I'm going to sleep for a week straight!

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been working an average of 60hrs/week for about 6 weeks. The good news is that my 9-5 contract with The Red Cross has finally ended, I only have a few weeks left at Cirque, and thankfully the wages is Australia are so high that I have managed to save enough money that I won't have to work any more while I'm here. Hooray for vacation and adventure time again! Woot!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had had a bad experience with a flat mate while I was here (which ended in her telling me to "F*ck Off" in a note on my bank account statement when she transferred most (she kept $200 which I decided for my sanity not to go after) of my bond back to me. Yeah that's right, it says "NOW F*CK OFF" in my BANK ACCOUNT STATEMENT! Did I mention she was psycho?

Since then I was very lucky to find a great house with 3 great flat mates...Kate, Briony and Marcus. We all get along amazingly and the house is huge for the 4 of us, plus my rent is super cheap.

This is my bedroom. It's a Granny Flat. It's super private because you have to go into the back yard to get to it. The only annoying thing is when you have to get something from the house and it's raining. But since there's a draught here, that doesn't pose a problem very often.

This is what my room looks like inside. A little bare since I don't have my stuff from home but it's pretty cozy. There is a big window by the way, you just can't see it in the pic...

A few weeks ago I made plans to go see a hip hop/funk band from Melbourne called Jackson Jackson (with Harry Angus who does vocals/trumpet for The Cat Empire). I was so excited and then the night before everyone I was supposed to go with bailed. I contemplated going alone but shows just aren't the same by yourself so I did what any traveller in this situation would do...I posted on the Melbourne events page on Couchsurfing that I was looking for people to go with and this guy Mark and his girlfriend responded. Hooray! The show was super fun and I danced my ass off (something I don't do nearly as much as I do at home).

Here's a pic of the band...


and the lovely back-up singers they had as their support...



My friend Carmi from Israel who I also met on Couchsurfing (I think I would have about 2 friends if it weren't for that site. Thanks to Micheal for telling me about it:) also came along and shook his booty with me...

One of the perks of working at The Red Cross is that we were constantly offered free stuff. Last weekend we got to go to this super cheesy amusement park called Luna Park (designed by the same dude who did Coney Island) for free. Unfortunately, the oldest wooden roller coaster in the Southern Hemisphere was not running that day. But we still had fun. Here's the entrance...

Me and Nerys (Nery) about to embark on a very scary ride that may or may not take our lives.

and me and my friend Arlynne on the Pirate Ship...

So Arlynne and I were friends way back in the day, lost touch for quite some time and then got re-acquainted through the wonders of Facebook. We met up for the first time in about 8 years a few weeks ago in Melbourne. She is here for a while and she is now working at Cirque with me for the last few weeks. Here's a pic of us and her boyfriend Todd at Luna Park...

After Luna Park Nery's flat mates and I went to China Town for dinner. A lot of restaurants in Melbourne are BYO (Bring Your Own) wine and they charge you $1 or $2 for corkage (which actually means giving you a wine glass since the wine here is screw top). Notice we took full advantage of BYO...

That's Lisa (Brady) and Chaz in the background. Lisa is from Ireland and travelling with Nery. Chaz is one of their many flat mates. He's from New Zealand.

Chaz is awesome. Here he is with some of his friends he won at Luna Park...

On my last day at The Red Cross I was very exhausted. I had worked 2 doubles in a row the previous 2 days and still had 3 days of work before a day off. When it came time to drink beer and eat pizza at 4pm, I felt like this...

This is my good friend Kara from the Red Cross. They kept her on a few extra weeks after they let us go because she worked so much harder then we did. She was the go-to gal if you had any questions...



After my last day we went to a bar in Fitzroy called Lambsgo Bar. Get it? Lambs Go Bar (works very well in OZ since Aussies don't pronounce the letter "r" so bar actually sounds like "bah". Here we are at the bah...

Our Welsh friend Amy (craziest accent ever) and her boyfriend also joined us at the bah...

Since I spend so much time at Cirque Du Soleil, thought it might be appropriate to dedicate some blog space to what it's like there. Here's the Food and Beverage tent where I spend most of the time I am there...

This is Karine. She is the best Barker (someone who tries to sell food and beverages to patrons on the circus grounds by walking around and yelling). She even makes up songs to sell certain items. Might as well enjoy yourself if they make you do it (unlike me who usually just pouts and holds whatever item I'm trying to sell in the air and therefore doesn't sell too much).

This is Josh. He has since gone back to England but he was by far the best trooper at Cirque, which usually involved yelling things out very loudly in an attempt to sell more overpriced beer, popcorn and hot dogs...

Here's some other nerds I work with. Look at how much fun we have! Ha!

This is Lindsay. She is a fellow Canadian and makes me laugh all the time. Her eyes get sore and dry when she makes pop corn for too long.

This is my uniform at work...



Kidding! Here's my real uniform. Look how happy I am to be at work!

Last night was Cirquador appreciation night. We got to hang out in the Tapis Rouge tent where people who pay about $250/ticket hang out before the show. They had some food and drinks for us and they hired a magician. I love magicians!



Look how cute his bunny is. He just sat in his hat the whole time he was doing tricks and let people pet and take pics of him. Adorable!


They also had Fairy Bread which is an Australian favourite at kid's b-day parties (essentially white bread with butter and sprinkles). It's disgusting. Side note: Cotton Candy is called Fairy Floss here. Australians apparently have an obsession with Fairies.


After we went to a bar for some cheap drinks and fun. This is Lara, one of our Team Leaders. She's awesome. The driest sense of humour and doesn't beat around the bush at all. My kind of girl.

This is Sam, Marriella and Jack...

And this is Lucy who I found out (also through the wonders of Facebook) is also friends with Tom (see first like 10 blog posts). Such a small world!

So my plans for the next month include sleeping, researching my trip up the East Coast, having a great B-Day party (at which I will miss all of my friends from home immensely) and sleeping some more..

Speaking of my B-Day...you can send my pressies and cards to 24 Maghull Street, Brunswick East, Melbourne, VIC 3057, Australia. If you send it this week it just might reach me in time;)

xoxoxoxo