Blue Mountains and A Different Kind of Work

Last weekend, John and I (plus our friends, Josh & Ashleigh) made a trip to the Blue Mountains. A day trip to the Blue Mountains was on our long list of things we want to do while living in Australia.. and it did not disappoint! Hard to believe this area is only a couple of hours west of Sydney.

In other news..

I started work this week and so far so good! Really like my manager.. really like my team. I'll be training/shadowing until "First of Feb" and then I will be on my way. Some observations/things I find funny:

-My manager forgot it was my first day... so I had no computer, no log in, no desk, etc. But "no worries!!"...typical Australia.

-Me: "What time should I come in tomorrow?"... My manager: "Oh I don't care... sometime in the morning. 8? 9? Whatever"

- A lot of employees are STILL on holiday. Their out of office email says "I am on annual holiday from December 18th to February 1st"... say what??? can you imagine??

-I mean I know people are just getting back into the swing of things from holiday.. but people are taking 2 hour lunches... working out at lunch and staying in their workout clothes the rest of the day... walking around/hanging out with people for 20 minutes at a time throughout the day...

-Both John and I work with a very international team. I work with 3 South Africans, 2 Scots, 1 Brit, 1 Frenchman, and 1 Australian. Side note: I literally cannot understand a single thing the Scottish people say. Not. A. Thing.
 -John mentioned this to me before, but I am really noticing it now that I am working. I don't think learning to type was a priority for Australian kids growing up. Almost all of the Aussies we have been around type-- or "peck"-- with 2 fingers, look at the keyboard when typing, and make lots of spelling errors. Interesting... vedy vedy interesting.
- the word "mental"=cool/wild.... "the concert was totally mental" or "the party was mental"
- "good on you"= thanks for doing that/atta boy
- "ta"-thank you

That's all for now... hope everyone is having a good 2014 so far!