The heat is on!

A new week at work and the heat is well and truly on... not only do we need heating (as Melbourne's winter has well & truly arrived) but the pressure is on to find new leads.  People to host their places on our website, that is.  The top 10 workers will get an iPad2 and the bottom 10 look set to lose their jobs.  I don't know about mine as the parameters are slightly different for me (being Office Manager), but still an iPad 2 would be nice....

So if you have a spare room.... or know of someone who does... get onto me!

Oh, and if you want to come to Melbourne for my birthday this weekend, I can organise you a voucher for free accomodation... do get in touch!!

Travel like a local

Planning a long weekend in Melbourne to watch the Australian Open or go to Sydney to explore its gorgeous harbour & various boutiques? Wimdu can offer you affordable accommodation for your stay. Depending on your budget you can choose between simply crashing on a couch or getting your own room for a few nights. Best of all, you’ll be meeting great new people along the way!

The recently launched company Wimdu (www.wimdu.com.au) is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe and now rapidly expanding into the Asia Pacific region and both North and South America. It is a central platform for private accommodation that connects travellers and hosts on a global scale. This is great news for anyone who prefers to learn about the local culture, save money, stay with locals, and receive valuable insider information! The impersonal service and relatively high cost of hotels, and the poor amenities and safety provided by hostels makes this an easy win. Through its exciting online marketplace, Wimdu offers a unique choice of rooms, apartments and houses and allows travellers to experience countries and cities as a local would experience them.

The benefits of this online service are not limited to travellers alone. Anyone who wants to rent out a house, spare room, couch, or even a castle can set up a profile, offer their place and receive additional income. In order to add security, the website handles all the money and requires guests to pay online before arriving at the location. Also, home owners can choose among their potential guests before confirming their booking and write a review about them after the stay. Travellers also have the opportunity to evaluate their hosts and write comments and recommendations to inform fellow travellers about their experience. This creative business model enables home owners to offer spare rooms to travellers and at the same time helps travellers save money.

One of the largest start up launches in history, Wimdu was kicked off in eleven languages and forty cities across Australia, Asia, Europe, North and South America. It is financed and supported by the German incubator firm Rocket Internet which was also responsible for building up eBay Europe and manages the international growth of Groupon, the fastest growing company in the history of companies.

So get on to Goole Earth and pick a place!  Get going, with Wimdu!

For more information please contact:
info@wimdu.com.au

Opening doors....

Hi eveyone!

Sorry I have been quiet of late... that's all about to change (starting today).  I've scored myself a job where blogging and facebook are not only allowed, but encouraged... how cool is that?!

I'm working for Wimdu Australia in their Melbourne office.  We find people who want to host temporary visitors in their spare rooms (or couches).  We get to know our hosts, take professional pictures of their places and advertise them on our website... all for free.  Then we screen potential guests, screen them and help them get in touch with you... beautiful!  I'll tell you more about it in the next post...

In other news... I have found myself a lovely new man.  We've been together almost two months now and I'm really enjoying getting to know him.  He owns a cool bar in the city, so if you're ever in Melbourne town and feeling a pit parched you should swing by!  Its called Troika and is open Tuesday to Saturday till late (he basically stays till the last punter leaves, so yeah... late!)  Its on Little Lonsdale St, up the Exhibition St end, and we've introduced mulled wine for the cooler months... its proving rather popular.  So hope to see you soon....

I'm just enjoying getting the most out of life at the moment and this weekend my favourite writers festival started so I'm going to be rather a busy gal.  Emerging Writer's Festival... one of the few festivals that really caters itself to writers rather than readers, with affordable prices too!  It is in its 3rd year and just keeps getting better with a broader variety of speakers and sessions and a great booklet put together post festival called The Reader... it keeps you inspired all the year through.

I'm still enjoying church, though I'm not such a regular at City on a Hill now.  I'm enjoying meeting regularly with my Mosaic friends, were really hoping to get a regular meeting going this year.  For now we're just enjoying lunch and prayer together each week... we shall see what God brings us.

I just love my city in Autumn and this year it is particularly beautiful.  All the rain we've had since last winter has made for a gorgeous Autumn colours show.  I've also been hanging out in the city a lot as that is where Paul is most of the time.  Getting to know how it all looks in the the middle of the night too... I love the nightlife!

So, keeping in touch from now on... stay tuned to share in all my adventures!  Tschuss till next time...

Four Seasons in One Day

If you have come across Australia in the news since New Year... then you've probably heard...

• That we're experiencing FLOODs
• That we can't play CRICKET
• That it's warmer than usual (I think it's called LA NINA)
• That the TENNIS is on
• That there's been FIRES outside of Perth
• That Lance Armstrong is around Adelaide riding his BIKE
• That we're experiencing FLOODs!

I had to put the floods in twice as that's only a few made up headlines of my own since this year started... and that doesn't even cover MY NEWS.... like job, house, family, friends, etc, etc....

Suffice to say that when it doesn't rain it pours... and that the only thing you can expect from the weather in Melbourne, is that the forecast is only an educated guess!  One of my resident's at work even told me it's been likened to New York?!?!

I prefer our own Home-grown Melbourne pop version... and apologies to anyone who disapproves of bad language.  This band, Crowded House wrote this song a little bit about the town that they were formed in.  Now days the Lead Singer, Neil Finn, is back and forth from New Zealand.  The Drummer, Paul Hester, died a couple of years ago, and the Bass player, Nick Seymour, is still with the band along with Neil and a couple of other "newies".  If you're interested in their sound check out more about the band in the link.

Here in Melbourne tonight it is a clear starry sky, with a bright, full moon and some high cirrus clouds.  We've had a couple of fairly cool (low 20 degrees C) days, but the forecast is for warmer (moister) weather leading up to the weekend!

The only thing that stays the same is that I love to sing!  Tonight it's "moon" songs again... like "How High The Moon" or "Fly Me to the Moon"... maybe "Moon dance"... whichever song I sing.... I eventually come back to some kind of lullaby... or it will be AWFULLY hard to get up when my alarm goes off in the morning!

Guten-nacht.... iio tenki desu ne? (Goodnight... it's a nice day, isn't it?) xo xo xo xo

Song of the week is back for 2011!

Happy New Year everyone... I thought I'd re-start a tradition I began last year... if I aim for once a week at least it means I blog once a week most of the time, eh?

I'll blog a bit more about my plans for 2011 soon... in the meantime here's a track I'm enjoying at the moment:

My Will - DC Talk

I'm setting the stage for the things I love

And I'm not the man I once couldn't be

Nothing on earth could now ever move me

I now have the will and the strength a man needs

         Chorus

         It's my will, I'm not moving

         Cause if it's your will, then nothing can shake me

         It's my will, to bow and praise you

         I now have the will to praise my God

Complexity haunts me, for I am two men

Entrenched in a battle that I'll never win

My discipline fails me my knowledge it fools me

But you are my shelter all the strength that I need

          Repeat Chorus

I'm learning to give up the rights to myself

The bits and the pieces I've gathered as wealth

Could never compare to the joy that you bring me

The peace that you show me is the strength that I need

          Repeat Chorus (We've got to be children of peace)

In one of the repeat choruses they also sing, it's your will not mine....

So much of the Christian journey is a "battle of wills".  Sometimes I think that I'm following God's will for my life, only to discover that I chose what I wanted.  Sometimes too the battle is even deeper... a battle between God's voice and the devil's.  Is that voice in our conscience the still small voice of our Heaven Father... our experience... or the voice of one who doesn't want us to follow his leading?  When making an important decision I think it is worth wondering who's will you are following.


Even in this New Year (including if you're not a Christian).  Will you follow the negative voice of past hurts, or difficult experiences that prevent you from going somewhere or trying something new?  Or will you put the past behind you, trust in your skills, experience and knowledge and take a risk?


Who's will are you following in you life?  Are you willing to make a change for the better?


I've just been thinking.... what do you think? Joce xo xo <><






 

Adventually.....

as in eventually posting....  a little bit about my 2010....

January.... wow... um Started a New Job with Alzheimer's Australia as an Educator... short lived.... Oh and Sensation... an Ocean of White... ah January, so full of promise!

February... um... new job... working... long distance cold to warm but a little wet in Melb's (I can't really remember...was trying to be a good worker

March... well Thanks, but no thanks... but I'll be flying to Europe mid winter anyway... Goodbye AA... hello unemployment...

April... Easter... Anzac Day Dawn Service at The Shrine... breakfast at Macca's... so very Anzac Day, I guess.... we were quite cold and hungry....

May... Dad's birthday, Mum & Dad's wedding anniversary... maybe I should have found a new job by now... and only a few weeks left of 29... what has Joce achieved so far....?

June... 30!  need I say more?

July... Europe... read July blogs!

August... exactly so, (Actually- I did try and fail to work in a call centre....) SO  unemployed, poor, cold, wet... but there is still a lot to Love about a really wet winter after so many dry ones... and I did get to break up my winter with a very warm month in Europe!

September... belts still tight... scarves still popular... Please Government can you help me with my rent?

October... I Knew as soon as I ask them for money I'd find a job... last week of October... Joce is a permanent part-time employee... Health and Wellness Coordinator of a Camberwell Aged Care Facility to be exact... oh and our home goes up for Auction...

November... home opens (erk)... Auction (passed in)... opens... SOLD!  phew!

December.... so here we are... the last week of Advent is upon us (Advent is the 4 week's leading up to 25th December/Christmas Day (not only Winter/Summer Solstice!)... and TODAY was/is Internation Human Right's Day...

interesting....

xo <>< xo

Song of the week - SOS

No, it's not the song by Abba... though they've been plauging me lately....


There's so much to love about this song, this band, this singer....


I could go on, & on, but I'm going to let the lyrics speak for themselves.  Spearhead roughly play hip-hop, I guess... Not sure that Michael is so easily categorised, but that's my go of the style!  


It makes me want to dance like nobody is watching!

The Sound of Sunshine

I wake up in the morning at six o'clock
They say there may be rain, but the sun is hot
I wish I had some time just to kill today
And I wish I had a dime for every bill I got to pay
Some days you lose, you win and the water's as high as the times you're in
So I jump back in where I learned to swim
Try to keep my head above it the best I can
That's why
CHORUS:
Here I am, just waiting for the storm to pass me by
and that's the sound of sunshine coming down
and that's the sound of sunshine coming down
I saw my friend Bobby, he said 'What's up man, you got a little work or a twenty to lend?'
I opened up my hand, He said, 'I'm glad to see, they can take away my job but not my friends
you see'
CHORUS
That's the sound of the sun goin' down
When the people of the world start to paint the town
A day that's long is a day complete
so kick off ya shoes and relax ya feet
they say tat miracles are never ceasing
and every single soul needs a little releasing
they say that money makes the world go round
but only one thing'll help the sun go down
Sweet, sweet love'll help the sun go down

It's true, it's true, it's true
CHORUS
You're the one I want to be with, when the sun goes down
CHORUS

* and to Mr Franti... I know I haven't asked, but I thank you for letting me publish your song on my blog... I just want you to know that somehow you always seem to sing exactly what I'd like to in a way that I want to shake up to... so I guess that's pretty cool!

Here's to dancing in the sunshine! xo xo