From: White, Jamie D (WHITE)
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:49 PM
To: White, Jamie D (WHITE)
Subject: signing off from Down Under

Aussie phrase of the day:  "Waltzing Matilda" = wandering aimlessly (like a tramp)

G'day, Mates! 

This is the final installment of "The White Family Aussie Adventure."  No more waltzing Matilda Down Under.  On Saturday (May 21), our internet connection will be terminated, and we will be electronically incommunicado until we arrive back in the U.S.

Officially, that's Monday, May 23.  We won't make it all the way to Donation, though, until Tuesday, and we'll be heading out again on Friday for West Virginia (where our nephew Jonathon will be graduating from high school on Saturday).  On Sunday, jet-lag willing, we'll drive to the NJ shore for the annual reunion with our friends from camp-staff days.  Monday afternoon, we'll start back to Huntingdon via Swarthmore, where we'll get reacquainted with our new niece Nora and celebrate her first birthday.  We expect to arrive home "for good" by June 1.

Much has happened since we last wrote, including wonderful visits with our parents and amazing travels in New Zealand and Queensland -- stories that will have to wait for another day.  The girls are finishing their school time here on a happy note (after a few ups and downs earlier in the term), and they're excited about the prospect of attending State College Friends School in the fall (which we're 90% sure they'll do).  We're all currently coping with the emotional ups and downs of preparing to leave the friends and lifestyle we've enjoyed here, while simultaneously looking forward eagerly to being reunited with friends and family back home.

To help ease the shock for those of you who will be seeing us soon, we thought we should update you on a few changes in advance...

Things we'll be coming back without:

     -- 2 baby teeth (Joanna)

     -- a spoken middle name and a "fringe" (i.e. bangs; Sara)

     -- as many excruciating, debilitating migraines ("touch wood;" Laura)

     -- an addiction to caffeinated beverages (Jamie; whether this lasts past jet-lagged driving, not to mention into the fall semester, remains to be seen)

Things we'll be coming back with:

     -- 5 inches more hair and a slight Aussie accent (Sara)

     -- 5 mm more hair and some interesting new Aussie vocabulary (e.g., "faht;" Joanna)

     -- 5 new dietary supplements and herbal medications (Laura)

     -- 5 new publications??? (Well, at least 3; Jamie)

     -- 5 million digital photos (Laura gets most of the blame here.)

     -- 5 lifetimes-worth of memorable experiences and tedious stories to go with them (all of us -- you've been warned!)

Can't wait to see you!

Love,

Laura, Jamie, Sara & Joanna