Ohm

Here we are in an internet spot in a shopping centre, trying to deal with the cold. It's pretty cold here, the beginning of winter. So weird. There are cafes with posters saying "Keep warm this winter with our signature hot chocolate" and things like that. I've had to buy a hoodie, my shorts and t-shirts are not exactly winter wear.
So things are going great, except that we're still recovering from our jet lag, and we can get pretty tired. Today we woke up at 7 after having gone to bed at half 8 the previous night. We start work at 8. Our duties include... pretty much cleaning the whole yoga centre, from top to bottom, every day. I think it's not so much about keeping it clean but also getting rid of negative vibes or whatever you want to call it. We have to change the towels in every bathroom every day. Seems like a lot of washing machine energy wasted... So we sweep the main hall, vacuum and mop the reception area, vacuum the office, clean all the toilets, dust, water the plants, and then make lunch. It takes quite a lot of time, and we've been wondering how someone staying here on their own would get it done in the morning.
In between working you can go to the 10 o'clock yoga class. We were preparing the hall with the mats today for the Thursday morning class, when Sita, one of the women who runs the place, came and said there were no classes on Friday. We've completely lost track of time.
So, it's a bit weird, but we're alone in the centre at night, nobody lives there, and nobody told us about this. We just kind of realised that everyon left after the 6 o'clock class. I shouldn't say "everyone" as there's only one person at a time here. Apparently, because it's winter, there isn't as much to do or as many volunteers as there normally would.
We've been coping ok with the vegetarian stuff, even though it's just been one day... although we were gaping at a man eating a steak at a cafe just now... We made cauliflower and lentil curry for lunch today, it was very yummy. We were thinking of cooking some spanish dishes but evrything seems to contain eggs!! (Which are forbidden here - although there is a white powder called "No-egg" (egg replacement)). So I'm guessing no Spanish omelette on the menu..
There is a special night going one tomorrow, "community night" or something. There's gonna be a big meditating session, with over 40 people, and we need to help Samantha (one of the other teachers) to prepare a meal for them. Pumpking soup - so we'll need to peel about 100 pumpkins. Elena and I are gonna do some baking tonight for the party. Carrot cake, banana bread and some cookies. If we don't eat them all before tomorrow...
Oh, and we pray before we eat! I can't seem to escape the praying! It's a yoga type prayer, Indian thingy.. So that's going to be fun at every meal time...
It would be nice to have a tv with some films on these wintery nights, but technology seems to be a no no at the centre. They cover the computers with tablecloth type things, to hide the beasts!!
Anyway, that's all for now. We're gonna go to the tourist office tomorrow to find out about things to do here. We went into the centre yesterday and it was amazing. Brisbane seems to be a weird mixture of everything. There are historical-type buildings next to modern sky-scrapers, huge roads, and big shoping centres, loads of take away places, and kiwi-type birds chilling with the pidgeons.
Amazing!