A Cup of Sugar

You ever had to run over to the neighbors for a missing ingredient (or in my case, tin foil to keep your roo from burning)? Well, I think kind neighbors are priceless. And we got pretty lucky with ours. We were assigned housing on a cul-de-sac in a nice part of town surrounded by lots of embassies. I was worried there wouldn't be much social interaction, but after introducing ourselves one couple invited us over for "afternoon tea and drinks" with the three other families in our circle, all of which have been here since they bought the lots 20+ years ago. Extremely nice gesture.

The neighbors on one side have a couple kids just older than ours (who incidentally don't use the trampoline much anymore and invited us to come and go as we please.) They also have guinea pigs who roam the backyard which has helped ease the pain of leaving our pet rats at home.

Neighbors on the other side were very hospitable empty-nesters who opened their pool to our crazy kids with an invitation to use it when they wanted. (Wow.) Our kids ran their dog ragged, playing fetch with him in the pool while we sat and visited. They've had a kangaroo fall in the pool and blue tongued lizards sitting at their back door. We learned of the other international families that had stayed in our house - and many other juicy neighborhood tidbits. We were introduced to turnip cake and candied licorice and warned to be careful at night because the kangaroos come down to our yards in the dark. And despite being asked if we were from some new cult in Utah (you know, the whole "we don't drink tea, coffee, OR alcohol" bit) it was a lovely, lovely time and we were grateful for such a warm welcome.

We've found the people, children included, to be super friendly. Kenna had no less than three girls volunteer to "look after her" within 5 minutes on her first day of school. And complete strangers almost jump to help this struggling mama daily. (I've had people load my groceries, jump my car, push my cart, & hold my baby, entirely unsolicited.) Good on ya, Australians!