In a few days, it will be 2 months on the road and 3 months blogging…the old blog has been a nice start  (I hope!), but now it’s time to get to the higher level! Even because I realised it was too static and I was feeling a kind of mismatch with my mind, never the same.

And moreover  it had some limitations…and I don’t like limits, especially when it’s a platform to tell me what I can or cannot do

So I decided to have my own platform and design a blog exactly as I want it and the result is this!

Until last Thursday I didn’ t know anything about CSS codes, HTML and other stuff. NOTHING. At work, I’ve always been the customer, on the other side.

But if you want, you can. I spent the last 5 days, trying trying and trying and making a lot of mistakes.

Technology doesn’t help me because I have just a little slow netbook (I wished I had my Dell, sigh!) and an Internet stick, but I’m pretty satisfied with the result, even though I still have a couple of things to fix (It seems that according to the browser you have, you may see it different from me, I just hope it’s not a disaster!).

This week it’s not that busy at work and I’m getting 2 days off, that is reeeeally nice. Now I start realizing what being tired means. Sometimes I’m so exhausted that at 8 pm I’m dead!

Little by little I’m learning more about this Island..its weather. Cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon and windy at night. Always changing, always the same.

And I’m learning more about myself…there are days in which I say maybe just Hi/Good morning, because everybody is on his own or the times don’t match (Housekeeping work in the morning, food and beverage work in the afternoon, sometimes we don’t meet at all). And when you are physically alone, you have to face yourself, you can’t escape (and being on an Island helps). It’s you and you and it’s better becoming friends if you want to live well.

The nice thing is that I’m good in this condition. I’m good with myself, now. Something that until just a couple of weeks ago was not like that.

I still have a long way to go, but I feel I’m on the right track!
The best is yet to come…

 “There is nothing so stable as change” (Bob Dylan)

Yes I like Bob Dylan, in case you haven’t noticed that

Days are flying and I’m completely losing the concept of  time…in a few days, it would be two months that I left and some people are still wondering what the hell I’m doing here…

I didn’t leave because “I’m young and this is the right time to do that”. The fact I’m 25 it’s a pure, great, coincidence. Of course when you have dependencies, everything is more difficult, but not impossible.

Neither I left because in Italy “everything sucks” – as some other Italians I met here told me – or because in Europe there’s the crisis and Australia is the country of opportunities where everything is good and shining (not true).  I left for Australia, because I need time to think. I’m not expecting to find the job of my life here, but I’m expecting to open my mind and getting to the job of my life. Continue reading →

Target of the 4th day met: end of this week. Yes I quit the job, even though I was almost enjoying what I was doing. From Monday when I started and I was panicking about everything, I improved a lot – btw in the weekend everything went well..people got drunk even though the beers didn’t have the right head on, I was mistaken with some drinks and I did some upsell, because sometimes I was wrong with the prices .

The problem was not the work behind the bar with the customers..the problem was with the chef/owner..we didn’t get along well. His food is  amazing, he’s really good as chef, but he’s not able to deal with people (even his wife said that).

Once I ran to the kitchen and he shouted at me saying that I had to be quicker, another time he shouted at me in front of the customers saying not to throw way the stubbies how I was doing, or when I was wrong with the till and he freaked out, etc etc.. He was right, because I was making mistakes – that is part of the learning process – but I didn’t like the way he was correcting me.

I don’t think he’s a bad person, he’s just stressed out. I understand, but I don’t justify him. He wants to get rid of the business and selling the pub, so he lost the motivation of doing his work.

I took the decision of leaving on Friday after my lunch shift. I went up to my room and prepare the backpack. The weekend at the end  went very well and my boss (the owner’s wife) actually proposed  me to stay for another week, but I decided to follow my instinct again. This is an adventure…does it make sense turning it into a nightmare? Naaaaaa. It’s not giving up at the first obstacle, it’s just that I’m not able to bear even that stress now.

Apart from this, I really liked this experience. It has been just one week, but I learnt a lot..not just on how to carry 3 plates or how to pour the beers correctly, or how to say fine and smile, even when you would like to say f***. I learnt a lot about Australian culture and people. I’ve always liked observing people and behind  the bar you can see many things.

I didn’t think that  Australians could drink that much. There were people spending the entire afternoon at the pub..on average 5 middys per person is the minimum. And then Jim Beam  and Coke, Bundi Rhum and Coke, Apple Ciders, Quite sad sometimes. They spend hundred of bucks on drinking. In places like Merredin, you can do nothing but drinking actually.

In general Australians are really friendly. During this week, I met different kinds of people: real gentlemen, real idiots, drunk, drugged, flirting boys, bitchy girls, annoying complaining customers and customers who taught me  some tricks – especially Irish guys and their Guinness.:-)

The owner’s wife has been really nice with me. While we were having some drinks after work on Friday night, I told  her I would have left and she spent Saturday teaching me many other things that could be useful if I do a similar job.

And now? Now I’m  back in Perth..I struggled to find a place a room as everything is fully booked..and again I don’t know what I will do.

I’m starting liking this feeling of not knowing what’s gonna happen…

Stay tuned!