Day Seventeen January 28, 2008 Monday

Today Erin and I woke up at about a quarter to nine and had some breakfast. We have committed to exercising every single morning before school so that we can get in shape. This morning we took the girls to the little community center pool and did laps for about 45 minutes while they played. The pool was perfect, it is about 30 meters long and only a couple of feet deep, so it is the perfect lap pool. Also, there is a nice little bush walk by our house as well, so Erin and I figured we could jog through the bush walk to the pool, then swim laps for a while, then bike into town for class. If we do that every morning we will be in amazing shape! After swimming we came back home and took showers and got ready to go to town to pick up our bikes. Just before we left we had some sandwiches for lunch. We got to school at one and they told us that they didn’t have our bikes for us because they had been shipped a day later than expected, but they promised that they would be there the next day. This wasn’t really a big deal, except for the fact that we told Vicki she wouldn’t have to pick us up because we could just bike home. We felt really bad, but eventually we did end up calling her to come get us because when we tried to line up a ride with Tyler and Cameron they got a flat tire. It turned out to not be that big of a deal though. After we got a quick tour of the school we waited for about three hours to get our ID cards. When we finally got our cards we walked to the lollie shop so I could get a phone card, and then we continued on to The Warehouse (the equivalent to a small-scale Wal-Mart). Vicki came and picked us up from The Warehouse at about five. I came home and called my boys for the first time! It was so good to hear their voices, I missed them even more than I thought I did. I wished I could have called my mom and sister, but since they are on the East coast it would have been about 12:30 at night, so I decided to wait. I might not be able to call them until Wednesday because tomorrow we are going to the Catlins and may not be back until fairly late. Hopefully I will be able to talk to them soon though. It was great to hear from home, but I really am glad that I am here, I am learning so much about the world and myself. Just before I talked to my boys I found out that President Hinckley died. I was sad of course, but I know that he has done so much with his life and so much for the church that he is in good hands now and he will finally be able to see his sweet wife again. After a delicious dinner we all sat down and talked for a while. Vicki’s brother is here with his wife and two little girls, so it was fun to see them. They are from Australia. They decided to go see a movie in town and Erin and I decided to tag along. We saw Cloverfield, which was interesting, and very artistic, but one I would only see once. Now it is late and I have to wake up super early.