Day 261! Today is the day! My trial shift at the gelato shop. I had no idea what to expect from today and wasn’t expecting the outcome much at all… but I think it went well! Otherwise, there was some weird rainy weather today and a lot more walking around the city.

I woke up this morning around 8am. I was ready to take on the day, because today, I was hopefully starting my career as a gelato scooper (well maybe a short career, but still a career).

I threw on my outfit for the day, which was also my work clothes.

They asked me to wear all black, I’m assuming just to be generic for my trial shift. I’ve never really worn all black outside of a concert setting, but I feel like it kinda suits me!

Sam was up and about this morning too so he whipped us up one of my favorite breakfasts, avocado toast with fried eggs.

After eating and chatting, Sam had a tattoo appointment to go to. So I tagged along to accompany him for his session (and to also hitch a ride to the city).

I got to hang around for the whole tattooing. His artist was one that had done a few of his other tattoos and they have been traveling around Europe tattooing people. Sounds like a pretty cool job to have!

But just as Sam’s tattoo was finishing, I had to bounce to get to my trial shift on time. He stuck around a bit longer to discuss a future tattoo, so I left just in time to hop on the nearby tram.

Then I walked just over 10 minutes to Gelato Messina in Fitzroy.

I was excited and a bit nervous! It’s been awhile since I’ve had a first day of a job. I don’t really count scuba diving since my dive master rolled right into working, so it’s probably been since my first internship at Kiewit that I’ve had these pre work butterflies.

Even with the nerves, I was sure it was going to be fun and that I’d do a good job.

I walked into the shop, met one of the supervisors, Stella from Italy, and put my stuff down in the break room. I was just washing my hands when I received a call from an Australian number. It was the manager, Crystal (who I think is also from Italy), she was running late and asked if I could come back at 2pm.

I of course said yes… but was a little miffed since I was already in the shop and didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Also this call was 20 minutes before I was meant to be there, so hopefully this isn’t a common thing at this shop (if I get the job).

Just as I left the shop it started to rain… but then shortly after it stopped. This happened a few times on my walk as I started walking towards Immy’s hostel, not knowing if she was there or not. Luckily she was and she was able to sneak me in again. Her and some other hostel friends were watching the TV show LOST in their TV room, so I joined them for 30 minutes.

This is probably the last time I’ll have Immy let me into her hostel. Apparently they’re pretty strict on their rules and I’d hate to see her get kicked out on my account. We haven’t really had much headway on our housing and it sounds like she’s going to stick it out at the hostel a bit longer so a new housing plan might be in order.

My time chilling was short as it was a 20 minute walk back to the Gelato shop. Immy joined me to give her something to do outside of the hostel. It was nice to have some company on the walk and chat.

As I got back to the shop, so did the manager, which meant it was go time! I wasn’t sure what this entailed or for how long, but I was ready for whatever.

It was really slow at that moment so Crystal ran me through everything. How to properly scoop the right size, how to replace flavors, where everything’s stored, how to use the register, etc. We ran through it all.

The main thing she wanted to see was how my customer service was. Eventually some customers started to roll in and I got to work chatting with them, giving tasters, scooping and serving their gelato, and getting their payments. I also helped with cleaning the countertop and the glass that covers the different flavors.

I actually ended up serving a lot of customers in the time I was there and it was a lot of fun! Gelato was bringing a smile to everyone’s face and I enjoyed being a part of that. Also bantering with a bunch of different people is something I like doing too.

After an hour, the trial shift was over… just an hour. I was a bit confused seeing how I thought my afternoon was going to be booked up by this. But, I guess I’ll take what I can get. Crystal asked me what I thought and I expressed the sentiments I just said above. She told me there are a couple more trial shifts and then I should know by this coming weekend if I have the position or not.

I left a bit confused, I was hoping I’d know on the spot or at least have done a bit more… but I guess we’ll wait and see. I’m still hopeful it’ll work out and if not I’ll keep looking and trying, plenty of jobs out there.

But unfortunately, just as I was leaving, the sporadic rain came back. People say you’ll experience all four seasons in one day in Melbourne and today it was showing off. It was cold, then rainy, then warm, then rainy, then clear and sunny, and then back to cold… with more rain.

But with rain and sunshine, came another rainbow!

I then went on a solo wander about the city. I’ve gotten to do a lot of walking over the past week, which has been really nice. It gives me a lot of time to observe and think.

I was thinking about how I’m a bit confused on what I’m doing and what I’m trying to achieve… but at the same time I’m over thinking it because ultimately it doesn’t matter. I chose this lifestyle for the fun free nature of it and because of that, there’s a lot of unknowns and confusion. Now of course, I’m trying to get a job to continue this lifestyle… but I also need to remember that I’m trying to enjoy life to the fullest! So if something is going to bog me down, I have the freedom to move on from it.

That ramble is just me trying to remind myself, I don’t need to necessarily worry about this job or the next. I’ll find one that’s for me and if not, I can just move on to the next town/city. I could also just easily fly back to Thailand, but that’s the easy way out (so we’ll save that for later) and I’m trying to push my comfort zone.

My wandering took me to my favorite Indian buffet, Crossways. Today they had Malaysian tofu curry with rice and orange Halava. Their meals are simple, but really tasty. I was very hungry too so I had two big plates of the curry.

After eating, I decided to find a cheap used book store. I just finished The Hobbit last night and I wanted to start the first Lord of the Rings book… but the shop didn’t have it. They also didn’t have the first Dune book… I guess I was looking at too popular of stories. But they did have the first book of the Way of Kings series, which my cousin Ben had suggested a while back. So for $9 AUD I got that!

It’s a huge book and I actually only got the first part of it… so I have my work cut out for me!

I started reading it on the train ride back to Brighton and when I got home I quickly fell asleep. I love my afternoon naps, they refuel me for the rest of the day!

When I woke up, I started doing a bit of hunting on Facebook groups for share houses in the city. I think I’ll need to find a bed in a house for myself (for at least the time being). Either that, or I may go down to the same hostel as Immy. Either way, I’d like to move on from Sam’s house… his family is super sweet and they are taking care of me, but I’d like to have my own space, be able to do my own cooking when I want too, and just feel like I’m in my own place.

Sam eventually came home and we started the dinner prep for the night. We were having sausages, potato’s, greens, and some chili bread from a bakery down the road. It was a very nice dinner and his family and I had some nice chit chats as well.

After dinner, we all went off and did our own thing for the rest of the night. I was planning on reading but got sucked into a YouTube rabbit hole, which hasn’t happened in a while so I let it happen. Then I got ready for bed!

It was an interesting day in Melbourne today as I dipped my toe into the job market here. I’m hopeful I did good enough in that one hour of work that they’ll hire me, but as I said, if not, I’ll find something else!

As I’ve been ending most posts recently…

We’ll see!

– Elie