One Month In!

Yay for me, I survived a month in a new city without a job and friends. Disclosure, it’s a few days short of a month but 29 Days In just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Also I make I sounds as if the city I moved to has been taken over by a zombie army hellbent on killing me with no running water and no other survivors.

I probably could not have picked a better place to try this whole year abroad thing. First of all, everyone is friendly and lovely. Secondly it’s a bonafide First World Country which means luxuries for days. Thirdly, it’s summer which just makes everything better. And finally I’ve been working my ass off so I’m kinda reaping a bit of what I sowed.

To begin…I have sent out 74 job applications in the month I have been here. I have joined five temp agencies/recruiters.  I have been on 23 interviews including three group interviews which are the worst thing ever. I’m not sure why they are a thing. I have walked from one end of the city to the other in a blazer trying to look professional but merely looking sweaty and red-faced. I have printed a gazillion copies of my resume and references and I can now school people on my cover letter skills.

So after all that, I can say that I am on my first temping assignment and it’s all going well. I am enjoying not perusing Craigslist daily for a new job (until the assignment ends and then I’ll be bookmarking that shit) and it’s great to feel productive. Before this my only achievement was not eating junk food. As is life, I've also be contacted for more interviews while on this placement. Obviously I cannot go which means the universe is just taunting me again. Like that time I thought I had lost weight but my jeans actually just stretched.

In case you didn't realise, this is the pink strip in Vancouver.

 This job couldn't have come at a better time. Vancouver is very expensive. That’s all aspects of Vancouver. If you’re willing to shop around, you can definitely be smart about saving money. But housing and transport will kill you. The transport is great here. The trains are fast and always on time. The buses are mostly always on time. And they’re a bit more confusing. But I’m making my way. I am started to worry when it gets colder or wet. I’m not so sure I’ll be lamenting the joys of the public transport then. Unless you’re really lucky, you need public transport to and from your place of work. This is where the costs creep up on you like a dodgy guy at a club. The nice thing is once you move to the right Zone, you will be saving daily. The bad news is there’s just no way around the cost though.

So apart from being a working girl, I also moved. My dream was to live Downtown. The rents crushed that dream. Unless of course I was open to sharing a room, literally living in a living room or in a closet (no joke) I was not going to be able to afford it on my savings. So I started to look around (never giving up hope on that Downtown dream though) and I found cheaper, worse, okay, better and nicer places. 

This is bike polo. Which is real. Apparently. 

Some of them had weird rules, others were a health hazard. But in the end I found a great house with other people from around the world. It’s close to the trains, the neighbourhood is pretty and the WiFi is included. I just need a moment to discuss the amount of available WiFi in this city. I love walking past all the places I've visited and have my phone instantly connect. It’s definitely one of those things I’ll miss.

My new hood. 

Other highlights in my life are:

Experiencing my first bit of rain. It was a light drizzle, it was humid and my hair didn’t go big.

Watching the fireworks at English Bay for the Celebration of Light. We went to watch France’s night and even managed to score free tickets to the observation deck.

The Pride Parade! Not just the parade but the build-up like the stadium being lit up in rainbow colours, Davie Street and getting free shit. People walk the parade and hand out stuff. It’s amazing. I walked away with two rainbow flags, beads, coffee, band-aids, seeds, sweets and condoms. Lots of condoms.

Discovering Michaels craft shop. If you know me, really me, you'll know how much this means.

I'm still enjoying all the coffee. I now just have the iced versions.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh! 

Monday's Mantra

This week is going to be fabulous.
I believe I will be 24 years old this week.
I'm addicted to all things sweet and it's starting to show.
I wish it was raining and I was snuggled up in bed with a good book.
I'm jealous of Lauren from The Hills. She has my life!
Soundtrack/Mantra for the week Oh Happy Day!

Things That I ♥ and Things That Bug Me

Things That I ♥:

I love dramatic makeup. I love smokey eyes even more. Unfortunately I have the sort of eyelids that cause my eyeliner to smudge and the eyeshadow to disappear into the crease. Very disappointing when I’m working a full day and want to show off my smokey purple look. Now I don’t have to worry about it. I recently purchased MAC’s Liquid Eye Liner in Boot Black and I have fallen in love. I can do thick or thin lines and neither smudge or rub off. I can even do winged tips and get them right on the first time. No more cotton buds and makeup remover for me.

Buying new underwear. I know I shouldn’t be spending unnecessary money. I should be trying to save for a fabulous holiday next year but sometimes I cannot resist. And considering that I went through the whole of the recent sale season without buying a thing, I need to charge me some happiness. Luckily I was still able to enjoy the last dregs of some sales. I went to one of those fancy shops in the Waterfront’s Millionaire Mile. Something I have not been able to do in a while due to my lack of funding. Halfway through the month I may not be able to go out but at least my knickers will look good.

The rainy weather. Gives me an excuse to wear a fabulous black knit over a LBD with some black boots (with eye liner of course). And also means I can have hot chocolate tonight with a marshmallow and not feel guilty. I mean, look at the weather. It’s hot chocolate weather.

Things That Bug Me:

Why does it seem like every second girl in Cape Town has a blunt fringe and bangs? And these are also the girls were think that wearing tights as pants is acceptable. It. Is. Not. Tights are not pants not matter how bitchin’ they look. And I’m serious on the last part, wet look tights are to die for. If you can afford the chopped layers and fringe lop surely you can afford a longer top to cover your tights ass seam. Or maybe a skirt. Better yet get some skinny jeans and they will have the same effect. And they will actually be pants.

Skinny Bitches watch a lot of TV. We’re those types of girls. We cannot afford satellite and our parents are being evil and will not buy it for us either. So we decided the next best thing was signing up for PushPlay. I think it’s the equivalent of the Netflix except you get them delivered to your home or office. Now PushPlay have this fabulous free week trial where you can have, at any time, three DVDs in your possession. Sounds awesome. Except we have signed up looking forward to watch some rom-coms over the weekend and nothing has arrived. What a let-down. In case anyone who works there is reading this, we will still use your service, mostly because your range of TV series is unrivaled. But please, be a love and send us some DVDs.

The rainy weather may be nice for my outfit of the day but it also makes my hair frizz. Also I want to stop wearing scarves and remembering to carry my umbrella. I want to see the sun and be warm and get a tan. And I want to buy fabulous pairs of gold and silver sandals.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Happy (Rainy) Spring Day

Stolen from Juz's blog post A Toast to Spring Day in Cape Town:

For more drinking-related cartoons (are there any better ones?!) visit Juz, Jax & El.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

The Sun Is In The Sky...

...why oh why would I wanna be anywhere else.

That may be the case today, yesterday was a different story. If you didn't hear about it, Cape Town was flooded. Look at the pictures taken of our office park: