We're not in Kansas anymore.

Whoa. I just reread my last blog post and benevolently shook my head at how ignorantly hopeful I sounded. I've been in Aramac, Queensland, for 5 days, and after approximately 1000 moodswings, I believe I've experienced enough to give an accurate point of view.

The ride here was miserable. Greyhound, 16 hours, I still had the flu, you get the picture. Aramac is exactly like I pictured. It's completelely desolate, with red dirt everywhere, and dust billowing behind the bus, which I noticed as I looked back, hoping to see civilization. In the downtown area, there is my pub, a butcher, a library, a cafe, and a dry goods store. ...That's it. I almost cried when I walked into the dry goods store. You know the dry goods store on the Oregon Trail computer game? It's just like that. There's some feed for the cattle, some clothing, and various non-perishables. Even now, after I've calmed down, I still firmly believe that I will starve. No vegetables. I eat two peanut butter sandwiches a day, and I think most of my calories come from the beer I drink every single night.

It's funny, because before we parted ways, Shana, Julia, and I talked about how little we'd probably drink. Stupid. I share a small room with a french girl named Axelle, and this room lies about 4 feet (not-exaggerating) from the pub's deck. She and I are the only two employees, so both of us are together all the time, with one of us working behind the bar and one of us on the other side. I wish I could be her friend, but she doesn't understand English very well, and thus doesn't understand sarcasm, and also she doesn't drink. Luckily, I do drink, and this has helped me get to know people better. I've discovered that I'm actually pretty quiet around people I don't know...but not when I'm drunk. And so, I've gotten pretty drunk every night, because the pub is the only place open past 5pm. Now people like me a lot, because I beat every boy/man in the pub in a skulling (chugging) contest on my first night. I felt awful the next day, but I guess it's worth it. The last girl that was here, a Canadian named Liz (leaving today), said that she was drunk every single night, which I hope to avoid, because I can't see that being healthy.

It sounds trashy that I drink so much, but it's actually a social necessity. People view Americans as being very arrogant and stand-offish, but now they just see me as arrogant (because I said I'd beat every guy at skulling). Now that they like me more, they've taken me to some cool places. One guy, Merv, took me on a motorbike ride through the outback, and within ten minutes, we were riding in the middle of a kangaroo herd. Ten minutes later, we were being chased by a bull, and ten minutes after that, we were tackling wild pigs. Last night I was invited to a barbie, where I ate as much meat as I could, hoping to store protein like a camel stores water.

There's so much else to write, since I can't share it with anybody else. My job is pretty easy, but I hate it because I hate making small talk with the locals. And while everyone is really nice, they're rougher than I'm used to and I'm get lonely/bored. The six weeks is going to go by quickly, but I'll be glad to reuinite with Shana and Julia and move on. There's an old but clean kitchen, so I'll be able to cook some plain pasta (no tomato sauce here), and the bathroom's fine too, except that there's no soap anywhere.

Could you tell that I'm drunk as I write this? Some dude named Bob took me sightseeing in the outback, and then to thank him for his kindness, he wanted to get drunk. So here I am, in the Aramac public library, drunk and updating you all about my life in Australia. Who would've thought? Anyway, I'm going to try to upload some photos soon, so you can see the simple life I lead. I'll also try to update regularly, but the librarian has been sick, so it's been closed until today. Yes, there is only one librarian. Until the next post...