You sound like you're a long way from home

"You sound like you're a long way from home".
I handed the last bag of groceries to the lady and responded, smiling, "Yeah, I'm from Canada".

It was Christmas eve and everyone was frantically trying to finish their last minute shopping. South Melbourne Market smelled of bread and freshly-squeezed orange juice. The owner of the bakery beside me was once again yelling "half price sourdough! Everything half price!" Customers came up to me holding punnets of strawberries, pointing at the mouldy ones like it was my fault they were rotten. These were smells and sounds of just another day in Melbourne. Christmas was definitely not in the air.

Once in a little while, a man dressed as Santa would walk by with his big red sack. His red suit was covered in white specks of dust and the whole thing looked like it had been sewn together 20 years ago. He trekked along the footpaths in his black rubber boots in 30 degrees. Down the block, a young boy set up his busking station. For the next 2 hours, off-key renditions of Christmas carols would be heard.

I had a skype appointment scheduled with my besties who were having an early Christmas dinner together. Right after work, I stripped down to my tank top and spandex shorts and raced home. Golden quotes of the night from Intan include the following:
1. "I take the ground hog to see him sometimes. I mean... greyhound."
2. "My face looks weird sideways."

"My face looks weird sideways"

And yes, I love them. I'm still waiting on my present from Jeanette being shipped all the way from Vancouver!

I called my brother a couple of days ago and he told me that he had decided to mail greeting cards out this year. I asked him why I didn't get one.
"Because you don't even have an address".
Good point.

Julie, Will the Botanist's mum, invited me over for their Christmas celebrations. Christmas is a lunch thing here apparently. Chak and I walked over to their place with plates of cookies and cupcakes. The table was decorated with cakes, cookies, and party crackers. In the corner of the living room stood a real evergreen that they had let me decorate a little while ago. Will the Botanist even made a fantastic vegetarian entreé for me!

Earl grey cupcakes with fresh strawberry frosting

Chak and Will the Botanist

Sugar cookies!

 Penguins are what inspired Tim Tams... which is a chocolate biscuit with chocolate cream in the middle, covered in chocolate.

Party favours from my party cracker

Present from Julie and David!

Raffy passing out after his Christmas meal

Walking home at 2:30am

I woke up this morning with floods of Merry Christmases from friends back home. But seriously, hands down, best Christmas greeting was from Michael Przystupa. You are too sexy for your own good.


This year I didn't have a whole lot of presents, nor did I have the holiday log. Things are a bit different down under but it's definitely good to know I'll always be taken care of. Hope you guys had a great time. Merry Christmas!

Gumtree and a dash of luck

Two Wednesdays ago I found myself running out of options. The Couchsurfing website was down and the place I was crashing at was no longer available. Chak would be arriving soon and most places didn't allow couples in a room. Perhaps it was finally time to find a hostel and spend some money. I had been riding on my luck for way too long.

Melbourne, city centre

But a quick email and a desperate text message proved me wrong. Someone was subletting her room for 6 weeks while she went on vacation in Europe and Africa. She had found a guy to take over but he suddenly vanished and she was leaving the next day. However, I still had one more night before I could move in. On Monday I had met Will the Botanist when he organized a trip to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens.  3 days later I found my finger hovering over the send button on my phone. It was late, last minute, and I hardly knew this guy. I closed my eyes, turned my head away and pressed send. And Will the Botanist, being the generous wonderful plant-loving guy he is, agreed to take me in.

Red sand at The Cranbourne Botanical Gardens

Cranbourne Botanical Gardens

Cranbourne Botanical Gardens

Cranbourne Botanical Gardens

Mosquito net, wombat, blending in with the locals

I dragged my 60 L backpack a couple of blocks and found the key in the mailbox that my new housemate had left me. There is no better feeling than to come home, home being wherever I'm staying that night. I share the house with two other people, Michael who works at a bakery and Ashley the lawyer. My tiny home is awkwardly designed, with parts added on over the years and furnished with more couches than anything else. There is a small garden in the back with overgrown vegetation, a barbie, and a fire pit. Nothing matches anything. I love it.

My house!

Before I move on in my story, let me tell you a little about the area I live in. Brunswick is awesome. I live between two busy streets that are lined with cafes, restaurants, shops, and bars. There's a huge Greek, Italian, Mediterranean influence in the neighbourhood. Old Italian men sit all day in some cafes drinking beer and coffee. Rooftop bars, quiet bars, beer gardens, live music.. you name it. The thrift shop here is better than The Bay. I live among the hipsters.

Brunswick Town Hall

Sydney Road, Brunswick

Further towards the city is the suburb Fitzroy. On the weekend it's like Granville Street crammed into one tiny block (and with more drunk people).

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Now that I was back to paying rent, I had to find a job asap. I took the first thing that I got: working as a cashier at the South Melbourne Market. The market features a huge selection of fresh produce, meats, dairies, organics, and restaurants. The atmosphere is great, the pay is shit. But hey, my boss makes me breakfast and milkshakes, and the old Greek couples in the neighbourhood love me. Transportation here is a mess and way too expensive for my under-the-table paychecks so I bought a bike. I ride about 90km each week. My ass burns every single time.

Within 2 weeks I've managed to find a job, a house, and a bike.

How do you do it? People keep asking me.
Well, I respond, all a girl really needs is gumtree and a dash of luck.

So I'm kind of in Melbourne

Just a little update...
It's summer vacation...
And I'm kind of in Melbourne.

I have spent the last month living on Attila's couch and finishing stuff up for the end of semester. Before I left, I donated a lot of my clothes and threw away some stuff until I had nothing but one backpack of clothes. Of course I brought my foam roller. This is the wardrobe I'm going to live on for the next 9 months. 

I woke up on Monday, ready to catch my flight, only to find out that my flight had been cancelled. But after a quick phone call, I booked another flight and was out of the house within an hour.

It really sucks to be that girl whose luggage it too big to fit through the bus aisle. It's even worse when the handle of your suitcase breaks and you're forced to walk backwards dragging your suitcase behind. I was welcomed into the home of 4 complete strangers. We got acquainted over Mexican food, whisky, beer, and dancing around a no-fire fire pit. The police showed up. Apparently the neighbours weren't happy with our singing on a Monday night.

Look who I found!!

Melbourne Noodle Market

I celebrated my third Thanksgiving on Thursday with 3 Americans (and no, Niall, I didn't eat ham).

Broccoli casserole, beer mac and cheese, pumpkin feta rocket salad, Dr. Pepper ham 

Gertye, Me, Nick, Rodney, Mike, Melissa, Ruby

Last night I went to a CS meet-up at Fitzroy Beer Garden but ended up heading over to Naked for Satan after with a couple of people. A lift took us to the top and we saw the city. I always thought I was a city girl but shit, Melbourne is big. 

Not gonna lie, I haven't slept for the past 24 hours. There is so much alcohol going through my system. It's like I'm 21 or something.

Melissa Ray, American Olympian

Anyway, I'm back to living like a nomad again. Or maybe I'll be moving into a house with 6 other people. Or maybe I'll be moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere to be a Wild Animal Ranger in a zoo. I have no idea what's going to happen.

All I know is that if I don't satisfy my pancake craving some time this week, I am going to be sooooooo upset.

If you need me, I`ll be cleaning out my ears

Imagine opening an email telling you that in exactly one week, you'll be running a 20km obstacle course. This wouldn't have been so bad if I had not been spending the previous months eating cake and drinking full-cream cappuccinos. I had signed up for Tough Mudder when I was in Vancouver, six months prior to the event. Realizing that I had not trained at all, had no one to drive me there, and had no friends to do it with, I FREAKED.

Gunther, Me, (Jon), and Michael

But of course things always work out, especially when you're a couchsurfer. Michael picked me and my German couchsurfer, Gunther, up and we started driving to a farm in the middle of nowhere. I was running on 5 hours of sleep, having worked until 11:30pm the night before.

Hills, hills, and more hills

Taken by Gunther

 Being tiny has its benefits, especially when you have to fling yourself through some muddy water while trying to avoid the dangling wires charged with electricity. Climbing walls are a different story, but the comradery I witnessed there was amazing. Random strangers were pushing me up, pulling me over walls, high-fiving me. It really wasn't about our race time.

Gunther walking the plank

Friendly reminder

I didn't have any big problems with the obstacles until... we had to jump about 4 meters off a wall into a pool of water. Flashbacks to my 16th birthday, standing on the diving board in Watermania while my friends sat in the pool watching me and 7-year-olds were behind me coaxing me down. I fucking hate heights. But I had an ego, and I wasn't about to walk around a stupid obstacle. After a couple of minutes, I finally put my arms around Gunther and told him to jump and pull me with him. I screamed the entire way down but the important thing is I DID IT. In the final 2km, I heard a voice from a megaphone say "ice-cold beer" and I ran through the crowds yelling "FREEE BEEEERRR!!!!"

Two days after Tough Mudder, I couldn't walk. There was a scorching pain in my foot but the x-rays showed nothing. Will be going for a CT scan in a couple of weeks.
Also, I sincerely apologize to my friends, to whom I sent a picture of a dirty cotton swab. It took me days to get that mud out of there. Before I could finish getting the mud out...

The Color Run!

Attila doing his thing

 When Attila said he had yellow fever, I had no idea this was what he was referring to. <3

Stevan attack!

 Guess what happened next...

 So I guess pink eyelashes and red teeth aren't really my thing..

Vibrant Voyagers!

Jeff looking better than ever

Kids, I hate to sound hostile, but before I finish off this post, I just wanted to say something about me and my photos. If you are to share them, ask for my permission and if you are to use them, please acknowledge me. These photos convey my own memories and own experiences and are very personal to me. I get on the ground, I get dirty, I climb things, and sometimes I do slightly illegal things just to get the perfect shot. If you think I'm being unreasonable, maybe bring your own camera next time?

Thanks!