WEEK 11
Dear Lincoln, Lilliana, Leni, Juliana, Evyn, Jack, Faye, Chloe, Emerson, Lake, Rita, Violet, and Ella,
This week I stayed with a very special friend. His name is Jett, and he loves to run. He runs everywhere, so I call him High Speed Jett! I’m staying with him for two weeks. The first week we mostly spent doing things around his house at the beach, and next week we’ll be in the city, actually in one of my favorite cities in the world... the magical, multicultural MELBOURNE!
But first let me tell you why Jett is so special. Jett’s mom and I worked together in London when we were really young, and although we wrote to each other sometimes, we hadn’t seen each other again until now. She was my long lost friend who I am so happy to find again. In the time I didn’t see her, she got very sick with CFS, and she was sick for quite a long time, several years in fact, and she didn’t know if she would ever get married and have any babies. I always felt sad that she was so sick and hoped really hard that she’d get better. Then, one day, the best thing in the world happened, she DID get better! And then a few years later, she met a lovely man who wanted to marry her, and THEN she had Jett! Her story makes me incredibly happy, and it also teaches me to keep hoping for the best in life, even if bad things happen.
Jett is a super happy boy. He is 2, and he knows what he likes. He likes playgrounds and he likes finding out how things work.
One day he took me to his favorite playground, and guess who we met there...
Tex’s mom and Tex’s baby brother, Leroy! It was so cool; the first Mobile Mary Poppins Meet Up!
I love Jett’s house because it’s right next to the beach. It only takes five minutes to walk to the beach. You can always go for long walks on the beach, but you can’t always guarantee the weather’s going to be good in Melbourne so you can’t always swim.
When I first arrived it was very grey and stormy. Melbourne is famous for changeable weather, so even in the summer there can be some cold and rainy days, when the sea gets all rough and dark. The next day it can be bright blue skies and sunshine again. Sometimes it changes like this, back and forth, several times a day. They call it “four seasons in one day” because it’s like having winter, spring, summer and fall all in one day!
However, it was a beautiful sunny day when I visited St Kilda beach for the annual festival.
There were some great things for kids to do, like a big inflatable shark slide.
I knew there were some sharks in Australia but I didn’t know they were this big, and you could slide down them!
There’s a theme park called Luna Park, and all around it there were some really big rides, that flung people so high into the air. There was no way I was going on one of those! 
But the funniest thing I saw in the whole festival was this man dressed up as a giant Scottish man with a giant dog beside him. The dog was really another man dressed up in a dog costume!
I think Jett’s two favorite things in life are trains and balls. Like Evyn, he loves all balls, soccer balls, beach balls, basketballs, even golf balls; you’ll soon see what I mean!
As soon as I arrived at his house, he couldn’t wait to show me his Thomas the Tank Engine train set. He doesn’t just have one Thomas... he has seven!
I had to build train tracks for him several times a day. It’s a good thing I had so much practice building them for Jack and Faye!
He also just loves watching Thomas movies on his own personal DVD player!
One day, Jett took me to see the house where he lived when he was first born, before he moved to the beach. It is right around the corner from one of my new favorite places on earth... Queen Victoria Market.
Okay, so Lincoln, Rita, Emerson, Lake and Juliana know how much I love our local Farmers’ Markets, well, this is like 50 times the size of any of the ones we have, it is the biggest market I’ve ever seen!
There was row after row of stalls, selling the best vegetables and fruits...
...and toys, and games...
...and clothes, and food...
...and traditional Australian things like didgeridoos (long pipes that you blow down that make low, hollow sounds) and boomerangs (that when you throw the right way, fly through the air, turn around, and then come back to you!)
We also saw a stall selling all kinds of model boats and things to do with sailing.
There was even a place that fixed iphone screens, which is a good thing as I think almost everyone I know who has one, has broken their screen at some point!
Of course, Jett soon found the stall selling soccer balls! They were special practice balls on elastic string so they always came back to you... like boomerangs!
All of the stalls are under a huge big roof (which is a good thing because it started and stopped raining three times while we were there... that is Melbourne weather for you!)
There are always interesting things going on at the market, too. The day we went, there was a mini festival to support immigrants from East Timor, a small country in Southeast Asia, north of Australia.
Jett was particularly interested in how the rotating clown seat worked! It was thirsty work so he tried to get a soda from the machine. But he didn't have any money so he just pretended for a while and then we moved on!
Before we left the market, we stopped to listen to some Flamenco music...
...where Jett showed off his dancing skills...
...and his sitting down dancing skills...
...and his lying down dancing skills!
Jett doesn't think he needs the stroller anymore, he'd rather push it than sit in it!
Another thing I noticed about Jett is that he has a very cool collection of shoes. He has shoes with Thomas on them, and shoes with the Cat in the Hat on them, and even some rain boots covered in dinosaurs!
He decided to try on my shoes, but they were a little bit big, and didn't have any cool pictures on them, so he gave them back!
Every night, Jett talks to his dad using Skype. His dad is temporarily working on a contract job in Perth, which is on the other side of Australia, so he’s been away from home for a few weeks. Jett and his mom and dad have been very brave as they all miss each other so much. It reminded me of my mom and how much I miss her, so I Skyped with her one day, and Jett got to talk to her, too. Oh, the strangest thing happened a few days before that. I found out that an old friend of my mom’s lived just around the corner from Jett’s house. This woman and my mom had worked together in London many, many years ago, when they were the same age as Jett’s mom and me, when WE were working in London. Anyway, I went to visit her and had a cup of tea with her. She was very friendly and showed me a picture of my mom taken a very long time ago, years before I was even born. I think she looks so beautiful.
One day while I was staying with Jett, we went to a Teddy Bears’ Picnic. It was to raise money for a local toy library. All the kids in the local area go and take their favorite teddies along.
There were so many great things to see and do at the picnic.
Hmm, haven't I seen this giant shark somewhere before?!
We saw all sorts of people and teddies at the Teddy Bears' Picnic. I even found a Lakers Fan with the most enormous blue teddy bear!
Jett was very happy to find some guys playing soccer games!
He also tried his luck at Mini Golf. But I might have to get my brother to give him some lessons, he doesn’t understand that you can’t just pick the balls up and put them in the holes!
There was a little petting farm where we saw lots of different animals...
There were ducks and geese and pigs and rabbits, and even rats!
Jett gave a rabbit a big cuddle...
...and a rat a little cuddle!
There was also a stall where kids could look at snails using magnifying glasses (like the one Lincoln’s Grandma gave him). One kid I saw was having a tough time choosing between looking at the snails and eating his ice cream!
One of the most interesting animals I have seen in Australia is the magpie, this black and white bird, because it looks so different from the magpies I've seen in other parts of the world.
As we were leaving, we stopped to say hello to the guys at the SES, who had brought their own special teddy! The SES is the State Emergency Service, which is run by volunteers. That means they don’t get paid. All the men and women who are trained to help out in emergencies have actual jobs and they do duty for the SES in their spare time. Jett’s uncle is one of the main people in charge of organizing the local SES.
It was such a great day out. When we got home, Jett still had enough energy to show me his piano playing! His mom and I were ready to get our rest, because we knew we had another whole week of fun to have. But I’ll tell you all about that next week...
Good night for now... Jett has tired me out!
All my love,
Susie xxxx
p.s. I am sure some of you have seen in the news that there was another big earthquake in Christchurch. It was much worse than the first one, and there have been some very sad stories about what happened to people and their homes. I am very pleased to tell you that Jimmy and Minnie and their family are safe, but lots of people lost their homes. Please think of all the families in Christchurch, they are going through a very difficult time right now.
Sweet keeping up with you. Can't believe you've been gone for 11 weeks. Can't wait to see where else this adventure takes you.
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