You know you're integrating into the Aussie culture when you start using the Aussie language, for example saying, "rubbish" instead of trash, but the defining moment came for me Saturday night.
I was still sick, having only gone to the doctors that afternoon, but I was determined to get out of the room and was feeling better than I had earlier so, upon hearing there were going to be two movies played just for staff, I got dressed, plopped myself down on a chair in front of the outdoor cinema, and hunkered down with a free 'get well' smoothie from Tobias (awwwww) and some popcorn (which is always free for staff).
Now, you should probably take note of the 'outdoor' part of this story and remember we do have more than a few animals on this island. I didn't realize how laid back I had become since my first day here when Linds and I were so excited to see all the kangaroos and different birds, even some of the lizards, until we were halfway through the second movie and a smaller sized kangaroo came slowly crawling up to me and tried stealing my popcorn! Ironically, later I found out his name is also Popcorn (pretty much raised by staff and not afraid of people much), but getting back to the story....There I am minding my own business when Popcorn gets all up in my personal space nosing around for some food, and do I freak out that there's a kangaroo two inches from me sniffing at my popcorn?....nope. I tell it off like I would a neighbor's dog back home, 'No! This is not your food. Go away.'
Ken, another staff member we've recently befriended who was sitting with us, remarked as Popcorn crawled away empty handed, 'Ummmm, so he got pretty close there.' He said it with a nervous chuckle too. And then it dawned on me.....
I had a kangaroo in my face and I didn't even pet it!
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