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.