Friday 13 April 2012

(Day 32) Coincidence

Monday 2nd April (Day 32)

As you may well remember last week I left my job as a street fundraiser and then decided I wanted to return to fundraising after being approached by another company.  Since then I have been waiting around for them to give me a call to invite me for an interview like they said they would at the time, but that phone call hasn’t come.

So this morning I decided to go onto the company’s website and apply through the website.  From my previous experience of applying through a fundraiser company website the time it takes for them to phone you back is very short.  Last time I had barely closed the website when I received a phone call from them.

I applied this morning bright and early at around 9:00 but after a while no phone call came.  Maybe they weren’t recruiting anymore?  Maybe that is why they didn’t contact me last week?  Maybe they just don’t like me?

After lounging around for most of the day I decided to head to the shops.  I needed to go shopping but I also knew that the chance of me running into a fundraiser was quite high.  There are enough of them working in Sydney and there is a corner on the way to the shops outside the train station where they always work.  That was where they stopped me last week and this whole wanting to get back into fundraising thing began.

So I headed into town and surely enough I got collared by a fundraiser on the corner outside the train station.  I think I am probably the only person who has ever walked into a city wanting to be stopped by a fundraiser. 

I got talking to this girl and she took out a recruitment form to take down my details.  Half way through filling out this form I got the inevitable phone call I had been waiting for all day.  They would phone me now wouldn’t they?  What a coincidence.  I laughed with the woman on the phone and the girl in the street saying “you guys just can’t get enough of me”.

Anyway, moral of the story is, I have an interview tomorrow.


The corner outside the train station.

Thursday 12 April 2012

(Day 30) Breaking and Entering


Saturday 31st March (Day 30)


I arrived back at the house to be greeted by 2 random Irish girls sat in our back garden.  I assumed they were Mick’s friends (Irish guy who lives next door).  After general introductions and stuff they asked me if I had a key for next door as the back door was locked and they needed to get inside to get some booze that was in Mick’s room.  I didn’t have any keys but the kitchen window was open and the gap was big enough for me to climb in.

I was quite happy at first to climb into the window at their request but half way through I suddenly started doubting my actions.  I was breaking into a house on the request of these 2 girls who I didn’t actually know.  For all I know they could have been trying to rob the house and then heard me come in and decided to act like they knew someone inside.

But they must be Mick’s friends?  Surely, no burglar waits in someone’s back garden to be let in.  I was half way through the window and I couldn’t really stop now.  It would be terrible rude it I did.  After somewhat regrettably letting them in they headed straight to Mick’s room.  They seemed to know their way around the place and they did describe exact what they wanted from Mick’s room.  It was a crate of beer and that is all they took from Mick’s room.

We were just leaving the house when Mick himself showed up.  There seemed to be a bit of tension between Mick and one of the girls and I had just assisted in allowing her into Mick’s room without his permission.  I quickly made myself scarce and disappeared into my room.

After a while things seemed to calm down and I started hearing other people who were coming back from the night out.  I was hearing new voices from the garden and I couldn’t get to sleep so I decided to get up and chill with whoever was in the back garden.  I stayed up and chatted with mainly Irish people until around 5 o’clock in the morning.  After so much wine, so much food, a hectic night out and breaking into my neighbour’s house all I had to look forward to was my insanely uncomfortable bed.  It is the kind of bed you would expect to find in a North Korean prison.  

I had fun today but tomorrow I will be paying for it.

(Day 30) Post Wine Tasting and the Night Out



Saturday 31st March (Day 30)



The city of Sydney is a very different place through the eyes of someone who is heavily intoxicated with wine.  Every tall building that once stood solid and still are now swaying from side to side like a tree in the wind.  The once smooth flat pavements have suddenly become uneven and bumpy.  Road signs that were once in plain English are now completely illegible.
I think I was getting funny looks from people whilst I was attempting to walk through Sydney.   I had become that man that mothers warn their children about, you know the one.  “That man there, that is a bad man”, referring to me, that red faced idiot that smells like a winery.

Some weird fountain I stumbled upon.

I swear this building was moving.


Eventually we made it back to the house and the journey did help me sober up a bit.  Objects were easier to focus on now.  People soon arrived at our house for the BBQ and it wasn’t long until a generous amount of chicken breast was cooking away on the grill.  Aaron (a friend of the house) was the guy who brought over the grill and a huge box of chicken breast.

However it seemed that most people had eaten before they arrived at our house.  This was a bit silly but great for me because I was starving.  I just sort of hung around the BBQ talking to Aaron and picking off bits of meat when it became available.  In fairness I did grab a plate quite a few times and offer the freshly cooked meat around to everyone.  But I think I ate more meat than most of the people in our back garden had done combined.  I hadn’t eaten much meat since I got here and it felt like a guilty pleasure.

BBQ.

The back garden.

After a few hours of chilling and generally stuffing my face with meat we headed off to the Kings X hotel.  It took at least 3 taxis to take everyone to Kings X but not everyone managed to get in.  Ryan was collared by the bouncers at the door for being too drunk which was funny because he didn’t even go to the wine tasting.  I was still carrying around a massive amount of Sauvignon Blanc in my head and they didn’t stop me.

On our way to the Kings X.

Ryan did eventually get in but only after JC got kicked out.  One in one out it seemed.  JC was rolling a cigarette at the bar when a bouncer came over and order him to smoke it outside.  JC agreed and said he was just rolling it inside and then was going to smoke it outside but the bouncer wasn’t happy about this for some reason.  In the end after a bit of an argument he called up reinforcements and 2 other bouncers came to take JC away.  After hearing about what happened and looking at their faces I think the 2 bouncers were actually on JC’s side.  They looked surprised that JC had been marked as a trouble maker but as bouncers must stand united they escorted him off the premises.  I saw the first bouncer get an ear full off the other bouncers later on and rightfully so.  I was tempted to give him an ear full myself but I was very drunk and it probably wouldn’t have gone down well.

We generally lost various people throughout the night.  Going to a club with so many people it is inevitable some people will move on without the others and soon the large group at the start of the night becomes several smaller groups.  I had heard that some people where in a club just down the road but I wasn’t sure if they were actually there or if they would still be there if I headed off to that club.  I was still with a few people and they didn’t seem keen on leaving the Kings X to find the other groups so in the end we just stayed where we were.  In fairness we did pay to get into Kings X.

In the Kings X.



During the night a fight broke out on the 2nd floor of the Kings X.  Can you guess which floor this is?  I have listed the floors in one of my early posts.

It was the retro floor, although the music they played was popular dance music all the chairs and tables had a retro look to them.  I first knew a fight had broken out because I saw one of these retro tables come hurtling towards me.  It had been thrown aside by 2 large guys whilst attempting to beat the absolute shit out of each other.  One of the guys got pushed into me during the fight and at one point one guy was on top of the other guy swinging punches wildly into his face.  At this point the bouncers had shown up and they looked keen on joining in.  The guys were dragged out of the Kings X kicking and screaming and normal club activities resumed.

I left the club soon after, drinking wine all day had made me sleepy and I didn’t feel like staying in the Kings X any longer.
But the night didn’t end there... 

The votes are in...

Last week I ask you trustworthy people what I should do about the fact that most local people (especially drunk girls on nights out) think I look and sound like Harry Potter.

The overwhelming majority of you guys voted for the "dress up as Harry Potter and complete the humiliation" option.  It is nice to know that you guys have my best intentions at heart.

Anyway, as you voted for that option that is what you will get.  For a night out soon in the future I will dress up as Harry Potter.

Make a fool out of myself?  Sure, lets do it.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Sunday Reflection IV - Friendships with an expiry date


Sunday 1st April (Day 31)



I live in a house full of people from different nationalities, from the top of my head the nationalities of the people in this house include English, Irish, French, Spanish, Dutch, Canadian, Kiwi (New Zealand), Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian.  Everybody in this house is a traveller like me who have come from their home country to take some time out to see the world, and like most travellers plan to return to their home country.

I have only been in this house for nearly a month and already one person has moved out and another 3 people have mentioned that they will be leaving soon this week, which is a shame.  I like everyone in the house and I have made some good friends here.  So it is a bit sad to think that the people I get to know well and have a good laugh with will be leaving on a fairly regular basis.  I am sure that the new people who come into the house to replace the people who have left will be nice but, I like the people here at the moment.

Another thought is that most people stay in this house for less than a year so when I look to the start of 2013 or even earlier there is a good chance that everyone who I currently share the house with would have left and moved on by then.  I may well end up being “that guy who has stayed in the house the longest” compared to everyone else staying in the house at the time, and that is not really a title I want.

Soon people will be leaving me behind, and then I myself will be leaving people behind.  My year in Sydney will be filled with as many goodbyes as hellos.

Oh well, I guess it is better to have met people and to see them leave than to never have met them at all.


The photos on the fridge are full of people I don't know.
Most these people in this photo will probably be gone soon.