Day 6 - Mostly clear with some showers around the Hostel

I was able to sleep in until 10 today, which is about where I’d like it to be. Like the past couple days, I ate spaghetti and chicken for breakfast, and did what dishes happened to be piled in the sink while I waited. Australian Dean, the older gent, spoke with me for some time about society and how he perceives things to be broken. He thinks we should study the Scandinavian countries, as they’re supposed to be the happiest nations in the world, and that we should strive to emulate them. He’s an interesting fellow, and I watched as he prepared prawns for his lunch (I kind of hoped they'd scream, but I guess that's only lobsters (not sadistic, just curious)).

I set up a meeting with a gym for a free week membership, and am writing this particular paragraph as I wait for the time to walk on over. It was strange setting it up, as it’s run by a Canadian woman and I haven’t heard too much of my own accent for the past week. I tried to trim my beard with Andy’s trimmer, which failed miserably and resulted in me having to shave it all off. At least I’ll be cooler now (and less warm). I kept a dirt 'stache for a short while around the hostel trying to provoke reactions, but I think people would be too afraid to offend/don't know me well enough, so no one said anything. 

I set things up with a local gym that happened to be run by a Canadian and has much nicer showers than the backpacker I’m staying at, though I didn't seriously consider using them (I have a bias against using gym showers, for whatever reason). As usual, people keep getting shuffled about in the hostel from room to room, seemingly for no reason. Andy was moved to a different room, as was the Italian. I have a 3-bed room all to myself! This was made even stranger because Italian Stefano almost got kicked out of the hostel because they "didn't have space." I think it'd because of the online bookings, though I now am able to relate more and more to how the tenants at SHOW feel when dealing with the staff. The other side of the mirror, I suppose.

It was kind of a down day, so I bought some vegetables (carrots were cheapest; a head of broccoli is more expensive than the chicken I had bought!) and fruit, then took a nap after eating. Lazed about, didn’t get much done, and eventually had a mostly-cold shower. The night got better after I applied to some jobs online with British Andy. Japanese Yuzu and German Nichole showed up eventually, and we wandered around downtown in search of cheap ice cream (Swiss Sarah wasn't feeling up to it). The street was bustling with quite a few people until it started to lightly rain. In Australia, this seems to mean that everyone starts screaming and melting. Andy and I don’t get it. We bought a carton of ice cream, which needed to be consumed that night due to no refrigeration. "There's always room for ice cream" was the motto of Nichole, and is relatively true (see: Sushi Binges).

I taught Kiwi Haydon, Swiss Sarah, Yuzu, Christine, and Andy how to play the card game “Golf,” which they all seemed to enjoy. Tonight is Sarah’s last night, and she didn’t seem to want to do too much, so I signed her address book (she doesn’t have Facebook) and said goodnight. Yuzu has incredible luck, despite not really knowing how to play the game. Nichole was doing well and wanted to start putting money on the outcome, then her luck took a turn for the worse the next hand. Should have taken her up on the offer. We all turned in shortly after that at around 1am, planning to get up at 10 to say goodbye to Sarah.