Little did I know that taking a writing course online at AACC would develop into a relationship with a woman in Australia. After five years communicating with her within a writing group, she decided during her current summer break to travel to the US and include a stop in Maryland to see me. Unfortunately, she and her family arrived on Tuesday, January 7, with the Polar Vortex. They had never seen snow or a frozen creek or experienced 3 degrees.
She lives in a small town of six hundred in New South Wales about a block from the Pacific Ocean. They love to kayak in the ocean where they see clownfish. The climate is tropical with various parrots and cockatoos nesting in trees by their home. The main highways in Australia have only two lanes, that is one each way so you can only imagine them driving from NYC to MD in a RV on US 95. Their seven-year old son showed me the kangaroo roll. He kneels on the ground in a ball and covers his head with his hands. Schoolchildren practice this because kangaroos frequent their school playground. When they attack, which is rare, they scratch with their long claws and kick with those big feet. Schools require students to wear a uniform, which means the girls wear skirts and everyone wears sun hats. As students run outside for sports, tubs of sunscreen stand ready. Teachers dish out a glob for each student. In the morning, the kookaburra sitting in the gum tree laughs and wakes them.
We showed them Annapolis for they wanted to see old buildings. Unfortunately, the General Assembly had just resumed with nightmarish crowds making it hard to maneuver in the Capital and the Colonial homes closed for the winter, however, the Naval Academy impressed them. They said everything was so big in America, our homes, our stores, our roads, our variety of goods, and our celebrations. Having cemented our friendship, they left and headed south for Disney, of course.
