First Day in Melbourne

Our first night I was up from 3am-5am but was able to get back to bed and sleep for a few hours. Sean had training in the morning so he'd be leaving the apartment pretty early. My plan for the next day (Friday) was to go and visit Brady in quarantine, play fetch with him and bring him some of his favorite things from home (his girlfriend, his blanket and some bones). At around 10 am, when I was just waking up, I heard the phone ringing and jumped to attention. Sean had driven to work and driving on the opposite side of the road isn't as easy as it sounds, so I was automatically concerned. Luckily it was Sean and totally uncharacteristically (insert sarcastic smile) he had forgotten his driver's license and debit card when he went to training that morning. He needed me to meet him at lunch time so that he could finish his training course which required photo ID.

Since we only have one car I would need to figure out how to get from Alphington (the equivalent of Watertown in relation to downtown Boston) into Melbourne CBD. I looked up the route I'd need to take on Metrolink.com (best trip planner I have ever used) and realized it was going to be super easy. The train has a stop less than a half mile from our apartment and I wouldn't even have to transfer. I packed my backpack: kindle, cell phone, wallet, gloves (no idea why), scarf, keys and felt pretty excited for the adventure. I also looked up the route I'd need to take to go and visit Brady after meeting Sean and was happy to discover I could catch the train at the same station I was meeting Sean at - Easy Peasy!! I felt so efficient and independent.

As I was walking to the train I was in a great mood - despite my lack of sleep. I literally stopped to smell some flowers that were growing on the side of the street. I was taking it all in and feeling very much at home, which is strange considering how far away from home we are and that we'd been here for less than twenty for hours. I got to the train station in less than five minutes and went to the machine to buy my metro card. I tried using my debit card but it was denied, so I used it as credit instead.. still denied. I had Sean's credit card in my wallet so I tried that one - denied again. This had gone on for a good minute or so when a beautiful Australian girl came over to offer some help (I had noticed her putting on mascara when I walked up to the machine). "It looked like you were having trouble there, do you need some help"? I had no idea how to react at first- What?! Someone who didn't work there, who wasn't a total weirdo (from what I could tell) was offering to help me, just because she noticed I was having trouble. I didn't know what to say, but I just started talking, I explained that I had just landed from the US & possibly my bank thought my card was stolen so the machine wasn't accepting it. I only had $20s and they could only give me $10 in change so I asked if she had two tens for a twenty & she did. I literally thanked her about a million times and walked in a daze to the bench to wait for the train to come.

The thing is that this wasn't a truly shocking or novel interaction. It has been my experience that Australians are extremely nice, bubbly, helpful, funny, I could go on forever with positive adjectives but you get the point. Everywhere I've been people have been so willing to help and in a way that I haven't seen before. Maybe I can explain it better later but right now I'm feeling a bit jet lagged (it's 8:30pm on Sunday) and foggy. This post will be To Be Continued.. There is so much more to tell about this past weekend (hint: I saw a kangaroo, koala, Tasmanian devil & more)!!