On Wednesday our cleaning lady (we have a cleaning lady...yipeee!) was due to come at 12:30. When she showed up, she introduced herself as Caron and we started to talk. She asked me where I was from and said that she had been to the States several years ago. She had been to New York(?) and Cape Cod(!). I asked her where she'd been on the Cape and she couldn't really remember except that it was very beautiful. I asked her what she had been doing on the Cape and she said that she was a pyrotechnics performer and was at some festival. I said that my stepfather was a juggler on the Cape. Then I asked her if she had maybe been in Hyannis or Mashpee or Falmouth and this triggered her memory that she had been at the Mashpee Street Performers Festival and stayed with a guy named Allan and his wife. Allan (my stepfather) is the organizer of this festival and it was my mom and Allan's house that she had stayed at back in 2001!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is this woman on the other side of the world, who comes into "my" house to clean (just happens to be our landlord's cleaning lady), and it turns out that SHE has slept in the house where I grew up and knows my family. I still cannot believe this. As soon as I spoke to Allan and mentioned the pyrotechnics part he remembered the name of the group that she used to be a part of. Coincidence? No way!
Later that afternoon we went for tea at our neighbors down the street and had a great time. They have a trampoline (I think everyone here has one) and a zip line. Lindy and her husband, Joe, gave us lots of ideas for things to do around here and trips to make. Joe is an animal enviromental guy and does a lot of education things for kids and said he'd take us on a night walk to check out the nocturnal life here. Lindy used to be the "bus driver" for the walking school bus, but it currently doesn't exist anymore as no-one is stepping up to do it and she just went back to work full time. The next morning we actually "picked up" her girls and they walked to school with us.
Yesterday/Thursday, Amelie got an invite to play at Rebekah's house and we are invited over for tea this afternoon. Like I said, people are so warm and friendly here and have helped to make the adjustment so much smoother. Tonight we're going into Fremantle to get Anna's :) birthday present at the market and have dinner. Tomorrow we're all taking the bus into Perth to check out the sights.
After this post, we will probably give you a weekly update instead of boring you with the day to day details.
posted by Marileen
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