Melbourne in the fast lane

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Well that was some transition. After months and months of living the slow life, it seems that our routine day to day living has just kicked into high gear. It’s amazing how the human being can adapt so quickly. Seven days later and we feel like our lives have always been that busy.
So in a week (just one week!), here is what we’ve experienced:

We found this really great house in which to live for a while. We help out a wonderful permaculture teacher sort out her life before her big move to Japan in three weeks. In exchange, we get a nice bed in the attic, some seriously delicious food, some free Japanese lessons and a really good friend. Oh and the house seems to be the hub for all the cat traffic in Northern Melbourne. There’s always a new one to be pet!

Through Cecilia, we got the chance to have dinner with Edward de Bono, PhD in creativity, millionaire collector of remote islands and the originator of the expression “lateral thinking”. Quite impressive to many, but to us with only our brief encounter, he will remain an old dude who enjoys the company of young ladies and who likes word games in which he is surprisingly uncreative. Nice chap though.

We learned that in Melbourne, it is common practice for people to hire out furniture for $ 400 a week. Add that up as you like, but that comes up to $ 10,000 in 6 months. We are seriously thinking about just buying some random couches to rent out and live like kings without working ever again.

We live with this wonderful Japanese girl who teaches us new words and expressions every night. She also teaches us traditional customs like calligraphy and which meals not to order in Chinatown. She does nothing to alleviate stereotypes we might have of her people though, going as far as taking a photograph of a photograph instead of asking us to send her the .jpeg by email. But that’s why we love her.

Having finally a decent and constant Internet connection, we got lost in Google street view, seeing where Tamami lives and works in Tokyo and showing her all the beautiful murals of Sherbrooke. To our big surprise, when we showed her where I worked downtown, we saw Francis, Raphael and Dominic, three of my coworkers taking a break outside while the Google van took those pictures. Get back to work you slackers! We’re not paying you to sit around in the sun!

We also met this hippy chick who suggested we do like her and find a nice house in the suburbs in which to live. And by nice house, she meant one owned by rich businessmen who do not actually live there and where you just have to cross a couple of wires to get free power, free gas and free telephone. She’s been staying at the same place that way for the past two years. Her advice: live comfortably, but always be ready to run like the devil if the cops do finally turn up.

So all of that in one single week. No wonder we’re a bit tired these days. But it’s a welcome change of pace, and Melbourne really is a wonderful town. I think we’re going to fit in just fine.

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