So I've been a little slack with updating my blog lately, for a number of different reasons but mostly because I haven't felt like I've been in the right head space for it. I didn't want this blog to become a place where I end up writing a lot of my negative feelings so I've stayed away for a while.
I've done some stuff this past month and will fill in the blanks at some stage. Christmas has been and gone. It wasn't the Christmas I was expecting at all, and in the days leading up to it I wasn't really feeling it at all. I'm happy to say that my family and friends helped to turn that around and I ended up really enjoying 'Gay Christmas', Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Each of those will make more sense later, but for now I'll just say that each has a special meaning to me.
I still haven't decided what I'm doing for New Years and considering it's in 2 days time I will probably need to decide soon.
The great news is that the paperwork came through and the job is confirmed. I start my training in Phoenix on the 7th January. I'll be away for two weeks which should be fun, and then will be based at home taking phone enquiries and hopefully some email/online stuff as well.
I'm still missing my partner-in-crime like crazy. Everytime I go somewhere or do something I wish that he was here with me. There are so many new experiences that I've lost track. And some of them I don't think can be put into words - it just has to be experienced.
I think the novelty of my accent is finally wearing off (which is great). I just need to get my licence, learn what some of the US names are for food items and get my conversions down (temperature and distance!).
More later ...
Monday, 29 December 2014
Saturday, 27 December 2014
Spending the 'Holidays' in the USA
So Christmas this year was a little different to what I was expecting. I guess that's a good reason in itself why sometimes it's not good to have expectations in the first place.
Before I write anything else, I want to say that what happened this year for me was a series of events, most of which could not be predicted or avoided. There is no blame to place and I don't hold anyone accountable for anything - it's just what happened and how I felt about it.
Leading up to this trip I was really excited about coming to the USA for my first winter, and my first experience of being here from the start of the Christmas season all the way through. I had expectations of getting a tree, decorating my apartment (and tree), putting stuff outside, doing my Christmas baking, and generally overdoing it with the Christmas spirit.
Shortly after I arrived Mum had some stuff happen with the people renting one of her apartments from her. After weeks of advertising, and talking to people, we worked out that I would live in a different apartment and that rather than starting on the 1st December it would be the 1st January instead. And during December I would float between having my own place and sleeping on Mum's couch. I was in Florida for a week and visited friends in Boston for a weekend so I didn't think it would be a huge issue. This way it helped Mum out a little as well (meant a little bit of extra $$ rather than having to tell people no).
I guess what I didn't factor into the equation was that leading up to Christmas I only had about 8 days in the apartment during December and that I wasn't able to be in there for almost a week leading up to Christmas. This led to my decision to not decorate (as I wasn't going to be in there to experience it anyway). It also meant that I wasn't able to unpack my suitcase as I had to keep moving back and forth. This became overwhelmingly frustrating and upsetting as I couldn't find things I had brought over for Christmas and ended up wearing the same few sets of clothes over and over for almost two months. One of my bags was in storage and the other was being wheeled back and forth between Mum's apartment and mine - it became such a hassle.
It got to about midway into December when these things started to hit me really hard. I felt really overwhelmed and a little depressed if I'm being honest. I think it was out to spit (to myself) that I decided not to do any Christmas baking, which led to me feeling every more negative about being over here. I kept thinking to myself how much I wished I was back home in Australia, and that I would be enjoying Christmas a lot more if I was there. Obviously being away from David was weighing on my mind as well as everything else, so it just got to the point where it was overwhelming me. I felt myself shutting down and feeling really isolated. It probably didn't help that December is a really busy month for most people (work-wise and socially) so I didn't get to spend any time with friends over here either. I just felt so alone and down that I really started to question why I had come over here.
I'd had such high expectations that my time over here around Christmas was going to be bigger than Ben Hur - it was going to be amazing. So when almost the complete opposite happened it just hit me like a tonne of bricks.
Mum has been great through most of this experience. She has picked up on the way I've been feeling for the most part, and has tried to cheer me up as best she can. Obviously there are certain things beyond her control so it's not like she could flick a switch and make it all better. But at least she tried, and I may not have acknowledged it at the time but I know she was trying. It was probably made a little worse by the fact that the five days leading up to Christmas I was sleeping on her couch so it was a bit like a pressure cooker.
A couple of days before Christmas I thought to myself that I should still try and do some baking, so I bought a few ingredients and made some gingerbread ugly sweaters, some pretzel bark (Christmas crack as I call it now), some chocolate brownies and some caramel pretzels dipped in chocolate. I was really happy with the sweaters - more so with how they looked once they were decorated. I think I will definitely be doing this again next year, although not with gingerbread (as I'm not a big fan and I think they were a bit dry). I was also really impressed and proud of myself for cleaning up as I went along. Normally my Christmas baking is a big issue back home because I create a whole bunch of mess and then take a while to clean it up (I'm focused on doing all the baking first). This time because I was baking in Mum's apartment and space is limited, I had no choice but to clean up as I went. So yeah, that part was really good.
Heading into it, I was a bit bummed about the thought of spending the few days over the Christmas period away from home. In the end I was away for three nights, spending one night at three different places. As it turned out it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I got to spend time with friends (old and new), family and then immediate family. I think my favourite part was on Christmas night when we ate and then played drinking games. As I sit here and try to put into words what I was expecting Christmas Day to look like I can't really tell you. I wasn't sure what I was expecting it to look like as I knew I wouldn't be at home. It was hard not to have expectations about it, but I did. And in hindsight I regret that a lot. On Christmas morning I had a little breakdown with my Mum as I had misunderstood what we were doing and thought I was just going to be sitting around on my own. That wasn't the case.
Christmas this year has taught me a few lessons though. It's never the same without having your partner beside you. Family will always love and support you. Some friends are more aware of your struggles than others, and sometimes you need to spell things out if you want some support. Christmas is great to watch through the eyes of a child.
I'm sure there are a lot of other things I realised this year, but that's just a few off the top of my head.
Was Christmas 2014 what I wanted and expected it to be? No. Did I still have a good time anyway? Yes.
Before I go, I just want to say thank-you to my dear family and friends who reached out to me this year and made things a little easier for me. They know who they are, and I appreciate their love and support very much xx
Before I write anything else, I want to say that what happened this year for me was a series of events, most of which could not be predicted or avoided. There is no blame to place and I don't hold anyone accountable for anything - it's just what happened and how I felt about it.
Leading up to this trip I was really excited about coming to the USA for my first winter, and my first experience of being here from the start of the Christmas season all the way through. I had expectations of getting a tree, decorating my apartment (and tree), putting stuff outside, doing my Christmas baking, and generally overdoing it with the Christmas spirit.
Shortly after I arrived Mum had some stuff happen with the people renting one of her apartments from her. After weeks of advertising, and talking to people, we worked out that I would live in a different apartment and that rather than starting on the 1st December it would be the 1st January instead. And during December I would float between having my own place and sleeping on Mum's couch. I was in Florida for a week and visited friends in Boston for a weekend so I didn't think it would be a huge issue. This way it helped Mum out a little as well (meant a little bit of extra $$ rather than having to tell people no).
I guess what I didn't factor into the equation was that leading up to Christmas I only had about 8 days in the apartment during December and that I wasn't able to be in there for almost a week leading up to Christmas. This led to my decision to not decorate (as I wasn't going to be in there to experience it anyway). It also meant that I wasn't able to unpack my suitcase as I had to keep moving back and forth. This became overwhelmingly frustrating and upsetting as I couldn't find things I had brought over for Christmas and ended up wearing the same few sets of clothes over and over for almost two months. One of my bags was in storage and the other was being wheeled back and forth between Mum's apartment and mine - it became such a hassle.
It got to about midway into December when these things started to hit me really hard. I felt really overwhelmed and a little depressed if I'm being honest. I think it was out to spit (to myself) that I decided not to do any Christmas baking, which led to me feeling every more negative about being over here. I kept thinking to myself how much I wished I was back home in Australia, and that I would be enjoying Christmas a lot more if I was there. Obviously being away from David was weighing on my mind as well as everything else, so it just got to the point where it was overwhelming me. I felt myself shutting down and feeling really isolated. It probably didn't help that December is a really busy month for most people (work-wise and socially) so I didn't get to spend any time with friends over here either. I just felt so alone and down that I really started to question why I had come over here.
I'd had such high expectations that my time over here around Christmas was going to be bigger than Ben Hur - it was going to be amazing. So when almost the complete opposite happened it just hit me like a tonne of bricks.
Mum has been great through most of this experience. She has picked up on the way I've been feeling for the most part, and has tried to cheer me up as best she can. Obviously there are certain things beyond her control so it's not like she could flick a switch and make it all better. But at least she tried, and I may not have acknowledged it at the time but I know she was trying. It was probably made a little worse by the fact that the five days leading up to Christmas I was sleeping on her couch so it was a bit like a pressure cooker.
A couple of days before Christmas I thought to myself that I should still try and do some baking, so I bought a few ingredients and made some gingerbread ugly sweaters, some pretzel bark (Christmas crack as I call it now), some chocolate brownies and some caramel pretzels dipped in chocolate. I was really happy with the sweaters - more so with how they looked once they were decorated. I think I will definitely be doing this again next year, although not with gingerbread (as I'm not a big fan and I think they were a bit dry). I was also really impressed and proud of myself for cleaning up as I went along. Normally my Christmas baking is a big issue back home because I create a whole bunch of mess and then take a while to clean it up (I'm focused on doing all the baking first). This time because I was baking in Mum's apartment and space is limited, I had no choice but to clean up as I went. So yeah, that part was really good.
Heading into it, I was a bit bummed about the thought of spending the few days over the Christmas period away from home. In the end I was away for three nights, spending one night at three different places. As it turned out it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I got to spend time with friends (old and new), family and then immediate family. I think my favourite part was on Christmas night when we ate and then played drinking games. As I sit here and try to put into words what I was expecting Christmas Day to look like I can't really tell you. I wasn't sure what I was expecting it to look like as I knew I wouldn't be at home. It was hard not to have expectations about it, but I did. And in hindsight I regret that a lot. On Christmas morning I had a little breakdown with my Mum as I had misunderstood what we were doing and thought I was just going to be sitting around on my own. That wasn't the case.
Christmas this year has taught me a few lessons though. It's never the same without having your partner beside you. Family will always love and support you. Some friends are more aware of your struggles than others, and sometimes you need to spell things out if you want some support. Christmas is great to watch through the eyes of a child.
I'm sure there are a lot of other things I realised this year, but that's just a few off the top of my head.
Was Christmas 2014 what I wanted and expected it to be? No. Did I still have a good time anyway? Yes.
Before I go, I just want to say thank-you to my dear family and friends who reached out to me this year and made things a little easier for me. They know who they are, and I appreciate their love and support very much xx
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
I got a job ...
Well, I'm happy to report that after waiting a couple of months I was contacted by STA Travel USA about a job opportunity here. It's working as part of their call centre, taking incoming calls from customers to organise their (mostly overseas) travel plans. It's almost exactly the same job as I had back in Australia except this time I'll be working from home. Just waiting for the paperwork to come through to make it official!
I need to get a phone line installed in the house and unfortunately I can't use my laptop because the system isn't compatible with Macs. But the good news is they will organise a desktop computer for me, and will also reimburse me the cost of having the phone line each month.
The pay is not fantastic, but it's a sales job. This means if I am able to build my sales up then I will make a little extra money through commission. Not sure how easy it will be straight off the bat, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Back home it took about 6 months to build up my sales figures and find some repeat customers but I'm hoping the call centre scenario will be a little different. I figure I've travelled around a bit, have some good customer service skills, have experience in the job already and have an accent. Hopefully I'll be able to earn enough to cover the bills, food and do a bit of travel as well. We shall see.
My training starts in early January and they are flying me out to Phoenix for two weeks. I'm excited that I get to see another part of the country, and also that I will get to meet some new people. I've been looking forward to working for STA in another country pretty much every since my first day of training five years ago (can still remember our training saying how he had worked in Manchester and London and thinking how cool it would be to work overseas for the same company).
Bring on the 7th January!!
I need to get a phone line installed in the house and unfortunately I can't use my laptop because the system isn't compatible with Macs. But the good news is they will organise a desktop computer for me, and will also reimburse me the cost of having the phone line each month.
The pay is not fantastic, but it's a sales job. This means if I am able to build my sales up then I will make a little extra money through commission. Not sure how easy it will be straight off the bat, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Back home it took about 6 months to build up my sales figures and find some repeat customers but I'm hoping the call centre scenario will be a little different. I figure I've travelled around a bit, have some good customer service skills, have experience in the job already and have an accent. Hopefully I'll be able to earn enough to cover the bills, food and do a bit of travel as well. We shall see.
My training starts in early January and they are flying me out to Phoenix for two weeks. I'm excited that I get to see another part of the country, and also that I will get to meet some new people. I've been looking forward to working for STA in another country pretty much every since my first day of training five years ago (can still remember our training saying how he had worked in Manchester and London and thinking how cool it would be to work overseas for the same company).
Bring on the 7th January!!
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
The joys of cold weather (snow and ice) ...
I keep getting excited by the snow we have had (and that we will have) and everytime I mention it to a local they laugh and say that I'll be over it soon enough. I'm sure it will happen eventually, but not today - not even after it has caused delays and schedule changes for my trip down to Orlando.
I got dropped off at the airport around 1230pm and my original flight was due to depart at 315pm. It was really quiet at the airport so I got through security and to the gate really quickly. Over the next hour I watched the departure time on the screen change. Eventually it just said DELAYED so I decided to go and talk to someone (as it looked like it would affect my connecting flight).
Of course that sounds easier than it was. There were no staff members to be found anywhere. I walked the length of the terminal and was unable to find staff for any airline. Thinking that missing the connection would be bad I decided to walk out of the exit, down stairs and then back to the other end of the terminal to the check-in counter.
I had a quick chat to a staff member there who checked the two flights and reassured me that the connecting flight was also delayed so at the moment everything would be fine. I made my way back through security and took a seat to wait for the flight.
About 10 minutes later a staff member walked up to the desk by the boarding gate and made an announcement that the flight was delayed and all connecting flights were ok at that stage. A gentleman in a group of 5 stood up and walked over to the desk. I heard him mention Orlando and then heard "ohh, you won't be able to make that connection!". Damn it, he was on the same flights as me ...
I went up to the desk and waited in line. Before long the same person I had spoken to upstairs was at the desk. We had a chat and she remembered me. Fortunately she had already tentatively rebooked me on a different flight option (now flying via Philadelphia instead of Washington). I was happy with this as it still got me into Orlando today, instead of having to come back tomorrow.
So now I'm still sitting here waiting for my flight. Good news is that the plane has just landed and we will be boarding shortly.
Orlando, I will see you in about 5 hours!
How time flies ...
Can't believe it is December already. I've already been here over a month and time is going by so quickly.
I can say I'm feeling well and truly settled now. I'm on the same time zone, I'm sleeping well, going for a walk when I can, slowly making friends and will soon be working (hopefully).
I'm particularly excited today because it's time to do some travelling. Later today I'm heading down to Orlando, Florida for a week. I'm going to visit some friends (Martin and Bill, Skip and Richard) and it sounds like they've got some fun things planned for me.
Can't write much now as I need to pack up and clean the apartment before we head off to the airport. I'm sure there will more to come later :)
I can say I'm feeling well and truly settled now. I'm on the same time zone, I'm sleeping well, going for a walk when I can, slowly making friends and will soon be working (hopefully).
I'm particularly excited today because it's time to do some travelling. Later today I'm heading down to Orlando, Florida for a week. I'm going to visit some friends (Martin and Bill, Skip and Richard) and it sounds like they've got some fun things planned for me.
Can't write much now as I need to pack up and clean the apartment before we head off to the airport. I'm sure there will more to come later :)
First visit to the post office ...
It's funny how the cost of different things can vary so much from country to country. Postage is one of these ...
Each year I send out Christmas cards to friends and family. The price of the stamp usually varies depending on where I'm posting it to. From memory, last year a stamp within Australia was 60c, to the USA was $2.50 and to Europe was $1.75 (I could be remembering incorrectly!).
This year I want to keep up my tradition so I've started writing out my cards. This time round I need to send out the Australian ones first (to allow enough time for them to arrive). The cost to post a letter from here to Australia is $1.15, and I discovered it's actually a flat rate to any country outside of the USA/Canada. So I was very happy to find out that it's much cheaper to post the cards from here. It's only 49c to post the cards within the USA as well, so that's even better news!
I also sent my first parcel home to David! It was about $60 but it's not too bad considering the weight of the box (9 lbs something - I don't know how many kgs, it just says lbs on the receipt). Basically they have three different sized boxes. You can opt to pay by weight (if you are sending something light), so you can stuff it as full as possible and pay a flat rate to send it. That's what I did - and now I have to play the waiting game for it to arrive. Hopefully before Christmas!!
This is probably boring to most people, but I found it kinda interesting.
Each year I send out Christmas cards to friends and family. The price of the stamp usually varies depending on where I'm posting it to. From memory, last year a stamp within Australia was 60c, to the USA was $2.50 and to Europe was $1.75 (I could be remembering incorrectly!).
This year I want to keep up my tradition so I've started writing out my cards. This time round I need to send out the Australian ones first (to allow enough time for them to arrive). The cost to post a letter from here to Australia is $1.15, and I discovered it's actually a flat rate to any country outside of the USA/Canada. So I was very happy to find out that it's much cheaper to post the cards from here. It's only 49c to post the cards within the USA as well, so that's even better news!
I also sent my first parcel home to David! It was about $60 but it's not too bad considering the weight of the box (9 lbs something - I don't know how many kgs, it just says lbs on the receipt). Basically they have three different sized boxes. You can opt to pay by weight (if you are sending something light), so you can stuff it as full as possible and pay a flat rate to send it. That's what I did - and now I have to play the waiting game for it to arrive. Hopefully before Christmas!!
This is probably boring to most people, but I found it kinda interesting.
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Lazy days ...
The past couple of days I feel like I've been really lazy. Yesterday I didn't leave the house, except to sit outside for an hour in the sun.
I've been writing my Christmas cards and trying to get them finished before I head to Florida tomorrow (yikes!!).
Well at least I've got all the Aussie ones ready to post. And most of the European ones.
Can't believe how many cards I've written this year, but at least it's cheaper to post from here than it is from home in Oz.
Anyway, must get back to it. Have to do something constructive today!!
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