Meeting the Parents

This week saw the end of Irene's visit... but before she left, we did some more tacky tourist sites (must dos!), ate and we went to a Lounge on the 51st floor of a building, and as you guessed, a breathtaking sight. Irene was a good break-up of my very routine week days, a very good excuse for not surfing the net for non-existant jobs!

My weekend was quite good also... Bill's parents were visiting Toronto, so I had dinner with them so they could meet this wild child they were so worried about (who me?). Ofcourse, I managed to charm them like his relos. My friend Mel often jokes about them being my in-laws, and the parents themselves are probably thinking that also.. little do they know that thier son has a hidden girlfriend and I happen to be a good disguise for this!! When we went shopping, his father inststed on getting me this top as a "first meeting present". I got a bit worried and ran off to pay for it myself. This confusion is difficult at times, but amusing nevertheless. Btw, for dinner, we went to this place famous for lobsters... sooo cheap... we had a huge plate for the price of pound back home!

I went to a lounge with some girls on Saturday night which was quite fun. I am glad they opt for lounges rather than clubbing these days. I basically sat at the bar and people watched all night... quite enjoyable but we all agreed that the quality of people at a place is directly related to the cover charge. We paid $5 to get in, need I say more.

Sunday was a lazy day where we took a stroll down Danfourth, commonly known as Greek Town, and where "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" ws filmed. It has a lot of cute shops, and in mind I am already mapping out where to take all my friends when they come visit!!

In the tradition of telling stories about people we meet whilst travelling, last night I went with a friend to pick up some clothes from one of her girl friends. This girl sheds her wardrobe every few months. She's an exotic dancer (I still haven't worked out how exotic, but I'd imagine very) and a total shopaholic. Half the items in the two large bags were designer items which she hasn't even worn before. She just came back from a shopping spree in Vancouver where one of her clients paid for her shopping (what a life!). I guess that justifies the LV and Prada flip-flops (they cringe when I say thongs), and the hundreds of other expensive items which I would never be able to afford over 5 years (and thats with a real job). She also had her breasts enlarged which was another reason why there was so many goodies to give away! Despite hearing about about how large her breast were every few minutes, I have to say she was pretty cool person, and definately interesting enough to be worthy of my blog.. and thats not because I walked away with 3 pairs of shoes!!!

Friday is the Eventful Day.. and not because of drinks!

It's funny how things work out. Last Friday I was a dissapointed at missing a job opportunity.. and exactly one week later, I reject another job.

It would have been good if I had wanted to own my own business, because you start with really shitty work at entry level i.e. door-to-door sales, but then you go through all these developmental stages until you are ready to part-own and manage one of their offices for them in a chosen city in Canada, US or Europe. So basically they are training you to be an entrepreneur for them... something a little too heavy for my working holiday!

Anyways, things are picking up since I do get phone calls and emails now and then... they are sort of like teasers to keep me going. I won't bog you down with my job hunting woes.. but I'm thinking, if I still don't have luck soon, I'm switching to husband-hunting!! I hear that may be a lot easier!!! =P

This week has seen my first visitor to Toronto. Irene, a high school friend bounced in last week and she is a parcel of laughs and optimism. I spent a day sight-seeing with her, it's like the two of us are trying to out-chat each other... her guy friend was amazed at the speed and amount of information we could get out!!

The funny thing is that we never really kept in close contact back in Sydney, but when you're in another country, anyone you meet from home seems like your best friend. Perhaps it's all circumstantial, but whatever it is, I have been able to renew or develop friendships with people from home a number of times since I've been in Vancouver and Toronto. Meeting new people is enivitable, but developing old friendships is an added beauty of travel which I never factored in.

Anyways, sorry I don't have much stories to tell lately since I have been keeping low-profile till I get some decent cash to party with!

The Burst of a Bubble

I was really hoping to have some good news to share, but unfortunately, I have just recovered from a week of highs and ofcourse the expected lows that come with it.

Earlier last week, a call from a friend motivated me to attack companies with phone calls. I tried it on a Consulting company that I really wanted a job with, and believe it or not... literally two hours after making the doubtful phone call, I was in an interview with the Recruitment Manager. He was organising interviews for the Programme Manager and I called just when someone bailed. There were issues with my status in Canada and my qualifications in the Canadian financial system, but I managed to convince him and went onto the next round of interviews. The hope that lifted my spirits a little brought it crashing back down again. I only came second in the running for the position, but was promised in a months time, they will be ramping up the team again and I will be considered. But I want a job NOW!

So that was the start of a very shitty Friday. Stupid me decided to take on an extra Telemarketing shift that night, and it was the worst shift ever. I'm still not pushy enough to make the sales, and I can't believe I could feel pressured from a stupid job like that. As if getting off work at 11pm is not enough, the bottle shop was closed on the way home (yep, my day was shitty enough to warrant a bottle of red), and then I one more unhappy phone call tipped me over the edge. Poor Bill had to deal with a very sulky room-mate. Lucky for him, I only sulk for a few hours before I feel totally re-energised, and before he knew it, I was back to my usual chatty self. If there was any doubt I hadn't recovered from sulking, it was wiped away by a huge Yum-Cha (oops sorry, they call is Dim Sum here) outing the next morning, the first decent one I've had since Sydney!! Nothing like comfort food!

On a higher note, the last two weekends we have been travelling outside of Toronto to smaller towns. Last weekend we went to see Bill's relos who I hadn't thanked for all the furniture and help with the apartment before I arrived. My job was to charm them since they were skeptical about me... they think I am a bit of a wild child, coming to a foreign country not knowing anyone and sharing an apartment with someone I barely knew. I think I did a pretty ok job, now I have a 6 year old kid who adores me so much she won't leave me alone... and everyone knows my thoughts on kids! *rolls eyes*

This weekend, we went stay with Bill's cousins who live in a University town even further away than his relos. She had invited us to her university ball... my very first university ball ever (4 years after graduating uni)... and it was a very interesting experience. There was a different room on each level... a music request floor, a celtic floor, a swing dance floor, a jazz bar and a karaoke room. It wasn't really my version of a ball, but it was definately an eye opener to the university life in a small town.

I spent the rest of the weekend in the gym, and sitting in the sauna downstairs, thanks to my adoring sister who wrote me these exact words: "Take some time to do exercise, don't you dare come back fat or anything!!!". Hmm.. nice to know I am loved!!

Now that it is Monday, I am back to the usual grind I am so desperately trying to get out of - library, then internet cafe, then run home to cook so that I can bring dinner to work and not have to eat at 11pm when I come home. But I guess I expected all that, so I shouldn't complain. I have a high school friend dropping by at the end of the week, so that should be good!

Don't worry peoples, my next entry will definately be a lot more upbeat!

Still on the Hunt

I don't have much of an update really. I am quite domestic these days, although we went out to a club last week, my weekdays are mostly cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, internet surfing and reading. Sometimes when I am feeling generous, I lounge around a coffee shop with a book or my journal. I'm quite happy at the moment, only coz I know I have a lot of time to explore the place... in a few months time when my time is running out and the weather gets warmer, I think I will be going crazy!

Anyways, on the job front... my potential career as an air hostess never took off. I'm not a Canadian citizen or a landed immigrant. The funny thing was, when I was standing in line for an interview.. I asked the pretty asian chick next to me for a pen, and she recognised me as a customer she served a few weeks ago. It must have been the good old accent!!

So we were talking and she asked whether I was interested in retail. She works in Danier Leather, a canadian chain leather store that has some good stuff. I'm still eyeing the leather jacket I tried on the last time I met her, so when she mentioned they were hiring, I jumped at the chance. How funny is that, I missed out on being a flight attendant but ran into another job opportunity at the interview. My advice to umployed bums out there... if you are desperate for a job, don't apply to firms and recruitment agencies, they don't reply.. just go shop... shop your heart out and work that accent if u have one!!

So much for coming across a job... the next day I visited the girl at Danier and after what I thought was a pretty comprehensive interview for a retail position, she sat me down for a written test. I was there for an hour, answer problems, sorting out patterns etc. I was so not expecting it, and entirely exhausted when she told me I had another video test to go through!! I couldn't do it the same day... I already knew I failed the previous test, they asked such obscure questions and the multiple choice answers were all so similar. But I returned the next day and sat through another test. I have to say, all the testing for a job selling jackets was all a bit of a turn-off... I think I had a better time applying for graduate positions in Big 5 firms!

Meanwhile, I have started working at this other telemarketig place. This is so much better than the other place I was at... but still, it's against my nature to be pushy, and I was told last night to be more bold. In the 25 hours I have worked though, I managed to sell 3 subscriptions. Wow! Not. I sold one of them purely because the doctor on the other end liked my accent, even though he thought the paper was to right-wing orientated. As I said, if you have an accent, work it!

The people here are a lot less odd here, most of them are students though. One of the guys I sit with always has a funny story or two to share. He seems to get all the interesting calls... one woman thought he was her dead husand.... "Jonathan, is that really you?? My dea, it's you, it's you!!". Hmm.. I haven't come across any calls like that yet... although I did get an answering machine that belonged to some cult, and the machine message was a bitof a preach. I'm glad it was only a machine.

So thats the joys of job hunting and telemarketing.