What's up?

There's nothing to write about. There's no energy to write anything with, in any case.


I've been running around for days now, dealing with some errands, fixing my teeth, finishing up the tutoring (although the kids are horrible), looking for some shopping goodies (although they're all too expensive) and simply trying to catch a breath.


I feel like switching my phone off and dozing off on my parents' terrace. Now that I think of it, it's probably them who'd be unhappy with a situation development like that, but all in all, it seems like a good plan.


There's not much to do but wait for some news from Australia. I'm even too reluctant to start packing or to even start considering what I'd take. First of all, I don't even own a suitcase. Not that I didn't look for any. I did. They're just either too ugly, too rigid or, naturally, too expensive. Someone told me that expensive cases get stolen a lot. Thanks for the paranoia.


I did find shades though! And I was thrilled to do so, I have to admit. I've been wearing specs for over ten years now and, aside from being immensely annoyed by them, not being able to wear shades along with them has turned me into a squinting monstrosity. I have therefore decided to go with contacts and shades.


As I said, I ran into a really huge variety of specs, some really good and of nice quality and not even that expensive. And some of them don't even make me look like an island-hopping Western redneck with a waterfall mullet. I say yay!


I'll have to go back and pick out a pair though, since it was almost closing time and I couldn't really decide. I'm just glad I found some good ones. Good bye, squinting days!


I also got some good deals on some trousers and some sorts of sweaters, so all in all it was a good day. (I can't believe I'm talking about shopping! Damn you, girls!)


My sister took me shopping (and bought some stuff for me) which is great, since I have no problem walking around in torn up and oversized clothes whatsoever. She's the one who usually says yes or no to things. I rarely see myself anyway.


Here's some shoes that are being pondered upon. I'm sure you girls won't mind. (I still can't believe I'm talking about shopping...)

I can't believe it was yesterday and not today though. I have a feeling like today has lasted for four hours, and not twenty-four.


I better hit the sack before midnight strikes. G'night!

Argh!

It's a bit painful to realize that one of the things that piss me off the most is non-working Internet.


The thing that pisses me off even more is the fact that it always fails when I need it the most.


I've been skyping and dealing with some translations and über-weird requests,  correspondence and all kinds of shit for hours now and then, when I needed to check something really important, it dies out and it isn't showing everything.


Wanna check your Visa status? No can do.
Wanna check your flight booking? Tough luck.


What's important is that all kinds of bullshit celebrity news, penis enlargement ads and lose-weight-by-going-to-the-theatre are popping up from all sides.


Maybe that's why it's not showing anything important.


Fuck you, Internet!

Rainbow Serpent

The Kabi tribe on the Queensland coast of Australia worship Dhakhan, the rainbow, an ancestral spirit part fish and part snake that resides in deep water holes. He appears in the sky as a rainbow when he is passing from one hole to the other.

From Oxford Dictionary of World Mythology

Rainbow Serpent

Long long ago in the Dreamtime, a group of aboriginals were out hunting for kangaroos. It had been raining and the ground was soft making it difficult for the hunters to catch their prey. The hunters came to a clump of trees near the edge of a small plain and decided to rest in the shade.

The hunters sat around resting, telling stories and warming their hands by the fire when on the horizon they saw a beautiful multi-coloured arch - a rainbow. It was the rainbow snake moving from his old waterhole to another. They were a little fearful as they did not want this hugh brightly coloured serpent in a waterhole near their camp.

When the hunting party returned to their camp, the children ran out to great them. Even though they caught only 2 kangaroos - not really enough to feed everyone - there would be singing and dancing - a big corroboree that night.

During the corroboree, a young hunter went over to where the old men were sitting and asked them to tell him about the Rainbow Snake - if everyone was so fearful of him why could he not spear him then no one would fear this serpent any more?

The old men were horrified and explained that the Rainbow Snake was one of the Dreamtime creatures who had shaped the earth. In the beginning the earth was flat, a vast barren plain. As the Rainbow Snake wound his way across the land, the movement of his body heaped up the mountains and dug troughs for the rivers. With each new thrust of his huge multi-coloured body, a landform was created. He was the biggest of the Dreamtime Beings. At last, tired with the effort of shaping the earth, he crawled into a waterhole to be cooled and soothed and then sank out of sight.

Each time the animals visited the waterhole they were careful not to disturb the Rainbow Snake for although they could not see him, they knew he was there. Then one day after a huge rainstorm his huge coloured body was arched up from the waterhole, over the tree-tops, up through the clouds and across the plain to another waterhole.

To this day, aboriginals are careful not to disturb the Rainbow Snake as they see him going across the sky from one waterhole to another.

Michael J Connolly

Munda-gutta Kulliwari

Dreamtime Kullilla-Art

Take off

It's another special day. As always, I'm looking forward to another take off. I still think the feeling of being lifted off the ground whilst taking off is exhilarating. Once more, I'm eagerly awaiting it.

What's weird is that I don't know what type of a plane it is. I usually know this stuff. Too well, in fact.

I don't seem to mind it as we roll toward the runway, but I have this gut feeling nevertheless. I've learned to follow it.

There's no announcements by neither the hostesses nor the pilot. I just find it weird. No one on the plane is making a sound, which is also super weird, especially since people usually hen off as soon as they grab a seat and exponentially raise their voice as the engine noise gets louder and louder.

I look out the window and realize we're actually taking off from a school parking. I don't seem to figure out how we're gonna take off, but I don't seem to mind.

As we start accelerating in order to take off, everyone's excited and looking out the window. I'm keeping my eyes on the tree line, which is alarmingly close.

'He knows what he's doing', I think to myself, and I lean back and enjoy.

We're ascending, but not as much as we should. The plane tips over and the left wing gets pinned in the tree tops.

We flip around and I know we're crashing.

Any thoughts?

The more I think of it, the scarier it gets.

Maybe the trick is not to think at all. Maybe I should just take off as soon as I can in order to avoid all the possible, numerous and sure-to-happen incidents involving people, places and events.

People ask me how I cope with the idea of moving so far away...


Well, first of all, it's not an idea - it's happening. And secondly, I have no idea whatsoever.


How am I supposed to cope with it? How am I supposed to prepare?


Now everyone's so eager to hang out and meet up and hit it off, and the only thing I can think of is it's only going to be harder and harder.


Don't get me wrong - I'm doing this! It's what I've been working for and what I've been looking to. But that doesn't mean it's going to be hard as hell.


I honestly can't imagine my life down under. Even as I was leaving for India, I had an image of how it all worked and what it looked like, so when I got there, it was more about recognizing familiar situations than actually experiencing my own. It's weird.


And even though I've heard so many stories about Australia, this really is a big step. My head feels like a frisbee (or maybe a boomerang, to be more precise) and I can't seem to collect my thoughts.


There's just this long list of things I need to sort out. The problem is I have no idea where to start!


I just grabbed a plastic bag to start cleaning up a bit (so that I can get to the stuff I need to pack) and what I did was empty the trash can and leave it by the door. That's it.


It's gonna be a looong way...

Teaser alert no more

Here I am...


Sorry for the teaser, but I really was dead tired.


The good news is I kicked ass on my IELTS. My average score is 8/9 and, although some marks are a bit different than what I expected, I'm satisfied. After all, I needed a minimum of 5/9 for my Visa, so that's sorted!


Once I'll be applying for a permanent residence, I'll have to take it (and pay for it) again, but that's just how this shit world works, I guess. Also, you get no detailed feedback whatsoever - just the marks. But you could pay for them!


I hate it!


Other than that, my Nomination was approved, which means I am approved to come and work in Australia as much as any Australian citizen or resident.


Other than that, I got assigned a Case Officer, so now I'm able to communicate one on one, instead of sending numerous replies to info@... and thus telling the same story over and over again to dozens of different people.


Even though it doesn't sound like much, those are really big steps! My CO (who's Indian, by the way...) only told me I need to get my chest x-ray done, so I'm guessing nothing else is a real issue, or he'd mention it.


I've done my chest x-ray on Monday, which is now (five to seven days) being reviewed by two doctors, then sent to Vienna and then mailed to Australia for the Perth Centre of Excellence to review it as well. As soon as I get my IELTS results to my home address, I'll scan them and send them over and that'll complete all the necessary documentation I need to send it.


Once that's done, I'm only waiting for my CO to let me know if everything's OK and if it is, the visa is granted pretty much the next day!


Now, considering the fact that it shouldn't take longer than two to three weeks to send the x-ray images down under, I might actually have my visa granted within that time. That means I would be taking off within four or five weeks!


That's just crazy!

Update

I have some news, but I'm so tired I can't write now.


Be excited, haha...

Oh, happy day!

Only because I was told I'll have to write about the good stuff happening am I expressing my joy!


I woke up this morning to find an email in my inbox letting me know that I have been awarded a Case Officer. That means I now have a one-on-one way of communication regarding all the paperwork involved. No more general inquiries and emails!


To prove that good thought follow good thoughts, I checked my Nomination application and found it that is approved too! That means the Visa application is up and rolling.


I have my chest x-ray scheduled for Monday and I'm getting my IELTS results on Wednesday. Being that I pretty much breezed through the paperwork so far (thank goodness!), I'm hoping that the rest of the application will go smooth as well.


That's all, folks! Many grinning greetings from Slovenia!

Traffic

As I was walking around Klagenfurt yesterday and today, I've grown to realize how big the cultural difference is.


People say it's all about the country and the customs, and how you get use to them and how well you implement them. When it comes to Austria, it seems that everyone's on the same page.


People start slowing down when you're still pretty far away from the zebra crossing. They let the pedestrians pass and then slowly keep going, but only once you're on the other side of the street.


In Zagreb - if they even stop - they'll brake hard, then wroom their heads off and then, once you're a centimetre away from the car, they'll skid and zoom away. It's not different countries - it's different worlds!


Not to mention the people who honk. I'd seriously introduce a system by which one gets his license taken away. I've got so many examples, but the worst one is when there's a traffic jam: cars crammed together in three lanes, no one is able to budge, there's dozens of cars in a row and there's one smartass who keeps honking. Like that's gonna change the situation.


He's in a hurry and eager to be Superman, but I'm just in the wrong place at the wrong time and shall thus loose my sense of hearing?


Sod off!


People who honk at girls passing by. At cyclists driving on the lane, as they're supposed to. People like that.


Instant loss of their driver's licence. And then you'll ponder upon your culture and attitude. Fuckers!


I'd wish for a magic stick which would make them take the tests again, along with a programme to fix their courtesy and anger management issues.


Fuck you!

No dress code at work

As silly as it might sound, this is the best news I've gotten in the last couple of days.


You can put me in a room full of people I don't know and I'll be fine. You can drop me at a city centre in a foreign country and I'll find my way. But make me wear a suit and I'll feel like a caged bird.


It's simply one of the most unnatural and uncomfortable things imaginable for me. I wore it a couple of time simply because I had to. Weddings, choir championships and that's about it. I think the only other time I'd wear one would be if I would get married. And even then I'd probably hesitate and tell everyone to sod off 'cause it's my day!


A shirt and dark trousers are fine. I don't have a problem with that. But the "institution" of a tuxedo is just so horrible. The tie that chokes you to death, the shoes that make you sound like a boulevard bimbo and the sleeves that make you hook everything possible and crash it to the floor like a ton of bricks.


I just skyped with my officer K, who (luckily for me) informed me there's no dress code at the office whatsoever. I'm still grinning.


I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm just so glad to hear this. One less thing to carry around with me. Or I might just burn it.

This is as far as I could bear going in the suit-up direction

What?

I don't know what's getting over me, but I keep running into heaps of proverbs and wise ones, as I call them.


The reason may be the fact that I have been going through the Draft folder on my Gmail account and, not weirdly at all, found some of these among 283 messages waiting to have some sense made out of them.


All the thinking about and pondering upon life and future and stuff is resulting in some reminders popping up and smacking me on the cheek. It's probably stuff that indeed needs pondering upon, but it's not something I'd put on top of my weekend what-to-do list.


I have had a really hectic couple of days, working on getting the last bits of paperwork (bits meaning 25 or so papers translated, certified, printed, signed, scanned, emailed aso.), preparing for the IELTS and taking it, all with an inflamed nerve that kept flashing from the middle of my back up into my brain stem. Lovely, no?


Yeeeah, no.


There were additional things: preparing for a friend-meeting trip around Austria, Slovenia and around, planning a good-bye party (which, luckily, my friends have the most to do with), almost going to a party on the mountain above my city and much more stuff. Not to mention the dishes, laundry, cleaning up, getting everything ready.


If that wasn't enough, I didn't get almost any sleep at all, and even when I managed to fall asleep for 15 minutes, I'd dream someone haunting me or running away from someone. Three days in a row and your brain starts to forget what it feels like to be normal.


On the train to Austria I ran into every possible school excursion out there. It was just mind boggling to comprehend why the hell this was happening to me. People yelling, compartments filled with pimpled adolescents, mobiles being used for a detailed what-he-told-said-and-what-I-told-him-next two-hour reports next to my seat...


And then I run into this:

Here's one for you, and yeah, it's a bum-me-out one

And I'm thinking wooot?!

Saturday morning

It's Saturday morning and I'm up. Got awaken by Ante, who gets up with the sunrise. But I got a gift t-shirt from Australia. Will be great for the flight in, right?

This is what's on the t-shirt

Off

Greetings from Klagenfurt!

I do *not* look good in sunlight

I'm awake.


Of course. Mum's neighbour friend sits on the door bell with the crack of dawn. I can't blame her 'cause she's always so nice, but do not ring my bell before eight!


So I go back to bed and I can't really sleep, but I'll doze off a bit more since my neck is stiff and I press it and squeeze it to prevent the nerve inflammation I'm so wonderfully prone to, but my hand is tired and it's too painful and I just give up and roll over, trying to find a position which is the least disturbing.


I manage to doze of, only to get awaken by a Skype call. I'm on Away, but that's OK. It's my officer from Perth. I sit up in my bed and can't even come to my senses, so I contact her to call me again.


After a total of two minutes, the electricity goes out and the call is terminated. So third world.


I slip on a pair of trousers and a shirt and run to my friend's house. Being that he lives in Austria and that no one seems to be at home, I subtly stand in his front yard, leeching off his WiFi and trying to explain to my co-worker-to-be two continents away why there's cars and buses passing me by.


Mental note: do not stand in the sunlight with a camera showing how you look close up in the morning.


And the day has only just begun...

The Internet

There's not much that can piss me off more than a non-working Internet.


After billions of [insert currency] being invested in it, after decades of making it better, after years of paying for the fucking provider and the traffic and the speed and what fuck not, it's not working.


You open five tabs and it all gets blocked up. Some it opens with no problem, some it just won't and thus breaks the whole CPU usage, crashes everything and makes me flip out like I rarely do.


Fucking Internet!


Fuck fuck fuck! Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!


I look around and there's not enough swear words. I yell, but I restrain myself, because I think someone might hear me and think I've got my leg clenched in between two trucks. Or my scalp stuck in the over doors. Something like that.


The windows are simply not closed enough.


Maybe I could rent a recording studio once a month and just scream there until someone kicks me out.


I get that feeling I get when I see a fly come into the room and bang against the glass window a hundred times. It won't learn. It sees what it wants and it knows it's freedom, but it can't get there.


I think to myself oh man, how stupid are these flies and I help it out by trying to get it to fly under the window and out into the garden.


They really are that stupid.


And then it hits me that I might be that fly. That someone else is looking down on me and laughing at my silliness.


Look. What a stupid boy.


Surely someone with a CRS-3 connection.

Brain

Feeling a bit like this.

A CD cover made by my friend Alek

The desk

Sometimes I see things like these and wish I was a bit craftier.

By manoteca; check more here

Ranting and raving and stuff

Here I am.


5 GBs of photos, a grammar and a workbook, 210 draft e-mails and a ton of paperwork to go through.


There's just not enough hours in the day nor non-working days in the week. Sometimes I wonder who came up with this crappy at-least-a-five-day-working-week idea. It should be 3/4. Or at least 4/3.


I'm still blessed by the ignorance concerning my paperwork. Kate told me the Immigration has asked for some additional paperwork regarding my Nomination, but that's all OK.


What's bothering me is the IELTS exam I'll be taking next week. There's so much I wanted to go through, but I think I'll end up ranting English phrases and adverbials under the breath, raving around the city and dealing with errands.


I was going to go to the library, but that might be just a bit too edgy. It might remind me of my university days and we don't want that, do we? No, we don't. Yes, you're right. Of course I'm right. Nevertheless, you should study. Oh, do you really think so?


See?

Just not long enough...

Istria

Here's just a photo from Istria now, before I come to my senses and am able to put something in writing...

Gračišće in Istria, Croatia largest peninsula
(taken by me, edited by Ivana)