The ancedotes of a Aussie Bartender

Hello all my dear people!

Here is the promised longer blog, as I have only been able to fill you in sparingly in the last six weeks. I have arrived in Sydney. Tara and I giggled like preteens upon seeing each other and I'm sure our hostel roommates were thinking American girls truly are as they seem on reality TV. But Tara and I have come to care less about such misconceptions. We're exuberant about life! We ate rice cakes and drank Starbucks coffee and tried to piece together some understanding of our lives at William Creek. Here's some wispy strands of thought:

1. William Creek was a worthy adventure. I was telling my dad...this June/July has been the craziest it has ever been at W.C. because of Lake Eyre filling and there was a team, an alliance, that came together with a mission to see it through. We came from the Australian countryside, the French Brittany region, the American Mid-west, the Australian east coast and city (later to be joined at the end by Germany, Canada, and French Canada). Our bond came out of marathon days where the occasional soft touch or g'd on ya mate could restore your crumbling stamina. We had a community, an international family. And for that alone I know W.C. was an experience of a lifetime. Slowly the fellowship broke apart and moved on...but that June and July of 2009 we had victory.

2. It can be very frustrating to be thrown into a new experience and find you are not being yourself no matter how desperately you are trying to regain that peace of personal portrayal. I told Tara at the beginning of all this that I just felt stilted and wasn't able to communicate in my usual manner. Slowly, as I became accustommed to William Creek and the work, I found my core me coming out again. It was relief to feel me again!! Adriana, the boss and friend, kept introducing me to people and telling them that I suite my name (so reassuring because I felt somewhat like I was failing at that for a bit). I was laughing and dancing and teasing and making connections.

3. But beyond finding my bearings, I also learned new things about myself. While I was making beds one morning and listening to Death Cab, it hit me how much traveling puts me in my element. I need to forge my way into new places and find victory in more William Creeks. I want to collect the stories of people I befriend, add my own, and write it all down. I want to share my writings! I want to visit the homes of my new friends. There is nothing like traveling to the Outback, meeting tourists from all over the world, to realize how humanity is fluid and flowing. I find the wider my world, the more solidarity I feel, and the greater hope I have for our freedom. I think I will move to another country again. Soon. Anyone with me?

4. William Creek helped me see some personal beauty, a truth that is so hard to hang onto in our slippery world of beauty and standard.

5. If I had a gold coin for everytime someone asked me where I was from, how long I've been in Australia, how in the world did I find William Creek, and where will I be traveling next...I might not have needed to work at all =0)


Next adventure: Tara and I bought a greyhound bus pass that goes from Sydney up to Cairns on the east coast. We can get off and on as many times as we want within the next 45 days. We leave tonight for Newcastle, about 2 1/2 hours north from Sydney. We will be in Brisbane on August 17th. Abby will join us. And we'll keep going. We'll fly back down to spend a few days in Sydney with Abby. Then, we're hoping to go to New Zealand after she leaves on Sept. 1st. Soooo....here we go!!!