Toronto does Melbourne

Hello!

First the usual updates:

I have been working crazy hours lately. Cirque is ok but it's certainly a lesson in humility. It's pretty much the same job I was doing when I started working for Festival Cinemas when I was 18, selling candy, popcorn, beer, etc. and cleaning a lot. My boss the other night was 21! But at least I am making about 4 times as much as I was then per hour. The Red Cross has now extended our contracts until the end of May and since I get paid more there I am now f/t 9-5 with Red Cross and do a few nights and one full day weekend shift per week at Cirque. I didn't intend to travel to the other side of the world to essentially do the same thing I did at home for a year to save for my trip but the recession has made jobs for backpackers fairly scarce and so I figure I'll take it when I can get it and it's only for a few more months. At the end of June my plan at the moment is to take off up the east coast to see the rest of Australia. I also plan to go see some of the West Coast and to visit my friend Sarah from Toronto who is doing a semester of school in Perth. She had a week off school and came to visit me last week. I only had 2 days off while she was here so I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked but we snuck in a few fun nights...

One night we went out with my friend Karen for some drinks.

We went to this dinner theatre called Draculas which was really cool. We got to ride a ghost train into where we were having dinner! and all the people who worked there were dressed up like vampires...and anyone who knows me well knows what a big Buffy fan I am so Vampires are always a welcome form of entertainment to me. It was mostly stand up comedy and they spent a lot of the night taking the piss out of the audience which is very funny as long as it's not you (and luckily it wasn't). Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pics inside so this is the only one I have.

Then our friend Troy (also a fellow Torontonian) came to Melbourne because he is in Stomp and it was touring here for a week. We didn't get to hang out with him much cause I was working so much and he is a busy boy but here are a few pics of him Stompin' in the streets of Melbin'...(he's in the air on the right).

and here is me with Stomp tickets which he left for us at the box office. Thanks Troy:)

Here is Sarah and I at one of my favourite bars in Melbourne called Black Cat. It's pretty funky with all these 70's style couches and they are usully playing dub/hip hop.

On Sarah's last night in Melbs we went out with my friend Karen and some other people because it was Karen's last night in Australia:( Karen was such a great friend who I met at the Red Cross and I miss her so much already. She is now in New Zealand and goes to South America after that before going back to Leeds. First we went and hung out on the rooftop patio at her hostel and had some drinks. My friend Damien is 6'5" and Sarah is about 5'0". Creepy or cute? You decide...

Here's Nerys and I on the rooftop, another dear friend from the Red Cross from Belfast Ireland. Lucky for me she is here until September.

and here's a few group shots we took before going out on the town...(Katie: I think you will be happy to know that the outfit I am wearing is all one piece. A Short Suit, if you may)

Then I went to a house party and we played Twister. When was the last time you played Twister???








Not too much else to update at the moment. Been feeling rather homesick lately and thinking about/missing my friends very much. I was thinking the other day about why it is that I have chosen to do this trip and I've realized that part of it is because here I have absolutely no responsibility to/for anyone and after everything I went through with my Mom when she was ill it makes sense that this would be appealing to me. It's not that I feel overly responsible to/for anyone at home but sometimes you have to go to extremes in order to create a balance. It's not the only reason I am travelling. Of course seeing other parts of the world, stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, learning how to completely rely on myself and ask for help when I need it, following my instincts and of course being warm for a year are other reasons I am doing this as well.

Just an FYI...if you want to comment on my blog, you don't need to have a google account. You can just click where it says "name" instead. I think 50% of the reason I blog is so that I have a travel journal for when I get home that I can look back on and the other 50% is to keep everyone at home updated on what I am up to without having to write a million personal emails with picture atachments but I have no way of knowing who, if anyone, is reading this unless I get feedback. It might be self-indulgent but it's so lovely to get comments because it makes me feel more connected to you guys.

I miss you and love you so much!

xx