Sunday, June 17, 2007
Settling down - Part 1
Settling down in Australia certainly wasn't easy. First of all, the part of Australia that I am staying in is Western Australia. The biggest state in Australia. A colleague of mine who came from Bosnia told me that he reckoned that driving from my town (Bunbury) to Perth would mean an equivalent of driving through several small countries in Europe. I can't agree with him more knowing where I came from.
Secondly, no matter how conversant and well versed in English, there will definitely be cases of lost in translation.
The first day I arrived I had to meet with my agent here in Australia who assumedly had settled all my accomodations etc looking at all the emails we exchanged previously. The meeting turned out to be a few "pleasant" surprises. First of all, I was given another set of documents for my insurances etc. Secondly, I was told that I will be put up in Collie (a small mining town near my worksite) which I specifically instructed that I did not wished to stay in. Although I was showed pictures of the house in Bunbury by my agent via the email(accomodation of my choice), the agent strongly denied that that house is of non existence. Surprise surprise.
After several failed coaxing attempts by my agent for me to stay in Collie, I told her that I would be looking for an apartment myself in Bunbury. I also found out that I would also have no accomodation for the period for me either staying in Bunbury or Collie. Pleasant surprises. Everything that was understood was overturned. Apparently my understanding of English wasn't that good after all.
Long - 16th March 2007
Secondly, no matter how conversant and well versed in English, there will definitely be cases of lost in translation.
The first day I arrived I had to meet with my agent here in Australia who assumedly had settled all my accomodations etc looking at all the emails we exchanged previously. The meeting turned out to be a few "pleasant" surprises. First of all, I was given another set of documents for my insurances etc. Secondly, I was told that I will be put up in Collie (a small mining town near my worksite) which I specifically instructed that I did not wished to stay in. Although I was showed pictures of the house in Bunbury by my agent via the email(accomodation of my choice), the agent strongly denied that that house is of non existence. Surprise surprise.
After several failed coaxing attempts by my agent for me to stay in Collie, I told her that I would be looking for an apartment myself in Bunbury. I also found out that I would also have no accomodation for the period for me either staying in Bunbury or Collie. Pleasant surprises. Everything that was understood was overturned. Apparently my understanding of English wasn't that good after all.
Long - 16th March 2007
# posted by Long @ 10:33 PM 
