Door 4 - Hostel time in Perth

After the wonderful time in Indonesia, we arrived in Perth on March 1st at 11 a.m. First, I dragged Clara directly to an Aldi to buy her a SIM card because in Australia you need a contact number for almost everything. Why Aldi? Aldi is the best, especially in Australia. After that was done, we drove to the hostel. Not my old one, but the Aberdeen Lodge. In the meantime, my boys from the other hostel had moved in there because it was cheaper, quieter, and more family-oriented. The hostel was much smaller and very clean. We got our own cutlery, cooking equipment, and beds. After that, we rushed to the bank so Clara could open a bank account. Then she took care of her Australian TFN (tax file number) and was ready to look for work. She applied to almost every restaurant in the city center, but unfortunately, without success. Only a karaoke bar called "Mirage" had a job opening. To put it bluntly, this place was the worst. Groups would come to rent a room for a private karaoke party, and the ladies working there would line up to be chosen as "servers" for the customers. They had to be scantily clad, sexy, and open-minded - and good-looking. Needless to say, Clara hated the job, but the money was good if she got booked. In the meantime, I applied to "Protech," an agency for construction jobs, where Marco and Sean were already working. That gave me a foot in the door, and after about a ton of paperwork, the easiest fitness test ever, and a drug test, I was in. Now all I had to do was wait to be assigned a job, which happened two weeks later.

Meanwhile, Clara also applied to Uber Eats to deliver food by bike, which was more tiring and lower-paying than the Mirage, but better for her self-esteem. Before she found work, I showed Clara around the city, which I had already explored on my own. We also discovered new places together because Clara is much more interested in discovering everything than I could have imagined. After about a week, we bought two bicycles - a racing bike for me and a beautiful red Dutch bike for Clara. Unfortunately, this gem was stolen just three days later, on her first day of work at the Mirage. So two days later, she got a slightly less nice but technically better blue Dutch bike. From then on, we explored the city on two wheels. I even rode 14 kilometers to work on the construction site for two weeks. Unfortunately, my back let me down after that, so I had to switch back to public transport. At least for the commute. As nice as the hostel was and as comfortable as we felt, we soon missed a bit of privacy in our 6-person room. It could also get a bit noisy at night, so after 2 weeks in the hostel, we decided to move. Luckily, Gumtree, the Australian version of eBay Kleinanzeigen, immediately found us a nice sharehouse (a shared apartment), and two days later, we had a viewing. The conditions were quickly negotiated, and after three weeks of hostel life, we finally moved into our own realm. A private room not far from the city center, a spacious 18 m^2 and $20 cheaper than the 15 m^2 hostel room with 4 other people.