half-way around the world and back

wednesday, at 1:45 pm i left sydney, australia, and arrived in los angeles, california at 9:20 am on wednesday...figure that one out.
so, the past two days have felt like an eternity. including finding a house to move into with several girls i know from santa beezee.
australia was fantastic. my mom went on a business trip, and i tagged along as the uber-tourist. every day i would do my own thing. and, as pathetic as it may sound, i felt like anything i saw or did would be perfect because i had my headphones. i walked around the city, cruised around on a ferry, and looked at some koalas and kangaroos (in captivity, because they don't hop around the streets like some may try to argue.) if i was able to post pictures i would show an awesome shot of a kangaroo showing off his junk.
aussies use the words "beautiful" and "nice" all the time, mostly to describe things like fish and chips, wine, and everything in general. i wish i could use some of their charmingly foreign terms without seeming like a pretentious poser (is that redundant?) because i know people who do that sort of thing and i make fun of them in my head.
i was able to spend a lot of time with my mom, though most of it was in the 13 hour airplane rides. it was good to be around her; i was getting to the point of being homesick, which doesn't happen a lot with me. i also spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle and cousin (it's a family business). i know that's a really jolted account of my vacation. but i don't feel like giving too many details. sorry.

costa rica remembered

half of the trip felt like a vacation. lounging in hot springs, looking at a smoky volcano, and soaking up the sun at the coastal resort felt like the perfect vacation. but then we headed inland, to the city of san jose. my aunt and her family live there. so do my grandparents. i felt like i had to take advantage of all my time with my grandparents. they are at the age where i can't take them for granted, and that's hard. what's worse is that i feel guilty for resenting their age and health and weakness. it gets unignorable when my grandma forgets stuff about me; like asking me where i was born, though she was most likely there. sometimes it really seems like she's losing it and sometimes she's ok. but the language barrier makes me even more confused about the whole situation. i did feel a special bond with my grandpa when we had target practice in the hallway. i guess he's always been into this certain kind of air pistol shooting--he wins first prize in his age bracket. the gun has a wooden handle, shaped like the grip of your hand, so it kind of curves around the hand. he showed me how to stand, with my left hand in my pocket, to keep me steady. and how i have to pull the trigger slowly, gradually, and get both sights lined up with my right eye. i got a bull's eye. i think it made him happy. i hung out with my two cousins, R--- (26) and A--- (19) quite a bit. andy didn't really pay much attention to me until we started talking about hip hop. then he thought i was worth his time. on my last day andy, one of his friends from the SF bay area, and i went on a tangent of a search for an LA dodgers hat--apparently pretty hip hop. it was rainy and we walked around dingy downtown san jose for a couple hours looking for some unmarked, unofficial store. my cousins speak english really well so i was able to avoid speaking much spanish most of the time.
then i came home to santa barbara for a couple days...