The View From Where I Sit

In two days I will have been here for a month.

Let's just let that sink in for a minute...

Yeah. It didn't sink in for me either.

Let's move on...

I woke up to thunderstorms this morning. Little rumbles broke through the steady drum of rain and sent flickers of light through the cracks in my blinds. The weather moves different here than back home. Lately it seems like I have to leave the house with both a pair of sunnies and an umbrella. The clouds seem to hang lower down, but they're not oppressive. You just see them rolling off the hills down toward the ocean with a wall of water chasing close behind. You can watch it come and go in an hour and wait it out with a cup of coffee in a shop.

But today is different. It started this morning and it hasn't stopped. It actually makes me feel like I'm home- this is such New England weather.

I'm ok with being here. Its not what I expected, but then I tried hard not to have expectations. I think it makes a difference coming at the start of winter. Oz is all sunshine and beaches and coming in May is like going to Florida in February- you'll be disappointed no matter what. I think, in the end, its a blessing in disguise. Coming now has afforded me the opportunity to look past the palm trees and sea breezes and see the people all around me. On the bus, on the train, in church I get to get a sense of the attitude that makes this country such a lovely place to live.

The view from where I sit seems rather grey. The rain has rotted the bark on the paper trees and the lorries have hidden their beautiful colours. But the people around me more than make up for the dreary landscape.