everyone asked me how my flight was. “okay” was always my answer. a jerk reflex response i automatically give without thinking.

truth is, it was one of my most stressful flights ever. not only was my cebu-singapore flight delayed by almost an hour, i got lost at changi airport with only 10 minutes to spare just in time to give my hyperventilating lungs a break and catch my connecting flight to melbourne. (note to self: panicking will only get you lost. but on the bright side, you needed that cardio exercise.)

7 hours later, the moment the plane touched down, my next concern after wondering if my eyebrows were still on point was the customs. because i brought dried fish and dried mangoes with me. items you need to declare. items that had me and my luggage lining up together with the others so that a sniffing dog could have a check on them and signal its trainer if there’s something, uh, fishy. it was actually pretty fascinating to watch the canine do its job. a labrador, i think.

you can say i heaved a MAJOR sigh of relief when the dog ignored my bags and i was cleared to proceed to the exit where jeff was waiting for me. the moment i saw him, i just wanted to melt into his arms and exhale all that stress away. which i did.

so, as a way of “unwinding” me, he took me for a walk around the neighborhood when we got home. my calves and shins silently protested but, hey, it felt nice to be back.

my favorite trees. i call them “gnome trees.” just because.

his favorite type of weed. mine too. you’ll be seeing a lot of these in my succeeding posts. as well as cows. heaps of them.

lastly, why buy plums when you can steal them off your neighbors’ trees? lol.

welcome to australia! =)