australia.

am looking for a primer

i lack one.

tell me something silly about adelaide

the footpaths downtown are heavily dotted with old wads of chewing gum.

king boy pato lives there, doesn't he?

not any more but he is from there.

he was mad at me for going there and not looking him up but that was back in the days before i started meeting ilxors.

I was in Adelaide 10 years ago for one of the first Tasting Australia events. Remaining impressions: sweet college town, tree lined streets, nice parks and a fountain someplace. Driving the coast road from Melbourne to Adelaide was a stunner. Lots of wine, copious amounts.

it's a funny old country isn't it

sometimes i feel sick to death of it

it is a bit of a crazymaker to be sure

i like knowing you're here.

did you have fun with kbp and sic.

we did, definitely. it was fun chatting. they're both really nice, sic in an upfeont inclusive way and pato in a quieter more understated(!) way. we had beers down by the water. lots of guys in suits and girls in little dresses. it happened to be american/ au trivia night with an obnoxious large american girl as emcee, but luckily we were outside and couldnt hear it except when we went to toilet.

my sister tried to get some shlub (actually he was good looking but besuited and yuppie and dumb) to buy her a drink but he wouldnt. that set her off and then she laumched into a million stories all fille d with rage and humor and the rest ofthe family traits. phil waz in stitches. it was all pretty fuunny. sic thought it hilarious that the non-tender of a drink was such a firestarter

<3 trouble

i'm pretty sure i would like sic and kbp.

jergs your sister sounds like such a treat!

did you turn red? i hope not.

kbp really does seem like a load of fun

when my sister started in on the gun stories, the ones about her revolver, i put my head in my hands. sic was so moved by my plight that he took a picture of me i think.

adelaide's rainy and badvibes kinda
or it's refreshing and i'm too sensitive

nah, the former

are you in adelaide already?

adelaide, the köln of australia

cathedral

got to keep movin

hey jergins hope ur having fun "down under"

TY pal

shockimg lot of casual racism in this country

yes there is.

like, pretty much everyone i've had an extended conversation with. and people i like! or would like otherwise. i'm pretty far from PC and it's throwing me off, making me recalibrate how i think about the people i meet

"recalibrate" not to excuse, but to put them imto some kind of context? i'm not sure what i am saying. it's all so strange and maybe the most foreign thing about this place

i know exactly what you mean. i think a weird aspect of it is that people's actions are often better than their words, so they'll say terrible things but then act kindly and respectfully towards people of other cultures, so i think (hope?) it's less malicious than it seems, but really it's a dead loss.

also sometimes it is definitely malicious.

(nb this may not be true) i remember reading years ago that up until the 1960s it was legal to shoot an aboriginal for 'trespassing' on yr property

jergins you're not really making a v good case for australia what with the racism and adelaide sucks posts.

i'm never going to a racist place

I keep hearing the Monty Python Bruces in my head.

the misogyny is pretty bad too, it depresses me, but you can't spend every minute of the day in a rage, you just can't.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/arrested-couple-have-sex-in-cop-car/story-e6frfhk6-1225781890602

'geez, in the back of a paddy wagon - they're keen'

dear estela, i've been meaning to tell you: the first thing i did upon arrival in australia was to buy a bag of jaffas and a long black.

i think u mean PSEUDO-JAFFAS

i think i mean <3<3<3

(interested in these so-called REAL jaffas, though. where will i find them, though. please advise. it'll be a next-level taste test.)

next level from the gutter of vegemite and marmite yeah?

we'll be on the sidwalk baby!

australia: filled with dumb guys, different from home but not different enough

australia. good fuckin day, mate.

is it nz time???

REAL jaffas can only be found in NZ - look for them in the lolly aisle of your nearest supermarket!!

what will you write about?

why do u want to write in australia?

probly write abt the sandbox
australia is as good as anywhere right

sounds like new zealand's better.

you are welcome to come and stay with us any time you want to.

thank you dear.
i have been warming up (haa...naa...) to the idea of heading north in australia.
i blame my sister. all she ever does is whine about the cold. it's catching.

i used to love the cold but now i don't like it nearly as much, the summers here don't bother me nearly as much as they used to and when i go to nz i find the coldness a bit miserable. i never thought this would happen to me.

gasp!

the chocolate bullets i brought for the work people aren't being gobbled up, which is fine because that means i get them all for myself while still appearing generous!

breakfast bullets <3

breakfast lollipops <3

candies across the water

date scone with hellof butter and a flat white, good times

i love date scones with hellof butter.

i don't know if they are still around but heaps of places in wellington used to sell some local brand of vegetable samosas that were the best samosas i've ever eaten, i pretty much lived on them for a while. an indian-owned grocery store or dairy would be the place to look for them.

when i become a rollergirl my name will be hellof butter

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs007.snc3/11435_185060817100_507192100_3413730_7697103_n.jpg

i will spend christmas eve there

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs027.snc3/11435_197251882100_507192100_3481776_5728284_n.jpg

i like australia. the first world is a nice world.

yesterday afternoon i walked across town to the tilbury hotel. i sat outside and waited, and then king boy pato, THE esteban buttez, showed up. we had a beer and chatted. then sic showed up. we had another beer and tried to snake a table. the place was full of what you might imagine sydney people to be like: dressy, kinda trashy, tan, rich-looking. the music was good though, that's why we went, even though no one was dancing (fair enough, it's the afternoon) and no one was listening (you fuckers). we took some chairs from the restaraunt and then got yelled at for it, except the staff had closed the doors to the inside, so we couldn't take the chairs back.

then we left because that place sucked and looked at a famous pie shop. blink 182 once ate pies there, i saw the photo. after that we got in a cab, deciding to go downtown. most of the way downtown we decided to go to newtown. more places open there on a sunday afternoon.

sic took me to 'an institution', the most disorganized bookstore i've ever been in. and i've been in some doozies. stuff everywhere. it's hard to describe, so overwhelming that place, you wouldn't want to be near it in an earthquake, you wouldn't want to go in if you had claustrophobia. i needed a book but couldn't even look.

we went to the marlborough hotel and had a beer. and another. then jabba hands showed up. we had another beer. and one more. had to try all the different kinds, huh?

after that we walked down the block to mexican food. as soon as we sat down pato took a call. he left a minute later under mysterious circumstances. i don't want to conjecture here, it's inappropriate. i said, "well if this is the last time i see you, then bye." he kinda waved me off and headed down the street.

burritos were $18 at that place. hey now! we drank 2 sols each. then we went back to the marlborough hotel and had 2 more beers. then i said bye and tried to walk to the hotel but gave up after five minutes and got a cab.

headache

what's up now in australia, jergins, i've been thinking of you. that day with the sydney mongs sounds nice.

gonna go to the clare in a minute, so you know it's good

just a couple days left. i love sydney but i have no money and am ready to go home

we came in 2nd place in trivia, which is a travesty BUT the other team had 10 ppl and we still won 2 jugs of beer and a dvd of crashes that i'm meant to liveblog

and on the guesss the song, win a jug section, we won 2/4

that's what matters ppl

i am the proud possessor of 6 (six) (!!!!!!) bags of choc liquorice bullets.

well, not quite 6 because i can't stop eating them. lollies for breakfast, just like the old days.

<3<3<3<3<3<3

does this also mean estela finally stopped eating the lollies she has been promising to send me for a year and actually mailed them?!?!?

alas no, ruby, i'm sorry. my friend went to aus and i gave her cash dollars to convert to candy.

goddamnit

lol. you know that just encourages her.

in the breakroom:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6460641535_f5bb54699c.jpg

omg those people are going to very disappointed.

(e, you can see the toes of my new campers)

shoulda brought marmite instead

i ate too many bullets so i had to have something salty.

bullets + pringles = the world's best breakfast

otm

i feel just terrible.

maybe eating these pineapple lumps will alleviate my guilt.

You cant eat vegemite with water crackers! You need bread and BUTTER

also wtdh at squeezable vegemite?!

jatz are okay but you do need butter

S'rong with squeezyveg? Handy for camping an' that.