It's a southpaw's world

Living in Australia seems to line up with my internal tendencies, as a natural lefty. Now, I'm only a lefty when I write and receive communion (strangely enough), and when I do a few various other odd things here and there - otherwise, I'm right-handed. But most would identify your "handed-ness" by the hand with which you write; and so, I'm certainly a southpaw.

Well, Australians walk and drive on the left, footpaths and walkways are lined up such that they cater to lefties, stairwells have the railing on the left when coming down (because why would you need a railing going up?), and people shake left hands (... just kidding). But the rest of those things are true, as well as a variety of other left-inclined tendencies that come about from day to day that make living here just a little more natural. The most interesting part, though, was when I went to the Opera House for the first time. Here I am, four or so weeks after arriving in Sydney and feeling very comfortable always walking on the left-hand side of the sidewalk. In fact, I could set the trend if I wanted! Well, I'm walking along the path towards the Opera House, and everyone is walking on the right all of a sudden - what's the deal? I was like a fish upstream, bouncing off people as I stuck to my intuitive leftness. But as I reasoned it out, where might you find the most tourists in Sydney? And what system (left or right) do most countries other than Australia abide by? So it made sense that people at the Opera House broke the unspoken laws of the streets. And it meant I had to forcibly swim on the right so I wouldn't run into any giant manatee swimmers that you always get at the Y in the morning... or maybe that's just me.

Have a look at the Jeep in the attached picture - I took it for Sandra, as she is a Jeep fan and a fancy cars fan. This probably looks similar to you though, Sandra, with the steering wheel on the right and all - I wouldn't know what to do with that!

I've secured part of my mid-semester break plans: I'm off to Melbourne! It's really the second-most popular city in Australia, according to locals. Cairns is also popular, due to the Great Barrier Reef, but as far as the city itself goes, Melbourne follows Sydney. So I'm headed to Melbourne on Thursday, April 24th and am flying back on Saturday, April 26th. I decided to buy myself a birthday present, and do a full-day tour of the Great Ocean Road on Friday, April 25th. It seems like a fitting way to spend my birthday - amongst nature, quietly, all day. The tour includes a visit to the rainforest, sight-seeing on several beaches, watching wild koalas, and a visit to the 12 Apostles (a world-famous rock formation in Melbourne). I'm really looking forward to the trip. Without the pressure of "what are you going to do? There's a great night life down there!", I think I'll have a great time.

And finally, as a Kinyarwanda update, "nkunda inkoko" means "I like chicken."