What now?

After a fantastic trip in New Zealand, where Dan and I breathed rugby for 7 weeks and visited the entire country (8000km by van) Dan went back to Wales and I went to Australia.

I've been in Sydney staying with a mate Carlo. I'm staying in his room at the foot of his bed. Not like a cat, on his bed, but more like a dog, on the floor. It's awesome. I've been working at a restaurant-venue center called Deckhouse. I've been working in the cafe and working the functions - mostly weddings, but also business conferences etc. The hours are crazy - I've worked consecutive 65 hour weeks but finally have a couple days off. I need the money though, so can't complain.

I've never worked in hospitality, so this has been one major crash course! In my phone interview, I lied. I did not know how to carry three plates at a time. I mean, I could guess, but had never tried. Catering to a 200 person wedding taught me pretty quick and now, I must say, I'm pretty much the best plate carrier ever.

A word of advice to anyone who is planning on working in hospitality (I wish someone had told me this) get really really REALLY comfortable shoes. I had crappy, tight, hard dress shoes that made my feet blister like they were over hot coals. But since I didn't have money or days off to buy shoes, I couldn't buy a new pair! My feet displayed the full evolutionary power that Darwin wrote about and I'm glad to say that I don't have any blisters any more. Instead, my big left toe has gone numb. It's been numb for about 6 days. Not sure whether I should worry or not.

A whole paragraph dedicated to my feet. Wow.

I will be here in Sydney, working, until mid-December. I'll be posting a couple of updates on the catering industry at some point, and am also hoping to write a piece about the hope and tragedy of the Welsh rugby team's world cup tour. But otherwise, I don't think I'll be updating the blog too much more because the blog posts would probably go like this:

Worked 11am - 2am today, got home at 3am, up at 7am, working 9am-3am, got home at 4am, up at 10am, working 12pm - 8pm...

etc.

There are three things that I'll say about Sydney though. It is really hot, it is really fun, and, uh, what's the third one?

(If he becomes President, I'm boycotting the US).

Thanks for reading!