Praise The Lord! I Don't Have To Be a Stripper.

*Disclaimer: I feel that there may be some people who could be off put by this post; others will find it funny…it’s all based on true events, but written for humor. That being said, if you find the title offensive, I suggest you stop reading now.

So let’s get real. Judge me if you will, but the saying is true: “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

And I was this close to working in a gentleman’s club…not as a dancer (I would never do that), but as the hostess. You think I am kidding, but unfortunately I am not. I was desperate for work.

Let me back up a moment. Yesterday, like all mornings since I’ve been living here in Australia, was spent on the internet looking for jobs. By this time I had subscribed to three or four different job searching sites and had emails coming to me if any openings popped up near our suburb in Clontarf. One of my emails said that day said that four new jobs had been posted nearby, so I decided to take a look. One of those jobs I had already applied for, two I wasn’t qualified for, and the last one was a place called Rockets looking for a hostess/waitress…perfect I thought! I read the job description, felt qualified, and decided to email my resume/CV. Within thirty minutes I had an email back from Rockets thanking me for my interest, but also asking me for a recent full-length photo and confirmation of my age. Weird I thought.

So I decided to Google Rockets. And yep, it’s a gentleman’s club! But okay, nobody else was hiring so I decided to see where this went. Like I said, I was desperate. I sent a full-length photo (one from my friend Robyn’s wedding; not exactly recent, but I don't feel I've changed too much) and told them I was about to turn twenty-four this month. Five minutes later, another response! This time asking for a phone number to set up an interview. I emailed them back telling them that I don’t have an international phone number and email would work better for me (even though we have the Australian phone, I thought it best to not give that out since the boys usually have it. I didn’t want them getting a call from Rockets asking for Cristin, before I could tell them what was going on…I can only imagine what they would think). Two minutes later I get a response saying that email was fine and wondering if I could interview that night at 7:30pm. I wrote back saying that the next day would actually work better so that I could figure out bus/train routes into the city. Boom. My first interview in Australia was set for 7:30pm the following day!

Just after finishing up the back-and-forth emails with the lady from Rockets, I rode my bike to Margate (a nearby suburb) to find the Chamber of Commerce, like my dad had suggested yesterday, to see if they could offer me any help finding work. I got the closest Chamber of Commerce address from the internet and headed that way. Well the address given on the internet lead me to this restaurant called The Golden Ox. I thought I was out of luck, but decided to go in anyways and see if they could point me in the right direction. I spoke with the receptionist, Virginia, first and told her I was looking for the Chamber of Commerce. She told me to write my information down and she would have someone contact me. Weird. And then she ran off and got the owner of the restaurant, Nick. He asked me what I was looking for, so I decided to start spilling my guts…because why not? I told him how I was looking for the Chamber of Commerce because I had been in Australia looking for a job for almost three weeks with absolutely no luck. I told him how I left job offers in the states because I finally got the chance to visit a country I’ve always wanted to see. And I told him that I would do absolutely ANY type of work. Guts spilled. I guess he felt bad for me because he told me to come back at 6:30pm that night for an appointment. I was dressed in black leggings and an oversized t-shirt at this time, so he told me that I would need to be dressed for an interview, not like I was. Ha.

Rewind three weeks. The Golden Ox was LITERALLY the very first place in Margate I had walked into asking if they were hiring. Virginia has flat out told me no, and that it was a “quiet time” in the season.

Fast forward back to leaving The Golden Ox the second time around. I left and went home happy. I not only had one, BUT TWO, interviews by the end of the day! When the boys would get home from work each day the first thing they always say is, “Well, any luck?” The answer was always no. And honestly, I was starting to feel like a burden…they were being nice enough to not make me pay rent until I got a job. But this time, for the first time, I got to tell them yes! I had luck! To top it off, when they got home they brought in the mail, and with it was my Australian Tax File Number, which I probably wouldn’t have been able to work without. Everything was starting to fall into place!

Fast forward nine more hours...and I GOT THE JOB!!! At The Golden Ox :) Detaila of the interview are still to come, but for now I have to do homework...I'da thought that stopped once I graduated, but nope...I have to learn the darn menu now.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." - Psalm 100:4

XO - Cristin

Taylor Lost His Phone.

Three days ago Taylor lost his phone. I think the world has ended. Or rather, I think that's what he thinks...

Lost.

I got separated from the boys last night. Well, Taylor decided not to go out because he had a headache, so it was just me, Ethan, Josh, Ally, and Kieran. The night was great until we went to the last bar and got separated. We started out at Capulet, on of our favorite clubs. Some time before we left that bar we lost Josh (we think he went off with his friend Fish who we saw about halfway through the evening...but there's no telling). After we decided to leave Capulet, we went on a mission to find this bar called GPO. It was like a twenty minute walk trying to find that place, but we finally made it! Sometime during our time there, Ethan and Ally got out of sight. Luckily Kieran stayed with me, so I wasn't completely alone in a foreign place. 

When we go to The Valley we always drive to Ally's from our house, and then stay there night there because it's close by and we don't have to get a taxi all the way home. Well, this particular night we started out at Josh's house in North Lakes, and it was our plan to end up back there and sleep and then go home in the morning. Well, when I got separated, I realized that I didn't have the address to Josh's house because I figured I'd be with Ethan that night and wouldn't need it...wrong. Fortunately, Kieran was visiting Ally and staying with him while he was here and had a spare key to the house. So after we lost Ethan and Ally, (which I was tired and ready to go home anyways), we taxied it back to Ally's hoping to wake up and see both the boys there. 

I woke up that next morning to find that Ethan and Ally were still missing! And unfortunately here in Australia, my phone doesn't work unless I'm on wifi, so I had no way of getting ahold of the boys... Thank goodness I know our house in Clontarf's address, otherwise I would've been lost forever! Ha. So I ordered a taxi to get back to our house in Clontarf because I didn't know the address to Josh's house where the car was. That cost me a whopping $110. Ugh. But at least I made it home safe, right!? To an empty, locked house...crap. 

So here I am, just chillin' in our tree swing, in last night's fancy outfit, waiting for who knows how long for at least one of the boys to get home, because they had both house keys...

I tried to figure out if I could break into our own house, I checked all the windows to see if any were open for me to climb through inside...no such luck. I also thought maybe I could try may hand at picking a lock; all I had was a bobby pin...didn't work. I even I contemplated riding the bike up to Target for some wifi so I could figure out where the boys were, but decided against it because I didn't want to be on a bike in heels and a tight skirt...so instead I  decided to get some sleep. The tree swing was surprisingly comfortable. I was a bit cold, but I survived. And about two hours later the boys got home. 

What a day. I'm never getting separated from the boys again!

XO - Cristin

On Wednesdays We Wear Bowling Shoes...

Well, we found out that on Wednesday nights at the bowling alley you can bowl an unlimited number of games from 7-10pm for as much as we had been paying for just two games the past two weeks! We fit FIVE games in...definitely getting our monies worth :)

We let Reesby (one of the boys' teammates) join our fun, too. Unfortunately, when you're outnumbered by boys you get sucked in to doing things they want...like betting on each game. I'm not a betting girl, but I gave in this time to peer pressure and decided to join in: $5 per game (so a $20 pot) and winner gets $15 and second place gets their money back.

Tay = Taylor. Tex = Ethan. Che = Reesby. And Cri = me. I would just like to prove right here that I BEAT ALL THE BOYS in the opening game! Look at that, a 166! Seven strikes! A personal best :) 

However, the next four games weren't quite like the first. I was lucky to break 100...in the third game, I think I had more gutter balls than anything. Ha. But, because I won the first game, and maybe got second in one other one, I only ended up $5 down. Which is pretty good considering I was prepared to lose $25!

So here's to breaking my personal record again next week...cheers!

XO - Cristin

When It Rains, It Pours!

The thing about having a bike, rather than a car, is that if you're out 'n about trying to hand out resumes for jobs and it starts raining, you're kinda S.O.L. Especially when it's not like you're just around the corner, but rather 2+ miles away from the house! 

And lemme tell ya, it didn't just start raining...it started DOWN POURING! Here I am trying to look all business professional on my bike (I think that in itself could be an oxymoron) in a dress and makeup...not my ideal scenario to say the least.

And I didn't even get to hand out a single CV! I was returning a movie to Blockbuster for the boys (because they forget about those all the time), and then I was going to head across the street to the country club to see if they were hiring. But instead it started pouring, and I figured it's probably not the best first impression to ask for a job when your hair is wet and your mascara is running...so I raced home instead.

I'm not generally one who likes the rain, like at all. It just ruins everything. But I got home, was already soaked, and I thought, "you know what, I'm gonna quit complaining and embrace it." So I played in the rain. By myself. For about thirty minutes. 

And yes, I took selfies to document it. Which I still find weird, and am halfway laughing at myself for doing so. 

"Let my teaching fall like rain, and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants." - Deuteronomy 32:2

XO - Cristin

All I Need Is Coffee, and a Good Book...

Today is one of those days that all I want to do is drink some coffee, grab a good book, and layout at the beach. But instead, I'm here at the shopping center STILL looking for a job! I did finally figure out how to apply for my Tax File Number, so that was definitely plus on the day. Now it's time to make more copies of my CV and go around handing them out...sooner or later someone will have to hire me, right!? Hopefully sooner, rather than later.

If anyone was wondering, Ethan's coffee is better than the stuff they make here. I've ordered an iced coffee and a frappe, both are no good. I think they have ice cream in them! And I actually think they are the same thing, with different names...I'll stick with the hot coffee!

Those three pictures have nothing to do with anything that I've done today. I just wanted to share a bit of the beautiful Australia with you all :)

"Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." - Psalm 5:2-3

XO - Cristin

Down In the Valley

We've pretty much got our weekend routine set in stone. The boys play their game, we go out in The Valley, and then wake up the next morning and either go on an adventure or catch up on sleep from the night before.

I think the boys played a team named Logan last night. Unfortunately, we lost...

Taylor has a little U6 team named after him, and before the boys' game the little ones played. Lemme tell you, Taylor's little team is not good. They're cute, but terrible!

They lost something like 15-0...haha. 

They didn't even know which goal was theirs and were constantly going the wrong way. There was one little six year old boy on the other team who could play; he was scoring from the defensive end of the field!

Before every game the Peninsula Power team comes out with kids from the younger teams within the club.

The little girl Ethan's with was so funny playing. There was one time when she tripped over the ball, so she tried sitting on it so the other kids couldn't take it from her, and then finally got so mad that she picked the ball up with her hands and threw it as far from everyone as she could!

The boys lost 1-0 on a penalty kick in the first half. The keeper almost saved it too! After the game we played a bit of pool and celebrated Ally, who was playing his last game with the club.

Then it was time to get ready and head to The Valley! It was time for round two. And once again, it got the best of us. Is it even possible though, that it was more fun than the last time we went to the city!? The answer, is yes.

The city itself is beautiful!

Instead of going to multiple bars, we spent most of our evening at just one, called Capulet. It had a sweet little atmosphere; there was an inside bar area, then outside was a patio bar with lounges and a nice little dance floor. By now, most people who know me know that I don't dance, unless I'm at a wedding. But there's something nice about being in a foreign country, not knowing anyone (besides a handful of people) that gives me a more carefree attitude. I'm probably never going to see the handful of people I do know again, besides Ethan and Taylor, and they're like brothers to me, so I don't care what they think :)

We had planned on going hiking to this place called Glass House (I think). Which apparently has really cool scenery and there are cliffs to jump off. Buuuttt after staying out so late, and waking up even later, we decided to make it a lazy couch and movie Sunday. Which we all needed...

Next weekend is a three day weekend for the boys, because there's a public holiday on Monday, so maybe we'll make the trip to Glass House then!

XO - Cristin