UK Sam

I'm so excited to see how many people have been posting comments...it really makes my day to see messages from you guys and I promise to keep the site updated as often as possible. It's been kind of hard these past few days since it's been so hectic, but after we get settled it will be on a much more regular basis. Also, don't worry about the multiple posts, I did that quite a few times when I began posting comments on people's blogs, just post it once and it almost always goes through even if you don't see if right away.

There is so much to say about Sydney. It is absolutely beautiful here. Jeff and I estimate that we have walked 10-20 miles all over the city in the past 2 days. The weather is absolutely amazing and the Harbour is breathtaking. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to call this my home for the next few months.

Yesterday we walked all around looking for places to live. Jeff also took me to Sydney University, to show me where he used to go to school when he was here last. After touring the campus we were sitting under a tree and resting our legs for a bit. I was leaning back against him, listening to a mix that Jeff Grand had made me (Trouble is my new favorite song!) and looking up into the brilliant blue cloudless sky and my eyes started to tear up. I haven't felt that at peace in a very long time.

It's all, of course, a bit overwhelming but I'd like to thank Beth for some of the best advice I could have received. She told us not to jump at places to live and jobs just because we were eager to get it all taken care of. It'll all come with time she said, relax, this is going to be your home for the next few months, make sure you create the exact environment that you want.

I take deep breaths when I start to get too overwhelmed and remind myself that it will all come in time, that we cannot force anything. That I'm here in this amazing place with an amazing man and if we work hard and are patient everything will fall into place. One day I'll wake up and this will be my home.

Last night I could feel the sun and the miles of walking wearing on me. We were at a diner catching a bite and I could start to feel the homesickness and the anxiety setting in. Jeff went to go pay the bill and I sat there spacing out. I could feel someone looking at me and I glanced over to meet the eyes of a guy our age the next table over. Hello's and names were exchanged and I moved over to sit with him at his table. His name was Sam and he was from the UK. He'd been traveling around Australia for the past few months and he was trying to get a flight out to Melbourne later that night. Sam had been traveling around Australia by himself in a wheelchair. He loved Australia and was already planning ways to get back after his return to the UK. As I left we both wished each other luck in our coming travels and Sam's welcoming spirit and warm smile stuck with me the entire walk back to the hostel. Thank you Sam for reminding me not only what this trip is about, but what it's all about. I believe that Sam crossed my path at that exact time for a reason, and I am blessed for having met him.

Today we're off to move into our place. We're going to be living in a flat with 10-12 other housemates from all over the world. The rental company is called Sleeping With The Enemy, which cracked me up. I am so excited to meet so many new and interesting people. After that it's spruce up the resumes and pound the pavement for a job. The woman in charge of jobs at the IEP office told us something that really hit home to me. She said to try a job that you would never do at home, something interesting that's outside your level of comfort. She said to make sure your emails home are WORTH READING. So don't be surprised if I post in a few days saying my job is something other than office work...who knows.

Ok, gotta go. Keep commenting everyone and when I get more time I'll definitely respond to people individually.

PS- I had lunch for the first time at the kabob shops they have here- so delicious. Why the hell don't they have them in the states...you didn't think I'd go an entire post without mentioning the food here did you?

-Mary

Felicity...Velicity?

Just wanted to check in the last time I can while on my native soil.

L.A. has been a lot of fun. It's amazing how connected it is in my mind to Rob. Everything I see reminds me of him in some way or a story that he's told. I guess it will always remain in my mind as Rob's place.

Thursday night when we got in I was absolutely exhausted...getting only an hour and a half of sleep the night before didn't help anything. So Jeff and Sean went out and I crashed hard core. The next day I was lambasted for not joining them out...apparently it would have been easier to get into whatever party they were attempting if a girl had been with them, oh well, I needed the sleep. We planned on spending the day walking around Hollywood and Rodeo Drive but it started to pour out of nowhere...So we walked into the Grove for lunch (this cool little place that's been there forever and has a million different places to eat: I had some brazillian bbq) and then we went and saw Hotel Rwanda. It was amazing and it was powerful and I'm so glad I saw it before I left because odds are it won't be coming to Sydney for a very long time.

That night we went out to a bar called Birds- a take off of Alfred Hitchcock's movie. It was a cool place and we got to meet Stanley and John, a couple of Sean's friends.

We did the Hollywood tour thing yesterday. It was a beautiful day and it was filled with lots of interesting people watching. Krissy, we walked by the same place you and I had gotten our palms read the last time we were out here...remember mine said "There is a love interest in your future, but it won't happen for a long time, until you're ready to let it happen". I felt like dropping in on her and saying, hey look, I finally let it happen...and now we're off to Australia together! Last night we went to a really awesome restaurant for dinner. It was delicious and it was so nice to have a great dinner out here that we could treat Sean to. Thank you Dad, it was so good! After that we went to some other casual bar...I don't remember the name and hung out there for the remainder of the night. I can never get over how many women out here have boob jobs...it pretty ridiculous.

Today we're off to Mulholland Drive to check out the view...hope nothing weird happens that involves little people dancing into blue cubes and shit.

Oh yeah, and I got my token pseudo celebrity siting here in L.A. (I'm known for spotting no name actors that nobody else really knows ex: Maria from Saved by the Bell the New Class, creepy guy that gives Erin Brockovich secret information in that bar, Hunter from the 80's crime fighting cop drama) I saw the annoying guy from Felicity...the one that lived on Felicity's floor that always gave Noel a hard time...if you know who I'm talking about I'm very glad, because no one else does.

Anyway, that's all for now. Just wanted to let all of you know that I love you and I'll be in touch when we finally get into Sydney. Being the geniuses that Jeff and I are, we didn't realize just how long our layover in New Zealand was until yesterday...it's about 7 hours! Oh well, it's all about the adventure right?

"I'm moving off. I'm packing up. I'm willing to be wrong."

-Mary