Maybe in Oz

When I was taking Spanish in high school I got to the point where I could think in Spanish rather than have to translate in my head before speaking.  At that point I had a pretty good grasp of the language.  Of course I've lost most of that now, but lately I've started to notice a similar thing happening. Recently I pulled some yogurt out of the fridge and the voice in my head said, "How many serves is this?"  Then it said "Serves?!!  It's called servings silly." I've noticed a few other things like that lately.  I have been pretty stubborn with keeping my accent and vocabulary.  I figure this might be the only time in my life I have a cool accent so I'm going to embrace it.  But words are slowly starting to creep into my vocabulary.  Contact details, no worries, how'd you go... small little phrases that don't seem like much but together add up to speaking a different language. Phil has long since given in to the dialogue and I laug...

Last weekend we headed north to explore the Blue Mountains West of Sydney.  It was just over an hour drive from the airport to a mountain town called Katoomba.  It was right on the edge of the cliff looking over a valley stacked with gum trees.  In fact, that's supposed to be how the area got its name - from the blue haze created by eucalyptus oil being emitted from the trees. The Three Sisters First we went to a lookout to see the Three Sisters and took a hike along the surrounding cliffs.  While the scenery was nice, we found it disappointing because the place was absolutely packed with tourists.  One of the things we enjoy the most about travelling in this country is the surprising lack of people, but the Blue Mountains felt Americanized with overcrowding and charges for parking and maps that would normally be free.   We spent the rest of the day doing the must-do attractions like riding the Skyway (the highest cable car in Australia!), C...