Started the new job today. Just a training, so haven't been on the phone yet. It doesn't look too bad, what we do is providing shareholders of a certain company with information and ask them a few questions. Though working from Monday to Saturday is not my ideal, it should be ok for three weeks. And the shifts end at 3 pm (5 pm on Saturday).
Had a great day yesterday. Went to see the Dali exhibition in the Customs House with Jeannette.
A very lazy Sunday today. Worked Friday and Saturday. Friday was ok, yesterday was a lot worse. A lot of people were annoyed by being called on a Saturday and I can't blame them. I would have refused the Sunday shift, must be awful! The good thing though is we have a nice bunch of people. Many backpackers who had much better jobs at home and who all do this just to be able to be in Sydney or Oz in general. Mostly English in my group. Yesterday after finishing work, a few of us went to the pub. And from there to Taco Bell and off to another pub that had a band and a DJ. Ended there with two South Africans, two poms (one of them looking very much like Ben Affleck!) and two dutchies. Had a really good time chatting and dancing. It's nice meeting more people through work. Must say, I am not looking forward to doing six days of calling people. But there are worse jobs and as said, the colleagues are nice.
Had a quiet Friday night. Got up at seven on Saturday morning and went down to buy the paper. Half an hour later, Wendy joined me and made coffee, so we had a relaxed and early start of the day. Started work at ten.
Went to Chinatown for lunch today. Ended up talking to an older Australian couple, very nice people. They asked me what kind of work I did, and when I said I worked in a call center, the lady went awfully quiet. After a few minutes I found out she thought a call center was related to an escort service or phone sex or whatever. Pretty funny.
Will finally go to the Noodle Festival tomorrow, with Cecile. Have some noodles and wine while looking at the Opera House. There are worse things in life.
Saturday night, by the way, was a real test for me as I quit smoking. That's been very easy, apart from times when I drink beer, and I drank quite a few of them. However, I didn't smoke! Am determined to quit altogether and I think I can manage after last night!
On Tuesday night I went to the Noodle Festival with Cecile. We had the most fantastic okanosenaki (or whatever you spell it), a sort of Japanes pancake that my friend Siu Fung cooked for me once in Holland. Hadn't seen Cecile for two weeks, so it was nice catching up.
Today I didn't do much. Worked, as usual, had a nice lunch with Graham and Noel, two of the guys from work and did my gym/exercise routing after work. Then spent an hour getting a tan in the garden.