Day 4: Adelaide Adventures

Today day dawned sunny and not quite as hot as yesterday.  Eve's mum, Barb, thinks that every country has its own level of heat and humidity to which a visitor must learn to cope but its inhabitants are automatically acclimated.  I've been working on learning to sound more Australian.  So far my favorite Aussie phrase is, "no worries."  It is said all the time in place of our "no problem."  I guess if I wanted to sound even more Australian I could add a "mate" at the end.  I think they might notice my accent however...

This morning Eve had a breakfast at work to attend, so I made a trip to the grocery store to buy some things for lunch while she was at work.  Interestingly, food prices in Australia are staggeringly high.  A case of Dr. Pepper, for example, cost $89 Australian dollars, which in US dollars is not much less, since the exchange rate is an unfavorable (for me) $0.95 Aus/1.00 US.  Eve neglected to explain to me that the supermarket will not give you a plastic bag for your groceries unless you pay for one... so there was a moment in which the check out girl and I stared at each other, with me wondering why she had just laid my purchases on the counter and she probably wondering why I was such an idiot.

After Eve was finished work, about 2pm, we headed over to the library to check out travel guides on Australia, and I got my first driving lesson on the left hand side.  It will take some getting used to but wasn't actually too difficult.  I just have to remember that left turns are tight turns (easy ones) and right turns, which cross oncoming traffic, are loose.  I should be all set by the time we head off on our road trip of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

While we were at the library, Eve's brother Joel called to see if we wanted to go swimming, so off we went to the Burnside Pool to do a few laps.  Joel is the lead singer of a popular Australian folk-rock band called The Beards.  They sing songs about having beards and how everyone should have one.  They're fabulous!  Check them out at http://www.thebeards.com.au/.

Back from the pool we whipped up some delicious pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and homemade pesto.  Eve had a Hen's Night to attend tonight, but she'd gotten me an invitation.  A Hen's Night in Australia is the same thing as a Bachelorette Party in America.  It was fun to meet some of Eve's friends and I didn't feel too weird crashing their party since everyone was very friendly.