the future

i've been thinking a lot recently on what i am going to do job/career wise when i get back to the states. currently im reading a book by myers-briggs on the impact of personality type (i'm an ENFP) on certain areas of your life such as marriage and career. it has given me a lot of relief to hear the theory that people with my personality type typically dont have a long reaching career, instead, they usually have a string of 'projects', and a series of passions that they delve into excitedly for a period of time before they move onto the next. as someone who has grown up in a society that values the 'career' and 'corporate ladder', this new idea of a still very successful and exciting work life consisting of a series of perhaps unrelated endeavours feels like a breath of fresh air and resonates very strongly within me. it also may help that due to my marvelous upbringing (thanks mom :) i'm good with saving money so that can keep me financially stable as my work and new 'projects' vary.
it is also very helpful to realize that my next job when i return from my year in australia does not have to be my lifelong career - it can just be my next project, just like my job at Abercrombie (an absolutely amazing experience i'm extremely grateful to have had) was just my 'first job out of college' and not 'the rest of my life'
im relieved and excited to think of possibilities and experiences that i can have post-Australia without feeling like i'm spending more years 'putting off the real world' - this can be my real world. who needs to settle or settle down? (not ENFPs, argue Myers-Briggs)

Ideas for future endeavours:
-work on a cruise ship
-be an entrepreneur, start up businesses/ideas and then sell them to let someone else deal with the day to day running of the business
-go to business school (helpful for the above)
-continue to spend a great deal of time travelling
-work again in the fashion industry, perhaps as a consultant or something less structured than what i was doing

the babychino

the 'babychino' is the most ridiculous thing to plague australia since the overpopulation of kangaroos. it consists of a tiny coffee cup filled with milk foam (from making lattes, capachinos, etc) and topped with chocolate powder (also used for making cappachinos) created for babies and little kids who are having coffee with their parents. the logic is somewhat reasonable - kids like getting what their parents are getting and milk topped with chocolate powder is a semi normal thing for a child to be drinking. BUT the whole principle strikes me as pretentious and psychologically unhealthy! making these 2 year old kids mini-cappachinos is too funny to take seriously, plus it is guaranteed to get them to start drinking actual coffee and becoming little caffeine addicts at an unhealthily young age.
to cinch the annoyance at this modern aussie custom, my canadian friend travis made a great analogy to giving your babies non-alcoholic beer so they 'could be like mommy and daddy' and feel all grown up.

i have my fingers crossed that america doesnt pick up on this!

while on the subject of australians and their coffee (as a newly trained barista, thank you very much!), they come up with all these versions of standard coffee drinks and make new words for them that all sound exactly the same to an american ear - see the glossary of coffees i was requested for today at work:

Cappachino - standard coffee drink consisting of 1 shot of espresso, half milk, half foam in a standard coffee mug topped with chocolate powder

Mugachino - same as a cappachino but in a extra large mug with an extra shot

Mochachino - same as a cappachino but with chocolate milk instead of plain

Machiato - an entirely different drink, a shot of expresso topped with a bit of foam

Skinnichino - a capachino made with skim milk

Babychino - we've already been through this one... sigh

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year all - its going to be a good one :)

So excited that my baby niece was born and that she and her mom and doing well. Excited that a friend from Abercrombie is visiting me in a couple weeks. Excited to be exactly where I am in location and in life. Very glad to have jumped off the corporate ladder. Grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. Thankful technology allows me to keep up with them even while on the other side of the world.

2010 has some big shoes to fill!

merry christmas!

jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock...

its christmas eve night here in brisbane, austrlia and a balmy 75 degrees

plans are to spend the night at some friends' house tonight so we can all get up early tomorrow morning to exchange small gifts and cook a biiiiiig breakie! (my contribution is my mom's delish french toast that i love :) later that day, we are going to a christmas dinner at emma's family friend's house - with a great pool to cool off in! hmmm spending christmas in a bathing suit, so funny!

thanks to the christmas cards and gifts i've received here in australia and via my mom at my greensboro address - i appreciate the sending of christmas love and spirit while im so far away from family and friends!

have a very merry christmas

'i'll be home for christmas, if only in my dreams'

christmas spirit

christmas feels very weird here in brisbane. its the day before christmas eve, and there is none of that sense of pandemonium that usually perpetrates around shopping malls, restaurants, and events. its weirdly calm here compared to the USA... the general christmas explosion that usually descends day after thanksgiving is absent here as well. there is a big christmas tree in one of the public squares accompanied by 'santa's mailbox' and a few scatterings of garland and lights around, but the massive window displays and decorated houses and santa with his reindeer are missing along with the crowds. the 90 degree weather doesnt help make it feel more christmas-y either! it just strikes me as very off because the two places that australia is most like (america and britian) are the most over the top about christmas.

i dont mind the down play this year, being away from friends and family make me not want to dwell too much on the holiday. i am working christmas eve and 'boxing day' (the 26th of december) but the Point is closed on christmas so i am going to a holiday bbq with some other travellers i know from work here.



on a very exciting note - CONGRATS to my sister and welcome to the newest addition to the family, Baby Grace. my beautiful niece Grace Rebekah Powell was born on 12/22/2009 at 5:12pm, weighing 7lbs, 5oz. I cant wait to meet her!!!!

brisie update

at the tail end of a couple of days off from work this week - theres nothing like working 40 hours to make you appreciate your free time more! so in my days off i got my library card (yay!), my tax file number, made some new friends, and went lawn bowling. lawn bowling is an australian sport/game/pastime thats sort of played like a combination of horseshoes, croquet, golf, and bowling. its done on these manicured courses that have old retired men sit around all day drinking beer and playing. but the game is becoming more popular with younger people too and when we went it was all 20 somethings. basically the idea of the game is that theres 1 small white ball, and you throw it down to the other end of the course, and then each team has balls that you roll trying to get your balls closest to the small white one. and youre barefoot the whole time (not quite sure why). we went as a girl from work's going-away, she is the girl i am replacing at work (primarily the opener).

tonight is south bank's Christmas Magnifique - the big christmas celebration a week early (again, cant seem to figure out why... maybe just to milk as much money from the holiday as possible?) with fireworks being shot over the lagoon tonight! everyone at work is on shift since so many people will be eating dinner in south bank before the fireworks. upside is that we have a fixed menu and hopefully everyone will be in a 'giving spirit' (aka tips!)
should be a fun atmosphere either way.

next week on my day off im looking to take a day trip to the gold coast!

my new flat

its official - i moved into my new flat yesterday! there was a bit of a snafu with the roommate situation and they have decided not to join me in the apartment, so i am instead renting just the one room and we are finding people to rent the other two rooms in the 2 bedroom unit. i am so excited to get a real nights sleep without 10 other people in the room, and it will be great to be so close to work (5 minute walk). even things like being able to leave my tooth brush in the bathroom and not carry it around every time i need to brush my teeth is a treat! its amazing what you appreciate after almost 3 months in a hostel :) the next order of business is to buy a couple of things for the kitchen so i can actually cook there and apply for my very own library card!
the brisbane city library is my favorite library i have ever been to (no offense to Perkins) - its super pop art-y, with bright colors, retro furnishings, and cool lighting that is crazy enough without being overwhelming. that plus the air-con (not standard everywhere in australia like it is in the states) will make it a staple for hanging out on my days off.

also on the agenda for future days off is a trip to the mountains just outside of Brisbane, moreton island/stradbook island and also trips to the gold coast, surfers paradise, etc for a little beach time (all accessible by the brisbane city train line)

cant wait!

aussie definition of the day
entree - appetizer/starter (not a 'main' like it is in the states - so confusing!)