Apathy. Such a dirty little word, but at the moment that's a bit how I feel towards blogging. Sometimes the creative juices are flowing and I can type out a story and it doesn't feel like I'm simply listing the things I've done, but other times...ugh. I'm not sure how you all can stand to read my ramblings. Well, I suppose I'll give you a quick rundown on my driving experiences so far. Last night they decided we'd just have fish & chips for dinner. There's a great little place not too far from their house so Les and I went over to pick it up. She said she'd drive over so I knew the way and then if I'd like I could drive back. It was dark out, but since it wasn't far I decided I'd might as well practice with someone who knew the way in the dark. And it's a good thing, because on the way back we both missed the turn into their driveway! It is very hard to find in the dark and it was quite humorous that we missed it. I then had to do a U-turn in the dark and then a car came...she said she was glad I don't panic easily. I of course assured her that my father had taught me on my very first driving lesson that panic does no good. It was dark and raining that night and we were in his big, old pickup truck. I was sitting on some coats or pillows (can't remember which) so that I could see over the steering wheel, that alone should have been my first clue that we should have taken a different vehicle. As we were going through the intersection, turning onto a highway, we ran out of gas. He told me to speed up, to which I promptly replied "the pedal is all the way to the floor!" That's what happens when you have a broken gas gauge. Thankfully, we managed to coast through the intersection safely, and I'll never forget that driving lesson.
Anyway, back to driving in Australia. This morning was my first attempt at driving on my own; this time in the Tiburon. Thankfully it wasn't as bad in the little car as I had thought it would be. My only issue was when I came to the intersection and I wasn't quite certain whether I was allowed to turn left on my own or if I had to wait for a light. When the person behind me beeped I decided that must mean I didn't need to wait for a light. Strangely enough, in the Jeep the turn signal indicator is in the same spot as it would be back home, but in the car it's on the right. All that really means is that I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of signaling a turn. I remember my Dad having a similar problem while driving in Japan, so I guess that goes with the territory. There was only one turn between their house and the church, so despite my penchant for getting lost, I didn't have any trouble getting there or back. I'm not sure I'm ready to drive in the city through lots of traffic yet, but I'm feeling quite confident that I'll survive driving around Gawler for the next 6 weeks.
Doug and Rosalie had texted me last night telling me that they'd spoken to the Pastor (his name is Jeff) and told him to be on the lookout for me in church, so that was really nice of them. When I got there I'd only been sitting a minute or so when he came over, sat down and said, "You must be Abigail." I just laughed and told him that was indeed my name. He took me up a few rows to sit with a woman named Liz, who it turns out was in charge of the morning announcements. Although I apparently wasn't the only visitor, she did make it a point to mention that I was from America (to which everyone clapped, not sure what that meant though). She also told everyone I was looking for work, so I guess a bit of embarrassment at being pointed out might be worth some possible employment down the line. The church here is much more laid back and more contemporary than the one in Adelaide; it's also smaller. I still didn't know any of the songs we sang, but it was an enjoyable service none-the-less.
We did go to a pig roast at the Keller Meister winery the other night with some people they know from Rotary, but I'm not sure there's anything all that exciting about the night that you'd like to hear. We had fun though and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get asked to speak at a Rotary meeting while I'm here. Dick told Bev that I'd been to Japan a few times and I could maybe fill in if needed. I really hoped she'd let that pass, but she got my email address off me, so it's possible. Public speaking is certainly not my forte, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!
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