Hi again everyone. The weeks seem to go by faster and faster. I can't believe I'm already over a third of the way through my time in Cairns. If it's going this fast here, I can only imagine how it will be when I travel the rest of Australia. In a blink I'll be back home running on little sleep and bouncing from gig to gig. Until then, time to enjoy my little time out from life.
Monsoon season is starting to pick up here in the tropical north. I love thunderstorms and rain, so it's perfect for me. Being able to wear and want to wear a sweatshirt has been angelic. The only real down side is that since my workout classes are outside, many have been canceled over the last few days. And unfortunately, I'm not as inclined to force myself to do strength training on my own. If the torrential downpours persist for much longer, as they most likely will, I'll have to kick my ass in gear a bit more then. I can't quite pass the FBI PFT (my current standard measure of strength/endurance) yet, so I'll have to figure out something to get my act together... it's not like I'm doing much else, right?
We're changing things up at the hostel. Two of our girls are leaving this week. We have replacements already in place and Tuesday will be moving day. That's right, I'm moving up in life, literally, I'm off to the bigger room and I even get my own private balcony with it. Sounds like I great plan to me. Due to the turnover, I also got a schedule shift and some paid hours. I get to spend my Wednesday mornings dropping off guests at the reef and making beds. I got a crash course in Australian driving, and luckily the reef terminal is on a nearby street, so I basically have to make one turn and then turn around after I drop off the guests. I escaped my test drive without any incident. Though I did often turn on the wiper blades instead of the blinker, still getting used to the signals being on the right hand side of the steering wheel. The van we have also reminds me of my old Astro, Tallulah. The van likes to slip out of gear and rev the engine. So it's fun to manually slip it between 3rd and drive when you're going down the road.
Scavenging has basically become a second job for me. Other than my weekly produce from the market, I don't think I actually paid for any of the food I ate this week. I also discovered a delicious snack of frozen grapes and Nutella. Works great for cooling down on a hot, humid, sweaty day. I am so thankful that the guests here buy more than they can eat and leave it behind for us to enjoy. I have my eye on a cheesecake in the bottom kitchen. I don't know how no one has claimed it yet, if there's no name by the end of the week, I am eating that sucker whole and not looking back. I mean, it's cheesecake guys! I've been getting a good variety in my diet due to my newfound "grocery shopping".
I did have a minor adventure this weekend. I was initially going to head out and see a local band that I like, but the girls at work were going to go out to the Green Ant Cantina, a nice little Mexican place just down a block from the hostel, to celebrate one of our girls's last days. We also got to use our hostel bar tab, so we didn't need to pay for our drinks. Luckily this time going out, I didn't have to try and make small talk with any new strangers. I just got to sit and watch as my coworkers chatted about many events I had not been present for. I decided to play it safe as far as drinking went and just got a pretty good tasting hard cider... then the shots came. I'm not sure what we drank, it was some sort of Baileys/Kahlua/coconut mixture that kind of tasted like a milkshake. Not bad, so I didn't really object when a second round was ordered, though, in general I'm not one for shots, and not one for drinking much in the first place. I drew the line at the tequila. I can't do it. Can't stomach it and it tastes and smells terrible. I managed a few sips of frozen margarita that was not to my liking, and a few sips of sangria that was somehow worse. I don't like mixing up what I drink normally anyway, it usually doesn't bode well for me later. I thought we were all doing fine and that maybe I would have time to check out the band when it was apparently decided that we were going to another bar in the city after. It was almost midnight and I was already falling asleep. Luckily for me, one of our crew was quite drunk and just wanted to go home to bed. I took advantage, and as the other girls got a cab, we trotted through the rain back to our rooms. Apparently the others didn't get back until sometime after 3. All of us had to work the next day. Fortunately, I got to sleep in a bit as it was a Sunday and there are no workout classes for me to attend. We all helped each other out for the morning jobs and even got done a bit early, I think most of them went back to bed. Due to my refusal to drink much of the other alcohol offered to me, I made it through the day and night without much incident other than a mildly upset stomach that was better once it was fed. I'm doubting I'll have another night like that, but who knows, I can always chalk it up as "research" right?
Alas, that's all the big excitement for the week. At least, if there's anything else I forgot, it probably wasn't that important! Besides, my stomach is overruling my brain and ability to type, so I'm off for some dinner. 'Till next time, keep warm everyone.
-Celina
