I love a rainy night...

Yes, it's raining in Melbourne again. And I love it. The weather is warm, the rain is brief at times and then the sun comes back out again. Spring has truly arrived. The trees are in blossom, the flowers in bloom. The temperatures are set to rise in to the high 20s this weekend, so I may even head out to pick up some plants for the balcony. Right now it's just painted concrete and steel...need some mother nature to brighten it up. I'm up high enough that I look across the tops of the trees, beautiful palm just beside me, which is pretty nice for a cheap city apartment. Dundee loves the balcony. It's up high enough that he doesn't need heavy supervision. He has walked along the rails but I am trying to discourage it. They are very narrow, and the winds can be quite strong and blustery at times. It is a tiny balcony, so space is precious.

     I've been in training for my workplace all week again, learning heaps (such an aussie saying) and made some good friends there as we were a small group of 9 for three weeks of training together. We engaged in the week long training sessions, sharing lunch, shopping together, sharing at training about our lives and our experiences both personal and professional. These types of training sessions can often bond a group together quite well. One of our instructors also commented to this effect, that we were quite a bonded group, which sure made those three weeks bearable. It is a lot of information that is presented in a short time to prepare us for our roles. I look forward to putting it all into practice next week.
     I'm feeling much better now, after such an ordeal at the hospital a few weeks back. It was scary to be in the hospital for several days, with no family in the country, and having just moved to Melbourne, just a handful of people that I knew here. It had been such a long time since I had been in the hospital, back in the 90s. Things hadn't changed much...
     So I'm pretty well unpacked and settled in the new place. Painted my television cabinet a nice bright blue, and having plenty of paint, I also painted my Ikea step stool. There are many tall cabinets to reach into and I'm not tall enough, and neither is my little cedar step stool I brought with me from Canada. Once I put up all of the artwork, posters, maps, etc, it finally felt like home again. Dundee was certainly happy to have all of his beds set up. He loves to be on the chair under the table, so I put his bed on the chair. He also likes to be on the bench in the living room in front of the window, laying on my woolen scarf. The scarf is too messy to wear as it loses woolies all over the place, shedding like a cat...so I gave it to the cat. He loves its softness, and I still get to look at it. I have about 30 other scarves to choose from anyhow...
   


 So here I sit on a Friday night, after a long week of training. It's 9:30pm and I'm going to watch a movie with the cat and then head to bed. I meet my first student tomorrow. I'm teaching her to speak English. I have no idea how it will go for our first meeting, but I'll give it my best.

Windy City Life

Well, since my last post, I was MIA for a week at the local hospital with the worst pain of my life. Ever. And that includes childbirth and the great toothache of 2010. I was in for pancreatitis, and had a few complications, but I'm feeling much better now, and looking forward to really enjoying life in this windy city. Yes, it is terribly windy much of the time. I have a lovely little balcony but it's too bloody windy to sit out there in a wind tunnel created by the palm trees and buildings. I'm certain I'll enjoy the wind in the summer, but in the winter it's just cold. I have the door open often, which Dundee just loves. He enjoys being out on the balcony, surveying the scene below and around him. There are flocks of birds that come in and out of the trees beside and below us, so that keeps him entertained. We also get the sun most of the day, which he loves to roll around outside in. He's been very good at coming in. Sometimes he just needs to see me get up off the sofa and he's inside the door. We seem to get rain nearly every day but it doesn't always last long, just sweeps through with the wind, and then the sun comes out, or the stars at night. Strange indeed compared to Alice Springs and the desert weather.

So I did get to the beach - it was also a bit chilly and I was feeling quite sick at the time, so didn't get to enjoy it like I wanted to. It was great catching up with an old friend, but in the end I was just as glad to be at home on the sofa, writhing in pain. I'm hoping to do a lot more exploring soon, however I'm pretty busy with chores at home, and not quite feeling 100% just yet. Apparently recovery can take awhile. I was just so glad to get out of the hospital. You are at your most vulnerable there, and it amazes me how many people take advantage of that. I won't say much here, but suffice it to say I have a few letters to write.

I've been settling into my flat, and the local neighborhood, having to use the GPS less and less to find my way around. I went to the movies yesterday, and saw The Conjuring. It was a scary enough movie, but the stupid teenagers behind me were chatting, and thumping around the entire time, and finally someone yelled out at them. Didn't help. I don't feel like I got my money's worth - $19/Adult for the movie, and it was a matinee, still pricey. I bought a popcorn - frozen coke - candy combo, and it was $23!!!!!!!!! For one person! I nearly shit my pants, but was hostage to the popcorn and frozen coke. The coke was amazing, but I hated the stupid cup with a blender they give it to you in. Pain in the ass and in the way. The popcorn was dry and oversalted, as they don't put topping on it, butter or otherwise. I won't be going to the movies again.

I am hoping to finally square the last few things away today, and then take some photos of the place as people have been asking. I had to buy a vacuum cleaner yesterday to get on top of the fur, dust, and hair balls I see slinking along the floorboards. While I do so very much enjoy the lack of carpeting, the drawback is you see all of the dirt, as it has nowhere to hide. I left my other vacuum in Alice Springs, broken. I'm certain Dundee will hate it just as much...

Laundry prices have changed - $5.00 for a load, and $1/8 minutes in the dryer. Cost me about $30 yesterday to do the laundry. I miss my washing machine. I did splurge and dry things in the dryer which I usually don't do, but things take days to dry here, so the clothes rack is up for days in my cozy little apartment.

Back to the office finally tomorrow. I got out of the hospital on Monday and went back to training on Tuesday in the city. Now to get to work!

Winter Rains

my new coffee table

Another rainy night in Melbourne. It rains nearly every day, but not always for too long, but on occasion, it rains for hours, often quite heavily. I live on the top floor of my building and have windows on three sides so I hear the rain and feel the wind. I'm above most of the trees around the  building, but I do have a covered balcony. That's only dry though if there isn't any wind. Tonight there was a gale of wind, and the rain pounded while the wind whistled around the windows. The temperatures haven't been above 20C, which is just fine with me. I do look forward to a little warmer times, so I can sit outside, but at temps down to 5 or 6 at night on the third floor in the wind, it's brisk out there! Dundee has been out exploring on the balcony. He's still a bit nervous as the wind freaks him out. We didn't have much wind or rain in Alice Springs, so this is new for him. When it's dry though, he enjoys watching what's happening below, and monitoring the many birds.

I've finally unpacked the last box. I still have a bit of organizing to do, and the walls to decorate with artwork and other things. I had to pick up some of those 3M wall sticky things. They work very well at holding things on the wall without ripping the paint off. That is tomorrow's chore. I replaced my coffee table with a much smaller one from Ikea, which really makes a difference in the room as the living room not nearly as big as the one we had in Alice Springs. I managed to sell my washing machine, small fridge, and I have ditched several things to make it feel less crowded here. My sofa is huge in this room, but I love it so much. It's a seven footer, which is awesome to lie down on, so roomy, but with a small living room, it feels like a beast. So with the smaller coffee table, there is more leg room to walk about. I'm also getting rid of the bean bag. I don't have the room, and it isn't all that comfortable for me. I picked up a free chair downstairs, but just need to get some filler to put in new screws. I also bought paint to finally paint the tv cabinet. It's been this kind of dirty green color since I bought it in Victoria, BC at a second hand store. I bought a nice aqua blue enamel - we shall see how that changes the look of the cabinet.

I've only been at the office for a couple of days at my new job. Then I spent all of last week at training in the city. It was a good refresher and introduction to my new agency, and the computer system. It's back in the office this week, and then another week of training, and so on until it's all done. It was pretty cool to ride the train into the city every morning for the week. I took the train to Footscray train stop and then into the city to Parliament, which was quite close to the training building.

I have had a few different tradies in the new place, to replace the antenna, to paint the tub, recaulk the kitchen counter, fix the hinges on the balcony door, fix the lock on the screen door, etc. I'm quite happy with the new place, and don't mind the stairs at all. There are stores very close to where I am that are open late, so I could just run out and pick something up down the street, like tonight when Dundee informed me we were out of cat food. He is a persistent informant...

I have rows of these

I've been driving all over the city, shopping for the new place and finding my way around. A few scenic tours, both intentional and unintentional. I've been to Ikea several times...love that place. Oh the damage I could do with unlimited funds...the inner ocd in me loves their storage options, and design for living. I also bought a bunch of shelves for the kitchen. There are no top cupboards which is typical of Australia but weird for this Canadian. Such wasted space with nothing there. So Ikea showed me these metal shelves you can join together and stack up. They're strong enough to hold heavy dishes and glasses and look nice enough, better than plastic which usually looks cheap.

     I'm heading to the beach in the morning to spend the day with a friend I met in Alice Springs who now lives in Queensland, but is visiting Melbourne this weekend. I hope it doesn't rain all day tomorrow...