Ryan Messmore, president of Campion College, drove us out from Botany Bay where the airport is (the same Botany Bay that the prison ships entered) to Toongabbie. On the way he informed us of some important things. One is that Aussies tend to like putting an 'e' sound on the end of abbreviated words, like 'brekky' (breakfast). I'm looking forward to these lingual fun mix-ups, because in my warped Third Culture existence, I feel at home learning new culture.
We arrived at our little house the college provided, and the Messmores showed their consistent courtesy by providing every detail of comfort they could think of, down to food in the fridge. Typical for me, I was most excited about the gardenia bushes blooming outside the front door; the smell took me back to my Aunt Mary's Sycamore Canyon home in Santa Barbara, and made me feel at home. The light alone inspires me, that golden slant of almost liquid light that seems to happen in areas near the ocean.
I love being barefoot again, but am thinking about the killer creatures or large lizards that live here with us. A frightened American. From Wyoming? What am I talking about? Wyoming's a lot more wild, right? If you can survive there, you can get through some poisonous creatures, right? Just jetlagged in the middle of the night-or day-whatever-I was turning on lights so I didn't step on anything. My rational mind knew that was a little off.
We got our rental car and jumped into driving on the left. Now I'm here, I can't say "driving on the wrong side of the road"--I realize how that would sound. After about five minutes of it, my brain felt like it did when I used to do eye-crossing contests with my friends. We did well beyond some polite Aussie "what's up mate" beeps and some close calls with the left curb (your spatial feel is off).
We keep asking, "Um, what are we doing?" --it seems so, well, extreme. But I keep telling the kids, "You're like Bilbo...you never know where the road will lead you. Its an adventure."
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