seeing 18 year olds in pre-teen outfits. They were playing reggae funk which was also very cool and casual which made for a nice night out. We made a big trip to the city on Sunday to have mass at one of the most historic cathedrals in Australia and were very glad we did. The cathedral was massive and reminded me of some European type church. We made a day out of it and decided to walk down to center place, which is an alleyway with lots of coffee shops in the city and have some brunch. Brunch was followed by a shopping trip (of course). We did a lot of looking and not a lot of buying which ended up being a good day for us but all in all was fun and we have some good pictures to prove it!

Ps- the night our gas heater fireplace got installed we realized it was leaking again, so it WASN’T fixed. Sacre bleu we have bad luck. Good news is we finally have heat again!

The weekend in

We were lucky to have had the nicest week in Melbourne yet! Every night there was a spectacular sunset with the sky beaming orange and pink. I suppose that’s ONE plus to living across the street from the beach J Kristina and I got home from school one evening and decided to put dinner on hold and go for a walk to catch the sunset. Walking along the beach we got stopped by a journalist who wanted to take our pictures for the local St.Kilda newspaper. Life since then has been very hard, we haven’t been able to leave the house without paparazzi or fans and our phone rings off the hook with all the other newspapers trying to get interviews with us…. Well that’s not entirely the case but if we actually do make it in the paper I’ll post my famous pic, after all he could’ve just been a guy with a camera who creepily wanted our photos.

So after what seemed to be a long week of transit with a tad bit of actual class time, the weekend had arrived. Since our restaurant is closed for renovations I was looking forward to getting some real weekend time in since I had to work the last two weekends without any play. Instead I got sick and watched more television in two days that I have my entire time here. I was very lucky that channel ten (which we have quickly realized has all our fav stuff including master chef and the renovators) pulled through for us with some Hollywood flicks and re-runs of master chef. I did however manage to leave the house for a little excitement on Saturday night. Kristina and I had bought tickets to the Melbourne International Film Festival for Saturday night so I put on enough makeup to make me seem not contagious and drugged up and we were good to go. I am very glad we did because the documentary was hilarious. You’d think that with all the documentaries about advertising and product placement I see in my major at University that I’d want to look for a murder mystery of some sort, but we ended up seeing “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” by director Morgan Spurlock (director of supersize me). Not only was the movie very funny, the director himself came out for a question and answer session at the end. I thought that all in all it was a very cool experience, never thought I’d be in Melbourne listening to one of the largest documentary producers from the U.S.A. speak. Anyhow then it was back home and back to bed for me.

Not surprisingly Sunday I didn’t move from the couch. Technically it’s august first here so I can wish everyone a Happy BC Day, or August long as most people know it. Truly am jealous that my Melbourne adventure has dwindled down to me sitting in pijamas in the same spot on the couch for 10 hours a day while everyone back home gets to enjoy the summer sun. I didn’t think that couch grooves were a real thing until I got up last night to realize that there was an indentation on the couch resembling my huddled body shape. Today has been better thank God, but Monday= homework day= the last possible thing I want to do when sick, but the wind outside won’t stop and we had to run to the grocery store in between wind storms. 70km northly winds have kept us inside. Good news is that the plumbers showed up today with our gas fireplace all fixed up. It wasn’t stolen and now we can be fully heated and warm! Perfect timing. Life at 8/16 Marine Parade is looking up again. If only the neighbours downstairs would stop arguing and the other neighbours dog wouldn’t run around the whole complex leaving poo everywhere. I thought he was cute until he took a liking in doing his business right in front of our steps. When its dark out its hard to make it up the stairs clean.

That is all for now.

Bundled up sick, made a berry crumble

Monash student life

sunny day on campus

The student life

So, I know everyone is probably waiting for interesting updates from down under. Truth is that my life has gotten to be quite standard and usual here. I spent all last week basically working every day. I signed up for the most expensive gym in Melbourne (partially because it has beautiful views of the ocean and beach and partially because I need to stay motivated and also partially because the St.Kilda footy team is said to work out there).

 Sunday was the longest day of my life so far. I started work at 8 in the morning after a late shift the night before and worked until 1am. 17 hours with only one break, my feet are just about broken. The resto was closing for a two week reno so we all had to stay late and tear down shop.

We also started our first week at school. Day one of classes proved to be interesting even though the teachers spoke in a language I’ve never learned in before J Surprisingly I was able to keep up with the profs and all their abbreviated terms and funny lingo. Although today in hopes to attend our second day of school we left the house with about 1 hr 15 minutes to spare (normally it takes us 40 minutes to tram to school) and none of the trams heading to school came. Pretty bizarre and annoying but apparently this is why people complain about the unreliable transit in Melbourne. Feeling like a rebel we headed to the beach since the universe apparently didn’t want us to go to our class today.

Last night we went out to a bar/club that the aussie’s took us to called cheers. I was excited because any place called cheers cannot be bad. Upon arrival I realized I was severly underdressed as girls there were wearing formal dresses, I should’ve known. Dancing on the d-floor was a hazard as drinks were being spilt and people were bumping around everywhere. Being sober I had to take a time out. This was also the first time I felt like an absolute grandma in Melbourne. Everyone at the club was 20 or younger with an average female age of 18. Must find somewhere more age appropriate.

That is literally all for now. My life has become mundane and repetitive but loving every day here. Especially the last few days were gorgeous and sunny. Not quite jacketless weather yet but getting there!

PS- latest about our gas leak, our gas heater is still in repair and we have not heard from the plumber for over a week. He has stolen our fireplace and is MIA, if you see a short plumber with black long hair and facial hair with an unusual Aus accent please notify us ASAP.

PPS- very jealous of the August long weekend to come, so much so that I am making my own national holiday down here and take a relaxing vacay!

Stay classy Vancouver! Till next time.

Orientation Week

This week we finally found our way to our University campus. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere in a suburb that has a mall and not much else, but the campus itself is beautiful, even if we have to take a tram, a train and a bus to get there. At least Kristina and I can keep each other company. There was an organized trip for all the exchange students to china town Melbourne. It really did make me feel at home going to an all you can eat dumpling house. We almost ran into a serious altercation when Kristina’s clumsiness made her kick over a homeless man’s change cup and we had to make a run for it because he started cursing us and thought we were trying to steal his coin. After we were all full to the nines the big group of approx. 80 people headed to a local bar called euro trash. I didn’t know Tuesdays could even be remotely a fun bar night. We were amused by a drunken fellow from Colorado that dressed like euro trash (ironically) and sat by us rapping all the lyrics to slim shady. Needless to say drinks were 5$ each before midnight which was easy on the bank account (for once) but we had an early morning orientation the next day so we didn’t stay late or get too out of hand.

The early mornings in orientation helped us learn some Aussie slang and the best and cheapest ways to get around the city as well as allowed us to meet many different people. Each day was filled with a few questions of Australian trivia and Kristina and I happened to answer questions correctly, meaning we won some cool Aussie souvenirs. Kristina won a traditional boomerang while I won an Aussie football (so exciting since we’re becoming real footy fans as it’s as religious as hockey is back home).

Thursday night consisted of going out to a restaurant lounge called Lucky Coq with the big group for 4$ pizzas. It was so busy when we got there and my stomach couldn’t handle the wait so Kristina, myself and our new found British friend Ellen went in search for something to eat. The bar was located on Chapel Street which is a really funky part of town. After wandering into a set of doors and up and around 4 flights of stairs we found a cool resto called Kernel Tams. It was Asian infused and totally hipster; it also had a live DJ. We ate our crazy spicy stir fries and met up with the group back at Lucky Coq. All these places have really random décor which allows you to look around for hours on end and be amused. The following day we ended the orientation week with a big Amazing Race around campus. Our team was very diverse and although we all ran to each pit stop our polite Canadian nature left us in 5^th out of 12 teams (but number one in our hearts). That night we had our ‘official welcome party’ and it was a formal event at a banquet hall called red scooter. Other than losing my favourite ring (and voice) during a dance off vs. the Swedes it was a fun night that ended late….er….early.

Today I woke up to beautiful sunshine but headed straight to work for my second shift. I didn’t get to see much outside because it was busy all day and I worked from 11am to 11pm with only a short break. I was just about ready to collapse but I suppose it’ll be worth it once my pay check rolls in and I’ll be able to pay my heating and electricity bills J

Bad thing is we’ve gotten sucked into Australian soap operas and reality TV. I guess it was bound to happen since we only have 6 channels and no wifi at the flat as of yet. It also doesn’t help that we have a small kitchen meaning our kitchen table is the couch. Anyways, good news is my new job at Rococo will keep me busy. . The best part is that it’s literally a 5 minute walk from home so convenient and minimum wage is double what it is back home J

We love our neighbourhood, our neighbours, and our apartment is really starting to feel like home. There really isn’t anything negative I could say about our apartment complex…..oh right except that there is a cat that sits outside our bathroom window and meows as if he was dying a long painful death. I guess all Aussie animals are weird and different from back home. Also the minor fact that we found a gas leak coming from our fireplace. Lucky we caught it because apparently it was a very bad leak (said the emergency plumbing services on Sunday night at 11pm). We handled it like adults though by freaking out first and then finding the main gas valve and turning it off, airing out the place and calling someone. :) Safe and sound and not to worry...oh the adventures of living on your own.

More updates to come, stay tuned.