yay! i have my first job in this continent!

my second week finished doing account receivables at Tiwi Islands Shire. i had always done account payables back in Turkey but here i am following debtor activity. well i guess not that different from what i did at the bank in Istanbul. different system, different routine, different people. i am liking it. it's subbing for a legendary gal who is out safari-ing in Africa for six weeks. the aussies take long vacations, that's the way it should be.
here at the office i noticed at the get go that there were no plants. i always have to have something living in my office space. i have had a turtle, fish and crawly plants in every professional environment i have been in. even in part time jobs. something about having a plant, or even a rock grounds me, makes me happy to have a companion while working.
in the absence of plants here is what two funny ladies presented to me last week.

i heard michelle and renee giggling and squawking at the back. they even came to rummage through stationery behind me but i was pretty surprised to see the installation. it was so elaborate too! they had given a 3D effect to it by sticking accordion like attachments to the bird, sun and pot so it was all juxtapositioned perfectly in front of each other. very unexpected.
i got what i wished for, flowers in my office space.

Top End Vixen's role in our life

we have had to take care of Vixen for 2 weeks now. another two weeks to go. it hasn't been the easiest since she has had to get used to two strange strangers- one a nutty brit kiwi in the Top End and me the multi-faceted paki-turk- american mutant. first we thought we could win her with pink lady apples and crunchy carrots. that idea lasted a week. then we figured she needed more riding and was very pleased when Sarah rode her. but Vixen continued to be irritable and agitated. even her jealous neighbour Polka would snap at her when she was walked out of the stall. Polka is as her name suggests dotted with black spots and funnily enough has white and blue specks in her eyes.

how does a horse show irritation? she refused to wear her bridle for one. all she wanted was her feed. i am in charge of the feed, it is like my morning oatmeal so i am pretty good at it. or so i would like to think. she would stomp and stomp and stomp until her head was buried in food. 

Vixen had ripped her fly jacket in her moments of boredom i theorize. we got it fixed by a thai lady in town. it was a great feeling putting the jacket on Vixen because she was so sweet and quiet during the entire event that i thought something is changing. or is it?

even Stu said i think this is a turning point. 

that fly jacket has calmed her considerably. amidst the peacocks, cockatoos and magpies, the flies probably have driven her up the wall. no fan or long tail to whack did it, the ninja fly jacket did.

waking up at 06.00 every morning was tough for the first few days. we pass out like 80 year olds at 10.00 pm from exhaustion. the diehard urban horse babysitters we are....now it is easier. Vixen has not just brought  early rising into our lives, we get to witness more beauty and quiet here in the Top End.