A+ for juxtsposition!

Territ'ry FM is waaay my favorite radio station around here. I remember my first weekend here, being totally thrilled to hear Neverending Story, and they have not stopped surprising me with the random half-forgotten songs they choose to play.

Today, when I got in the car after work, Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" was on, so I cranked it and was rocking out. Obviously, "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" was the clear choice for the next song. Especially considering it's a blistering hot September day in the desert. Amazing.

Today was a rough day at work (somehow everyone ended up leaving early, leaving me with all of their rooms to clean solo. blergh). But it's amazing hoe music can 100% change your mood. That, and knowing that you get to go on vacation (again! I know!) tomorrow with your awesome aunt and awesome little cousins. Roadtrip to Darwin!!! w00t!!!

Ooh, and it makes me wonder

I think I mentioned the music they play at the steakhouse I work at before. It's kind of kitschy outback stuff, like "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and "Home Among the Gum Trees" (those particular songs make up the diner-participation aspect of your dining experience.) But there is a true gem on the CD.

There is an outback/bush/folk version of the Led Zeppelin classic "Stairway to Heaven." Complete with wobble-boards.

It always puts a smile on my face.

A little idle talk of this and that

Life continues to go well here in the Alice. Today was a pretty long day at the hotel. I worked a 9.5 hour shift in laundry, surrounded by mountains upon mountains of white bed sheets. I felt rather like Mr. Bumble and kept expecting to find Little Orphan Annie buried at the bottom of one of the linen carts trying to make an escape from Miss Hanigans.

In related news, I spent a lot of today impersonating Carol Burnett.

I have been watching a lot of the Olympics lately. Who hasn't, right? But let me tell you, it is a lot and a lot of fun watching them in a different country. First of all, it increases the number of countries I get to cheer for; clearly, I am routing for the good ol' US of A, and I am exceedingly proud of Canadians and Mexicans when they do well, too. Continents gots to stick together, friends! But I have developed a sincere devotion to Australia in the games, as well. It's probably due to the fact that all of the coverage I'm watching is heavily biased towards Australians, but it's still fun to get behind the country that I'm living in. Right now, for example, I'm watching a men's rowing event and both the US and the Aussies are in this heat, and I am cheering for both. (Update: the Aussies placed 2nd. Go team!) I guess if I had to pick just one, it would be the States, and I am 100% behind Michael Phelps, but I do love me some Aussies! And I have a big ol' friend-crush on Stephanie Rice.

We have 4 channels at this house. Considering how few there are, it's amazing how much time I can waste flipping through them.

I have yet to determine what is "Australian for beer", but I am quite partial to Toohey's Black Ale.

Unrelated to Australia, I finished readin Pride and Prejudice last night for the umpteenth time, and I still cry at Darcy's second proposal. Every time.

I miss everyone terribly, but I'm still haing a blast! More stories to come!

Peace.

Workin' hard for the money

First of all, congratulations to all of you who made it through that marathon of a blog post the other day. I'll try not be so... verbose.

Now where was I?

Ah, yes. Employment.

As I mentioned, I got two jobs, both of which started on Monday. My job at the Comfort Inn Outback is basic housekeeping, but I've also been trained to do the laundry. My new friend Bawang taught me everything I need to know about cleaning rooms and making beds. Lately he's been trying to convince me to go home to Indonesia with him in November or December. The island he lives on doesn't have any cars or motorbikes or an airport or anything; he says that you just lie an the beach and go diving all the day long. It's pretty darn tempting. Cleaning rooms is all well and good, but I really enjoy doing laundry. I get to be by myself in the laundry room, folding sheets and towels and ironing table cloths and singing at singing at the top of my lungs. It rocks.

Job number 2: Overlander's Steakhouse. My first couple of nights on the job I was food-running; not too bad, kind of a flash back to my days at Carlos and Charlies back in high school. Last night I was "trained" on bar. It was pretty much by the skin of my teeth. Far more stressful, a lot more to be on top of. It wouldn't be so bad, but when drink orders come back, it just says the name of the beer or wine, not whether it is beer or wine. So while this wouldn't be an issue back in the states, where I know the names of beers and wines, but here, I am clueless.

The place itself is pretty funny. The manager puts on a show of being a grumpy old bugger, but I think it's all a facade. He seems like kind of a pushover to me. The steakhouse itself is full of outback kitsch. There are saddles and hides everywhere and the music is all of the Australian standards: "Tie Me Kangaroo Down", "Home Among the Gumtrees", etc. And they sell meat. Kangaroo, emu, crocodile, beef, camel, barramundi. Pretty intense, man.

Having the jobs is all well and good, but what's important is how much they're paying me. And the answer is: a lot. I'm getting $17.70 an hour at the hotel and somewhere in the neighborhood of $19 at the steakhouse. I'll have to pay a lot of tax, but I should get it all back when I leave the country. Basically, I'll be able to continue living the lavish life to which I've grown accustomed. That is, I'll be able to travel where ever I want. Which is why I'm here.

So I may not have a day off in the foreseeable future, but I'll be able to go on my New Zealand adventure!

Life is good, friends. Very good.

Peace.

The Slacker Speaks

I can't believe it's been a week since I've updated this! So so soooo much has been going on, I hardly know where to start. I guess I'll try to pick up where I left off.

Thursday the 17th
The flight was great! While waiting for take-off, I looked out the window to see a glorious rainbow arching over the southern sky. I love rainbows. When I got to Alice Springs, Uncle Timmy was waiting right inside, looking very much like himself, which is to say great. Getting into "Uncle Timmy's Jeep" was like coming home. Granted, it's not the same one he used to have (the black one was totalled some time ago in England, I believe), and it's a different color (white), and the steering wheel is on the right side, but it was still just right, the way it's supposed to be.

He took me back to the house to drop off my stuff (sans the duffel that was, at this point, still MIA), then took me on a little tour of Alice. It's a nice small town; we live about 10k out, but you can park downtown and walk any where. Then, we came back to the house again and hung out until the kids got home. While waiting, I was looking out the window when what should I see but a kangaroo hopping across the face of the hill out back! Hurrah! My first sighting!

The rest of the day I spent jumping on the trampoline with my little cousins and hanging out with Timmy and Alison. (I love living here, by the way.)

Friday the 18th
Fridays are Alison's day off, so when she got back from running the kids to school and stuff, she came and picked me up and took me down town. We did some cleaning up at her dental practice, ran some errands and caught up with a friend of hers for lunch, who gave me some much needed career advice: work mornings in hospitality and get a job clearing plates at the steakhouse. She was very specific.

While down town, we also stopped in to Flight Centre, a travel agency, where I met my new friend Daniela. She helped me figure out my first big adventure! Right now, the plan is to leave in late August for Cairns (in Queensland, on the Pacific coast, a little ways north of the Gold Coast), go from Cairns to Sydney for a few days, head from there to New Zealand South Island for a 7 day tour, fly back to Sydney for a few days and then head back to Alice. I'm pretty stoked, myself. I hope it pans out!

After we got home, I started calling around to hotels for jobs and got a few nibbles, so I ran around with Uncle Timmy filling out applications. I also called the steakhouse (Overlander's), and set up an interview for the following evening. That evening, more trampolining, more hanging out. Just good times.

Saturday the 19th
Saturday morning, my duffel finally caught up with me. Joyness! I took a celebratory shower with my towel and bathrobe and razor and soap and shampoo and conditioner and loofah. I was pretty excited.

Afterwards, I learned to drive. Driving in Australia is startlingly similar to driving in the States, surprisingly enough. I mean, the driver's side is on the inside of the road, the difference is that the driver's side is on the right, so you drive on the left. But it makes pretty logical sense to me. The biggest challenge is the blasted turning signal. It's on the right side of the steering wheel, so every time I want to turn left, I inadvertently turn on the windshield wipers. Oops. I haven't accidentally drifted over the line or anything, haven't hit any kangaroos, so I think I'm doing alright.

Exciting fact: the car I'm driving is named Toby!!! For those of you who don't know, Toby was the name of my most beloved light blue '97 Mercury Sable. Sigh.

I had my interview around 5pm; the "interview" consisted of "So, when can you start? Tonight?" I said I could start Monday, which seemed ok with them. When I got home, Alison's brother and (beautiful pregnant German) sister-in-law and mother were over for a bar be que. We ate and drank and enjoyed a bonfire and generally had a good time. Around 9:30 I left to go meet my friend Daniela and her sister and cousin and various others at Todd Tavern, a local watering hole. It was lovely going out, and I even managed to stay awake past 10 for the first time since I left the States. All in all a great day.

Sunday the 20th
I decided to go to the 11am Mass, but got there and found out it was at 9:30. Lucky for yours truly, they have a 5:30pm, so I resolved myself to get back there later.

Before I had left, I had a phone call from the head of housekeeping at the Comfort Inn Outback for another "interview". This one when something like this: "Can you be here at 8am tomorrow?" Seriously. That's how easy it is to get a job here. That's two, count 'em, two jobs and I had been in town for 2 and a half days.

The rest of the day consisted of a lengthy nap and watching TV until I went back to church. It was an exciting drive for several reasons:
1) a kangaroo hopped across the road in front of me
2) the DJ said, in regards to the hottest curry in the world, "You could come out unscathed, but you could also come out very very scathed," which I found hysterically funny.
3) I heard "Neverending Story" on the radio.

Mass was nice, very Mass like. When I'm far away from home, I always find Mass very comforting. I like hearing the same songs we do, and knowing that thousands and thousands of miles away, they're hearing the same readings. The pastor was at World Youth Day, so when he comes back, I'm going to see about getting involved in reading or singing or something. There's also a potential opportunity to get involved with Prison Ministry, which would be cool. I'll let you know if it pans out. That about wraps up Sunday.

It's past my bed time! The rest of this update will have to wait for another time.

Join us next time for "Jo's first day!", "Jo meets a kangaroo up close!" and the long-awaited "Jo opens a bank account!"

Peace.