In Darwin

So I left Broome. I ended up meeting some really great people and had some awesome dinner parties. The people from my housekeeping job was like a family. For awhile before my leave, everyone there was calling me "cheeky." We had a lot of go away drinking parties because many backpackers were on the go. My last one with them which is for me and 2 other people, it was held at a beach in the evening. One of the woman who was also leaving cooked Indian curry and rice which was so damn good. A 63 year old co worker was definitely quite a character. She joked alotand always wanted her wine. Whenever she got drunk, she would dance then get a little sad and go home.

I started to develop a crush on my Korean co worker, but guess what, he had a girlfriend...again. However, I really enjoyed his and his friend's prescence and I was happy that they really wanted me to stick around. I have talked to him recently and from the sound of it, he might be single now. He would say "I love you" in Fijian which he learned from our co worker, but I really don't know what he truly meant by that. It doesn't matter too much though because we have parted our ways already and won't be likely to meet again on this trip.

When I got to Darwin, I was excited to be in a real city after more than 2 months of little towns and nothingness. I could do things like shop in the mall, wow hehe. The beach market here in some evenings is quite nice. People would catch the sunset at the beach while having a picnic with market food. Sometimes I tell myself how grateful I am to be able to try out life in a tropical place. I love palm trees, tropical flowers and animals. However, there are tons of mangrove (trees that live part time in the ocean according to the tides which ends up growing sandflies in the mud) here just like in Broome. Well, I really hate sandflies. They make me miserable and unsexy.

Jobs have been lining up for me quite quickly. I started working at a meat shop. Yes, a chicken meat shop for a semi vegetarian (this reminds me of a phrase that the 63 year old said, "I'm a vegetarian, I eat fish, chicken and sausages."). Surprisingly, I have been enjoying working there. I mainly make skewers/kebabs/satay sticks. The texture felt like clay, but not as much as some mix which I got to mold into rolls. The owners are from East Timor and really nice, but it also means that I am underpaid and being paid under the table. I had 2 more interviews and at the moment, I'm probably going to change my job doing housekeeping at a hotel instead. The pay is better and I can get more hours. One Saturday, I had a one day job at a big banquet at the casino for 3500 rich beautiful people. I worked for 9.75 hours waitressing which was very tiring, especially when my shoes were totally killing my feet. I was psyched to get a $50 tip from this guy, and a co worker actually got $160 herself.

Starting from scratch in another city can be tough. I've met up with a couple from Broome and my friend has been here to visit for a week, but I'm still traveling alone. I think after 2 weeks, I have finally made a couple of friends to hang out with now. The thing is that the people at my hostel can be a bit strange, or people like to hang out with their own kinds. I still find making friends with Asian people much easier, but I still have met alot of people from other cultures. I was fortunate to meet a local who drove me to see a nearby park and around the city. He even took me out to dinner at a seaside all you can eat seafood buffet.

Right now, I have moved into a tent in the backyard of my hostel because of the cheaper price. For the first few nights, I had to sleep on the hard ground with pebbles since I had no camping gear. The owner has offered me a mattress so it is quite perfect as I have my own space now. The weather is nice enough that a sleeping bag is not necessary for me. The only drawback is that I don't have a light at night but I'm working on it.