3 months in Australia already…

3 months in Australia (Photo by Nathan Hurst on Unsplash)

It’s already been 3 months in Australia, on the other side of the world. Did I imagine it that way, no, not really. Do I regret my decision? Not at all. Have I had moments of doubts? Of course. Do I love my life here? Yes it is soft and more rhythmic now.

I missed the balance of the 2 months, because the boredom gave way to a daily race, a series of small jobs, small tasks which every day fill all my schedule.

My Uber account ended up being freed up, and I was able to finance myself, I will talk about this extraordinary “job” in another post. I was starting to run out of economics, I was stressing that I could not pay for the next weeks of hostel. The dream of buying a car was quickly disappearing, leaving bitterness to keep boredom growing.

Fortunately, odd jobs like Uber sometimes exist, certainly precarious, but so practical in times of crisis…

Now Uber allows me to largely cover my expenses, no outings, no races, the expenses are not numerous. And the dream has not yet disappeared, I will have to be more patient but I manage to set aside each week, so I keep hope …

Wait wait, I read no races, what do you mean? The galleys make creative and having kept my good mood, I stayed in the good graces of a lot of people in the hostel. I have forged strong ties with some. And when Chris, who ordered Uber eat every night offered to cook for him, I jumped at the chance.

So I started cooking for one of my friends, and since this week for two. Each gives me 50 dollars and they share the races. Every evening, well generally I prepare the afternoon in advance, I cook for them and for me. I’m having fun creating new recipes, finding the right combinations, I’m having a hard time not doing the same thing every week. I adapt to their tastes, to their desires too. And we eat well! Fish, meat and lots of vegetables, I enjoy myself on the menu and on the races.

It’s a good way to save… And it’s also a moment of pleasure, at the moment when my thoughts fly away, or I hang on to the memories of my childhood meals, I take inspiration from them, I readjust them . I’ve always seen my mother improvise in the kitchen, let her instincts go, and I follow in her footsteps, it makes cooking so much more creative and enjoyable …

Of course, there are days when I run out of inspiration, when I’m lazy, when I force myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m a mother with the menu of the week on her shoulders. I’m training …

It relieves me of a burden, to finally have an inflow of money, to be able to finally use my Australian account, to spend in dollars and to save several hundred dollars each week. I feel freer, healthier, and less connected to France now.

For two and a half weeks, I have also started doing freelance jobs. I signed up on three dedicated sites, and I apply for English – French translations, data transfers from PDF to Word or Excel, or content writing for French companies. At the moment, I only have two clients, but I hope to have more soon. One of my first jobs was to create hotel descriptions … Fictitious hotels, I have fun inventing them completely, describing them in detail, creating a tone.

It is not very well paid, but it allows me to be more free outside Uber (Yes because Uber, it is not rosy every day …).

And then it activates my creativity, my desire to write. I have never felt so much the urge to write, to put my ideas on paper. I don’t write a lot on this blog, but the unofficial blog is more of a witness to my inspiration. It’s the moment, I feel it, the moment to start, to write the novel that I always wanted to write. I have the time, I have the desire, and now the discipline …

Maybe I’m stuck here for a reason, and that reason is stop fleeing and really writing ?

To be able to fit everything into my schedule, I get up early, I resume a weekly rhythm. I thought I was going against the routine and I’m creating a new one for myself. Get up 6am if I’m running, 7am if I’m not running, breakfast with Chris (yes, I even prepare breakfast for him), then write, until 11:30 am, departure for Uber, return at 2:30 pm, cooking, writing from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, Uber again, cook a little, and hop leisure time before repeating the same day. The weeks pass faster. We’re already at the end of May, I don’t believe it… Obviously it’s not every day as square as that, but it’s a fairly intense rhythm that I love and cultivate.

This week, I pedaled less, I had contact with the owner of the hostel for a small job. I jumped at the opportunity. 4:30 to fill 8 punching bags with second hand clothes. It’s original as a job, I admit it, it’s hard on the hands and arms too, but it was funny, and the obese man who runs the store called me back for other bags at the end week. 180 dollars, not bad, is enough to pay my weekly expenses. Uber and my freelance jobs can be saved now.

You too, you are surely surprised that we put clothes in box bags, I thought it would be sand or another type of material… And sometimes when I see almost new children’s clothes ending in a punching bag ball, I wonder where the world is going, but at least it’s recycled?

I left to stay here until mid July, maybe late July. It will indeed take me time to save enough money to buy a car and then travel. I am taking my pain patiently and I intend to use this time for my project and to get started in Freelance. Chris helps me on my WordPress and soon I will have a window … Hopefully I am not mistaken !

For the rest, here I am happy, the life of the hostel is that of a large Sharehouse. They all call me “Mama”, I am the mama of 6 of the 30 people. I’m part of the furniture, and it’s great. I developed close friendships, I laugh, I cuddle, I have a good time every day! In short it will not be the prison to stay two more months!

And with all that, my health is also getting better, I only drink on Friday and Saturday nights, no more alcohol on weekdays. You don’t believe it, but you do !! I lost weight, with all the cycling, and running in the morning, which gives me extra self-confidence.

In short I do not regret.

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