Merry Christmas!!!!

It is 11am, I'm on my third bulmers chilling with the lads, waiting until we go to the beach.
Another gorgeous day in Perth (well, I'm actually in North Fremantle), not a cloud in the sky.
Does not feel like christmas. It's weird. We wished each other merry Christmas this morning but without cold weather, family, and snow it just doesn't feel like the holiday I've celebrated with family for the past 30 years (with the exception of Dublin, where I spent it with Anna Rice and her family in the Wicklow mountains).
Love you all. Just living another summer day. Enjoy the snow ;)

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

S'going well. S'going well.
Friday night was a riot! JD, friends, a later start time on Saturday, my last shift.
Showed up 20 minutes early for my FINAL SHIFT (can I get an amen??!!), was told that I would be doing testings for the expensive copper-pot distilled vodka (Absolut Elyx --the only vodka I can drink straight! Pure silk.) so I finished the vodka tonic jug from the day before and had a great time! Walked around, said bye to people, generally farted around until my boss informed me that we would be going to lunch at noon not 1. Saweeeet! So I worked three hours and went to lunch and drinks with my team (Annie = boss, Michael and Sonia), then drinks with the boss, then I got an early flight to Perth....no upgrade fees!!! Got into Perth, drove past the OCeAN, it was warm outside, and there were coronas at the house. Good times.
Sunday was brunch with the boys (joe and his housemates jade and gav) at hillary's marina, went to the BEACH (!!!!), dhufish for dinner, and a freemantle pub to watch a footie match (British).
Monday I chilled. Skyped nancy, went to the grocers, bummed around.
Yesterday was the beach (again!!!!!!!), catching up with parks and rec, and pizza for dinner.
Today I visited Perth CBD. Took the red CAT and blue CAT (central area transit) buses (Perth city transit is freeeeeeeeeee) for my own cheap tour, and had drinks with Kev. Going to his on the 24th for a few days for a nice christmas BBQ. And no worries, mom, I already asked Kev if there is a church near his place in north freemantle ;)
Tomorrow it's back to the city centre for queen's gardens and King's park. Might book a tour for a great price, too...

OH YAH on Tuesday last the big bosses came and they loved me!!! They want me to do the new Absolut launch in sydney in April (I'm thinking no. I never wanted to live in Sydney, just visit), and the possibility of an airport job in Perth. But I can only work three weeks, so I dunno.

That's your update. Photos tomorrow, maybe, if I find out how to post them here xoxo

Perth

.....and so begins the holiday part of my working-holiday visa....




:)

Ten days left! (when I wrote this)

I only have ten days left of getting up at 5am. Thank GOD!!!! Last night I saw Breaking Dawn (meh. But the last 40min?? YES!!!!!!) and ate too much popcorn. For dinner :/ soooo when I tried to go to bed (aim for 8:30pm, but due to fb and txts/calls, was actually 9:30) I heard this alarm sound. I thought it was coming from Victoria Market, then I heard fire trucks so I though I should check I out for photo's sake, and that's when Romany (Tony's flatmate) turned on the light downstairs. It was the fire alarm for the building! She had never heard it up on the tenth floor before, and it kinda smelled like smoke in the hallway, so I grabbed my passport, phones, and we took the stairs to the lobby. Everything was ok (there was smoke on the 8th floor hallway) and we were about to take the elevator back up, but there were 84 teenagers in there! They were mucking around and I finally got fed up (cranky, ill geneviève is NOT someone to mess with!!!!). The exchange went like this:
*teenage girls in elevator teasing three boys outside elevator for starting the 'fire'. Teenage boys will not let the door close.
G: ok I've had it! I've had enough *presses door close*
*teenage girl babbling*
T #1: what's on the 10th floor?
G: that's where I live. I'm going back to bed.
T#1: oh ok. Sorry I didn't know there was anyone else in the lift.
G: yah people actually live in this building, it's not just a hotel.
T#2: sorry
G: ok. Enjoy your schoolies! (said sarcastically. Schoolies is the time when you've finished high school. Generally a big party-time, it involves going to another city/country (lots of them going to Bali this time of year, on their parents dime!!!!) and generally being douchy).
T#1: oh we're not Schoolies! There's a huge volleyball tournament there are likes hundred volleyball players in town this week
*at this point they are at their destination, the 3rd floor*
G: ok (DON'T CARE!!!!! GTFO!!!!!!!!)
*as all twelve girls exit the elevator they throw feeble 'sorries' my way
Romany tells me I'm awesome.

What else? OH YAH I took my first helicopter ride EVER this past Sunday.....over the 12 Apostles!!! Totally worth the $75 :) I will give an in-depth analysis of my tour of the Great Ocean Road later. Hopefully friday but I never know. Tony comes back Saturday so I have to pack all my stuff. Dunno if he will me me stay for my final week or if I will be in a hostel.

Oh snap something else happened! On Saturday, during my usual "vodka tonic sample?" schpeel, I was turned down by Kylie Minogue!!! I started off by asking the guy on her left (closest to me) and as I moved my eye contact to her, she looked right at me and laughed!!! Exciting!!!!! She is tiny, though. Bitch looks good for 45 ;)

Besides that, not too eventful. Been speaking with Joe, who I met through Tony. Joel's going back to London for the holidays, but he'll be showing me around Perth before he goes. I'm excited for the beaches. And skyping with whoever possible on Christmas. Book me now, kids!!!! 

David Beckham came through on Wednesday. What. A. Good. Looking. MAN!!!! Too bad all of that is shot once he opens his mouth ;) he laughed and said no when I offered him a VT...but at least he looked at me!!!!! :D

Today is Friday, December 9th. It is 5:15am. Not too much else going on here, getting excited to leave next week. Tony's back tomorrow, so fingers crossed he lets me stay here for my last week !!!!

Love you all. Has anyone else noticed how awesome my father is???? HE COMMENTS ON ALL MY BLOG POSTS!!!!!!!!!!! Also, he's generally awesome, since he is newly retired. Not that he wasn't awesome when he was gainfully employed, but now he's awesommmmmmer ;)
Daddy- I saw a guy wearing a shirt yesterday that said 'I'm retired, do it yourself' and I literally laughed out loud. I need to find that shirt for you.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Samedi

December 1st drama
I was given an American hairdryer from Kirrily, who works beside me handing out flyers from 7:30-11:30am. I have an adapter that I've been using for my computer and iPhone, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. At 5:05am, after making my tea, I go to dry my hair....plug in the hairdryer and it goes WHOOOOO*blzzt*!!
Kirrily had left it on. At full blast. It blew the fuse.
Not only that, but it blew ALL the fuses in the 2-story condo AT ONCE! I was left in the dark, freaking out. Well, not really freaking but definitely swearing :/
Thank God I'm a camper (infinite thanks to Ryan!!) and my headlamp is never far away, because NONE of the lights worked. The fridge had stopped working too, which meant that I could not go to work until this problem was rectified. So I strapped on my headlight, called my boss (she was understanding), called my parents (hahahahha what can they do from Canada???) and tried the fuse box, to no avail. Called the after-hours number and was advised that if they sent a car out to help me, it would cost $100. I was better off waiting for the superintendent, who starts at 7am. It was now 5:40am. I had already tried to call and text tony (who, in Mozambique, had turned off his Oz phone) and call Romany (the flatmate, who of course was sleeping), so I tried to sleep for an hour and a half. Oh yeah I had woken up at 3am to pee and hadn't been able to fall back asleep before my 4:45 alarm, so it turned out to be a looooooong day :/
Didn't get anymore sleep though, just a bit of rest. I kept having nightmare visions of having to pay $3000 to rewire the entire condo....
The super got in at 7:10am and he flipped a switch in the hallway closet (main breakers for the entire floor) and saved my life. After wolfing down some toast I left for work.
Upon arriving at the airport I RAN like a sprinter going for the gold, and as a result I clocked in at 8:30am, but with a burning throat and lungs :/ praying I don't get bronchitis....not going out tonight FER SURE!!!
Anyway I didn't have a coffee all day so i was low energy, but I slept almost ten hours that night.
Ensuite, hier était une journée fantastique! J'ai bien dormi, et même quand mes 'earbuds' s'on rester pris dans le jack de mon iPhone et je ne pouvais pas les enlever moi-même (ils m'ont aidé au travaille), j'ai parler avec mes parents durant ma marche à l'autobus. Je suis arrivée tôt à l'aéroport, pris mon café et le matin était très occupé!! J'ai vendu beaucoup de vodka, pas eu le temps de prends mon break de 15min, donc j'ai quitté plus tôt (avec permission de mon gérant). J'ai même reçu un cadeau du gérant du magasin pour un remerciement de travail bien fait!!! C'est un parfum très jolie, qui coût $92 en magasin, mais je dois le trainer avec moi durant mon voyage?? Peut-être je vais l'envoyé par la poste à mes parents ;)
Donc hier était une très bonne journée :) et aujourd'hui, il me reste seulement 2 semaines exacte, et après mon dernier shift je serais en route pour Perth!!!!! Ah que j'ai hâte à aller à la plage :)))))
Aujourd'hui je prends un café avec le gérant du magasin de montres (pas notre magasin). Il sais comment porter un 'suit', et il est beau à regardé passer durant mes journées longues, mais il est un fumeur, et je pars ..... Donc c'est seulement café.
Un autre post s'en viens!!!!! xoxoxo

This post was written on Wednesday November 30th

Yesterday the Richmond Tigers AFL (aussie football league) walked through the departures area, clad in uniform, and no doubt on their way to high-altitude training in the states, like the Collingwood team the week before. I wonder which AFL team will walk through next Tuesday??
Loving my job a little bit....get paid to flirt (hehehehe wink!), the vodka's been selling well, and although the samples may not be flying off my tray, no worries! (that's Australian for 'no problem'. Other phrases: 'how you going?' = how's it going; lollies = any sort of candy, sweet, or chocolate; chewie = gum; toilet = washroom; rubbish = trash; bin = trash can; tram = streetcar, etc etc etc)
Starting to make a few friendships with work people, which makes the day go faster, but man there are bitches at any workplace!!! Like I care....in two and a half weeks I'll never see them again. Plus, they might even get a piece of my mind if they're working that Saturday ;)
Im looking forward to going to Perth and I've been reading up on WA (Western Australia) and I'll be taking notes and making a plan for where I wanna travel (my papa taught me well!). So far I'll be going to Fremantle and Rottnest Island while in Perth, and I wanna go to Monkey Mia to volunteer to feed dolphins for a few days, up to Broome for the wet season (and maybe go back for the dry season when I do Darwin closer to June), Kalgoorlie-Boulder, and maybe Albany. I was gonna do the wineries in Margaret River, but there were huge bush fires there last week so I don't know if anything is still standing....I'll find out more when I get there. I'm mostly looking forward to chilling on a beach for a week ;P

today is Friday, I PROMISE I'll post tonight, since I'm not going out for my usual few in an hour ;)

xoxoxo

Monday November 28

Last Sunday I went on my first tourist tour of my Australian adventure!! We went to a wildlife park where I saw:
- a real Tasmanian devil (they're nocturnal and carnivores and had just been fed so they (there are two but I only saw one) got up just to eat and then went back to sleep in their cave)..... So cute! But they are known to jump so there are signs warning against putting your camera and hands too close to the barrier cuz they will bite it off LOL
- a wombat (also nocturnal but vegetarian). Just as cute, if not cuter than the Tassie devil. The little guy that I took a photo of kinda woke up when I approached, so I tried to feed him but he was too sleepy so I just left the food there for when he woke up :P
- wallabies!!! And kangaroos!!!!!! With little ones in their pouches!!!! In fact, the first wallaby I ever saw had 2 little ones in her pouch, cuz she kept stealing the other wallabies' baby hahahaha. I petted them, fed them, generally played around with them, and got LOTS of photos!!!
- koalas. They were sleeping in their trees, and were SUPER cute, but they can rip your face off in three seconds flat. If I ever get reincarnated I'm asking to come back as a koala (not that I'll have a choice!!! Hahahahahaha). Did you know that Australia has over 200 types of eucalyptus but koalas only eat about 20 of those types? They are very fussy ;)
- emus. Creepy looking fockers!!  Feeding them was a terrifying lead-up to basically just a tap in your palm. (place the seeds in the MIDDLE of your palm with your hand flat. Then they stalk you and attack your hand, but not really.... They snap their mouth in the palm of your hand, taking some food with it and leaving the rest. Doesn't hurt, but the lead-up was enough to scare some girls off)
-Dingos. Basically dogs, but they are carnivores. They were neat....I guess.

Then we went to a place called 'swan lake' where we saw wild wallabies (!!!) and black swans. I even asked Natalie Portman for her autograph!! Just kidding ;) apparently black swans can been seen up close in Perth, so I'll be finding out if thats true or not in three weeks.

We went to the nobbies, which is a large rock and a smaller rock in the ocean, I think. I paid money to look in a telescope thing to see seals out on the smaller rock, and I saw them!!!!! Can't wait to see them close up, though.... Somewhere, someday!
It was really windy at the nobbies. And by windy, I mean my sweater hood AND my jacket hood were up on my head!!! Got some great photos of the intense waves :) on the way out, we saw a wild wallabie and I spotted two ducklings do the bus stopped so we could take photos! (but not get out, cuz we would have scared the poor things half to death)

We finished the day at Phillip Island to see the penguin parade. It was the cutest/most pathetic thing I had ever seen!!!! Let me explain:
The smallest of the penguin family, Korora penguins (called Little Penguins cuz they're the smallest of the species) have to wait until the sun sets in order to leave the ocean and go mate/feed their babies, because of predators. They are the only species of penguin with dark blue backs, so they can blend in with the ocean, and the predatory birds won't get them, since to the birds they will look like water.
It was so cute because the penguins are SO SMALL (one foot in height) and when they finally decide to move they waddle really quickly up the big hill (there were bleachers on both sides so the tourists can watch) but MAN it's a process!!! They come to shore riding the waves, in groups of 5-20. They precociously come out of the water, standing there in groups, until the waves come crashing in and sweep them in the water again. Once in awhile there is one brave penguin who starts going for it, and then chickens out and goes back in the water. Eventually that brave penguin will start to make the trek, and the others will follow.
It was really cold at the Penguin Parade, and I felt badly for the girls on our tour that wore shorts and sandals that day. I didn't even see all the penguins come out of the water, just a few groups, but I got the point. All along the boardwalk there are penguin homes and you can see them make their way home. I even saw a mommy feed two babies!!! They walk beside you on their path, right at your feet, but you cant take photos or pet them. It was definitely an experience :)

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, except for the football team coming through departures ;)

Today is Monday, November 28th and I start my 4th week today. Only three left; I'm halfway done my contract!! I'm not gonna lie, I wish it ended earlier, because I'll run out of free gifts by the end of the week (I'm already out of lip gloss, and will run out of mirrors by Wednesday, I think), but I'm prepared to go the distance. Still thinking of that money....

Lots of love and I'll post more later in the week, now that I'm at tony's with unlimited Internet (but it doesn't work with my computer. BALLS) je vous aime tous xoxo