Hello again everybody and happy new year! If not a little bit late! Cant believe I havent updated this since last year! Been quite busy you see! Last time I wrote on here I was saying how stupidly hot it was so went to the beach - when I got there it was gorgeous, not too hot, so was a good move! Got a call from the agency again that day and they had work for me for the week after so that was good. Anyway, the day after this (new years eve) was just unbelievably hot - never felt anything like it! It was 43 degrees! I cant believe I actually went shopping too as the sales were on. Was nice and cool in the shops but outside was pretty unbearable - felt like someone was blasting a hairdryer in your face because the air and scorch of the sun was so hot! It actually hurt my eyes! Found a typicall Gracie bargain in the sale - trousers for $12.50 which is about 5 pounds! You may be thinking - why on earth is she buying trousers?! I have to where trousers or long skirts to the childcare centres for work, so with not much of that I had to get some! That night, i.e. new years eve wasn't that exciting unfortunately! Me, Ben and Nittin were planning to go to St. Kilda beach with a box of wine coz appartantly that's where the party's at! But we didnt make it that far! Didnt go out till about 10 because we were eating, drinking and being merry! Then all the trams had changed because of new years celebrations in the city blocking certain roads so we walked around for a bit trying to find another tram then it got to late so we ended up sitting by the Yarra River (see picture) so we did have some nice surroundings and it was packed so the atmosphere was pretty good! There were boats going up and down the river with music playing and the fireworks at midnight were really cool as they came from 3 different places! But there was no countdown like London and there was only the 3 of us pretty sober, so it was a quite a quiet one! Most of my mates were working or only just finished before 12 and trying to meet in the millions of people was slightly hectic!!! We sat and drunk out wine on some grass in the 30 degrees plus temperatures at night - insane! Then managed to meet my friend Iysha and went back to our house and had a few drinks before calling it a night! Was a different new years eve anyway! All the clubs were charging a fortune to get in and for drinks and it would have probably taken and hour to get to the bar, hence why we didnt attempt it!! Had a pretty lazy New years day from what I can remember (I dont really as it was ages ago!!) The week after I worked in the hostel 2 days and for the childcare agency for 3 days so was pretty busy! I also worked the whole of the next week for the same childcare centre and the weekend in between for the hostel so all was quite manic! I quite enjoyed the childcare - was quite daunting looking after such young kids after being used to mostly 9-11 year olds, but I have looked after my little brothers at all ages so was good experience for me! They didnt tell me much what to do, I had to ask - shall I do this? most of the time, and kept feeling like I should have a bit more training before being thrown in at the deep end and changing kids nappies, telling them off and comforting them when missing mum! But feel I coped with it all ok, and the kids seem to really like me, and by the end of last week I was having a good laugh with the kinder kids (4/5 years) and lots of the younger ones came to me when they were upset, so was quite chuffed! Was such a different level of work to the pizza place I was working in! They gave me lunch break and 2 10 minute breaks there and I only worked 8 hour days - was good hours too and better money! Most of the day was supervising the kids and playing with them too, helping them get to sleep, serving their food, changing nappies and tidying up and stuff! Most of the day was sat down so I felt really tired - I can't handle being sat down all day I get so sleepy! Nearly fell asleep myself when getting kids to sleep! That bit was really boring because once they were asleep there was nothing to do but I had to sit there because the main staff were busy and someone has to be in the room of course! So it was a bit boring at times and even after 2 weeks I was fed up with the same walls, as there was no real oudoors - the outdoor area was all play equipment with high walls all around as it was in a mall in the city! Was a nice centre though, but they have methods and policies that I wasnt particularly keen on - I thought the environment was too harsh for young kids - for the 4/5 year olds its was ok, but for 18 months up the strictness and ways they used were too harsh, and wasnt a loving enough place for them to be in at that age. And I can't believe they took babies from 6 weeks old! That's just wrong. It was a massive chain of centres that is all over oz and in other countries too. Some of the girls (it was all female staff!) were nice, but some were a bit wierd and not the friendliest. But the kids made up for it, most of them were really cute and fun, and so well behaved and actually did what you told them, although there were a few nightmare ones that did the opposite, and constantly pushed and snatched off other kids, or worse - bit them! So it was an interesting experience to work there and hopefully I will get some more work from the agency for the next 5 weeks, but none this week so have been chilling out a fair bit! Will save this one and do a new one in case I lose it!