making up syllables: finally getting around to melbourne

i have forgotten how to make blog posts. obviously it has been too long. and really, what is this but a labor of love? i don't get any sort of compensation from it. sometimes it is emotionally satisfying. cathartic maybe. we get to some deeper truths here don't we? remember that sydney post? things got real for a hot minute didn't they? but when my heart isn't in it then there's no real reason for me to continue on, to press forward, to share my words and ramblings and opinions and feelings with the world via the internet. and that's what had happened for a little while. well a few months i guess. shall we get into it? let's get into it.

shit was hard. that's really all there is too it. we were in melbourne for well over 2 months and here was what had happened: we moved into a hostel and we got drunk a lot and we made short, fleeting connections with backpackers who were often younger than us and we struggled to find work and we struggled to find happiness and we spent much too much money during it all. this shouldn't reflect too poorly on melbourne itself but more on the australian job market in general as it is available to foreigners. if you are on a working holiday its sort of understood you will be getting a certain type of job and that is either a hospitality oriented job, a tourism type job, or farm work. there are thousands of restaurants and cafes in melbourne but with thousands of foreigners flooding those specific job markets the employers can be pretty selective. so if they don't want to hire a 28 year old american male with no hospo experience they can wait a bit and find a perky 18 year old german girl who can't speak english but has table waiting experience. fuck yes i was bitter.

but hey things changed. eventually i found a job working at the city aquarium through a friend i made at the hostel. this job requires us to assault people as they enter the aquarium and force them into a series of increasingly awkward photos. we then edit these photos so they are placed into aquarium friendly settings, such as the shark tunnel or hanging with penguins or among some coral. finally we spend most of the day once again assaulting people as they leave to get them to look at these photos, now nicely bundled in an informative booklet keepsake, and try and entice children into guilting their parents into buying them. its a pretty easy job all said and done. it mostly entails standing on your feet for long periods of time and trying to be friendly to people who don't really want to talk to you. you learn to deal with rejection. you learn to make small talk. you learn to verbally persuade people into doing things they aren't initially inclined to do. basically it's a crash course in how to pick up girls in bars, which is something i desperately needed anyway.

i will soon be transferred to the melbourne star wheel which is the smaller melbourne version of the london eye. it has longer working hours and will be opening right in time for christmas/school holidays so it's going to be busy from open to close (they're hoping at least). it's not actually the first time the melbourne star wheel has opened – it was an attraction for about 2 months before it had to shut down because intense heat from inland forest fires caused it to start melting. so let's all just hope they dealt with that…otherwise i guess i might be unemployed again in about 2 months.

oh but hey, i haven't really talked about melbourne itself, have i? what to say about my new home away from home. it's certainly much different from daegu! it's a coastal city but you can't really tell from the central business district (henceforth referred to as the cbd). instead the yarra river provides the most striking water feature as it cuts through the city essentially dividing it in two. north of the yarra is the main portion of the cbd as well as the trendy neighborhoods to the north. to the south of the yarra are the more yuppy neighborhoods as well as the coastal regions. the cbd is a busy metropolis and cultural center. hidden between the many large glass business towers are laneways dotted by tiny cafes, shops and bars. these laneways make up the heart of melbourne's identity. melbourne is also home to the largest tram system in the world. it's pretty convenient downtown where trams have their own lanes but in the outer suburbs the trams have to share the road with local traffic, which often creates spotty service and late schedules. furthermore its pretty easy to fare evade with only deterrent being plain-clothes officers who sometimes do surprise fare inspections, but they're even pretty easy to spot beforehand.

eventually i was able to move out the hostel with jamie and the very same friend who helped me find a job. his name is chris and he hails from the northern english city of stoke. he has a heavy north english accent which sometimes makes him sound simple or slow but he swears that's just how people up there talk. we moved south of the yarra to a neighborhood called albert park (we think, the postal code is a bit weird - it could be middle park or part of port melbourne as well) into a little rundown bungalow not 5 minutes from the beach. you can see a video below of the digs. basically, a player for the north melbourne kangaroos (a professional aussie rules football team) purchased the place with the intention of renovating it (we all need hobbies right?) and wanted some people to give him some extra income until he started. and we're those people! like i mentioned it's a bit rundown but we're getting a crazy good price on it and it's only short term. basically it's perfect. the neighborhood is quiet and could use a bit more in terms of nightlife but it's filthy with nice little cafes and boutiques. and did i mention its right on the beach? the beach has a little walking/jogging path that extends all the way down to st. kilda, a popular backpackers area, and probably further.

so, what started off being a shit endeavor has slowly started becoming something pretty great. i received my first paycheck last week so i am officially doing this thing from here on out. i also went out and blew half of it on things i probably didn't need but that's what first paychecks are all about am i right? i might be. now i can start focusing on things like how am i going to decorate the walls in my room and when's our first house party and what's the deal with all these annoying ass flies?

check the photos and video below.