Home Sweet Home (100th post)

It feels like it was all just a dream. I'm back in Portland now, after a day without internet. After a day of cold and wind. That's just the way it is at 30,000 feet. I snuck back into town so I could surprise a few people. I told the two kids that I mentor that I had extended my visa and wasn't coming home until August. They freaked out when I knocked on their doors. I tried to trick my mom into buying magazines from a high school kid to fund a trip to Australia, but unfortunately she didn't take the bait and slammed the door in his face as I tried to surprise her by stepping out from beyond her field of view. She thought she was about to experience a home invasion and was extremely relieved when she found out it was just me. Oops.



The funniest thing is that the first true realization of being home was when I went to turn on a light and the switch went up instead of down or sideways or in or whatever. It is the little things that really define what home is. I want coins that make sense (the Australian $2 coin is the size of a dime and the twenty cent coin is almost as big as our half-dollar!), I want to understand what strangers are saying (true, Oz was easier than China, but sometime it was nearly as futile), I want to eat effortlessly (not easy unless you choose Micky D's as your main staple) and I want to see the people that make Portland my home. Ahhhh, it feels good to be home.

Of course, I am technically still homeless. Now that I am back I am going to get my driving and living situations sorted out ASAP. I'm still living out of a backpack and I'll be driving a rental car for the next week. In the next month I hope to either find a house to buy or find an apartment that I can temporarily call home.

And now, a few of my favorite moments from the past four months...


Meeting Elvis, the huge Napoleon Maori Wrasse that lives in Blue Pearl Bay


Surfing the coast with the Mojo Surf Camp in Crezzo and Spot X


Drinking more than too much with my fellow Wolfpackers from Sydney to Airlie Beach


Wakebarding at the cable park outside of Noosa


Successfully ordering our first meal from a non-English-speaking restaraunt in Shanghai


Hanging out with the Shanghai Crew at the Bulldog while we proved how much trivia we didn't know


Spending a true week relaxing, recovering and revitalizing at the Southern Cross Hostel in 1770