Day 9: What a difference a few decades make!

Went for a walk with π this morning at dawn.  It was incredible.  There's nothing like going for an early morning walk to bring out the stark reality that you are in another country.  The lake is inhabited by Eurasian Coots.  They're really incredible! They literally run across the water--it was fascinating to watch!

We also went to Mireya's dance concert--K kept calling it a recital and the teen cousin contingent would giggle and ask her to say it again.  It was super fun.  They held it at an actual theater--it looked like a stadium seating movie theater that sat around 200.  It was neat.  They'd adapted the snow white story and added dances--we were hoping to hear a lot of native Aussie music but we recognized most of the songs.  Guess there's no escaping The Happy Song.

After, we convened at Mary's and Arthur's house for a BBQ.  It would have been nothing notable at home, just a family dinner.  But here, I was highly emotional several times.  This is my family.  It doesn't matter that we've been separated by an entire planet for most of our lives, the feeling is the same.  I don't understand how those family ties work, but I know they're real.  I mean, here I'm standing in a complete stranger's home talking to a group of complete strangers--and I'm completely at ease.  Everything was familiar and comfortable.  It was just...perfect.

My whole life growing up in Salt Lake I felt isolated--I knew I had a distant aunt in Texas with my Grandparents, another one in California and an Uncle in Australia--but I felt as though I had no family at all. Now I visit with my Texan Aunt several times a day, I associate with my Cali cousins via facebook and I'm sitting in the kitchen of my Aussie cousin's home.  What a difference a little technology makes!

We'll just blame these next few pics on jet lag :)