A Cairns Weekend

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen/dining room talking with Matthew while eating a late lunch.  We were comparing notes on our foot injuries (his from soccer, mine from volleyball)

This picture actually makes it look pretty good!
I wonder if I can incorporate it into a Halloween costume since it's so gruesome looking?

 and our experiences teaching English, basically just small talk.  Anyway, Tusa was in the kitchen cooking and out of the blue he brings me a bowl of this vegetable stir-fry he had made and asked me to try it.  It consisted mainly of vegetables I don’t generally like, such as celery and mushrooms, but I found it to be surprisingly tasty!  I hadn’t totally finished it when he brings a pan over of another dish consisting (from what I could tell) of tofu, pasta, and soy sauce.  It was also very good.  He didn’t offer Matthew any though, but I shared a bit of the first dish with him so he could taste it.  I’m just curious what it is about me that entices people to randomly feed me.

Oh, and it was confirmed to me yesterday morning while working that the hostel is for sale.  Yeah, that information came as quite a shock.  On Friday two smartly dressed men came in and asked for the keys to some rooms so they could show some people around.  I couldn’t be entirely sure what exactly had been advertised, but had a feeling they were realtors.  Yesterday another guy came in asking to look around and see some rooms and he mentioned that the place was for sale.  I’m doing my best not to be nervous about the business being sold, but I really don’t want my tentative plans to stay until January to be upset.  It’s not much of a plan, but it’s all I’ve got so maybe that’s why I feel so protective of it.

I got the below email from Lesley today - I love having the option of living in the UK at some point, even if it means looking after 2 boys...

Great to hear from you we miss you so much I so wish that Adelaide had more to offer but so glad your having a fabulous time. Boys are great and if you're free we would love you back as a paid aupair.  Sort out your plans and maybe next year we could have you in the UK and the boys in school there.

I finished my biography of John Wayne and found it very fascinating.  I now have a desire to watch a bunch of the films (he’s been in a ridiculous amount of movies though) mentioned in the book, but sadly the library here only had “Big Jake” when I was in earlier last week.  Since I chanced finding the TV room empty yesterday afternoon, and had no plans, I decided I’d sit down and watch it before heading to volleyball.  I really enjoyed it, but John Wayne always makes me miss my Grandpa.  By the time it was over it was time to go to the courts.  For a Saturday night it was very empty when I arrived.  There was one game going on but the teams were full, and only Kaylee and Ben (a British couple who’ve been around for awhile) were there waiting.  Since we had no prospects of a game, and none of us were leaving, Kaylee and I ended up chatting about travel in Australia and the work we did back home.  Eventually Des showed up and then Bal and a few of his friends came so we were able to get a team going.  Towards the end of the night (well, my night since I had to work early this morning) I joined a new team with Peter and Junior.  I wasn’t 100% sure his name was Junior though, so I said to him, “Your name’s Junior, right?”
He gave me an odd smile and said, “Yeah, how did you know?”
“Oh, we played together awhile ago.”
“Ah!  Sorry, I don’t remember your name though.”
“No worries, I’m Abbie.”
“Oh, the famous Abbie!”

I have no idea what he meant by that, but hopefully it’s a good thing.  My name does get yelled a lot during games, especially when playing with or against Wally, Rocky, or Casey…so hopefully it’s for that, not my skills or something embarrassing.  Anyway, I got to chat with Josh for a bit and saw Stephanie & Tyeisha briefly as well before I had to head back.  It was so nice to be back at volleyball after 5 days off.  I’m hoping to stop by after church tonight and maybe get a few games in before I have to call it quits because of my early shift in reception Monday morning….