Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The Beginning of the End

I now have four days to finish my groundwater report for DTP. After that, I will be in a training class for three days. After that, I have one day to tie-up loose ends and after that I am on vacation!

On the 28th I will be heading to Brisbane; on the 30th, Sydney; and on the 4th, (with a day catch-up in Melbourne to pick up Richard and Dee) to Tasmania!

It's quite the whirl-wind trip, I know, but I'm caught between that place where you have seen so much and that place where you still have so much left to see that there is no way to see it all in the amount of time you have (or in the budget that you have) and you just have to go ahead and pick some flights already! Know what I mean?

Everyone gives me the "tsk" when they hear that I am only spending 10 days on vacation before going home (but they perk right up when I mention that I'm going to Tasmania!). Travel is such a part of the culture here that most people have seen half of the world before they turn 21 and they find it appalling (and this has come up more than once) that only a small percentage of Americans have their passports. On the other hand, lots of people I've talked to haven't even ventured to the day trips that I've seen while I've been here and car-less. Go figure.

I am also really looking forward to getting home. You never realize how much you miss everything (and everyone!) until you leave on a last-minute trip for three months that ends up really being six. I'll be heading back on November 7, a mere three weeks from today.

Plus, look at what I'm missing! All of these people have helped me out with things while I've been gone (and many more, but I didn't think they'd all be at Julie and Garth's housewarming). Does anyone else find it ironic that Garth got the Saints scarf?!

Vocab of the Day
Too easy: reply, like "no problem". Also used to make everything sound, well, easier. They're a laid-back bunch here and even their technical discussions have a few "too easy"ies thrown in.

I was training Carl on proper QA procedure for lab data and once he understood the process he summed up the steps and said, "too easy!" even though it's going to take him days to really figure it out.

No comments: