The South Melbourne Trader by Katherine

This is a sponsored post.

The owner emailed me a few weeks ago asking me to try out this restaurant and so I did.

They had just opened in South Melbourne near the South Melbourne Market. As I don't frequent this area behind the market often, it was hard for me to find.

They are a cafe as well as a bar serving the the finest wines. They do many coffees here including filter and cold drip.

The lady that served me was sweet. She was very friendly and had a little bit of an accent.

The place has free WI-FI and lots of seating.

I had pancakes with blueberries and lemon curd ($15.60) and a long black ($3.20) The pancakes were a tad bit dry but I loved dipping it in the lemon curd and berries. In fact I loved the lemon curd- it was homemade.

The long black came with a shot of soda water which I thought was a bit strange but my waitress explained that it was a palate cleanser. And I certainly did need it after all because the flavours were strong. The coffee beans were by Proud Mary. And I know that Proud Mary does a good coffee so this did not disappoint. Here the coffee tasted bitter and nutty and worked really well with the soda water.

I'd love to come back in the summer to try their cold drinks and their stellar cold coffee!

Asian grocceries and restaurants pay as little as $10 per hour

We explore the issue of underpayment which has been going on for some time now. This issue dates back to 2005 where many students worked at 7-11 and places like that.

 Most of these places pay by cash in hand so that they can get away with the law.

I have had many stories of where students work at night time doing back breaking work.

One student who does not want to be named said that he worked in a Chinese take away place in the suburbs. He worked for over 20 hours per week  for about $10 an hour. He was not paid any overtime for the weekends that he worked.

He was wondering how he'd pay his bills or do really well in his studies.

Remember the case of 7-11? Well this is like that. Except in this case the employer hasn't been reported.

Well in this case it is a lot worse where International Students are being paid around $8-$10. Some of them have to do trial shifts where they work for one day to a week for free.

Also in some of the Chinese and Asian places that I go to I have seen many unhappy faces. 

To this very day it is still happening and many students do not know their rights

Have you been unfairly treated at work? Share you story here or you can befriend us on Facebook and share your story there.

Sharing Ink hides their books all over town

These are free books.

Sharing Ink is a participatory art project. They were featured in Meld a few days which prompted me to do a write up of this project seeing as Melburnians love art, food and books.

These are put together by a Master of Arts RMIT student Sayraphim Lothian. Her books focuses on the community and artworks.

“I create these works as tiny moments of loveliness for the finder – that instant when the finder spots the work out of the corner of their eye, that moment when they realise that someone has made something and left it somewhere for them to find. That moment is the whole point of the work,” she says.
“I’m working to make the world a nicer place, one hand crafted experience at a time.” quote from the artist.

These are hidden all over the city of ten days. Check out their Facebook page for the whereabouts of the books. Good luck

Australian TV and International students by Katherine

Australian TV is at an end of an era. With Internet movies and channels being available more and more students prefer to go online. This trend isn't such a great idea as we explain.

Tv from downundertv.net

Watching free TV is better for you and the media. It supports local talent and you learn lots.

The free TV hasn't got a lot of International channels with the exception of the SBS which is mainly about the world. But you can learn lots about Australian culture so that you can be at ease with making local Australian friends.

Foxtel on the other hand is pay TV and that has more channels. Students simply cannot afford the luxury.

Then there is the issue of piracy. A lot of things are free to watch on Youtube but most things comes at a consequence. Myself and Sally don't watch much Youtube as it is illegally pirated. We prefer the Australian tv where it is free and we can learn the language. Sally's English has improved so much ever since she decided to watch the free tv. The free tv has a lot of American programs as well as the Wimbledon (English tennis championships).

Sally "I came to Australia to study and to learn the culture. So I may as well make use of the free tv in the house".
"I love x-factor and the Australian drama shows as I can learn so much and adapt to the culture easily. I feel so much more at ease when I'm in Australia"
" I often watch tv in the living room and interact with the other mates"
" When I go back to China everything is different".

Students do try and watch the free TV as you can learn a lot about Australian culture from it. Also try and watch some Amercian TV programs in your home country before you come here as it may make life easier for you.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

A student's spam story.

As part of our Womyns issue

 By: Jasmine Li
Edited: Katherine Chiu

This is my story about a spam email I got a few days ago. I'm  not good at English. I am a second year student in RMIT doing Accountancy.

GORDON LAW FIRM
 
JAKARTA INDONESIA

Attention: Sir.

My name is Richard Grant, a Barrister and Solicitor at law here in JAKARTA INDONESIA. I am the personal attorney to my late client, a national of your Country, who used to work with an Oil and Gas Exploration Company firm here in JAKARTA INDONESIA. On the 24th of December 2007, my client, Engr. Kamal Prabhakara his wife and their two children were involved in a ghastly auto accident while returning from their vacation and all occupants of the vehicle lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiry to find any of my late client’s relatives or close surnames names and I found you.
I am contacting you to assist in repatriating of my late client's fund in the Bank before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the 8th of MaY 2014. This fund is US$104,000,000.00 (One Hundred and Four Million United States Dollars) plus accumulated interest. Since my late client’s death was Inter-state, I have the legal right to present you as the Beneficiary to this fund.
According to the Bank, we have only about 36 days Left on my late client’s contract agreement with the bank and according to the JAKARTA INDONESIA inheritance Law, I must present the Next of Kin to get this accomplished otherwise the money will be confiscated and taken over by the banks top officials and share it amongst themselves.
I seek your consent to present you as the Beneficiary to the funds so that the proceeds of this account valued at US$104,000,000.00 plus the accumulated interest can be paid to you. Upon the successful completion of this transaction, I shall meet with you in your country to negotiate on how this fund will be utilized. May be we can reinvest the fund in your county for our benefit or share the funds 50% each.
I have all of the Legal Papers needed to back you up in this claim. All I require is your honest and maximum co-operation to see this transaction through. Please note that this transaction is 100% legit and risk free if you follow my legal instructions.  You and I have nothing to lose since I will be at the background here and I will be furnishing you with the required details to be presenting to the bank where this fund is dormant in the account at the moment.
If you are willing to assist and want us to work together, please kindly contact me and send this information for me to have more trust in you.
1. Your full names:
2. Present Residing Address:
3. Telephone/Mobile Number:
4. Age:
5. Type Of Job :
6. any of your I.D:
Yours Ever

I did not know that this was a scam and believed the story. I had paid and lost about $200,000,000. By then I was worried about paying the tuition fees. I also couldn't pay my living fees and had to live on welfare. I tried to recoup that money from the bank but could not.

So in the end I went home and was excluded from RMIT for not being able to pay fees on time.

Lessons learnt:
Never ever send information to someone you don't know. Never ever open spam emails. Just delete them.