Hahn Solo

Blog news:

My very important poll for the blogs new language got an incredible 10 votes in three weeks (one was mine). I thought about going into Finnish, but I want to practice my English a little bit more. On the other hand whenever I write in Finnish it's starting to feel like I can't do it anymore. I might do a 180 when I'm halfway through this trip around New Years. Back to the blog...

A weekend at work turned into three days at work quicker than you can say "Haha, very funny Sascha." I wanted to update the blog on Sunday to attract the most readers possible, but it was not to be.

Saturday was pretty awesome. I had a lot of fun working in the bar with Louise again. It did get very busy at one time, but John Farnham fans behaved better than Simply Red fans so the customers were quite nice and almost no one ordered anything special. Something about Lou's joyfulness brought out the crazy in me and I started talking to her in a Russian accent and calling myself Boris (I don't think Australians remember or have seen Borat). "I go make toilet, now" and "I will crush you" were my favorite phrases. We did get a great flood at the bar, but we also got time off during Farnham's set and free pizza to munch on during it. All the waitresses were nice and in a good mood too (except for Ana) and we all had a good time. Although nobody ordered a "Hahn Solo" it felt really good.

Sunday was supposed to be more of the same, but a shorter day. We started by restocking the bar and by taking all the enticingly available wine bottles next to the kitchen to the back. All of a sudden Helmut comes in and tells me to go outside (Yes, I just switched to present tense). I really don't want to go outside, I have my new good looking trousers on and I'm starting to get good at this job plus I really want to work with these people as much as I can. Helmut talks to Sascha and sends me outside.

I was furious. And lost. I went outside and tried to find something to do. But I didn't know, what I was supposed to be doing. Graham didn't know what I was supposed to do. I went back in and came back out. Finally I heard that I was outside, because we didn't have enough people over 18 to sell alcohol at the marquees outside. After a little juggling I got to sell some booze to people, some of whom were pretty intoxicated to begin with.

After my break they closed a couple of stations and I never got back to selling. Instead I had to restock the iceboxes behind the salesmen and collect trash from the numerous port-a-potties. I felt out of place with my black trousers and rubber gloves.

The rest of Sunday was pretty stupid, but time went pretty quickly and I got to work with Tim and Darcy, who are just about the most lovable, smart and funny boys/guys I know. I worked very hard and got a huge splash of water thrown on my pants to show for it. Afterwards I still had to wait for Sascha, so I could go home. Eva, a new German waitress, waited with me too because Sascha had invited her to our place for dinner.

On our way home Sascha told me that I'd have to go back to work on Monday. I thought this was just his stupid jokes, that he could see it from my face that that would be the last thing I'd want to hear. I didn't even acknowledge his comment and just watched out the window. But I had to ask him if he was being serious. Boaz had asked him (hours earlier) if he could get some help for Monday.

Eva stayed for dinner and I had to keep the conversation going in English so that the others wouldn't talk German all the time. She was a very nice, warm person and very German looking. Her English was a lot better than Sascha's or Ana's and I learned that she's from Aachen near Cologne (Koln).

Monday morning I woke early to Boaz's text message but he didn't come pick me up. Instead, over two hours later Sascha took me to work. Boaz gave me a Red Bull and an assignment outside. I set up the whole cafe (Boaz did help me a lot) before going on a break. After the break I helped David, Meg and Boaz inside. Before long though, Helmut called me and told me to go work outside with Richard.

When I found Richard he had enough help so I dragged a couple of empty recycling and trash bins back to the winery and went back inside for a while. One of the three wine tour busses had cancelled though and it was quiet. Richard came in and gave me something to do. So I spent the rest of the day working with Rami's Indian friends who weren't as lazy as Friday's bunch. We changed the concert signs from the past weekend with INXS and a new Blondie/Pretenders sign, we drove all the random pellets lying around an either took them back to the winery or threw them in a pile to burn and we drove around the vineyard looking for and ripping out all the red and white plastic tape we could find. And that was the day.

Boaz gave me a lift home and asked me if I wanted to hang out with him the next day. I agreed and he told me he'd pick me up after work. Right away I headed to Coles to buy some food and on the way I took a detour to VideoEzy where I bought 48 Hrs. on DVD. I also ate some McDonald's because I was hungry and tired. I fell asleep in my room before Sascha and Ana even started to eat dinner.

Yesterday was one of the best days in Australia so far. Sascha slept all morning and I ate some breakfast, read my book outside, washed my linen and black trousers and wathced DVDs in my room. I went to McDonald's again for lunch. Sascha went to pick up Ana and while he was gone, Boaz gave to pick me up. He dropped Rami off at Coles and we went inside to buy some dinner ingredients. Then we drove to Boaz's place.

Once there, I met Boaz's roommate/landlord Made from Indonesia or Bali to be more exact. He was customizing one of his four motorcycles at the moment and he worked as a chef in a restaurant nearby. Inside Boaz gave me the tour and I could sense the comforting feng shui of the apartment. Right next to the front door they had a Dojo where Made meditated and where they both did some martial arts. I don't remember which one... They also had a very nice terrace outside, with lots of room.

We sat down in the living room with Boaz and he asked me about my life in Finland. We talked about basketball (he's a big fan and half-jokingly called footie a "gay sport"), Rochford and the people there. Boaz told me that I'm a humble person and used quite a nice analogy; People are like cans of soda. Some make a lot of noise because they are not full, aka. they don't know stuff but they have to talk to hide the fact. Others are like myself, we don't make a lot of noise, cause we are full; We know what's going on but we don't have to talk shit. We talked about the importance of speaking English as understandably as possible and Boaz told me that my English was exceptional for a foreigner not from an English speaking country. It's safe to say that I like him a lot. He even wants to go play basketball with me.

Then we watched The National Treasure, which was surprisingly good, especially since the premise was a little stupid and ate some dinner with Made. He was a very interesting person and we talked about poverty in South East Asia compared to the Socialist Democratic system in Finland. He was glad that him and Boaz had gotten out of the nothingness of their home countries to a place where they could get paid real money for the same jobs. The conversation also turned to alphabets. He told us that the Bali alphabet actually has a meaning when you put it in order and form words with letters next to each other. It forms a sentence which roughly translates into "There are two warriors. They are both strong and they fight each other. But no one ever wins." Sounds a lot better than "A, B, C..." to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He also told me that the Bali New Years Day is actually a day of silence. No working, no traveling, no fucking, no loud talking, no eating, no drinking. All they do for one day is read, meditate and think. I want a day like that sometime next summer. No TV, no music, no computers, only sitting and being. I have to practice my meditating skills first :)

We started to watch Gridiron Gang starring The Rock, but were a little too tired so Boaz gave me a lift home. Sascha and Ana were already in their bedroom, but in our living room I found a new resident. A 32 inch TV and a Blu-Ray player.

Today me and Boaz are going to the beach somewhere a 50 minute drive away from here. He's going to pick me up in a couple of minutes and then we're off.