torstai 3. marraskuuta 2016

My life as an immigrant woman

How does a day in the life of a non-English speaking immigrant woman sound like? The best thing in Australia is that you can try that, too and even get paid for it. I tried cleaning hotels but did not want to keep that job. Now I found another job, ironing clothes and bed linen. The best job ever, there's not much money in it but I love it. It's like meditating 8 hours, so calm and relaxing and I have time to think my own thoughts. Today I thought that maybe life is like this for many people, especially the women. They are stuck performing easy, low paid unskilled jobs because that's all they can find and they need to earn their keep.

And despite all that, these women are always happy, they always smile. I felt welcome, I mean really welcome. And I am happy at work. It almost caused an identity crisis as this kind of thing hasn't happened in a long time. Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of one of my co-workers, ate cake and the elderly ladies gave free advise to us ”young girls” to help us through the rest of our lives. Our boss told us to surround ourselves with good people and we'll always feel good. It's simple enough advise, but easy to forget. Moreover, you can't always choose the people around you.

And while working, we see how the other half lives. The thing I most wonder about is that someone actually wants to pay for someone else to iron their camisoles that are full of holes, Tommy Hilfiger t-shirts that are stained and once-so-nice sheets that are covered in lint. And someone quite seriously wants us to iron their panties. Now, that's too much for me, no matter how nice my Victoria's Secret panties are, if I feel an urge to have them ironed, I'll do it myself. Having someone else handle them feels disgusting. Speaking about Victoria's Secret, I think I'll go there and spend the money I earned this week and eat noodles and tuna next week. Life is risky business. In Australia I've gotten used to living on the last penny. Like all the other immigrants here.



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