Andrew Aigner-MuehlerLIVING OVERSEAS from my eyes.. MY RETURN TO AUSTRALIA FOR GOOD OR NOT FOR GOOD
January 26th 2008 05:26
MY RETURN TO AUSTRALIA FOR GOOD OR NOT FOR GOOD
After leaving Canada on the 26th June 2006 bound for Australia via Shanghai international airport, I finally arrived in Brisbane three days later on the 29th June 2006 having no where to stay, no job to go to, and not knowing a single person in the city. I stayed in a backpackers hostel out in Wooloongabba (South Brisbane) for four nights before moving into a studio apartment in the West End of the city, and the following week starting a job at Decipha solutions a fourteen minute walk from my apartment. At Decipha I was sorting mail for a handful of clients, that wasn’t bad, what was bad, was getting up just before three o’clock in the morning to start work at four o’clock.
The first month or two was very hard for me, for several reasons. One I wasn’t ready to return home, but had to return home, because of being forced to leave Canada hence being a little bit racist these days. Secondly, starting of in Brisbane while my family was in Adelaide was also hard, but I didn’t want to return to Adelaide as opportunities are not there for me in the path I was taking. Also not having anything in Brisbane in the way of friends or a job also made it hard, and thirdly and finally, I found Australia to be really expensive on my return. I can remember in Canada, when I was talking to Canadians, they were saying “I found Australia to be quite expensive”, and I was replying with “no, no, it’s way cheaper than Canada”. Don’t I look the fool now! So I am apologizing to all those people, I said Australia was cheap, but it comes down too as well what I mentioned earlier in this book, everything is equivalent to what you earn, but on the other hand when you work things out Australia is quite expensive. One thing I can’t believe is it is cheaper to buy a local bottle of beer (375ml) costing around $AU2 to $AU2.50 (buying from a off-license) than buying a bottle of pop or soda (600ml) costing around $AU2.80 to $AU3.50 (buying from a gas station or corner store). In London you are looking at 95 pence to a one pound twenty for a local beer (500ml can) and between 59 and 79 pence for a 500ml bottle of pop or soda, and in Toronto for a 491 to 500ml can of beer from LCBO you are looking at $CAN1.75 to $CAN2.25 and for a 541ml bottle of pop or soda from a corner store you are mainly looking at $CAN1.49 or $CAN1.59. As I don’t like converting, as it doesn’t tell the true story, you can actually see a big difference between the three countries especially Australia and Canada where the currency is almost one for one. Also another thing that I find strange is Farmers Union Iced Coffee being cheaper in Brisbane than Adelaide, even so it is made in Adelaide and shipped up from Adelaide. In Brisbane you will find a carton of 600ml for $1.95 to $2.10, in Adelaide, the same carton will cost $2.20 to $3.90. The cost of petrol can also differ from state to state, in Brisbane, you are looking at 98 cents to $1.15 and in Adelaide, you are looking at $1.20 to $1.40. I could actually give you more examples but my book is not on that, it is about offering advice and giving an eye opener to the rest of the world. But, I will say one thing Australia needs to watch it or they will start to get a bad reputation from being expensive and they will begin to lose a lot of tourism, and Australia can’t afford that. Hopefully, it will change when the voting public of Australia wake up and realize that Prime Minister Howard and his Liberals have stuffed up this country, by following the North American continent rather than following the world leaders being the European Union. That brings me back to the United Kingdom and its people. The public and the media now give Prime Minister Tony Blair a hard time, but in the near future, they will regret he retired from politics and will admit he was a bloody great leader to his country, who should have been crowned the unofficial world leader not President George W Bush who is another Hitler and Saddam of their respective errors, other word a ‘dictator’.
Anyway back to my return to Australia, whether its for good or not for good, apart from working at Decipha I was also working for Yours Prestigious Hospitality catering agency mainly working at the casino or at city hall plus handful of other clients. I continue to work for catering agencies as it is the best way to find your way around a city, if you’re new to the city, as well as, I like doing hospitality, because its relaxing and it is a peoples people job. I had also joined up with a talent agency in Brisbane, Nebula Agencies after sussing out a few talent agencies, just like my agent said to me in Toronto. Three months into being back in Brisbane, I am getting itchy feet again, just wanting to leave, wanting to enjoy my life, I know I cant return to London or Dublin to work, I might be able to return to my job in Toronto at the Rogers Center in March next year, but have to wait until early January to apply for extension of my visa because of the intake they take in each year. If my visa falls through again, chances are my teaching career may begin, as I am certain in going to China to teach English, as that will also give me a passport to many other countries around the world to teach English and travel, sorry Mum. You will not read about that in this book as that will be a book on its own. ‘The Sequel’. At the same time of getting itchy feet I resigned from my job at Decipha and began a promotions job with Streetseen, which will take me through to atleast January in the new year traveling throughout Queensland promoting a new service of Telstra (which is already available overseas). But, the day I was meant to start at Streetseen, just two days after completing a days training with them, they Streetseen, stitched me up, did not get back to me with a starting time or meeting place for my first day, would not return any of my calls or emails. So I gathered I was out of a job and then had to find a new job. Well like usual I found a new job, just a few days later at Oaks hotels and resorts as a night auditor. I started at Oaks one week later, after returning to Adelaide for a quick visit to visit family. Oaks was a experience, starting work at either 10pm or 11pm and finishing at 6am or 7am and working between two hotels the Lexicon and the Felix apartments. I was the only person working between those times. More like a security and cleaning person rather than a night auditor, didn’t have to do much paperwork, the telephones didn’t ring much at all. Quite a boring job actually. I picked up the system quite well and fast. Didn’t get much training at all on the front desk. Had no directions. Had no messages past on to me from the shift before me.
To tell the truth, Oaks was still in the past, not in the future, they did everything the hard way. They didn’t have a place for anything, no procedures to follow. I tried to use my initiatives and try to introduce a few things, but the staff there must have felt threatened from me. And one morning, the building manager telephoned in and said to me “not to leave until I come in”, he came in and took me into the office, I knew it was bad news straight away and said to me “ Andrew, it is not working out, we are releasing you now with one weeks pay” he wished me well. I said whatever. I walked straight out without saying anything. I did everything I had to do, plus several other things, but obviously Oaks hotel groups like employees who do nothing, don’t use their initiative. To tell the truth, I will be very surprised if the company survives. A few years ago, you could not be dismissed that easily. Just another way the Howard Liberal government has stuffed up the country with its workplace agreements.
After being released from Oaks hotels, I decided to apply for an internship in the United States of America, being trained as a manager within a hotel group. In the meen time, I started a part time job with the Mecca Bah restaurant in the Valley in Brisbane. It is an Moroccan and Turkish style restaurant. I stayed there for three months, three months I enjoyed enormously. It wasn’t boring, you were always on your feet moving. Especially Friday and Saturday nights that saw queues lining up outside the restaurant wanting to eat there. The food there is very tasty and will fill you up. The pizzas are the specialty dish, but the mezzes, tagines and grills are also very popular. My favourite is the pumpkin pizza. Anyone visiting Melbourne, Canberra or Brisbane, it is a must to find out where the Meccabah is, and go and eat there. The staff there, were good to work with, everyone pulled their weight, the managers were good to work for. I was sorry to leave, but I was offered an internship with the Marriot Melville in Long Island New York for 18 months through I.R.E.S (International Recruitment Exchange Services). It took a while for I.R.E.S to find me a placement. Even so Kellee Burris the manager was helpful and nice. She was a bit slow getting things done. I received the placement before I left Australia on the 1st of April 2007, but didn’t receive my visa or anything. I had to leave Australia on this date because I had to attend my fathers 60th birthday in Austria a couple weeks later. While in Austria, I had to organize a date to pick up my visa in Canada before I enter the United States. I had the interview with the U.S consulate in Halifax Nova Scotia on the 1st of May 2007, just seven days before starting my employment on the 8th of May.
At many times in just a few weeks before starting my position in New York, I considered throwing everything in and returning to Australia, it was just too much stress at times. Trying to organize flights, bus tickets, accommodation, visa interviews and as well as trying to get everything together to do my tax before I leave, which wasn’t done for a couple of months after I left Australia. But, it was a dream to work in New York so I continued to go along with things to get things done. Maybe the stress had something to do with my finances. I was out of work for seven or eight weeks and running out of money fast.
While I was back in Australia I had realized how similar Canada and Australia really are, not all good and not all bad.
To sum up my return to Australia, just a ‘long stop over’, but it was great to catch up with family a few times, and to see my nephew and niece while they were young. But, I will say when I do return to Australia to settle down for good without getting itchy feet to travel again, I will settle in Brisbane as this time in Brisbane was a introduction to me and have met some good friends here, even so I do want to return to Adelaide.
After leaving Canada on the 26th June 2006 bound for Australia via Shanghai international airport, I finally arrived in Brisbane three days later on the 29th June 2006 having no where to stay, no job to go to, and not knowing a single person in the city. I stayed in a backpackers hostel out in Wooloongabba (South Brisbane) for four nights before moving into a studio apartment in the West End of the city, and the following week starting a job at Decipha solutions a fourteen minute walk from my apartment. At Decipha I was sorting mail for a handful of clients, that wasn’t bad, what was bad, was getting up just before three o’clock in the morning to start work at four o’clock.
The first month or two was very hard for me, for several reasons. One I wasn’t ready to return home, but had to return home, because of being forced to leave Canada hence being a little bit racist these days. Secondly, starting of in Brisbane while my family was in Adelaide was also hard, but I didn’t want to return to Adelaide as opportunities are not there for me in the path I was taking. Also not having anything in Brisbane in the way of friends or a job also made it hard, and thirdly and finally, I found Australia to be really expensive on my return. I can remember in Canada, when I was talking to Canadians, they were saying “I found Australia to be quite expensive”, and I was replying with “no, no, it’s way cheaper than Canada”. Don’t I look the fool now! So I am apologizing to all those people, I said Australia was cheap, but it comes down too as well what I mentioned earlier in this book, everything is equivalent to what you earn, but on the other hand when you work things out Australia is quite expensive. One thing I can’t believe is it is cheaper to buy a local bottle of beer (375ml) costing around $AU2 to $AU2.50 (buying from a off-license) than buying a bottle of pop or soda (600ml) costing around $AU2.80 to $AU3.50 (buying from a gas station or corner store). In London you are looking at 95 pence to a one pound twenty for a local beer (500ml can) and between 59 and 79 pence for a 500ml bottle of pop or soda, and in Toronto for a 491 to 500ml can of beer from LCBO you are looking at $CAN1.75 to $CAN2.25 and for a 541ml bottle of pop or soda from a corner store you are mainly looking at $CAN1.49 or $CAN1.59. As I don’t like converting, as it doesn’t tell the true story, you can actually see a big difference between the three countries especially Australia and Canada where the currency is almost one for one. Also another thing that I find strange is Farmers Union Iced Coffee being cheaper in Brisbane than Adelaide, even so it is made in Adelaide and shipped up from Adelaide. In Brisbane you will find a carton of 600ml for $1.95 to $2.10, in Adelaide, the same carton will cost $2.20 to $3.90. The cost of petrol can also differ from state to state, in Brisbane, you are looking at 98 cents to $1.15 and in Adelaide, you are looking at $1.20 to $1.40. I could actually give you more examples but my book is not on that, it is about offering advice and giving an eye opener to the rest of the world. But, I will say one thing Australia needs to watch it or they will start to get a bad reputation from being expensive and they will begin to lose a lot of tourism, and Australia can’t afford that. Hopefully, it will change when the voting public of Australia wake up and realize that Prime Minister Howard and his Liberals have stuffed up this country, by following the North American continent rather than following the world leaders being the European Union. That brings me back to the United Kingdom and its people. The public and the media now give Prime Minister Tony Blair a hard time, but in the near future, they will regret he retired from politics and will admit he was a bloody great leader to his country, who should have been crowned the unofficial world leader not President George W Bush who is another Hitler and Saddam of their respective errors, other word a ‘dictator’.
To tell the truth, Oaks was still in the past, not in the future, they did everything the hard way. They didn’t have a place for anything, no procedures to follow. I tried to use my initiatives and try to introduce a few things, but the staff there must have felt threatened from me. And one morning, the building manager telephoned in and said to me “not to leave until I come in”, he came in and took me into the office, I knew it was bad news straight away and said to me “ Andrew, it is not working out, we are releasing you now with one weeks pay” he wished me well. I said whatever. I walked straight out without saying anything. I did everything I had to do, plus several other things, but obviously Oaks hotel groups like employees who do nothing, don’t use their initiative. To tell the truth, I will be very surprised if the company survives. A few years ago, you could not be dismissed that easily. Just another way the Howard Liberal government has stuffed up the country with its workplace agreements.
After being released from Oaks hotels, I decided to apply for an internship in the United States of America, being trained as a manager within a hotel group. In the meen time, I started a part time job with the Mecca Bah restaurant in the Valley in Brisbane. It is an Moroccan and Turkish style restaurant. I stayed there for three months, three months I enjoyed enormously. It wasn’t boring, you were always on your feet moving. Especially Friday and Saturday nights that saw queues lining up outside the restaurant wanting to eat there. The food there is very tasty and will fill you up. The pizzas are the specialty dish, but the mezzes, tagines and grills are also very popular. My favourite is the pumpkin pizza. Anyone visiting Melbourne, Canberra or Brisbane, it is a must to find out where the Meccabah is, and go and eat there. The staff there, were good to work with, everyone pulled their weight, the managers were good to work for. I was sorry to leave, but I was offered an internship with the Marriot Melville in Long Island New York for 18 months through I.R.E.S (International Recruitment Exchange Services). It took a while for I.R.E.S to find me a placement. Even so Kellee Burris the manager was helpful and nice. She was a bit slow getting things done. I received the placement before I left Australia on the 1st of April 2007, but didn’t receive my visa or anything. I had to leave Australia on this date because I had to attend my fathers 60th birthday in Austria a couple weeks later. While in Austria, I had to organize a date to pick up my visa in Canada before I enter the United States. I had the interview with the U.S consulate in Halifax Nova Scotia on the 1st of May 2007, just seven days before starting my employment on the 8th of May.
At many times in just a few weeks before starting my position in New York, I considered throwing everything in and returning to Australia, it was just too much stress at times. Trying to organize flights, bus tickets, accommodation, visa interviews and as well as trying to get everything together to do my tax before I leave, which wasn’t done for a couple of months after I left Australia. But, it was a dream to work in New York so I continued to go along with things to get things done. Maybe the stress had something to do with my finances. I was out of work for seven or eight weeks and running out of money fast.
While I was back in Australia I had realized how similar Canada and Australia really are, not all good and not all bad.
To sum up my return to Australia, just a ‘long stop over’, but it was great to catch up with family a few times, and to see my nephew and niece while they were young. But, I will say when I do return to Australia to settle down for good without getting itchy feet to travel again, I will settle in Brisbane as this time in Brisbane was a introduction to me and have met some good friends here, even so I do want to return to Adelaide.
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