Something to talk about

In this post, Wei Jia talks about some of her experiences of working in Melbourne.

When I first arrived I worked in a Chinese restaurant. The wages for working in a Chinatown restaurant are pretty low, and to make matters worse the work is usually really laborious. These days I occasionally work in a Sri Lankan take away place where the wages are OK, the work is not as strenuous and the boss is not too bad. Actually, I am quite happy when I’m doing this job. It is sort of like a break from study and my real job, which is working part time at a landscape architecture company.

I feel that language is still my biggest obstacle to truly fitting in with my workmates. Also, I’m still not 100% familiar with Australian culture and that makes it really difficult to fully integrate with my work colleagues. For example, everyone at the landscape architecture company loves to go fishing, but I don’t know how, so it is really hard to find something to chat about with them. But, on the whole, I’m really pleased to have this opportunity.