I write this blog entry over the course of a couple weeks, I'm sure. Sitting on the bus, the train, the library, where I can get free wifi and use the internet without feeling bad about hogging internet time from my roommates in our room with one crappy DSL internet cable, or lying on my bottom bed in a bunk bed, the bottom which took me about a month and a half to earn, before a roommate left to either travel or return home, travel-weary.
My life in Oz is not over yet, but I have put off jotting this all down, and as I'm now starting to plan the next leg of my journey, figured I should finally get it down in writing, before it's lost in the world-wind of travel. My life here has been one of many extremes. At times, I've probably felt the loneliest and most overwhelmed in my life, for a multitude of reasons. You know how people talk about juggling balls in their lives, keeping track of all the different facets of their existence and making sure they all float above them in an orderly fashion? Well mine exploded. They crashed into one another, splintering and creating a confusing and desperate existence. It didn't last too long, but just long enough to leave an impression, that I will now remember for the rest of my life. I won't get into all that, but will just thank Jared, Sheena and Amy for being my crutches. I've also felt incredibly accomplished, because I've created a life here, overcoming that crappy part and I did it basically completely alone. No aide from my family, except for the monthly Skype phone calls, no aide from my friends except the less occasional Skype calls, and no friendly beer at the end of a long day, because my neighborhood bar sucks, and I'm trying to save an inordinate amount of money in a short period of time.
My time in Australia can sort of be divided into sections: Pre-Sydney, Wretched Job Sydney, Normal Life Sydney. I won't delve too much into the second section, and here's how it went:
Pre-Sydney
After a phenomenal time in New Zealand, Jared and I returned to Australia for the Christmas season. We stayed in Sydney a few days before my BFF from New York, Jordan, came to visit. Jordan studied in Sydney in college and returns abut 1-2 per year. He decided to kill a few birds with one trip and landed in Sydney a few days before my birthday. As a miss-you-oodles/I'm-an-awesome-best-friend/birthday present, Jordan invited me to stay with him at the Four Seasons, plush bathrobe included!! Staying there was amazing! There was a pool, super fluffy beds, and an insane amount of free things, which I exploited to a level of which Jordan vehemently disapproved :). While in Sydney, Jordan introduced me to Amy, a family friend's relative that he's known for ages. She ended up being a great friend throughout my time in Australia, and hopefully someone I will keep close for the rest of my life. We all hung out in Sydney for a few days before Jordan, Jared and I hopped on a plane to the Gold Coast to meet Erin and Luca. Erin's family had been gracious enough to invite us all up the Gold Coast to stay with them over the holiday.
When we arrived on the Gold Coast, Erin and Luca picked us up and the five of us immediately drove to Byron Bay where we met up with Kirsten and Nick, Erin's cousin and her boyfriend from New Zealand. Luca had arranged for us to stay at our own house right by the beach! We spent everyday on the beach, surfing, paddle boarding, sunning, and having a generally great time, before heading back to the house in the evenings for home cooked meals, booze and games. It was a fantastic way to start off the holiday, with a great group of people!
A few days before Christmas, we all drove back up to Erin's family's house. As it was Christmas, Erin's whole wonderful family was getting together, and it was meant to be chaotic...just how I like Christmas!!! Sadly, Jordan departed us a few days before Christmas to come back to Sydney and the US.
Erin's family decided to split the crew into two groups sleeping in the two available houses: all the kids in one house, all the adults in another (and yes, we are considered kids!). In total, there were about 25 of us at Christmas. Christmas Eve dinner's cooking was divided amongst everyone, and Jared and I prepared some Tex-Mex appetizers of pulled pork taquitos (thanks Anson and Jen) and queso, which were hits, because Tex-Mex is pretty nonexistent here!! Dinner was delicious and indulgent! Afterward, we had Silly Secret Santa, with probably to best present being the case of Spam stealthfully concealed in a beer case, or Luca's golf balls that exploded pouring out tons of teenie penises...which did so at the dinner table (apparently, Luca's traditional Silly Secret Santa gift is an awesomely useless sex toy). Laughing, yelling and hilarity ensued throughout the evening, finishing off with a dance party, and a bunch of us passing out on the couched before heading home for the evening.
The next morning was....CHRISTMASSSSS!!!!!!! Probably my favorite holiday. My sister-in-law once said she'd never seen a group of adults get so amped up about Christmas as my family does. Clearly, Erin's family has the same sentiment! The morning started off with an obscene amount of gift giving and wonderful family time. The entire family went above-and-beyond to welcome me and Jared into the celebration! Angela (Erin's mom) made us each Christmas stockings and they all even picking out savvy backpacker friendly gifts for us, like mosquito repellent wrist bands, water-activated cooling wraps, and a rape whistle (with a compass!!) (Jared keeps getting into trouble in dark alleys ;) )! And just as an FYI mom and former Sinai L&D coworkers...yes I wore the Christmas Dress! The day was topped with a trip to the beach for surfing, paddle boarding and general shenanigans.
Everyday consisted of wonderful family-filled fun, pool time/beach time and overall merriment! The entire Paris/Buchanan/Fox/Steadman/Romero/Fiore (and Jordan!!) family made our holiday season just fabulous, and we are forever appreciative of their welcoming spirit and warmth.
New Year's Eve, Jared and I hopped on a plane and headed back to Sydney. Jared and I had an absolutely terrible time finding a place to stay over New Year's Eve, as all hotels were outrageously expensive, and all hostels required that you arrive several days to weeks prior to New Year's. We had just about committed to either sleeping under a bridge or hiding in a rental car, until Amy, the friend that Jordan had introduced us to, amazingly offered her place for us, she even picked us up, huge bags and all, from the airport!! She brought us back to her house, where we quickly purtied up, and headed out to Sydney Harbour for a New Year's cruise of the harbor and fireworks show! On the way there, we met up with one of Jared's friends from Texas, Sarah, who happened to be visiting Sydney with her boyfriend, for a quick drink.
That night, we hopped on our cruise, which toured around the Harbour. Before the sun went down, we cruised by the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge before settling in for front row seats to the fireworks show. The cruise included open bar, dinner, and dancing, so needless to say, we had a fantastic time, and rang in the new year with a bang!!
The next morning, we recovered with Amy and her husband Damon, and prepped for another fun little trip into the Blue Mountains. Amy is from the Blue Mountains, and invited us and a few of her friends to her family house for a few days. The Blue Mountains is an easy drive from Sydney, so we were able to stop and pick up supplies for a few days. Amy showed us around town a bit at some of the very general tourist attractions, before we got into the behind the scenes, local side of the Blue Mountains! Gotta love hangin with locals. Jared and I both knew that the Blue Mountains were a nature excursion. So when Amy said we were going to "do a canyon", we expected some sort of hike. We were awesomely surprised to find out that "doing a canyon" consists of swimming, hiking, climbing, and abseiling (repelling)! Mostly, we were able to borrow supplies, and Amy's group brought their own climbing and abseiling gear. We were clearly in the hands of experts! The day after we arrived, we woke up, had a great breakfast, met Sheena (great friend!), geared up and headed out. Amy's husband, Damon, and his friends Frank and Howard gave us (by "us" I mostly mean "me") a quick tutorial on the equipment and protocols before we set off to "do a canyon" (I still get such a quick out of that phrase [given what it actually entailed]). The day was awesome! We hiked for a short bit, before putting on our wetsuits, helmets and harnesses and traversing the canyon. We stopped for a bit of a break, where the boys introduced us to the "canyoning-man-break tradition", which is whiskey cokes and gummy treats...before again putting our lives in their hands. The last part of the hike was a long abseil down a waterfall, which Jared sailed through like a freaking...well, Marine, and I apparently ("apparently" because I don't even recall this happening), slipped on the wet rocks, went swinging under a natural ledge in the rock, cracked my head on the rock ledge (hemlets!!) and completely let go of the rope... :/ I've basically lost track of the amount of times since leaving the USA that I very well could have died (but the Death Road in Bolivia still gives me the heebee-geebees). Thankfully, my good buddy Frank was at the bottom, and a gem of a belayer (yes, I had to Google how to spell that), and caught me before I fell to my death...whiskey cokes and all. The whole weekend excursion was great fun and we got to meet great people with whom we've remained friends.
Wretched Job Sydney
When the end of the weekend came, so too came the end to my and Jared's, non-backpacker, indulgent life. Jared and I moved in to a long-term hostel called The Rooftop Traveler's Lodge. The place was great for us, because it was significantly cheaper than normal hostels, and really dedicated to working travelers, not just transient visitors. The place was pretty empty during the week, everyone setting off in the morning for their jobs, and came alive on the weekends. The rooms have 4 people per room, a nice change from the usual 10+ dorms, our own bathroom, a computer with internet, TV, kitchenette, and FREE laundry!
We settled into our new home, and started the mad hunt for a job. Trying to find a job as a backpacker sucks. Even if you were a professional before, in the eyes of potential employers, your nomadic lifestyle and propensity for self-centered decision-making, make you a bit a liability, possibly unreliable and, more than anything, carrying a government mandated expiration date. Jared and I were online resume posting machines. I went on a few interviews, but again, anything admin or professional did not want to hire someone whose visa expired in October. I was hijacked one day and sent on a train to do door-to-door sales...and I wasn't even selling anything useful, which I could work with; I was imploring people to donate to charity. Needless to say it sucked, and was entirely commission based. I was asked to do part time telesales for playground equipment, be the cleaner for a daycare center an hour away etc. Jared was getting crap also. Obviously, the job hunt was not going incredibly well.
About a month in, we celebrated Australia Day with Amy, Sheena, Damon, Frank and few others to whom we were introduced. Sheena planned the whole thing, and we had a BBQ and drinks at Milk Beach, a great little secluded bay. There is a video Jared posted; by the way, if you haven't checkout out the page, some of those vids are really great! Australia Day was so much fun!
Right around that time, two things happened. I got a job as a Personal Assistant, General Bitch, and Shit-Talk-Taker to the Devil, and Jared got an offer to work as a US Government Security Contractor in Afghanistan. This is clearly when things went south for me.
I started work, Jared accepted his offer and left to go to Kabul at the end of February. My job took about 2 weeks to go from kinda weird and funny, to completely fucked up. Now again, you know I don't like to swear a lot on this blog, unless I am very emphatic. I cannot, nor would I, express how crappy life got. I was working about 18-20 hours a day and getting yelled at about 6-7 solid hours in a day. My boss was a complete nutcase. Why didn't you just leave, you might ask. It took me about a month to find this job, and the prospects outside were grim. Part-time telesales or full time door-to-door sales were pretty much a backpacker staple. I could pay to get certificates for things like waitressing (yes you need a certificate for that) and labor jobs, but I didn't want to spend money to get a job, and honestly, I was getting paid probably double of what all those jobs paid. My desire to travel thoroughly again outweighed my desire to be happy. It was not Jared's leaving that made my life miserable, though it made it harder to pull myself out of the misery. I mentioned before that Jared, Amy and Sheena were very important to me during this time. I think Jared got the most consistent desperate messaging, but Amy and Sheena alternated between actual damage control.
I'm running on the assumption here that Jared will write a snip-bit on his time in Afghanistan, but just in case...Jared worked and lived on a base in Afghanistan, pretty much supervising the base's security (I'm probably a bit off base, but that's just what I understood). Apparently, the job was pretty boring, and he got a lot of internet chat time, and damn good money. About a month into it, Jared was given a month's leave and headed out to Europe for a bit, actually getting to meet up with a few friends from our Panama to Colombia sailing trip, who live in Switzerland, before heading off to Italy and getting to see some of our Mexico friends Dave and Zoe!! He put up a ton of photos and apparently has a huge stash still on his computer, so who knows, maybe we'll get to see more at some point!! He loved it all, skied in Switzerland and ate like the locals, and delved into ancient culture in Italy. After his month off, he returned to Kabul, and resumed a life of working out, chow hall food, monitor observing and online browsing. It sounds like he made some pretty good friends, but in true boy-style, I don't know much about it haha.
Anyway, during this whole time, my application to work as a nurse in Australia was floating around the registration agency, seemingly just taking up space. In May, I finally got an email stating that I had been approved to work as a nurse. May. May people!!! I sent that stupid 1000 page form in April of LAST YEAR!!!! Either way, I was freaking ecstatic! My resume was ready to go, and I spent a full weekend sending out 150+ resumes online to every place in Australia, including abroad (like Saudi Arabia abroad...that's how desperate I was). Pretty much immediately that week, I got offers from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and some more remote areas, all saying I could start immediately.
At this point in my other job, my boss had been pretty sick, in the hospital and staying with a creepy friend for about 2 weeks. During that time, she didn't pay me, saying because she was sick, she just hadn't made enough, but would get on it, or go to the bank blah blah. Point is, I'm an idiot, and gave her two weeks notice of my leaving. During that whole time, she kept saying she would pay me, and didn't. Long story short, I am still owed $3,000+, and suing her, without much luck as of this point, but I'll keep you updated. My last day of the job was like a huge weight had been lifted off my soul. Boy do I dislike her!!
Normal Life Sydney
Ok, so by normal life, for most people it's a normalish life; it's basically as normal as I could get, while still sleeping in a bunk bed with 3 other random people, and room inspections :/
I lived a regular life in Sydney, much like I did in NYC, but without the perks of fabulous friendships, the best food options, and well New York City. I started working at my nursing agency, Healthcare Australia, mid-late May. It was a bit of a slow start; I think in the first week I was scheduled and cancelled four different times without hanging onto a shift. I started to get pretty worried about the stability of agency work. But after that first week, I got my first shift, then second, and it seemed like the more I worked the more people would request me. I mostly got adult ICU and some post-op stuff, occasionally something random like ortho. Once I got a pediatric post-op floor, but it was for day surgery, so I barely had any interaction with the kids, because they parents were always there...darn parents. Other than working with adults the whole time, it was much the same kind of stuff as I did in the US, though I did miss my kiddies. I will say, working with an agency can be a bit tough when jumping from hospital to hospital, as I was always lost and running around to five different wrong locations for things, and unaware of whom I should inform about what, but again, as I started working for the same hospitals, things got a lot easier. Australian healthcare, in terms of nursing, is really similar to the US, THOUGH all of their charting is on paper, including medications, which was so frustrating. Some were half-and-half, only doing notes on the computer (ew notes. Right!!?!?) Only one hospital, a public hospital, had their technology together enough for computer charting, but Sinai, they still had nothing on our medication scanning guns!!! Anyway, my work-life balance stabilized out a lot, and I became exponentially happier.
Not much really happened of note during that period, just sort of chugging along with work. I still hung out with Amy and Sheena occasionally, sometimes with someone from the hostel, but it wasn't until the end that I really started allowing myself to have a bit of fun with money...aka drinking. As things were wrapping up, I realized that I achieved the financial goal I had set for myself when arriving in Australia, and so, I let loose the working reigns a bit and allowed myself to enjoy some good nights, good drinks, and good food the last couple weeks in Sydney.
My last week in Sydney, I moved in with Sheena, accepting a long-standing invitation from her. Sheena has done a far bit of traveling herself so, besides just being an amazingly nice person, she understands some of the wear-and-tear that comes with staying in hostels, and wanted me to have a nice bed, a bath, and quiet time before heading out to do the whole thing over again.
Like I said, Sydney was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me, but my purpose (making money) was fulfilled, I ended up enjoying the experience, and most importantly made a few friends I'm pretty sure will stick with me for a very long time!
And now...Part Deux of You're Doing What!?
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