A long time ago when my Mom was telling me stories of the early days when she was modeling in Paris getting free spa treatments and eating pasta with ketchup (due to limited finances) in what must be the biggest lifestyle disparity you can come up with; I formed in my mind an image of glamour associated with this financial necessity. This image can only be conjured up by a young and naive girl who could eat whatever and whenever she wanted. A little like how you secretly prayed for braces in junior high, it's totally irrational but you still wish you needed them. In my months of traveling and living with poor backpackers - to be sure they are rich in life experiences - I have seen some of the most seemingly desperate meals prepared. Hostels usually have a free abandoned food box and this often serves to spice up the typical rice and rice dish. I met a girl living on the coast who had for 14 days straight eaten only instant noodles and rice alternating to keep up the variety. She told me this while sitting across from me eating her white rice out of the pot and asking if I had any butter she could add to it. Wow I tell you wow. Potatoes of course are another favorite but today all of my expectations were eclipsed when two guys sitting across from me pulled out the ketchup from the free food box and put it and it alone on the bread they had stolen from the free hostel breakfast (5 pieces of bread each). I couldn't watch them eat it. But here's the thing because I haven't been eating out very much and I am not broke enough to warrant letting my health suffer to eat cheaply but the thing is these kids, backpackers, vagabonds, travelers will spend what amounts to $4 a day on food and will go out and drink $40 a night every night in alcohol - ok we all did it in college but that was different -. Fucked up priorities but then again I have a nasty shopping habit so maybe I can't talk. All I am saying really is this, if your stealing bread and ketchup from your hostel you might want to rethink your other expenditures.
So in other news, as I may or may not have mentioned I purchased, last week, my ticket to Perth and today - two days before I was to leave - after not a word about a job in 4 weeks from the recruiter who wanted me to dumb down my resume I got a call (I never did dumb it down) The job is 2-4 weeks, pays well and is in Sydney city center. Sooooo fucking typical right. As soon as you convince yourself you don't even want to work and stop looking altogether you get a job without even trying. So now here I am starting work on Monday. That's right I'll be a working girl. I changed my flight date, booked another week at the hostel and now I just have to transform my beachwear into business attire (this means I will be wearing about the same thing to work everyday). Starting Monday I am looking forward to, after 5 months of holiday, less two weeks of banana farming, becoming a functional member of Australian society. For two or maybe four weeks I won't be a backpacker!! I will have an answer when people ask me what I am doing here, I will be earning money, I will have a reason to get up in the morning (before 10am for a reason other than free hostel breakfast), but most importantly I will be thrown into the path of good looking Australian men in suits. Hallelujah. Does this mean I can celebrate with a small shopping spree?.... Just kidding I wouldn't dare sacrifice my healthy well rounded meals for a shirt to wear on my first day of work... would I?
*My Mom hates when I talk about the pasta and ketchup days, I think only because she thinks it wasn't that bad. I wonder if she secretly still eats it when no one is around?
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