Etienne and I (our profile picture on Lavalife)
Oh hi,
It has been a couple of eventful weeks in the adventures of Djash. That's right, the solo adventures upon which I used to embark have now been replaced by a two-man crew of D.J. and Ashley. We're working on a better nickname, but I think Djash has some pizazz, especially if you pronounce the 'j' like a 'y' as you would in Bjork.
Before I tell you about our adventures in Sydney, I'll briefly delve into the exciting night I had last Monday. My manager decided that we needed a staff meeting to discuss an upcoming sale and for the staff to all become acquainted with each other (since we work the same shift every week, I had not met two of the four other employees). She decided the meeting would be an informal one and we would mix business and pleasure with some dinner and drinks at a trendy restaurant.
This sounds like a good time, I presume, until you remember that the four other employees at my store are women of at least 45 years of age. Don't misunderstand me; they are all exceptionally nice. It's just that, well, they are all Australian women of at least 45 years of age. What the hell does a 22 year-old Canadian male have in common with them?
The correct answer, as you may have guessed, is absolutely nothing.
To give you a bit more insight into how the evening progressed, let me explain some things about my hearing impairment. I do not hear high frequencies as well as low frequencies. Thus, I have more difficulty in hearing women than men (this obviously has its benefits at times). I have a harder time hearing when there is a lot of background noise. I cannot understand people with foreign accents nearly as well as the Canadian accent to which I am accustomed.
Last Monday I found myself trying to listen to four women with Australian accents in a restaurant that was jam-packed with other patrons. This, I thought to myself as I sat down, is going to be a bit of a struggle. At the precise moment I had this thought, a man sat down at a stool ten feet to my right. He strapped his guitar around his shoulder, started playing it and then sang into the microphone in front of his face. It was almost as if God was saying to me, "You thought that was going to be a struggle? I got more where that came from." I am very surprised that a random group of 4 or 5 aboriginals did not stand directly behind me at some point, chanting tribal hymns while banging ferociously on their bongos. I was fully prepared for this to happen.
Anyway, the dinner ended up being a relatively enjoyable experience, as it is always interesting to throw yourself into a new situation. One downside is that I felt like a conniving S.O.B. at some points as I had to continue to perpetuate my lie that I told when I was first hired. I spoke in-depth about how difficult it will be to spend Christmas in Australia and away from my family. Of course, I am leaving Australia in July. I actually really like my manager and it really was not an enjoyable task flat-out lying to her and the others. I must once again repeat, I am an asshole.
I am all out of time right now. Well, to be totally honest, I do not have any time constraints. I just do not feel like writing anymore. So I will leave you with that story. When I write again, I will have much to talk about. Our journey to Sydney, the incredibly sad departure of my roommate Jessie, me quitting my job this past Monday (I once again had to work from my original lie to conceive further fallacies and spin my intricate web of deceit to new levels), and Ash's and my plan to rent a van and travel the coast of Australia for a month!
Thanks for checking in, my friends. It is a month and a half until I return home and Jessie's departure today really brought our limited time into sharp focus. I am not ready to leave this beautiful place yet, or the great friends I have made, but all I can do is enjoy it to the maximum.
I hope you are all enjoying the blissful anticipation of early summer.
Peace, love, and rampant consumerism,
DJ
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