Sydney: Life of a childcare relief worker.

Living in Sydney is both costly & expensive. Rent is especially high. Today I met an American girl, Megan, from Florida at an Indonesian Festival near Darling Harbour. She told me she is paying AUD160.00 to flat in a room with two other people! Her flat has nine people! I don't even pay that much, and I am only sharing the room with one other person! I think it was Providence that I had such a deal to even not pay that much to be able to stay in the CBD.

The pay rates for staff in the "casual" category in Australia is higher than the normal long-term employed staff. This is due to the fact that they are not entitled to other benefits such as paid leave, medical leave, long-term ten years leave & etc.

Casuals like any other workers are entitled to have superannuation, and taxes to pay off as well. However in the case of the international/ foreign staff who intends to leave the country after their stint, they are legally able to withdraw both their taxes and Super before leaving the country.

So let's get to the point of this entry. As most know, females get 'monthlies', and if you are a male, I'm sure you'd have known when your mom or your sister had theirs. Do you know what "MONTHLIES" ARE? It is unfortunate that my 'monthlies' were due this week, and DID I have it BAD!

This week, I had taken leave on Monday to handle some personal visa appointments & dental works. On Tuesday I went for work in Macquarie Park, and on Wednesday to Moore Park (where I had got lost for almost two hours!). It was only on Wednesday that I realised that I had it quite bad for the past two days (as much as I wanted to deny it wasn't) that I knew I had no other options but to take the next two days off.

Unfortunately for me being a casual, it is important that I leave a good impression at every centre that I go to, because that might be our first & last chance of ever returning there again. Having the 'monthlies' really take the edge off a woman's performance. I become less focused, am tired, sluggish & am not the usual chatty humourous person that I normally am.

I realised I got rather cranky as well! I had turned off the mobile for one entire day because I didn't want to have to handle anyone verbally! A mate of mine went IM online & tried to coax me to talk to him, but I just totally bit his head off!

To end, so YES, life as a female casual is EXCITING! Just a word to other men out there, do be careful & steer clear of aggravating women during those times. She'd just gnarl back at you for no apparent reason at all!

IELTS Test Report back!

As said, I have just received in the mail my IELTS Test Report. Since I am so proud of the time & effort I have put in for my scores, I will put it up for all to see! I could tell that everyone was so happy for me.

Just for the uninformed, IELTS is an English Skill Testing that tests the candidates in four areas, namely Listening, Reading, Speaking & Writing. It comes in two formats, Academic (for those who aspire to further their education in tertiary level) and General Testing (mostly for employment & migration purposes).

Do not think for one moment I did not put in the time & effort to study for it. I did, and with lots of prayers from friends & God's grace. I had to register for the Academic for lack of options available, but do not try this yourself if you know that the General Testing format would be a wiser choice as that is all that is required for migration & employment purposes.

The scores are drumroll, *dum dum dum*
IELTS Academic:
Listening Score : 7.5
Reading Score : 8.5
Speaking Score : 8
Writing Score : 7.5
Overall IELTS Score : 8

^^

Malaysia: Managing a Shy Child article.

The second of my articles on managing the behaviour of a shy child. Sorry, can't find any other scans to upload as they're all back in my home country.. Should have thought about this before coming here. LOL.

Malaysia: HomeSchooling article

Here are some scans of my articles I have written in 2005.. My mom sent it to me in case I was looking for employment in a publishing firm. However you readers get to read it for free here!