hobart

i finally got a room at a hostel yesterday.  actually, they messed up my reservation and technically i didn't have anywhere to stay but they squeezed me in and i move to my new room in a couple hours.  i did figure out why i'm having so much trouble finding places to live here.  there was a christian youth group of about 500 kids, the wooden boat show is coming up, and there are sailing races.  if i ever do make it back to australia i will be sure to book everything months in advance.  

my new hostel is pretty overpriced and crappy but its cheaper than the hotels and this is the first place that has had decent wifi in this entire country.  i was looking at a room above an irish pub yesterday, that sounds sort of romantic and fun, but now i'm just too lazy to move again.  

australia day came and went, i think its comparable to our independence day.  its basically a day of everyone getting as drunk as possible by a barbecue.  this year, though, there are bush fires, a cyclone, tornadoes and record flooding in many places so not a great weekend for most people.  there was a great street market and i did my best not to buy more crap to haul around.  i went to an 'invasion day' protest (the same as how native americans call columbus day by other names).  i saw very few people that looked like they could be native to tasmania.  and it seemed like all they really wanted was to change the date of australia day ('what do we want?' 'change the date' 'when do we want it?' 'now!').  i didn't get it at all.  

i went to see the great moscow circus (their name, not mine).  i can't remember the last time i went to the circus but i saw the tent when i came to town and it just demanded my attendance.  none of the performers looked particularly russian except for the fact that they were wearing things that had 'cccp' on them.  it was a pretty weird experience.  there was one ring and in between acts 2 'clowns' would do little skits while the set was changed, they were great.  there was knife throwing, a trapeze act without swings (the guy hooked his feet under a bar and he was the swing for the girl, super cool), trained ponies, a troop of acrobats on crazy giant swings and trampolines, a woman doing an aerial act that was somewhere between gymnast and stripper, and the big finale of the nite, the motorcycle cage.  they fit 5 guys in that little sphere that was moved and anchored onto the stage moments earlier.  gotta have a lot of trust in your coworkers.

the kids were pretty funny.  every little girl showed up in her best princess costume.  i sat next to the most ADD boy i've ever seen, either screamed in anger or happiness the entire 3 hours.  couldn't sit still for 10 seconds, which made his mother yell at him every 20 seconds.  if you don't sit down we're leaving!  he knew it was all empty threats so he was on his worst behavior possible.  

i'm having a chill day today, i'm going to wander around town and read a book.  or laze in bed.  not sure yet.