Golden

Okay, so now all I have left to catch you up on is September (and only two-thirds of it, since I went on holiday the 20th!). ! I’ve been really trying to put myself out there since I’ve moved to Melbourne so I could make myself feel at home here, since it was so difficult to meet people in London. In Warragul, most of my friends were from Taiwan, or Japan, or Hong Kong, and one thing that I noticed about all of my Asian friends was not only how hospitable, kind, and friendly they all were, but also just how vulnerable they were when meeting people. I’ve noticed that normally when we all meet new people, it might be at work or through a random friend, but both parties are often too scared to make the “first move” and ask that person to meet up outside of work, or outside of their mutual friend group. With my friends in Warragul, it was so easy because they were basically like, “We’re going to be friends whether you want to or not, why don’t you come over for dinner sometime?” (Okay, they didn't say it exactly like that, but that's what they implied). It made me realize that maybe we should all be like that! What do we have to lose, and why are people so scared to make the first move? I met so many awesome people at Hudsons, but the first time that I went out with them all together (other than the Christmas work party) was during my last weekend in Saskatoon. We had a blast but couldn't do it again because it was too late! Anyway, now I’ve learned to be a little bit more vulnerable when it comes to making friends. I’ve been creating multiple events on the “Canadian Ladies in Melbourne” facebook page (I already have a

reputation as the planner), and usually a lot of the girls who I met at the very first brunch join in, and sometimes we even get some newbies as well. With a few of the girls, I’ve clicked with them really fast and we’ve already reached that, “We’re going to be Melbourne BFFs” stage, which has made my time here so much  more fun! Anyway, I decided to start a Food Club, where I would plan a different dinner at a restaurant every 3-4 weeks. The first weekend of September was our first dinner, which was at an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant called Okami. Eight girls showed up, and we literally ordered everything on the menu (and some items, we ordered twice!). After dinner, a few of us went to a nearby bar for drinks before heading home. On Saturday morning, Sabriena and Sarah (the two Albertans) came to my house and we made sugar cookies. We literally ate the first batch before it was even cooked all the way through (so hard to resist!). I think we only had about 12 cookies left to split amongst ourselves after we finished baking everything. Sarah had to go to work, so Sabriena and I met up with her boyfriend, Nathan, and the three of us went for Mexican food at a restaurant by my house called Fonda. On Sunday, Allen and Viola came to Melbourne later in the day. Allen seemed to be suffering from the same throat infection that I had suffered from the week before so he wasn’t feeling that great. However, it was Viola’s last weekend before she moved back to Taiwan, so he wanted to make sure that we could see each other one last time (before I go visit in Taiwan!). We went to the cat cafe, where we got to spend an hour with multiple cats, but nearly all of them slept the entire time. Afterwards, we went to a hot pot restaurant for dinner, where they had a selection of meat and veggies that you could add into your

The Hot Pot Restaurant

own bowl, and then they cooked it in broth and brought it out to you. It was really good, and I think it helped both Allen and I with our sicknesses!

On Monday, I was finally starting to feel better from my throat infection. That night, I had planned a Canadian Wing Night for the “Canadians in Melbourne” facebook group. I’m hoping to make it a monthly thing and this was the first, so we only had a turnout of 8 people, but it was a good group! Hopefully more and more people will keep coming as the months go on. The wing night is at a place called Kodiak Club, which serves real Caesars (for approximately $22 each!), and apparently real poutines (yet no one has tried one yet), as well as deep-fried pickles (yum!), and a dozen wings for $6. It was a good night! That week, I ended up teaching prep to year 2 everyday so lo and behold, by the end of the week I ended up being completely sick again, but this time with a cold. By the time Friday came, I had to cancel plans again and I passed out before 8pm. On Saturday, I went to Matthias’ house to have Caesars with him and Ryan, since I still had my Clamato juice that I had gotten from Trivia Night. A few new people came as well (all from Canada). It’s weird cause in London and while travelling, I met up with so many Aussies (and seldom met any Canadians) and now that I’m in Australia, all of my friends are Canadian (and I seldom meet Australians). On Sunday, there was a Ukrainian Festival at Queen Victoria Market, so a group of us went and I got to have some borscht, as well as some kovbasa - so good! The perogy line was over 45 minutes long, but I decided

Ukrainian Festival!

that I could just get them at the restaurant by my house. After we spent some time at the festival, Sabriena, Nathan, Ryan and I walked around Queen Victoria Market for a bit before heading back home to get ready for the following week. That week, I suffered from my cold the whole time. The worst part was when I’d have coughing attacks in the middle of class and start crying in front of all of the students because I couldn’t breathe. Towards the weekend, I started to feel a bit better, which was a plus! 

On Friday night, I met up with Ryan for a couple drinks. Then on Saturday, a group of us decided to do another bottomless cocktails night. Sabriena, Nathan, Alexa, and I met up for dinner at another Mexican restaurant called Hecho en Mexico and then we met up with everyone else for our 6:30 session at the bar. Remembering how the last bottomless cocktails night had went, I decided to take it easy this time. We had such a good time, and I was still able to walk the 28-minute walk back home at the end of the night. On Sunday, I did some cleaning and tried to get everything organized for my trip to Tasmania. That week, I only had to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which was so nice to have such a short week, especially since I was only asked to teach prep to year 2 again every day. On Wednesday, I was told that I’d be teaching year 1/2 the entire day, but was then informed that it was as a music teacher. The one teacher was like, “Have you taught music before?” and I said I only had once, and

she was like, “Well, did you prepare anything for today?” Kind of taken aback (as she had JUST told me I’d be teaching music 30 seconds ago and even so, why would I prepare something?), I replied no. She said that this week was the school’s planning week, so the students only had specialty subjects (music, art, phys.ed., etc.) so that the rest of the teachers could plan, and therefore there wouldn’t be any lesson plans that day. So I had to improvise two two-hour lessons with two different year 1/2 classes. Needless to say, I was so happy when it was finally the end of the day since I knew my holidays had started. That night, I went home to pack so I could go to Tasmania Thursday morning! I'll write about Tasmania in a different post and keep this one short 😀 Love always

Golden - Parade of Lights