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!