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New beginnings...


Red

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I hope the practicle goes well too, when do you plan on taking that? and will it also be in secret?

Hey T,

Yes, it was totally supposed to be a secret... until my lovely driving instructor slipped up and told my friends... they are converting their licenses too...

So I may as well let everyone know that the practical is on Saturday... :ph34r:

gulp....

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Hey T,

Yes, it was totally supposed to be a secret... until my lovely driving instructor slipped up and told my friends... they are converting their licenses too...

So I may as well let everyone know that the practical is on Saturday... :blush:

gulp....

Best of luck my friend!! I know you will do well.

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Good Luck Red and thanks for the wonderful posts!!!

You guys are aperfect example of how it should be done. I just hope I can be the same when my turn comes....

Kindest Regards

K

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All the best for your driving assessment. Holding thumbs for you and looking forward to see the post that you passed on Saturday. Let us know before you start celebrating.

Susan

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  • 2 weeks later...
GOOD LUCK FOR SATURDAY - HOLDING THUMBS AND WILL BE THINKING OF YOU -

I don't know why Kirsten has not told you yet........but she passed her driving test and got her drivers license on Saturday, 21 February 2009. :ilikeit::ilikeit:

There we are....... I have just solen her thunder. :thumbdown:

What she does not seem to be able to do is stay on her bike, lots of cuts and bruises. :whome:

Red and JustB have settled in Adelaide so well, wholeheartedly embracing their new environment and the people, their positive/can do attitude has been exemplary.

Enjoy!

Manny

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CONGRATULATIONS, Red !!!!! You are a true inspiration for all of us still waiting for new beginnings ... !!!

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Red and JustB have settled in Adelaide so well, wholeheartedly embracing their new environment and the people, their positive/can do attitude has been exemplary.

Enjoy!

Manny

That's just because we've had people like you arrive before us, setting a rather high standard... and we're blown away by their can do attitudes...

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There’s a quote by Henry Ford I like… Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t… you’re right.

It makes a lot of sense, but of course we all know that it’s easier said than done.

After successfully passing my learners theory test, it was now time to get on with the practical.

Legally, when you land in Australia as a permanent resident, you have 3 months in which to convert your licence. What many fail to mention is that once you pass your learners, you are forced to get your drivers within 1 month… Furthermore, if you fail the first time, you have to wait another 14 days before you can redo the practical. So if you work out the math… you technically only get enough time to do it once, with a push maybe twice. For those that fail, well… my sympathies go out to you.

Once passing the learners theory and new Australian driver has to complete a 50 hour driver’s log book, with an experienced driver. Only once they have completed this log bog, can they apply for their P1 - provisional licence (and have a big plastic P plate stuck on the bag of the car). Once they have completed a hazard perception test (?) and vehicle on road test can they then apply for a P2 licence. At any time can their P2 licence be downgraded back to a P1, and a P1 back to a learners licence…

It’s all just crazy, and it would take at least a year to get a full South Australian drivers licence. I reckon it would take me about 3 years…

Anyway, failure wasn’t an option and Bernard got in touch with the driving instructor and arranged my first lesson the very next day - some might think motivated, I just kept thinking overeager… overboard… insane… mad… and all I wanted to do was act like an ostrich.

You see, I thought ‘I can’t’… I can’t drive an automatic; I can’t drive an Aussie ‘tank’… I mean I am 5 foot ‘high’ for goodness sake. How could I see over the dashboard LET ALONE parallel park?!!

On the day of my lesson I asked Bern to phone the instructor and cancel, he just raised an eyebrow, and hid the phone… I even begged him to do it for me… what was I thinking?!? And who was I kidding?! Bern should have stuck a big giant ‘L’ on my forehead, not for learner… more like for loser!!!

Minutes before the instructor was due to arrive; Bern shoved me out the house with a kiss and a wave… My stomach was churning… How could Bern be so unfair and uncaring I thought, why did I have to go through this… until it dawned on me… Bern had to do it too…

Would you believe that after a couple of successful driving lessons, and bucket loads of sweat, I actually began to enjoy driving the ‘tank’… Being five foot was no challenge when I had power steering and a 3.5 litre V6 on my side.

The observe, gear, indicate, observe, drive routine was becoming second nature and I realised that I could actually do this. I could actually pass… and in fact I could escape the tedious Australian driving system that those poor Australians have to endure.

I was ready, with the attitude of I CAN!

But, the ‘I CAN’ attitude didn’t help two days before the practical when I had a nasty fall off the bike.

Picture this… 3:10pm, all the school children milling about, cars driving up and down, parents chatting and me riding with Becca attached on her trailer bike.

She tends to wobble a tad (perhaps an understatement), and on Thursday she decided to wobble, just as I was making my way between a passing car, a number of hysterical children and slow walking parents. And as she wobbled hers, my bike did too, but my foot was stuck in my left pedal… and with nowhere to go, I had to literally ‘put the bikes down’. And without any thoughts of my own well-being I made sure I fell just right that the impact would be taken by me, and not Becca… or my bike.

And for a brief few seconds it felt like everyone stood still… cars and kids… just stared, and then I realised that the parents were running from all different directions to come to our rescue. Of course, that’s when I jumped up and made sure Becca was ok, she started to whimper as more and more adults gathered around. And as any mom knows, you know when your kid is hurt or not… and she was just fine. I was in agony both physically and emotionally, with disapproving glares all around, I had to act like it was all ok. Thanked everyone for the help and gave Becca ‘the look’. She knew to drop the whimpering act and get on the bike. Thanking everyone for their concern, I pushed the bike through the gathering, making sure not to limp… and rode off, with a smile on my face, into the sunshine…

Becca was fine, and had not received a scratch. I actually think she was whimpering because she knew she was going to have a lecture from me about wobbling the bike. But I was just too damn sore. My left knee, because I couldn’t unclip had dealt with the impact of the fall, along with the neck and wrist… of course the worst was the knock my ego took…

And I had my drivers two days away… it dawned on me that perhaps I could score some sympathy points with the sore neck and knee… much to my dismay the bruising and grazing didn’t appear life threatening, and my sympathy-pass plan could not fall in action.

The worst part was the next day when I had to ride Becca to and from school. Every time my leg bent in the pedal motion, the newly scabbed knee was tested… and the skin was pulled freshly open…

Who says girls can’t handle pain?!

By Friday evening I was pretty calm about the whole practical, so ‘calm’ in fact that I decided to let the hair down and have a couple of drinks… Looking back, I think, perhaps it was a bad idea, the alcohol clearly numbed all the bodily pain and any stress I had felt consciously or subconsciously and the glass never stood empty. And I went from having one beer with Bern, to a couple of Malibu and cokes… and then when I had finished half the bottle of Malibu, went in search of anything more. Luckily (unluckily?) I managed to find a bottle of Southern comfort. I even remembering chuckling to myself about living in Southern Australia, and drinking the ‘Southern’ comfort!

Now most of you will expect that the brain must have been rather clouded in the morning, but I woke up feeling so chilled. Perhaps, the effects of my binge still hanging around…

I had the whole day to relax, my test was only at 5:00pm, and I felt great about it… until about 2 hours before… and then I became my usual self… completely worried about failure… And to make matters worse, everyone knew I was doing the practical that day…

The drive to the testing area was a breeze… observe, gear, indicate, observe… I was cruising! This would be easy, so my instructor decided to practice my parking… Perfect… I can do this…

BUT… I just couldn’t… Half an hour before my test started, I had gone completely blank on parallel parking. Backing into the bay, I started wondering which way I was supposed to turn the steering wheel… and ended up turning away from the curb instead of towards the curb. My poor instructor just sat quietly, as I verbally abused myself over every failed attempt.

And as I am stuffing up each and EVERY attempt, we get a text to let us know that my practical has been rescheduled and is a little earlier. With 10 minutes to go, my instructor reluctantly asked me to give it one more go… and I finally made it… but the question was: could I do it in the practical?

We usually chat so much during lessons, but I am sure we were both wondering if I could pull this off and never said a word as we drove to the testing area.

Meeting the driving examiner didn’t help the nerves much, when he mentioned he’d had a bad day and just wanted to get home, my heart sank.

Even more so, when he mentioned he had failed three people that day.

Climbing into the car, I realised that any moisture that was normally in my mouth had gone to my hands… so my mouth was dry, and my hands were dripping.

I tried to make arb conversation, but he wasn’t joining in, clearly he had had a bad day and wanted to go home. Somewhat irritated, he mentioned that I could go… BUT…

Earlier I had noticed he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt… and I had this inner conflict going on. Do I tell him? (and risk p!ssing him off even more) or do I just go? (and risk failing to tell my passenger to belt up)…

And so, after his third request to go, I turned and said…

‘Please could you put your seatbelt on, and I will start the engine’… gulp…

‘Ah’ he said with a huge grin on his face… ‘I’m impressed, I’ve never been told to do that before’.

His bad day mood had changed and he chatted away continually, so much so that I could hardly concentrate… or hear his instructions… because as he was directing the route, he was also giving me directions to the nearest pizza shop…

So it went something like… ‘At the next road turn left, then from your house to the pizza place turn right into North road, turn your next right, on the left of the hotel you’ll see the pizza place, now do a u turn, make sure not to miss the pizza sign on the leftâ€â€¦

But I managed to get through it all, including the parking… and when we drove back to the start, I pulled the car next to my driving instructor. Both the examiner and I shook our heads and looked down…

My poor instructor looked dismayed… until the examiner and I started laughing…

All was good, I hadn’t let anyone down… and all the stress was for nothing…

And typical of all Aussies, the examiner gets out the car and says ‘No worries’….

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You're having trouble staying on that bike hey ? Poor Becca getting "the look" ! Bet she wont be wobbling the bike too soon.

Great to hear about your drivers - didnt want to "steal your thunder" - dreading my drivers next week !! Praying hard I pass.

Now there is something else you havent told ? You are allowed to brag when settling into your new Aussie life - will let you tell.

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Something, I keep putting off is my C.V…

We had decided initially that I would stay at home for a while, until life here started settling down. But lately I wake up every morning and wonder if maybe ‘now is the time’… time to get off my rear, and get a job.

Bern has the job, we’ve found our rental and Becca is settling in at school… our 6 boxes that were shipped from South Africa are long unpacked… so really, there’s nothing that requires me to be sitting at home all day. And I’m just not the kind of person that likes to be at home… I mean, when it comes to housework, well… I’m a bit of a cheat.

I have total admiration for women (and men) that enjoy staying at home. Making sure early morning is spent in the kitchen and laundry, cleaning clothes and dishes, making sure the beds are made and the rooms are swept midday, shopping in the afternoon and picking up kids, then coming home to prepare a glorious meal and attend to homework and such like.

I have a problem with spending the whole day doing chores… so the days that Bern gets home and the place looks kept, it’s only because usually I have cycled to the school in the afternoon and picked up Becca, dashed home, and rubbed the genie out the lamp.

Within an hour and a half I can do two loads of washing, tumble dry and hang clothes, pack the dishwasher and unpack it, vacuum the viewable areas, make the beds, prepare supper and complete the homework…

I just don’t see the logic of spending an entire day cleaning… and perhaps it has something to do with the fact I have always worked, and managed to cope with general house duties… without making a day of it.

So what I am saying is that it’s not like I have an excuse like ‘I need to keep the house clean’ to stay at home, when I know very well I can accomplish the task during the late afternoon.

So I decide to start looking on all the job sites.

But I have a tall order… I want a job whereby I can leave late so I can get Becca to school, and I want a job that ends a little earlier so I can pick up Becca before school ends… BUT, I don’t want a half day job that ends at lunch time. I want a job that allows me to communicate with people, a job that is close to home, preferably on the bus route and I want a job that pays fairly well. A job that I will be able to be trained in, and not thrown in at the deep end. Also, I want a job where I can wear smart/casual attire (all my work clothes are still in a box somewhere on a ship at sea)… But most importantly, I want a job where my personality gets me the job, and not my skills.

I don’t have qualifications, but I am prepared to make things work. The problem with that, especially being in a new country… you have no credibility. You can’t say I worked with so and so, or I did such and such… no one could really care.

And for the two weeks I gazed stupidly at the advertised jobs, wondering what to do…

You see anything secretarial they want to test your words per minute, and if it wasn’t that, you had to have MYOB… (it stands for Mind your own business). For those in RSA, I think it’s something similar to Pastel accounting software. And for everyone that knows me, well, I have no accounting skills.

So my CV was just a blank page named résumé… saved in a folder under ‘My documents’.

Until two weeks ago, I saw a job that sparked some excitement!

Bern sat up with me, late into the evening, helping with every detail of my CV. I had such a good feeling. This job had to be mine.

Friday the 20th of February I sent them my C.V… and for a week I heard nothing.

Not even an automated response thanking me for the application.

And then, doubt and recession talk crept into the equation. How could I be so silly, to think that in these ‘bad economic times’ I would be even asked to come for an interview, when there were probably hundreds of Australian applicants…

A week and a bit later (this Tuesday) I received a call… Was I still interested and would I be able to come for an interview the next day?

Wednesday I was dressed in my (put-together –lack-of-clothes-that-fit) interview best, and caught a taxi in the pouring rain to my interview…

An interview for a job that

• Starts at 9:15am (enough time to get Becca to school)

• Ends at 2:45pm (enough time to pick up Becca from school)

• Requires speaking to people

• Is on the bus route

• And is only 2km’s from home

• Requires no typing and words per minute

• Requires no accounting

• Will provide training

• And pays fairly well.

I had to have this job. It was mine, and I walked in wanting it…

I was interviewed by two women, who run the call-centre. I was told upfront that I wouldn’t know the outcome of the interview until they had checked my references and had interviewed all candidates.

I understood…

They spoke about the economic recession… and I understood what that meant…

I could only be considered once the human resources manager had read through my questionnaire… I understood that too…

They asked the usual…

What are your strengths and weaknesses… and all I kept thinking was… I know I went over this, but geez… what are my strengths?!

Three words that best describe you… oh my… how can I describe myself…

I just went blank… uh caring… I said… Who says caring as a word that best describes you in an interview?! Well, I did…

And then, they asked if I had any questions, and we all kinda laughed because I had been asking questions the whole way through…

And then the weirdest thing happened, we started talking and got completely off topic, and then the one lady turns to her colleague and says… I really like her… right in front of me!

Then she says, well, it’s not normal practice but we think you would be great??

I was gobsmacked… and responded with ‘does that mean I get the job’?

And, I did. I’ve just received my employment letter in the post. I start next Tuesday.

I had got the job, the one I could have only dreamt about. Sure, it’s not what I know, and I’m sure I’ll face some challenges… but I’m an immigrant… we love challenges…

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Wow Red...

Glad it's all working out so well - sounds great. I am still struggling on the licence and the job - also a tall order looking for school hours. Best of luck!!

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Red I don't know what you did to those ladies but you certainly won them over by thre sounds of it!! I reckon it was because you were just being yourself, a nervous self yes but yourself anyway and I guess they liked that about you.

Congratulations!! now at least you have something local to put on that resume' of yours!

All the best

T

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Hi there

Glad things are going great with you guys.

Congrats on getting your license. All the best in your new job. Sounds perfect. Hope I am as lucky as you have been. Want to be home for the kids(dropping off and fetching afer school). Am a teacher BUT would like to do something else there.

Hope you still have time to compile your journal once you start working. :ilikeit:

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Yeah, that was my first concern as well ! Please keep writing, Red - I often only scan the forum for your posts ! You might even consider pursuing a career in writing, then you can stay home writing ! :lol:

Congratulations on your dream job, may you be blessed !!

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WOW Red that is so fantastic!!! I am so thrilled for you and I think YOU DESERVE IT!! I have never met you but think you are wonderful!!!

HUG HUG!!

Now tell me what you are going to be doing??? What does this job involve???

Did you see we posted our application?? The money has been deducted .........

Take care and ENJOY!!!

All the best

K

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WOW Red that is so fantastic!!! I am so thrilled for you and I think YOU DESERVE IT!! I have never met you but think you are wonderful!!!

HUG HUG!!

Now tell me what you are going to be doing??? What does this job involve???

Did you see we posted our application?? The money has been deducted .........

Take care and ENJOY!!!

All the best

K

:lol:

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WOW Red! Good going girl!! All the best and good luck for next week Tuesday! Isn't life great the way it pans out...?!

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Congrats!! I will be thinking of you next Tues.

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http://aussiesalute.weebly.com

I've decided to paste this here, because those of you that read the journal might like to see a little more of what we are up to.

Plenty of photo's still to be loaded, but I hope you see and enjoy a little of what Adelaide has to offer...

Take care,

red

Edited by Red
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Hi Red.

Wow, your journal is amazing and the photography stunning (are you a closet photographer?)

Best of luck for Tuesday and the new position.

We are coming to Adelaide from 28th June 09 till 12th July 09. Hope we can meet up somehow. Have found car rental with Acacia (they seem the cheapest and another forum member recommends them).

Accommodation: Looking at possibilities in Magill or Croydon Park (are these OK areas?) Just want a neat and clean self catering apartment or attachment onto house, where we can cook and do some laundry.

Coming on a 163, so will have hectic schedule trying to sort out a business, housing, schooling for 3 boys etc.

Cheeers

Pipit

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Red, I too are now in the process of doing my CV (with no Aussie experience) and I too want the job that will be able to fit around the kids school schedules.

All I can say is that you are an inspiration to me!!!!!

Thank you sooooo much!!!!

T

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