Showers make flowers

July 15, 2011


It rained really hard today--there was even thunder and a little lightning--but it wasn’t the kind that made me want to run inside. It was very warm, true to the tropics. Jane’s mom said it was unusual during their winter, though.

I tried papaya with breakfast to see if I liked it any better when it was ripe. I did, though I still like mango more. Since Jane and Clair were both still sleeping, their mom took me to JCU around 9 a.m. for an international student orientation. I lost track of how many speakers there were; all except for the main one were incredibly boring. We received another thick stack of papers, which was not that exciting, and a reusable JCU bag, which was very exciting since I didn’t bring any of mine and Jane’s family doesn’t seem to have any. The store is far enough away that I probably shouldn’t buy more than one bag of groceries at a time, anyway.

Australians call it paw paw.

After two and a half hours, we were let out for pizza. Everyone I sat with gave me weird looks as I ate my peanut butter pita bread, apple, popcorn, and dried fruit and nuts that Jane’s mom had packed for me, but I knew it was better than if I hadn’t eaten at all. We walked around campus for about an hour after that until everyone else left to go to another session that it turns out I didn’t need to attend. Since I had told Jane’s mom when she dropped me off that I probably wouldn’t need to be picked up until 2 p.m., I went to the Social Sciences building to see what I could do about two of my classes clashing on Thursday mornings. They told me to e-mail the instructors, which I still need to do.

When Jane’s mom picked me up, she took me to the bookstore to buy books and the gym to see how much it cost to join. At WSU I think it’s about $155, but everyone has to pay whether or not they ever set foot in the building, so it’s not a difficult decision there. JCU’s gym is smaller and open fewer hours but one semester alone costs $280! I don’t know what I would do instead, since that’s how I get through reading my textbooks, but I just don’t think I can justify the expense.

On the other hand, I am going a little crazy from lack of exercise. I haven’t done anything more than walk in the last 10 days. If I felt comfortable with the area at all and not like I would get lost the second I rounded a corner, I would go jogging. I’ve been waking up fairly early every morning, so maybe I could join a club at JCU that meets before class.

Clair taught me how to make origami lillies.