Being in Australia

So, as you can see in the previous post, I've recently learned a lesson about leaving my boyfriend alone with my logged-in blog for even two minutes!

In response to Rosa's comment on my first post, I post this picture! It's a little disturbing sometimes, still, to get used to people driving on the other side of the road. When riding in the car with Clancy, if we're on a long stretch of two-lane road at night, and a SEMI comes down the other side, I still get scared and think there's a head-on about to happen... Also, crossing the road is hard. I've adjusted to looking right first, but every time I reach the median my brain screams TO THE LEFT NO RIGHT NO LEFT OMG I'M GOING TO DIE. So, I'm still getting used to it, and always cross while holding onto Sean.

We haven't been doing much yet, since our only transport is Clancy and he's in school right now. Pretty boring. But it's kind of fun, because I have a chance to just chill out. All sorts of things take getting used to, because everything is the same while still totally different. Even the little containers the fries come in (and they're called chips) are different - I'm constantly relearning how to open packages, how to refer to foods, Australian slang (bums up, bums down... "we stuffed it"). Nutritional Info doesn't even have calories - it's in kJ. But then we walk into someone's common room to find a friend, and her house-mates are playing Donkey Kong on the TV. Or watching The Sixth Sense.

Note about the weather: It does NOT feel like late fall here. It gets a bit cool in the shade, yeah, but in full-blown sun I feel like I'm going to whither up. And then all these Australians are complaining that it's cold and turning the heat on indoors. The only time I believe it's cold out is at night, when you need a nice coat and hat on to stay warm outdoors, but it's nothing like the NW. Also, it hasn't rained yet. Not one drizzly drop. You can see in these pictures of a church near Wagga Beach (river-front, not ocean) just how much sun there is, and how gorgeous the sky is every day right now:

The Kangaroos Are Coming!!!!

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-sean

Australia!

I left CA for Australia Tuesday night and arrived in Sydney Thursday morning. (When we return, I'll arrive four hours before we left; such is life crossing the international date line). Shortly after arriving, we drove five hours to Wagga Wagga. As our host Clancy put it, Wagga Wagga is five hours from everything - Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, the South coast. BUT we still plan on having plenty of Aussie fun here in Wagga Wagga, and are laying plans to visit some of these other more iconic Australian locations. My goal right now: hold a Koala bear (they do it in the zoos!).

Among my first culture-shock moments was this sign from Burger King... or not! "Hungry Jacks" serves "Brekky" at 6am... Also, note, the toilets all have two buttons (half flush and full) and ketchup is called tomato sauce.


I have a picture (hard to come by, I'm telling you!) of the guys I'm staying with - Clancy, our Aussie host, and Sean, my boyfriend. This picture is outside the dorm-cabin we're staying in on-campus. What you can't see in this picture is the attack of the birds that happens around dawn, a huge cacophony of sound that would wake the dead.

And this is a happy picture of me and Sean (see? I'm alive!).


I have more pictures from the last few days, including a record of the first college prank I've helped pull, but I'll post them later. Right now it's 9am Sunday morning - I believe that puts all the West Coasters at 3pm Saturday? Yeah, you have quite a while yet before you even catch up to Sunday with me.