I'm weak like a fairly strong woman

I crumbled like a toasted melange of flour butter and sugar in the hands of a fat man. Yes I bought an ipod. It's really nice though, and I did get some free shit with it. In other news, I'm coming home in just less than a month. ho yes, the summer is winding down out here, it got down to about 6 or 7 last night, and that felt pretty cold. I need an extra blanket, for crying out loud. Well, this could be my last post for a while, I'll see ya when I see ya. Peace

blig update.

Hello again. Heres a picure of me and the rest of the team at dinner. From left, Me, then Hisashi, Mr. Song, Mr. Lee, and Jenna. Hisashi left today, he's going back to japan for a short while. Some university business to take care of. He is studying nuclear physics, and has stood at the controls of a fully functioning nuclear reactor. The thought scares me. Mr. Song doesn't speak much english, but he does have a sense of humour. The other night he poured salt in Hisashi's beer when hisashi wasn't looking, and then told me 'shhh'. Mr. Lee has an english name of Renton, after Ewan McGregors character in train spotting, one of his favourite movies. Jenna is the only girl. She taught me how to play korean chess, but it only took me 3 games to beat her. I'm planning on staying around 5 or 6 more weeks, and then returning home, yay. Actually I'm really looking foward to the ice hockey. Alright I'll update again later.

Life with fresh fruit.

Hey all. I'm working on a farm outside of Perth. It's a really full time job 6 days a week and I don't get into town very often. But I'm here now and I'm updating the blog. I drive tractors, and other machinery. Yesterday I had to use a hoe. It was fun for about 5 minutes. the rest of the 8 hours and 55 minutes were, well, interminable. We were weeding the butternut squash patch. some of the weeds were ludicrously big. Like, bigger than the squash plants. and because it's a hoe, you have to bend a bit. My back was really sore after. Thankfully on monday I'm back on the nectarines. One more week of nectarines, and then some apples and plums, and then watermelons, rockmelons and butternuts. I'm already tanned, and getting more tanned. My eyes are turning green......weird. also my hair is growing longer. I hope by the time I get home it is long enough to tie back, because I am going to grow it until I can do that. The family here is really nice. They are italian, old school, so that's pretty cool. They give us some homemade wine, and we are allowed drinking beer at lunch. I don't do that, but if I wanted to I would be allowed. Anyways, the plan is that I have to come home around march, because I have to get ready for some sort of ice hockey season. I'll stay here until I have to come home, I've almost been here a month already. Oh. And if you're wondering about the job in adelaide it sucked reallll bad. I hated it. This is much nicer, and I'm making some good money here. I'll keep it posted when I can, I imagine you'll see me sooner or later.....

Hot Naked Party Girls

So here you can see the nullarbor. I believe that this word means literally no trees. we were on this train for 40 hours, and when we crossed the nullarbor plain, there weren't any trees, not form before sunup till just after sundown, at lest 13 hours at an average of 90 k's per hour or so.
That is a long way in between trees. We stopped at this mining ghost town in the middle of the thing, cook, population 4. I took this picture. The train tracks are straight well beyond the horizon in both directions. Longest straight rail section in the world? I think that's what they said. Anyways, crazy. Pancake flat too. Also you can see me dressed for work. It's a fundraising job for charity, Oxfam and Save the Children. It sounds like high pressure work though, seeing as how all of my earnings will be based on commision. I get 60 bucks if I sign someone up, so 3 people a day is considered good. The guys at the marketing company that represents the charity totally remind me of Glengarry Glen Ross. You know, first prize a Caddy, Second prize some steak knives, 3rd prize is you're fired. No jokes. I'm going to work there until they break over christmas, on the 23. I'm not sure that I will pick it back up, I've had an interesting

development. I was talking this couple that I met in perth doing the sandalwood picking, and I might be able to get hooked up with more of that, a pretty nice setup, as well. I would have to go back to perth, but airfare is cheap and the promised work pays really well and is guaranteed for 2 months. It will really depend on how I do at this salesman job. Not like I've ever been particularly slick, although you never can tell. I'll be playing it by ear, although if I go back to perth, food/accomodation would be taken care of for me, and that, besides the whole veggie thing is definately a consideration. I'll talk to Ben and Gemma in a week, and find out if I can have that job, then I'll make a decision. Here is also an example of typical adelaide architechture. This is the magistrate court. I like the use of sandstone. Its natural coloring and texture make for a pleasant contrast from the concrete so typically used back home.

Full December

December is here, not a cloud in the sky, but christmas trees are going up. I'm going down to the beach tomorrow. Probably do some surfing if the swell is nice. Just killing time, I'll put up some pictures of the city in a few.

Perth Dreaming

Hey all. So here is a picture of my room, at the cattle station. It did not have a door, just a doorway, or more of a rectangular opening in the tin panels. Also please note my chair had no seat. It was too hot to be in this room inbetween, say, 7 in the morning till 9 at night. Fortunately, I was usually working between those times. Quite often though, there was a break between 1 and 3 o'clock, when the temperatures make working unfeasable. Where we were, looked like the other picture. All red sand and scraggly tree type plants. It was around there 45 degrees in the shade, at the hottest part of the day. Later in the summer it was to get hotter, but I have escaped back to Perth. I am also to take the next available train to Adelaide, but this is not for another 10 days or so, not this sunday but the next. Apparently it is peak season right now. So what else? I'm still happily vegetarian, being on a cattle station, where beasts are brought into being for to die for money, has only strenghthened my resolve not to eat meat. Seriously, this is what Ben, the operator, told me about live export. He said, and I have no reason not to believe this, that Australia has the most humane conditions of live export in the world, these happy (here I am incredulous, seeing as they would be happier if let alone) healthy, cattle, sheep, and goats (the muslims eat a lot of goats, some ramadan shit, and there are a lot of muslims, 300 million in indonesia alone) arrive at the market city on their nice ship, and then they are abandoned to the terrorists. Ben has seen this. The market people will do the following to the animals. Remove the eyes with sharpened sticks so they are easier to control. Kneecap it so it can't run away. Then they sell it to families who drag them home, and feed it up until it is time to slaughter it for the feast. And you can be quite sure they are not killing the animal with a pneumatic hammer or anything quick and quiet. I don't care what anyone says about the natural way of things, that is cruel and not necessary. Oh, and another disturbing thing I found out is that when baby goats are being crushed to death by a panicked mob of bigger goats, they scream desperately,(for a while) and it sounds literally like a human child screaming. This I experienced first hand. So I'd rather pick fruit or some such.

Bloggin her...

Well. That was a hell of a thing. I'll put up some pictures, but for now, suffice it to say that I have escaped, and none to soon. The place was a cattle station, and right off the start the boss there had it out for me. I think it was because I was vegetarian. Honestly, this was the worst job I have done so far, made all the more so because it could have been all right. Anyways, I'm going back to Perth tomorrow, at least I made enough money to justify the trip, about 2000 k's worth of travel. I'll make a full report on the shit when I hit the city tomorrow. The pictures make the story more enjoyable.
I shaved my beard off.