Library of north Melbourne

  Maybe it would be quite difficult to find that this photo was taken at the library of north Melbourne. Actually when I finished the job in Mt. Hotham, I went back to my favorite city, Melbourne, in Australia. The scene was when you sat at one of tables, you would find. It's like outside is amazing weather, but you just sit in the library to leave others alone.

   In order to have the Internet access I had spent more than one month staying in the library.  Besides, there was a variety of magazines and novels which were all my favorite.

  The place where I stayed in Melbourne was really closed to the library, 5-minute walking distance. I always went there in the afternoon when the sun was not notoriously big.  The two-story library was usually filled with a lot of residents and students.

  And if you want to snag souvenirs and postcards, there is a bookshop near the entrance of the library. I always bought cheap books in the shop. It's self reinforcing when you get involved in local community, and library provides a way for you. It not hard to find promotions from the notice board of library and brochures about events held in Melbourne.

  Compared to the libraries in Taiwan, I prefer the library in Australia. The libraries in Australia provide the Internet access and air conditioner. Besides, with modern designs, it creates an excellent aura for those who want to have their time no matter on reading or doing homework.

The album of popular Taiwanese singer
was found in the library of Australia

Australia- Live Sports

Aussies are very passionate about their sport, so why not get out to see a live game?

Rugby
Rugby is really about two things: brutish men and a ball. Add in plenty of pushing and shoving, plus a few tackles, and you've got a pretty rough picture of rugby league and rugby union. There isn't much difference between the two codes so it's just important to remember the teams.\

Football(AFL)
For most people on the east coast, rugby is the big sport but it's closely followed by the Aussie Rules. Sydney has two clubs- the Sydney Swan and new Greater Western Sydney Giants. Most of the games take place at either the Sydney Cricket Ground or ANZ Stadium.

Cricket
The Sydney cricket team, the NSW Blues, play at the Sydney Cricker Ground fairly regularly in Summer. There's also a Sydney Twenty 20 team known as the Sydney Sixers.

Soccer(Football)
For soccer(football) fans, Australia has a league that is rapidly improving in quality. NSW has two teams, Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets. Sydney play most of their home games at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Basketball
The Sydney Kings are the major basketball team here, playing in the National Basketball League. To catch a few games, head to the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

A horrible night

   Last night must be the most horrible night in my Australia life.

I was woken by my flatmates so many times during sleeping, which made me really mad at all.  At 11pm I felt exhausted so I close my laptop despite the film described about the rock & roll introduced by my french flatmate. I fell asleep immediately.  Time passed secretly. I was woken up by the voice of Brice and Imrand, from French and India respectively. As a result, I found I have slept for more than one hour and obviously became energetic after sleeping.

From their conversation, I found Imrand seemed to bring his girlfriend back to flat, which made me anxious indeed. That meant I was going to have a noisy night not only because they, he and his french girlfriend, would talk a lot as always and afterward have sex on the bottom of bed(He and I share a bunk bed). Few minutes later, he got a call from his girlfriend.

   And my horrible night launched.

At last, I realized I had a headache before hitting the bed again with no reason. So I kept counting sheep, which is useful for me, until fell asleep again. Time passed secretly. Then I was woken up again because of the light turned on by my Imrad. Hence I found he bring his girlfriend back. They always have a talk at the balcony before they sleep. Because his girlfriend is French, and Imrad doesn't speak French at all, so they talk in English, enabling me to know what they talked.

"Damn, why do i learn English and understand what they talked? I want to sleep" A idea came up to my mind. And i choose to count sheeps again and fell asleep again.

Then I was woken by the voice of my text message. It is from my another french flatmate Victor, who works as kitchen hand in Manly.  Manly is a tourist site known for its beach. It takes half a hour from city to Manly by bus and ferry. Victor worked late last night and he needed to catch the night bus. Plus the doorbell of our flat is broken. So he needed someone to open the door for him. And I seek help from me, obviously he didn't know I was sleeping.

Honestly, I really got mad after being woken up several times. But I felt better after I woke up naturally in the following morning. That is the disadvantage of share flat. No matter what, we should take respect of other residents and accept the culture differences. Don't take any thing for granted.

Kent

NSW Government to overturn uranium ban - ABC Sydney - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

This is a quite strange news.

The governor insisted that is not the case, but even he had trouble separating exploration from mining as he spoke with ABC Sydney this morning.

"We'll introduce to parliament this week, as early as tomorrow, to allow exploration of uranium mining, ah of uranium in New South Wales" he said.

The ban on uranium mining will continue. 

NSW Government to overturn uranium ban - ABC Sydney - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Chinese New Year

Tomorrow is the first day of Chinese year according to the lunar calendar.

And tonight is the new year's eve. In this night, like Christmas eve, we always have dinner with our family and spent the time with family after dinner until midnight.

However, this year I am in Sydney and unable to go back for this big occasion due to the budget.  So, I am going to miss the chance of reunion, making me feel so down. For the past 23 year at this moment, I usually spent time with my family. Due to the weather which is usually cold in the eve, we always had hotpot together in either our house or grandmother's house. After hotpot time, we got the red envelope from our parents and relatives. Red envelope contains money, which is used to suppress or put down the evil spirit, from our parents and relatives, which is such a good time for me. 

Sydneysider!

   I am still in Sydney.

   Most of my friends left Sydney after the world-class famous countdown at harbour bridge, but I still stay at this city. My life here, honestly like the fireworks, although, is short, it impresses me so much and will occupies one part of my memory.

   Currently I work as a commercial cleaner in Sydney. As the boss told me while my first day work, this job may last few weeks to the mid of Jan.. And now is the time, I have to take action to find another job.

   Anything can happen. That is why I like the life here.

Life keeps going

   Since my last time to work, it has been almost two weeks.  Without work, my life here doesn't stop but still passes. 

My colleagues: French

   Since two weeks ago,  I have worked in a DVD company located at Sydney. 

   In this DVD company, there are two kinds of staff, permanent staff and casual staff. Permanent staff is mostly recruited by the company itself and, on the other hand, causal staff is recruited by two agencies. One is SKILLED, the other is FIRST CHOICE. And I am from SKILLED. 

   In the days I worked in this company, I found all staffs recruited by FIRST CHOICE are from France. And from my agency are from Taiwan, Hong kong and other country.    Everyday, I have different works depending on the need of company, so I always with different groups of people. Take today as an example, I was divided to a line where French work. After today's work, I reckon French is talkative even during work. ALL DAY LONG! 

   Although I am in Sydney, an English environment, I am surrounded by French not only those in my share house but those working with me. How interesting it is. If I learned French during my uni, now is the best chance to improve it. :D
Kent

Stay Alone in a room!

One of JDs was delivering woods in Mt. Hotham.

   Today I had  calls from three different employers. Unfortunately, they all refused me at all.


   The first one was due to my VISA restriction. I currently hold working holiday VISA in Australia, providing the holder a year duration to work and travel within Australia. Many Taiwanese come too with they own dreams and purposes. Most of them, including me, come here for earning money and improving English. And the holder could work for one employer within six months. The company needed someone who is permanent resident of Australia in order to avoid problems caused by VISA. As a result in a few seconds I finished the call with her. This is not what I can not break.


  The second was the company which promoted Chinese massage and therapy(推拿), therefore the company needed the applicant who is strong and hard working in order to do therapies it provided to locals. That was the chance I really like actually before getting know the job descriptions, because it gave to its staffs  accommodation and some chances of travelling Australia. "In my opinion, I am not strong enough to do the therapy but strong to move stuff."I told to the employer. Of course, after hearing this he shortly said thank you to me. I did it before, but just for Candy, a girl. She just had a slight feeling on her body. However, what the company targets was the local who generally stronger and bigger. Orz....


   The last and also last one was not on my list. I found it in the afternoon while searching jobs on a forum. But I called her as her request after 3 o'clock, she didn't answer me. Then I text her a message that I was highly interested in this chance she provided. Few a couple of hours, I got her text message that she had already found a girl who is going to replace her vacancy. Instead of complaint, I text her to thank her for letting me know the chance and put an end in my all day long on searching job.


   To be frank, I did not share this to my flatmates and Candy. They even didn't want to know.  Apparently I don't care. With a couple of coffee and my laptop, i choose to share on this platform for me and those who have ever explored this place.

Declaratiom

   This was the mail which I wrote to my boss after telling him Candy and I would like quit this job as housekeeper he provided. That was tough decision for me but intelligent for me. After reading this mail, you may know how intelligent it is.

Dear my lovely boss,

After deep consideration and overall discussion with Candy, we firmly decide to quit this job as the staff in your company. We feel sorry and, but honestly, have to make this crucial decision. The reasons that we decide to quit are as follows.

First of all, it is the problem of wage. Indeed, we have our second wages after one and half months, which took much more time than we expected. I know you have some difficult getting payment from Marco. Giving wages to employees on time is the responsibility of employer and, on the other hand, the responsibility for employers is working hard. If we work hard on our duties, should you give our wage on time as a reward? And you are not able to avoid this problem in the future, we undoubtedly will not get promise to have the same situation in the following two months.

Secondly, it is the problem of trust. If there is no trust between employer and employee, the business of you doesn’t go smoothly. Yesterday Liz and you promised Jill that you would come to assistant ABN application with her at 10 o’clock. Around 10: 20, I call you via Jill’s mobile. You told me Liz was the way to our place. But after a long day on waiting, both of you didn’t come with no any reason, which made us frustrated and disappointed at all. Even in this small case, you couldn’t fulfill your promise. Why do we believe that you will fulfill your promise in the following days.

Thirdly, it is the problem of time sheet. As you may remember this Monday when Andrew called you, only 2 out of your staffs, Jason and me, went up to the hill. No one knew when and where they need to do/go at the very last second. As a result, we can do nothing but wait for your arrangement all day long, which is quite unreasonable for your employees.

Due to these three reasons, both of us made the tough decision we won’t work with you in the season, which enables you to find better staffs and do your business well as you always do.

 At last, we truly feel grateful to you for giving us the chance to visit this fabulous place, Mt. Hotham, which will be an amazing part of our life, also thank for training us to be professional housekeepers. Furthermore, we will move out until you give us all wage we suppose to have in this period, or we will take some serious actions to ask for.


Kent

My own LIFE in Australia

   Eventually after booking the flight ticket and waiting, Candy catched the shuttle bus to Melbourne International Airport. This was the second time that I accompany her to airport in Austraila. In nearly four months, she has gone back to Taiwan for two times.


   Somehow, I really admire for her decision. In order to stay with her boyfriend, she decided to go back twice even she is in Australia, a southern hemisphere country. Every trip takes her two days and cost her at least AU800 bucks. And she always devoted herself to her boyfriend, which is really touching. 


   Some people may ask that if she is worried her boyfriend gets lonely, why she didn't come with her boyfriend? This is the question Candy always is asked when she told everyone the decision, including me at the first time. For me, she spares no effort for her boyfriend no matter either on his career or suggestion to daily chores. 


   Sometimes she likes to complain and murmur her boyfriend's shortcomings as a girlfriend always does, but most of time she behaves as a lovely cat to the owner, her boyfriend.  


Kent

Memorable pictures

   Today before we had dinner, i just found out the picture i have taken since arrived at Australia. We, including Candy, Jill, and Raymond simply explored them. To much our astonishment after exploring, we notice that we have change A LOT.

    You may not believe that from arrival to this moment, it's just more than 2 months. What kind of changes do we have? No matter on figure and appearance, we are different now. 

   Taking pictures is really worth doing. As long as you have pictures, you could share or watch at anytime and anywhere you want based on today's technology, couldn't you? 

In a bad mood

   Today, it was a hard time for me.

Situation: Today, after one day off I finally had the chance to work. Pub General is the first place we cleaned in the morning. After finishing cleaning job, my boss started to examined what we cleaned. He found out some tasks I did were not perfect, including vaccum the second level of the building carefully. And the following time at the same day, I was assigned to two appartments in Mt. Hotham. Due to the situation I had had in the morning, I spared no efforts on the task. To much my horror(can't find better word to describe), when I finished the job and hopped on the car, my boss told me, seriously that I left some areas to be desired such as dish washing machine in the kitchen. Even though the kitchen was examined many times by me and my colleague, I didn't notice the dish washing machine in the kitchen, my colleague as well.


   To be honest, I didn't like the feeling that my boss suspected my attitude and ability, which really made me upset. However, life is full of twists, so I would like to consider it as one of twists in my life. 

   From this situation I had today, I should improve my attitude and self-discipline in order to seek for high achievement in this job and trust from my boss. That is only what I can do and I suppose to at this moment.   

A quiet night

   Tonight has been a quiet night since I arrive in Dinner Plain.

   Few hours ago, I just came back from another house with Candy. One of our colleagues is going back to Taiwan for her personal reason, therefore we, including her roommates, held a simple farewell party for her with delicious dishes and drinks. After finishing the dishes. we had a so called deep talk. No matter what her final decision is, she will have no regret for her decision. And this is quite important, in my opinion.

   To be honest, I have a hard time that I don't know the exact reason of what I feel currently after some experiences, making me uncomfortable instead. Interactions with others, for example my roommate or colleagues, not only inspire me but give me shots. It is like you find all what they talk and behave are like bull-shit after they interact with you. All in all the feeling really sucks.....

   After returning home and the shower, I got calm down with a cup of black tea. Even though I needed to get up at 4 am and start to work at 5:30 tomorrow, this silent night was such a good moment to reflect for myself. 


Kent 

Two months in Australia!

   In order to celebrate my second month in Australia, I list down 2 months schedule of living Australia. I Hope my following life in Australia could be intriguing as expected.  

June 13th, 2011 - 2nd months in Australia.

June 1th, 2011 - Move to Dinner Plain, Victoria, Australia. As planned, Candy and I moved to Dinner Plain, a town near Mt. Hotham which is known as one of renowned snowing mountains of Australia.

May 28th, 2011 - Departure from Perth to Melbourne. The original plan was taking the flight to Melbourne on May 27th. Due to the operational reasons from Tiger airways, we were forced to change our plan. 

May 13th, 2011- 1st month in Australia

April 13th, 2011- Arrive Perth, Australia

April 13th, 2011- Departure from Singapore to Perth, Australia. From this moment, life was different from the one in Taiwan.

April 13th, 2011- Arrive at Singapore. With some hours on the flight of Tiger airways, I successfully arrive Singapore, making us exhausting. Few hours in Singapore, especially in  Sentosa impressed me a lot. 

April 12th, 2011 - Departure Taiwan to Singapore. I said goodbye to my family and friends in Taiwan and land off to my adventure with a tone of wishes. 

As a housekeeper

   After a month long time on waiting, I finally arrived in Mt. Hotham for a brand new life. Tomorrow,  I am going to start my work after two day training, making me so excited and nervous. 

   You may not believe now I work as a housekeeper in Mt Hotham in Victoria, Australia. All i need to do are cleaning the property of hotel and lodge here, including mopping and vacuuming. Compared to the previous job here in Australia, this is absolutely not complicated. 

   Yet it is nearly 0 degree at the outside, it doesn't start to snow. Maybe in few days it will snow soon. For me, snowing is really exotic due to the reason in Taiwan it doesn't snow often. And snowing makes me like staying in a fairy tale story, which will be unforgettable experience in my life.

Kent

A Visit to Curtin University!

   After a few calls to the vice president in AIESEC Curtin, I finally had a casual meeting in Curtin University with Jenish.  The reasons that I regarded it as a causal meeting were that the meeting was held at a restaurant in campus and few people attended(I didn't know how many member they have in LC) including president and two vice presidents, which was absolutely different from what we regard meeting in Taiwan.

-In an expectation to have a cultral interaction, I spared no effort to share what with them and made good use of every chance of chatting with them. 

  In the meeting, they asked me why I was here and the current situation of AIESEC Taiwan(yeah, they are typical questions). Everyone was surprised that I am NOT taking AIESEC internship but working holiday visa. They are absolutely different. One is for developing your leadership potential but another is for earning money. One thing in common is that they provide chances to experiencing your life(don't you think so?).

 This has been my first time to walk such a long distance since I arrived in Australia, which took me more than one hour on waling. Basically, I just want to save money and do exercise sometimes.

The forum in the campus

The forum is like a place where we play golf.

One red tree on my way to Curtin university

Kent

Half day in Fremantle!

Perth Train station

   Today, we went to Fremantle for buying some vegetables. Fremantle is such a historical city to explore and an important port city for Western Australia. It is located at southwest of Perth, the capital of western Australia. Although we spent few hours there, we went to a fabulous place to see beach by taking orange cat bus. One of ways to get there is taking the train from Perth on Fremantle line.

   Before going to the round house, our first destination was the conventional market in Fremantle(at orange cat bus 11th stop). From any corner of the market, we easily get to know the history and importance of the market.

the beauty of Fremantle

  The round house is located besides the beach. On the edge of the place, we could easily find the beauty of nature and of Fremantle.It seems that we could experience the development of the port city. To be frank, I really like the city not only because its natural scenes but its culture, which impress me much.

3 days in Australia!

   Since this Wednesday, I have been in Australia, a country beyond imagination, for 3 days. Everything here is new and expensive. Compared to Taiwan, the living cost of Australia is really high. In this way, i don't spend much money. How hard it is .....

   Australia is English native country, which means it is a fully English learning environment. In a day, I need to deal with many thing by English, for example shopping, seeking assitance, and finding job, which provides many chance to practice my English.