Monday, March 31, 2008

living in limbo


lim.bo n. pl. lim·bos
An intermediate place or state.

That is me at the moment... I am living in an intermediate place... half way between home and home.
We move this Wednesday... which meant we spent all day yesterday packing and have already cleaned most of the house. Everything that we own is in bags or boxes lying around the apartment, or dismantled on the balcony ready for moving.
I don't really like this state of living... feels like I'm not actually anywhere. I mean, I am there, but at the same time, I am not.

Also, being sick doesn't help... Sick all last week with the flu.. lost my voice again... Heh.. Its beginning to be a regular occurrence when I get sick with a cold/flu that I loose my voice! Which is strange, I mean, I don't talk all THAT much... Anyway, its fun to be all husky... ;) Personally, I wish my voice would stay that way. But, I am getting better... its almost gone now. I will be happy once I am better again... can start to LIVE again... rather than wandering around in this drugged up sick state of mind.

Few more days, and it should be all smooth sailing again... HURRAH!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

throw stones

Wow... I can't believe how sometimes, you can be thinking something, and then you see something or someone says something that is just perfect for you in the state that you are in....

perfect

Sunday, March 16, 2008

parklife

Moving update: We have an apartment!
We're now going to be residents of the Parklands Apartments at Roma Street!! Definitely a lifestyle change... The apartments are right in the parklands, and you have to go into the Roma Street Park to get there... very swish!
The apartment has great views too, overlooking the park...
Two bedrooms, two bathrooms.. big balcony. The complex has a pool, gym, bbq area and the works... plus being right in the park its so close to all the bbq areas in the park itself and everything.


We move in on the 2nd of April, which gives us some time to get everything together, and is actually good timing considering we have to move out of here on the 4th of April. At least we won't be paying double rent!
We're going to do everything above board this time too, ie. we've already told them there will be 4 of us living there... so its all good!
Very exciting... a very good change to make.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

hopeful again

News flash: We're moving again!
We've decided enough is enough, and are leaving our bitchy building managers behind! We had problems from the start at our apartment, with the managers being incredibly rude and uncooperative and everything has just boiled over this week, so we're breaking our lease.

Long story, but we applied to put Ivan on our lease, to live in the second bedroom, and they turned him down. But at that time, Ivan was already living with us... so we agreed that we would just be a little illegal and keep him in the apartment. Anyway, all was good, we were just sharing the keys between us... Then, we had our first inspection.
Oh boy... I have NEVER had an inspection that bad in my life. The guys did a FANTASTIC job cleaning the apartment before the inspection, we tidied everything away, made sure everything was really clean, only to receive a letter in our mailbox saying:

1. Carpets need to be vacuumed regularly to prevent damage.
2. Shower screens need to be cleaned to prevent soap scum build-up.
3. Marks on living room carpet and main bedroom need to be removed.
4. Hard floor in ensuite needs to be cleaned.
5. Bath in ensuite needs to be cleaned.
6. Benches in kitchen need to be wiped down.

My answer to these 6 points were as follows:
1. WHAT?! The carpets are vacuumed regularly, its the moulting rug that is the problem.
2. Fair call, they are pretty soapy at the moment, but I will clean it.
3. What marks in the bedroom? That stain was there from when we moved in!!
4. So, I moult a lot and there was some hair in the corners.. big deal...
5. Again, stained from previous tenants!
6. WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?!?!?! HOW DARE YOU?!?!?!?!

Ahem... They should be glad they weren't around when I got that letter... far out.. the expletives that came out of my mouth.... GRARH! We live there for crying out loud, and the place was clean and very obviously we are not damaging the apartment at all!

The next paragraph on the letter is a very fair call though... "We believe you have a third tenant living in your apartment and this person should be removed from the premises".
Yes... our bad, we actually have 2 extras.. but SHUSH!!
Anyway, we try to think of damage control and we decide that I will go down to the managers on Monday morning, and tell them that there is someone staying with us, who is Mateus' "cousin" and he is just staying as our guest for a few weeks. We understand that we can't have a third person living there unless we put them on the lease, but he isn't living there etc. etc.
Right, then, on Sunday, the bitchy managers actually run into Ivan when he is taking the rubbish out. And they ask him to pass on the message that I need to see them about him living there because he is not allowed.
This infuriated all of us no end because how dare they assume that he is living there, and how can they just walk up to someone and say that. No who are you? Do you have friends here? Are you living in these apartments etc. I mean, he could have been a friend that was over at our apartment for the afternoon and was being nice and taking our rubbish out!
So, Mateus and I go to see them on Monday.. and we walk in, and we explain that we understand that we can't have a third person, he is Mateus' cousin etc. etc. etc. They will not listen, and will not come to a compromise. So, after arguing with them about having guests stay with us, we say fine, if you won't accept someone staying with us, we are leaving. Whats the procedure for breaking the lease?
They give us the forms, we go upstairs and we bring them back down, signed, sealed, delivered!
So, we are leaving in three weeks! YIKES!
House/Apartment hunting again... We have already put in one application, and the managers there are really nice and were very impressed with our application. They have even done all the reference checks! No word yet... Guess they are trying to get hold of the owners... We'll hear tomorrow morning if not this afternoon...
We're also looking at some houses, as opposed to apartments, in the city area too. Much better because we will have our own space and no managers breathing down our necks.
So... anyway... moving again!! Hah...
Oh, the funniest thing about the whole situation is the fact that we stood up to these managers, and this morning, I got a call from them, kissing my @ss... Apparently they had discussed it with the owners of our apartment, and we would be able to come to some agreement to have the third person in there now... HAHAHAHAHA! If we want to stay we can just go in and talk to them about it... Yeah, we said we'll think about it, and let them know.
NOT LIKELY!
I mean, yeah, we'll think about it... but only as a last chance.

Hehehe... Feels good to have them chasing us for a change... ;)

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

buzz

WOOP WOOP!
I (finally) taught my first ever lesson!! And it went smashingly! At least I think it did... ;) I felt like it did, and after talking to other teachers around here, if you feel like the students had a good lesson and you walk out of it feeling like it was a good lesson, it generally is, you know when its not. So, I am super psyched!
Look at me, I'm a teacher! Hahaha!

I taught a Conversation English lesson for an hour, and had a full class of 12 students! There were more that wanted to come in, but I had to close the door on them... Heh... I think that had a little to do with the fact that everyone here at work had been super excited themselves about me teaching and told every student to come along... So nice! Its really great to have all this support... Especially from Mateus; he has been the one that has pushed me that extra little bit to finish this off, and I am so glad he did... And its really great to have all this support and excitement from everyone around me too... Even the students here are excited for me!

Really really happy with it... plus, you get this weird teaching buzz: you realise that you can teach, and the students are enjoying your lesson, and you are too, and its kinda fun. Mind you, I did have a great bunch of students that were really outgoing and I was teaching a conversation class, which isn't anything hard... but, its still fantastic!

Now, what should I teach next week?! Hmm.. off to work on my lesson plan!