Working in Oz - Where everybody knows your name

I thought an update on my life in Australia was needed, as last time I posted about it before my brief sojourn back to the UK I hadn't really settled into my jobs or general life here.

Contrary to my past post about having difficulty about finding work here I have now found myself with five part-time jobs, and am actually turning down job offers, including one at a Ramada Encore hotel, which I really wanted when I interviewed for it weeks ago, but in the end it was too far away.

I've found that things take time in this country. The places I wandered into with my CV when I first arrived started to get in touch a couple of weeks ago, hence how I've ended up working all hours to save money.

The good thing about working in a restaurant, three cafes, and doing leaflet delivery on the side is that I can work them around each other and maximise my hours. Minus Mondays, which I've set aside to watch bad TV, eat at a table and not on a train, and generally catch up on sleep.

Although I don't have time for anything fun right now, I've settled into a regular routine and I am enjoying it in a slightly masochistic way. The main thing that's getting me through is the thought that it's only for a couple more months and then I'll be back on the road doing what I've come to love - travelling! I miss the freedom and the excitement of seeing new places, meeting new people and having new experiences every day. But this is an experience in itself, living and working in Melbourne. And it's a necessity for me to do everything I want to do in Asia.

I do have a good time working here. I work with nice people and get to speak Spanish at the Peruvian cafe I work at, and practise Japanese with one of my coworkers at the restaurant. And I've developed the Pavlovian response to a bell that anybody in the hospitality industry will understand. The most funny thing is that the regulars at the cafes have all quickly learnt my name and greet me cheerfully whenever I see them. It makes me feel like a part of the community here.

A community I'll soon have to leave. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.