We're here!

We arrived Christmas Eve after a 32 hour jaunt across the Pacific. At the airport to greet us at 8:30 p.m. was our "Community Sponsor" family and my new principal! It was a balmy evening (it's summer here), and it, too, was absolutely surreal. Everyone is extremely welcoming and friendly.

Our "new" house, Mrs. Bird's beautiful home is not only lovely, it's more than we ever expected. It has all the modern ammenities we have at home, but as Shel Silverstein says, "Not in all the same places." For example, they have a clothes washer and dryer, but the washer is on the ground, and the dryer is up high, over to the right, over the sink. As we spoke with our exchange program leaders they told us not to expect sink disposals, clothes dryers, dishwashers, and other things we Americans live with. Here we have it all and more.

The house looks out to the Kalang River right at the end of the back yard. We're told there may be sharks in it from time to time swimming back from up river, so we won't be swimming in it any time soon! Water dragons play around the river shore in the back yard (as well as in the car dealership parking lots, we've discovered!). There is also a nice swimming pool, so we are very spoiled. There are Blue Tongue Lizards that wander up and down, as well.

The bird life is incredible here, and I think of the students' bird reports coming in the spring! You could study them right here in the back yard! Lorikeets, Curlews, Ibis, pigeons I've never heard of; it's fantastic! Right now as I type this a symphony of bird calls is coming from the eucalyptus trees.

We have been meeting our neighbors and community friends at many social gatherings over these past two weeks. I mentioned it's summer here, and school does not start for another two weeks, so our time has been free to explore and discover what the area has to offer.

We spent New Year's Eve in Sydney! It is the second place in the world to turn 2010, and the fireworks display in the harbour was spectacular! We watched from the ferry landing downtown and were impressed with the city's security systems in place. It felt safe, sane, and celebratory! The city's streets were closed to vehicles, and the roads were a sea of people, like a Where's Waldo page. As we all left at 12:20 a.m., the roads became a river of moving heads! Again, surreal.