So after my family and I returned from our Margaret River adventure over Easter. I started on the job hunt. I created profiles, I uploaded resumes, and even met with various placement firms. I was going through the motions as far as what I assumed people found work. I quickly learned the job hiring process goes in waves. First, you get a phone call from say a recruiter after applying to a job posting online, then you get a face to face with the said recruiter, then they contact you a week later with an interview time with the company. This process seems to work fairly well, I am not a huge fan of added layers in a simple process, but understand the need for a companies to have someone else screen their applicant. Must save a great deal of time actually because the majority of adds out there on SEEK, the most heavily used job search sit in Australia, are in fact posted by placement firms on behalf of their clients.
So my first wave of applications and follow up calls was in the books. Now my job hunt relaxed a little as I wait for the placement firms to get back to me. I spent this time studying the companies which I had application in for. I wanted to have a good idea about the company prior to the interview. Most important though I needed to be available.
My parents good friends here in Perth had made a spur of the moment decision to head up north on an extravagant 10 day vacation in the Kimberly. Where temperature it HOT, the water is BLUE, the tide it 30 FEET and the crocodiles are to say the least PRESENT! They were doing the trip right on a large yacht with three other couples, a personal chef, two dingy boats and a helicopter. The fished, hiked, and toured all day every day. Seeing places very few people have ever seen or will ever see.
Anyway, per the title of this post, they have a 10 year old son and needed a babysitter while they were up north. My first job in Australia was technically a Manny. I gladly accepted the job. I stayed at the house every night and if anything were to come up on the career job front I had my mother that was, but a phone call away. She was happy to help anytime I needed her, much appreciated.
Babysitting for a ten year old was a great learning experience for me. I must admit, I have no idea how full time working moms manage raising a child and their careers at the same time. I could maybe see part time, but full time absolutely not. Between all of the cooking, shopping, chauffeuring to activities and school work I do not know where anyone would fit in a full time job and stay sane. I give it up to all of the full time working moms out there I know there are a ton.
The week went by almost with out a hitch, the little guy did get sick one night, but took a child aspirin and slept it off by morning. It was great taking him to all of his after school and weekend activities, the little guy has quite the schedule between tennis, basketball practice and games, and footy (Australian Football) practice and games. There were not many days off. Footy is a great game, I must say I would have loved to play it growing up, a LOT of running kicking tackling etc. great high energy/intensity, fast paced, high scoring game.
I did have the opportunity to go out with some friends to a footy game at the Subiaco Oval just up the street from their house one night. I saw the Dockers loose in a nail-biter to Essendon at the last minute. AFL game was off my check list of Australian things to do. I would gladly go to another one though, had a great time. Also, important to note here. My parents have decided that Foxtel, the Australian cable service is no good so they they decide to save their money and not buy cable. This is all well and fine, but they also do not have a DVR. If you are an American sports enthusiast living on the other side of the world you miss just about every game due to the fact that they are generally played in the middle of the night or very early in the morning! So frustrating! The house where I was staying had both Foxtel and a DVR, I filled it up with every minute of Masters coverage I could find, a few baseball games, basketball games as soon as the little guy went to school I was parked with the lap top in front of the telly:) What a golf tournament by the way. A great day in Australian sports history! Well done Adam Scott.
This is not to say that all I did was sit and watch TV while I was there. I got out of the house quite a bit actually. I was also looking after a 3 year old lab which I took on many walks to the park. I sneaked out to the golf course a few times while the little guy was at school, I completed a 3D puzzle of the world, I assisted in making a volcano and exploding a two liter with a mento. Etc. This was basically week three of being in the country. I was still in I guess somewhat of culture shock so, I was easing myself into the Aussie life.
At the end of it, he was well fed (salmon was a popular choice on the menu believe it or not a 10 year old that likes salmon), healthy, sad to see me go, but very excited to have his parents back. I would consider it a job well done;) I must admit, I did feel a little guilty taking money for babysitting, considering I had such a good time as well. They were more than generous and I was very appreciative. After all I could use the spending money, everything is more expensive in Perth and I needed to get out and do things. The first thing I spent money on was taking my parents out to a fancy dinner in downtown Perth to show my appreciation for all that they have done and are doing for me.
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