It has been quite some time since my last post. If I can remember correctly without going back to re-read my post I believe it was written sometime during my road trip up the East Coast having just left Melbourne.
As a new and intriguing chapter in my life is beginning to unfold, it seems fitting that I should post a new entry to mark a sort of signpost in the direction of my current life experience(s). As much as these blog entries are to keep my friends and family up-to-date with my what and whereabouts and to share my experiences along the way (to where is a good question), this particular entry is more for my own personal enjoyment as it's a chance for me to take stock of my fortunes and opportunities, to reflect upon my journey up until now and to contemplate the path laid before me.
It is 9:40 am in Sydney, Australia and I have just finished eating breakfast on the sun-filled balcony of my new apartment in Pyrmont, a quintessentially European suburb by the CBD - home to the Star Casino, the Sydney Fish Market and about one hundred little cafés and Thai restaurants. As I typed that last sentence I was visited by two beautifully coloured birds (maybe parrots or love birds?) who came to munch on what's left of my breakfast (a kiwi and some bread crumbs). My apartment complex is relatively new, complete with it's own pool, sauna, jacuzzi, gym (none of which I have shamefully used yet) and I'm living with a lovely couple, the boyfriend from Saudi Arabia, the girlfriend from Turkey. They love to cook, are clean and very easy going. Less than a two-minute walk away is Darling Harbour and the Pyrmont Bridge which is surrounded on all sides by bars, restaurants, ice creameries tourist attractions, parks and obviously boats (and tourists with their over-compensatingly large cameras).
Needless to say, 'life' at the moment is pretty sweet. I put the word in quotations simply because it doesn't seem real. Just over a year ago I was holed up in some sweat-box of a hostel, living out of my rucksack and wearing the same pair of boxers for the 4th day in a row. Don't get me wrong, life was sweet then too but in a different way. And that's what this blog and the ones to follow will hopefully enable me to do - to explore my life, and myself, and view it and appreciate it through a different lens.
Where as my previous entries were the anecdotes of cultural experiences / wonderment of a scattering of locations throughout South East Asia and beyond (savoury and not so savoury), they very much took the form of my temporary and ever-changing physical journey around the world. Now that I am staring down the barrel of a four-year sponsorship in Australia, my writings will be inspired by my semi-permenant residency and they will be much more of an emotional journey through myself and my mind (without getting too Freudian about it).
So yeah, I've just been sponsored by Jamie's Italian Australia! This is something that I honestly never expected. When I was working for the company back in Liverpool, my good friends and colleagues Jenny and Chris left the site for Oz and to open the then new site in Sydney and it was my hope to go visit them shortly after. But such is always the case, it remained a hope and I didn't materialise it so I just let myself get caught up in the regular trappings of my daily life. At the time, customers would frequently ask me about my curious accent (a result of a partial Scottish upbringing and a Scottish mother, a stint in England's West Country, and an even longer stay in USA's Deep South), and inquire as to where I see myself next. The answer was always the same - I have no idea. Then one day I bought a ticket to Bangkok and some months later spontaneously bought a cheap ticket to Melbourne from KL and now I'm here in Jamie's Italian Sydney with a sponsorship. It's very surreal indeed.
Perhaps it is a 'que sera, sera' moment after all.
I do feel very fortunate. It is an opportunity I am not accepting lightly. I've met so many other travellers seeking to get sponsored to stay in Oz who have endured 88 days hard graft on farms just to get to stay in the country for one more year. And then there's me who swans in down under and in less than a year wins the 'jackpot'! I am humble, shy, and proud all at the same time. It is at this exact juncture that my life as a 'traveller', as I know it, is put on hold and my career focus, skills, abilities and personal development is being honed.
So what's in store? Well now that I am sponsored I am beginning my management training, with the intention (my intention) of being trained up to the level necessary to open up the new Jamie's Italian in Brisbane before the end of the year. I have never done an opening before but I am willing to prove my salt and bust my balls to make sure it happens and that I am ready. In front of me, as well as my breakfast plate, is my recipe specification book in which I'm keenly writing notes and swotting up on because on the 20th of this month I begin my intensive kitchen training. It's mad to think that many years ago I contemplated going into a cheffing career and now I've got the amazing opportunity to experience it first hand (without actually committing to a lifetime of sterility from standing too close to ovens and arms full of burns and cuts). By the end of August I should be ready to take on the role as manager full time and showing what I'm made of!
So I think that sums up the current snapshot of my 'life' so far. I will be making more of an effort to keep my posts regular and though I will be no longer writing about lady boys, eating insects and other similarly bizarre stories, I will try to keep them as equally entertaining as I can. Anyways, that's all for now. As the saying goes, watch this space!
Much love, as always.
C
