The Fraudulant Waiter
As my financial circumstances do not bode well with living costs so overwhelmingly high in Australia I decided that a job was a necessary endeavour. I had kindly been given a contact to work at the Telstra dome (one of the two large footy stadiums) by a friend in Montreal. Yet when I tried to contact the company they clearly were not very interested in hiri
ng new people as they took their time to reply. Fortunately when I explained my situation at the dinner table, another student suggested that I apply at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where she works - a benefit of the welcoming community of a college I guess. She explained that the MDR (Members Dining Room) was a four star restaurant that payed 21 dollars an hour plus tips. The only dilemma was that it requires a fair bit of experience to work at a high class restaurant. I have none.
ng new people as they took their time to reply. Fortunately when I explained my situation at the dinner table, another student suggested that I apply at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where she works - a benefit of the welcoming community of a college I guess. She explained that the MDR (Members Dining Room) was a four star restaurant that payed 21 dollars an hour plus tips. The only dilemma was that it requires a fair bit of experience to work at a high class restaurant. I have none. "Fear not" she explained, as she helped me doctrine a fake CV while trying to teach me which way you pull a napkin over a client's lap, and how to carry three plates at once. In any case I went for my interview yesterday and I think I did ok (luckily they didn't ask me about any wines - I was scared shitless to say the least). Either way I'll find out today whether I got the job, and will be starting Friday for the "Triple Header" or their term for three footy matches in a day. But if anybody asks if you know a Food and Beverage attendant at the Hotel de la Montangne in Montreal named Jordan....please say yes.
Perhaps I should really have done separate blogs for the two next stories on earlier dates. But my internet connection still is not what it should be and so I will include them here:
Culture Shock
As some of you may now, I experienced culture shock for the first time in Greece while spending time with a group of Norweigans. Briefly, Nick and I came to the conclusion in Greece that Scandanavians are simply wired differently from us. Susan, or more commonly known as "Swedish Susan," reaffirmed this upon our return. Well, prior to my arrival I had assumed that the Australians were similar enough that this would not be the case here. I seemed to be proved correct during the course of my first few days here, yet Friday's night adventures changed this. You see my first few days here was spent almost entirely with Americans with a few exceptions as school has not yet started and so the sole students are internationals. It seemed a long way to go to be living with North Americans! However I had by the end of the first few days found a small pocket of Australians, and friday was our first Australian house party.
Culture shock is a hard thing to describe. To be brief, as the Australians became increasingly inebriated on Friday night the communication between us became increasingly difficult. Eventually they made absolutely no sense to us;
Out of the blue, Dave (my australian college neighbor) looks over very seriously and explains:
- "Ali (another australian) once lead us as a fictional character."
- As I glance at my American counterpart with complete uncomprehension I find a familiar expression on his face. "What?!" I ask in astonishment as the other Australians nod in remembering Ali's "leadership as a fictional character."
- "O, sorry. What I meant to say was Ali once lead us as a fictional character" Dave explains with as much seriousness and surety. The other Australians nod their heads again.
This is just a funny example of the difference in the way we think as the next twenty minutes of explanations failed to help the North Americans understand what the hell they were talking about.....I love it!...Can't wait until the rest of the Australian college students arrive.
Random Acquaintence
Well it seems this story will also make reference to Swedish Susan but in a more linear fashion. For those of you who don't know, Susan and I know each other as neighbors on Lake Memphremagog a few weeks each summer. Originally the entire Maclean family would come to Canada once a year, and Susan's elder brother's last visit was when I was 12. Oviously the two of us never reall talked as he must have been something like 18 at the time. We did h
owever get in touch recently as we knew we were both coming to Melbourne, yet hadn't yet contacted each other here. Well while in line today for some international student lunch someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Jordan Altman, its Angus (his middle name), Susan's brother!" Incredibly he recognized me through pictures he'd seen and my name a name tag that read Jordan among other things. Nice to see another Canadian/Swedish face. We can talk about maple syrup, good peanut butter, and hockey among other things so I'm sure we'll stay in touch.
owever get in touch recently as we knew we were both coming to Melbourne, yet hadn't yet contacted each other here. Well while in line today for some international student lunch someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Jordan Altman, its Angus (his middle name), Susan's brother!" Incredibly he recognized me through pictures he'd seen and my name a name tag that read Jordan among other things. Nice to see another Canadian/Swedish face. We can talk about maple syrup, good peanut butter, and hockey among other things so I'm sure we'll stay in touch.Finally - sorry about the length of the post - additions to my Australian lingo include:
Avro - afternoon
Loly - candy
Ta - thank you
Bogon - Hic
Skull - Chug
Cheers (maybe I'm picking it up?)
Jordan
