Category: Journal Entries

Journal Entry #006

Claire @ Coffee with Claire5 Comments

Friday, January 11th, 2019

I can’t believe it’s almost halfway through January! January is one of those months that always flies by for me, regardless if my life is eventful or not.

I’m currently sick right now. I don’t know what happened but Thursday morning on my way to work, I was just hit with motion sickness that wouldn’t go away so I left work early to rest up. This morning, I woke up without the nausea but just sharp headaches and a very achy body. You know the type of achy-ness that comes with fevers? Where you feel like you’re an 80 year old old nanny and the aches just seeps into your bones? I have that right now as I type this journal entry, lol.

The good thing about being stuck at home like an 80 year old granny is the fact that I’m able to finally catch up on blogs, write new entries, and discover new blogs. I really want to keep consistent with my blogging this year and grow my blog.

I was looking through my Google Photos and have a back log of photos… so, here’s a photo dump!

Where are all my B99 fans?! This shirt is from Greyline AU and I just had to buy it after seeing the Instagram ad for it. I got one for Dan as well but his shirt says Amazing Genius/Detective lol.

Dan’s mom sent us pictures of Cooper and look at how big he has gotten in just two years! As you can tell from the picture, I’m a dog aunt. Cooper belongs to Tyler, Dan’s older brother.

Last Friday, we went on a walking ghost tour! This would be my third one (lol, I know right?) and it was great. I found Lantern Ghost Tours off Groupon but otherwise, I normally wouldn’t pay full price for these activities. The host, Jason, was very good and the tour was fun. A lot to learn about Melbourne and its criminal past.

The other two ghost tours I’ve been on was back in Seattle and Vancouver. For those who think it’s ridiculous… I honestly recommend trying a ghost tour… you may just get into it like I did! This was Dan’s first ghost tour and he said he had a great time as well.

Also, during the daytime, it was hella hot… like 42 degrees Celsius hot.

I’ve never experience this heat before. The moment I left my nice air-con office, I felt my eyes being dehydrated asap. It was a weird feeling.

I’m trying to cook more and save money instead of always ordering out. I tried this recipe I found online for spicy tuna avocado wraps and it was the bomb dot com. I ended up making the same thing 2 days later because it was sooooo good and hella easy and cheap to make.

That’s all from me! I’ll try to keep consistent with my blogging so I don’t have a backlog of entries and photos to spam.

Journal Entry #005

Claire @ Coffee with Claire4 Comments

Saturday, December 29th, 2018

LOL, I honestly can’t help but laugh when I look at how consistent I am at blogging… because I can have spurts of 10 entries scheduled and then be quiet for the remainder of the month or two.

I can’t believe it’s the end of the year already! It’s surreal to think 2019 is coming. I think 2020 would be a little mind boggling for me because I remember vividly as a kid that 2020 seems AGES away. I used to pull out the calculator and calculate how old I’ll be in 2020 or 2050, etc.

During the last couple of days at work when it’s been really quiet, I was thinking a lot about my blog and how excited I am for the posts that I need to catch up on. I think in 2019, I’ll like to put a lot more effort into my blog and stop being so shy about it. I’m a lot more comfortable telling Dan when I’m doing blog stuff so that’s a start, right?

In the first few weeks of January, I think I’ll have to backtrack to a few days/moment in December that I want to share and document.

Anyways, I have a bunch of unread posts to catch up on on my WordPress Reader and Bloglovin…

So, a belated Merry Christmas wish to you, and a Happy New Year!

See you guys in 2019.

Journal Entry #004

Claire @ Coffee with Claire4 Comments

Sunday, December 9th, 2018

The other day, I was thinking about how quickly December is flying by already… like, the first week is done! It’s funny because back in November, it was hella slow.

On Friday, I mailed out two gift packages back to Canada – one for my family, and one for my old work family. Apparently, there’s something going on with Canada Post so only expedited service was available (T__T) so I literally spent $120 in postage yesterday, but I guess they’ll get it in 4 days? If I knew how quickly it’d get there, I wouldn’t have rushed! Plus, on Friday, it was a high of 36 degrees and I felt the chocolate bars melting when I was preparing my packages. 

A small incident occurred with sending gifts back home that caused me to get really mad at Dan so when he came back from work, we had a huge chat about everything, primarily our relationship. I won’t go into big details but shit happened and I took a break from it all back at the start of November.

I think we both needed the talk because I was finally able to cry and fully talk about what happened. He had a clearer picture because he didn’t realize how hurt I was from everything and everyone and why I felt the way I feel towards our group of friends. We talked about the future of our relationship, our feelings, and what we’re going to do from here on out. I think there was a big gap that wasn’t addressed properly after the whole incident blew up and this talk was able to fill the gap.

Regardless, I feel like I still need to take a break but it’s much, much better than it was last month. 

Yesterday we went on a big date day to the Old Melbourne Gaol. Today, I finished writing about our date day just a few hours ago. 

We also started watching The Haunting of Hill House and I normally don’t do well with horror but this isn’t as scary as people make it out to be. I mean, I’m only on the second episode but it’s a bit of a slow start.

It’s a very lazy day today and that’s exactly how I love my Sundays. Tomorrow, I’m meal prepping and visiting a local laser hair removal clinic for a consultant (and maybe my first session?!). I’ve been wanting to get my underarms done for the longest time and being in Melbourne, I was getting tired of shaving my underarms everyday. Also, they have a summer sale of $9 per session… so why not?

Oh, I have great news as well! I start full-time work on Tuesday! Unfortunately, it’s not with ME but with a health organization, I interviewed for last week. The commute isn’t as bad as I thought it would be – I mean, not as close as it would’ve been if I worked with ME, but whatever. I can use that time to relax and listen to some audiobooks. 

The great thing about the role is the fact that it’s exactly 6 months! It fits perfectly with my visa restriction and they’re understanding that I’m here to travel and would be flexible with any future trips.

Anyways, Dan is cooking a salmon Alfredo spaghetti thing (can you tell how much I know about Italian cuisine? lol) for dinner tonight and I’m super excited for that yummy meal 🙂

Journal Entry #003

Claire @ Coffee with Claire2 Comments

Monday, December 3rd, 2018

It’s finally summer in Melbourne!

A few days ago, I had a nice steak dinner. Meat out in Australia is super cheap! For two cuts, it was only $11 and it was a pretty decent cut. I mean, I’m not an expert in steaks but can’t beat 2 for $11 and have it tasty.

Last week, I also finished my one-week contract. Originally it had a high potential to extend to a two-week contract but on my last day, they struggled to find any work for me so they didn’t extend. 

Yesterday was a day full of yummy food. I’ve been wanting to learn how to make sushi for the longest time but didn’t want to fork out the money to take cooking classes. My housemate, Tolis, offered to teach me how to make sushi so we went to the marketplace and grabbed the necessary things and sashimi-grade tuna and salmon. 

Unfortunately, I missed out how to make the sushi rice, which is a bummer because that’s the step I would obviously struggle with. Dan and I had a talk the night before and it made me so mad and upset that I couldn’t sleep and when I woke up, I basically felt this sadness and stayed in bed until noon. 

Nonetheless, I got to make my rolls and learn how to cut sashimi.

And yes, we made it in our PJs and I have a Hello Kitty robe.

To top it all off, for dinner, we had a bbq! We didn’t prep too much with it – it was literally just peri peri chicken wings and Tolis made some Greek appie with red peppers.

Today, I went over to Oakleigh, a Greek district and had myself a nice cup of iced vanilla latte from Vanilla (seriously, soooooo good!). I’m normally not a fan of doughnuts but… I had myself an Oreo & cream doughnut from The Oakleigh Doughnut Co.

It’s pretty much the best doughnut I’ve ever had.

Since my contract ended last Thursday, I’ve been having myself super chill days. I played The Sims a lot, lol. 

Tomorrow it’ll be a fairly busy day. One of the HR roles I applied for when I first arrived in Australia finally called back and I’m meeting with them tomorrow for an interview. I guess it’s a good thing because my chances are pretty high since a decent amount of people probably found jobs within a month.

The downside is the commute to Footscray is about an hour but hey, a job is a job. I can probably kill a lot of audiobooks this way too.

I’m also going to email ME tomorrow as well. I’m hoping they could provide an update on the role but I’m thinking it won’t start until January. My only concern is that I don’t want to be a dick and work for a place and then bounce a month or so later… but, if it is a guaranteed role, I do have enough money to last me through December without work… so we’ll see! 

Since I’m in the city tomorrow as well, I’m hoping to finalize the Christmas package I’ll be sending back home. I just need to pick up a t-shirt for my Dad and something for a Mom… and a few random knick-knacks and chocolates for my old colleagues and have it shipped sometime this week.

Journal Entry #002

Claire @ Coffee with Claire5 Comments

Saturday, November 24th, 2018

It’s been a week since I moved into this place! Right after moving in, we went to Target to grab some bed sheets and a shelving unit. I also started unpacking and found myself a nice little corner of the house to work on my laptop!

Building our cheap little shelving unit.

Tiffany (roommate) is also a singer/songwriter so to get out of the house and visit some local joints and to show support to our new roomie, we went out to On Top Bar to catch her performance. She’s is suuuuuch an amazing singer! 

Last week, we also visited St. Kilda’s beach on the hottest day of the week. Seriously, it was high of 30-something and then for the remainder of the week, it’s been low 10s with wind and rainstorms.

Ugh, I am so excited for the sun and to get a nice year-round tan again…

This week….

On Tuesday, I went back to my interview with ME… and it went well! They specifically turned me down for the first role I applied for because my experience didn’t match but they ended up having a new HR Role that is opening up. It’s so new that they don’t have a formal description of the role, or even advertised it yet. They called me up to give me a first crack at it. 

So, I went to chat with the HR Manager and Recruiter. It sounds like this position is pretty much mine, however, it may not start until early 2019. I told them that I took a two-weeks contract that they were super supportive on that and would give me an update prior to the contract ending. My agency that I work through also gave me a call on Thursday asking if I’m interested in a 4-months HR contract. I said yes and they’re putting me forward because I don’t know when I could start at ME. Ideally, I would love to work at ME because the environment suits me more (and it’s closer to home!) but I also can’t be unemployed for a month or two waiting on them to get back to me. 

Soooo…. there’s that. Fingers cross that ME chooses to move the role along quicker so I can start shortly after my contract ends!

If I got hired at ME, I would see this street art everyday, haha. How cool is this, though?!

On Wednesday, I went to Melbourne’s biggest shopping mall and literally spent like 3-4 hours shopping for some corporate attire. Back at home, I’ve worked in a start up environment so I never had to bother with corporate attire, and the one pair of slacks and blazer I own, I decided to not bring that with me because everyone told me I probably won’t be working in an corporate environment.

Buuuut… turns out, a lot of temp contracts are in corporations. To keep things within budget and cheap (lol), I went to Target to find a blazer, an office dress, and slacks. I wanted something that could pass in an office, BUT also something that I can wear on a fancy dinner or something without looking too corporal.

Little did I know, the sizing in Australia (or in Target only?) is a bit different than North America. I’m used to XS to XXL and the odd numbers whenever I shop in H&M. But, in Australia, there’s XXXS or whatever so all this time, I thought sizes 6-10 were for bigger people BUT they’re actually a size small! WTF!!!

I was going to complain about how I couldn’t find anything in my size but it turns out, the sizing is just done differently. I purchased size 6 clothes and they were actually a small… lol.

Thursday was my first day on contract. I arrived at the office and holy moly, it’s massive. This company owns about 7 floors in the building and each floor houses different departments. 

On top of this, there’s cafes and cafeterias within the offices, and ping pong tables, fooseball, jenga, and a library. They promote collaboration so no one is assigned a seat – you literally pick up your laptop and move wherever you want to sit and each seat comes with a laptop charger, mouse and keyboard, and dual monitors. 

It was overwhelming at first and I still get lost within the building but it’s my first ever corporate job. Startups are generally small and have some games but maybe a level or two at most? I now understand what my cousin was saying when she said she met a co-worker from a “different floor”. 

I’m part of the talent acquisition team (fancy, eh?) and they’re a team of 19-20ish wonderful, wonderful people. They’ve been nothing but warm and welcoming over the last two days. They’re really showing me the ropes and stuff, buuuut… I don’t think they know I’m only here for a week or two. I don’t want to be a bitch but I also don’t want to get close to any of these girls and then have to leave…

What I wore on my first day. Everything is new except for the top and shoes.

Journal Entry #001

Claire @ Coffee with Claire7 Comments

Saturday, November 17th, 2018

Today, we finally moved out of our Airbnb and into our Aussie home! Despite the lovely location of the Airbnb, I hated having no living room/dining area, and I hated sharing one single bathroom with 5 other travellers. During our time at the Airbnb, if we weren’t out and about exploring the city or going to job interviews, we were pretty much crammed in our little room, sitting on a queen-sized bed and watching Shameless or browsing the internet. 

It wasn’t fun and I was getting tired of being trapped in a room. Plus, near the last two days, we were moved to a “garage room” which is basically exactly what it sounds like – a garage converted to a bedroom. All there was was just rugs on the ground, a bed, wardrobe and desk. It was freaking freezing late nights and early mornings. 

Despite the great location (it was like 10 minutes into CBD), it wasn’t worth staying in that room for the long run. 

We ended up finding a place about 25ish minutes out of the CBD with a gal named Tiffany and her dog, Charlie. The room is spacious, and not to mention we have a full dining room and living room to relax and socialize in. We’re living with two Aussies so it’ll be nice to pick up the slang and in the ins and outs of Australia rather than living with another traveller. 

We had KFC for lunch (yuck, I know… it’s only because it was the only thing around at that time). After my meal, I was hit with a bad stomachache but luckily I was carrying my Eater’s Digest roll on and that really helped alleviate the pain within a few minutes.

The good news is that I landed a two- weeks contract as a Recruiting Coordinator with one of Australia’s biggest health company! It starts next Wednesday or Thursday (whenever they finish officially onboarding me). I also have another interview with this restaurant giant for an HR role on Tuesday and hopefully, that’s a permanent full-time position. What happened with this company was I originally interviewed for this Guest Coordinator role but they turned me down and instead asked if I would like to come in for the HR role that would better suit my skills instead… so I’m meeting with the HR manager on Tuesday for that… fingers crossed it all works out!