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~