Flat Stanley hangs with the local wildlife

Traveling through 14 time zones in the US mail was exhausting. I laid around the house for a couple of days waiting for the world to stop spinning. The house had been abuzz with anticipation of Erin's upcoming River Cruise since I arrived. I have heard of Junior proms in the US before and apparently this River Cruise was the Australian version. Erin goes to a private, all-girls school and is in Year 11. The don't use the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior classifications here. Next year she will be a Leaver since it is the last year of "grammar" or "primary" school. After they graduate then they go on to tertiary learning or University. They kids just call it Uni.

Erin went to her friend's house after school and did whatever girls do to get ready for these affairs. When Cheryl and Kinsey drove me there later, Erin walked out in the prettiest dress I've ever seen. She was practically sparkling. I got to meet Katie, Bec, James, Harry, and Jack. I've noticed that the Australian boys names are almost all from the Bible or British kings. They were so hard to understand. Although they speak English, it sounds so funny and they use strange words like arvo (afternoon), wag (skip school), rubbish (trash), sunnies (sunglasses), and lippie (lipstick).

Cheryl drove Erin and James down to the jetty where they met the boat. I didn't get to go on the boat with Erin unfortunately, all of the girls had dates already, but she told me about it later. They danced and ate pizza and took lots of photos. She showed some of the photos and the girls were all dressed so pretty. I can't wait until I'm old enough to go to a school dance.

Location:Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia