When I was talking to some of my friends and family recently I realised that there are so many of them who think I have an easy life, good family, supporting husband, good home, good job etc. I am very happy to have a good life and don’t want it to change at all.
However, I think people forget that even people who have a good life now has had to work hard to get where they are. Most of them have known me only for the last 5 years or so so they have no ideas how hard I have worked for a long time to get where I am now. There were times when I used to do full time university and part time jobs and used to work 7 days a week.
I always had my mind set that I would never bother my parents for money once I left Nepal so always did my best to earn the tuitions fee and living expense. I really do not want to say much to those people so I just smile and thank them who call me “lucky”.
Most of you know that I work in IT now but before this job I worked a variety of jobs during my university when I was a student.
Anyway listing some of the fun and not so fun jobs I have ever had.
Tutor
I think teaching was in my blood as my mum was a teacher. From a very young age I used to tutor my brother but around when I was in year 6, I used to tutor a lot of neighbours’ kids and relative’s kids. By the time I was in year 10, I was earning some pocket money tutoring which was great for me.
Tutoring started because I wanted to help a few kids I knew with their homework. I got a lot of pleasure doing that but as the number of my students increased, some of them offered me money and that is how I earned my first wages. 🙂
Waiter (café/restaurants)
I got my first job in Australia as a waiter in a restaurant. It was not bad as there were people who were nice and taught me everything from how to open a wine bottle to how to make a coffee. I also worked in a few cafes after that.
Hunger Jack’s (Burger king)
This was another job I started very early when I came to Australia. I think I got hired even though I had no experience only because I was under 18 and they could pay minimum wage. I really learned a lot from this job and it was a stepping stone for me to learn lots of things regarding customer service.
I still remember the day I was asked to clean the table outside after the customer left. Having never worked in Nepal, I was disgusted to pick up after the customer. I had tears in my eyes thinking why had left Nepal for that.
Thinking about it now I am very grateful that life taught me so many things in Australia; which I would have never learned if I lived with my parents’ protection in Nepal.
This is the job which also taught me how to mop. I was very sloppy in the beginning as I was not very strong to dry the mop and there were other staff who helped me but it was a great learning experience.
Check out chick/supervisor
I work as check out operator for a while for a big supermarket chain. It was a fun job most of the time. After few years, they promoted me to be supervisor and it was fun. Managing 20+ people at the time was not easy but I had fun most of the time. I was so young while most of them were older than me and it used to cause problems sometimes. But overall I had fun working there though it had its own ups and down.
Sales assistance (Fashion)
This was my summer job one year when I was looking to earn extra money. I worked for a leather shop where they sold jackets, bags and shoes. I then learned how much mark up all these stores had. I also learnt the trick that the SALE most of the time are scam to lure the customers in.
It was an easy job but boring at times too.
BBQ Chicken shop assistance
This started as a summer job as well but I stayed longer. The job itself was alright but in summer, the place is like a sauna and so hot that it was hard to breath sometimes. I did get to eat lots of yummy food they sold but it was a hard one.
Sales (door to door)
I was looking for extra money one summer and decided to give it a go at door-to-door sales as they promise big money. I lasted only one day in the job, as it was so awkward to knock on some stranger’s house in the middle of their routine and offer to change their phone service provider. I didn’t like the job straight away but I still worked the whole day as I didn’t want to leave in the middle of the day. Never goona do it again.
Sales assistance (Car hire)
I worked as a sales assistance at a car hire company as part time staff for a while. It was an OK job that payed good money and the hours were good.
Web designer
This was my first job out of university and I was so excited when I got the full time web designer job. But to my dismay the job turned out to be more admin than web designer. As I was the newest person in the office, I was asked to do all the small jobs and was never given opportunity to use my skills properly. I left the job in a few months when I realised that I had no future in that company.
Lecturer
This is the most satisfying job I have ever held. It was such a pleasure to teach a room of full of students. And it was even more rewarding to see them doing well in exams showing they had learnt what I had taught them.
There were times when the students were older than me and, they didn’t want to take me seriously but those issues were easily resolved when they saw that I was good at my job.
Even till today, I bump into many students who I had taught and it always makes me smile when they come and talk to me.
I still miss the job satisfaction this job provided and would love to go to this profession one day in the future.
I am sure there are a lot of you out there who have worked harder than I did but I still feel I have done my fair share of hard work in my life to be where I am today. I hope I will be called “lucky” the rest of my life and I will have no problems saying thanks to everyone all the time.
Please share the different odd jobs you have held in your lifetime.
Take care ,
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO
nepaliaustralian 
Nice post! I agree with the mentality of never having to bother parents for money after leaving Nepal, but I haven’t been so lucky here in Finland. But whenever I find any kind of jobs, I take them. Initially, it was a bit odd to do manual jobs as I had never done them in Nepal, but I have nothing to complain about! I am glad you are now at a phase where you don’t have to worry about jobs. I am still a struggling student, but it will soon come to an end , I believe! 🙂
I am sure you will get there soon. It just takes some time and effort and as you are doing it already. All the best and enjoy every minute of your life.Take care 🙂
One of my first jobs was working at the library 🙂
I love to work at the library. It would be great to surrounded by all those book 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your story.I am in Australia from last 2 years and still struggle to find the job I want.I am doing odd jobs but I am happy I am supporting my husband financially.Your story really motivates me to keep on trying.
Cheers to you.
Glad I am able to motivate you. I have to tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Do not give up because I promise good things are still to come. Take care gal.
Hello NA ..great post !
Provides a very good perspective to younger folks from Nepal/India/SL/Pak looking to go to the western world for higher studies/Eventual Migration.
Only the kids most talented with Full ride scholarships/Very Well off families are exempted from this struggle. What happens to students from middle class families who have to go through this ‘Shock’ of having to do ‘menial jobs’ is what you have documented very well.
That is the difference between ‘Class’ driven societies of Asian world vs the western world !
Hope your young followers in Nepal take this to heart !
Thank you for posting this !
Thank you so much Ramesh for your kind words. I thought I will share my life history so people who are in that stage won’t give up on their life yet as better is still to come.
I can totally relate to that door-to-door sales, I don’t know why on earth did I even consider doing it? People slamming their door on faces, how miserable I felt! But hey! it was a great read like always, really glad that your hard work paid off for you and you inspired me, thankyou 🙂
I still wonder how they do it and feel sorry for people who does that job. It was one of the toughest jobs ever for me. Thank you for reading my blog gal, and happy to discover yours 🙂
great post. an eye opener. hard work really pays. you deserve good things in this phase of your life.
Thank you so much Shilu. Yap everyone had to go through this stage once they come overseas unless they have super rich parents who can send them money every week 🙂
Nice resume! I was trying to count mine and eventually lost my count on how many jobs I worked. It has to be around 15-20 job categories, 25-30 jobs. When I look back, I feel so proud. I think I learned equally, if not more, from these jobs than from the Colleges I attended.
Thanks :). Good to know that you share the similar journey to be where you are today. It is always nice to remember those hard days to keep us real. I plan to tell my kids about these jobs one day so they don’t take things for granted :). It is so true that these jobs taught me lots of life lesson than university did.
great insights on life in Australia in early days…it brought lotsa of memories of my own journey. It’s a cliché but it’s quite a journey to come in foreign land, survive on your own and make it a home. You’ve done well.
Thank you and I am sure you have your share of jobs . It is amazing to look back now and wonder how we mange then 🙂
Yeah I did too..not as many as yours but I did my fair share..the part where you wrote about that time when you had to clear the table and you felt so bad..I had similar experience when cleaning a mirror and saw my image in my housekeeping uniform..I felt self pity..but as you’ve it’s made me stronger and grateful for things I have now. Rather than counting your sorrows, always count your blessings.
Housekeeping is one job I didn’t end of doing but lots of my friends did that.Agree with you 100% that all the experience has made us a better person 🙂
Wow, you certainly have done a fair variety of jobs in your lifetime! Thanks for sharing. Everyone’s lives are different and everyone gets to where they are differently. We can never take things at face value – there is always a story behind it!
It was so wonderful reading your first paragraph about how you acknowledge your good life 🙂
Thanks 🙂
so proud of how far you have coming along. a lot of time people forget that its a journey and good life isnt just handed down (unless you are a fund baby). hard work really really pays off 🙂
Thanks Dixya, i feel most of us go through this journey but only few people in later life knows about it .
Indeed, quite a number of jobs you held while you were full time student. “Bow to you”
It is always “The grass is greener on the other side”.
Thanks a lot 🙂
That’s brave to get into so many things and better yet share about it! 🙂 Nice read. So good be back reading and soon writing!
Welcome back and thank you. Looking forward to read more on your blog 🙂
Great to know about all your hard work, sometimes people only talk about how well you are doing currently, but nothing is luck, everything is hard work! 🙂
Thanks gal 🙂