"I HAVE AN INTERVIEW"

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Temperature: 26 Degrees Celsius (average) but it rained today!

Track of the Day: Better Together, Jack Johnson

"Happy Mother's Day mom," I say around one in the morning as I call home from bed. I have a

good long chat with a few people at home, leaving me with that gut-wrenching homesick-feeling that doesn't really go away. I spend the next few wee hours of the morning flipping through photos of home, sitting up in bed and chatting with Alecs and finally succumbing to sleep. I hear the distant sound of ringing and thinking it's part of my dream dismiss it until I feel Alecs' hand shaking my arm. "It's for you," he says holding out the phone. "For me?" I whisper incredulously rubbing my eyes, "who is it?" I ask. Alecs shakes his head and shrugs while I answer the call. The woman on the other end confirms my address and says her company is delivering something in the next hour. Alecs and I rack our brains about what it might be and although still feeling quite homesick I too am excited. Our questions are soon answered when a knock on the door reveals a gorgeous arrangement of yellow daisies and roses with a card from mom hoping these flowers would cheer me up.  After spending quite some time on the phone again with mom and then finding the perfect place for the flowers where they will be seen the most, I settle down and start breakfast. Having been inspired by MasterChef Australia, an Ozzie TV cooking competition we

watch religiously, I attempt to make a meal of diced ham, toast, grilled tomato, poached eggs and kiwi (just because I love kiwi) and it actually turns out quite tasty. "We need to clean this place up before we head downtown," I say to Alecs, who sits at the computer applying at yet another job agency. Twenty minutes later I fumigate our apartment with cockroach killer and we head out the door so as not to poison ourselves in it's toxic fumes. A two and a half minute walk to the train station has us on the way to Queen Street Mall in the CBD (downtown). We stand at the corner, the infamous corner that still makes my jaw drop. At this city street corner when the walk sign lights up pedestrians not only
cross the street from left to right but also diagonally from one corner to the next. The light changes and the bell sounds and Alecs and I step into the mayhem. A fury of people each traveling in a different direction step into the street, a dozen people cross diagonally from both sides creating an X while dozens more cross normally from side to side. aeriel view of this intersection would have an X of people crossing while a square of people walk around the outside - hard to explain but truly incredible. "I will never get bored of that," Alecs says as we cut through a mall. As we are desperately trying to keep our expenses down we end up buying very little, cutting this shopping session quite short.
Back at the apartment, armed with a plethora of fresh veggies and some cooking essentials I spend the entire night cooking fifteen dinners to be frozen and eaten over the course of the next two weeks. Included in this list of meals was fried rice, spaghetti sauce, hamburger soup, arroz caldo (rice soup), bow tie pasta, pasta salad, tocino (sweet pork) and adobo (another Filipino dish). At 2AM I am finally finished cooking, my feet are sore, I'm exhausted, but feel quite productive. Alecs stayed awake to keep me company, but I forbade him to enter the kitchen as he'd just be in the way. "Mmmm, that smells good," Alecs says as I add the ginger to the arroz caldo (rice soup), "can I have some?" he asks hopefully. I give him a quick taste, pour  the soup into its respective labeled container, shower and hit the sack. 

"What are some of the material things you miss from home," Alecs asks the next morning over a breakfast of Rice Bubbles (that's right they have Rice Bubbles not Rice Krispies here - and yes it is Kellogs). "Alberta Beef, our eggs and milk," I say thinking about the things that are 
different here. There is just nothing like our Alberta Beef, Australian's keep their eggs in the flour aisle (not refrigerated - weird I know) and their milk has a slightly sweet taste. "What about you?" I ask. Alecs lists not having a car as his number one, with chips and relish rounding out his list. Although the chips (crisps as they are locally named) are good they have none of the brands we have at home (except Doritos) and they also do not have green relish which continues to frustrate Alecs. "Are you going to use the George Foreman tonight," Alecs asks after I take out some steaks for dinner. "Sure am," I say admiring our brand new, very cute little grill made by the king of personal grills - George Foreman. Alecs smiles just as the phone rings. "Well?" I say anxiously after he gets off the phone, "who was it?" Alecs gives me a smirk, "I have an interview," he say excitedly, "tomorrow morning at an agency." We do a little dance around the kitchen and head out to find the place and stop at the post office too. As we stand in a rather lengthy line up at the post office, Alecs notices and HP
printer/photocopier/scanner on sale for $59 AUD (about 48 CAD). We excitedly snatch it up, find the agency and head back for an early night.

Alecs stands in the living room in his full suit looking quite nervous the next morning. "You'll do fine," I say as we join the morning rush, catching the train, umbrella in hand (as it was raining) and making our way downtown. I drop Alecs off at the agency and head home anxiously awaiting his return. Just as I begin to drift off I hear the keys in the door and spring from bed to hear all about the interview. Alecs hands me his test results, 100% on the accounting test, is in the 98th percentile in Excel and the agent said he had a great resume, was presentable and liked placing travelers. Alecs changes out of his suit and we celebrate with a peanut butter and jam sandwich. This week will hopefully bring some more interviews for the both of us but we are optimistic for the future. We've been scoping out some Gold Coast trips that will commence the moment we secure a job. 

Until next time so long,

Alecs and Meg in Brisbane

Ps. We have added a video to each of the last two posts.