Calm Before the Storm?

My first driving lesson.

Insert Steph, 2 screaming kids and pouring down rain during "rush hour." Not only was I sweating bullets about the rain, I had to get used to using my left hand to shift gears, adjust the radio (which I immediately turned off to help concentrate - no worries Mom and Dad) and turn up the air to help cool down my profusely sweating armpits. Turning out of the driveway, I eased into the left lane - cruising along just fine until the first parked car along the left hand side of the road crept up on me. Steph grabbed my arm, yelling watch out! I nearly sideswiped the car and I was only 2 minutes into my lesson...
5 points for Bethany.

Streets in Melbourne, especially in the neighborhoods, have no rules against parking down the left and right hand sides of the road. So at any given time, you can come across a road block of cars backed up, coming from both directions, trying to squeeze through a narrow gap between 2 parked cars. My first few attempts at passing: 1. I swerved into the closest opening in between two parked cars and played chicken with the oncoming traffic until I could get out. 2. I tried to sneak my way through, but had a mild heart attack when a more experienced driver swerved into the gap as well, narrowly missing my side mirror. 3. I just sat in an opening and waited, no exaggeration, 5 whole minutes until all cars around me were gone. Needless to say, I had to crank up the air another notch to help re-cool down my now soaking-wet-with-sweat t-shirt.

All this, keep in mind is going on while I have 2 kids yelling behind me and trying to remember to adjust my windshield wipers with the varying strengths of pouring rain.

With every lane change, right hand turns (remembering to turn wide into the left lane) and road blocks, I felt inside a little more at ease with the driving situation, that is until I looked down and my knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. We finally arrived at our destination, Baker's Delight on Bourke Road in Camberwell, an amazingly quaint bakery with the best bread and pastries. After such a stress filled 10 minute car ride (yes I only drove 10 minutes there and back) - I stepped out onto the crosswalk and right in front of us, stretching from as far as I could see in either direction, perfectly shaped, was this:

I had to of course stop and take a picture (it was hard to capture the entire arch without having a building obstruct one side or the other), but it made me so happy, and gave me a sense of peace that only one of nature's beautiful wonders can give you.

My job search.

Many resumes sent, many "marketing/sales" role interviews (essentially standing on the street corner in the middle of the CBD trying to get donations for a non-profit organization), and a couple of sign-ups at temp agencies for occasional work on nights and weekends for extra cash, I have narrowed down my job search to two promising companies (more on this later).

Two Friday nights ago, I worked one of these temp jobs as a hostess/whatever the maitre d at the restaurant was telling me to do, at a "footie game medallion level restaurant (more on this later as well - that deserves a whole blog post in itself!) I performed quite well if I do say so myself. There were times of confusion, some accented word dropping and 2 shattered dishes (splashing coffee all over me), but needless to say, I made it through my first night - and I didn't get fired!

Lesson of the week: I must remember, I am the one with the accent here. People from Australia don't necessarily know or care where Atlanta is, or even if I am America or Canadian. It takes time and patience to learn how to drive. And if I am going to make ends meet with how expensive everything is, I am going to have to get over my love of skinny caps and learn how to enjoy raw fruit and veg for all my daily meals.

It's No Worries

Melbourne, compared to Sydney, is said to be more known for its culture in terms of art, music and festivals. You can simply walk the streets of the city to see the truth in that. Art pieces line the medians in the road, decorate the sidewalks and street corners and paint splashes of colors down the Yarra Riverwalk. One of my favorite things to do is walk through the streets of the CBD. Even if you have walked down the same street 100 times, if you really stop to look, you can find statues, wall paintings and yarn covered railings you may have never noticed if you were in a hurry.

It helps that in between my interviews and RSA class (Responsible Service of Alcohol - yes, this is mandatory to take a class to get a certificate to be able to be a waiter/bar tender here -- this is my backup plan in case a full time job doesn't start right away, because we all know I am a type-A worry wart), I have time to wander, which is such a foreign concept to me who is typically triple booked, looking for even more plans to take up my time. I am slowly learning to be ok not having plans, to be alone and just take time for myself. It's painful at times, but at least I am helping reduce my stress level (and hopefully in turn reducing the chance of a stroke or heart attack!) Australians have a much more laid back, relaxed attitude. No one is in a hurry to do anything here (including helping to set up your bank account which has now taken 2 phone calls and 3 trips to the bank and I still do not have my debit card - in fact, my account has been cancelled, reinstated and verified at least 5 times.) The speed limit on the highways is 100 KPH MAX (equivalent to about 62 miles an hour). Police are so strict here, if you go the slightest bit above the speed limit, park in the wrong place, or even run a YELLOW light, you are written or mailed a ticket that on average will cost you about $200 AUD. As aggravating as it is driving down the highway here, you learn to leave earlier, giving yourself extra time so there is no need to speed, and it in turns means fewer car accidents - if only the Americans could do the same - I just have a feeling that would never happen...

 The Vic Market is the largest outdoor market in Melbourne, open most every day of the week. It's a great place for people watching, buying Fruit and Veg and plenty of meat, fish, cheese and bread to go around. We ventured to the market today because the weather was beautiful after about a week of cold and rainy winter days. Walking down isles of clothing, jewelry, toys and food was a chaotic frenzy of people, carts and vendors yelling out their daily deals: "2 for the price of one!" - "Strawberries, 2 for $5!" - Schnitzel $15!" It's so vibrant and full of life, colors and smells that pull you in, only to spit you out after your money is spent and your cart is loaded down with the freshest local produce.

This weekend we are heading to Sydney, I have another round of interviews (and hopefully an offer) and have a full schedule of dropping off and picking up the kids. (Watch out Melbourne, I'll be driving this week - on the Left hand side of the road!) I will be picking up the kids on Friday after school, loading them in a cab and rushing off to the airport. The three of us will be flying business class, so I have forewarned Dailey we will be wearing chic outfits and large sunglasses to see how many people we can fool into believing we belong to some high-society Melbourne family! Needless to say, my part week of playing mom will be a real test to my patience and a large dose of birth control (don't get me wrong, I love these kids to death, but it just solidifies that I am nowhere near ready to have kids anytime soon!) So let the fun begin as I begin the next big Australian adventure...

Yarra Valley

Second round interviews await me on this third week of being in Australia, which only means my list-making and calendar notices are quickly filling up my days' events. Proving, this will be a fun and adventure filled week with high hopes of a potential job offer in the near future. Over the weekend, the entourage as I now like to call the 5 of us, (because to the seemingly judgmental public eye, we might look like one of those "alternative" families, especially when Austin calls out to people that he has "two moms..." It is hard not to notice us tromping around with a highly opinionated 6-going-on-30-year-old with a sweet little brother, 3 bossy adults, a stroller, 3 stuffed frogs, 5 coats, 5 cell phones loaded with Free iPhone game apps to keep the 2 kids entertained, a bag full of snacks and juice boxes and two overloaded purses bulging with brochures, train maps and chocolate tour companies) loaded up the car on Saturday to take a shopping trip in the CBD so Steph could use a birthday gift card on something nice for herself. Emptied handed, two hours and 2 grumpy and hungry children later, we settled into a delicious home-made pasta Italian meal complete with a bottle of wine and enjoyed a relaxing dinner in Camberwell. Sunday was a beautiful day despite weather predictions, so after a trail-run, we packed up the entourage again and this time headed to the Healesville Sanctuary (one of the state of Victoria's largest Zoo's just outside Melbourne). All the kids were interested in doing was playing on the "jumper," essentially an air filled moonwalk pad the size of a small house filled with little hooligans pretending to be kangaroos. After watching a painfully executed Birds of Prey presentation complete with runaway hawks and disobedient Aussie kids that made our 2 look like angels, I decided to explore some of the Australian wildlife now contained in captivity on my own (yes, Dingos, Wallabies, Wombats, Tasmanian Devils, Kangaroos and Koalas do exist and are the main features of the Zoos down under). During my exploration I saw my most favorite of the Down Under creatures: The Koala.

Although I am told these are creatures who could turn on you viciously at any given time, in my eyes, they seemed nothing short of a perfect new addition to our entourage: docile, eucalyptus-eating fuzz balls that could just hang out in the backyard until we need someone to play or cuddle with. My vote is, 1 Koala, yes please.
I also ran across these:

These roos are about as chill and nonchalant  as they look. They had that "I am better-than-you" attitude and "I don't care if you want to see me hop just because you think it's hilarious. I'm just going to lounge here with my arms crossed like I don't give a crap." And hopefully by my explanation of these creatures, you can imagine that no, I never once saw them hop.

Wallabies, Dingos (nothing at all what I was expecting, and quite disappointing really after "the Dingo ate by baby," true story turned Meryll Streep 1988 "A Cry in the Dark" film, anticipation buildup- they are nothing but a mix between a dog and a wolf), and Tasmanian Devils (he really did resemble the cartoon character-running in tirelessly in circles around his cage- too quickly to get a decent picture) - all were the most exciting of the other wildlife I witnessed at the Sanctuary.

A few more leaps on the jumper and we were off to our next destination: Wine Tasting at Rochford Vineyard. The grounds were beautiful and we were instantly captured by this particular vineyard as opposed to the 100's of surrounding ones because of the featured billboard that Steely Dan would be performing in September amongst these very vines. We pulled in and were greeted by a full-bodied Pinot Noir, a spicy Shiraz and a blood-warming fortified Cabernet port. This first experience of Australian wine tasting gave me a quick nudge to remind me that this place is once again particularly fitting for me. Big city life with vineyards only 30 minutes away. Oh the life...

I couldn't resist wine country and decided to venture out to the hills just a day later. Monday proved to be back to typical Melbourne winter weather: cold and rainy with hazy skies. I still believe I brought a stroke of Atlanta heat with me to Melbourne the week I arrived because not only were locals talking about the abnormal, sunny heat wave, I began to second guess why I brought my winter clothes at all. A snap back to reality - me standing on a street corner waiting for a bus bundled in the thinnest winter coat I own because I refused to believe I needed anything heavier when I was packing since those coats are just "too bulky and there was no way I needed anything that heavy." I had taken the train to the Lilydale station which is out toward the country and had to catch a bus 8 more kilometers (yes, I am still getting used to measuring everything in centimeters, kilometers, liters and Celsius) to the closest winery with a "cellar door" (that is what they call their tasting rooms) that was open to the public. I ended up at Whispering Hills, a small 8 acre vineyard, tucked away in Seville Hills with a gorgeous view and inspiring offering of Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Cabernet. The Pinot Noirroadtrip from Perth up the Western coast of Australia.

My trek was not wasted in the least bit. I mastered a whole new section of public transport. Saw a boutique vineyard with a hard-working, wine-loving owner and had a story to tell once I got home. Leaving Whispering Winds with a bottle of Pinot in hand and wide grin on my face, I could not help but be thankful of how friendly and open people are if you just stop to listen to their story, especially over a nice glass of wine...

Laneways and Arcades

Settling into a routine of running and lifting weights, going to interviews, reading and exploring the city has done a number on my feelings and emotions, not to mention testing my inability to sit still for very long. Needless to say, I am learning invaluable lessons on patience, how to have quiet time and adjusting to the idea of having a night at home as opposed to triple booking myself per the norm in Atlanta.

Union Lane

Not only have I finished 3 books in the last two weeks, I have stopped to appreciate people passing me by on the sidewalks, made small talk with the regulars at the City Library and taking time to locate and photograph numerous unique art installations around this culturally infused city. Melbourne, know for its "laneways" and "arcades" as they call them, is an intricately woven pattern of major thoroughfares connected by these lanes and arcades famously recognized by distinguishable attributes. Union Lane, in between Little Collins and Bourke Street, is know as "PacMan Lane" due to the fact that an artist has brilliantly transformed the lane into a world of video game illustrations.

Centre Place

The Soup Place

My view from the City Library looks straight through a strangely beautiful glass etching of birds looking out to the appropriately placed Jack London suit store. Centre Place, a lane beginning to the right of Jack London is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to eat a bowl of soup at "The Soup Place," or have a skinny cap. Centre Place rivals Degraves Lane as my favorite lane, and without much explanation, you can probably tell why - because it looks like a street scene right out of Europe:

Degraves Lane

Block Arcade

Royal Arcade

Arcades around the city also act as passageways from one street across to another, but most are covered walkways lined with boutiques and restaurants, essentially small indoor malls. The most grand of these arcades: The Royal Arcade, Block Aracade and the GPO, all part of the most predominant shopping center in Melbourne. Stores built into historic buildings provides for some of the best (yet most expensive shopping adventures). Needless to say, I stick to drooling over the window displays and the magnificent architecture.

GPO

Melbourne has many tucked away shops and restaurants that are just waiting to be discovered. Even in my time walking around the city, I haven't been able to see it all. I wonder at times how so many restaurants and shops can stay in business, but at the same time, there are so many people wandering the streets during the day and relaxing over a cappuccino or a glass of wine. They either do not have jobs, or have adapted quite well the the Australians laid back attitude, that they do not feel bad taking time off work to wander through the city. Everyone is so kind here, I have rarely seen people get upset. They just shrug everything off with a "no worries mate" and carry on. So for a small glimpse into the City of Melbourne... more to be discovered and more to come...

Yoga, or the not so Zen and relaxing morning I thought it would be.

On my first Friday in Melbourne I had an invitation to join in on Yoga class with a friend of a friend who lives here with her husband. My journey began by walking to the tram at 8:20 - thinking this would give me plenty of time to get to the studio by 9:15. Little did I know that I would get off the tram too early, miss the first train, wait for the second. Make it to the next train station where I have to run to catch the second train, to then finally end on the street where I needed to be.

I emerge from the station, already knowing that I am 30 minutes late at this point, and that I will not be interrupting the already-in-progress yoga session, so I plan on camping out until its over to at least say hi to my newly acquired, but less-than-impressed-with-my-punctuality friends. From out of nowhere swoops in a middle age asian man (Asians make up a large part of the population in Australia because of the close proximity between the two continents).  I try to smile and move on, but he follows me - wanting to know my name, and why I have a funny accent - where I am from and why I am in Australia. And then he takes it one step further by wanting not only to escort me to the yoga studio, but he wants my phone number so that we can meet up for coffee one day and that way "we can be friends." I politely tell him that I do not have an Australian number (even though I do-please forgive me for lying) - so he proceeds to dig out an old, dingy receipt to give me his number instead. Feeling bad is an understatement of how I felt when he finally directed me in the way I should continue down the sidewalk to the studio and reminded me we were to be friends. Ning was his name, and unless by some act of God we happen to run into each other again, I will not be meeting him for coffee. But all he wanted was a friend, which makes me feel like a knife is driving through my heart every time I think of ditching him. I hope Ning finds friends to have coffee with soon...

So onto my camping out, waiting for yoga to finish, I find a nice coffee shop to wait in, complete with a sweet Barista named Shannon who "awww" and "there, there's" me as I vent about the horrible journey of coming allll the way to this part of town from where I live in Balwyn (apparently not too many people journey over an hour just to go to yoga - who knew!?) She whipped me up one of my newly found favorite drinks: a skinny cap (cappuccino made with skim milk - topped with a dash of chocolate dust - they are to die for) and I settled in with the most recent issue of Vogue for the next 30 minutes.

After a quick hi and bye to my yoga buddies, I marched back where I had just recently come from to journey all the way back to my side of the suburbs. (Keep in mind, I am rockin my new bright blue tennis shoes and have a giant, rolled up yoga mat slung over my shoulder - so I am not discreet by any stretch of the imagination whilst I am running through train stations and crowding onto already max capacity trams). Exhausted just from the journey to get there and back, I want to sit in peace for a little while, but low and behold - Sarah has to be waiting for the exact same tram. Sarah, a middle aged woman with unnaturally fiery red hair, bad teeth and crazy-big sunglasses (in a way, she reminded me of my French study abroad mom, Pascal - which is maybe why although not in any mood to chat, I conceded and politely listened to what she had to say). On and on about her daughters health problems and her miraculous pregnancy, and how she "loves the name "Bethany" - that she needs to write that one down to remember to tell her daughter because she thinks the baby needs to be named Bethany now" ---

Well I do not know what it was about that Friday with my yoga mat and bright blue shoes, but something had "talk to me" written all over my face - and talk to me, people did. I might never have coffee with Ning, not ever see Shannon again, and one day, there might be a miracle baby named after me, running around Australia - but what I do know is, that was one glimpse of sunshine for me that Friday. Stressed for being late and missing yoga, but if I had not been late, I would have never met these amazing people. For one reason or another, our paths crossed, and I hope I touched them in some way because they let me know that I have God Winks (as one of my closest friends back home calls them) all around me. Little instances that give me a spark of joy to know that every thing is going to be ok, even on the rough morning days.

Chinatown, Train Trouble and the Shrine of Remembrance

Day one, two and three in Melbourne. Hopping off of the train at Melbourne Central Station seemed like a grand idea until I walked into the masses on the sidewalk and had no idea where I was going or what I was supposed to do for the day. Granted, I had my laptop in tow for a good solid day of job hunting, so the most logical first step: find a quaint cafe with free wifi and camp out for a while. Problem: I had no idea where to even begin finding one of these without wandering aimlessly. My saving grace was looking across and down the street and of course, in US fashion, finding not one, but two Starbucks. Now I know what you are thinking, you are in this amazing city in Australia and you choose to go to Starbucks! Well, I was in a panic, and when I panic, I need to stop and regain focus before my heart explodes and someone has to come looking for me. So there I was, with my $3 AUD cup of hot tea in hand (I bought it only thinking I would get a wifi password off the bottom of the receipt, but alas, you still had to pay more money to get on their network) and I instead opted to use a map for an alternative to my game plan. Trying to be as discreet as possible (because heaven forbid I reveal to locals by my looking at a map that I am in fact not a resident of Melbourne), I located a brilliantly marked building off Flinders Lane in the lower Southeast part of the inner city loop. Off I went to find a haven where I unknowingly would spend at least the next 3 days: the City Library. This library is not the grand Melbourne Library with beautiful architecture in the middle of the city square, this is instead a more contemporary, smaller library near an amazingly fantastic side street called Center Place (filled with tucked away shops and restaurants). On my way, I decide I need to first set up an Australian bank account at NAB (the local bank most used here). The only one I located right off the bat was in Chinatown (of course, why not try to set up an international bank account with an Asian that has an Australian blended with Mandarin accent?) With a new bank account number in hand, I journeyed onto the library.

For the next few days, I would take the tram at Camberwell station to Melbourne Central and onto the City Library to send out resumes. When on the verge of going cross-eyed, I would wander back out into the streets to see some more of the city. Wandering down toward the Yarra River, I saw the Melbourne Aquarium and the King and Queen bridges. Taking a tram I went all the way to the north part of the city to see Melbourne Museum and the city baths.

I began to meet Steph each day in front of St. Francis Church, right next to Melbourne Central, to head back to the house. As I stood there watching the crowds pile into the largely domed station, they would return the stares back at me in wonder. I am still unsure if they are looking because they can immediately tell I am not Australian or because they were scared I was about to hand them a pamphlet arguing why I believed they should attend church service on Sunday. I just smiled and nodded as they passed by, waiting until Steph arrived - and then the rush began! The kids have to be picked no later than 6:15 and if you miss your train, you have to wait, anxiously watching the minutes tick by. We run down three flights of escalators to the platform for the 5:20 train.
Day 1: jump on the 5:20 train and end up not in Camberwell where the train was supposed to be express stop to, but in Surrey Hills, 4 stops PAST where we are supposed to exit. By the time we realized this mistake, got off the train, waited for the next one and made it to Camberwell. It was a mad dash down the street, running at full speed to after school care to avoid being charged the steep rate of $1 a minute for being late. We made it just in time and swore the screen at the station was not updating properly, hence the reason we were on the wrong train.
Day 2: jump on the 5:20 train to Mooroolbark (yes, that is a real name of a suburb) and after the Burnley stop instead of continuing to Camberwell, the train veered toward Heyington - completely opposite of where we should be headed! Now, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me - yet there were 5 other people getting off at Heyington that made the same mistake. Fast forward to the mad dash down the street toward school and this time I was not as fortunate to be wearing comfortable running shoes, instead I was wearing my moccasins (that I refused to put in my give-away pile despite requests from my dear friends on packing night). Shoes flying, hair waving wildly and my strapless bra now down around my bellybutton, we arrive at the school only 15 minutes late, not too bad considering Heyington usually only gets one train every 30 minutes. God was looking down on us with pity I guess, but we might not be so lucky a third time...

On day three, I took a tram out to the South of the inner city (in search of an ATM to withdraw money which I learned when I got there was the exact same as ATM's downtown - but hey, I got to see part of the city I would have otherwise not seen). On this route was the Shrine of Remembrance (which I felt a need to stop to pay my respects to the armed men and women who have served for Australia. It was such a nice day, I sat on a bench outside of the shrine writing postcards to family and friends back home.

{{ All in all my first week is going well. I have learned everyone not only drives on the left-hand side of the road, they also walk on sidewalks and escalators on the left hand side as well (learned quickly after several near head-on collisions). Everyone ends sentences with "No Worries" and a sweater is called a "jumper" here.

I have three job interviews already lined up, a cell phone and a bank account in place and invitations to yoga and a night out with others closer to my age. More stories and pictures to come as my adventure continues... }}

My Walk Around the CBD (Central Business District)