Joel Returns

Forget Superman - where did Joel go for 3 weeks????

I heartily apologize to all you faithful who have waited on an update with bated breath. I just never got around to posting during School, and now that it's over, it feels a little far away.

Brief Summary of Recent Adventures
– 3 weeks of School came and went. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Learned lots of cool tips, techniques, principles and other fun things that I can't wait to show all y'all back home.

– Met people from over 13 countries. Southern people, New Yorkers, Alskans, Hawaiians, to name a few. Formed a couple of good friendships.

– The last weeks have been a movie marathon. Superman Returns, Pirates of the Carribean 2, Cars, Click, My Super Ex-Girlfriend. I saw lots of movies, with an assortment of people. Superman was good. Not great. Pirates I liked. Clikc I qute enjoyed. Cars was not, like, the Incredibles... My Super Ex-Girlfriend had a couple of good moments.

– I digested about 15 servings of Fast Food. It's been an experience and a half. Mexican, Italian, Good 'Ole Fashioned American, Barbecue, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Kripy Kreme, Winchell's, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer floats, Iced Tea of all flavours, Mac and Cheese, etc. It's crazy. Som eof it good, some of it I'd rather forget. Mexican - GOOD mexican - has got to be my favourite so far.

– School ended! Youch. I was quite attached to all the new people I'd met. It was harder than I thought to say goodbye to them all on the last night. We had a graduation at the evening service of Bethel Church. Don't worry - I didn't embarass you all and fail! So that was good. But I made a some good friendships, and will hopefully be able to keep in touch with them.

– We went to Whiskeytown Lake, up in the hills. It was really fun. It took me a long while to adjust to not having to worry about deadly animals. The lake was a fresh water one, with clean sand. It wasn't muddy, with eels, or crocs, or crabs, or jellyfish or sharks. It was interesting to see the townspeople treat it like the beach. After I stopped being over-cautious about poisonous lobsters lurking under the rocks, I had a great time. I got amazingly sunburnt. So I should have some colour when you see me next (that may or may not be a good thing).

– I pretty much bought the entire American Eagle clothes store. So I did my shopping quota. You know, the whole tourist thing. So I now have a bunch of summer clothes that I won't need for another couple of months.

– I was here for Delani's first steps. My 'cell phone' serves as the carrot for the donkey. She took eleven consecutive steps to reach it yesterday. I am so proud of her. I have grown very fond of her, and will be super sad to say goodbye to her next week.

So yeah. That's most of what's been happening over the last weeks. I have one more week - I leave next Monday night, so only a week left. Kind of sad. I mean, I am ready to see my family again, and be home in my favourite city. But at the same time, I will miss people over here.

So anyways. One thing to mention is the service at restaurants over here. Some of you may be familiar with the 'tipping' concept. Well that means that waiters and busboys or girls will generally serve the heck out of you to earn a good tip. So coming from Melbourne, where we don't do that, and we don't depend on smiling to earn our wage, this is a little weird. I feel slightly harrassed by them (even though they are only trying to be helpful). So drinks mysteriously refill themselves, a waiter will come by every 7 minutes to ask if 'Everything is satisfactory, sir?', and you'll get more smiles than a cosmetic dentist's attractive nurse. Next time they ask me this question, I have half a mind to reply 'Oh yes, everything's just great, except for this REALLY ANNOYING waiter who keeps BUGGING ME WHILE I'M TRYING TO ENJOY MY MEAL! Thanks for asking.'

Nah, it's good. I'm fine. I'm not losing my sanity in the slightest. But I do miss the delicacies of city dining. Southbank, you better be ready for my return!

Talk to you at least once before I start my trip back. I assure you.

Joel
– Get back! Back I say. I do NOT need another Mountain Dew!