It's been 4 months since last time I updated my blog and it's again for the reasons of laziness, busy and emotions. I've been through a lot and I'd like to take note of my life in Sydney again since it's a new year and a new start for everyone. I wish myself to be more and more courageous, optimistic and self-motivated for year 2013, after the Maya calendar's doomsday 201212. We're still here and we should be brave.
Sep: Housekeeper for HK PTY LTD. under Oaks group
Most my colleagues are Korean and Bangladeshi, some of them Nepalese. We don't have much time to know each other because this work is so tough and exhausting and it's getting even harder later for the peak season of Sydney. I believe my memory to this job in the future would be: Koreans are really fast & hardworking and they're nothing like the images for most Taiwanese: selfish, unkind to people not from Korea. Maybe it's because the Koreans I met are mostly really young and not from big cities. Among them, "Ming" & "Miranda", who came with me & Michael the same time, and "Ashley", about 1 month earlier, are closer to me than the rest. Shamin is my mentor and Omar is houseman who likes so much about Michael that he always says 你好, shakes hands, big smiles to Michael. Lynn is the manager; even though she's being good to me, she eventually refused us working for her. We didn't manage to spare a fair time for this housekeeping job from the high-paid factory work. It's a shame that I can't keep a good relationship with her as I saw her like some of my abilities.
As for the job itself, it's hard because every types of the room are much bigger than we have in Taiwan, there's even a two bed (two floor) room type, not to mention the kitchens that included in every room, with a variety of pots, glasses, cups and cutleries. Under the contract, using ABN instead of TFN, we're paid 12 for studio, 14 for one bed and 21 for two bed. In the beginning, we can't even earn 60AUD a day/person for 7 hours work; it's less than working in a Chinese restaurant and so much wearing. I can't even bent my fingers to make a fist. Michael and I hurt our knees after a while and Michael even lost approx. 10kg and hurt his stomach for irregular meals. I, on the contrary, didn't lose any weight but gain some instead because I compensate myself with 4 or 5 times more portions of dinner than I usually have in Taiwan.
It's not a money spinner work but it can be a 7 day work so I don't really have time for keeping everything in check. The routine was getting up at 6:15, leaving for train before 7:00, briefing at 8:00, starting at about 9:00-30, finishing at maybe 15:30 if lucky but usually 16:30 to 17:00pm, riding train back to Ashfield averagely 18:30, cooking & having meals till 20:30, showering, relaxing and go to bed before 23:00pm.
Oct-Mid/Nov:
2nd job is picking and packing for a diary company near seven hill called the distinguished diaries. This job starts my journey to know friends from world wide and it's one of my to do list when I set up my goals before came to australia. Peter is the boss and he's kinda person you never imagine of a laywer because he's so temperate, so genial; but he was and his wife, Lisa, who I fianlly had the chance to talk to, explained to me that Peter is so much a bright person who manages / extends almost all the business on his own, even though it was his father Keith who started this company because Keith was working for Collins, another diary company before built his own. Ann, Peter's mother, also sits upstairs, so this family all work in here while Keith and Ann are quite agedness. (I belive Keith is octogenarian or even older.) You know this family is serious and industrious; unlike some of the young Australian generation, who wander around on the streets during week days and rely on subsidies from having babies. (So true that Lisa told me as such.) Lisa(40yrs) & Peter have a boy, Josha(1-2yrs), a girl, Isabella(3yrs), so lovely and the other one on the way to the world. Maria is kinda a factory CEO because even she's nominally our supervisor, she's technically running the factory like her own, oversees everything from big picture (orders, storage postions, logistics...etc) to as trivial as making us to clean the kitchen, floors and one of the two who can drive the forklift. I later learned that she's from Italy and she's easily allergic to "dust!!" and it's getting really serious if she's stressful. How could a person allergic to dust working in factory..intriguing isn't it. Anyway, I kinda like her even though some people felt uneasy when she's around and I guess it's not unsual to any superiors world wide. Maria is also a fan of Chinese Cuisine so I sent her my recipe of making dumplings, won-ton and braised pork. (Took me quite some time to do the research and I hope she made it.) Next impressive character is Michael(27yrs), the other senior worker (9 months?) and he's the one that always in the mind of me after I left Peter's warehouse. We didn't really get along at the first few weeks and I think it's because he's talking really fast and with a distinct Australian accent that made me second guessed what he really said all the time. There's a night out to king cross hotel and I was suprised that he's really showing up. His best buddies are Ceri(31yrs) and Stephen(26yrs) and I think it's because both are from British, Ceri from Wales, Stephen from Liverpool. Ceri is quite a nice man who always love to meet friends and never showing his tempers as I know it. Stephen on the other hand is cool, at least to me, and not as chatty as Ceri. Stephen and I became a bit closer in the end of and even after leaving factory. He met his girl Runa (I think she's from Denmark or Norway) here in Sydney and they're going to travel all the way north by bus after New Year's holidays..Sadly. Ana is the first girl and I think the last I met in Australia from Argentine because this country just have their working holiday visa scheme available this year or last year, so they are comparable far less in numbers (than German, British, French, Taiwanese, Denish, Swedish or Netherlander). She's so good in english and even more impressive is that she can make her own fit dress, a seamstress!! She also tries to write a novel. She said that she doesn't really want to go back home because the economics are going down pretty badly. She's just 25yrs and it's more and more poignant to me that young people I encountered here, especially those grow up with western education, are so mature and self-motivated, with so much in their mind to make their own choices and knows what they like and what they want. Think about German, 95% of them here are less than 20yrs and they already speak fairly good english, making traveling plans, making food and making as much money as I do. Tabea, Yasha, Nico, Ben, Nick, Katy(met in RSA class), Mira(Consortium Centre), Katerina(Consortium Centre) are from Germany. Gernerally, working in the distinguished diaries is lucky because the work isn't difficult, the supervisor isn't forbiding us talking or pushing us to work and most important of all, we can earn a stable living even though it's 10hrs a day of standing. The luck bonds us together and I hope I still have the chance to keep the friendships going forever. By the way, Janice, Vicky, Sandy are from Taiwan and Yoshi is from Japan. Richard is from Netherland. He's a interesting tall guy who wonders why the chinese girls are so tiny. He's earning 19 days of bill to pay for the trip around south east Asian countries for 6months.
Nov-Dec:
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