For the next week I stayed with a host in the CBD, toured the city, saw Alice in Wonderland, and felt more lost as the days went on. I did not want to do anything or go anywhere. Neither surfing nor snorkeling had much appeal. I realized that regaining what I had in the past was no longer an option; I had found love and present Tasha could no longer live as past Tasha. It took me much too long to realize and I felt terrible for hurting and deserting Jesse as I did. He is a very understand, caring, and giving man and gave me the time I needed to figure it out. Soon after, we started planning to reunite in Europe; I was to go on the ship with him through Italy, Turkey, the Greek Isles, and Croatia for 24 days, then a week in Paris. More on that later.
The following week I took my resume to over 50 places and made a mess of apartment searching, finding them undesirably full of roaches and dirt, and still twice as expensive as my apartment in Gainesville. After much distress I found the perfect place except that it was a 30 minute walk from town and the beach. Regardless, I figured I could use the exercise and took it. And I found a sick possum and tried to save it but failed. Things started to come into perspective for me and I felt better now that I had a place to call my temporary home. I went on a CSing day trip to Cronulla and Royal National Park and fell in love with a band called Mad Polly: I felt at home on the boat and the water reminding me of the intercoastal waterways of Florida.
Easter weekend I went on a CSing trip to Byron Bay/Gold Coast. I went surfing at The Pass in Byron (but got run over so many times that I got frustrated with the crowd), hiked up the mountain in Burleigh Heads, had more beach BBQs (beach BBQs are huge here in Australia), went to waterfalls, saw the natural arch and glow worm cave, and met a great CSer named Gazza who has since been a true friend and great contact. I also drove on the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the road! Very historical moment.
Upon returning to Manly, I still hadn’t had any luck finding a job (one failed trial night down) after a month of arriving in Australia. I started to think maybe I should move when all H-E-double hockey sticks broke loose. I still have no idea what happened, but a roommate moved out and took everything with him…It was a prime time to make the move. Then two things happened. First, I was walking around handing my resume to places when I walked by a building with a Firmenich logo on it. It is one of the biggest flavor companies in the US. I went home and saw that they were in fact the same company, and it was their only location in Australia. Fate that I chose an apartment a 10 minute walk away from it. I took my resume the next day and was given the email and number for the lady in charge of the lab. At the same time, a pet shop called me regarding my resume and I went in for an interview. I got to play with puppies and help give medication to ferrets and chase birds around…they really liked me (the people, not the animals. Well the animals too). Then they called me back and said they didn’t realize my visa only allowed me to work for six months and that they couldn’t take me because of it. Fail. I tried Firmenich every day for two weeks, phone, email, etc, and finally decided that they did not want me.
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