2 posts tagged “riverside”
I've been having such a good time in Brisbane since I've been back. I've found time to do all the things I have to do, like prepare for my course, and find work. I've also had plenty of leisure time, which will end tomorrow when my course starts.
I don't have a lot of money, but there are lots of things to do here. I've discovered the State Library of Queensland has free wireless Internet access. I've using it to do my course pre-task and stay in touch with friends and family in Japan. I usually get in to West End and have a coffee at Ugees before the library opens at ten and stay until just after six when the traffic has died down. Sometimes I pack a lunch and sit on the grass by the river.
The GoMA which is just next door to the library runs free films in their Cinémathèque every day. They are showing films accompanying the Andy Warhol exhibition which is on right now. I've seen a few free exhibitions, but since I can't really afford to spend $20 or $30 I haven't been able to see it.
That was until tonight, I finally have a chance to see it. A group of my mothers friends booked tickets to the exhibition and concert tonight, and some of them can't make it. Art is for everybody right? Also playing tonight is Ed Kuepper, well known for his seminal early Australian punk band The Saints.
It's been about three years, since I saw Brisbane but I never imagined it as green as this. It's almost as if I've been transported back to the Brisbane of my youth, except for the traffic and the development. Things are alive, growing, and the air is full of potential.
Or perhaps it's just the humidity getting to me. When I left Japan it had snowed heavily in the week before I left and was freezing as I stepped on the plane. As I stepped off the plane in Brisbane, almost a years rainfall had fallen in some parts of the state in the same time. Subtropical lows and a monsoonal trough are bringing an end to the drought here. There isn't enough rain yet to fill the state's dams, and there is heavy damage to crops in the north, but everyone I meet is saying it's a good thing.
There also seems to be plenty of work around. The resources boom in Australia is in full swing and Queensland is at the forefront of the boom. I'm looking for work in two areas, English as a second language (ESL), and software development. I'm hoping to put my Japanese skills good use use in either one of those areas.
ESL will provide some continuity and is perhaps more accessible in Brisbane, due to the high number of foreign students studying here.
Finding the right pathway back in to IT might be a little more difficult, since I've been out of the industry for about 5 years. My experience as a multimedia/web developer spanned over 7 years and 5 countries. It was top class, but now I need to work hard to update my skills, and demonstrate my ability.
I'm looking forward to the challenge.
