Broken Brain

I forgot how difficult it is to start a new job.

My brain hurts.

Without Jinxing....

I GOT A JOB!!!!!  

Finally!!!  

It feels like I was out of work for a lifetime and with Australia being SO expensive, it's been a rather stressful 3.5 months....but I'm employed now!!

It's a 6 month contract (because my visa won't allow my to work longer) with Sarina Russo Schools and my official title is International Admisions Officer, South America.  

SOUTH AMERICA!  

I obviously will be using my Spansih skills and my education experience and I'll be dealing with students from South America and trying to get them to come to our school and then processing their applications etc.  

I'm SO stoked on this job!  It was the first job I was truly interested and excited about of all the 4,000 I applied to and luckily I was able to make an impression.

Now I have to figure out how to get a working visa in order to stay there and go to school part time and my Australia dream will have come true.....

one small step for man, one GIANT leap for my pocket book.

And it continues

disclaimer:  this is a highly interactive blog....there are links EVERYWHERE.  click them, they're interesting, I swear.

I don't know how much Australian news you get, but we've had storms almost everyday since my last entry....which is strange for Brisbane because we're in the middle of a draught and have been for years.  See videos here  especially watch the stroblight one! 

It's quite obvious Brisbanians.....Brisbaners......Brissies.....Brisbanites.....I don't know what they call themselves, are completely caught off guard by rain.  They have NO IDEA what to do.  It's much like the stereotype of Southern Californians.  It's actually kind of entertaining to watch people run around in shorts and flips through pounding rain, their umbrellas turning inside-out.  

Even the local bar here was totally caught off guard by the rain during their after-semester beach-themed party.  They ordered tons of sand to be put out on the back deck, made two extra bars and had people come in bathing suits and board shorts....it was pouring down rain by 7:00, making their sandy investment the biggest loss of the night, I'm sure.  (people don't go to that bar when it rains even lightly because there is no solid covering overhead, it's just a thin mesh-like lining)

Actually, I was at a small gathering with friends and it had been raining for 2 days, I wore my rain boots.....galoshes.....gum boots.....and people were asking me if I had any idea it doesn't really rain here (being in the middle of draught and all).  I bet after this last week of semi-torrential rain, they're wishing they had some gum boots!

A Brisbane woman has died due to the storms, you can read the article in the Sydney Morning Herald.  And there have been two natural disasters (well, Brisbane is being called a disaster area) called in Brisbane in the last week the last week.  

Last night I walked home in the Vietnam-reminiscent downpour, which was really lovely...I arrived completely drenched and in heaven....the only problem is, I've been trying not to let this chest cold invade my body and I of course aggravated it once I got back into the hot house.

Moving on, I think the insects here are much more poisonous than in North America.  I keep getting bitten and the bite inevitably swells and itches uncontrollably.  In the US and even in Mexico, I could generally control myself and not touch the bites, they would NEVER keep me up at night and they certainly wouldn't swell.

So far, I've had a swollen toe due to what I think was an ant bite, a swollen middle finger due to 3 mosquito bites and now my foot is swollen on two sides because I went outside yesterday for a change of scenery and got bitten twice by a mosquito (he went for me a third time, but I killed the bugger).

So currently I have 9 bites in total (3 on one finger, one on another, three on my left arm and 2 on my foot) and while only the foot bites hurt anymore (I seeped out the venom from the three on the finger, I couldn't stand the itching), the rest still look like flesh eating disease.

Speaking of the flesh eating disease....there is a spider here who's venom causes necroses of the flesh....and the thing is, it doesn't happen immediately so you may think you're fine (because the bite doesn't actually hurt too badly) but then months later you can get this:  

or worse.  Some people have actually had body parts amputated!

Needless to say, I've been checking my shoes before putting them on and I don't walk around without flip flops on!

Anyway, enough rambling, going to the library to get a card and do some job searching.

Cheers!

Visiting Oz

The Calm After the Storm

Thunder storms, according to me are the way Mother Nature balances herself out. I think of it as a way for the world to restablize and continue on with a clean slate.

I was so relieved when there was a massive summer storm a few days before I left California and I took it as a good sign for my move to Oz (when does it ever thunder in summer in California??).

Last night the sky opened up and released its blinding flashes and roared and shook and cleansed itself of any impurities and today I've decided to follow suit.  

Starting now, I'm going to start paying better attention to my body, to my surroundings, to my needs and wants and to purging the bad, the stressful and repositioning, recycling, reusing and rebalancing.

Have you ever noticed how much more beautiful colors are after a storm?

Starting Up Again

I realized I've been missing some of the silly little things I used to do (i.e. sewing, writing, coloring, blowing bubbles, etc) so I thought I'd pick up blogging again and see where it goes.

So here's the low-down.

As everyone should know by now, I picked up and moved from Mexico to Brisbane, Australia. It was the biggest decision I made in my life and some people weren't too happy to see it happen (they were so upset in fact, they haven't tried to contact me since I've been here).

Sometimes I feel like writing to them to catch their attention in absurd ways (tell them I've been bitten by the most poisonous spider and have just spent days in the hospital in critical condition, for example) but I'm so eloquently reminded by my good friends that I'm merely craving the attention of people who won't give it to me anyway.....so I need to step back from my inner spoiled child and jump back into my outer adult and move on.

I had 3 interviews last week....quite the feat considering the weeks before I wasn't even getting called back. I have a suspicious feeling my new pre-paid did the trick it was meant to.

And now the waiting game.

I'm pulling my hair out trying not to wrack my nerves too much but I really, really want this job at Shafston College.

I'd be working with students everyday, welcoming them to the school, helping them get situated, finding things they need and answering all their questions. It's an international English college and it's right up my alley.

AGH for the waiting!

anyway, a few pictures of the last (almost) 3 months....

   
           

       

I Love Koalas