Heaps Massive Update

I've been going about this all wrong. I've been trying to compose these structured, all-encompassing daily updates in my head or on paper and I never end up getting them to the computer. I should really just spend the time typing something in this box every day and so what if it isn't Walt friggin Whitman.

So I met up with Adam at the train station. He's a mellow 30-something teacher/student by day and a rock n' roll rugby head the rest. He took me out to brekky, showed me around all the cool neighborhoods, fed me Vegemite, and introduced me to Australian cinema, among other things. I was so disoriented and awkward the whole time, I think I weirded him out a little. Part of it had to do with the shock of realizing how very expensive it is to do anything in Sydney and part of it was the anxiety of not knowing where my next couch was coming from. He was a good sport right to the end and I'm very grateful to have had such a gracious host for my first couchsurf.

When my time to leave came, and I still hadn't found a place to go next, I put all my eggs in one basket and hoped for the best. There's a big couchsurfing.org sponsored meetup in Sydney once a month with about 40 or 50 people who usually attend, both travelers and potential hosts. It just happened to fall on July 1st this month, which was the first night I was without accomidation. I met a very nice Brazilian lady within a half hour. She enthusiastically agreed to host both me and a Spanish physics wizard named Gael. Gael and I continued to chat, drink beer and snag free dinner from a huge plate of complimentary fries, when we noticed that our host had left without us. It was past midnight and we had both just become homeless. We looked out the window grimly and noticed a steady drizzle, which promted us both into emergency mode. We joined a group of 4 or 5 folks and gave them the puppy dog eyes. By the end of the night, we were both going home with an Italian guy named Manuele who lived with a family with four small children in suburb of Randwick.

It was so late, he wasn't able to get approval on a multi-stranger sleepover. So we all tip-toed inside with the idea that he would wake up first and do a bit of 'splaining and then and only then would I make an appearance. Gael left super early for some appointment, so it was just me doing this little jack-in-the-box routine. I waited and waited, thinking Manuele would knock on my door at some point and tell me the coast was clear. I was so afraid someone was going to hear me or worse, open the door and see me, before Manuele waa able to warn them, that I just remained quiet and stationary as possible all day long. I had no watch or clock and I was so jet-lagged, I couldn't really feel what time it was at all. When the sun started making long shadows on the wall, I finally got the nerve to pop my head out. There was a sign on the floor in front of the door. "Jered- Knock on my door when you get up."