3. Jan 2009

Haven’t written for ages, even that long that I have started to forget about some stuff I have done, tho not that I have done so much. It has been like half the month that I haven’t written. So we have had Christmas and New Year’s Eve in that time. After Christmas it got really busy at work and I haven’t had many days off. During New Years Eve was first time in my life I reckon, that I have had home sickness, not like a big one, but kind of started thinking what are the people doing in Estonia. Thought also about my family and that I’m missing quite a lot from their lives, especially the young ones, which actually really surprised me, so I’ll put it under home sickness :P.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve went real quietly, read working :P. We had a little party after these both occasions with the people who are working here. Bit sad that we had to work, but I think it was for greater good, so after we have finished working here we have enough money to get by for awhile. We are trying to save like 6000 dollars by the time we have finished here before going to Tasmania on 17th, at the moment we both have around 5000.

Oh, I haven’t written about our plan yet. We bought plane tickets to Tasmania, the plane is leaving on 17th January from Sydney. We are thinking about going to Sydney little bit before that to buy some stuff and catch up with people, like Danielle and maybe Jaye. Jo should be in Tasmania with his family by the time we go to Sydney, so we can’t see him, but maybe we will see him in Tasmania. Well it Tasmania we want to do our licenses and Kaupo was also thinking maybe we will find a work for a bit too, so we could stay there for free :P, but we will see about that. At first we thought about going there by boat, but we didn’t find any boats going from Sydney, only from Melbourne, so after we are done in Tazzie we might go to Melbourne by ferry and go see Kaupo’s uncle who is living there.

One thing I have thought about, that would be cool to do, but it’s gonna take lots of time and there are other buts too. Anyways the thing I would like to do is to go to Canada, get a motorbike and drive all the way down to the south, as far as I can. But first I gotta see how things go around here, how I like it. And I think I don’t want to do it alone either. That’s besides that I wanna go to New Zealand and Tibet too :P. Big dreams, short life.

One more thing that I want to talk about is that, our head chef, Owen, offered me that I could do apprenticeship, to become a chef. I have been thinking about it, that it could be quite interesting, but becoming a chef takes like 3-4 years. Well studying something takes some time I know, but I don’t like staying in one place for so long :P. Studying to become a chef is actually quite easy, you are learning new stuff by working, there is school too, but you have to go there only in the beginning for a while and after that there is like after awhile different tests, where you have to show your cooking abilities on different fields, plus there is some homework you have to do, well its not that easy actually when to think about it :P. Tho, good news is that while I’m doing it I could travel around bit too, because usually people who are studying it are working in one place around a year and then going to different place, probably its possible to move around even more. Another good point about is that you basically get paid of doing all that, in the beginning you will be paid to get chef stuff, you will be paid some extra annually, plus you earn money when working, all schooling expenses are paid by the place you work in. So I’m thinking about it, but I’m not sure, it can become quite boring sometimes. There’s still time to decide, so I’m not hurrying with the decision, besides I want to travel at the moment.
Ok, what good has happened around here. My supervisor, not the chef, but James, the manager gave me to cartons of beer because I helped him move :P. In here people usually buy beers by cartons, which is 24x 325 ml. Tho beer is lighter than in Estonia too, its usually 4,7% Toohey’s New, 5% for Extra Dry, these are the beers we are usually drinking around here. Yeah, been drinking quite a lot actually lately :P, but what ever, I’m here to have fun and enjoy myself. Also we have had BBQ all this week, and basically everyone of us in the kitchen has had a go and all of this has become kind of competition, who is earning most money one day. Sam started all of this, he earned 600 or 800 dollars with one day, then Zev had a go, he earned 1100. Then it was my turn, I earned 1200. I had another go next day, but the grill didn’t work, so I moved to bistro and did some of it there, but it didn’t count as a BBQ, we just had to get rid of the stuff we had made ready. Today (yesterday) it was Zev’s turn again, but he still couldn’t manage to beat my record, tho it was a close one 1160. He will have another go tomorrow and on Sunday its me again. So I’m the BBQ king at the moment and I’m doing my best to keep it that way :P.

We have 5 new people working in here. Two boys and one girl from England, one girl from Ireland and one Aussie guy, who wants to become an apprentice. All of them are quite fun, but also kind of weird their own way too. Can’t actually explain, have to see it yourself. Well about the new girls, the one from England is quite pretty, but bad thing is that she already has a boyfriend, on of the English guys. Anyways things look kind of sad from this side, not much chance with these girls around here :P.

I’m trying to read a book by Zig Ziglar “Something to smile about”, which is really good actually, to keep motivation up, also it has some real good stuff to learn too. Tho I’m only on the 69th page at the moment :P. But I’m trying not to hurry too much with it, if I have time I’ll read one or two chapters before going to bed. And I actually feel much happier than I have ever been, tho work is dull sometimes or I’m tired quite often or there’s not much to do around here, don’t know if it is a good or bad sign, but I think the feeling still isn’t good enough to settle down around here, gotta move around, besides I didn’t arrive that long time ago, there’s heaps to do and as everyone told me I can always come back.

Didn’t write much about what I have done, but if I’ll remember anything good, I’ll try to write it here and I’ll try to find some time to write instead of drinking. Oh, I got answers from some of the people who I wrote Christmas cards. My mom, who wanted me to write some more, but I didn’t feel like it. My dad, who said that it was nice to get a card in there and then started talking about how good was it in Cuba. Also got answers from Heigo and Eek, who’s letters really made me happy, so thank you both. Tho my answers to you weren’t much, because only time I have had the chance to answer were after work, when I was exhausted. Also Kati answered me and she was happy too. Sometimes its just good to know that there are people who care about you, so thanks to all and tho I’m far, far away, I’m still around and still here for all.

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.”
“Humble people don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.”
“If you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one.”
“Much of what we see depends on what we are looking for”
“People forget how quickly you completed a job, but they will remember how well you did it.” (don’t like the quotes about work, but this helps me to get by of some things at work)
“When you are the right kind of person, doing the right thing, help and encouragement come from all directions”
“It’s not just the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog”
“How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live”
“Our future would be assured if we did as much today as we expect to do tomorrow.”
“A person is no greater than his or her dreams, ideals, hopes, and plans. A person dreams the dream and dreams of fulfilling it. It’s the dream that makes the person”
“Problems produce patience; patience produces persistence; persistence produces character; character produces hope; hope produces power.”

Good night, sweet dreams!