The Trials and Tribulations of the Backpacking Working Girl.

It's been awhile. Sorry for the lack of attention. So lets get to it.

obligatory warning: not for the faint-hearted. only for those in serious Katherine-withdrawal mode. in other words, it's a long one. you get a special present if you make it to the end.

Part 1: "Metro Hotel Sydney Central. This is Katherine. How may I direct your call?"

You know that feeling of dread upon waking up, once you've realized you're done sleeping and now you actually have to go back to work? Sydney is still nice and fun and all, but the main change here is that I started to absolutely hate my hotel job. Sure, it was fine at first, but it made me crazy. REALLLY almost annoyed at Sydney. And i thought, that's no way to spend my time, being annoyed and pissed off. So i said to myself, "Self, you should go quit!"

I even went so far as to go through a 3 part interview for a marketing company and I actually got hired! But it was street marketing, and I would have had to harrass people on the streets for 8 hours a day until someone donated to Save The Children. Good charity, but ALL of my wages would have been commission. I wasn't worried about actually making the sales, I'm a spunky enough person and I could have nailed quite a few softies, but the prospect of all that rejection and people walking by and saying they weren't interested, etc etc, for EIGHT hours FIVE days a week made me think I would go insane. So I decided not to take it.

Plus, by then, things had started to pick up and it was fairly tolerable, almost enjoyable really to work with some of the people. There's Andre, a highly femine gay guy (we make passing commentary on the hot male pedestrians we can see from the window), there's Todd who says corny things all the time and has a funny almost old-fashioned vocabulary like mine, there's Nathan who is a sweety to work with, and a few other cool people. However, now I'm back to thinking I really don't like the job. I've got 5 weeks left in sydney and I'm still toying with the idea of just dropping it and picking up some cafe work which is still very probable. As far as the Indian restaraunt goes, Laura and I both have phased it out. I've hardly worked there at all the past month. It just got to be really tiring to always have to work when we had nights off, and so, ultimately, we decided it was more fun and rewarding to go out or relax than to serve chicken korma to suits with money.

Part 2: Randoms and Asian Admirers.

I'll say this though, I've met a lot of interesting people working at the hotel. For instance, there are lots of Japanese guests, and for some reason they keep asking to take their picture with me at the reception counter. Multiple times this has happened! A couple, a random guy, a little girl, another couple. Maybe they think I'm Australian? A Thai guy asked me for my email address, a Japanse guy gave me a 1000 yen tip (which is maybe 10 aussie dollars?) and another Asian man gave me flowers the other day!!! (They were probably leftover from something or other, but he still passed them on to me). Since working at the hotel, I've dealt with a lot of drunk guests coming back from their nights out, I've turned down offers to join male guests at the Casino and booze it up with them, I've moved rooms when guests get upset that they're on a non-smoking floor, I've taken shit from disgruntled customers, and most of all, I've learned that some people are genuinely nice and some people are just assholes. No disguise. Just plain assholes. My manager, Kathy, being one of them. And Karen, who is a loser too, and possibly the only obese person I've seen in Australia to date.

*sidenote*
---Despite the fact that I dislike work, the owner of the hotel likes my voice when I answer the phone and asked me to do the voiceover for the new phone system. YES, that's right, I am the voice that says "All of our guest service agents are currently taking other calls, please hold the line for the first available representative, blah blah blah." Oh well, at least it's my first voiceover!

Part 3: The Sweeter Things

Aside from work I AM having fun and doing cool things. Have I mentioned I've gotten to attend performances at the Opera House? Ohhhhh, it's been so great! I saw the opera Tosca towards the beginning of my trip. All the girls in my flat got tickets and it was really lovely to get all dressed up and be cultured. I just went again last weekend to see a symphony and it was fabulous again. Then on to drinks at the Opera Bar which is this fancy schmancy bar outside with a vibe like you might just might rub elbows with someone famous. It's like a VIP lounge for the public. Pretty cool.

Went to Bondi Icebergs the other night, which is this really chic restaraunt/cocktail bar. It was ultra classy and sophisticated. Laura, myself, and our friend Rae all got dressed up and had drinks and just splurged on the night. It was a great alternative to the typical backpacker's night out, which usually consists of finding a bar with a good drink deal and getting hit on by old men, psychos, and other backpacker folk with the occassional local Aussie trying to identify your midwestern US accent and then asking whether Michigan is in Chicago.

Also caught Luna Park the other day, which is a ridiculously small amusement park. Think the Birmigham Fair a little done up. But it was still cool and I rode the ferris wheel and got some cute pictures.

Part 4: A Little Bit of Katoomba; Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

Maybe a month ago Laura and I went up to the Blue Mountains and stayed at a B&B which was gorgeous. We lit a fire in the fireplace and just relaxed, the next morning we drank tea on our porch in the woods, and then we went on a 4 hour hike through the Wentworth Falls. It was awesome! So nice to get out of the city for a bit. Up til then we'd hit a rough patch with our apartment. Bed bugs. The people who lived in our room before us were dirty sons of bitches who picked up bed bugs from somewhere. I truly know where the phrase "Don't let the bedbugs bite!" comes from now. It was AWFUL. we would wake up with bites all over us that were red and itchy and unpleasant. Spent about 2 weeks sleeping on the couch until we finally went out and bought heavy-duty bug spray and soaked the hell out of the mattress. I pretty much was light-headed for hours and went wandering around Hyde Park til 10pm just chilling out. After that, the bed was fine but it took about 2 weeks for our room to stop smelling of fumes.

Part 5: 322/569 George Street, THE SUMMIT APARTMENTS

Slight living change. Our lease was up at the Miramar apartments, and though we loved our flatmates (minus the weird german who took pictures of us when we fell asleep on the couch), we decided it was too expensive for a place with bedbugs and broken appliances. SO we moved to the Summit apartments about a block away and a street over. This one is nicer all around, but now we have a room with 3 people in it. We've been there are about 2 and a half weeks. There are 3 beds and we lived with an Irish girl named Louise who just left for New Zealand...Now there is a Japanse girl named Asami that's living with us. Then there are two other British girls who are really cool and I've gone out with them a bunch already. Last night I went on a night harbour cruise with Helen and it was really beautiful to see the harbour lit up and gorgeous. It was either that or the cinema, so i'm really glad we decided to go on the cruise! Anyway, the apartment has got this incredible view and a nice porch/balcony that you can go and stand on. Sometimes i'll just slip out there and look out into the skyline and just marvel at the sights and the fact that I'm living in Sydney. Not to mention, you can see through the windows of the Meritron Apartments, and let me just say, you can see some very interesting things going on in there! I'll let you use your imagination.

Part 6: Pole-dancing?

So basically we've got about 5 weeks left in Sydney! I'll update and let y'all know what happens with the job. I think as long as I make the most of my time when I'm NOT working, I should be ok, but who knows, maybe I'll become a topless dancer somewhere in Kings Cross and make lots of money working the pole. We're leaving Sydney May 23rd for our big backpacking trip and I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see what's outside of Sydney!

Alright kids, please get in touch and let me know what's going on! Miss you all,

~Katherine~

bed bugs

we have bed bugs. it is gross. i wake up every day with bites that are itchy and, well, unattractive. i hate the landlords bill and lenka, they need to die a terrible death along with the bedbugs. i haven't slept in my bed in a week! we tried a spray that the landlords gave us, but it hasn't worked. so i bought a spray myself today. we love the flatmates (aside from the scary german), but we are definitely going to find another flat for the next two months in sydney. the search is on. aside from the unwanted guests in our flat, things are going well! work is good, i've just been moved to the hotel that i was being trained for and it it's a lot crazier. it's a bigger hotel so i'm a lot busier, and the computer system is ancient, we're talking DOS, so it's difficult to manipulate and make work for you. it's all that training so i can go ahead and learn a NEW program in another 3 weeks that they're switching to! it's a little much, but it's good so far and keeps me busy. life at the indian restaraunt has slowed down a bit. just did one night last week and one night this week. it's ok, more sleep for me! when i'm not being bitten. by the bugs that is. aussie guys are a different story!

The Flatmates

I love Kaz and Chris.

They are great flatmates. They've taken to making fun of me because, for one thing, I am an easy target, and for another, they just plain like to. But they do so in a very loving way.

I mentioned to them that one day I would like to own a golden retriever puppy. But I want it to be stunted so it never gets bigger than puppy size. I know it's quite cruel, but that's what i want. And I'd like to name it Frisbee, which they reckon is an awesome name.

So I was pacing around the flat one day, literally going in circles, and then jumped at the chance to go out for a walk with the couple down to the bottle shop to pick up some wine. And so the name Frisbee started not only to stand for my future puppy, but also as a personification of puppy-like self. Chris is kinda protective over me and doesn't like me hanging out with guys that he thinks are out to corrupt/molest me for their own good. Kaz is protective too and says i was raised by smurfs because i'm so sweet. They are a good couple. When they're not fighting. But that's another story.

The two other girls moved out, they're traveling to New Zealand now. In moved Richard, a german guy, and a Mexican guy named Joaquin. They are both in their early 30s and they don't speak English completely well, but they're nice enough and do their dishes, so it's fine by me. They often ask me about phrases and then they take out their pocket computer dictionaries and add in new words. it's really cute, actually!

Laura and I are still good living in our little room. Our hours are a bit different so sometimes we won't see each other for a day or two and then we'll just wake up and then the other person will be in bed. But we're going to the blue mountains next week together on one of our rare simultaneous days off.

more later,
K

Paradise Lost

Might as well just be honest here.

I got the boot.

Canned, fired, whatever you want to call it, it happened to me.

Picture it. I'm having a sunny gorgeous Tuesday afternoon off, when all of a sudden, I get the text of doom on my phone. "Katherine, could you please come in and see me today before 5:30 or tomorrow before 9:30 pm." It was from my manager. Needless to say, it didn't sound good. If it was about a clash in the schedule, a simple phone call could have cleared it up. But going in? That had trouble written all over it.

To cut a long story short, after only working for 8 days, it was decided that I did not collect enough glasses on my downtime, and so, I had to be tossed aside for the more eager cup-collecters of the Irish fare.

That's ok. I went out drinking right after getting fired, and then I showed up for my other job at 6:30 pm. So now I'm working at the Indian restaurant that Laura works at and I'm also working at a hotel in the city at the front desk, checking people in and out. Fairly easy, more hours, more money, it's all good!

So maybe I'm not cut out for bartending.

But for 2 glorious weeks, I was a bartender.

And I poured a damn good beer.

The email that started it all

Feb 2, 2005

G'day mates!

After 2 weeks in Sydney, things have finally come together. Laura and I are living in the city, sharing a flat with 4 other people. We have our own room and we share a large bed and we have our own bathroom, so it's nice and we have our own space, but the people we live with are actually quite cool, so we spend a lot of time in the very spacious living room with them. The kitchen has a leaky faucet that is actually a constant stream of water, the dishwasher doesn't work, and the carpet is a little funny looking, but it's a good flat. We live with Carrie (Kaz) and Chris, a nice british couple around our age. They've been traveling all around Asia and the islands and were actually really lucky they weren't hit by the tsunami. There are two other girls in the flat, Jody and Kirsty, Brits traveling around as well. I went out with Kirsty and Jody the other night to a bar on Darling Harbour and it was really nice getting to know them and chatting up random Australians at the same time!

As far as jobs go, it's been a bit of an odyssey, but in the end, I lucked out and got a job at this really cool Irish pub called P.J. O'Briens. I'm a bartender (YES!!!!!) and a waitress. I'm still being trained as a bartender, but it's nice cuz since it's such a beer drinking bar, most of the stuff I need to learn is just different types of Irish beers and how to pour them the right way. I must say, I have MASTERED the Guinness pour. For now, I've been working in the upstairs bar and restaraunt. By Saturday night, I get to have a go at the main bar downstairs. I'm excited!!! Everybody is really nice who I've met so far and they are pretty much all Irish with the exception of a a few of the managers who are Australian. I'm a bit of a celebrity as the only American in the pub! People are really friendly and take the piss out of my accent and just want to know a bit about where I'm from. It's still a little crazy getting used to everything and the really fast pace, but I'm liking it so far.

So it took about a week and a half to find the job. Everyday, laur and I would get cute and scour the city with our resumes. i handed out 38 in total. Got interviews at 2 other places, hired by a nightclub as a bartender (which i had to turn down but i can still go back to later if i need more hours), and got offered shifts at a high-priced Indian restaraunt on the harbour which I had to turn down as well. I might need to find a second job, but I'll see how it goes at O'Briens.

While we weren't looking for a job, we explored Sydney! It's a great city, very laid-back, people dress either really smart like they're going out or are just wearing flip-flops and shorts and beach-like gear. My hair has gone SUPER curly out here so everyday it's like i'm a Spice Girl. I love the view from Circular Quay where the Opera House is. It's beautiful. Laura and I walked across Harbour Bridge to Kiribilli to visit some friends and we saw the entire view from way up high, which was gorgeous. We've been to a few beaches too. Bondi beach is awesome, we went there for Australia Day on the 26th. We also went to Manly and Coogee which were great. At Coogee the waves were intense! I've never been in waves that big. It was high tide and I got my ass kicked out there, getting caught in the rip. After Laura accidentally kicked me and I got hit by a phantom boogie board in the neck, I decided to get out of the water. I haven't gotten too burned yet, I'm trying to be really careful!!! The sun is really strong, though, and I can see how everyone here is really paranoid about cancer. There is, afterall, NO ozone layer.