Adam and I in O’Hare airport before leaving.
The fun with food started en route to Australia, on our layover in New Zealand. I discovered a new favorite candy of mine, chocolate-covered honeycomb, and Adam tried out something called Jaffas, which was basically a giant orange-flavored M&M.
Just walking through the airport and checking out all the food was immensely interesting to me. For example, they had a Burger King, which was funny. The only real difference in the food was the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich, which I assume had pineapple on it. Adam and I opted for a bacon and egg pie from a coffee shop, and though it was pretty tasty, I suddenly remembered that down under, most of the bacon is actually ham. Sigh. I knew it couldn?t be a perfect place. The vending machine cracked me up too. They had such crazy flavored potato chips! I found Chicken, Thai Sate, Burger, Ham and Gruyere, and even Tzatziki flavored! They sure do like their savory flavors here.
We arrived in sunny Adelaide around 11am on Friday morning (although Thursday never really occurred for us, we lost it in the time change and the flight!), and what was the first bit of info we gathered from the Aussies? Anna Nicole Smith had just died. Good know the Aussies are up to date on only the most important US topics, like the war in Iraq and Anna:) It is gorgeous here! Seriously, so much sun, and the sun does not set until nearly 9pm, so it?s around forever. I think I was a plant in a past life, because just as plants gain energy through the sun with photosynthesis, so do I. There is just something about sunny and agreeable weather that makes me so happy, I bloom. Literally. We?re staying at a hostel (a cheap backpacker like hotel) called Annie?s Place that reminds us of our good friend Annie back in the states, and it?s a great place to be. The rooms are nothing fancy, but they do have activities planned for the tenants, like barbeques and such, and a communal kitchen, which can be fun. There is also a big outdoor courtyard where everyone chills in the sun and shade while they eat, read, or get to know their fellow tenants. We?ve met people from all over Australia, Germany, England, China, and even the States in just our first two days here, and everyone is super nice. Even in the city! We went to get a cell phone, and after chatting with the gent who helped us, he offered to help us out with whatever we needed, and you could tell he was sincere in his offer. Another bonus: the hostel is across the street from a belly dancing academy. I could barely keep Adam from running right into it and signing up. We walked to the local Chinatown for lunch, and it was a lot of fun. Tons of Asian grocery stores, and really cheap Asian food of every sort: Chinese, Malaysian, etc. Here I am at the entrance to Chinatown.
We walked around Central Market next (more on that later), and ended up at Rundle Mall, the big shopping area in the city. By then, the jet lag had caught up with us, so we headed back to the hostel. I have to admit, it was not as easy as I thought it would be to leave the States, emotionally and physically. For starters, I had a bad ibs attack right before our plane left San Francisco, and pretty much couldn?t eat for the rest of the day. I think the sickness made me more emotional, and as the plane left, I got a little choked up. This is the first time I have ever lived far away from my family, and I have probably the greatest group of friends any girl could ever ask for, so it is certainly hard to leave all that behind. And as I sat down to dinner at a little Italian bistro with Adam, and I realized that every single place I had visited that day in Adelaide carried some kind of sweet hard cider, quite possibly the greatest drink on earth, I realized, she was right. Maybe this wouldn?t be so hard after all 
~LTG
