Our transitory life

Hello everyone! I really wanted to wait to blog about Melbourne until we were really settled down in a home, sipping on a cold glass of sav blanc in our massive backyard garden, eating a variety of fancy take-aways from one of the hundreds of delicious restaurants around town (variety provided by our ample incomes at our new, much-loved jobs)... oh wait that's the dream version of my life...

Ok, things ain't so bad. It was a little touch and go there for awhile. I did hold off on updating ya'll because I was feeling pretty down and out about the way things were panning out here, but I think we just much be starting to get the hang of this Melbourne thing. (Hopefully I didn't just jinx it, I have a way of doing that).

I know I probably confused a lot of people on facebook with my cryptic updates about being homeless, so let me just clarify everything now. I'll start at the beginning...

We arrived in Melbourne on October 3rd, and shuttled and trained ourselves to our first temporary home (airbnb WIN) in Clifton Hill. We stayed with Jess and Sean, a fun French-Canadian & Australian couple, who, true to airbnb form, did an excellent job of orienting us to our new city and making us feel all kinds of comfortable. The neighborhood was quiet and leafy green, our "front yard" a park. The Merri Creek Trail was just a short run away, making for a nice morning routine, and we spent a few days tramming/walking towards Smith street and the surrounding Fitzroy area, which has a Capitol Hill-esque feel to it. To say I was overwhelmed by the amount of amazing, quirky, delicious, and cozy restaurants/cafes/bars in town would be an understatement... arriving here with no spending money has been quite a challenge.

The first few days were occupied by wandering wide-eyed around the city, taking care of business, and editing resumes at least 20 times. The first setback was the good ol' temp agency, Hays, completely failing to help me in any way. It took me a week and 10 email/voicemails to even get ahold of anyone there, and when I was finally called in to get registered, I was told "it's kind of slow right now and there isn't much available." In in a city of 4 million people, there are no reception jobs available, riiiiiiiight. Well screw you, Hays. I sorely regret banking on the idea of them coming through for me like they did in Wellington. In the meantime, I hadn't pursued any hospitality jobs, because I liked the idea of being in a 9 to 5 job with weekends free to explore... so I needed to reset my thinking. Brian had been dropping his resume off at cafes around town and already had three trials set up!!

His first trial was at a cafe called Siyia, where he was making coffees (on trial) for about a week before being let go. We look back now and laugh at being in Wellington and everyone talking about the "Wellington standard" for coffee... People were so snobby there about their coffees, but the Melbourne standard is even more ridiculous. Barista-ing (is that a word?) is truly an art here. Brian's experience is all from quick, on-the-job "training," where he wasn't so much taught how to do things as corrected for his mistakes, so how is he supposed to know? Well, at least he got a few shifts and a handful of cash for his time there (and he didn't really like it there, anyway). His second trial (and current job) was at a restaurant called Paragon, in the lovely Rathdowne Village in Carlton North (dreamy neighborhood). He's been working there for about 2 weeks, waiting tables, pouring drinks, and getting reamed out by his meanest boss to date (anyone surprised about this? We have a great track record with amazing bosses). The pay is good and he's been able to get some decent hours in so that's great, and he's a much stronger person than me to put up with such a drill sergeant (this guy is seriously, seriously mean, and not in a non-confrontational way like Richard MacFarlane). Here's hoping Brian can keep getting hours and staying out of his boss' way as much as possible!

I had some drama with the job situation. After dropping off my resume all over town, I got a trial for last Thursday at Residential Kitchen, a cafe in Carlton North (just a few blocks away from Paragon), and a trial for Friday at the Curious Goose cafe/restaurant on Sydney Road in Brunswick. I was really pleased with my success, but the next few days were a rollercoaster of emotions. My trial at RK went really well, and I was offered the job. I really liked it there and the owner seemed very level-headed and organized, but the pay seemed really low. I told him I had a trial the next day and wanted to see how that went before I made my decision, which he said was fine. The next morning as I got ready for my day at the Curious Goose, the owner texted me and asked if we could move my trial to the following day (this should have been the first sign...). I went into RK and told the owner my trial had been moved and could I please have another day to decide, and he seemed ok with it. Saturday morning I went to my CG trial, which was very short and seemed great, the owner told me right away he liked me and wanted me to work there, but then got very vague about what hours were available, and said "get together a proposal" for me and call me the next morning with it. He also emphasized, for the 3rd time, how upfront he likes to be with people and not make them wait/jerk them around/waste their time. This put me in a really awkward position, having to ask the owner at RK to wait for me yet another day to make my decision... (the fact that CG kept putting me off should have been my second sign to run far, far away). Using all my guts, I ventured into RK and explained the situation, apologized profusely, and was received coldly by the owner (understandably so). I was basically told they couldn't wait for me forever and they were trialling someone else so we'd have to see what happened. I went home, sick to my stomach about how I'd made (and was continuing to make) the wrong decision. The next day, hours and hours passed with no word from CG, no response to my pleading text, and me spending the day feeling awful and worried that I'd now lost both potential jobs. I finally called CG again at 6pm, and was told the shifts which were previously open to me had been given to someone who trialled previously (the day I was meant to have my trial but was pushed back, I presume), and that there was, MAYBE one shift available on Sundays, if I wanted it, but no real promises there, unfortunately, bla bla bla/ I hung up the phone knowing there was nothing for me there and the owner was making me wait/jerking me around/wasting my time. I called RK and left a voicemail basically begging for the chance to get a job there, and waited in agony until the next morning (yesterday) when I found out my job offer was still on the table. SO I HAVE A JOB! I start at Residential Kitchen on Friday, I'll let you know how it goes :)

Meanwhile... house drama was also in full effect. While we were staying with Jess and Sean, we looked at 3 houses that we really liked. It was the second house we saw (where we are currently residing) that we decided to go for. It's a massive, beautiful, newly renovated house in Brunswick, with the dreamiest backyard/patio and those window-doors that slide all the way open (like at a restaurant!) to leave your living area completely open to the outside... we fell in love with it right away but the lease term was a year. The current flatmates, Alex and Tim, said that the landlord is really great and would probably change it to a 6-month lease if we could move in right away and start paying rent. We had to kind of be in limbo for awhile as we waited for new information, and in the meantime we saw another house in Carlton North (ideal location for us) that we liked, but not as much. Incentives included lower rent and NO BOND (this is huge).... but we wanted to see what would happen with the other house because we loved it so much, so we said we'd think about it. Over the next week these things happened: the property management company wanted us to fill out an application before they approached the landlord about changing the lease terms, we filled one out (and looked horrible on paper), the managers said they couldn't change the lease terms but we could maybe sign the year lease then find someone to take over, and in the meantime Alex and Tim invited us to move into the house while we waited for the logistics to sort out so we could save money on our airbnb accommodation. This seemed like a good sign; after moving in it felt like everything was going to work out but we were just waiting. Then the prop managers wanted rental history letters of reference, which I had to frantically reach out for (thanks Jemma and Johnny!), then we found out Tim hadn't filled out his app yet, and when he did he didn't put any references, and the managers told Alex things weren't looking good for us because "overseas rental references aren't as good as Australian ones" (because the US is a little podunk country from where references obviously can't be taken seriously). Anyway, the next day we were denied, and all of us were given 28 days to vacate. Oh and of course in the meantime (it has been 2 weeks, after all), the other house became no longer available. So, yes, we have been living in our dream house, even if we don't technically "live" here... but now we've got to go. Luckily with the 28 day window we should have plenty of time to find somewhere else to live. We are already so attached to this house and neighborhood, it's going to be so sad to live, but at least we got a little time in a dream home. :)

It has truly been a rollercoaster. There are times when I am elated and feel like I could live in this city forever; the thriving arts and music scene here, vibrant neighborhoods and amazing food... and there are times I just want to curl up on my (Tim's inflatable water floaty) bed and not leave the house for days. Transitions continue to be hard, after all this time... looking for a job, being vulnerable and broke in a new place, trying to find a home, trying to make new friends; these are things you shouldn't have to do so often. But I keep reminding myself that this feeling of helplessness is only temporary; transitions only last a little while and then it's just life. I have to give a big shoutout to Brian for being so amazing the last few weeks. He is so much better at dealing with the complicated emotions we're going through right now and I don't know what I'd do without him. His many pep talks, attempts at distraction, and being able to always make me laugh have seen me through some dark days lately. We just celebrated 3 years together; time flies when you're having fun! Love you, Bri :)

Ok, that's the end of the heavy stuff, my apologies for an emotionally-draining blog post, but I just know the next one will be full of all the wonderful things we'll be doing once business is all taken care of! This city really is wonderful and has a lot to offer; I can't wait to take full advantage of it and enjoy the coming of summer!

Until next time!