Finally some more News from ´Down Under´ as the last ones you got 2
month ago. A lot has happened and nothing at the same time. Really confusing, I
know, but that´s at least how it feels like.
// DAY 432 –
490
// JOB
UPDATES... OR HOW YOU MANAGE TO GET MORE FREE TIME
Half of may and the whole June I´ve opened the Café now. The fact that
Jenny never made it on time and that she fired one kitchen hand/chef after the
other, brought her to me and we agreed on trying to make the Café busier. She
is searching for a proper chef and I should make sure that we are open on time.
After negotiating I even managed to get a little pay rise suddenly had a 40
hour week again. But nothing happened like she said. Julian was fully involved
once more and both came later and later (about 11am) and left me with the whole
morning shift on my own. Sometimes I even had to send customers away as I can´t do coffee´s and cook at the
same time (well, I can do a lot but not everything ;)). After I had the feeling
that this isn´t a big problelm at all, one of my customers (at this point of
time I already knew most of them better than Jenny) asked me how the potential
sale is going. Well… that is what´s happening behind the scenes. 2 weeks later
she finally informed me about it and within one week the new owners were there
and had a look at everything. 2 brothers with family took over the Café on the
1st of July and they will change a lot! They took me over as well
but also employed someone else so that I only work 25 hours per week now. After
a little back and forth we agreed on me working Tuesday till Thursday the full
day so that I´m off on Monday and Friday ;). I wasn´t sure what to think of
that in the beginning – as it is also a question of money – but now I´m quite
happy that it turned out like this. I have an easier job, long weekends and can
still pay my bills J The only bad thing that happened on my first
day for the new owners is that I got a nail in my pushbike tyre while I was
riding to work and that my mobile got run over by a car at the end of the day,
too… first thing I needed at home was a glas of wine ;)
Adam found a great job for a big company and was busy with fitting
doors in a 140 apartments for the last 6 weeks. He finally really liked the job
and had a lot of fun with the boys. We both were fully involved in working, he
6 days a week on side and me in the Café. Unfortunately they have this rule in
Australia as well – last come first to go – and as the work got less, they had
to get rid of 4 Chippies. Sadly Adam was one of them and therefore the job
search for him starts again. But he didn´t give up yet and made the company a
great offer where actually everyone´s a winner… we are only waiting for them to
accept (if they can and the company policy allowes it). So fingers crossed
anyway ;)
Nothing is happening on the fashion front. I applied for a VOLUNTEER
position for Back of House at the Melbourne Fashion Week but even there I got a
refusal – that basically says it all. In addition it doesn´t help that I´m
reading a book at the moment (“To die for - Is fashion wearing out the world?”
from Lucy Siegle) which makes you hate the whole business! I really recommend
it! It´s a great book but unfortunately really depressing as well… :(
//
WINTER IN AUSTRALIA... OR HOW YOU LIVE WITHOUT SNOW
Yes, I know… some of you might say that you can´t
name it “Winter” here in Australia but I don´t agree. It can get really cold
here or better feel cold! Weather wise we had a bit of an up and down. 2 weeks
were really cold with 1 degree in the morning but really nice weather. At the
moment we have an overcast over Melbourne which keeps it warmer so that we
reached 18 degrees in the sun the other day!
Our brick house (and as well other houses here) are
unfortunately not too good. Especially the insulation is horrible and therefore
it happens that we heat it but can´t manage to keep it within the house. Once
again we had to be creative and with a few things out of our daily life we
managed to insulate our room: with polyesther, plastic bags, towels and hot
water bottles ;)
//
HOW YOU TRAVEL WITH A RENT CAR... OR CONTINUE TO BOTHER VICTORIA
After our weekend along the Great Ocean Road we
stepped back from trips a little bit as we neither had a car nor great weather
to do something. Just in the beginning of June we had a few nice days again and
so we checked out Mentone, Rosebud, Williamstown and King lake. Sometimes we go
for breakfast on the weekends and made it our hobby to rate the Cafés. That´s
so much fun when we pull out our excel spread sheets and judge the place on
service, food, location aso…. I can only recommend this ;)
//
HOW YOU KEEP THE HAPPINESS UP... OR AVOID BECOMING INSANE
During the last few weeks I was pretty busy with writing poems for
different occasions: Tennis, Weddings, Birthdays… the work didn´s stop :)
We continue working on our Tshirts and in the meantime I managed to
put a few of my designs into printable files. Beside that I´m teaching Adam in
Illustrator and Photoshop which
makes my Laptop really busy to convert all hand drawn ideas. It´s very time
consuming but we are getting there ;)
// THE
FUTURE RIGHT NOW... OR HOW AUSTRALIA IS TRYING TO REFUSE TWO HIGH QUALITY NEW
RESIDENTS ;)
Something happened here as well. Through one of my contacts at work we
got an appointment with an immigration lawyer. After we shared all the
information with him he needed, he explained us our options:
1.
Company offers me a Sponsorship (the
Version I hoped for coming here): Means, a company is kind of taking care
of me (make sure I get enough money to live) and in reverse I agree to work a
certain time for them (varies between 2 and 4 years, but he didn´t know that by
heart either). These Sponsorships are apparently hard to get and especially in
the fashion business the competition is high. Beside that it is more difficult
in a City or where a lot of people are as the costs for the company would be
higher. There is a higher possibility out in the country. In addition they
would have to do a lot of paperwork which a lot of companys don´t want to do.
Well, and being honest with myself: I have no experience in the occupation as a
designer and Australia is full of designers and wanna be´s anyway.
2. Adam
will be sponsored by a company and I can stay as his girlfriend. This
is very unrealistic as well as he is a contractor and there aren´t really
sponsorships in his occupation happening.
3. I
try to make my way through the points system. Means: First
of all it starts with an English test which I have to pass A. After that it
continues with check-up´s considering my studies aso. They would check what it
would be worth in Australia (Master, Bachelor or Degree). If I should get
points for that I would have to do a test to proof or rate my skills. After
that (as fashion design is not on a certain list) I need a states sponsorship
(and if I got that right I wouldn´t even know where I would live then). If all
of that (and probably even more) works and I would score enough points there
would still be the question how many people a year they let into Aussie. So it
could still happen, even with enough points, that I can´t stay. And last but
not least it costs me $3000 - $5000. Wenn das alles (und wahrscheinlich noch
viel mehr) durch ist und ich überall bestehe und sie meine Punktzahl ermittelt
haben weiss ich ob ich genügend Punkte hätte. Dazu kommt dann aber der Faktor
das sie ein jährliches Limit haben um Leute aufzunehmen und daher kanns sein
das ich die Punkte erreiche (wenn ich sie erreiche) und dann trotzdem nicht
bleiben kann. Und zu guter letzt kostet das ganze zwischen $3000 und $5000. Discouraged?
Not me! ;)
4.
Marriage.
You see – it doesn´t get boring for sure! So, current status is that
we come home in December and see what Germany has to offer (if we both find
jobs aso.). Then we´ll see. But how it is with all plans, nothing´s for sure
here. Our situations has quite changed a lot of times in the last few month,
you just can´t tell what´s going to happen.
// THE
LIFE… OR EVERYTHING ELSE WE DO
Not too long ago we have been to the cinema again, watching “The great
Gatsby”. Bronya had her birthday and celebrated in an art gallerie/bar. So had
the Queen and we had another Monday off J
We finished the fence painting at Sam´s place and I made fresh Lemonade with
the lemons from our tree in the garden – yummy! I´ve attached an instruction
for you ;) I also went to the doctor as I got some white spots on my back from
the weekend at Apollo bay in February. Now I have to apply some cream and as
soon as it´s summer I have to tan a bit and they hopefully go away. Ilya, one
of Adam´s former work mates, invited us to a Barbie on a Saturday and
surprisingly there were hardly any Aussies there. Bangladesh, Pakistan, China,
Russia, New Zealand, Germany, India and Australia… that´s what I call
international! And even the Aussies had german ancestors hehe ;)
All in all we are enjoying Australia far more than in the beginning.
Big part is the rent car for sure (which Adam needed to go to work). It´s easy
to see a car as given – till you have to bike or walk everywhere.
What I really miss is Tennis. I run home from work at least once a
week, try to do a lot with the bike or by feet but to discharge my energie and
hit this little yellow ball is just missed! Unfortunately Ed doesn´t have much
time with full time studies and working beside. As well I don´t always wanna be
the one who asks. When spring is coming I will try to find someone else to play
(not saying that they don´t play outsides in shorts with light by 5 degrees…
brrrrrr). At least Adam and me go to the park once a week to kick the ball. We
found a fun ball in one of the supermarkets. It´s a lighter one and you get
amazing spin :) I attached a picture for you… we call it a “Nippelball” :P
Well, that´s enough from us for now! I hope the next news won´t take
that long.
I wish you all the best and see you next time,
Baba
P.S.: Congratulations to the Babys!!! I´m happy to hear that everyone
is in good conditions :)
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