I've actually had quite a fun week this last week!
Starting with the Easter Weekend. I had been rostered on to work the Saturday night at Hog's Breath but since I got my visa extended (and changed to a visitor visa) I am no longer legally allowed to work. I felt bad about letting them down though so I said I'd work for free; It's not like I'm much use anyway, only being able to hobble around and having to sit still most of the time. It's fun, I quite like working there, it's something to break up the monotony of my flat-rest.

It was a bit of a hectic night as lots of staff had the Easter weekend off to go home to see family and half the rest of them were going to see the Lady Gaga at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre (jealous!). I had been working for one hour when the boss's wife came in to pick up her Gaga ticket, that my boss had in his pocket.
He passed them over: "But there are two here!" ... "Apples, you're working for me for free, do you want to go see Gaga?"
DO I???
I did!
A $90 ticket to go see Gaga-chops was pretty good payment for one hour of work. I didn't have time to get excited it was so rushed, we hopped in a taxi and then we were there!
The costumes of some of the audience were brilliant, girls had big sholder-dresses on and sparkly numbers and wigs and coke cans wound up in their hair, guys had spangles and tutus and everyone had facepaint. It was an awesome people-watching opportunity. She was fantastic! I have to confess I haven't been HUGELY into her before, I like her songs but not mega-fanatical. But she is really really talented, she has a great voice and played piano to accompany herself in some songs, she danced awesomely and was just all-round a great performer. The stage show was Brilliant! The costumes were amazing (SIXTEEN and apparently she helped design them all). She co-writes all her own songs too, which gives me a lot more respect for her. I can see why people say she is the 'next Madonna'. Perhaps she is?!

Monday, I spent a nice few hours sitting in the Botanical Gardens with a couple of friends and burnt my nose! Madness to think that it's well and truly autumn here but it was hot enough to sit in a sundress in the garden and get burnt. It's a bit more grey and cooler now, I awoke on Tuesday to the deafening racket of torrential rain on the flat tin roof outside my bedroom window, made me feel quite at home. For the first time since being in Adelaide, this weekend I had actually remembered about the shops closing: they didn't open atall on Friday, Sunday or Monday. I'm getting used to the queer SA ways and was well prepared.

Since then I have had some laptop DRAMAZ which sprung from my attempting to install software to support a new webcam but resulting in mr lappy becoming about as fast as a three-toed-sloth (according to wikianswers, the slowest animal on earth.. 0.24km/h). I did attempt to sort the problems out myself under the expert instruction of my dada but no joy so I had to surrender him to a repair shop and be internet-less for 48hours o_0; it's funny to realise how dependant I have become upon the internet since purchasing mr lappy five months ago.

The guy in the shop was great and really helpful and did some stuff to do with processes and conflicts (yes I know the lingo, but not the meaning behind it). The fan inside mr lappy conveniently chose to stop working whilst in the repair shop, causing the guy not to charge me for his work as the non-functional fan was causing the laptop to slow a lot due to getting hotter and hotter and slower and slower to compensate (a no fix no fee policy, yay!) and even more conveniently to start working again as soon as I got him home, leaving him faster and more efficient for free! Fingers and toes crossed he stays this way, have ordered a portable external fan that plugs into the usb and sits underneath to cool the body down just in case it conks out again and even if it doesn't, perhaps this will speed him up even further.

Last night I went to visit my friend Ellen in Mile End, and see her flat that she just moved into. It reminded me of London! The flat is small, just a bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom. It has such high celings and lots of period features like picture rails in all the rooms, sash windows, a fireplace and stained glass in the top of the windows. It is painted terracotta and brown throughout and was just LOVELY. Very old-feel and traditional, yet it has to be less than 100years old.
I have to say, although stuff here is NOT old by english standards, Adelaide does "old-style" really well. The old-style buildings look lovely and old and you do get a sense of history from them. It was something I thought I'd miss being in aussieland, which I did miss a bit in QLD, Airlie beach and Cairns and places being very modern and new but Adelaide has that pleasingly old and regal air about it, which I'm sure I have rambled on about before.
We made cold rolls with rice paper and vermicelli and avocado, carrot, cucumber, satay tofu and sesame seeds. Must try to make these myself one day, they were yummy!

Apart from that lot, my week has been quiet. Since I got my visa extension I have relaxed a lot, there is really nothing to stress about as I have 4.5more weeks here and plenty of time to organise anything that needs organization before I go. The days when I was laptop-less I read a LOT. I discovered the goldmine that is Oxfam bookshop, where I got six books for $10; books are really quite expensive new here so it was a particularly valuable find.
Today is grey and rainy but thankfully I have no reason to leave the flat so will spend all day in, reading and internetting. It can get a bit boring, but in a lot of ways being forced to chill out and read books all day every day is very nice indeed!