Day 79 - December 10

Another long shift from 3:30pm - 2:00am. There were 2 sit down parties. We took down their choices for a main. PK and I handled how we were going to bring the food out. We did it Mark style. There was Meg and Sheldon looking after the bar; PK, Cal and Julie taking care of the food and I handled both the bar and food.

The inside party ended at around 10:00pm. Although it ended early, the group had plans to go to a club afterwards. They said they were going to the club across the harbour.

We got to eat the extra food for our dinner.

Pork belly, garlic bread, and prosciutto.

The party outside was a small corporate Xmas party. There was about 50 in the beginning, but dwindled to about 20 people after dinner. They stayed for awhile too. We were waiting for them to leave so we could leave, but they kept drinking and chatting. This is how we waited for them to leave:

Julie, Meg (changing the music in the cafe), and me.

Day 78 - December 9

Worked a long shift from noon till 2:45am. The cafe was closed to the public during the day as there were 2 afternoon functions. I bartended for the outside party. It was a small one of about 35 people. The party inside had a sit down dinner and got to eat giant prawns for appetizers and choose either chicken or beef with peas and red capsicums for their main. Australians call peppers capsicums. The staff got to eat the left overs. It was delicious!



Prawn, chicken breast with peas and red capsicums.

 The two afternoon parties ended at 6:00pm as the next two started at 7:30pm. The one outside was a Flight Centre Xmas party and the party inside was for a guys 21st bday. I took care of the outside party again. It was a Christmas costume party. The ladies wore as little as possible, as they should, and some of the guys wore as little as possible too, as they shouldn't. They were obviously a fun crowd though.

A hot chick had asked me where I was from and my name while I was handing out food. I answered and she told me her name was Kelly. Every time I came out with new food we would talk for a bit. The next time I came out with new food she was gone. Too bad.

There was one guy, that was a bit heavier set, who introduced himself as Ray. He asked me the same question that everyone else does, my name and where I'm from. He asked me what time I was off. I was thinking maybe he was going to invite me to a Flight Centre after party. Nope, not even close. It was a personal invite for a party for just him and me because he asked if I was straight or gay. I said straight. He looked a little disappointed, but they he asked 'you know the difference between a gay and straight man? A flat of beer.' I just gave him a nervous laugh and said that I'd get him some water since he was hammered. Being hit on by a guy, well that was a first for me.

I went up to Mark and asked him if he's surprised that I was hit on by a guy, he replied 'no, it's because you're friendly'. Fantastic.

Day 77 - December 8

We set up the cafe for a sit down dinner. Mark, Meg and I handled the floor, while Erwin and Sheldon looked after the bar, PK, Sylvia and Julie took care of the kitchen.

Brett, the DJ that Grace always uses for functions, set up his equipment early. We had some fun.

DJ Slanty Eyes.

Me, PK, and Meg holding different variations of sambuca.

Mark, Meg and I took care of handling food orders for an entree (in Australia an entree is an appetizer), main dish, and desserts for all 90 people. Mark had a great system set up that made it easy to know who was getting what. This was the first time I served food in a fancy sort of way.

Clean up was easy tonight as there was 4 of us closing instead of the usualy 2 or 3 people. Grace likes to send people home early thinking she's saving money when in reality, we can finish a lot faster with 1 extra person which actually saves her money. She's slowly seeing it our way.

I told grace that I had to leave at 12:00am the latest as my last train comes at 12:14am. She asked how much a cab ride home would cost, I estimated $30 and she said she would pay for it. Sweet as (this is how Australians say 'awesome').

Before she left for the night, she secretly handed me $40. I asked what this was for and she said for basically being able to trust me to close the restaurant down without her being there. She usually leaves early, but leaves it to PK to close it up, but since he's not here, I have that responsibility now. But then I wondered if the $40 was actually my taxi ride money (which it most likely was).

I hailed a taxi at the end of my shift. I was carrying 2 bags of food as well. There were left over steaks, tiramisu and chocolate pie at the end of the party. Myself and my housemates will like this. The cab ride costed $26. Sweet, made an extra $14, I'm rich!

Day 76 - December 7

Noami, my housemate, looked liked she didn't even sleep last night when I saw her in the afternoon. She didn't even go to school and she already told me that if she misses anymore classes, she'll be kicked out. We talked a bit and she said that she was going to get a doctors note so that she could be excused for her absence. She looked miserable. I gave her a bowl of cut up watermelon to cheer her up. I told her she needed some happy fruit. She smiled and said thanks for helping her out. No matter how small it is, any sort of kindness always helps, even if it's for a second.

I decided to walk along Bourke Street (which is a well known shopping street). Saw a bunch of buskers.

Santa on a surfboard. He moved very slowly.
Not sure how he survived in that suit with the heat.

Really? Playing the bagpipes in a gorilla suit?

Now I've seen everything, a penguin playing the trumpet.

Back to work after having 3 days off. Wish I actually got to go out during those days off, stupid sickness. Worked from 7:00pm-12:00am. The function was for the Docklands Association. When you hear 'association' you immediately think old people.... and that's right! There was about 60 of them. I bartended and handed out food. The elderly love it when they tell stories and you pretend you know what they're talking about and agree with them. It's not being mean, it's just being polite.

When I was handing a James Boags beer to one of the members, he asked if I had seen the commercials for the beer. I answered no. He said they are really funny.

PK left at 9:00pm once he was done cooking all the food. That left only myself and Sheldon to shut the place down. The party ended at 11:30pm and my last train leaves at 12:14am. Sheldon and I hauled ass and did the best we could... well not really, but we cleaned up enough so that it looked presentable... well not that either, it looked good enough.

James boags beer commercials. Click the link.
James Boags - From the Pure waters of Tasmania

Day 75 - December 6

Mmmm breakfast...

Eggs, toast, hashbrowns and my delicious latte.

Another day off of work, doctors orders. Watched some movies and tv shows.

Chicken curry with cabbage, green beans, broccoli, onions
(as a backpacker, you learn to reuse the food around the house)

Day 74 - December 5

Said my farewells to Raul and his cousin. They were off to drive along the east coast of Austrlia. This was the last time I would see Raul since I'll be leaving Melbourne before he gets back on January 20th.

I still wasn't feeling well so I went to the doctors. I ended up paying $63 for the doctor to tell me that I'll feel better in a couple of days and that I wouldn't need any medicine. What a waste of money.  Though he did give me some tips on travelling to Tasmania, which I may do. So in essence, I paid $63 for travel advice. He did mention that if I wanted medicine, it would only help me get better by a day or two and would cost about $100. Obviously I didn't bother with the meds.

The internet company responded back. They didn't buy it. They only answered that we should upgrade to a higher service. I decided to bite the bullet and pay for most of the bill. Zeena said she will only pay up to $100 and feels that is fair enough from her. Whatever. I said I'll pay the bigger bill of $480. That's about 4 days of work down the drain. Raul will pay the difference of $200.

Ever since the internet bill came about, everything felt different between myself and Zeena/Nicholas. Good thing I'm leaving in about a month. 

Made some yummy stir-fry for dinner.

Beef, bean sprouts, green beans, cabbage, broccoli, and onions.

Day 73 - December 4

I stayed home all day as I felt sick. Didn't do much except stay in my room and watch tv and movies online.

Raul came home for 1 day. He packed his stuff to get ready for his second leg of his vacation. But before that happened, Nicholas, Zeena and Raul looked over my letter to the internet company about lowering our bill from before.

Here is a first ever blog flashback:

December 1 I came home to Zeena and Nicolas with a bill in their hand and they said to me that we had to talk. They showed me the internet bill for the month (for which we all chip in $15 each month). The cost for October and November (they bill in cycles of 2 months) combined was about $780!! Right away I already owned up that it was me that was downloading a lot since my HD movies are about 5-10 gigs each and my HD TV shows are about 2-3 gigs each. I told them that when I moved in, I asked Raul, since Zeena wasn't home, if there was a limit on our internet. He told me that there wasn't. Since then, I've been downloading like normal if I was in Canada.

On the bill, our limit was only 100 gigs a month, which is nothing to me. Zeena then says she was depressed for the last couple of days (she got the bill a couple of days earlier). All I could think of was that it's just money, everything will be fine. There are way worser situations that people go through than an internet bill. She did mention at first if we should all split the bill evenly, but I owned up and said that I will pay most of it... like a boss.

She did mention that she felt partly responsible that she didn't give me the full rules of the house, but also mentioned that I should've asked her about the internet. I told her that I had no reason to not believe Raul since he'd been living there for so long. BUT that brings me to a point: she is right, she should've told me about ALL the rules about the house. As "Head of Household" it should be their responsibility for all their tenants in the house. I didn't have to pay any of the extra costs if I didn't want to. Plus I didn't sign any contract when I moved into the house. (for all you new backpackers, check everything throughly so this doesn't happen).

Before I would pay Zeena, I told her that I would write a letter to the company and plea for the balance to be lowered.

Flashforward to present day:

I had written the letter. I wrote them the 'misunderstanding' letter. It pretty much said that there was a miscommunication between the people in the house on what the limit of the internet usage waas and if they'd be able to help us with lowering the cost. We could only wait for a couple of days to see what happens.

Once again, played with Oscar.

Day 72 - December 3

3 parties were taking place today. 1 engagement party from 2:00pm-7:00pm and 2 corporate xmas parties from 7:30pm - 1:00pm. I bartended the engagement party with assistance from Ervin, his first day of work. He's an Australian that looked about 25 years old.

Engagement party was fun. No mishaps. After the party was done, we had to work fast to get those guests out of the pavillion so that we could get ready for the 2 xmas parties.

I bartended the smaller party. There was about 35 people for my party and about 200 for the other one that was held in the pavilion. It was bartended by Sheldon, Grace, Cal and Theo (Theo is one of Grace's ex, but they are still friends). [I think Theo is gay]. {So does the rest of the staff}. /I think Grace turned him gay\.

I thought my party would have a bunch of old farts that wouldn't be fun, but that wasn't the case. The company was P&D Rigging & Crane and they were pretty fun to talk to. Though I don't think anyone was under 35, some of them still tried to rock it on the dance floor.

I got a couple of compliments from them about Grace. One of the guests, whom is a DJ named Glenn, was exceptionally nice. He talked to the owner, Grace, about how awesome I was. After he told her, he spoke to me after the party and told me he gave her positive feedback about me. He proceeded to tell me that it fell on deaf ears. He said that she had the same IQ as a wet fart. He and another guest of the party knew that she didn't know how to run her staff. I agreed with him.

After cleaning up, we ended up with a huge load of garbage in the back of the restaurant. We had almost 20 bags of garbage, cause we know how to throw a party... like a boss!


They don't recycle in the state of Victoria. Wtf?

Me, PK, Sheldon, Julie and Nicola.
We relaxed at the end of the day with a free beer... like a boss!

Day 71 - December 2

Worked a 21st birthday. It was for a girl named Lauren.
I saw the cake in the kitchen. Sometimes, just sometimes, you can tell what a girl might be like by what her cake looks like.

That's a fake LV bag... a fake yummy LV bag... *nom nom nom*

Day 70 - December 1

Another fun shift at work from 10:30am - 5:30pm.

Went home to play with fat cat Oscar.

I swear he comes from a line of Jabba the Hutts, so freaking fat!

The look of: "just let me and my fat be"

Day 69 - November 30

Work was really relaxed when it was just PK, Mark and I. We all did our job without anyone yelling at us or anything like that. This is how it should always be. It was a lot of fun.

The classic Mark move: hiding and eating at the front register

Day 68 - November 29

Started work at 5:00pm. The party was an Xmas party for the Gold Buyers company. Not to be tooting my own horn, but it was another party where I gave excellent service to the point where I was offered a job. The manager of Gold Buyers gave me her business card and said that if I ever came back to Melbourne that I cold get a job with her anytime.

Some of the co-workers of Gold Buyers. They drank like fishes.

Bartending is a lot of fun. I may have to find a part time job doing that when I get back to Canada.

Day 67 - November 28

Met up with Julie at the Immigration Museum. It's usually $10 for admission, but free for students. Lucky I had my trusty UofC student card... from 5 years ago. We read about the history of Melbourne. I passed by two very good quotes:

This describes me when I first landed in Australia.

Excellent quote!!

I learned that at one point in history the Australian government banned anymore asian immigrants as there were too many arriving. That later changed.

When we walked up to the next part of the museum we saw awesomeness:

Using our creativity...

There were a lot of really well made aircrafts.

Here's my airplane, represent!

Julie made an addition to a hot air balloon.

Time to put mine up.

In the middle of it all.

This is a real menu from a 1902 ship to Australia.
They had Alberta pudding for dessert. Wonder what that tasted like... oil and gas?

After the museum, we had a coffee break.

We almost went to this place, but 20% wasn't enough.

One of my favorite photos I've taken.

Not sure what I was looking at.

Cappuccino art.

After coffee, we met up with Alice, Julie's friend that she trained with for her job at L'Occitane. We headed to the Vegie Bar. It was my second time there, first time for the girls.

My pumpkin soup.

Yummy noodles.

Yummy salad.

Yummy rice.

Alice about to destroy the salad.

Always caught off guard.