Vampire Diaries

It is 6:30a.m., and I have been up since 4. That's cool, though, because I went to bed at 6p.m. last night.

I consider this a marked improvement and, frankly, a victory because yesterday, I woke up for the day at 3a.m., after only 4 hours of sleep in nearly two days.

Partner-in-Crime has renamed me Little Vampire.

This is the wonder that is jet lag.

Otherwise, I am quite thrilled to be home in the States for a couple of weeks. Yesterday, I ate both an American hamburger and a BLT with real bacon. My eating habits will improve, henceforth. I also made my first trip to Wal Mart, where I nearly fainted from reverse sticker shock. It was like everything was practically free, compared to what I've grown accustomed to in Sydney. I could have wept over the 52cent/pound bananas. I wanted to shout at all the oblivious banana-buying customers, "do you KNOW how LUCKY you are?!?" I haven't had a banana in nearly a year! (For the non-Australians ... banana prices skyrocketed last year after the Queensland floods to about $13 a kilo. The last banana I bought cost $2).

Not wanting to sounds like that toolbag we all know who went over to England to take a summer course their junior year, and returned channeling post-Guy Ritchie Madonna, saying that they "ride in the lift," and "talk on their mobile," I have been working diligently to re-alter the handful of words that have shifted in my vocabulary.

-Shopping trolley goes back to shopping cart.
-People are greeted with "how are you doing," not "how are you going?"
-Coriander is cilantro and capsicum are peppers.
-I call people, instead of ringing them.
-I will get to that right away, not straightaway.

At the airport, I stopped for some food, and I very nearly forgot to tip the waitress. Yikes.
And, wow, the Australians are right. Our drink sizes are massive! How are we such a thirsty people, America?

More notes from the 4a.m. front as they unfold over the next weeks. The sun is rising, and I am hopping off to have a banana smoothie and giant cup of coffee with half-and-half for breakfast. Good morning, America.