Melbun

G'day! It is Saturday afternoon in a city down under, and I have a feeling that my carpels will hurt in a couple of hours because I have so much to say.

Let's begin with the 36-hour parentheses in time that was my journey to the other side of the planet. A calm, level-headed boyfriend of mine helped a pair of frantic Clark women complete (or partially complete) my company's medical benefits paperwork with a slow computer and erratic printer at T minus 2 hours to take-off. My mom and I agreed that it was a good thing that he took me to Hartsfield that evening. At the airport he was more travel-savvy and helpful than I have ever been and I am so grateful he was there with me and my luggage.

Unfortunately airlines don't always have the helpful qualities that J.T. possesses. Don't get me wrong; the only thing that wasn't smooth during my flights and transfers was the rough air over the Pacific. I slept well in the air (it was almost 19 hours total air time) and watched 4 on-demand movies, all the while tickled that I would never experience a day called June 12th, 2007 (well put, Billy). It wasn't until the end of the journey, on June 13th, that I found myself running circles around the luggage carousel and feeling just as 'out of place' as my luggage. It was like my belongings had been sucked into the non-existent day of June 12th.

All I'm going to say at this point is Thank Goodness I was in a country where I could ask bag services personnel in plain English where my luggage was. After confirming that my electric blue and overweight red trolley suitcases were on the next flight to Melbourne from L.A., I was given an address where I could claim A$100 as a 24 hour stipend.

If you're wondering, A$100 is about $83.00, and it will typically buy you a shirt if it's on sale. I was lucky to have great sales people at a mall I found 2 blocks away from my place who helped me find a great suit, shirt, and shoes for about A$220. I made friends for life! (Although later I found out the the company will reimburse me for all the clothes I bought while my luggage was missing. Apparently I should have gone hog-wild. Last time someone's luggage was lost, that person spent $3,000.00 in clothes...)

Backing up for a minute, my mood took a 180 when I saw where I would be living. I am staying in a company-sponsored corporate apartment at the Saville on Russell in downtown Melbourne. It has a full kitchen with a stove, oven, dish washer, toaster, microwave, coffee maker, dinnerware, and kitchen utensils. I have my own washer and dryer. There is a kitchen table and chairs, desk, internet connection, phone, living room with couch and coffee table and TV, bedroom with a queen, and a full bathroom. There is also a balcony with doors in my bedroom and the living room. When I arrived there was a cloth bag with complimentary fruit, bread, and jam. Everyday I come home to find my dirty dishes washed and put away; my bed made; the shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, and mini-bar replenished; and the apartment straightened and cleaned. (Yes, I've been bad about the mini-bar... I might get it removed and start buying groceries.) Room Service and movies on-demand are 24-hour luxuries as well. Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to be a spoiled brat.

Anyone want to come visit?

Onto work. A few blocks from the Saville is the 50-story Telstra building, where I work on the 50th floor. The stroll to work hasn't yet failed to be splendid; it makes for a brisk and pleasant morning walk with many other suit-and-tie pedestrians. Passing street cafes brimming with people-watchers, morning papers, conversation, and javaroma makes me happy. Javaroma is not a real word, but I think it well-describes the smell of coffee and bustle of people in the morning.

The coffee machine at work is like my new suitcase: gizmic. I couldn't figure the thing out at first... in fact, the only button I have figured out since the first day is the one for latte, so I drink lattes everyday. There is also breakfast food, snacks, and drinks that we expense to Amdocs.

The biggest change in my surroundings at the office, however, is the space around me at my desk. On both flights to L.A. and Australia I had 2 seats to myself. My cab had been an SUV, and my hotel apartment is a place my college friends and I would pack 12 people into. Room 6 of floor 50 is the size of my bedroom and is lined with table desks, outlets, and ethernet jacks. 7 (seven) of us are parked in there with our laptops and rules-of-thumb of looking both ways before you back up.

I won't talk much about work because even I don't understand it yet, but there are 7 of us on a particular stream of the project, and there is a LOT to do. We are working with IBM - and sometimes it seems like we are working FOR IBM - and there are deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. I have learned that things change daily in this business. This job will be challenging and it will allow me to exercise my people skills, technical skills, communication skills, presentation skills, leadership skills, teamwork skills, BS-ing skills...

Nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills...

Anyway! The good news is that the people in Room 6 don't smell bad or make stupid jokes - in fact, they are a lot of fun. They inducted me into the group on Thursday night with dinner, wine, beer, and tequila. (By the way, the food here isn't awesome, but it's not awful. If you find good, specialized, gourmet restaurants, I'm sure it's excellent, but since I'll eat anything, I don't mind settling for OK.) They took me to a bar/restaurant called Transport, but it was too crowded, so we went to the nicer restaurant above it called Taxi. But that was full too, so we went to the lounge on the third level called Transit. What a ride! Anyway, some local friends of my co-workers met us there and taught me how to say things like "Melbun" and "Nahyu". It's amazing how much this group reminds me of friends from home. Brian, there is a guy here who is you to a T. Well he's actually from Kansas, but in general the people born and raised in Melbourne are fantastic too!

Bear with me; I know I can't sign off before describing Melbourne a little bit better. Not counting Singapore, Melbourne is the cleanest, safest city I have ever encountered. My boss described the safety as follows: a girl could walk from one end of the city to the other 20 times in the middle of the night through all the alley-ways and never once run into trouble. Grandmary: not that I would ever do this. Having been here a few days, I haven't seen a single beggar or homeless person. (I'm pretty sure all homeless people get welfare.) The only people I have seen stationed on the streets are musicians and it seems that the only non-well-dressed people are college kids and tourists.

Mom-- beautiful, old churches. Going to one tomorrow but haven't decided which one. The culture... everyone is polite and says their Ps and Qs. The dress... no one's heard of Business Casual or Casual Fridays at work, even at the good ole phone company. (It just cracks me up because the rooms are so cramped and some of the conference rooms are so old - mismatching chairs and everything - and the dress is still suit and tie.)

The weather is a bit nippy at this time of year but nothing a jacket can't handle. I like to describe it as crisp. Other climatic features have proven to be quite interesting, though. Yesterday at 3 pm, we looked out of the office window at a sea of clouds beneath us. We couldn't see the streets or floors 1-35 of any building, but only white cotton candy and the tips of a few surrounding skyscrapers. And the sky of course. Isn't that cool? People were taking pictures because no one had seen anything like it before. I love Australia!

Oye, it's time to bog in and have some tucker. I'm starving.

P.S. Thanks for the comments and e-mails. I miss y'all a ton!