Day 299! Woah… it’s been almost 300 days of traveling! Soon we’ll be counting down the days till an entire year. That’s pretty neat to be able to say! Today I had a lunch shift at work and then spent the rest of my day at home and around the town.

After a long day of work, I woke up to my alarm at 8:30am to which I promptly snoozed for 30 more minutes of sleep.

Once I forced myself up, I got ready for the day and had the last of my cereal bars for breakfast. I then wrote my blogpost for the day before, and then got to reading more of dune! I didn’t have to be in to work till noon, so I had plenty of time to lounge around.

I actually ended up finishing the book (I still have the appendices to read). I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I’m glad I mustered the through the first 100 pages or so, because once the book got going, it got GOOD quick. I thought the movies were good and I think they did do the book justice… but they left out a lot of details. I’m curious to see what they do in the next movie because from my understanding the movies are now at book two already.

After I finished reading, I decided to try and clean off my hat. I’ve been wearing it all throughout my travels and it’s gotten a bit dirty. So I wanted to see what I could do to remedy that. I used warm water and soap to scrub it out and hung it up to dry. But I don’t think my efforts did much. I’ll probably try and put it in the wash and hope it doesn’t get destroyed. We’ll see how I’m feeling later.

It quickly became time to head to work, so I made my way up the big hill and clocked in.

Today I had a 3 hour lunch shift. I got right back into the swing of things, clearing and cleaning glasses, and pouring drinks. Today I actually did a fair amount of wine pouring too!

It was a fun shift and my coworkers are a blast to hang out with and converse with. Crazily enough, one of the workers partners is from Illinois! Small world.

I don’t want to get overconfident, I still have a lot to get used to and learn. But I’m picking this job up fairly quickly and I have a solid support network of coworkers that are very happy to help answer my questions.

3pm rolled around and it was time for me to clock out. I made my way back down the hill and to my room to figure out my lunch plan. Since it was Sunday, most everything was closed so I wasn’t sure what would be open. What I did know was that I was craving a chicken sandwich (or what they call a chicken burger).

Funnily enough, one of the few restaurants open was a fried chicken restaurant! So I took a short walk and went to Wishbone Eatery.

This was a fantastic spicy fried chicken sandwich. The spice level wasn’t that spicy unfortunately, but this was a very filling and tasty meal. The restaurant does a food challenge of a mongo fried chicken sandwich and fries… I might have to try it sometime, we’ll see!

On my way home, I stopped by the local grocery store and bought bread, peanut butter, and apricot jam. I needed a new breakfast and meal since I ran out of the breakfast bars. This local grocer also has samosas and kebabs too! I’ll have to try them out sometime.

I went back home for a few hours and just lounged about. The day was very overcast and was fairly windy, so the beach didn’t sound super appealing. But I got a Facebook message from one of the free bicycles, and I decided to go on a walk to check it out.

The bike was a three wheel. I thought it’d be pretty fun to whip that around town. The lady who was giving it to me was about a 30 minute walk away. It was nice to get out and be outside. She was super kind and we chatted for a bit before I peddled off.

Unfortunately the bike tires were all flat… so the ride home was actually really difficult and not fun. On top of that, riding a 3 wheeled bike is much different than riding a regular bike. Instead of leaning for the turns, it’s all reliant on moving the front wheel… which I don’t think I’m a fan of. Also I don’t believe the surfboard rack will work with this bike.

So… in the mean time, I’m going to keep looking for a regular bike and then put this one out for someone else to have (the lady told me she didn’t want it back).

When I got back home, one of my roommates was finishing up in the kitchen and we got to chatting. He’s a musician and when he found out I was too and lacking a guitar, he immediately grabbed his spare guitar and said I could hang onto it for now!

It’s not the best guitar and definitely has its character to it. BUT it’ll keep my calluses in shape and allow me to play when I want to again!!

I finished off my night making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. I wasn’t super hungry post my late lunch and PB&J sounded splendid. I think my last PB&J was with my dad in London! … almost a year ago…

Today was a day of kindness around me. From my fun coworkers and guests I was serving, to the community member giving me her trike, to my roomate lending me his guitar! Yamba is continuing to prove itself as a lovely town and community that is welcoming me with open arms!

I’m not sure what my shifts will be like this week, but I’m sure (and hoping) I’ll be working a lot!

– Elie