After a long flight halfway across the planet in a cabin with 2 crying toddlers we finally landed in Sydney. Yea! time to discover whether or not the toilet water flushes the other way down the drain.

Jae’s aunt and uncle came to pick us up from the airport. Initially we had a hard time finding them but when I saw uncle Barry, it was unmistakable that he was related to Jae. He looks just like Jae’s dad, maybe a bit darker. Aunt Pearly is bright and cheerful, kinda reminds me of that old cartoon character Rainbow Bright… remember her? the girl with the bright red dress that uses rainbows to fight evil? The only thing I can recall was that she would ride away on her unicorn? on a rainbow at the end of each show.

First things first, as we drove back their house, Jae saw his first GTR…..good, at least we got that taken care of. In fact, GTR’s are everywhere, we must’ve seen at least 3 in the short drive. At the house, we move our stuff upstairs to Jae’s cousin Ed’s room. He reloacted to the guest room so that we could have his bigger room for the week. I thought that was very thoughtful and felt guilty that we kicked him out of his room…in repayment, someday, I shall kick my kid out of his room when Ed comes to visit

The rest of the morning was spent eating breakfast, at last real food and taking a short nap. We were in no hurry to see Australia, for the most part, we’re here to see family. New family, that is for me. The last time I saw them I was still ‘the girlfriend’. Except for Ed, who attended our wedding.

Later in the afternoon, uncle Barry dropped us off in the middle of the city. We wandered around marveling at how Sydney looks just like a midsized downtown in the US. There were skyscrapers, but not overwhelming, there were people, but not too many, it was, as Goldilocks herself would say, just right.