The First One 17-5-04

Email sent Monday, May 17, 2004

Hello friends :) Many of you have been asking for stories about our lives recently, and i thought i'd just take a moment to catch you up on some of the highlights of life since we disappeared to other side of the planet! i can't remember what all i've told to whom at this point, so this massive email is like a little book -- with subheadings and everything. you can choose the bits you're interested in reading, and skip the bits you already know... or the bits where i get babbling and stop making sense. just read whatever you like :)

WEDDING
Some of you weren't able to make it to the wedding back in April, so i'll start the stories way back there. April 17, 2004. it was a gorgeous day and all of it was more perfect than we'd ever even imagined. by that point, we were so done with planning and managing, and we were just extremely happy to be getting married. We didn't care if something went wrong. We didn't expect it to be perfect. but it was amazing! Truly, cliche and all, the happiest day of my life :) So many friends and family just completely took over on the day and made sure everything went smoothly. We felt so loved. Kim Bible took the photos -- she did a great job!

HONEYMOON
After the wedding, we stayed around in St. paul just 3 more days, then we went to New Zealand for our honeymoon. We did that for about 2 weeks -- and it's absolutely incredible. everything you've heard about New Zealand -- it's even better. it's amazing! and we had such a good time just being together and exploring the islands together. we learned all kinds of new things every day -- about the places we were in and about each other. We've just put up some photos on the website; from our travels around the South Island. We spent most of our time there in Queenstown -- a picturesque little town nestled in mountains. From there we did lots of day trips. we went walking in forests and jetboating through canyons and took a wine tour through lots of LOTR countryside and took back with us some yummy wines. One of the most incredible days was when we went to Milford Sound, which is actually not a Sound, but a Fjord --a deep inlet off the Tasman Sea cut right into huge mountain cliffs by glaciers. We got to fly there in a little plane over the most indescribably breathtaking mountains and valleys, until we got to the Fjord, then we cruised on that for about 2 hours. we saw fur seals playing and waterfalls that were 50 stories high, but looked just dwarfed on the face of the mountain jutting right out of the sea. But the sights were only part of it-- the feelings of the wind and spray and sunlight, the smells of sea and all kinds of delicious plantlife, the rugged steep faces of the mountains, the good fortune of experiencing it all with the man i love so much -- it puts everything into a kind of reverent and appreciative perspective. there are still more honeymoon photos in my camera that haven’t been developed yet - from riding in a helicopter and landing on a glacier, and from tubing down a river in a cave and climbing around inside it-- that was AWESOME! unlike anything we'd ever done before! but those photos are still to come in later editions :) The website with photos from both the wedding and the honeymoon now is http://photos.yahoo.com/dannyandaliciasmith

SETTLING IN
So now I have been home for about 2 weeks, and we are doing well. i'm settling into the apartment -- so glad that i'm coming back to a place i've been before. everything was familiar and it didn't take long for this to start feeling like home. I've looked forward to being here and being married to Danny for so long, but little did i know just how right and satisfying married life would be! Our love for each other now seems to be growing bigger and stronger than it ever was before. i can't even put into words how good and peaceful and exciting that feels. strangely enough, i do miss teaching. it's been over a month now since i was in a classroom with kids; and i REALLY needed the break then, but now i'm starting to miss it a bit. in aus, it's the middle of the school term, and getting hooked into the system is a whole different process than it was back home. fortunately, i have some very helpful contacts from the school that i visited when i was here last summer. they're helping me to get some short term work for this term. just a little more paperwork and talking to different people, and i should start some interesting temporary teaching jobs very soon. and then, after i've had some experience with that, i'll be eligable for a full time position for next year. i'll keep you posted.

THIS WEEKEND
This weekend I got to start hanging out with some of Danny's friends and getting to know people. it was a lot of fun. it'll be good to start having friends around to do stuff with again. On friday night, we went out after Danny got off work. it was a good night. first we hung out at a bar with a bunch of his friends from work. Most of which is outside of course, cause who would want to go to a bar or cafe and sit indoors? :) (i love it!) the hilarious thing was that it was just like a summer evening in my mind -- it had been sunny and warm all day, and in the evening there was a really gentle breeze so it wasn't so hot anymore, but still between 65 and 70 degrees. i was quite happy and comfy in long pants & a tee-shirt and shoes with no socks. and THE CRAZY AUSSIES WERE ALL WEARING JACKETS! Seriously -- some of the girls even had lightish-weight coats with fake fur lined HOODS! so funny. i was greatful that i noticed this interesting difference though-- it turned out to be a great conversation starter. Being Minnesotan, i've become quite skilled at talking about the weather :)

So, sport is a really big deal in Australia, and there's a massive new stadium near where Danny works. after we'd hung out at the bar for awhile, a bunch of people were going to watch "the footy." so far, i've figured out that in australia, "footy" can refer to any one of at least three different games -- rugby league, rugby union, or aussie rules. (it may also refer to soccer, but that's more of a kids' game, like it is in the US, so i'm not really sure.) I've never seen any one of the three sports, and i really had no idea how they were played. so when one of danny's good friends had 2 extra tickets and asked us to go, i was keen to join the mob of crazy drunk people filling the stands. it was really fun. the game we watched was rugby league, but i'm sure i wouldnt' be able to tell its difference from the other kind of rugby. and at first glance all three games just look like a slight variation of American football. only unlike our game (which i USED to think was fairly agressive), rugby involves much more brutal tackling for longer periods of time, and they don't have to stop & re-start after each tackle, they just keep goiing-- and all in shorts and a jersy. no padding or helmet or anything. it was bloodsport. the only game aggressive enough to compare, in my mind, is hockey. there's no hockey here of course, and when the guys i was talking to asked me if i follow any sports back home, i told them i loved hockey and dropped a few little stories about it. the boys were hanging on my every word about helmets coming off and sticks being broken and power plays! they were impressed. i think that's the moment i was accepted into the group. thank God for hockey!

On sunday, Danny & i were delighted to get to do the first couples thing we've gotten to do since we left Minnesota. We spent the whole day with Lydia and her boyfriend. She's traveled a lot and spent 3 months in North Saint Paul, Minnesota; she's super nice and easy to talk to, so it was really fun to have a woman to hang out and talk with again. and The boyfriend's from ireland, so i wasn't the only token foreigner :) we drove up to the north coast, just a bit out of Brisbane, and on the way we stopped at an airshow. danny loved that of course, but i was surprised how much i enjoyed it too. air acrobatics and old fighter planes and all kinds of stuff. and of course it was a gorgeous day. you know how in Minnesota we have this slogan about the weather: "We have 2 seasons-- winter, and road construction." well, their slogan here is "Beautiful one day and Perfect the next!" (but we haven't got into summer yet. from what i hear, that can be nasty hot. so i'll let you know when we get there :)

When we got to the beach, I got to experience my first real Aussie bar-B-Q -- complete with pleanty of alcoholic refreshment, "steaks, and Shrimp on the Barbie" -- only they're not Shrimp here -- they're MASSIVE, and they're called Prawns. and cooked in beer and eaten right off the barbie, they're really yummy! We were at the beach where Danny first took me nearly 4 years ago, where we'd watched the ocean and decided we wanted to take this risky step of this long distance relationship and see where it led...and on Sunday, it had led us right back to that very spot; we wandered around the rocks and waves at sunset, hand in hand and completely content. it was a good day. So that's all the stories i can think of to tell you now. the sun is setting here and my husband will be home from work soon.

This Saturday we'll have our celebration at Kedron Church and reception with Aussies. I miss you all and hope to hear from you soon. (Teachers at Linwood, please pass on my hello's to the students and any photos you'd like to share with them from the website. I think of them and miss them. Thanks!)

much love from danny & me,
alicia smith