Arrival

After 26 hours of flying (this does not include the short layovers between flights), I arrived in Brisbane. Right now I can’t stand the idea of returning to the US merely because I am sick of planes, recycled air and apple cranberry juice. But I guess if I want to get home I’ll have to get over that.

I currently live in a five bedroom house on the crest of a hill in Sunnybank, a Brisbane suburb. The house, as well as two neighboring houses, is owned by a family of five that recently moved to Gosford, which is located outside of Sydney. It’s setup as an urban farm with edible gardens and a water collection system. There are multiple large rain barrels that probably hold more than 1000 gallons each. While I’m here I’m going to take care of the gardens and get them back into order. At first glance there doesn’t appear to be too much work, but looks can be deceiving.

The other four rooms in my house are occupied by four working class blokes, and an older gentleman who lives in the additional room located in the backyard. Last night when everyone got home from work I could immediately tell living with them would be entertaining. They all like to party, joke around and hear about the US. One of the guys, Damien, came home earlier in the day so we got to know each other a little bit. He works for the Coca-Cola bottling company here in Brisbane, but aspires to join the military. He was kind enough to drive me to the store to get groceries and a plug converter (which unfortunately wound up not working). Riding with him was, well, rather frightening. Being on the left side of the road was one thing, but the way he as well as all the other Aussies drives would send my mom into a tizzy. He could tell I was nervous so he tried to ease my nerves by talking about all the cool places I should check out in the area. We made it back in one piece with no dents in the car so I guess it was a successful trip.

The sun finally rose on this glorious winter day (it’s ~60F degrees right now). It’s time to get moving. Check back soon for more updates & hopefully pictures.