They really do call each other "mate"! It was exciting for me too! And I have been called several other choice terms of endearment, including: Blossom, buddy, doll, darling, etc.
I was going to tell you that nothing exciting had happened over the last two days but I figured you would all know I was lying. My flights went fine. But pretty much after I arrived in L.A. I was lost. I had no idea what I was doing, I just wondered around a lot and people took pity on me. I loved the flight over the great wide ocean--even though I didn't get to sleep nearly as much as I would have liked. But I was set up with my own personal screen that included: television, radio, movies, games, and flight status info. So many options right at my finger tips AND 38,000 feet in the air! It's better than being on the ground! When I landed in Brisbane I had the choice experience of going through customs. And they even let me in! With only one luggage glitch that experience went off without a hitch. As I left the International Terminal I was greeted by over 200 total strangers. It was quite overwhelming knowing that I knew absolutely nobody in this country. A kind gentleman pointed me in the right direction so that I didn't have to lug all my junk on the train to the domestic terminal. Once I stepped outside into the warm weather it hit me that I had officially fulfilled my life dream. It was AWESOME! And when I got to the domestic airport there were tons of banners with baseballs on them. It was as if they knew...hmmmm... I knew I was going to like this country! :)
When I got to Sydney I collected my luggage and got into a taxi. The whole time I was just praying that we wouldn't die, everytime that he turned i was afraid that we were going to end up in oncoming traffic. I made it to the train station where I wandered around some more before I found my platform. I took a three hour ride to Lithgow--through the mountains--it was just gorgeous! Cecelia and Tia (the mother and three year old in my host family) met me in Lithgow and drove me the rest of the hour home to Bathurst.
It was such a relief to be done with traveling and I was exhausted. The Garlicks are just wonderful people and I feel so blessed to be living with them. They have two little girls Sarah (7) and Tia (3). I pretty much just went to sleep Sunday night after meeting the fam and eating.
Then I went to school...Now this was frightening. I had to walk there (about 15 minutes) and had no idea what to expect. Of course, you all know me, I got there honkin' early and waited around for someone to take pity on me and tell me where I was supposed to be. Sue, my teacher, came over and asked, "are you Monica?" I nodded and she gave me a HUGE HUG! It was great! She introduced me to the staff and then we had playground duty. As I stood in the middle of hte courtyard I could see tons of kids staring at me, pointing, and whispering. It really was like I was an alien. Oh yea, and Tia and Sarah watched me brush my teeth that morning. I swear I do it just the same as everyone else! Anyway, bunches of cute kids with hats and accents came up and introduced themselves to me! They were all SO polite and SO friendly. We had morning assembly where I was introduced to the school. SO now everyone knows my name and anywhere i go the students always call out to me and say hello. It really is special--people are so honkin nice here.
Man, I need to wrap this up. I will have to give more stories later. But for now let me just say that there is a definate language barrier. How was I supposed to know that taking a torch to bed didn't mean that you were sleeping with an open flame? Yea, its just a flashlight. Good one, Mon. And I went to a singing competition much like Solo and Ensemble today. The 2ns years sang --my class and another--and got first place in their section! It was really exciting and something cool to see in my first couple of days!
I really am having the time of my life! I haven't had much time to just sit down and think. You people better not be having too much fun without me though. I love you all!