A Few Reports

One evening last week I walked to Daniel’s school so he would have company on the way home. Since I didn’t know exactly when he’d come out, I sat on some stones to people watch. It’s amazing how many languages and accents you’ll hear here. Korean, Japanese, German, American English, and French, which are the conversations I most like to eavesdrop on. I can imagine that I’m in Paris for just a few moments, smelling the warm bakeries; at least two on each block. And then of course a giant lizard will run by, or an enormous bird will squawk and I’m thrust back into Australian reality.
Before long Daniel emerged from the massive building that is the Garden’s Point campus of QUT talking with his friends. He didn’t notice me because it was dark, and he wasn’t expecting to notice me. So I began walking a few beats in front of him slowly enough that he would eventually catch up. As we entered the Goodwill footbridge I matched his pace and stayed a metre’s length from his side. Not a full minute passed when he finally glanced over and started, “Oh! I was wondering why this girl was walking so close with me! Hi!” We laughed and I stepped closer so we could hold hands and share about our day.
A different afternoon last week we walked to Streets Beach to cool off. Along the path I pointed out the biggest lizard I’ve seen here to date. We walked right up next to his massive body and admired all his spikes while he stared still and silent at us. Closer to the water park we were drawn to look over in the grassy area where two large and loud crows bounced around. They happened to be tormenting a different huge lizard. One stayed near his head to distract him while the other snipped at his tail. It was rather rude, we thought; territorial bastards. Finally the bigger of the two birds flapped his wings in the lizard’s face then hopped behind to his tail and picked it up between his beak. This act made the lizard run into the bushes for escape.
Australia seems to be the land of the huge. The people are bigger, the animals, insects, and amphibians are bigger, even the mangos are bigger! At times it can feel a little intimidating. My only guess is that somewhere along the evolutionary line it was realised how huge the continent was, and being that most of it is still uninhabited, the living beings that are here, need to take up more space.
Yesterday as we walked into West End for the Kirtan chanting and meditation a colourful parrot erupted from a bush not one foot from us and flew into the tree above our heads. We were both shocked to see such an animal so close and uncaged. And also, in general, it’s shocking when anything jumps out so quickly in front of you then flies away. The bird and its friends hollered down at us, invisible through the leaves, and we quickly made our way along the sidewalk trying to seem nonthreatening.
Daniel saved St. Patrick’s Day! We had a plan to go downtown to an Irish pub for chips and a green beer around four in the afternoon. We wanted to go out a little earlier so as not to be smashed in a small space later that evening by drunken people. Ten minutes to four, it began to rain outside. As the minutes ticked on it only got worse and we knew our plans had been foiled. Daniel still wanted to venture out in an attempt to find some chips for us to eat. We discussed it because I didn’t actually want him to go out in the ugliness of what was surely going to become a storm. In the end he did go and twenty minutes later I got an email from him saying that the store was closed. Our new plan was for him to walk to Cole’s market for ingredients so we could make carne asada fries. It was one of our favourite meals when we lived in San Diego and the street carts always let us order it with beans instead of meat. At length he returned dripping wet under his umbrella with a triumphant smile on his face. I hurriedly got him a dry set of clothes and he showed me the treasures he found. There were indeed warm French fries that night, with cheese, fake beef, avocado, salsa and sour cream. It was divine. We watched a film, drank some cider, played some boggle, and after a while we even got to talk with his parents on Skype. All in all, it was a perfectly wonderful evening. My mom told me the next morning that since I’m Irish, I get to celebrate any day of the week, and that was a happy reminder.
The weather informs us that this week will be cloudy and rainy. Thank goodness the reports are incorrect. Right now it is sunny with blue skies outside and I am most pleased.