My favorite memory from this whole week was when Mike took us to Bondi Beach. After a number of rainchecks from Mike over the course of the semester to do some insider sightseeing, we finally got a day planned to get up early to go see Bondi Beach and do the Bondi to Coogie cliff walk. At the last minute that morning, Mike ran downstairs and almost bailed on us because he was out of money, but we insisted he wouldn’t need to spend any so he had better pack a lunch and come. It wasn’t hard to convince him. On the way to the Eastern suburbs, we picked up Charlene and Joi on the corner of Lyons and Victoria since they wanted to come along too. When we got to Bondi, it was a cool winter day but the warmest we’d had in weeks, especially after all the rain. The sun was actually shining and we all marveled at how gorgeously aqua the water was, even in winter. Mike had only been to Bondi a couple times even though he’s lived his entire life in Sydney, so it was as much an adventure for him as it was for us. The beach was absolutely deserted at that time of year, which is amazing considering it is arguably the most famous beach in the world. We took off our shoes and walked down to the other end in the waves. Mike and I ran the whole way back because it’s only about a half mile long! At the other end, we accidentally left our shoes too close to the surf and one of mine got drenched by a wave.
When we were all together again we walked for over an hour up on the cliffs along the coast to Coogie. We passed several beaches along the way and saw the most beautiful scenery. At one point we came across a huge cemetery stretching along tops of the cliffs filled with the graves of the earliest settlers. The view from the cemetery, with its bright white monuments practically falling into the water against the blue sky was breathtaking. At Coogie we decided we had to try Bondi burgers (modeled after Portuguese burgers) at Aporto, which is the only real Australian fast food chain, and they were pretty good. Then we did the whole trek back up to Bondi and drove home. Mike dropped us off in the city at Paddy’s Market so we could do some final souvenir shopping and then exhausted we rode the bus back home for tea.
I still had some things to take care of at Wesley on Wednesday and on my walk back home I had to say good-bye to a good friend of mine and April’s. An elderly Hungarian man named Emil, the self-proclaimed “Sheriff of Undine Street,” has stopped us for a number of conversations on our walks to and from Wesley throughout the semester. He lives on Undine Street with his ailing wife, who has Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and a number of other problems, he says. He is her sole caretaker and for a breather he comes out onto the sidewalk to chat with his neighbors. He was a prisoner of war in WWII and was not able to return to his home country after the war. He moved to Australia and has been here for 60 years. He loves to tell us, in his still strong Hungarian accent, what beautiful American granddaughters he has. Often he holds us there on the sidewalk for much longer than we care to listen, but saying good-bye to him was still hard. He asked us to write to him when we reached America again.
On Thursday we took some time out of our sight-seeing to go see the Wesley play, The Good Woman of Setzhuan, since our ASC friend Hannah was in it. To be honest, it was one of the longest, most boring plays I’ve ever seen. The actors did a fine job, but the writing of the play was terrible. We heard later that the Thursday matinée was the worst performance so perhaps that contributed. As a last treat at intermission we walked down to Lyons Road to get some Lashings wedges. At orientation way back at the beginning of the semester we’d had from some catered in and we all fell in love with eating them the Australian way with sour cream and sweet chili sauce. We filled the whole theater with the smell. They made the second half go a little faster.
With the afternoon free, April and I went down to the City again for some pictures that we needed yet. We ended up meeting Pat (a Wesley student) and Ellie (Mike’s friend) on the bus and Pat got off with us in Darling Harbour. He entertained us through a street performance and walked with us through all the set-up for the FIFA Fan Fest that was taking place at midnight in Darling Harbour. After he left we walked through the Chinese Garden of Friendship and then went back to Paddy’s Market for a last minute souvenir run before heading home again.
Yesterday morning we dropped our luggage off at Wesley so it would all be ready to go to the airport on this morning. It’s part of our “experience” (character building again) to carry all of our luggage ourselves to Wesley, taking it on public transportation etc. instead of having our host families drop it off. We were supposed to reflect on the amount of stuff we have. I am very glad I could fit all my stuff back in my one small suitcase for the half mile walk. I definitely have learned a lot about materialism this semester, through our class discussions and from personal experience. My suitcase must have been half the size of everyone else’s and I’ve been wearing the same clothes week in and week out. It has made my life so much simpler. Strangely, when you stop caring about your own appearance as much, you stop caring about other people’s too. I’ve donated a lot of things to the Salvo’s here so I can take some new things back, but I’m so glad I’m not taking a whole extra suitcase like a lot of other kids must.
After we dropped our stuff off we were free to do whatever we liked before we left this morning. We rode the bus to Burwood and combed every shop looking for the perfect good-bye/thank you gifts for the Jagos. It took us forever to decide, but we knew Mike wanted a scarf so we got him a blue striped scarf and Brian and Sue a display of candles, since Sue loves to light them and Brian likes to play with the melted wax. April knew of this place to get “bubble tea,” which is a kind of drink with bits of fruit floating in it. But then when we tried to get on the bus with our drinks the bus driver yelled at us and we had to wait for the next one.
When we got back we cleaned the whole bathroom that we shared with Mike top to bottom (that doesn’t get done very often) and our room, and packed our carry-ons. Then we spent the evening with the family. This was Mike’s 21st birthday. He and Jonno had a big bash planned for later in the year, but on the actual day of his birthday Brian and Sue invited the whole family over for a baked dinner to celebrate and to say goodbye to us as well. All the immediate family came—Andrew and
Marike, Camille and Andrew, Claire, and Linda came too. Sue made a delicious three course meal with soup, roast lamb, and the family favorite ricotta cheesecake for dessert. Linda, who is an avid cook, made a homemade meatpie. Mike and Sue always raved about her pies, but it never occurred to me that they meant meatpies too! A little later we went out with Mike, Linda and Claire to PJs for a short while. We came back to the house and after Claire went home the rest of us sat up talking until 6 am!
Finally we went to bed for just a couple hours before we had to get up to head back to Wesley. Our little household got up early to take some pictures at home and say good-bye to Lucky and Chili. April and I both cried this morning when we hugged them good-bye at the school. I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it through three hugs, but I started crying even before the first one. We all promised each other that we would see each other again. Mike vehemently declared that he would come to the States, maybe not to live but he would travel there and maybe study there. I truly hope that is the case.
Tonight we are in New Zealand. I can’t believe it. I’m so excited to visit this place I’ve heard so much about, but leaving the Jagos was the most heart-wrenching thing. This week did not lend itself very well to leaving after all the fun things we did. The house was so quiet and sad last night and
this morning we all got up early to go to Wesley together—for the last time. No more late night Maccas runs. No trips to Forster and Canberra. No tagging along with Mike and his friends to pubs. No more favorite TV shows with Brian and Sue. No more family tea times. No more after-tea tea. No more baked dinners. No more family board games. No more of Sue’s special language. No more Jago jokes.
April and I keep turning to each other and telling something that happens at the Jagos, and we both suddenly remember we’re not going back ever again (for now at least) and we begin to tear up. We were talking to Kimberly earlier about dinner and April suddenly said, “We’re missing tea.” First I just nodded we tried to control our tears but Kimberly caught on to our distress and asked, “Are you having a Jago moment?” Then we just looked at each other and laughed through our tears. I think it’ll be like this until the end of the trip. I’m going to miss living there so much.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment