Day 276! Don’t worry, nothing happened to me, just another long day so I went to bed before posting. I had a very long 10 hour shift of work and then went out with some friends. It was an intense day of work but going out was a nice way to end the day!

I woke up to my alarm this morning bright and early at 6am. I had my second labor shift this morning. It started at 8am, but it was in St. Kilda. So I had a 30 to 40 minute tram ride.

I stumbled my way to the shower, I was pretty tired still, and got ready for the morning. I don’t drink coffee and morning showers wake me up in a similar fashion I believe caffeine would.

I ate my oats and clementine and got on a tram just before 7am. I was leaving a bit early, but definitely thought that was better than heading out late.

The trams around me are currently a little messed up though. They’re doing some construction on a few rails… so I hopped on a 96, which should’ve taken me all the way. But it was empty when I got on and took me only a few stops.

I had to hop trams from the 96 to the 16. It was a bit of a walk but at least it took me the rest of the way.

The tram actually dropped me off right in front of the building I was working at today. The Palais Theater!

I’ve actually walked by this building a few times now. It’s right next to St. Kilda’s version of the Santa Monica pier. It’s a giant concert/events venue and we were setting up a marquee tent in the parking lot (or car park as they call it here).

I was about 15 minutes early, but the Quality Events team was already starting. I met my point of contact, Marcus, who was a very friendly guy and he gave me the lay down of what was going on today.

We were building a very large marquee for some sort of event behind the theater. We had to start by laying down a lot of steel for the base of the structure. This was already much more enjoyable than the my first job I did with ARC.

Since I was early, I had plenty of time to chat with Marcus one on one. And he immediately brought up politics in the US of course… but at least this time he was not a trump supporter! So I didn’t have to deal with that. But we talked about everything from that to types of music we like, so it was a good conversation still.

Eventually, 3 other ARC hires came, Ben and Sonny from England, and Paul from Germany. They were all travelers that were recent hires to ARC as well and really nice guys, which made the job better as well. In fact, just about all the guys on the job were super friendly, chatty, and fun to banter with throughout the day.

The job quickly became tedious when we had to start leveling out the base. We had to go underneath each connection and put bits and pieces of scrap wood to raise the pieces. This was because the ground was uneven and bumpy.

But if every now and then we’d have to redo an entire section because one was too high which messed up all the adjustments after it. At first I thought this was going to be a quick job all together, but I was very wrong once this task came around.

On top of that, Marcus was very particular about how everything lined up. So we had to redo a lot.

This task took us all the way to lunch. And around 12:20 we took our 30 minute break. Ben, Sonny, and I made our way to a nearby grocery store where we bought premade sandwiches and drinks.

Because this is a contracted job, they don’t tell us when the job will be done… just when it starts. Which is fairly annoying because I’d pack a lunch if I had the knowledge… but I don’t want to waste the food if I don’t need it. Oh well… it was only $10.

I didn’t take any more pictures… and I even forgot to take a picture of the final product. But after our quick lunch break, we went right back to it.

I got lucky and didn’t have to help lay the heavy flooring. Instead I helped a very friendly guy, Ray, setup the frames of the marquee. This involved carrying the heavy metal to the specific spots and connecting them.

This job felt never ending and since I wasn’t carrying my phone around on me, I had no concept of time! The hours kept ticking by and more tasks kept popping up. Eventually all the flooring was on and all of the frames were ready to be put up. So we started heaving them up and then setting them into place.

We then had to throw ropes over the entire structure and connect them to the roof paneling. The ropes needed to be pulled and pulled and pulled until the roof was in place. There were multiple roof segments and lots of pulling to be done. Eventually it was my turn to pull and I scuffed up my hands with rope burns… not the most pleasant thing.

We put up the walls of the tent, set up chairs, fans, and tables inside and we started nearing the end.

I gained a whole new appreciation for the marquees at events and music festivals that I’ve just taken for granted! These are a pain in the butt to set up.

After 10 hours… we were finally done.

I’m glad the shift was long, that means I’ll have more money to enjoy the city with… but I can’t tell if it was better or worse than the last one. I think better because there was more to do and it was a lot more mentally stimulating. Also, Marcus was up to opinions about things on the site (if something wasn’t level, giving responsibility to double check everything, etc.) so it was a fairly healthy job site. I don’t think my job on Sunday will be the same.

Before leaving, I snagged the other ARC hires WhatsApps… maybe we’ll hang out in the future outside of work!

I found myself on another 96 tram home… I was too tired to wait for the one that wouldn’t have any issues. I was sore and mentally drained, but I wasn’t calling it a night yet.

My friend Immy was also working today. She was selling tarts at a shopping mall and I told her I’d stop by and say hello! So I took my tram as far as I could and then hopped onto another one that was supposed to take me to her.

But… an announcement came over the speaker that the tram would only be going one more stop because there was a protest blocking the road. And of course, by this time it was raining so I’d have to walk in the rain to Immy. A few minutes later the tram driver came back on and said “we can resume as normal because… I guess the protesters have gone somewhere else.” The way she said it made the whole tram laugh and we continued on our way.

Also on this tram, a group of older ladies (in their late 70s and early 80s) got on the tram and were joking around with each other. They were joking about playing some game and that one of them would play dirty and “hurt” the others to win. While they were talking they were making eye contact with me and I was laughing. When I got off the tram they made some comment about me having to get off and I said to them “please make it home in one piece” and that got a laugh out of them.

Another nice experience on the tram because I wasn’t on my phone.

I made my way to Immy’s tart stand and she gave me a couple free tarts! They were very tasty Portuguese tarts. The manager is really relaxed and told Immy she could take as many as she liked so there was no worries with her giving me a couple. Apparently our friend Q came earlier in the day too. Also after I ate one, a huge rush of people came to buy them, so I’d say I was just a promotional accessory.

I then walked to another tram and made my way to the mansion. I got showered and changed and it was time to eat dinner!

There were a lot of people around the table and even though I was tired, it was really nice to have all the chatter around me. After I ate, I played some Shithead with some of the people at the table… and I lost twice. So I called it quits at the bottom and got ready for the rest of my night.

I was invited to get a couple beers with a bunch of people at the hostel and since I had the day off tomorrow, I said yes.

A group of around 20 of us went out to a bar I hadn’t been to called Asian Beer Cafe. It had really cheap pints of beer and a fun atmosphere! And it was only a 15 minute walk from the hostel.

I went for a couple pints and had lots of nice chit chats before I called it night and headed back to the hostel.

I was planning on going to bed but the night wasn’t over yet. I popped into the TV room for a bit and got sucked into half an episode of Love is Blind… such a crazy TV show.

I then heard a guitar being played in the kitchen and got sucked into that. The hostel guitar had its strings replaced! So it was no longer missing a string. My friend Diego was strumming with some other people and then he passed off the guitar to me since he needed to do his hostel work. So I played a couple songs before calling it a night.

While I was playing though, I started a song (I wasn’t playing or singing super loud) and once I got a few words in everyone went silent. They all stopped their conversations and were just listening to the song. It was a little awkward at first, but it was a wonderful feeling! Made me feel good as a musician.

After a couple more songs, I headed up to my room and quickly fell asleep.

It was a long day, but a good day. The weather held out at work, I got to make some money, and also I was still able to hang out with friends. Tomorrow I’ll have the day off and in the afternoon I’ll be celebrating my friend Dom’s birthday! I met him and his girlfriend in Koh Tao, so I’m excited to see them again!

But then on Sunday… I have my 4:30am shift (and the clock moves forward that day too…)

– Elie