DAY 21: DOIN’ WORK

First of all, I can’t believe it has been three weeks. In the words of Harry Carey…”Holy Cow!” Anyway, today was by far my best day of work. I actually did something that amounted to real work. My supervisor for this week and the next, Matt (talked about him briefly in my Day 19 blog), actually trusts me and gives me real tasks. Today, I started by doing a handicap accessibility report for the sport aquatic centre. What this meant, was he wanted me to evaluate how handicap “friendly” the centre is. This is in preparation for their evaluation that is coming up within the next month. He then wanted me to create some sort of report they could present to the evaluator. So I wandered around took some notes and just recorded what my saw. I actually think I noticed some things because my dad, who is a facilities manager, would always tell me small little nuances in shopping centers that he had to deal with. I created my report and he was very impressed. He said, “What the bloody hell do I owe you for this, mate?” which roughly translates to “This is the best piece of work I have ever seen…ever” okay that might be a stretch but he was impressed and I think it was the first words of encouragement I have heard since being there.

After that, I had an appointment with a cleaner that I set up on Monday. We needed a quote on some carpet cleaning. This wasn’t a vital assignment but it was nice because it was completely MY assignment and I had ownership of it and took care of it. I then did the exact same thing with a carpenter for some flooring for one of their locker rooms. Again, not a huge task but MY task. I did some other little tasks during the day but those were the major ones and it was a nice change of pace.

After work, I headed home and was starving. Naturally, I went to the grocery store. There is a small market in the front of the store that is owned by a Lebanese family. I will have to blog about it at some point. Perhaps, when I blog about the coffee shop I can kill two birds with one stone. The owner, Joe has gotten to know me because I am in there so often. They have all sorts of really cool foreign foods, which I really enjoy, and fruits and vegetables. Today, as I was just wondering around, Joe, who must be 6’6”, yelled at me “Jown yooo like hooomus” which means, “Jon, do you like hummus”. No, I don’t like hummus, I love hummus. Apparently, they have the best in Sydney. He said people drive all the way from North Sydney just for their hummus. They had a sample and I tried it. He was right – it was the best hummus I have ever had – absolutely delicious. He even gave me some Indian spices to heat it up just a little bit. Let’s just say Joe takes care of me. I got a container of Hummus, a tomato, a green pepper, and an entire package of Lebanese bread for $5.00. I think I have a man crush.

Well, I didn’t want to go through all of the hummus in one night so Nick Birck, one of my Purdue friends, and I decided to make chicken tacos. Obviously, they were delicious. I then had an Anzac cookie to wash it all down. Someone has got to try making those. If not, I am making them as soon as I come back. So this has turned into another entry about food. I am really sorry about that but it’s a big part of the Aussie culture…I think. Tomorrow should be a pretty relaxed day. Class, haricut probably, work out and then go out for one of the Purdue Student’s birthday. Should be a good time. Until then…

Cheers!