MELBOURNE! What glory! What culture, what attitude!

I think I have found my Australian home away from home. I swear, the minute I stepped off the plane I could feel it. I didn’t think it, smell it, analyze it or envision it – I could feel it. Melbourne is frequently referred to as the “cultural” city in Australia – I would have to agree. There is so much more live music pouring out of smoky doorways and clubhouses here than in Sydney. Quite honestly I was shocked at what a small live music scene Sydney had. The attitude of the people here in Melbourne is also different, very “cosmopolitan” – yet with a hippie-esque relaxed attitude. The best way to relate it would be as follows: Sydney is to Dallas as Melbourne is to Austin. And there you have it. No offense to Dallas or my beloved Dallas peeps, but you all know I’m an Austin girl through and through – now with a dash of Melbourne, so it would seem.

Noticing the drastic drop in bank funds since Sydney, I scrambled for a job the first week I arrived in Melbourne and immediately landed two temporary gigs. I would highly recommend temp agencies for anyone with corporate experience who is travelling – not only does it pay much better than the average café or traveler job, it also offers immediate access to the inner workings of the country’s culture and thinking. For example, my first temp job was a one-day assignment only, for a company called “PPB”. I had no idea who or what PPB was, but when I arrived at their downtown offices and had to go through two security scans to get to their floor, I knew they were “somebody”. That morning on the Today show (which is basically a carbon copy of ours – goofy weather woman, sharp/witty anchorwoman, goofy anchorman, and an Ann Curry look alike news reporter) a story broke about Clive Peters, a huge Aussie hardware store chain similar to Home Depot or LOWES, that had just declared bankruptcy. Citizens all over the country were unable to collect items they had already paid for, and it was unclear as to whether these people would ever see their money again. I “tsk tsk”ed the TV and headed out to catch the train into town. Imagine my surprise when I sit down to my shiny new desk and my manager says “Right. So we are handling the Clive Peters receivership. You’ll be answering consumer calls, here is your script.” For the next 8 hours I spoke to at least 200 Aussies who were either irate, bewildered, saddened, or downright frantic. I had women crying to me that I had no right to take their money. I had builders yelling that they had twenty houses waiting on the twenty refrigerators they had paid for in full and now I wouldn’t let them pick them up from the store – they had paid for them in full and I WAS STEALING FROM THEM!!!. I had husband and wife teams get on two phones to me and read out the Australian laws and how what we were doing was illegal. I had an 80 year old granny ask me how she was going to do her laundry now that she couldn’t pick up her machine from the store and she had no more money to buy another one. Yes folks, yes. The worst: A man on the phone screamed “You obviously have no scruples to be some AMERICAN to take a job like this when you know that company is stealing from Australian citizens!!!” Yes, oh yes. In reality this was all very interesting for me – I didn’t let the mean ones get to me, for after all their anger had nothing to do with me personally – and if I was them, I would have been frustrated too, especially since I could not deviate from my script or give any concrete information. Just remember this for yourselves, people: the next time you call up some hotline to bemoan your troubles or to rage about the injustice you’re being served, you might just be speaking to some foreign backpacker who is as clueless as you are, and though they might truly sympathize and want to help you, there is simply nothing they can do about it. So don’t take it out on them.

My next temporary gig was a five week assignment; I’ve been with them for a while now, it ends next week, and I am going to miss it SO MUCH!!! It’s for an accounting firm, and man gosh almighty are the offices gorgeous. I am a receptionist, and for a company that has two floors in the famous Rialto Towers downtown with 300 people, I am a very busy receptionist. I manage the switchboard, book meeting rooms, greet clients, PA for directors, etc, etc. Guess what – I absolutely LOVE IT. The people I work with are SO MUCH FUN!!! My fellow receptionist is Kerry, a woman who has been here for 9 years and is an absolute gem. I call her my “mama bear”; she has truly taken me under her wing and stays on top of me about finding other jobs, buying warm clothes, getting good food to eat, etc. She practically forces her own coat and scarf on me every time I go outside because she thinks I’m going to catch a cold. This is truly comical to me; you should see the Aussies get all bundled up like Eskimos to go outside, complete with their UGG boots, two scarves, hats, gloves, and trenchcoats…when it is only 18 Celsius, which is about 64 Fahrenheit. I hear it gets really cold here; I’m still waiting for it. The other great thing about this job is my “office”. :) Our half of the floor is a giant room that can be turned into three separate entertaining areas – and the walls are all floor to ceiling windows. We have a 180 degree view of downtown Melbourne and Australia beyond on one side, and the ocean on the other. The sunsets and sunrises from this view are absolutely stunning. On that note, the sunrises/sunsets/just skies in general here are the most majestic I have ever seen, anywhere, period. I’m sure it has to do with Australia’s location on the planet and their lack of smog compared to places I’ve been, but I’m telling you – even in the middle of the day, at 2:00 pm, I have to stop and marvel at the crystal clear blue skies with floating blankets of pink and golden clouds. It’s just unbelievable. I’m afraid half of my pictures are of skies or trees, HA! Back to my job – to give you an idea of how fun this company is, or I’m guessing of the Aussie corporate culture in general, they had a “Sex in the City” night for us ladies. They served cosmos and champagne in our reception area at 5:30, with the first movie playing on a huge screen in the background, muted. At one point I turned to the movie and saw that we were right in the middle of one of Samantha’s R-rated scenes…looking around, no one noticed or cared. Hmm…I thought, this would certainly violate some sort of HR code in the states. Then we all headed out to the Golden Pass Theater and watch SATC 2. So much fun. They’re doing the same thing for Eclipse. Every Friday at around 3:30 or 4:00 is “Friday afternoon drinks” meaning just that – everyone has a beer or opens a bottle of wine at their desk. At the end of the month is “end of month” drinks which, luckily for me, was the first week I started. I joined everyone in the training room (which is more like a giant hotel ballroom) for kegs, tubs of champagne, wine, food, and a Wii competition. Next week is their end of year party, and we’ll all be on a party barge for 4 hours – pirate costume required. Did I mention that the reason for my 5 week assignment here is due to the other receptionist taking her 5 week holiday in Europe, “as you do”? Folks, welcome to the Aussie corporate culture.

Can you see now why I am having an ideological war within myself? I came to Australia to do something completely different – work in pubs, on farms, write, play music. And yet I find myself enjoying the corporate world so much more over here. I will still be working on farms – that is not up for debate. But for now, the corporate world is growing on me for cultural and financial reasons. :)

Let’s see…in other news, I have rented a room in Newport, a 14 minute train ride from downtown. I absolutely LOVE MY HOUSE. It’s an old art gallery converted to a home, so there is fabulous artwork everywhere and just a general funkiness to the place that really resonates with me. Wood floors, a fully stocked kitchen, and my own big beautiful furnished bedroom with cute curtains and a big desk. Every morning I walk to the train station for my commute into town, and I pass a mural painting with “TRUST” emblazoned into its center. This is the best thing to see and be reminded of every morning. I really enjoy joining the thousands that migrate into the city for work – it is so much fun to experience that! Everyone walks to the same heart beat, it’s just crazy, a feeling that I can’t put into words. No one really speaks on the train because you are all so smashed together, you know all up in your neighbor’s personal space, but nothing you can do about it – so everyone kind of takes a vow of silence. Then as you exit the train it’s like you’re all a part of the same organism and you have to work together to all fit on the escalators, then through the gates, and then over the crosswalks. What a thing to be a part of. I’m reading Jack Kerouac’s On the Road right now, and good lord there are so many parallels that I catch myself throwing the book down wanting to accuse him of stealing my thoughts. But then I remember that this book was written well over 50 years ago…which just goes to reinforce the one thought that all of my travels lead me back to: no matter where you go, we’re all the same. All of our differences are just illusions – this ain’t no fancy idealistic new age thing folks – it’s just truth.

Other random tidbits…the FIFA World Cup has been a lot of fun here, I watched the opening USA/ENG game with my cool British neighbors. While I was just happy to be happy watching it, yelling “yippee!” or “yay!” occasionally when I thought USA were doing well, these guys sat with furrowed brow and cussed at the television nonstop. Very serious matter to the rest of the world, this FIFA World Cup is. I also had many men stopping by my desk at work to ask who I was rooting for in the NBA Finals, and several say “GO SPURS!” as they passed! I had no idea that they followed basketball so closely – I had quite a surprise when I went to a small food court for lunch that day, which is usually deserted…but found it PACKED with guys watching the game. With every score they would all scream in unison, it was deafening. Melbourne is known as the sports capital of Australia, and I will be going to my first footy game here soon.

Some more terms from the Aussie dictionary:

1. Sook: cry baby. “Don’t be such a sook!!”
2. Bingle: car crash. “Nah look, he had a bingle but he’s fine.”
3. Cracked it: to go off on someone. Shit hits the fan. “She saw him kissing that other girl and she cracked it.” I love this phrase.
4. Tickets: I really have no idea. Sam at work is trying to explain this one to me. Something about if someone thinks they're “all that”, acting as if they would sell tickets for themselves, then you say “tickets…” really sarcastically. I think. Something like that.
5. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. TA: thank you. Pronounced “tah”. Everyone kept saying this to me when I would transfer a call to them, and people would reply “TA” to my emails…I thought it was some weird code for something they wanted me to do, but apparently it just means thank you! It’s the cutest thing and so common. When I expressed my delight to Kerry, she said “But don’t you say that? You know when you’re a baby and your mum teaches you to say thank you you say “Taaaaaaa!” Um, nope. But I will now. Love it.

And there we are for now! Please keep your fingers crossed and say prayers that I find another job…today. :) I love Melbourne so much, and could really see myself staying here for quite a while. You know what that means – TIME FOR YOU TO COME AND VISIT! That’s right, YOU! :) Joey Sommerfield arrives here in Melbourne on Thursday June 24th, and words cannot express my sheer delight and giddiness. Things like Skype, email, and Facebook really make you all seem much closer than you are…and because of this I have not been overcome with homesickness or sadness at not seeing my friends or family in person for the past 6 months. However, there is something to be said for being around the people who have known you your whole life, who help make up the fabric of you, who help hold you up with an invisible wall of support. I don’t know what it’s going to feel like to be physically close to someone like that again. Joey, when I see you I’m either going to tackle you in a bear hug, cry like a sook, faint, or float off into la la land. Hope you’re ready.

Much love, hope all is well, and that the Texas heat is treating you with respect if not mercy –

Nancy