Working Life (Melbourne)

It has been three weeks since I started my new job in Melbourne (as an Account Manager at OMD), and it is really hard being back at work. Not only is it hard because it means that I am not traveling, but it might be true what they say - traveling may actually lower your IQ.


I wasn't sure that I wanted to work in an advertising agency in Australia, but now that I am, I am glad that I decided to. It is completely different from my job in San Francisco, even though I am technically doing the same thing. Working in Australia has actually allowed me to meet many more Australians (I met mostly Europeans/Canadians while traveling) and to get a sense of the way that doing business here differs from America.

Surprisingly, Australians actually work pretty long hours, and I am not just saying this because I am working in advertising. I have worked out one of the reasons why they work long hours - they take more time to sit around and chat. When we go to meetings, there is always a lot of smalltalk before we actually get down to business. And at numerous times throughout the day, my boss stops me from working to tell me a random story, or an inappropriate joke but that's another story...

On day 1 of the new job, I didn't even get to go into the office before I had to report to a client meeting at 8:30AM (typical hours of my office are from 8:30AM - 5:30PM!). And on day 4, I was already presenting to the clients even though I had no idea what I was talking about. Honestly, I feel like I am speaking a different language when I am at work. Everything related to my job is called something different over here or has a different acronym. And to make it worse, the girl that I work most closely with is from New Zealand, an accent that I still struggle to understand haha. She is really nice though and has been a major help with my transition into the new job.

After three weeks, I am finally starting to get adjusted to my new life in Melbourne. Other than the fact that I do not know many people here yet, I have an apartment in St. Kilda that I live in with Renee. It is in a perfect location for summer - only a short walk to the beach and really close to shops, restaurants, and pubs. And I can walk to work (via working out at the gym) in the morning even though it takes 45 minutes or more sometimes. The sad thing though is walking might be the fastest way to get there. The tram up Chapel St. is painfully slow, and sometimes I beat it home walking.

And not to mention the crazy Melbourne weather... "4 seasons in one day" is definitely not just something that people say! One day it can be freezing, but the next day warm like summer. It really puts San Francisco weather to shame in being unpredictable. Layers are key to always be prepared, and I make sure to bring an umbrella with me everywhere I go. Most days since I have been back here, have seen rain even if only for a few minutes.

I find it really hard not to compare everything about my new life here to America, it is really hard! There are a few things that I noticed Australia does better than we do, but there are also many things that I would change. Like how most jobs here only pay once a month!! How are you supposed to budget? Not to mention that I have been working at my job for almost a month, and I still have not been paid yet. Also, nothing in Australia is free, and I mean literally nothing. You have to pay extra for everything - think sauce, chips and salsa, rice, and bread at restaurants and bags at the grocery store! And to top it off, paying for things is generally more expensive here - I especially notice this with healthy food and gym memberships! What I was paying back home for my gym (even though it was 24 Hour Fitness) is now what I pay weekly to belong to a gym in Melbourne. That is how they get you...instead of charging things like rent and gym memberships in monthly rates, they charge you by the week. And this usually ends up being more, because there are never exactly 4 weeks in a month but actually slightly more!

Enough about that though, I am becoming accustomed to life in Melbourne with all of these changes. I have noticed that now that I am back to work, time is passing much more quickly. I cannot believe I have already been in Australia for almost 5 months! This week at work, two interesting things happened regarding my future working in Australia. I met the VP/General Manager of Mattel for Australia and New Zealand (I was introduced through the CEO of Mattel who I had shadowed after college) for coffee. He is from Canada originally but is on a 4-year visa in Australia heading up the office down under. It was great to meet him, and we had a great conversation. At the end of the chat, he gave me his card and told me to reach out to him for anything. He also said that if I was interested in working there after my 3-month contract ended at my current job, I should give him a call, yay!

Then the next day, I went to coffee with the Agency Director of my current job. He makes it a point to take every new person to coffee a few weeks after they start to see how they are doing in their new role. He basically told me that the position I am currently in is available after my 3-month contract, and I could extend if I wanted to. He even alluded to the fact that they would sponsor me if I wanted to stay longer than 6 months (my visa only lets me work at the same place for 6 months legally).

Just a few short weeks ago, I was without a job and really worried about running out of money. Now that I have found work, it seems like the opportunities are endless! And at least this way, I can decide what I want to do. Which I have no idea at this point...

This past weekend was filled with unpacking and organizing our new apartment. We did not have electricity for the first few days that we moved in! But part of that was our fault - we forgot to turn the main power switch on haha! And we had some help moving Renee's furniture from her old apartment to our new one (thanks Nashy and your 4WD!), but it was still an adventure. We successfully moved the refrigerator, washing machine, and some smaller stuff, but then we decided to attempt moving the mattress on top of the car. We could not figure out how to make the pulley system for the roof work, so I held onto both ends of the rope inside the car. We watched through the sunroof to make sure that the mattress did not fly off. As soon as we began driving, it started to rain of course, and the mattress was blowing a little in the wind. We pulled over under a tree to see if the rain/wind would pass, but it did not seem to be letting up. So we decided it would be best to drive the rest of the way there (less than 1km), but as we drove the mattress disappeared from sight! I must have lost a few minutes from my life out of fear that it had flown off and landed on the car behind us. However, it had just bent in half and was still tied to the roof, phew! We made it the whole way with no disaster, but the mattress was soaked! Apparently you are not meant to keep mattresses after they get wet, but Renee has resumed sleeping on it after it dried out (for about 3 days).

After a few hours of helping us move, Nashy had to go to work, so we were unable to move the rest of the big furniture (including Renee's bed frame, desk, and dresser). That night, we invited Amanda (Diana's NY roommate who I had met up with in Cairns) and her boyfriend, Clive, over to see our new apartment. We hung out for a few hours talking in the dark and made plans to go to dinner another night before they left Melbourne.

You might be wondering how we moved the rest of Renee's furniture to the new apartment, since it did not fit into her car. First we moved the dresser...Renee and I carried it all the way, taking back streets to avoid being seen. It was so awkward to carry and even though it was not very heavy, our arms were sore by the time we arrived. Our friend, James Dean, helped Renee carry her bed frame over down back streets, and we still have to go back and get her desk one day this week.

I bought a really cheap bed and mattress from a discount furniture store, and Renee is planning to buy both off of me when I move out. My mattress has already been delivered, but my bed was on back-order, so it may arrive in the next couple of weeks. Since my mattress was so cheap, they did not recommend sleeping on it every night - it is recommended to be used as a spare bedroom mattress. Luckily, Renee is a buyer for housewares at a department store here, so she got me a thick mattress cover, egyptian cotton sheets, and a quilt that make it much more comfortable! And she also got us all brand-new pots and pans, towels, etc. for our new apartment at a sample sale.

The worst thing that happened this past weekend, I am still trying to forget! When Renee and I went to the gym on Saturday, we drove her car and parked in a spot outside. We realized that the lot was for employees of a retail store only, so we decided to move to avoid getting it towed away. We got back into the car, and since we thought we were only going around the corner, we didn't bother putting our seatbelts on. Next thing we know, a policeman was behind us, and we each had a $239 fine! Apparently, any other weekend we could have gotten off with just a warning. Except this weekend in particular was some anniversary of the seatbelt being invented or something, so they were not going to let us go!

And then there was dealing with the crazy crowd at Ikea... it is exactly the same everywhere. Except in this case, it felt much worse since we had just gotten our seatbelt tickets, and it took nearly an hour to get home! There was some design show happening on Chapel St, ugh!

As this week started, I have many things to look forward to coming up. Tonight, I started taking lessons from Renee on how to drive her car (it is manual). She is leaving to go to America/London for 3 weeks next Tuesday, so I want to be able to use it while she is gone. I am flying to Sydney on Saturday morning to say goodbye to Liora (she is leaving at the end of August!) and to meet Alyssa who is flying in at 6AM on Monday morning! I was able to get 2 days off of work (without pay), and I am excited to show Alyssa Sydney, even though it will be really quick. Alyssa is staying for 2 weeks, so we are going to fly back to Melbourne on Tuesday, and even though I have to work now, I am going to try to show her as much as I can while she is here. There are so many parts of Melbourne that I haven't even explored yet. And if I can just figure out how to drive Renee's car, we can go on some fun road trips on the weekend...