![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1380.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/a> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1383.jpg\" "\\"Harvard")
<\/a><\/div>\nI had to wait 16 hours to open the package (because of the time zones and the Skype date). In the meantime, I pondered the identity of this animal:]<\/p>\n
Also in the mail: <\/p>\n 1) A Christmas Woot shirt (marking the 29302nd cat shirt that I bought from shirt.woot.com):<\/p>\n 2) My Andola Dortch Lady Rocket jersey from the jersey auction last spring. The jerseys were supposed to be availale in October, but UT didn’t receive their new uniforms until a couple of weeks into the season. This makes my dad monumentally excited:<\/p>\n Anyway, so. Settle in for package photos.<\/p>\n When I sent Chiara her box of diabetes, I wrote her a rambling letter about stupid things, just because. She sent me 4 dollars in the mail once and didn’t include a note, and I cried for 3 days. (That’s not true, but don’t do that shit to me again, KIKI). Anyway, Chiara sent a letter, and here’s the cute part at the end (bonus #doublerube written hashtag):<\/p>\n Faithful readers will remember VEGEMITE DAY at my work last year. This friendship is pretty toast-centric:<\/p>\n Here’s a cool magnet that will tell you the temperature in Fahrenheit or Celcius…whatever your little heart desires:<\/p>\n I now own this CD of THUNDER DOWNUNDER. We have not listened to it, but it has been brought to our attention that “downunder” is one word, and ELECTROSTATIC RAGE is a cool track name:<\/p>\n Brian’s Australia Rules Football hat from Chiara’s favorite team:<\/p>\n This can of kangaroo startled me at first. If I hadn’t know it was illegal to send any food that isn’t junk (and if the can had been a little heavier), I might have thought it was canned kangaroo meat. Here’s the can before and during the opening:<\/p>\n Here’s the kangaroo post-emergence:<\/p>\n It is notable that the can says, “May cause indigestion” and “After opening, keep contents in reach of children.” YOU WACKY AUSTRALIANS. Americans are too dumb for cutesy jokes.<\/p>\n Harvey sent the cats (particularly Harvard) a present:<\/p>\n I put the suction cup part on the sliding glass door and cats played with the toy(!):<\/p>\n Two shirts:<\/p>\n Some of the following pictures are of many many of my presents at the same time, so I’ll just point out some of the stuff before each picture.<\/p>\n (I don’t really know what that Melbourne thing on the left really is – is it a towel or some kind of wall hanging or…?) Also: chocolate cane toad, lego head pencil sharpener, some pencils(!), a tiny cricket bat, some goofy silly bands (they are “twinsies” ones where the bracelets have a mate…eg, two halves of a heart…Chiara should have opened the package and took half of them), a fake mustache, Papaw ointment for your nappy rash, Anzac cookies (“biscuits”), cotton candy (“fairy floss”), Australian animal crossing stickers, paper lanterns.<\/p>\n This one picks up on the right side of the previous picture. A tiny plush koala on a “gum” leaf, Icestralia cube tray, my Australia cork hat (to keep flies off your face, duh):<\/p>\n BabyCat wearing the cork hat:<\/p>\n My #HeterosexualLifePartner necklace…so sweet:<\/p>\n Here are some Australia coasters with awesomely amazing photoshopping that yielded some frighteningly large penguins and other animals:<\/p>\n Chiara sent my Dad a book about Aussie slang because he enjoys Australian slang a great deal. <\/p>\n My dad came over in the evening…here’s a picture of him enjoying his book:<\/p>\n Chiara sent me some Australia plant seeds – we might either introduce some invasive species or learn a valuable lesson about trying to plant things that are supposed to live in arid or semi-arid climates.<\/p>\n Cats love Aussie items:<\/p>\n Chiara sent me several packages of these candies in an attempt to collect them all. I think we missed one or two…?<\/p>\n Here’s the chocolate cane toad I mentioned earlier…just hanging chillin’:<\/p>\n Minus the wrapper:<\/p>\n Having a friend who lives in Australia is kind of mind-blowing. Everything is so different there, plus we are SO FAR APART. We can iMessage on our iPads\/iPhones without getting charged, so we can type back and forth all day if we’re so inclined in a real time chat…doesn’t that seem crazy??? It’s weird to think about how just a couple of years ago could not possibly have met, and even if we did, we would have had a relatively difficult time communicating the way we do. #sofortunate #HLP #thefutureisnow <\/p>\n ALSO: ECHIDNAS. WTF? I’ve never heard of these…except for that Brian says we saw them in person at the Cleveland Zoo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m working nights this week, but it kind of worked out well for once. Tuesday turned out to be the best postal day EVER, and I was able to Skype with Chiara Wednesday morning from work for my Aussie Care … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n