I arrived in Melbourne on Sunday after a
far too brief week of recuperation on the Gold Coast. At the last moment, I
grabbed my jacket I lovingly refer to as ‘My Melbourne Jacket’ and have never
been more proud of a decision in my life. You see, being spring, I momentarily
thought it would be warmer. Huh, such delusion!
So I find myself in Melbourne and for the
best part, I think I look like the Michelin man.
In the last week, I have almost perfected
the art of commuting, (a 6 hour round trip), I can almost appear like I know
what I am doing, when I obviously don’t (didn’t the Malaysian and Singaporean
internships teach me anything) and I understand when people in Melbourne speak
about layering (Baby, it’s cold outside, but not as cold as 3 hours ago; hence,
the big thick jacket will come off, but not the thinner jacket, until much later
on, when the t-shirt will be enough. This will be reversed as the day
continues).
If I was looking for an adventure whilst I
am down here, my first day of commuting would be suffice.
I was up at 5 in the hope of making a great
first impression. My hair would be perfectly straight, my attire would be neat
and very professional looking, and I would arrive on time. Actually, I would
prefer to be early, to enjoy a coffee and a last minute smoke to calm my nerves
before heading in to The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child
Care (SNAICC), which is a non-government organisation representing the
interests of Aboriginal families and children.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
As I said, I woke up at 5 and then the day
decided to throw me into a spin dryer until eventually I ended up at work over
an hour and a half late. Hmmmmm
First my hairdryer blew up and to all those
women out there who know what this means, I thank you for your condolences.
Next was the clothes situation – having put on a copious amount of weight in
the 7 weeks preceding, this just became a process of elimination as I went
through the suitcase saying, ‘Nope, that doesn’t fit anymore’. In fact, I can’t
even remember what I ended up wearing except for the big thick grey jacket, a
long scarf which was doubled over for warmth, leggings and my boots….naturally.
Since my friend was driving me in to the
Station, I woke him up at 7 to be told that I actually should be leaving by 7
and why hadn’t I woken him up earlier? Errr, I really don’t like to wake people
up. (BTW, from that day forward, I’ve caught the bus at 6:30)
To cut a very long story short, the morning
unfolded with a series of mishaps, including catching many wrong trains, losing
a packet of smokes and eventually getting off at the wrong station leaving me
with a twenty minute walk to work.
AND so I arrived, blonde hair frizzed out
everywhere and badly in need of a smoke. Actually, in hindsight, the
frizzy hair was possibly calmer than my general frazzled appearance.
I briefly met with my supervisor as she had
a meeting to attend and I was left in the very capable hands of a girl called
Sarah who promptly told me to sit, relax and enjoy the warm coffee she had
placed in my hands and as I sat, the peeling of the layers began. I know you
possibly want to think of this as some great metaphorical significance, but I
am being literal here………I began to take off the layers. Scarf, jacket 1, jacket
2……etc.
So, now it is Friday and what have I done?
I am learning how to be a policy writer. I have never done this before and in
fact, I really wanted to google the word ‘policy’ to see what it was, but drew
the line at doing this, for didn’t law school teach me anything? Errrr, don’t
answer this. (Well actually I did open a law book occasionally, quite a number of
times. Insomnia will make you go to great lengths to send you into some type of
slumber)
BUT seriously though, this first week has
been many things. I know I am working with a great bunch of people. They are
all very approachable and many times, we have shared tales which have left us
all in fits of laughter and in fact, someone just bought me a coffee from the
café downstairs.
I do feel very comfortable here and I am
slowly, but surely, learning. I have always found in life that everything is a
process and as in anything I do, it is in the journey and not in the
destination that I find out so much about myself……. This is also true in the
art of policy writing, I am learning about how this is done via the readings
and the researching.
A wise man said to me in Singapore, “Mary,
read everything before you ask a question, because you will usually find the
answer within”. I remember thinking at the time that he was an hubristic arse,
but as the time in Singapore unfolded, he was right and actually a rather
interesting and very witty guy.
So, I will continue to read and research
and as I have always said, there is never a stupid question, but sometimes, one
must go in search for the answer themselves, before just relying on another for
guidance and please, don’t get me wrong, occasionally I have sought out my supervisor
just to make sure I am on the right path.
AND for all those who wanted the layering
to hold some great metaphorical significance, there it is…..well, sort of.
