Nicole's Adventures

After a way way too long "funemployment" session of 15 months or so.. I have finally returned to working. I definitely will admit that I was so excited to get back to working again. I think I learned during this break that there is a perfect bell curve associated with time not working and feeling a little bit like you are not contributing to society at all.  I think i'll make my next break from work a little bit shorter whenever that time comes.  So as I might have mentioned in previous posts I work for two different job agencies. With one company so far, everything has been pretty last minute. They call me early in the morning for a 9 or 10 o clock shift. With the other one I have had a little bit more notice but so far have only worked with one couple with two on going shifts that will be the same every week. However, with holidays coming up I will probably have lots more opportunities to work lots and lots of extra hours with people wanting time off. So it's a...

So that house that I was all set up, I decided to pull out of.. I had kind of rushed into it because I was concerned about not being able to find another place. Then the rent price was raised, they wanted me to buy a fridge, it was unfurnished, etc.. So it was going to be a lot more then I expected and I'm glad that it happened. Because the following week I looked at a bunch of other places that were better options and I wouldn't have a problem getting a room. Soo I am moving to the most "hipster" neighborhood with lots of students, cafes, restaurants, and bars. The room has an amazing location with public transport and in the middle of exactly where you want to be.. And is a newer apartment, and with another girl named Nicole. I haven't met the other two people yet but she said they are good people. Looking forward to that a lot. It was a tough choice from the places I looked at but this one seemed to be the best fit for me. I completed my last training yester...

I've been in Australia for like six weeks?! What. The rest of my time in Adelaide was wonderful. Went on some beautiful hikes, played with kangaroos, and a sticky tongue lizard every night, and cooked lots of delicious food with Adam. I took an overnight bus with Firefly ($42 usd) from Adelaide to Melbourne where Chris picked me up from where the bus dropped me. The trip was pretty smooth.. except the guy next to me took his shoes off in the middle of the night and I could smell stinky socks the WHOLE night. YUCK! But after I arrived it was a perfect day. Chris and I got some breakfast and a yummmy yummy place near his house, and showed me around, then I napped and later that day we went to frisbee where I got to meet some of the fun frisbee bunch. It was a really good turn out since the weather had gotten really warm for the first time in a while.  I am sooooo lucky that Chris is able to host me in his house while I get settled. The price of hostels is just as much as rent is s...

While I thought everything would be all peachy for my visa since I had applied more than three weeks before my flight, I got a email reply saying that because I had resided in South Korea, apparently a high prevalence of Tuberculosis, I had to have a test done. By the time I got this email I had only ten days until my flight and was really concerned it wouldn't work out. I had to go to a certain hospital in Busan or Seoul to have it done unfortunately. So I ventured there, had the test done and they said they would send the results electronically in two days.. Which left only a week for the OZ government to get back to me and approve my visa.. So I was really worried it wouldn't all work out. The morning after I submitted on my immgration account that I had the test completed and just a few hours later received a reply that my visa was granted! What a relief.. I had the awesome opportunity to help a friend out and take some photos in a beautiful flower field outside of Gyeon...

My visits home are not complete with out a trip to Vegas! Cody was supposed to have an interview, but they ended up canceling it as we were driving there. We thought about it for a minute and pulled over then decided since he had already taken the time off work, why not just go anyways?  We did a pool day, walked around the strip, saw Zumanity, and had Korean food with my friend Vinnie. It was Cody's first time to try it and we had some amazing spicy dak galbi and Cody was all about the kimchi! I knew he would like it since he likes spicy and pickled things. Zumanity was another awesome cirque show! My mom and I took a quick little visit down to Tuscon to see Brian where we were walking to go a restaurant and found a Korean place on the way.. Brian had also never had korean.. It wasn't nearly as good as the stuff Cody got to have in Vegas but still never enough japchae, pajeon, kimchi, or bulgogi. Usually I like to have most things prepared at least a few days before my de...

When I arrived back in AZ, I had to nail down the details of how I would go about getting a new passport, and gather everything I needed for my Korean C4 visa... However after much research, ideas, and phone calls, It was impossible to get it all done. I sadly emailed the camp telling them I wouldn't be able to make it. I knew everything would happen for a reason and things would work out. I knew my time in America would be very busy and full of amazing visits. On July 2nd, I headed to Seattle where I would play with a team of former English Teachers in Korea at one of the largest Ultimate Frisbee tournaments in the USA, Potlatch . It was incredible to be reunited with so many great friends, and then to meet ones that had come after I left. There were four generations of Homey Goat Captains all together, plus so much other shennigans. Everyone camps at the fields for the tournament and there are port a potties, and a nearby athletic club where we showered which we could take bus...

As I catch up on posting all sorts of things from my travels, I've gotten a few messages on facebook about how I can do what I do.. And the answer is simple, not as expensive as you think, and if there is a will there is a way.   I love this article . The girl is working as she goes and just free for all. I do like to visit home, but like her cannot see myself living in the US for an extended period of time yet. There are still so many places around the world to see and things to do that I just can't imagine myself being happy in the USA yet.. Don't worry, I think one day I will return.  Like the article talks about, you can kind of work or volunteer for your bed or your meals as you travel and cut your costs even further. I haven't done a ton of this, but I know that the options are plentiful and available. Sometimes it may seem hard to find online, but when you are on the road you encounter them constantly. I've met several other people who are also on extend...

I was able to use the internet just one time after starting our sailing journey, and hopped on for a few minutes to tell my mom that I was alive and well (even though she had the GPS tracker emails), and then see if I had any email updates about the job in Korea. I had a grand surprise that my best friend Maureen had booked her ticket to Cancun. Just before the sailing journey, my other friend Daniel (Spiegs) also booked his ticket to come and see me. Cancun had fairly cheap flights from the states and couldn't have been more excited to start my trip with a friend (Tyler) in Costa Rica, and finish with Spiegs & Maureen. I had messaged them before I left to start coordinating what to do and really felt badly that I couldn't help plan more but I wouldn't be online so they had to do the planning work.. Which normally I wouldn't do much of but since there would be three of us, it could have been more important to have an idea of what we were going to do. I was a litt...

June 4th was the day that I got picked up in an American Classic Car... and absolutely failed at life and forgot to ask what kind it was. But I got picked up and with an Italian couple was taken to Trinidad. I met a guy who offered one dollar cheaper to take his classic car than to take the bus.. and it included pick up.. instead of having to take another taxi to the bus station. The Italian couple said what tons of other people I met in Cuba said, they wanted to come to Cuba before the Americans arrived and were very surprised to meet an American. As we were driving it started raining. It had been pretty cloudy the last few days so I figured it was just a little front we were driving through, however when we got to Trinidad, it was POURING. The driver took me to a casa particular. A casa particular is basically a room for rent in someones house to make extra money. I absolutely loved the idea because I am usually seeking out this sort of accommodation in every country I go to. It giv...