Discovery and family affairs

Hiya! Howz'i'goin'?

I'm officially an uncle! Can't wait to get home and see the little one! I trust my brother to raise her as a true geek, and keeping his wife from making her too much of a girly girl. That just wouldn't do in the Engman clan (and you know it Maria!)

In other news I got completely wasted this weekend, just as planned. I cut my finger and got my first henna-tattoo in the progress. Marvelous.

Yesterday I looked at my bank account and it proved that working actually gets you money! Who could have guessed? The digits are going higher and higher as well! Magic!

Right now I'm sitting outside a travel agency, leeching wifi. It takes me back to Noosa some, when me and Henrik just arrived here, trying to hide in plain sight while stealing their wifi. Ah. We have changed hostel as well and now live on Discovery. It's nicer than Elephant but a little more expensive. Why? Because they closed down our entire floor to demolish it. That meant that everyone on our floor tried to get a room on the floor above and voila, it was super full. What ya gonna' do?

I'll try to update later with some pictures, but for now, laterz!

Work work

Hiya guys and guurls!

So how many cops did it take to change a lightbulb? They don't. They beat the room for being black.

I'm working and earning money like a boss at the moment. Not much left to tell. Well, except:

I now know how to play Somewhere over the rainbow on the ukelele! I'll try to teach myself a couple of songs a week or something. That would be sufficient I think. I'm also doing a lot of drawing and just being creative.

Pew pew

Tomorrow it's party time tough. It's a going away party and I promised Emma I'd get karate-drunk (if there
is a similar expression in english). The day after that is actually party time again. Holy cow.

Really short one this time I guess. Joke? Nah, I'll save one for next time.

Some nice grafitti I found

Cya's!

An ukelele richer

What up!?

As the comment section said in the last post, the number of babies it takes to paint a house, depends on how hard you throw 'em.

I realised there were at least six days missing from my last post to the one before and I can't really figure out where that time has gone. I'll try to remember but for all I know, I might as well have been abducted by aliens.

I am an ukelele richer at least. And I've played three songs on it. It's sort of weird playing on it and it's very small. Can't descide if it was a good idea buying it or if I should have gone with the first idea and bought myself a small guitar instead. Well, 24 dollars insn't much money if I change my mind anyway. Besides, it would be cool coming back to Sweden and just be able to play on a totally new instrument. It's also a lot easier to bring with you then a full sized guitar.

So the last three days I mentioned in the last post. The other three must have been spent just chillaxing, goin out to one or two bars with Henke. Hmmmm. Ah! Digital painting! Of course! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. There's one that's a little... Mature? Kids, hide your eyes!

So what's left? I've been writing some. Been sleeping a lot. Can't think of anything else really. I had to go to the doctors four days ago because my eye was really red. Turned out to be an eye infection. I can't use contacts in at least three weeks, which sucks ass. What are you gonna' do? I need my eyes and I won't risking loosing one of them.

Today I slept long again. Saw a movie called "Grave encounters" that could have been good, but wasn't. Right now I'm designing a tattoo design for myself. I'm also making some freelance work for a guy that wanted a logo for his company. I have two more tattoos to design for two friends here in Melbourne. Maybe I should get my shit together and actually step into a tattoo studio here? Sometimes I wish I wasn't this lazy. But I can do it tomorrow. Right?

Riddle me this: How many cops does it take to change a lightbulb?

See you's!

Broken wifi

Yo!

Sorry for not writing in a while. The wifi at the hostel I'm staying at is down, meaning I feel close to retarded (or a window licker ackording to my new australian lingo).

I've been working my ass off the last three days. I've also been out with a few random people. Henrik left me and went with a mutual friend to some beach or whatever, which ment that I was aaall alone. Poor Filip (or Phil as most people call me down here). I've mostly been working though.

My current status after working 27 hours in three days is: very tired. And sore. And broken.

I'll try to update tomorrow with current events and happenings.

In the meantime, riddle me this: how many babies does it take to paint a house?

Cya suckez!!!

Satan and Graffiti

How's it going?

Today I slept in really long, you know the way that only I can. It is such a wonderful feeling, laying in bed knowing you don't really have to get up at all if you don't want to. Ah.

Suddenly Henrik rattles me and says we are suppose to meet up with Emma. She's been working but wasn't feeling that great because of some painkillers, and she asked if we wanted to keep her company for lunch. I don't know if I've written this already, but Emma lives on the same block as we do, but on the opposite side. The centre of Melbourne is very square, meaning it sorta looks like the straight lines of New York. There are alleyways and shortcuts here and there though, which often contains hidden bars, restaurants or small shops. For lunch today we ate hamburgers that were really awesome, from the small resaurant named Grill'd. It was really nice and even though it was raining it was a good way to start the day.

We sat at Grill'd for some time, jsut chatting and eating, and when we decided to leave the rain had stopped. I have to tell you guys a little about the Melbourne weather. The saying goes that Melbourne can have all four seasons, all on the same day. It could be pissing down on the morning, super warm and sunny in the middle of the day, only to grow really cold and windy at night. It is both nice and annoying. Nice because you know that if you wait some, the weather will eventually get better. Annoying because you know that the nice weather isn't lasting.

So after we ate we went to Fitzroy gardens. We walked arounf, looked at stuff and just enjoyed some sunny weather. We saw a tiny city, a fairy sanctuary, and some modern art.

Tiny city

Fairy sanctuary

After strolling through the park, we descided something to drink was in order. We went to Naked for Satan, a four story bar with a rooftop view, located in the Bronswick area. The view was amazing and I descided to go for their own "Naked for Satan Ale", which I sort of regretted. I have come to the conclusion that some beers are sweeter, and I don't like it. At all. Oh, and the name, Naked for Satan, isn't as bad as it sounds. It was actually a guy named Satanovic that opened the shop, and it was on a really hot summers day. A couple of the waitresses were kind of lighty clothed because of the heat and that's where the name comes from. At least that's what the bartender said.

On a side note, Me drinking beer is weird in its own. Before leaving Sweden I NEVER drank beer. I thought it was disgusting. A mixture between metal and piss as I used to say. That has all changed here. I now don't only drink beer, I actually think it's ok. Maybe it's because Rekorderliga Cider and Kopparbergs Cider is really expensive here. I mean, it isn't uncommon for one Rekorderliga bottle of cider to cost between eight and twelve dollars, or more (that's times 6,5 people back home). 

Anyway, I snapped some photos of the view, and I also snapped some photos of some of the graffiti! I realised after looking through my last post that I mentioned it but that I actually never showed you guys anything. I'll try to have a few in the next posts so you know what I'm talking about.

These are just a few I thought were cool. I'll try to update later as I said and show you some more ones. 

We finished the day by eating pasta bolougnese at Emma's, before heading back to our hostel. At Emma's I asked one of the guys how much he had paid for his little guitar. Turns out he payed 20 $ at K-mart. Guess where I'm going tomorrow?

Cya fools!

PS. Per, if you are reading this, you would have loved one of the stores.

Working and sightseeing

Well hello there!

Long time no see. Was a while ago. 'It wasn't yesterday' as we say in Sweden. Right.

This is probably going to be one of those monster updates. Things have been done, sights have been seen, and I have had no opportunity to update. You know how it is. I'll try to make the reading a little easier with pictures and stuff, but if it gets to awesome for you, go eat something, slap a friend in the face, and return all rejuvenated and fresh. Let's go!

So the last time I updated I was just about to start my new work at Cooper and Millas in Armadale, Melbourne. The restaurant caters to the wealthier people in the area. I work in a kitchen with three chefs and my work is classed as a "kitchen hand", but I feel more like a jack of all trades. Or a slave.

Anyway, the chefs I've talked to all seem like really nice guys. Especially Matt, which has helped me a hell of a lot now in the beginning. All of the people that works there are nice people and they almost seem excited that I'm not australian. I have to say, being swedish does seem to have it's perks!

So my job consists of me going to work by train (about 10-15 minutes), coming in and emptying rubbish bins and the likes, and then the kithen hand work comes into play. It's basically me standing and trying to wash the dishes enough for the washing machine to do it's part of the work, while at the same time be ready to quickly help the chefs if they need anything. I've been readying parscilly, doing the fancy sandwiches that later on gets sold, peeling onions and potatoes and everything else that needs doing. Near the end of my shift the chefs close up and clean their station, and I'm left to empty all the rubbish bins, sweeping and mopping the floors, cleaning the toilets and basically close up the shop. During my double shifts of ten hours I usually get about a fifteen minute break where I can eat something. Don't even know if that's legal, but I really don't care.

I will work about three times a week, ten hours per time, earning 17 dollars an hour. This means plenty of time for fun and games, while still earning an okay amount of money.

So let's start after my first work day. I had just worked ten hours and I was exhausted. It was crazy. My back hurt, my feet hurt and my knees hurt. I was hurting, and feeling like a zombie. It was fantastic. I got home feeling hungry and tired and I was kind of in a bad mood because the owner made some remark before I left. I came in to the hostel and looked for Henrik so we could grab some food. When I couldn't find him in the common room or in our own room I got even more irretated and sent him a text saying "where the fuck are you!?". After giving up I headed for a small restaurant really close to the hostel to get some chinese food. I asked the cashier and she said they had stopped serving warm food for the day. Fuck.

I was on my way to Hungry Jack's (or Burger King for everyone outside of Australia) when I got a text from Henrik saying he was at Melbourne Central at Asian Beer Café, drinking 1 $ champagne and eating 4 $ pizza. I tried texting him back saying "Call me you cunt" when my phone decided I had used all my credit. Mega sigh.

I went into a conveniance store and asked for a 10 $ refill, and he said they only took 20... ARGH. Anyway I charged it and called Henrik feeling just a tad irretated. He explained they had sent a text, which I hadn't received, and that he was with Emma and a couple of more people. I walked there and we went out drinking a few beers and a few drinks. Emma took us to a bar under one of the bridges and it was really nice, even though it was a little cold.

Random photo from within Melbourne Central

Views from the bar under the bridge

The day after I had my second ten hour shift and it went a little better, even though I wasn't as fast as I wanted to be. I had a chat with a few more in the staff and apparently, me wearing a singlet (or wife beater) the first day had distraced some of the waitresses (hehe). Before leaving I got six large sandwiches and three muffins with me that weren't sold. They were awesome.

I came back to the hostel where Elysha (A australian friend of Emma's) and Henrik were waiting. They said I looked like a zombie so I took a shower and freshened up, before we headed out drinking. We went to a couple of places, had a few beers, danced and joked, and then left for sleep kind of late at night. It was really nice. During the night Elysha invited us all to her neighbourhood about 20 minutes train ride out of the city centre and we happily accepted.

I slept like a rock the entire night and in the morning I awoke as someone was shaking the bed. I don't know why but my first reaction was yelling "NOOOO", which made Elysha and Henrik laugh hysterically. Either way we went up and got a the train. We arrived there, got in her car and drove to her grandparents for a quick stop, then continued to Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock is a place of mystery (though I don't believe a word of the story). Apparantly two kids and a teacher got missing there a long time ago and they were never seen again. Oooh spookey. It was quite beautiful though and I got some nice photos.

After finishing our hike in the "mountains" we headed for Elysha's Aunt who lives in a really beautiful and big house. We talked some with her aunt and uncle and then we headed for her dad's place where we would spend the night. Before that however, we went out eating at a vietnamese restaurant and I got to tell you, the food was awesome. Like really really good. After the food we went and rented some movies and bought some snacks and we spent the remainder of the evening watching "A history of violence" which was really unexpected in a good kind of way. It was like a Tarantino movie in disguise with a timid Aragorn as the main character.

The morning after we got a royal breakfast with bacon, eggs, roasted veggies and a smoothie. It was awesome. After chilling out some and listening to music, we headed to Sydney road, where there's a lot of second hand stores. I bought two sweaters, mostly because I'm always wearing my blue one at the moment and I need some change. We went further into town and grabbed a falafel, had some hot chocolate and Elysha showed us St. Kilda and St. Kilda beach. St. Kilda seems like a cool place and Michaela back home really recommended to check it out. Apperently it was like a drug den some years ago. The backpackers realised no one wanted to live there which meant the prices for houses and thing like that was really low. This meant an influx of "normal" people, mostly backpackers, which changed the whole area. It is now a mix between druggies and backpackers and everyone you could imagine. A special place really.

I'm starting to realise really how cultural Melbourne is as a city. It has all kinds of people from all nationalities. It has a vast grafitti cultur and a number of museums and art galleries. It is amazing. And Cool. I am so looking forward to the summer. I think it will be nothing short of perfect.

Another side note is that I may have gotten a work at a local game development studio. They may want me to do some illustrations for them which would be really really incredible. That wouldn't only mean a second income, it would also mean relevant experience for a future career in Sweden (or wherever I end up).

I've started writing again. Yeah, I know, this is writing as well. What I mean is I've started writing novels again. This may come as a surpirse to some of you back home but I really enjoy writing short stories. I even attended a course in it when I was studying in Skövde. I really enjoy it and it's in a way nice to not only draw all the time. It's like with my guitar. It's not like I'm super good at it, but it is something I enjoy doing. Speaking about guitars, I still haven't bought an instrument. Maybe tomorrow? I don't know. We'll see.

I hope this covered most of it, but as per usual I have probably forgot half of what I've been doing. Well well.

Huehuehue

Cya soon guys and have a good one!

Beer drinking and lazy sketching

Yo!

So the yesterday I slept in for a long time. Like too long. After waking up and eating an extraordinary lunch consisting of two eggs, a can of tuna and a package of noodles, I sat down in the basement/kitchen/common room of our hostel. There I took advantage of the free wifi and drew some pictures.

I tried to get Henrik out of bed but he is still feeling like a bag of... poo. This meant I spent almost the entire day just sitting on my arse. Enough about that.

Emma, the swede who kindly offered her apartment to us, got of work and we decided to hit town. Me, her and Henrik. We went to a little chinese restaurant and ordered dumplings. This is the first time I've tried them and I must say that they were kind of nice. Wasn't the greatest piece of food I've ever eaten, but it was far from the worst. Yum?

After eating we headed for the tram to get to a pub in the "outskirts" of town. On our way there though, Henrik descided not to come. He was feeling really ill again he said. Bah, wuss (hehe). So it ended up being just me and Emma until we reached the pub, where we met up with Lisa. Lisa is an australian that, if I understood it correctly, is from Melbourne and lives here.

We drank some beer and listened to some live bands and generally had a good time. After a while Lisa was getting tired and Emma had to catch a plane in the morning, so we left. We went back the twenty minute tram ride to the city centre, found a hidden bar, and had a few more beers. All in all a fun but kind of calm night.

I went to bed and fell asleep before my head hit my pillow.

Today was spent almost the same way with the exception of drinking. We ate pizza about an hour ago (cheap tuesdays rocks) and now I'm sitting here again, drawing (and writing).

Hope I didn't bore you guys out of your skull! Tomorrow is my first work day and I've been told it is between nine and one. Could be nice with a shorter first day.

Cya's!

Trials and chicken

Well well well.

I slept very poorly tonight. I don't know if it was the sounds from the different rooms around me and Henrik. I don't know if I told you guys, but the walls of our rooms on the second floor of Elephant bakpaka doesn't go all the way to the roof. Meaning that even if me and Henrik have a room by ourselves, in actuallity we are living with everyone on the second floor. it could have been the nap during the day as well that fucked it up. Eitver way I slept about two hours. And not together either.

I woke up at 07:20 just to make sure I was ready for an interview/trial. I shaved the day before as well, didn't want to look like a hobo when arriving there. I met Jin, the korean guy who's job I'm about to take at Flinders central station. We went ten minutes by train  and then we walked a bit. During this time we talked generally about the job, but also about nationalities, as you always do when you are a backpacker.

We arrived on the backside of a smaller restaurant. I said hello to the three chefs that worked there. Jin told me what he usually did, I spoke some with the chefs, and all of a sudden one of them said that I was welcome on wednesday for my first shift. Booyah! Funny thing; they asked me where I was from and when I said Sweden they looked surprised. They had figured from my accent that I was american or canadian. Booyah nr. 2!

For dinner me and Henrik grabbed some KFC and it was awesome. Yum yum.

I'll try to update with pictures during the day.

BOOYAH!

A real trial

Holla amigoes!

I'm sitting in the common room of Elephant bakpaka smack right in the middle of Melbourne. Tomorrow I have a trial working as a kitchenhand for a restaurant. I am praying to the gods of old to help me in my time of perril, but the total lack of believing in them is hindering me a bit. I really hope they like me over there cause I am not very fast in the kitchen. I'll just give it my all and hope for the best.

Today was spent by talking to some people back home, going with Henrik and two others to the movie museum here in Melbourne, and generaly just chillaxing. I did spend a good deal of time today looking for work though and I applied to a good six or seven at least. Most of them were game developers in the near viscinity, but there was also an illustrator for childrens books that I sent my resumé to. You never know right?

I'm tired and going to bed in a moment. Hope I'll have some good news for you guys tomorrow!

Night night, don't let the bed bugs bite.

How could I forget?

There was at least one more thing that I forgot to tell you guys. Brace yourself: we found Batman avenue. That's right. Batman avenue.

I also forgot mentioning that I was drawing on the airplane. I've tried to keep drawing at least some while on this trip and now I shall commence posting a few for your viewing pleasure!

Other than that I also played guitar again for the first time since I left Sweden and it was a real treat. Granted, the guitar was kind of small, but it was still a guitar! I'm thinking of buying an ukelele since we found one yesterday for about 29 $. Not the same thing though, but it could be really fun to try and learn some.

As said, I'll try to update as often as I can (read every once in a while).

Bye bye