Thursday, May 25, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
'Operations Support Officer'!!
Well, I now have my own user profile so I can blog you all under my real name!! Some of you may be wondering what I've been up to while Eifion's been working, so I thought I'd fill you in. When we first arrived I applied to NSW Education Department to get 'approval' as a teacher. You have to send off all your qualifications, references etc, go for an interview, to see if they will let you teach in their schools. Seems quite rigorous, but a good system because they obviously only want good teachers. It was taking quite a while, so I got a part time job which I started about 2 weeks ago. Some people didn't believe me when I said I was actually looking for a job - but I was! I am working as an 'Operations Support Officer' (which is like a glorified PA) for 3 Executive Managers at a large bank. They manage various call centres around Australia and I work at their Head Office doing different organisational and admin jobs for them. Its been really good so far. Everyone in the office is really friendly and relaxed. I get to finish work at 1pm and have the afternoons free - which is fantastic!! Eifion is trying to encourage me to fill my time with things that don't involve spending money (i.e. shopping!!) - but its working out really well. It's an amazing feeling coming home and not thinking that I should be doing something to prepare for the next day, or actually relaxing on a Sunday night without thinking 'What else do I need to do for school?'. I'd forgotten what that felt like. I miss working with kids and all of those challenges but for now I am enjoying what I'm doing. Most likely I will get a job teaching down the line as I do want to see what Australian schools are like. Being approved as a teacher is likely to take a few months anyway - so we'll have to see how it goes. Although, I must say I am certainly getting used to only working 8am till 1pm. Not sure I'd give that up in a hurry!
We're both enjoying spending our evenings and weekends relaxing and taking in some of the sights. The chocolate bar down the road seems to be a favourite evening place so far. Imagine - everything on the menu involves chocolate!!!! Haven't worked our way through the whole menu yet - but we're getting close!! Last weekend we enjoyed looking around Paddington Markets. Very arty stalls with all sorts of different things for sale.
We're both enjoying spending our evenings and weekends relaxing and taking in some of the sights. The chocolate bar down the road seems to be a favourite evening place so far. Imagine - everything on the menu involves chocolate!!!! Haven't worked our way through the whole menu yet - but we're getting close!! Last weekend we enjoyed looking around Paddington Markets. Very arty stalls with all sorts of different things for sale.
We've also been walking around the botanical gardens which are beautiful. They are right in the middle of the city with great views of the harbour. We were walking under some huge trees and looked up to see literally hundreds and hundreds of fruit bats - all hanging upside down or fighting with the bat next to them to get a better spot! It was amazing.
A couple of weeks ago we bought ourselves some bicycles (part of our plan to be car free for as long as possible!). We've been on a couple of bike rides around Centennial Park - which is a huge park with lovely lakes and loads of space! The weather has been great for it - although you'll be pleased to know that it has got a bit cooler recently - even raining!!!
We are really enjoying our time here - but as always, we miss everyone back home. You'll have to come and visit soon!!!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Dubai Contrasts
I was just flicking back through the photos we took on our trip over here and was amazed again by the huge costrast of Dubai. These pictures illustrate what you can experience in a few days.
The way it was meant to be.....Desert....at temperatures of upto 50 degrees in the summer!
The way it was meant to be.....Desert....at temperatures of upto 50 degrees in the summer!
Relax on the beach with a little help from imported sand! ...the dessert in dubai has the wrong type!
Visit a lush green country park with tropical birds!
or (i love this one!)..go skiing or sledging!
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Couple of Pics
This is a picture of Double Bay...our new home is just to the bottom centre.
Today we took a 30 min ferry ride to a place called Manly. We hired some bikes and cycled to freshwater beach where we sat and watched about 50 surfers in the water. There were some big waves. We then cycled to North Head point (where picture is taken) which has a great view across Sydney Harbour. (Apparently the name "Manly" was given by an explorer who found the land and saw some aboriginal men who he thought looked "Manly")
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Shame Eifion has to go to work!!
Eifion is at work today, so I'm sitting in an internet cafe checking out jobs and updating you all!! Hoping to find out about maybe doing some supply teaching or doing something different - not sure what yet though!
Been pretty hectic since we arrived in Sydney only a week ago - but in a really good way! We really like being here and have loved going round exploring and looking at different places by the harbour and seeing where we might like to live. We have actually already found somewhere to live and are so thankful to God for looking after us. Through everything that has happened we really feel that God has been here before us getting everything ready. We are renting a lovely 2 bedroom apartment in a place called Double Bay, about 5 minutes walk from Edgecliff station which only takes 10 minutes to get into the city for Eifion's work. A 5 minute walk in the other direction takes us to a bay by the harbour with sailing boats and a park where we sat yesterday reading the paper (well, Eifion was reading the Sunday paper, I was reading Australian OK! magazine!!!). The apartment is fully furnished with everything we need and more! This makes it so much easier for us as we don't need to worry about buying big items of furniture. There is even cutlery, plates and towels in the apartment for us to use!! We will put a few pictures up on the blog as soon as we can.
We went to Hillsongs church on Sunday morning. Really liked it. Even though its a big church (they have 1 saturday night service and 5 services on a sunday!), it didn't feel too big and you didn't feel 'lost in the crowd'. The speaker and worship were great and the people were really friendly. We are still to try out the Nazarene churches in the area. One is about an hour out of the city (where Dave Harris and Melinda go to), which is a bit far to go regularly, but we'd like to go now and again. Another one is closer to the city which from what we found out so far, seems to be Greek! Andy maybe you could translate for us - how's your Greek going??!!
Weather has been lovely - it's autumn here now, but feels like a British summer! All weekend it was sunny and between 20 and 25 degrees. We could get used to this!
Been pretty hectic since we arrived in Sydney only a week ago - but in a really good way! We really like being here and have loved going round exploring and looking at different places by the harbour and seeing where we might like to live. We have actually already found somewhere to live and are so thankful to God for looking after us. Through everything that has happened we really feel that God has been here before us getting everything ready. We are renting a lovely 2 bedroom apartment in a place called Double Bay, about 5 minutes walk from Edgecliff station which only takes 10 minutes to get into the city for Eifion's work. A 5 minute walk in the other direction takes us to a bay by the harbour with sailing boats and a park where we sat yesterday reading the paper (well, Eifion was reading the Sunday paper, I was reading Australian OK! magazine!!!). The apartment is fully furnished with everything we need and more! This makes it so much easier for us as we don't need to worry about buying big items of furniture. There is even cutlery, plates and towels in the apartment for us to use!! We will put a few pictures up on the blog as soon as we can.
We went to Hillsongs church on Sunday morning. Really liked it. Even though its a big church (they have 1 saturday night service and 5 services on a sunday!), it didn't feel too big and you didn't feel 'lost in the crowd'. The speaker and worship were great and the people were really friendly. We are still to try out the Nazarene churches in the area. One is about an hour out of the city (where Dave Harris and Melinda go to), which is a bit far to go regularly, but we'd like to go now and again. Another one is closer to the city which from what we found out so far, seems to be Greek! Andy maybe you could translate for us - how's your Greek going??!!
Weather has been lovely - it's autumn here now, but feels like a British summer! All weekend it was sunny and between 20 and 25 degrees. We could get used to this!
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