It's kinda like that - earth to perth. I mean, Perth is the most isolated city in the world (or is it only one of the most isolated? I forget). So, saying 'rest of earth to Perth' is not that ridiculous in itself.
Plus, the fact that it rhymes is quite an added bonus. :P
So, what's happened since the rest of the world and I last touched bases? i.e., since I flew from Brisbane to Perth.
Well, the flight over here on Friday - a total of 5 1/2 hours - was considerably longer than the flight from Broome to Brisbane, and not only in real time. It seemed to drag like a dead fish hanging off the side of a truck. I sat next to (well, not quite - there was an empty seat between us) a lady called Alice from Malaysia. She was really nice - she told me all about her family, and I told her all about mine. When she heard about my story, she asked so many questions I finally took out the paper copy I (conveniently) had in my bag and let her read it. She got sorta mad at me that I hadn't given it to her sooner (she started reading about 2 1/2 hours into the flight), because she had to skip a chapter or two to the end so she wouldn't be left in suspense! That was really encouraging, that she was so keen. She also added that 'that lady who wrote harry potter' is now a billionaire, and it started by 'just writing', like me. :) haha - I don't think there's much chance of that, but hey, there's such a thing as wishing! :D
I got to the airport, to find that there was no-one in sight - no recognisable faces, anyway. I was waiting at the baggage claim (I can't believe we even thought there would be a chance of me cramming my 16 1/2 kilos of baggage into one 7 kilo hand luggage bag!) when I heard mum yell my name. :) Turns out they had initially been waiting at the QANTAS place and wondering why all the signs only showed qantas flights... Then they ran (they were late) to the virgin place. They waited at the exit where they thought I would come out - Jo said I might come down the stairs, but mum said 'nah!' Guess what?! I came down the stairs! :)
Going from Nan's immaculately kept house to the, well, not so immaculately kept caravan was a slight shock. Here, every step precipitates a slight 'crunch' as three layers of junk slowly compress beneath your feet, often with fatal (for the junk) results…
Before I can get in the car, I have to siphon off about thirty centimeters of books, paper, loose tissues, and others tuff before it is possible for my feet to go below the level of the car seat…
But apart from the amount of stuff everywhere, it's soo nice to be back with my family: smart, motivated, game-making Jo (in the process of making a game similar to smurfville - right now he weeding out all the bugs in his game), interesting Dom, always ready to chat about any topic, cute Dini who loves to make, knit, stitch, or do anything crafty, Oskar (my personal fan club) who has the cutest smile and laugh, and who is sooo intersting to talk to, and cooper, the guy who also has a super cute laugh and smile, who is always asking me to help him out (like just then - I was demanded to blow up three balloons in quick succession), and who loves climbing over mum when she's trying to read a book (like now). Dad, who's amazing at fixing things and getting things organised, and mum, who manages to keep us all fed, clothed, and (mostly) happy, and still retain not only some of her sanity, but also most of her sense of humour as well.
I just love my fam. :)
Saturday was busy, exhausting, but also fun. We went to the Perth mint, the oldest working mint in Oz, and one of only 6 branches of the Royal Mint in the world! At the front is a big bronze statue of two guys panning for gold. In the pan, people have thrown heaps of coins!
At the mint, we saw 20,000 diamonds that were less than 1/2cm wide, and proof coins, and special decorative coinsminted out own coin, learnt about a lady's tea parties on the mint lawn, saw a 600mL bar of gold poured, saw the largest solid gold coin in the world - 1 tonne (they've made a competition of it), and generally had fun! The guide we had was really interesting.
Our minted coin (both sides):
(The picture is what the mint looks like. The thing in the middle of the driveway is the panning for gold statue. Cooper spent ages during lunch running around the walls that ran around the edge of the driveway and walkways. :) Apparently, the guy who ran the mint originally lived on the second floor, on the right side of the entrance)
After that we headed off to the Perth Museum, where we saw stuffed animals and also a display of items from the British museum. That was actually really interesting - we saw a black dress worn by Queen Victoria (she was actually quite short), and a carving of one of the queens that had hidden feet underneath, and the first ever queen from chess (which looked really depressed), and a 'torque', which is a pure gold, very heavy looking ancient neck ring (sounds painful) that was discovered by a farmer plowing his field! Something you really wouldn't expect to happen! :) (At least, something that only ever happens in fairy tales, anyway)
By that time, I was pretty whacked - I'd gone to bed the night before at 12pm brissie time, had just flown seemingly halfway around the world (not quite, but it felt like it), had just finished a stressful exam block (six exams in four days!), and well, I was just about had it!
(Most people, when I went to talk to them at the semi formal, said, 'whoa! I could never have recognised you!')
Saturday dinner was Maccas. Joseph was really cranky that I got to go on Mum's iPad - she's gotten quite a few more games on it. :) Like the addictive (for her, anyway), smurfville, chicken rescue, bloons tower defence, and heaps of others.
I spent a lot of the weekend checking to see if the photos from my semi formal on Thursday night were up on facebook yet. They are (though, if you want to check, you need a password to get in).
The photos look really good! :) Mum and dad thought I looked great - they both said they would hardly recognise me. :)
(This is a photo I took at the semi formal, for those of you who haven't seen a pic yet. There were actually three jokers at the semi formal. Here I am with one of them - the one called Aidan who spent half the night trying to work out who I was, and who didn't actually know me in the end! But I eventually told him my name)
We went to a baptist curch on Sunday - most of the people there were really old, but I liked the service. The sermon talked about how we get all excited about winning the lotto, or someone's birthday party, when the greatest news - Jesus' coming - is hardly talked about at all. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul talks about how we should use the awesome, living hope we have to encourage one another, yet we hardly do it at all! That really got me thinking…
So, what's been funny lately? Well, Cooper saw my anchor-patterned converse sneakers yesterday and said 'oohh!! Pick-axe shoes!' coming from a three-year-old, that was quite amusing.
Oh, and I'd just been reading in exodus about how God told Moses to make shorts for the priests so they would not 'expose themselves' (Exodus 28). And would you believe? Joseph just started talking about it yesterday! Turns out Mum just read the same thing the night before as well! :) Isn't that incredible!?!
Anyway, I think that's enough unintelligible writing for you to plough through for the moment… :)
Hopefully I'll be able to write something tomorrow as well! You'd think, after all that schoolwork, I'd have heaps of time to write, but not so - I mean, just look at how much writing 3 days took up. And that isn't even all!
