Getting Plugged In

Well I've done it. I've moved in here in Brisbane.

I think Brisbane is going to keep me very happy for the few months I'll be spending here. I have been in Brisbane a full 3 weeks and I've managed to make some great friends, learn the city pretty good, find a very nice church, line up a temp job, and am in the interview process for my more long term job.

So! Friends in Brisbane! On the Tuesday after my first Sunday here in Brisbane I went to a CouchSurfing Social Event. Depending on the size of the city and the amount of people in any CS community sometimes the CS ambassador to that area host social events, usually at a bar type place. Brisbane does fortnightly meetings on Tuesdays. At this event I ended up meeting 4 awesome people: Paul(AU), Claire(UK), Noa(BE), and Andrea(IE). They invited me to go climbing with them the following day and I've been hanging with them ever since (Noa left to go work on a farm but was replaced by a girl named Katey(yeah you wanted to know that right?)). We go climbing an average of 3 times a week! And I can't really explain how happy that makes me. We climb together, hang out together, and have all become surprisingly good friends over a short amount of time.

The City! Brisbane is an amazing city. It's 2 million people and change, and pretty spread out. I love the public transport system here, some people hate it, but I try to look on the sunny side (At least I don't have to walk) It's taken me a while to learn the city and I know there is still tons I don't know. But, I can get from my place to anywhere people want to meet and back (with the help of the internet every now and then) via the bus system. Most importantly I can get where I need to rock climb all the time, a place stereotypically named "Kangaroo Point". The city has tons to offer to make sure I never get bored. Usually I don't like big cities(Some could argue that this still isn't), but this is defiantly the largest city that I have still liked.

Church! Keperra Baptist- Thanks to Em Aitkin (Russia mission trip friend mentioned in last post) I have gotten plugged in and am loving it here. It's not the biggest church but it has a good heart and is full of genuine people. I've only gone to a hand full of services and event type things, but I'm being welcomed and am sure that soon I'll be a regular. Thanks to Em being awesome- She has already talked with the appropriate people and wants me to help with a youth camp in September. So that combined with my continued appearance at other church functions will hopefully get me felling nice and at home ASAP :)

Temp Job- So Paul, the guy I met at that CS social event, gave me a job! He owns NFI (a furniture instillation company) and is currently letting me do warehouse work- organizing bays, cleaning the warehouse, unloading and loading shipments, inventory.... that kind of stuff. He is currently in the process of selling his business and I am currently looking into a job closer to my house, so this is definitely a temp job. But it's a nice temp job that I am familiar with thanks to my previous warehouse experience.

More Permanent job! Bunnings (Pretty much the Australian version of a Lowes) There is a Bunnings a block from where I live, and Robyn (the lady I am renting a room from) suggested that I apply there. Apparently they liked my application and gave me a phone interview! I ROCKED the phone interview, made a joke, rocked the "foreign" accent and now I have a group interview on Tuesday. And I know once I get face-to-face I've got the job! Unfortunately, yes, I did have to trim the beard. I know I know, it was a sad day. But I would not have gotten the job with the crazy beard I had. So I trimmed up some and am looking forward to working at Bunnings!

I love feeling plugged in here in Brisbane. It makes me happy that I have a community of good friends who are active and nice people. I am very excited to be part of a rockin church. Australia is treating me very well so far. I have yet to go camping (Something I hope to fix within the next two weeks). Several of my friends are currently traveling abroad including my good friend Connor Lawson who named his blog Connor Goes Abroad - No idea where he got the name but I am really looking forward to reading it!

I hope this blog post finds you all well and I look forward to hearing from you!

Take Care
Happy Trails
Steve

PS- New Twitter: @SteveGoesAbroad and New ICQ # 670274477