chunder down under

Considering the transient nature of the residents of my share house, my flatmates have stayed the same for the last little while. Actually, a japanese girl left a couple of weeks ago to be replaced by a korean girl. I can tell that she is a different person, so that quashes the "they all look the same" theory. But the core of the house has been the same: me, Matt (from Bournemouth, working as a diver), Johnny and Damien from Ireland. There is also another japanese girl as well, but we hardly ever see her. However, Johnny and Damien are leaving on Friday to travel down to Brisbane and it will be a shame to see them go. I think they have just been using Cairns as an opportunity to earn some cash, but considering the typical tourist sights to see here they haven't really done anything. To me it seems a bit of a waste to travel half way across the world just to go to the pub every evening after work. Still that's their choice.

So I will be getting another two flatmates over the weekend, hardly a new event for me but my life is not overly exciting at the moment so it is something to look forward to. It would be nice to get someone who can pronounce my name properly. It doesn't seem difficult to me, but most non-english speakers (in addition to many who are) call me "Hammish". As in characteristics pertaining to the meat, See "Mmm, this ham is especially hammish". Another variation is used by anyone muslim/semitic, even those who have been friends for a couple of years, where they insist on calling me "Hameesh". Like Hashish. Perhaps it is an in-joke, and means "Camel's arse" in arabic. In fact a couple of lebanese guys I knew in Sydney told me it sounded like the arabic word for "Horny", something that caused endless amusement every time I met them. Though doubtless I mispronounce their names too.