Crazy Rain Storms in Melbourne

Yesterday I think I got a little taste of the winter the Aussies speak of. We were kindly invited to my friend Sophie’s sister’s engagement party (Emily and Jesse are the bride and groom to be). The theme was Mad Hatters Tea Party, which is part of the overall theme of Alice in Wonderland Wedding. We were to all show up with crazy hats and enjoy some tea, cakes, champagne and other munchies. After purchasing a kids flower hat from the one and only IKEA, I was all set for the party and ready to test out my sweet tooth. Emily loves to bake, and might I add, absolutely fabulous at it. She made from scratch different types of cupcakes with different frostings, fillings and cakes. She also made other small cakes bearing phrases such as “eat me” to go well with the theme. There were also colored candies in the champagne glasses, which made your drink turn that particular color. Just everything was absolutely amazing and beautiful, besides the storm outside. Brennan and I still had to work that evening so we had to leave early and caught a train to the city. Well little did we know of the adventure we were about to embark on. We had to get off the train early because of flooding. No more trains were going into the city so we had to join the hundreds of people and try to catch trams into the city. We were the smarter of the hundreds and decided to walk to the stop before this one so that we would be able to get on easier…and bonus get seats. After the tram was crammed with people, we went as far as we could before we had to get off and wait for another tram to take us to St. Kilda, where we could get on yet another tram into the city. After waiting in the rain for trams we finally made it to the city. It was chaotic. There were emergency vehicles sounding their alarms down the streets and drenched people squeezing into any shelter they could. I kept calling work to update them on my whereabouts because this journey took quite some time and I was running late. Once we arrived in the city I had to catch another tram to get me home so I could quickly change and rush off to work. Around Flemington you can see the damage of the storm. There were leaves and branches of trees just covering the sidewalks from the huge down pore. I finally made it to work and quickly got the low down on what was going on 2 hours after I was supposed to be there. Luckily some others showed up late and there was understanding for my major tardiness…and as my friend Branden would say…I was a late loser.

Today the last Italian moves out and there is some confusion it seems to whom will be moving in. From what I’ve heard there are a total of 4 people wanting 2 room vacancies. Some are expecting to sign contracts. And this has all come about through Dannie, my landlord, and her son Tony. They seem to have absolutely no communication with each other at all. We have one person saying one thing and the other something completely different. Its crazy how they can keep people renting this house out and bills (obviously excluding internet) being paid. Dannie can’t even remember when Hannah and I are supposed to pay rent. She called me yesterday asking for rent money when we had just paid a week ago for the month. Let’s keep the contracts in order peeps…I mean really.

Just seeing how this share house is being managed and experiencing the hospitality system really makes me realize how much order and organization I like to have in my life. I like to have rules and I like some things to be structured. I feel like for me, that makes life so easy and straightforward and there won’t be confusion. Now, I do like to be spontaneous, don’t get me wrong, but for things like renting and living with strangers and working efficiently, I need that structure.