With Love From Mexico.

Okay, it is currently 11.20am, I've worked up a sweat approximately four times, and our air-conditioner is on its highest setting. Oh, heat waves. 
I've been feeling really sorry for my rabbit, Gizmo, but the thing is, he doesn't like being indoors. He gets all antsy and freaked out, and he lasts about ten minutes before he wants to be let back out. So, since it's already close to 40℃, I've resorted to pouring buckets of cold water on him. Initially he wasn't a fan, but I think he's starting to enjoy it. The result is incredibly cute. I shall post a picture, if he will ever hold still. 

So I told you I'd come back and fill you in on the other more exciting things that were keeping me from blogging. I'll start with the most exciting- meeting my penpal of three years.

Okay, so in early 2010, I decided- for some reason- that I might like to find myself a penpal. Now mind you, I already had a penpal- my cousin in Sri-Lanka- but at some point, one of us stopped writing and I guess I just forgot about him (I really hope he's not reading this*). Anyway, I made myself a profile on interpals.net and waited. Occassionally I would search for people myself, but a lot of the time, people either didn't reply to my messages, or when they did, they were just incredibly douchey/rude/lame/hard to understand. In October, I stumbled across the profile of 'Klesker'. He was Mexican, and one year older than me. We had similar interests, and he did seem awfully friendly. So I messaged him. He messaged back. We talked. We added each other on Facebook. We talked a little more. We added each other on Skype. We talked a bit there too. We sent letters and presents, we made each other CD's and keepsakes. By 2012, I confidently called this Mexican boy whom I'd never really met, my best friend. 
Regardless of time differences, and the fact that the two of us were leading completely different lives in completely different hemispheres of the globe, we managed to make the friendship work. I'd text him in class, and we'd Skype just before I went to bed and he left for school. He'd send me pictures from his travels, and I'd send him pictures of.. well- Melbourne. Despite the enormous distance, he was often closer to me than some of my friends just around the corner. 

So that's the back story- I met this kid online and we became the best of friends. How lovely, right? 

But get this.

In December, he spent a day and a half travelling- spent Christmas all by himself on a plane over the sea- to come and surprise me, here in Melbourne, in my house, on Christmas Day. Just let that sink in for one second. It still hasn't sunk in for me. 

So apparently his plane landed at about 9.30pm, and he was at my doorstep by about 11.30pm. Now, with it being Christmas Day and all, I was mighty exhausted and in bed and asleep by about 10pm. An hour and a half later, I was awoken to my sister- and my Mexican penpal- standing in my bedroom. 
I can't even put into words the bizarre mix of emotions I had going once I realised he was really there. The guy who usually existed on my laptop screen was now sitting next to me, on my bed, in my room, perfectly three-dimensional and real. 

He told me he was only staying for a week, before heading off to Sydney, then New Zealand, then China and then finally back to Mexico; in between pinching myself to make sure I really wasn't dreaming, I had to think of ways to fit the very best of Melbourne into six very short days. Pictures are coming.

Spending a week with my Mexican penpal was such an incredible experience. Aside from it being the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me- ever- I realised, in retrospect, that it was an experience that helped shape me, too. So, amigo, if you're reading this, I hope you enjoyed Australia and I hope you enjoyed finally meeting me.

Time to go stand outside and spray myself down with the garden hose.

I'll be back tonight.

X.



*- I still love you, cus!

2014.

Good morning bloggers! 

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and wonderful new year! I know I did. 
And now my first post for the year is only sixteen days late! 

...sorry.

I've been meaning to share all my latest with you, but I've been so so busy. You see the thing is, at the end of 2013, which- might I add- was absolutely wonderful to me, I decided 2014 would be even better. Not only would it be a good year, it would be the year that things start happening. A year of change, new beginnings, fresh starts, goals achieved and life coming together. It would be the year that things get done. 
And oh, how that excites me. The hope I have for this year is on an unprecedented level, for me at least. 

So, what better way to kick off my 2014- my year of getting things done- than to get some things done on a smaller scale first: my bedroom. 

Around the middle of 2013, it dawned on me that my room was much less a bedroom than a storage warehouse for all the nonsense I had some how coaxed myself into hoarding. Upon doing some investigating and finding that I had a cupboard full of books from year 10, an impossible ball of headphones, cords and chargers in my bedside table, and a wardrobe that avalanched on me every time I opened the door, I decided that disaster was imminent and change was necessary. 
But, as I said, this was the middle of 2013 and year 12 has no mercy and leaves you no time. So, for the next six months I lived in filth and I'm rather ashamed to say, it only got worse. 
So bad, in fact, that after my last exam, I did not want to party or go on holiday or celebrate. No no. I just wanted to clean my room. 

And oh, how I did just that. 

Anyway, I did a lot of cleaning and a bit of re-shuffling with my furniture. I got some new additions, like bedlinen and desk organisers, and I got rid of a lot of stuff. Like, emphasis on 'a lot'. 

And by 'a lot' I mean the following:

- 4 laundry baskets full of old school books and papers
- half a garbage bag of shoes
- 1 garbage bag full of school uniforms 
- 2 garbage bags full of clothes 
- enough dust to stuff two single bed doona covers. 

And I promise you, I'm not exaggerating. 

But finally, I'm finished. Everything is clean, everything is tidy, and everything is organised. Now all that's left is re-vamping my bedrooms decor, and I can't wait. 

So anyway, that explains most of the reason for me being silent for a while. Other reasons include: 

- my best friend and pen pal from Mexico flying halfway across the world to surprise me at my home on Christmas Day 
- meeting and becoming friends with some German back packers
- getting a summer job 
- getting back to fitness
- being too hot to leave the icy cold wonderland of my shower during this heat wave

These (and more) I will fill you in on later today. Apparently it's going to be 44 degrees (celsius, for any readers from around the world) so let's be honest, I won't be doing anything else. 

Breakfast time now. 
See you soon. 

X.