Start of a city life

So our trip to Melbourne started. We left in style. Sam was supposed to pick up us and drive us to the bus station. In style he came late and 1 min before the bus left we arrived. In the bus we laughed, it was over we were free and ready for a new adventure.

It was for the first time since a very long time that I was with someone on the plane. It felt a bit strange, directly I went into ‘’take care mood’’ Which means that I’m not necessary doing what I want to do, but just make the other comfortable. We arrived late in the evening and took a cap. We both like when things are easy. We went to our hostel and that one was very nice!! We had our own room, breakfast included all good so far. We would stay there for a couple of nights and then finally we could meet Linda. I was a bit nervous about it. I mean how good to you know someone? Maybe they are in real life not so nice, maybe all will go wrong and then what? We were a bit lost in the big city the first days, got lost a couple of times, but had great fun and we both started a job search.
After 2 nights we went on our short trip to Linda’s house. She picked us up from the train station. First thing I have to say. Melbourne is HUGE!! I cannot compare it with anything, but it is…BIG!!
Linda drove us next to the sea sight to her house. We stopped at Brighton beach for a coffee. She was so kind right from the start that it made me and Claire speechless. She even payed for our coffee! Then we arrived at her house. I thought I was in Beverly Hills. What a house! You know some places in Melbourne and in Australia itself, sometimes look like film sets, but it is all real. This was one of these moments. Later we discovered we were in one of the richest parts of Melbourne. We had our own room and shared a king size bed, but we are both not very big girls so that was not a problem at all. “Girls make yourself at home, you can do, drink and eat whatever you want” Again we looked at each other, no words. Meeting people like Linda and Trevor, makes you think and it change you as a person. For days I just couldn’t understand why people can be so nice. We all can learn from people like them!

From this point on we started a house and job search. I think I know every website, every kind of job and all the prices of houses in Melbourne. It wasn’t easy, and it took time. At one point I thought you know what..I will advertise myself. I wrote a nice small messages, that I am very multi-functional, that I can easily adapt, quick learner etc. Okay that turned out as the wrong decision. ‘’He Ellen, you sound like a lovely girl, I can offer you good money to be my company every now and then’’ Hi Sweet Girl, how long are you in Melbourne for? Do you like dancing?’’ Hi Ellen, do you want to make easy and quick money? $150, for 30 min massage’’ etc etc etc. Well as I am a decent girl, I didn’t reply on these offers, I made a lot of jokes out of it. ‘’150 for 30 min? men you should put a 0 behind it if you want me to touch you!’’ Dancing? I will dance your b***s off! Your company girl? Call 0909…. So the search went further and after a while I had a couple of job interviews for sales.

First one, I came in the building, just a normal office building, I enter the room and saw, young jumping hyper active people ‘’hello are you Ellen? Welcome, how are you dear?’’ giggle giggle hihi. Honestly I am way to down to earth for this crap, but no I didn’t give up in just 2 min. You do know what they say about a first impression? Our manager introduced herself and her age was 18. Okay, now, don´t get me wrong here. If you are a smart 18 year old, and you can be a manager, fair enough, good for you. But this girl, was unwashed, smelled like a wet dog and was dressed as someone who lost track back in the ´´70. Still that doesn’t say anything to me, everyone their own thing. She started talking and we all (me and 7 others) needed to introduce our self. All done, we went through all the typical things. We did pitching, coaching, training and then…we did a part of communication. Okay, now I don’t want to be a smart ass here, so I didn’t say anything. (like smart people who studied almost 2 years of communication do) She started to talk about communication skills, body language, eye contact, rollercoaster technic etc. She was talking to us, in her tiny skirt, lying on the floor, with her not so tiny ass up. I don’t know what she was doing but my future, 18 year old manager was, lying on the floor, half naked, with her ass up in the air, talking about communication skills. In silence I packed my stuff and left.

Second job interview. 6, I repeat 6 text message to remind to come to the interview. As some of you know, me and my phone are not married, I am very bad in answering or replying. So if you send me 6! Messages I just get a little bit annoyed. I showed up anyway. Again a group of people, nice people this time but all very loud. ‘’High school time is repeating’’ The woman came in and started to talk. ‘’am in the movie Wolf of Wall street?’’ Everything was loud, big and over enthusiastic. It is GREAT, AMZING, PERFECT, YOU HAVE A BIG PERSONALITY, BE PROUD!! Wtf, this was way over my dutchie head and then the questions! “what is your favourite movie, drink, singer, celebrity crush? OMG I AM IN HIGH SCHOOL! The girls talked about make-up, nails, hair, boys, crushes. The guys about boobs and beer. “pff I am to old for this’’ For a backpacker being 27 is a bit late, but not that old, but I slowly started to think I was. At the end of the day, I was hired……

The same day I had me 3th interview. It was a one on one, and a test on the streets. I met Alan. A very down to earth calm guy he was the manager together with Becca, a very bubbly happy girl, who just doesn’t stop talking. It was all relax but very passionate. We had a normal conversation and it felt good. The pay was much less then number two but I felt better…I needed to wait for their phone call.
Number 3 it was!!! I texted number 2 and said that I was very sorry but that I thought I would not fit in the group, that my personality was slight different than the rest of the people. I got a text back ‘’It is always a pitty to loose great personality’s! hahaha the woman didn’t even know me! Bullsh*t!

Next day I started to work for Fred Hollow Foundation, Charity fundraising. I can write here all about Fred, but I would say go on the website. Hollows.org.au. and please do it because it is a very direct simple charity which inspired me in many ways.
It was not an easy job. Stoping people, talk to them and get them on board for monthly donations. Claire was having a tough time finding a job and a place to live. So after my work…..we run to pubs and started drinking, a bad habbit but these times were for both of us very stress full. One evening I came home, I was exhausted and not very able to talk, Claire was not home yet from her training day. I took of my work clothes and jumped on the bed, rreeellaaxxx girl. It only lasted 10 min and Claire came in and she started to cry. I hugged her, put on my clothes again, dragged her outside for pizza and wine. It’s good to have someone at your side.

It was time for new year. Claire we need to make a plan, cause this city is so big we are going to be lost! she agreed. I went on the internet and found some free events and figured out were we could see the fireworks. We dressed up, and Claire was so smart to put on some heels. (ha this is Oz I will wear thongs/flip-flops/slippers, how ever you want to call these things on your feet) Time to go. We went to a very cheap bar and we could see that on the people who were there with us, but who really cares? Cocktails only $10!! Bam, there we go, 1,2,3…oops time to go for the fireworks. We went to the square and it was packed with people. We started to dance and laughed. What happened. One after another Indian, Pakistan, Iranian man came up to us. OMG really? We laughed about it. It was 12 o’clock, and it started. I never ever in my life saw so many people all together at one place looking at fireworks. It was not the fireworks that impressed me but the number of people. It was an experience. We got a bit drunk and went back to the pub. I didn’t have my ID on me (since I am in Australia people think I am 20!!!) so the doorman didn’t want to let us in. “Man listen, first of all I am 27, second I am not going to wear my id on my all the time as I am over the age of 25, I don’t have to, last but not least, 1 hour ago we were in here!’’ The bouncer came and said, yeah this pretty lady was inside before, let her go in, off we go. The bouncer kept an eye on me all night….The way back home was a bit hard for me and Claire as we tried not to fall asleep. We made it safe home and I fell asleep with a smile.

In the mean while I kept searching for a place to live. I was planning to earn some money in Melbourne and I didn’t want Linda to thank that we were taking advantage of her. Me and Claire decided it was easier to find something separate. After being together for some weeks for me that was the right thing to do. We told Linda when we would leave and even she seemed a bit relieved as her daughter was coming back home. I found a shared apartment and I could move in right away! Claire thought she found something as well but then, 36 hours before we needed to leave Linda’s place both our places were canceld. Claire didn’t had a job yet and jumped online to couch surfing websites. We were backpackers so we needed to have this experience as well. She found some addresses and when I came back after work and a couple of Friday afternoon drinks I made some calls. We would go couch surfing at Dimitri’s place. We were a bit worried but I told Claire, no need to worry if it is a bad place we leave and go into a hostel, all will be fine. Next day we arrived. Dimitri opend the door and Eva his wife was home as well. From the moment I stepped in, it felt good. Long story short. We stayed at their place for just one week but I became close friends with them. After meeting Linda and her family, we were lucky again. This family was so kind as well. I was even a bit sad to leave after one week to head off to my shared apartment in the middle of the city. I knew I would come back to them 

My shared apartment, in front of the main train station, right in the centre, incl. pool, sauna and gym. On the 23th floor with a beautiful view. It was not big for 8 people but it had 2 bed/bathrooms. It was cheap and had low bond. I didn’t really think about the fact that there might be something wrong. 3 guys from the UK. Adam, Luke and Mike and a couple of Asian boys. The girls room switched a lot. I lived most of the time with Hanna (Sweden) Marine (French) Rosemary (Taiwan)
Our landlord was Rachel a young Asian woman and I didn’t really had a problem with her but the rest didn’t really like her. We payed in cash and yes that is of course the moment that you know that not everything is totally right. What did I know about the rest? It started all good and we were a funny group together but most of us were working so all sweet.

Still working for Fred Hollows and slowly I became friends with Alan and Becca. They were such a funny couple. They wanted to take the best out of me, wanted me to be good and helped me building confidence and growing. A job like fundraising on the streets push you to the limit. Takes you out of your comfort zone and doesn´t allow you to be shy. In the meanwhile they were teaching me about developing countries, about issue we suffer from all over the world. They dragged me into the world of charity. Where I never really cared about charity I became a person with her eyes world wide open, carrying about what is going on and slowly I started to believe that each and every one of us needs to give their bit to make the world a bit better. So tell me, dear reader from my blog. What do you do? Is that rude to ask? Do you donate to charity? Do you help your neighbour who maybe has less then you have? Do you give food to a homeless person? Donate your old clothes? Do you share and make others part of your fortune? At the end of the day it’s all about the small things that can make a big difference for others. Just think about it.

It was time for my birthday. But what to do? I didn’t really had to do something special. But my new roomies had a different thought about that. It was also a long weekend, so enough time to party. It became a 3 days long drinking party birthday. At Saturday night they came in with a cake, grilled chicken and crips that is how you suppose to celebrate your birthday here. It was the strangest thing ever. After that it was time to go out. We went to a bar and when I was ordering my drink some random guy touched my very nice but. I didn’t give response. Why should I? Oow I am so sorry I didn’t mean to touch you. I turned around a saw a pair of very green eyes. ‘’Well that’s fine, your not the first one’’ ‘’Can I offer you a drink?’’ “Well it’s my birthday and I ‘m just about to buy drinks for me and my friends, so no thank you’’ ‘’Okay well my name is Josh, might see you later?’’ “Maybe I am here with friends, very busy’’ Once back at the table two ‘’older’’ women came up to us. They were again such nice people and we had beautiful conversations. One of them was a traveller. She started traveling when she was 24, and never stopped. She worked all over the world, did many different things and just went with the flow. ‘’Now I am back because I need to be here for family’’ Our conversations turned around about the beautiful things off traveling but also about the parts that you only understand when you are traveling. The struggles, the fights, the mirrors and the decisions you have to make too often. At my birthday, I started to cry, to hear a voice of someone who I didn’t know, but who exactly knew how I could feel sometimes so far away from home, alone. She gave me the best present ever. That was the carriage to move on. The other woman was a match maker. As it was my birthday she told me, you have to make fun tonight! ‘’Well I can have fun without a man!’’ ‘’Darling that’s what they all say and we all know it’s a lie!’’ she crapped Mr green eyes in his neck. Look at this man, he is handsome isn’t he? I couldn’t lie, yes it is a handsome guy. She started to talk to him, ‘’ Look this woman, look how pretty she is, she has style, she is funny and dam she is beautiful!’’ Don’t you agree hon? ‘’I do agree, but she doesn’t seem to be very interested’’ ‘’Well offer her a drink, it’s her 21 birthday. I started to laugh. 21?? Hahaha okay if you say so! ‘’you are not 21? How old are you?, just now for one hour 27, but thank you. Oow darling that is the perfect age to mess around and have some fun. This woman was hilarisch and she was not giving up till she would get what she wanted. So Mr green eyes, offert me a drink, and I couldn’t do anything else then say, yes of course. But I just wanted to have fun with my new friends and not with some random guy! He gave me my drink and head off. Same as the hilarious woman. A couple hours and wines later, he came back. ‘’so do you have time know to talk to me?’’ I had some time left as my new friends were getting all a bit sticky and drunk , so why not? We talked and it was exactly a very interesting and funny guy. We went out of the bar and started to walk and talk more. But at 4 in the night I thought it was enough and told him I wanted to go home. ‘’Where do you live?’’ I live in Spencer street so I have a small walk to go but that’s fine. ‘’Okay don’t get me wrong, but I am staying in a hotel, just around the corner you can stay with me’’ What a coincidence! Just around the corner are you serious man? I said no to his offer and we headed back to my house. After 5 min it started to rain, and if I say rain, I mean not a Dutch rain, or a Icelandic one, no I mean a tropical pouring rain! Are you kidding me? “Ellen my offer is still there and I promise I will be good’’ Think fast woman, think fast. ‘’okay listen I will go with you but….just because it is raining and the way back home is very long. Clear? It was clear. We walked to the hotel and I saw 5!!! I repeat 5!!!!!! Stars. Wait a minute this guy must have money. We walked in, got the key and went up. There was a ball room bathroom, a breath taking view and a king king size bed. Good we didn’t had to be close. I took a shower and by the time I came back he was sleeping. Even better!!! Next morning, 8th of February it was officially my birthday. For a whole week I was joking ‘’ I only want a king size bed and a handsome man!’’ for a week I repeated this so when I woke up slightly hangover I started to laugh. When Mr green eyes woke up he ordered a champagne breakfast!!!! I couldn’t help myself and I started to laugh louder and louder OMG life was great! After that we went out for a coffee and walked and talked more, we went for lunch and finally at 3 in the afternoon I came back at my place. Me and Mr green eyes, didn’t exchange numbers, I thanked him after a truly nice time.

The party wasn’t over and I needed to get myself together. Ignore the hangover and make myself ready for my party with Becca at ST Kilda. There was a festival going on at the beach the weather was great again. Hippie style all over the place, music and drinks. I truly had a good time with Becca. Back on the packed overfull tram Becca started to scream ‘’It is Ellen’s birthday, it is her birthday’’ The whole tram started to sing Happy Birthday and half of them came to give me a hug. What a life….

So my life in Melbourne was set. I made friends, I had a nice place to live, I had worked and could have a bit of settle life for a couple of weeks. But as a traveller and having the name Ellen de Reus you never know what is around the corner.
After rain comes sun, and after sun comes rain……