On the Road to the USA ..... in Adelaide Australia.

April 5, 2016

The time was around 7:30 am when the JetStar jet touched down in Adelaide, Australia. I had already imagined my sister's smiley face waiting for me at the arrival door. Australian immigration was awesome. The officer was friendly. I dashed to the baggage claim and as soon as I gathered my belonging I began looking around for that smiley face in the crowd. I couldn't see her. I guess I have to get closer to the crowd since she is so petite. To my surprise, she wasn't even in the crowd at all. I began guessing around..... is she playing tricks on me? Five minutes ...ten minutes gone by, I began to worry. But my common sense told me that I would hang out at the nearest coffee shop if she doesn't show up after 15 minutes. After I ordered my coffee, I began looking for the internet connection. But my phone wasn't charged, and I forgot to place my international adapters in my purse. I was too lazy to open my suitcase for the adapter that I needed. Instead, I started talking to a gentleman sitting next to me and told him about my mysterious sister. He handed me his phone to call my sister and I did. As soon as she answered the call, there I saw her smiley face. She was walking around looking for me with the phone on her ear. It's always good to see Ita, .....at least on the first day...(I hope she doesn't read this).

She gave me a quick tour of Adelaide before we drove to her house. While touring, she tested my memories to see if I still remember this and that ..... It had been a few years since my last visit to Adelaide.
"Would you like to go to the USA?", she asked.
"But I have just left USA", I replied.
"You have never even seen it", she insisted. Then she stopped on the curb side and pointed at the building in front of us.
"That's the University of South Australia, the school I have been attending for several years", she explained.
"Oh, is that where we are going for your graduation on Friday?"..... without listening to her answer, my heart was warming up filled with joy. I thought of my family back in Indonesia.... they would be very proud of her, especially my parents who have long been gone, and my sister Iliek who passed away recently.