Last days in Adelaide

On Saturday we went down south a bit to some beach. There's an area nearby where all the 'schoolies' go, that is, high school teenagers, to party. There was a bandstand there and an open area and a lot of cabins too. Some teens were up but most were probably partied out from the night before. I saw some guy giving motorists the thumbs up and holding a beer, while his buddies behind him drank out of a funnel. It was really windy that day so when we got to the beach we didn't stay too long. The waves were humongous and I couldn't help but think how it would be like to surf on them, but they were just too broken to really get a good ride anyway. Either way though they probably could have killed me if I had tried because my skill level is just way too low. Dave's little baby 2-year-old boy didn't like not being in his baby seat so he made a big fuss pretty much the entire time we were in the car, for an hour or so. I don't know how parents get through this stage it's just so hard on the ears. We also went to Mackies and Pizza Hut that day, so some great nutritious meals were had not. Turns out Pizza Hut is on the outs here in Aussie, there are only a handful left running. Overall it was a pretty good day and in the evening I tried out the Vespa finally and we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Here they have to type in their phone number and then a 6-digit pass code before you can rent a movie, and they call it 'hiring', not 'renting'. So Dave gave me the pin # and I rented Get Smart and watched that later on. I also had a chance to listen to the Killers CD which I had bought the day before and I must say I haven't really warmed up to it yet. Just not as many catchy songs. But I may like it more if I listen to it with some decent headphones.

The next day we went to 'big generic box church' in the morning and it wasn't a lot of fun. The message was about God's presence, but I didn't feel it at all. Almost all the talk was laced with business overtones, buy our album, apply to this club, put money in our baskets. I don't think I've ever felt that a church was a business more than I had that moment. Almost a bit sickening. Nobody knows anyone, and it's just such a big show that it doesn't feel real to me. Later on that day we went to see my Aunt & Uncle and the rest of my cousins.

But before that he took his youngest son on a mini-motocross bike, and me on the Vespa, and we did some offroading. It was fun times! I fell once though because we were going up a slippery hay-filled hill and the Vespa just isn't designed for that terrain. We also checked out the women's prison from behind a fence and waved hello to some ladies who didn't seem all too amused. I'm just surprised he is so fearless, riding that little thing with his young son holding on to the handlebars, and without a helmet too. Pretty frightening to think what could happen in a wipe out situation.

Lobethal where the rest of my cousins live is up in the hills, so we took a lot of winding roads to get there. In about 45 minutes we got there, and there they were. I don't have any memories of my uncle, so it was like we were meeting for the first time. We were led to the back where we had the table all set up in a sort of gazebo attached to the house. The food was delicious and reminded me of my mom's cooking, good old-fashioned Czech dumplings with roast beef, vegetables and red cabbage. The Real Stuff™! Dessert was good too, some chocolate lava cakes and ice cream. And boy were there kids there! I met my three cousins' husbands and their kids, and amongst themselves they have about 10 kids. It's quite insane. They are all pretty young too, so lots of babies everywhere and I had to be careful not to step on one while moving throughout the house.

Later on my uncle took me aside and told me the story of how they came to Australia, and he gave me some advices. He was upset that we thought of them as weird people, because they are just really loving and live life to the fullest. It's just their church has some strange customs when it comes to marriage and how boys and girls are allowed to interact. Just some old-fashioned rules that don't work in today's world anymore. Then my one cousin's husband took us out to the bakery and he proudly showed me all his bakery toys and machines, and even a new gelato machine that he recently got. Too bad we didn't' get to eat any though, it looked quite good.

So that was an interesting time for sure. Me and my sister are invited again for Christmas to celebrate it with them. Today though I head back to Sydney and into the real world. I'm just hoping I have my job still, since I took 3 days off and I am easily replaceable to be quite honest.

_J