July 11, 2011
I know I shouldn’t be complaining because I am in such a beautiful place getting to do such awesome things, but I just can’t seem to shake the irritation. I can’t tell time because I don’t have a watch or a phone, and my computer and iPod are both 17 hours off. I can’t figure out distance, so when driving I have no idea how much longer we have to go. I have the same problem with weight, so the three liters of water I drank today means nothing to me. Even calories have a different name and measurement. I am also sick of riding in a bus, where we have spent more than nine hours since we arrived.
I know I shouldn’t be complaining because I am in such a beautiful place getting to do such awesome things, but I just can’t seem to shake the irritation. I can’t tell time because I don’t have a watch or a phone, and my computer and iPod are both 17 hours off. I can’t figure out distance, so when driving I have no idea how much longer we have to go. I have the same problem with weight, so the three liters of water I drank today means nothing to me. Even calories have a different name and measurement. I am also sick of riding in a bus, where we have spent more than nine hours since we arrived.
The food has been really hit or miss. My first day here I was starting to regret being a vegan. Lunch consisted of a meatless sausage given to me by someone who didn’t even know what a vegan was. Dinner was the most bland spaghetti I’ve ever had. Lunch the second day almost made up for it, though. I helped myself to a buffet with at least six different kinds of fruit, several types of cold salads, and Asian noodles in a sweet chili sauce next to curried vegetables. Yesterday’s dinner of bean salad, a veggie burger, sauteed onions, and other vegetables was almost as good. However, lunch today consisted of lettuce, onion, and tomato slices on the soggiest Wonderbread I have ever eaten. I can’t wait to make my own meals.
The community service was just as much of a joke. We rode the bus for two hours to get to Mission Beach, where we waited another hour for nearly every person to use the bathroom, devour the muffins they were given, and then listen to instructions for how to clean the beach. We spent less than an hour and a half actually picking up trash, which was few and far between. The beach was gorgeous, but I wish we had spent our time doing something more productive.
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| There was a lot of coral on the beach. |
After our final session in the city of Cairns, a few other girls and I decided to go to Target so I could get sunscreen and an adapter that actually works on electronics that aren’t Mac. The two cost less than $20, but I didn’t have quite that much cash on me so I attempted to pay with my debit card instead. When it was denied, I quickly tried my credit card, getting a different rejection message but the same result. Embarrassed, I told the woman in charge of my order that I just wanted the sunscreen and gave her cash, then beelined for the exchange window we saw earlier. Of course, it had closed between the time we first passed it and the time we returned, leaving me stuck with only $5 AUS. Since we weren’t provided dinner tonight, I ate an orange and a cereal bar.
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| Who needs Bed Bath and Beyond? |
This all just sounds like change shock. If you're used to one way that you are happy with (even if you don't realize you are happy with it) and are then confronted with something different, you are sure to become irritated. The trick is to take each experience as unique, adapt, and not focus on the negatives.
ReplyDeleteWhile this is a painfully obvious statement, it can still have a good point: You're in Australia, not America. That means you are Australian Erin, not American Erin. In other words, adaptation will save you a lot of unnecessary unhappiness.
Negativity is easy, but it brings EVERYONE down, and since when have you ever done things the easy way? If you are positive and build everyone/everything up, you will be MUCH happier.
Remember the quote about how you can "make a hell of heaven, a heaven of hell?" That holds true here. It's YOUR choice what you take from each and every situation you encounter. Yeah, some of what happened could be understandably VERY annoying, but I don't think any of it is worth bringing you down. As my mother says, "let it roll off you like water on a duck's back." lol Or, as I say, don't let it have power over you.
To lighten up this comment: I saw Miss Holden at Harvest Days today with a youngish looking man. It was slightly disturbing to see her 1) being a cougar, 2) having honest, "my soul actually isn't as evil as the devil" fun, and 3) outside of the high school. I honestly almost feared for my life since I wasn't being protected by the school's walls.