the sudden break

Well, it has almost been two weeks since I have arrived here in Australia and this will actually be he first entry after having fully settled in the new environment. I have managed to find a gorgeous place in an area that I consider metropolitan yet familiar and cheerfully childish. I guess it’s rare to find these places even though some cities have put their focus on producing retro neighborhoods with heaps of exclusive material that shows once more that the thought of something familiar to people has been abused to the extent that they spend vast amounts of money to be part of the whole. I think I have found an exceptional area where the people are just so true and just don’t take into account what other people think. My friend Ed, with whom I have gladly stayed for my first week here, mentioned this phrase that probably hugely contributes (or at least should) to one’s self confidence: “Bro, that’s what the gag is all about; just wearing whatever.” This was actually about the sunglasses of Jojo back in HK that did look kind of weird. But even on a less superficial level I can see what he means. Everybody helps each other, people are satisfied with what they have and they therefore actually have a more chilled out vibe than a lot of other people I have met thus far. I know all this sounds fairly cheesy; nonetheless it is what I think at the moment.

I come by Café Sappho every morning, get a genuine “Good morning dude, how are ya?” and then continue my way to work in a happy-go-lucky kind of way. I am in fact lucky that I got to stay with Ed since he introduced me to virtually half Sydney and I have met some people I really enjoy spending my time with.
My work is very interesting and consists of convincing the Australian Government to grant a great deal of visa to people that try to escape their miserable situations. I only realized today (after having talked with a client) that this is not just theory but that these people actually do fear for their existences and that I – or Amnesty respectively – am their last hope. It feels challenging and weird and is a tiring job since I have to read through, mostly, big files that contain legal documents that concern the cases of separate cases. Today was my fourth day of work and I already have to deal with 10 different cases of which most are thankfully not that urgent or even active but their stories are strange and worrying for my perception of human life. Every time when I see a case and think that situations could possibly not get any worse for people, they do.
As to my inner thoughts, I can think that I eventually managed to arrive in this city, that my life is becoming more organized and I can eventually start considering myself in some flow again. I even started making sketches again. I feel well.