Sunday, July 4, 2010

DAY 43: Shoe on the other foot

My time at work is winding down but today was an interesting opportunity that allowed me to talk a lot about America. After spending the majority of the trip trying to learn as much about as Australia as humanly possible, I spent all day Friday talking about America - a fitting way to kick of the Fourth of July Weekend.

I showed up at work wearing casual clothes because I was told I would spend most of the day moving things - essential marketing skills. Well, when I got there, everyone seem confused as to why I was wearing shorts. Apparently, there was a miscommunication or rather, there was just no communication at all. Fortunately, I had packed my dress slacks and shoes just in case and went and changed in to them. When I got back from changing, I was told that I was in fact, going to spend most of the day moving things. It was very confusing. I didn't want to change again and just decided to get my work clothes a little dirty. Poor choice.

I spent the first half of the day moving cupboards, shelves, tables, TVs, and chairs. Everything but the kitchen sink, literally. The interesting part of the day was who/whom (I don't know the difference and my mom has been picky about my grammar so I made this multiple choice, you choose) I was working with. It was two young lifeguards my age. They had not been to America and had a ton of questions which I did my best to answer honestly but as far as they are concerned, our toilets are made of gold and it rains candy. We'll keep the truth between us, they'll never know.

After moving all of those things for the daycare, we went to the sport fields to move some stuff out of sheds. It was unbelievable some of the things we found. We found everything from Canoes to bottles of beer that looked to be about ten years old. Got through all of that and then went back to the office covered in dirt and grime. I only had about an hour left but spent it with one of the marketing directors. He considered going to the states to play hockey in college but in the end decided against it. He was very interested in how the NCAA works so I spent the last hour of my day talking more about America and its collegiate athletics. I could spend days talking about collegiate athletics and he actually wants to sit down at lunch and talk some more about it since it is something the Uni is trying to mimic.

After work, I hurried on home and got packed for Port Stephens. We made the two hour bus ride to the Port and arrived around 10:30. What'd we do? What college students do on a Friday night - went out looking for a place to um, hydrate. Well, the joke was on us. Port Stephens, like the rest of Australia shuts down at about 8:00 p.m. and we didn't know the area real well so we just went back to the apartment and headed to bed. Probably the best thing that happened to us. We had a full day scheduled Saturday and I am extremely happy I was well rested for it. Until next time...

Cheers!

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