Hostel Life

I am checked into my hostel, eagerly awaiting work to begin. Guess what? I got a bottom bunk!!! And in a 10 share, so I actually didn't have to pay more money, so it was all good. I think it was because I worried so much, haha. Sarah helped me check in and store groceries in the already packed shelves and fridge. She was thoroughly grossed out by the food storage situation, and I laughed. She spent the afternoon with me to show me around Tanunda a little. We shopped for antiques, grabbed lunch at a cool little cafe, then got some groceries. I am hanging out here now, trying not to breathe in too much 2nd hand smoke (I mean, if everyone is sitting together at the same table and I go to another table to avoid the smoke, it's kind of rude, right?), waiting for the reception to open at 5pm so I can purchase some internet time. I texted Hannah to tell her I missed her and that everyone here is 22, smoking cigarettes, and European. You don't make friends starting on this foot, but I won't give them links to this blog anyway, haha. I also texted Marie. Maybe if I text people enough, it will guilt them into visiting me, haha. All the kids around here seem bored, and are actually sitting around talking about how bored they are, so I hope the work will start soon. If not, I am going to walk each day and explore different stuff, and try my best not to spend money. The hostel is situated like 100 meters in front of Chateau Tanunda, so I literally have to cross a lawn to get very nice wine. I'm surrounded by beautiful vineyards. They have a sand volleyball court, so maybe I can convince people to play sometime, and come to Gawler to play. Anyway, regardless of what happens, I will be making the best of the situation. And hopefully be making money!!!

7:45 pm update: After talking to the guy (I am seriously having to drag information out of him), I have found out the work is on a rotation system, so people are on a list, then rotated, so everyone works, but not all the time. Why this isn't on the website, I do not know. Anyway, I am not on the list for tomorrow, which was posted about 7:30 pm. I have sat here and watched people come by and huff when they see they have to leave at 4:15 am. I want to tell them I will gladly take their place. I have finally talked to people in the hostel also, 2 girls from the UK. She tells me this hostel is kind of "clicky," I told her I had picked up on that. She had to wait a week for work, so I am thinking that unless harvest starts this week, it might be a week before I can get something. Stay tuned...

Happy Australia Day!

Yesterday I experienced my very first Australia Day celebration. I got up early enough to catch a Gawler train that arrived at noon. I brought with me the ingredients to make a berry salad- strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, blue cheese (or "blue vein cheese" if you are Australian), lettuce, balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil- and beer and wine. Emma picked me up from the Gawler train station and we ran a couple of errands, then went to Hannah's house. Sara and James and Geoff and Heidi and their kids were already there. I made my salad with the blue cheese, much to the chagrin of Hannah and Sara, but both said they would give it a try even though that was an ingredient. Sam surprised everyone and showed up a little later. We hung out and made sausages and hamburgers on the grill and listened to Hot 100 and drank. It was perfect weather, as it has been for the past few days. Marie came later in the afternoon from work and joined in the fun. Sam and James put together a ping pong (or table tennis) court (well, James put it together, Sam watched and occasionally handed James screws). Geoff is a douche (just checking to see if you are reading, Geoff ;)  ). Once it was constructed, people played all afternoon (I played once and was awful, so I didn't play again). As the sun went down, the boys decided to play wizard staffs, which is where you drink lots of beer and tape each can to the end of the next can and construct a wizard staff. See picture below for visual aid. Hannah put some red streaks into my hair to celebrate the occasion, yay! All in all, it was another great day. I am going to hate being in a hostel after weekends like this. Happy Australia day everyone!

BIG DAY OUT

I caught buses to the BDO bus stop on Currie Street. I loaded on with various miscreants, most of them smelling like they had already been pregaming for the show. When the bus was fulling loaded, someone walked the entire length of the bus, I guess to make sure no one was partaking in any sex, drugs, or rock n roll. Anyway, I found it weird. We rode about 15 minutes outside of town to the showgrounds. I followed the flow of people to to the gates and made my way inside.

I did a lap to access situation; the food in Chowtown smelled soooo good. I found my way to a big grassy area near the 2 main stages. I sat in the grass and watch various groups of people gathering, most of them drinking the very expensive Aussie beer. I caught end of ME- which I decided were very "Queen" in their sound. I checked my program and saw that they listed Queen as one of their main influences- nailed it. I started to watch the next band called Everytime I Die, but all they did was scream, and I wasn't into it. I walked around to another stage and listened to Delta Force- they were good, but kind of upset the crowd wasn't as into it. It was early in the day, so the crowd was sparse and mostly sitting on the ground. The lead singer yelled at everyone and asked them to stand up. I obliged, even though I knew I would be standing all day. After Delta Force, I watched a little of Against Me. I couldn't tell if the lead singer was a man or a woman, then read in the program that it was a man that used to be a woman. I walked back to another stage and got to watch Gary Clark Jr in its entirety. He was so good, and the crowd was total fans. They knew all the songs, and it was funny to hear them chant "Gary" in Aussie accents. I am now a fan too. Before his set was over, Donald Glover, or Troy from Community, walked by with some of his crew. He was so close I could have touched him- I freaked out.

I decided I needed to eat something now, as this is the only time I would have a gap between bands that I wanted to see. I went to the Chowtown section, which specializes in cool eats. I got a beef cheek, lemongrass & tamarind soft taco w/ cucumber lime salsa. It was sooooo good! I took my meal back to the lawn section and ate while listening to Band of Horses. After a short bathroom break in a long line, I got a frozen banana on the way to Childish Gambino, aka Troy aka Donald Glover. The crowd was insane. They knew all the words and were all about dancing and pushing and singing and I quickly got claustrophobic (such a wimp). I managed to push my way out of the crowd and listened from the outside for his whole set. He was awesome and fun.

Next were the headliners, so I made my way back to the main stages. I sat in the grass at the edge of the field to wait for The Killers to start. They came out and started with Mr. Brightside. As soon as everyone heard the beginning of the song, everyone came running toward the stage. I stayed back again, not at the very back, but in a nice gap space in the middle of the crowd. Their show was so fun, everyone was dancing and singing as the sun went down. It was great. There was a short break between before the Red Hot Chili Peppers came out. Everyone got situated to where they wanted to be for the show. They came out rocking immediately. I knew every song by heart and screamed all the words. I was near someone who looked exactly like Freddie Mercury from Queen. He even had the tiny mustache and was dressed in a skin tight leopard print shirt. I thought he was gay, but he had a wife. Anyway, the reason I am even telling you about the Freddy clone is because I witnessed he and his friend fight someone. They decided they did not want to let people continue pushing through the crowd, so the stuck their elbows out and elbowed people that tried to go by. A few drunk people occasionally scuffled with them when they did this, but one guy would not let up. He seemed to keep asking them why they were doing this and Freddy kept pushing him violently away. I moved away at this point, as they had no regard for people around them. The guy kept coming at him, and Freddy flipped the guy over his head and his friend kicked him in the face as he hit the ground. I said "I'm out" at this point and go to a completely different place in the crowd. Aside from the Freddy Mercury fight, it was an awesome show and a great day.

Bad things about the day:- people that push through crowd (usually drunk, so they had no concept of how hard they were pushing), long lines at bathrooms, and those new high waisted, underware-like-with-lower-butt-cheek-showing shorts girls are now wearing. They were everywhere and they are like everything that can go wrong with shorts combined into one pair of shorts. After a long day, I was tired, my feet were killing me, I smelled like beer and smoke, even though I partook in neither. The crowd, with the exception of a few bad apples, was overall friendly. I gave some high fives to strangers, took pictures with strangers, and danced with strangers. It was a good, beautiful Australian day.

Beaches, Beaches, Beaches...

I have been spending at least 3-4 days each week over the last several weeks going to the beach. I am developing a nice base tan, which is my goal before I set off to the Barossa valley for a month to pick grapes in the hot sun. So that is my newest development: a potential job! I am really looking forward to it and I hope it works out. I am also hoping to befriend someone with a car and a desire to play volleyball, so maybe I can get a lift to continue playing while I am working. It is only about 30 minutes from Gawler, which is closer than when I come with Sam and Marie. I am paranoid about the job, and keep having dreams that I arrive and they don't have a job for me, but I have already reserved the bed, and they need 80 workers, so it should be ok...

In addition to lone beach trips, I have gone occasionally with friends. Marie goes when she isn't working, Emma spent a day with us, then spent the night and went to the beach with us again the next day. We went to a Greek Festival last weekend with Hannah, who I have prescribed as being severely "beach deprived". She was so excited just to see the ocean! Well, maybe it is just that I am "beach spoiled" lately...

I only have about a week before I will be up in Tanunda for at least a month, but it will be a nice week.
Upcoming fun: More beach this last week, including a trip this weekend with Hannah and Sara and James's family, Big Day Out concert next Friday with Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Killers (I AM SO STOKED!) and Australia Day BBQ at Hannah's. Fun Overload.