Back in Canberra:

Being back in Baltimore was weird. Being at work, but not having a desk or an office or working email or, you know, anything to do other than the conference and distracting everyone else from their work, is a different experience. I guess in a way it's like I just started again, except that I actually know a lot of people.

Driving was not as good as I expected either. The roads were nice and wide, but once you've gotten used to 105 km/hr on narrow windy Australian roads, it's hard to keep to a lower speed on 295. And my rental car, while an automatic with power steering, was a boat and I had a hell of a time parking it.

However, it was great to not get any grief for pronouncing my r's or referring to chicken sandwiches rather than chicken burgers (though I had some support from another Aussie for my view on this one).

Canberra's been my home for the last 10 months and will be my home for the next nine months, and sometimes it's weird to be around people who don't recognise this. The US isn't home just because I was born there, and at the end of this time, I will have lived in Canberra almost as long as I lived in Laurel.

All griping aside (though I'll probably bitch more about the flights later), I really enjoyed my trip back. It was fantastic to see everyone that I did and I really do miss all my friends. And Mexican food, Dairy Queen, diners, bagels... I even managed to legally import some corn tortillas so I'm going to try to make chips. Mmm, fresh tortilla chips.