Thursday, August 30, 2007
FYI
I am finally settled in Australia and no longer living out of a suitcase! What a relief to have my own room (with a TV!), my own bathroom and two cats to play with. Bakers Hill is very small- about 6 buildings on a stretch of highway, but we're about a 10 minute drive from a great small town (about the size of Wolfville, I'd say). The Tavern is great so far, but I have a lot of customers names to learn, along with prices, routines, etc. I'm not worried about any of that, but I may be responsible for cooking dinner for myself and the manager in the evening (real meat in something called a "slow cooker"). Yikes. I have yet to reveal my total inability in kitchen matters (do you think I can wing it?) In my defense, there was no mention of cooking on the job description! It seems like it will be long days: waking up to clean in the morning before opening, serving all day until close (anytime between 9pm and midnight). I'm hoping there will be a few hours break in there somewhere! The owners are a mother and son from Scotland who seem really nice and easy to work with. If I can figure out the cooking and keep my stamina up, I think I'll really enjoy myself and learn a lot in these six weeks. Anyway, I do have internet access (although I don't really want to be on here for hours on my first day, do I?) and there will be pictures to come.Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Fremantle
This is the best I can do in blog design for right now. I have a bus ticket for tomorrow morning to Bakers Hill: how exciting! I made the most of my last free day by taking the train out to Fremantle and doing some of my favorite things.
I sat by the ocean with a "flat white" for a long time, at least until the inevitable rainclouds arrived. By the way, a flat white is a category of coffee here, but I've yet to figure out what it is exactly. Even I, coffee addict, am confused as anything when I look at the coffee menu here. Wikipedia tells me that "The drink is generally made with 1/3 espresso and 2/3 steamed milk, very similar to the ingredients in a latte. The milk is prepared differently, with the volumised milk at the top folded into the lower layers. The resulting drink has only a very thin layer of froth at the top." Anyway, love the ocean, and a coffee makes the chilly wind bearable. When the rain came, I spent a couple of hours in a bead store choosing and creating my own necklace!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Kings Park
I spent the afternoon in Perth's famous Kings Park. I'm making the most of my last work-free days by wandering the city, enjoying coffee and reading a lot. After 10 days in Australia, I've found a job! For the next six weeks I'll be working at a restaurant at a small town about an hour outside of Perth. The woman who owns it is actually Scottish and she sounds very nice. Don't worry, they'll train me! I think it will be mostly cooking and serving, and I'm looking forward to a simpler life. It will also be a great way to safe some money so I can go and visit Sydney (and the important people who will be there!!!) Right now I don't know if I will have internet access, but hopefully there will be stories and pictures to come. Adapting to life in Australia is going pretty well, in some ways it seems a lot like Canada, and in all other ways it reminds me of Britain. The only problem is crossing streets and passing people on the sidewalk. When I come to a crosswalk I sing a song we taught in grade one at Fuhsing (only I change the words: "Look right then left for safe-ty") and the whole time I'm walking on the sidewalks I keep muttering to myself "left, left, left." If you've always lived in North America, maybe you've never thought about it! At home, when you meet someone head on, you always go right, and when you stand on the escalator you always stand right, but here it's the opposite. Try changing a subconscious instinct you've developed over 25 years!
Here are some highlights from Kings Park; I love photographing the flowers of Australia! Have you ever seen such a weird looking thing?
From a distance 
Other flower shots
The park memorial 
Thanks for your patience while I got this blog started, more to come!