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I'm in a webcafe in Victoria, BC, and I am shocked to realize how exhausted I am. I guess I made the mistake of sitting down in a comfy chair, and so my body thinks its finally time to quit for the night. Last night was a whirlwind of weird and awesome and out-of-characterness, which resulted in me getting almost no sleep, so I'm quite knackered.
So friday I headed to class, which made me thank the scholastic gods I came to SFU, because the skull and pelvis of a real human being were passed around the group and we had to sex the bones! How awesome is that?! I was one of only two people in class who got both right. Everyone else got both wrong.
After that, I bussed to horseshoe bay and got on the ferry to Nanaimo, at which point I met a dashing young man who later offered to drive me to my hostel. My gaydar sucks pretty bad, but I think he had the hots for me, but he was visiting his grandma, so couldn't offer to let me stay over when I told him i probably didnt have a place to stay. In any case, he dropped me off, with a pointed "hope I see you around." and I was left to discover whether I had a room for the night. This hostel was independantly run, so they had a weird system for booking rooms. I had no idea whether i had one or not that night, so I had my camping equipment with me just in case. It turned out I had a room! Hooray! But wait.... the hostel is above a bar? Theres live music tonight? So.... I have to wait until the bar closes before I can go to sleep? Now, after brief annoyance, I decided to take all this in stride. This is the essence of traveling. The unexpected!
Even more of a suprise were my roomates. I walk in, and the four Kiwis and one Irishman were all shirtless and in their underwear, drinking beer, and taking pictures of each other peeing. The bar games were quickly decided on, and i was recruited into the clan. We all had to "kiddie pee" for the rest of the evening (this is where a grown man pees with his pants and undies around his feet like a little boy would). This actually did cause hilarity later when one of them was caught kiddie peeing in the bar bathroom and caused one of the locals to freak out until his Kiwi brother came in and did the exact same thing. They also drank each other's pubes in their beer, punched each other in the balls, and had adorable drama later on when one of them got ditched and bawwed about it once they were all back. Gayest straight guys I ever met.
They went onto another club later on, to cruise for chicks, and i happily let them go on without me, because I was being taught to play pool by a Nanaimo local, and moshing to the rock cover band that was on stage (and also wasn't interested in cruising for girls). I got punched in the ear!
Anyhow, after a rolickingly drunken night, I got to sleep at about 3am, or later, because the boys mentioned that they had to get up in 3 hours, and they got up at 8. They woke me up as they left, in high spirits as they always had been. I took a shower once they were away and pattered around Nanaimo all morning. Its an unchallenging and pretty enough city, with a little museum and a few tame art galleries. The weather was cool and breezy, so overall, perfect situation for someone who needs the next 5 hours to wake up and has a bruised jaw. At lunch time, I stopped by a floating fish and chips place, and ordered their bread bowl curry. It looked dissapointing, smallish and with lame, tiny shrimps, but wow. Talk about a diamond in the rough! It was the best curry I have ever had!
After that, I hitched to Victoria. I'd been hearing that hitching is the best way to travel Vancouver Island, but this confirms it! Not only are islanders super nice, but they will pick up hitchers no problem! It took two rides, one with a student who drove a highly tempermental truck he bought for $500, and the second a man who had just bought a fresh used car, which broke down half way to Victoria. Apparently one of his spark plugs had got up and walked away, and he gave me a spark plug installation lesson. My manly skills are growing!
Since then, I've just been pattering around Victoria, not really doing very much because everything was closed by the time i arrived at about 5, but I did enjoy myself immensely, and tomorrow there will be a street market and museums. This city is so beautiful!