Work, Australian accent and a pelican

Australia delivers as one could say. The Melbourne weather is special, sometimes you can have all seasons in one day but most of the time, in my opinion, it's pretty great. I have now been working for a week for the job I have had in Sweden and so far everything seems to go well – my co-workers have been very nice to me and given me a very calm week to be honest. Again, I am grateful that I can work for them for another six months before I have to quit or pause my employment. We'll see what happens.

My English is improving everyday as well. I wasn't bad before, I speak better English than I write, but I am getting more comfortable and less scared of making mistakes. The Australian accent though ... oh boy. I really need to concentrate sometimes. It's almost like I get hypnotized byt the accent that I don't always register what they actually are saying, haha ... so bad. Like I said, I'm improving at least. Baby steps forward.

What about all the poison animals? Haha, no but honestly, I have seen a few spiders but nothing too scary. Yet. Yesterday I saw a pelican (see picture below to the right, it's hard to see but it's there) and I thought it was so cool!

Today it's already Friday (I've been in Australia for a little more than a week), me and Sam are going into the city to do some shopping and maybe have some drinks with friends. Later we'll get back to Sam's brothers house (we're still looking for a place of our own) and I think I might draw or write if I can. Tomorrow we will go and see four different apartments and probably apply for them all – I just HOPE that we will get our own place soon.

Have a great weekend!

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Swedish summary: 

För det mesta är vädret i Australien helt fantastiskt och jag mår gott av att veta att sommaren är på väg. Jag har haft min första arbetsvecka och det går bra. Vännerna på jobbet har varit mer än snälla men nästa vecka får jag nog mer att göra. Så tacksam för denna möjlighet och trygghet fortfarande. 

Många djur har jag sett här i Australien, för det mesta spindlar och fåglar men inget som var alltför läskigt. Igår såg jag en pelikan och det var jäkligt coolt!

Språket går bra, ibland förtrollas jag av den australiensiska dialekten och tappar bort mig men jag övar. Det blir bättre och bättre. Idag blir det shopping och drinkar i stan innan vi åker tillbaka till Sams brors hus. Vi letar eget boende för fullt och imorgon ska vi gå på hela fyra visningar. Jag HOPPAS att det snart blir vår tur att hitta ett hem. 

Trevlig helg!

Renting out my apartment

JUST TO MAKE THIS CLEAR: THIS IS NOT A COLLABORATION.

Before leaving Sweden for Australia I needed to rent out my apartment – I'm leasing an apartment and I wanted to rent it out as "second hand". Why? Well, I don't want to loose the apartment and also, I want some security after my one year in Australia.

Step 1:
I started with a post on Facebook and I had some acquaintances who seemed interested but then backed out. After a few recommendations from friends I decided to use a site called Samtrygg. I just put up an ad on their site and then opened my calendar for viewings of the apartment. This was a bit scary for me and I really had to go outside my comfort zone. I didn't expect that so many people would be interested in my apartment considering my rent is not so low. But, to my surprise, I did meet some cool people that could be potential tenants.

Step 2:
After the first viewings I got a call from Samtrygg. We talked about the potential tenants and what I thought about them. In my case, I liked two out of five the most (two didn't even show up) – and at this point I still had three or four booked viewings on other dates. I wanted to have all of this done as soon as possible but in the end, I still decided on having three more viewings. BUT. One of the potential tenants were very interested in the apartment and could not wait. I decided that a quick deal might be a good idea. So I told Samtrygg that I was happy to go with this tenant. Samtrygg quickly took down my ad on their website, cancelled the viewings I had left and started the process.

Well, the potential tenant did not have all the papers ready and therefore asked if I could maybe wait a bit. This was a warning flag for me and I just told Samtrygg to put my ad back up. I had no time to wait for a "maybe". So this sucked a bit. I had a few more viewings and met a lovely young couple that seem to fit perfect. Again, I started the process via Samtrygg. This time it went better!

Step 3: 
When I had decided who was going to be my tenant, we wrote a contract via Samtrygg. After this, I needed an approval from my landlord as well. More papers to fill in and send away – if my landlord, for some reason, would say "no" then the contract with the tenant would not be valid anymore. BUT, the landlord approved. Woop woop!

Did all go well?
Everything went very smoothly. Before leaving the apartment for the new tenant I had to clean out all the clutter and dust, pack my things, write an inventory list, write an/fill in a inspection list with the new tenant and have all the keys ready. It was hard work but I was truly happy in the end.

Finishing words: 
All in all, the whole process with Samtrygg went fast. Because I might not be available during all hours of the day from Australia, my mom will (very kindly) be my contact person in this case. I think it's important to have someone who can represent you when you can't. 

THIS was SO awesome to check off as "Done" on my to do-list. 

Swedish apartment – living room 

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Swedish summary: 

Innan jag drog till Australien ville jag hyra ut min lägenhet i andrahand då det kändes som en viktig trygghet. Det är som sagt inte lätt att få lägenhet i Stockholm, iallafall var det inte lätt för mig. Jag provade först intresset på Facebook men det var något svalt, därför gick jag på vänners rekommendationer – Samtrygg. 

Samtrygg är ett företag som hjälper till med allt möjligt när det kommer till att exempelvis hyra ut sin lägenhet. Dessutom har de ett trygghetspaket som gör att alla parter känner sig något säkrade i denna deal. Trots att det var krokigt och jag hade något bråttom då jag hade en hel del andra saker att göra innan min Australien-resa gick allt smidigt. So far so good!

In a place they call "Down Under"

I landed in Australia Wednesday evening last week and took the rest of that week off. What a beautiful welcome I got! Sam met me at the airport and we acted like giggling teenagers. It was around 7 p.m. so we just had a quiet evening at Sam's brother's house (we are renting a room here until we have found our own place). 

We have been very lucky with the weather, the summer is really on its way! For me, this is of course a crazy feeling considering it is autumn in Sweden and winter is coming. Just the idea that I'll celebrate Christmas in summertime is hard to take in. It will be interesting for sure. 

Today is my first workday from Australia and I really am lucky that I have this opportunity to work from here. It will only last for about 6 months but it's more than enough. I will mostly do graphic material/designs and such, which suits me perfectly. 

There is a few things I want to fix this week: 

• Open up a bank account.
• Get an Australian ID.
• Get a Medicare card.

I already have an Australian phone number, thanks to Sam. The best thing about it is that I have Internet connection wherever I am and ... that Sam can call me if I for some reason get lost, hehe.

 

 

Psst: If you ask me, I think that the botanic garden in Melbourne might be the best place on earth. I love it!

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Swedish summary: 

Snart har jag varit i Australien i en vecka. Resan gick över förväntan och det dröjde inte alls länge innan jag var i Sams armar. Jag tog ledigt de resterande dagarna som var kvar av förra veckan och det var fantastiskt. Sommaren är snart här! Givetvis är känslan märklig då hösten nu är i Sverige. Tänk att jag ska fira jul mitt i sommaren? Obegripligt. 

Idag är första arbetsdagen här och jag känner tacksamhet. Tänk att jag får jobba härifrån och lugnt får komma till ro?! Wow, vilken grej! 

Det är några saker jag önskar hinna med denna vecka så jag hoppas att det ska gå smidigt med det också. Tjing!

En videohälsning innan det bär av ...

Wow, it took me some time to decide if I was going to make this a public video or not. In the end I just felt that it was too complicated to have it private and try to share it with my closest family and friends. So I made it public ... 

The video is in Swedish but you can choose English subtitle (not the best but its there). I have not decided if future videos should be in Swedish or in English, I guess time will tell. 

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Swedish summary: 

Det var mycket velande innan jag beslutade för att göra videon offentlig. Jag orkade inte med krånglet att försöka dela med specifika nära och kära, det var lättast att bara göra det tillgängligt för alla så därav mitt beslut. Än vet jag inte om alla videon kommer att vara på svenska (så som den ovan), jag antar att tiden får avgöra det. Det går att lägga till engelsk undertext (dock inte den bästa). Vi ses!

Before going to Australia: Packing a life

Around 09.00 am tomorrow is when my flight to Australia departs. All on my 'to do'-list is now done and I don't think I can prepare myself anymore. Well ... 

Okay, we have one more thing to do ... squeeze in my life in to (very few) bags. The bags I can check in were maximum two and their weight together can be 30 kg. Hand-baggage can weigh about 7 kg. Well, I think I will have luggage that will weigh about 40-41 kg in total – so 3-4 kg overweight. Depending on how strict they are with the bags that I will check in (1-2 kg too much) ... I think I might be okay. 

I have cleared SO much (my sister and mother are happy about that, they got it all). I hope I don't need to leave anything else. My mum and sis will take me to the airport so they will be able to take whatever I might have to "toss out". ❣

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Swedish summary: 

Imorgon, omkring 09.00, går flyget mot Australien. Nästan allt på min att-göra-lista är klart förutom den där biten med att packa ner mitt liv i väskor – och inte så många väskor bör tilläggas. Jag tror att min övervikt ligger på 3-4 kg totalt, och om de inte är alltför strikta med väskorna jag checkar in så bör det vara okej. Ifall jag nu inte skulle ha turen med mig så kommer både min syster och mamma vara på plats för att ta med sig hem det jag måste plocka ut. Håller tummarna att det blir som jag önskar!