I Think I'm Really Here

This past weekend we went back up to Eumundi to visit our friend Andrea. She was performing in a community orchestra on Sunday and we wanted to see it. Jeff, pointedly, suggested that maybe I should do the driving since I've been studiously avoiding it here. I did, we didn't crash, and I didn't break down in tears or threaten the life of another driver, not even once. We'll call that "success".

We met Andrea mid-day and spent the afternoon with her. After shuttling children to appropriate playmates, she drove us over to Noosaville and Noosa Beach. Since Christmas comes in the middle of summer, it is a long-standing Aussie tradition to spend some or all of Christmas week at the beach. Jeff's office is closed between Christmas and New Years so we're thinking of doing the same. Andrea drove us through the two adjacent towns giving us an overview of the area and lodging options.

We stopped in to visit with her in-laws in Noosa Beach. Peter and Maree suggested that the condo next door is owned by an out-of-towner who doesn't make it up often and might be interested in letting us rent it for Christmas. We agreed that would be nice and they've been talking to the owner for us since then.

We then went to have dinner with Andrea's friends, Josh and Tara. They are both Americans (from Iowa) who have lived in Australia for 10 years or more. Tara is even Lutheran it turns out (which is not surprising if you're familiar with the demographics of Lutherans; Iowa is thick with them).

They made burritos and we hung out on their verandah. A lot of the houses here have deep verandahs where people spend a lot of time. We tried to catch sight of their “flying foxes”, which are like a bat but much larger. Maybe the size of a squirrel. We heard them and saw them silhouetted against the night sky but never got a good look at one. Tara and Josh say they are actually pretty cute.

I think both Josh and Tara would like to be back in the US but can't at the moment. Andrea's husband, Ben, is Australian but Andrea is an American who grew up in the DC suburbs. So we were an All-American team that night. I think it was good for all of us.

I know that the next morning when I woke up, my first thought was not "I'm in Australia", which is what it has been for the last two months. It was just "oh, yeah, I'm at Ben and Andrea's" and I felt comfortable with that, the same way I would waking up at a friend's house in the US.

Australia is becoming, slowly, known and comfortable to me. I'm beginning to feel like I am part of a network of people who I can call friends, even if quite a few of them are 90 minutes north rather than here in Brisbane. :) It's still not "home" the way DC is "home". Two months is just not nearly long enough. Six months won't be either. I've been in DC and it's suburbs for more than 25 years, after all.

But I'm feeling more and more like I've got my feet under me and I can relax a little. Andrea has gone a long way in making that happen, consciously sharing her cirle of friends, particularly other ex-pats. I'm grateful to her efforts. They have worked!