Arrived. Oh my.

This country - the teeny tiny little piece of it I've seen so far looks nothing like I expected. Sadie lives in Highgate which is a suburb of Brisbane. It looks like I imagined Cuba would look. Or how parts of the Dominican Republic looked - very ramshackle with the occasional fancy house. The trees look nothing like home (as expected).

The breeze feels like body temperature. So lovely. We walked down the streets of the West End in our shorts and t-shirts and it couldn't have been nicer.

Sadie will be working tomorrow and I am really looking forward to seeing more of the city as I can't really see myself living in this neighborhood. I haven't really given it a chance yet. Nothing feels "right" and I'm slow thinking and a little confused as a result of having not really slept in the last 40 or so hours. I had little cat naps on the first flight but it was very uncomfortable.

I know I'm here but it hasn't really hit me. So far Sadie and I went for a little walk then came back to the 'hood' and sat by the river and had a really nice talk. Then we came back to her house and I've felt good about pretending I'm at her house that's perhaps in Fernwood if I block out the sounds of birds I don't know and all the Australian voices just outside the window ;)

Sadie and I were laying on her bed an hour or so ago and I said "Is that a car or a bird... or an insect?" and she asked me what I was talking about. I said "that whiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrr sound" she said "oh, like the ch ch ch ch sound?" "no, like the super high eeeeeeeeeeeeee like eeeeeeeee but higher?" She said "I don't know what you're talking about." I said "That sound. That high pitched sound that's like squeaking... squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - can't you hear it?"
We decided for a moment that she probably just can't hear the frequency I'm hearing before she said "wait- do you mean the cricket?"       ".......is this what our lives are going to be like?"   "yes"

The restaurant we went to for lunch was not byob, but I hear that many places are - I like this. I would like to find a little place where everybody knows my name and the drinks are cheap. Like I-brought-it-in-my-purse cheap.

that's it for now. Sadie is off on an ant massacre in the kitchen. I should help. We have dinner plans with her sister Sylvie and Sylvie's manfriend Paul this evening. Then I'll go to sleep.