Traveling Solo

The introvert in me was worn out this morning.  As I was walking into church it struck me that I really wasn't in the mood to give my "story" again.  When I'm constantly meeting new people it can get a bit tiring to always have to do the talking.  That's the trouble with traveling alone among non-travelers.  When you stay in hostels everyone is a traveler so the conversations are bit more 2-way.  Here in Gawler, I'm obviously the visitor, so everyone asks you lots of questions (but they're usually the same questions everyone else asks).  Sometimes it's just nice to be known.  I do enjoy learning new and unique facts about life in Australia, when I'm able to talk with someone long enough to get past the usual questions that is.  At church I meet several new people a week but I only usually talk with them for 2 or 3 minutes so I rarely make it to that point. Pastor Jeff & Wendy invited me to go to lunch with them and their daughter and 2 grandkids after church so that was nice.  While waiting for them after church I had to keep introducing myself to people so I wouldn't be stuck sitting by myself.  I'm perfectly content to sit by myself, but figured I should make an effort to meet people.  After chatting with a lovely woman named Liz she asked for my phone number so she could have me over sometime, she lives a few streets away from where I'm staying, so that was really sweet of her.  I guess my attempt at being an extrovert paid off in that sense.  In talking with different people today I was struck again by how well traveled Australian's seem to be.  I feel as if 85% of the people I meet have been to the US, or have a relative who lived in the US or married an American.  I don't think I've ever met an Australian before I came here - although with my memory it's possible I simply forgot.  Plus, since they have tons of UK immigrants many of them go to Europe a lot as well.