Culture shock over....

What a week......

3 full days of handover followed by 2 days of training in Sydney. In between, my boss visited to talk budgets and business plans and we re-wrote the plan for next year which is also due at the moment. It is now month end and I have emails and figures coming out of my ears. (and I keep thinking how good the sales are then remember that I am working in $ now - although the sales are still pretty good)

On top of that, I have had the usual HR problems - Chef wanting to dismiss someone with no evidence of poor performance, staff sickness, night manager resigned... same shit different country!

I did however get the chance to sample the local trendy bars and had a very sore head on Wednesday morning.

Back to work

Well my first week back at work is over (well it was more like 3 days)

My first day involved a whistle stop tour of the Head Office for Accor Asia Pacific in Sydney. That was pretty interesting and nice to meet all the team. Then whisked out to Sydney Olympic Park where my boss is based for lunch and to meet the Regional Support team. I was handed budgets and business plans and advised that we are in the middle of preparing next years submissions and to get reading! In the evening I was invited to a tenure dinner at the 5* Sofitel in Sydney which was a really pleasant way to end my first day on the job.

The next morning I had an early start to catch the 7.15am train to Newcastle. The train was pleasant enough until a realised there were 2 people in my carriage who can only be described as social outcasts. After about 10 minutes they started to shout and swear at each other. This carried on for a good half an hour, then they decided to shout and swear at other people on the carriage. They were heading to Brisbane but got as far as an hour out of Sydney as they were removed from the train. This is apparently quite common and I should get used to it. Lovely.

The hotel and staff are great though and not a great deal of difference in the way we operate in the UK. My weekend has involved telephone calls advising me that a Duty Manager has come across a nest of Red Back spiders in one of the fire exits. That is a new problem for me and as long as I don't have to go anywhere near them I will be fine!! (Pest control were called and took care of them so all is good).

I have had the weekend off (back in Sydney) and will start looking for new flats duriing this week.

Olympic outrage

The news headlines claiming shock and awe and the British Olympic Team are ahead of the Australian team in the medal table. This has not happened for many, many years and it is all I have heard and read today.

he he quite funny as well but take a look at the story in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

Changes are coming...

At long last, I have managed to get myself a nice little job. After what seems like an eternity of applications, interviews, testing, flying down to Canberra, driving up to Newcastle, contacting reference back in the UK etc etc, I have finally been offered a job - and it is one that I want to do,.

I will now be working for Accor Hotels as General Manager for the IBIS hotel in Newcastle. Take a look at the hotel here by clicking on this link IBIS NEWCASTLE A modern 3* hotel in the centre of Newcastle. After nearly a year of doing my own thing, I can't wait to get back into work mode and am looking forward to starting on Wednesday.

On top of that, we have now given notice on the flat and Brad has to resign from his job - which means he will now be the one looking for work in Newcastle and finding us a nice (nicer than the flat we are in as well) place to live.

All very exciting....

Anyway as we will be moving away from Sydney, here is a link to read a bit more about Newcastle.

Newcastle New South Wales

Olympic fever

Friday night was spent at a friends house watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. It was an amazing ceremony. (Let me know if any of you watched it in the UK or were you all working?). It started at 10pm here so there was plenty of time to get into the swing of things... Chinese take-away followed by a host of treats bought from China Town earlier in the day. Cup Cakes with Olympic logo's iced on top to the more bizarre black lotus seed biscuits and of course a few glasses of Australia Wine to wash it all down.

Well the first hour was interesting and quite amazing but the 2 hour procession of the Athletes was pretty boring. I'm not fussed about the sports so can we skip to the closing ceremony now and get back to TV as usual....?

Chook Raffle

Last night we were invited to go to a "Chook Raffle" at an RSL (Returned Services League) Club in North Sydney.

I wanted to go, firstly because it sounded hilarious and secondly to see what the club was like as there are loads of RSL clubs around the area.

The chook raffle was more like a meat and hamper raffle. Brad and I bought $10 dollars worth of tickets and we one a hamper full of chocolate and other treats and a tray of "chook" and other meat. Not bad for $10. Our friends won nothing. We are planning a BBQ with them next weekend though to share our treats.

The club was quite modern yet full of pokey machines and other ways of scamming money out of people. Interesting experience though and I am tempted to go back next Friday as the Chook raffle also includes a 37" plazma tv....