AU REVOIR SYDNEY

Before my flight

So that's it packing up and happy to go. The party last night was great and the night was long. The goodbye got a little emotional as after two months I got attached to some of the people I meet here. Well who knows may see them again in future.

Happy to go, sad to leave

Today it’s my last day in the office and honestly I am happy to go however after two months I really got attached to some of the people working here. It makes me a little sad knowing that the chances to meet up again are very slim. Well I hope that the e-technology will help to stay in touch for a little bit.

It was a unique opportunity to work in Australia and I will surly take home nice memories. Let’s enjoy the big pary tonight and I will put some picture in the blog before closing it up and start a new one for my Aussie friends :-)

Last weekend in Sydney

Luckily no karaoke for the farewell party and Friday night was pub and dinner time at the Rocks – check it out that is the place http://www.theargyle.biz/

Saturday 34 degrees not the best idea to go to the zoo but my co-worker got free tickets and I went with her family and friends a real expedition including kids and picnic baskets. I arrived home I was dead…Well nearly I still had some energy to go out for dinner at a nice restaurant near the sea enjoying the nice weather and the beautiful view.

As food is such a social thing, just no way to stop it so out again on Sunday to Newtown with my flat mate and friends of him. Spending an enjoyable Sunday having lunch, followed by tea and chatter.

An other five days, nearly there, Sydney and the people are lovely but I am really missing the family…time to go home

Update

It is getting hotter over here, on Saturday we had 28C so I got taken to Palm Beach for lunch and dolphins watching. We saw about 6 of them playing with the wave, so relaxing and enjoyable. The beaches are really wonderful over here and I have been told that for Christmas people go out to the beach and eat lobster. No skiing, no snow no cold…how sad…
Unfortunately on Sunday it was raining again and it cooled down. A good excuse for my Swedish flat mate to rent the whole season one of Ally McBeal. So part of the afternoon was dedicated to this highly academically task and since then I cannot get rid of the theme song.

After a while you get to talk with people about more personal thinks like politics. Like go to vote, in Switzerland either you vote or not. In Australia either you vote or you pay a fine of AUD55! Kind of weird in my opinion because apparently they just vote to vote and not vote to change. Well other country other customs.

I will be off next week so tonight I get my farewell party as the boss will be away after and I am hoping to avoid the karaoke as this seems to be a big issue over here. They have a karaoke machine in the office, can you believe that. Well let’s hope for the best and more news to follow

Flatmates and our livingroom

Aussie Pub and other weekend amusements

Well good news Aussie's pub are non-smoking, very nice however the prices for the drinks are as high as home. Which does not stop people to get drunk anyway. Well my co-workers just had a few drinks as I guess they wanted to show themselfs from their best side. So no drunken aussies in our group. After the pub some dinner and then I even got a lift home what a service.

On Saturday my nice and lovely Art-Freak co-worker showed me around Sydney's modern art museum and I must say some of the arts were really creepy and weird. One artist just hanged a death horse from the celling, kind of showing the imobility of the italian political movement in the 70's. Gosh what excuse to justify such a horrible sight. Poor horse. I am really an art ignorant not getting the message right. After this more or less interesting tour we really needed a nice food break.

Sunday was newspaper day (the Sunday paper must weight at least one kilo over her) and some nice walking around following the river. Surely I enjoy myself however counting the days to be back again specially after having Sarah on the phone that night calling mami ....skype is cool

No frill week

It has been a busy week at work and except of a nice and funny dinner party on Monday with my flat mate and his friends nothing special to tell. Only a typical Home work home week ...However this Friday/Saturday my co-workers take me out so let’s see what this gives.

Hurstville vs Chinatown

Folks I have it all wrong I leave near a bee house - just 15min walk from my house and I find myself in former Shanghai (regards to J) I am not joking belive me only 15min walk and I am not in Australia anymore!
Yesterday I went out discovering the suroundings and downtown Hurstville is a little copy of Sydney's Chinatown. There are Chinese signs, shops and people everywhere. I was sitting on a bench and for about 5min I didn't see any non Chinese looking person. Amazing.
I know now exactly what my dear friend J in Shanhai was talking about when she said better go to a western Supermarket at least you now what you get. There are things in this shops I do not even know what there are, how to cook them or even if you are supposed to eat them. However whatever I can put a name on I buy as it's much cheaper then in a traditional supermarket and much fresher as well. And well why not take some risks and taste some funny looking food.
I have a feeling I will not miss Newtown at all. Hurstville be ready!!!!

On my own

Christophe and Sarah left no need tell how hard it was to say goodbye and I also moved from Newtown cool trendy and very expensive place to more calm residential and of course more afordable Hurstville. A dear friend made the connection like moving from Lausanne to Sullens.
However the house is nice and my flatemates as well plus I have Internet in the house and somebody to talk in the evening.

Salesman/woman of the month

Yesterday evening was partytime in the office - the best salesman/woman award was handed out. As you are a keen reader of my blog you can imagine that this kind of things do not start at the time given, we are in Australia, we are laid back. Yes I say we because I am starting to get the idea how to do it and my co-workers are all proud of me because when a meeting starts at 11 o'clock I am not there any more at 5 to but at 5 past and still the first one!!
Ok back to the award, the idea is you get either nominated for achievements, sales and other outstanding performance or you can nominate yourself and explain why your should be awarded. It is a big thing with wine and food and going out for drinks after. Well I missed the going out for drink as it was my familie's last evening but the rest was quite fun as Aussies are even funnier after a few glass of wine.

Business

There have been some complaints me not talking about work. Well it is true that I came here for work and yes believe it or not I am actually working! However my work is in Sydney and I officially proclaim that after Tokyo this is the second best town to be oh I forgot Berlin, Berlin is also very cool.
Okay now some insight in my job. I am attached to the international sales team and since last week I finally see some real action. The first two weeks where more kind of touch and feel and have a look, not boring but a little slow. Now I am doing researches on different newspaper and online sites, talking to clients, working on a new product, calling up potential clients and really enjoying the company of my co-workers.
They already start planning my weekends so that I won’t feel too lonely once the family is gone on Friday so this is quite nice and I am looking forward to all the sightseeing I will do.

Weekend in Sydney

Have a look at that - this was just great http://www.bridgeclimb.com/ and we did it climbing all up, without Sarah of course who was cared of .

Then on Saturday we were invited to lunch and Sarah could play with an other co-workers daughter the same age. They have a nice house near the beach but unfortunately the weather was bad so we had to stay inside. However it was fun and we enjoyed the day.

Sunday nice sunny weather we took a ferry to Watson Bay where you have the most beautiful view of Sydney and of course the most famous fish & chips in whole Sydney. No need to ask of course I had to taste...

Per nonna, nonno e zio - granpapa et granmaman

Bacioni a tutti ci vediamo tra poco - Sarah

Bisous à tout le monde et à samedi - Sarah

Cupcakes forever 2

Rememeber I talked about the cupcake competation. Well no price for our team but at least we had some free cupcakes that day

( first pictures)

The mission is...find the quark

A little message for my friends J+J, no quark yet but I found a German backery which sells Quarktorte. What about? Does this count?

An other little animal

And another one, a wombat...a little ugly but hey nobody is perfect

One more funny animal

Well that one is easy... a Koala, my husband and Sarah.

Yeah I know the typical tourist picture but well it was too tempting

Funny little animals

You will excuse my ingorance but I actually do not remember the name of that one...something like enchilladas :-)

The one who post me his name first (in any language) gets a gift once I am back...

Cupcakes forever

I love cupcakes, I really do.
A cupcake is kind of a little muffin with an icing and what just sounds kind of oh just a muffin with an icing is one of the most delicious little cake I ever eat. The whole secret is a soft cake and a very sophisticated icing which is really yummy. Imagine there are shops only selling cupcakes.I was trying to get the recipes out of that woman in the shop but all my persuasion skills were wasted on her. .
Today there is even a cupcake competition in the office building and the earning of the selling goes to the local animal protection organization. So a few girls in the office backed some over the weekend and we all hope they are wining. Even that they look less sophisticated as the one from the shop they were made with love and dedication.
So the slogan of the week - Cupcakes forever!!!!

Just go and have a look at what I am talking about http://www.babycakes.com.au/

August in Sydney

The winters in Sydney are short but as there is no central heating anywhere. I will just freeze to dead as the apartment we are in is one of does without central heating. Well they use the air-condition to heat but well you can imagine the results. In the morning taking a shower is like a survival test in the army.
However once you go out you see that Aussie’s are very creative dealing with cold weather. Wearing scars with shorts or thick winter boots with T-shirts or skirts without tights I am more traditional with my jacket, scarf, trousers, socks and if I could put on more I would. Nevertheless I am not complaining as summer are even worst – it gets hot very hot over here. So hooray to the sunny cool Sydney weather and let enjoy the nice morning breeze.

Weekend

This weekend we went sightseeing in the Royal National Park, about 1,5 hour from Sydney. It was just breathtaking the beaches were like in paradise or at least is how I imagine paradise if the place is there. The best was that nobody was around and we just walked around collecting shells with Sarah and run away from the waves. Life is great!

However we found it a little challenging to travel with a young child as the timetable is really planned around her. Like we were walking around the Rocks on Sunday and there is a really nice Irish Pub with live music and you just cannot spend time there as she gets bored. Much more fun running after the pigeons then listen to Irish folk which from her point of view makes much more sense, doesn’t it. Poor pigeons but I guess they are used to it.
Ok the pub was a mistake but a much bigger mistake was the visit of the teddy bear shop. She just got hold of the biggest most expensive teddy bear in the shop and running around not wanting to give it back. Well she certainly did not get that teddy but I guess the whole neighborhood got deaf from her screaming. We will let some time past before we show up again in that area.

Casual Friday

It is not a legend Friday is casual day, you do not need to wear any suit or other uncomfortable business cloths. Take your jeans out yupii.
And when you ask how are you the answer is like home, good because it’s Friday.
They are not so different the Australians :-)

However business is done quite differently over here and my so over organized way is just not doing it. As they say over here be laid back and just take it as it comes.
It is like oh by the way we have a meeting, knowing about this scheduled meeting since Monday but telling me just 5 minutes before it starts on Thursday. Yeah lay back men!

Highlights of the day

Yesterday I've been asked how the maternity leave policy is in Sweden, no idea as I am from Switzerland. However the information were wanted even for Switzerland.

It's now my third working day and this morning I took again the wrong exit at the station. I guess by the end of the week I should be able to get it right. At least I find my way to the office.

In Sydney

Let's face it travelling from Europe to Sydney with a young child is not really a piece of cake and the jetlag does not help either. We arrived a week ago and she stills wakes up at 3 o'clock in the morning - Great isn'it.
We are staying in Newtown at it is just so cool, the town is great and in about 20min I am in the office. Talking about office today it is my first day so more later on that subject.
At the moment I just have Internet in the office so kind of difficult however in a month I move to another flat with wireless connection.
I hope I do not get squashed in the meantime as they are driving on the wrong side, so kind of dangerous over here. Even that Sydey is really a great place to be!!!!

Just bla bla

Two days before leaving I find myself with a little cute light tablepc nicely configurated and ready to travel with me to Sydney. A few angels at headquarter made it happend - Thank you, I just forgot to ask if there are any handbooks like "stay zen with vista"
I feel like a child with a new toy...oh hello Peter Pan want to play?

Travel dates

So I think my whole little world knows now that I have a blog and can check it out. As my very wise friend J from Berlin says - a blog helps to carry information around or something similar - following my travel dates,

Departure 27th July
Arrival 28th July in Sydney

From 28th July to 03rd August I am in vacation
So no big hope to get any answers if you write to my business e-mail :-) - Maybe I will make an effort and feed the blog but no promises

Job rotation starting on the 4th August

Back home on the 28th September
Back in the office on the 30th September

Talking about visas

Fair enough if some people need a visa for a job rotation to China (greetings to J) I can even accept that I need one for Australia. However waiting 7 weeks to at least get the confirmation from the embassy that my passport has finally been sent... is kind of out of place.
Is this the legendary easygoing Australian way, maybe a downunder joke? Well I am not laughing. Well let's wait for my passport!

Me and the blog

Ok guys do not hope too much but i will do my best to stay up to date - start on the 4th of august. Untill then don't get lost