first off, a list my friend Claire made about the things she'll miss about living in Korea. Reading this list made me feel quite homesick for Korea! She had 20, I've copied my favourites.

TOP 20 THINGS KOREANS SAY OR DO THAT I’LL MISS

1. The yell of “fighting!” for encouragement.

2. The chorus of “neh” from ALL the waiters and waitresses when you press the service bell on your table at a restaurant.
3. The way people say “yeah yeah” on the telephone (which in Korean is a polite form of yes, and indicates respect and that you are listening, but to the untrained Western ear sounds like “Yeah, yeah, I know already. Shut up.”)
4. “Ayigo!” (oops, oh no, phew this is tough, etc)
5. The way Korean woman clap their hands like little girls (or like seals!) when they’re happy or excited about something.
7. The inability of most Koreans to produce consonant clusters, thus resulting in extra vowels and words like “ca-ris-a-mis” instead of “Christmas”.
8. And the extra vowels they put at the end of words: nice-euh, change-ee, coach-ee.
10. Being greeted at the entrance to a supermarket with a bow (“Welcome valued customer”), or even better yet being greeted with a yell, and a bow, and a flourish of arms to indicate the direction you should go when entering department store parking!
11. The awesome hats and Michael Jackson gloves the above-mentioned parking greeters wear.
12. The awesome visors and Michael Jackson gloves the middle-age ladies out walking wear.
13. The way you are given free stuff: you’re filling your car up? Here, have a bottle of water. You’re putting air in your tyres? Here, have a pair of socks. You’re buying a bowl of strawberries? Here, have a handful of tangerines!
14. The way Korean kids call their parents, “O-maaa! O-paaaa!”
18. The use of the word “promise” to mean an appointment.
20. And finally…“Do you know Dokdo?”

Now, proper post time

hello! goodness, it's so much easier to be cheery when you've got a job!! yes, I had an interview yesterday, training today, a little more training tomorrow morning, and I start working tomorrow afternoon. I'm working for a company that fundraises for NGOs like Amnesty, WSPA, Heart Foundation, Make a Wish etc. I never knew companies like these even existed!! It makes a lot of sense though. By paying a dedicated fundraising company, charities can concentrate on doing what they do best. Basically I'm doing telephone sales, but I'm calling people who either are already donating, or used to donate but have for some reason stopped. The company has about 80 people working on behalf of more than 20 charities. I've been put on the Amnesty team, perfect for me!
The interview process was different to anything I've done before: after watching a short presentation about the company, the 10 of us interviewing were divided into two groups to each prepare for a quick debate. We had about 10 mins to prepare. I didn't think our team did very well ... I hate public speaking, and we had hardly any prep time.
The next step was a mock phone-call. So I was given a phone number and name, a script, and a few details about the person's current donation. I had to ring them, read through the script, be enthusiastic, convey urgency re the campaign (arms dealing, child soldiers), and ask for more money. I was lucky, the guy I interviewed was friendly and easy to talk to. Then came the uneasy part. All ten of us were back in the boardroom when the HR person called us out in groups. It was like a reality TV show! Were we the successful group or the people who didn't make it?? We didn't know. And it was weird because we'd been with those same 10 people all day. nerves, nerves, nerves. Luckily, my group was the successful group! Then I had a quick one-on-one interview where they offered me the job. And that was it!
I'll be working Monday to Friday, either 12 - 8pm, 1-8pm or 3-8pm. I can choose my shifts! So I'll probably so fulltime for the first few months to save, save, save, and then switch to 4 days a week so that I can intern at an NGO for one day a week (hopefully! An NGO first has to agree to take me.)

I finish house-sitting on Monday or Tuesday, then I'll go back to Nic's for a week or two, and then hopefully do more house-sitting. After that, once I've got bond money saved up, it'll be house-hunting time! I'm considering looking for a place with Jas, a girl from England who also got hired with me,she's lovely and we've really hit it off. That's the plan, anyway. I'll see how everything goes.

Okay, so a few weird things about Australia. You probably know the first one already, but that doesn't stop it from being weird!
(1) no liquor or wine or beer sold at supermarkets. how dumb.
(2) People here haven't heard of tabouli mix that comes in a box. You know, the stuff that you add olive oil and fresh tomato to. I had plans for work lunches that revolved around this, so I'm quite annoyed.
(3) regular bread is expensive. I paid AU$4.50 for whole-grain bread. that's insane!! but fruit and veggies are cheaper.

okay, so that's only three things. But still, weird.