Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Welcome to Perth


On Saturday it was time for me to go to AUSTRALIA!! The flight was also super chilled and I kept falling asleep... guess I had to catch up on some sleep from the nights before ;) After 5 hours on the plane I landed in Perth. I loved this place from the very first few moments! People are so friendly and positive. I was also immediately reminded of California. It really looks like Silicon Valley over here! It even smells exactly the same! :D  Immigration was not a problem at all! A little stamp in my passport and it was done. They didn't even want to see my Visa ;) Lovely country! I had an AirBnB place booked for the first two weeks and got there around 9pm. I went to get some pizza and afterwards went straight to bed. 

The next morning I started looking for a room to stay in during my stay. I messaged a couple of people on flatmates and posted in the facebook group. I immediately got plenty of offers. But then I saw THE MOST AMAZING PLACE EVER for such a good price (I hope my roommates will read this ;) Hey guys!) I had to get a Flatmates.com Premium account and pay about 10€ to be able to message Miguel but it was worth it. I went to see the place at 2pm the same day and it was great! The room is amazing (that mattress...!!), the apartment itself is great aaaaaand it's only a 5 minute walk to my office!!! Actually, I stopped the time today and it's not even 5 minutes ;) Sleeping-as-much-as-she-can-Kathi is very happy about that! :) Later that they Miguel and Roma (my roommates) already told me that I can move in! So the next day I went to my AirBnB place after work, packed my bags and moved to my new home. Miguel came and picked me up in his convertible :D Nice way to move. And the sun was just setting; that was pretty nice and exciting! It was a good feeling to unpack everything and get settled – less than two days after my arrival in Perth. I should be so lucky...:) Oh, did I mention that there is a Pool??!!! ;) I also didn’t have to pay for the AirBnB nights I didn’t use. After I went to see the apartment on Sunday, Dale (whom I know from Ottawa and who lives in Perth) picked me up and drove me around the city. Later we met some of his friends and had a couple of beers at a nice place that has different beer every couple of weeks. It was a very nice first day in Perth!

On Monday morning it was time for my first day of work at Helping Hand Group. Currently there is only Jessica in the office but a new guy will start next week. We tried to get me logged in to the computer but had some difficulty getting the correct password :D It took us 3 days to succeed in logging me in on all platforms I need to use ;) On Monday I checked out all the items that we sell (take a look at Helping Hand Group Australia to see what the company does). It’s pretty cool to see signed guitars from U2, David Bowie and Justin Bieber (ok..the last one is not really cool :D ) or a signed shoe from Ronaldo. On Tuesday we had three meetings scheduled and I accompanied Jessica to all of them. The internship is really fun so far and I think I will have a great time at Helping Hand! 

Last night I went to dinner with my roomie Roma and another German girl. We went to the Crown which is a multi-entertainment complex (definition by Roma). There is a Casino, a Hotel, restaurants, bars, a nightclub etc. We had a really fancy dinner and the others did a bit of gambling. To end the night, we had awesome dessert right by an amazing pool :) 

I still need to open up a bank account which is kinda difficult since the bank closes at 4pm and I work until 5pm…might manage in my lunch break tomorrow. I’m really glad that I don’t need to worry about finding a room andymore J And I also got my Australian phone number and internet back on my phone which is really useful when you’re new to a city and don’t like getting lost :D 

I guess that’s it for now. I hope I did not keep any essential information to myself ;) 
 
Perth Skyline
Moving to my new place during sunset :)
My Neighborhood
My room
The Crown

DESSERT!! YUMM

Singapore


I finally have some time to write!! :)

I arrived in Singapore one week ago. The flights were pretty relaxed and I was actually able to get quite some airplane sleep. The hostel (The Pod) I stayed at in Singapore was really nice but some of my roommates managed to be so noisy in the middle of the night that I woke up every night at around 4 and couln't fall asleep anymore. Somehow, I still managed to be fit enough for sightseeing in hot, hot, distustingly hot and humid Singapore ;) On thursday I went to Marina Bay and the Gardens by the Bay. It's all pretty impressive! I'm not a fan of such artifically built cities but it's nevertheless really cool to see. The rooftop view of the city at night is also quite amazing! On friday I made my way to the Botanic Gardens. I didn't stay there too long because the heat was just too much :D I went to get some lunch and then off to Sentosa which is a little Island filled with theme parks and other fun stuff. I just wanted to go to the BEACH!! And after quite some detours I did! The water was soooo warm :) I just strolled along the beach and enjoyed the nice water. Next, I wanted to go to Chinatown. When I stepped out of the metro station it was raining like crazy. Monsoon season right there :D I waited about 30 minutes until the rain had stopped and walked around Chinatown. My time in Singapore ended with some drinks in the evening and a fairy that flies to get wine bottles :D



Marina Bay Sands and the Merlion
Supertrees / Gardens by the Bay
Supertees


The view from One Altitude
The BEACH

That's the fairy flying up there to get a bottle of wine



Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Australia, here I come!

It's time to revive my travel blog!!
I'm going to Australia for an internship and I am leaving today! :) Well, first to Singapore for a couple of days and then on to Perth where I will work for 4 months.
I will try to post something every now and then because everyone has been beeeegging me for updates :D
I hope English is fine with everyone; if not there's always Google translate ;)

Cheers! :)