Dennis

Dear Den,

Today was the most beautiful day imaginable. It’s spring—really and truly spring. Today for the first time I wore a T-shirt with no jacket. I sweated. I’m seriously considering retiring the black scarf I bought when I first got here and have had with me nearly every day since. It’s a wonderful feeling. This city opens its arms when the sun comes out, and I couldn’t be more thrilled by the embrace.

There are eight branches of the Sydney City Library in various neighborhoods across the city. They are clean and well-stocked, and, most importantly, as is the nature of libraries, they are free. Thus, I have been making use of them. Today I went to the branch in Ultimo for the first time to check out a book for class at that location. Across the street are the Powerhouse Museum, which is this enormous museum of design and technology that I’m going to have to check out, and the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center, which is named after a famous Australian swimmer and has the crispest, whitest, most modern pool facilities I’ve ever seen. I wanted to jump in so badly I almost made a break for it…if only I had my swimsuit. Next week, Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center. I’ll be back.

I spent the rest of the day reading in the sun. First on a bench by Darling Harbor where I read half of a YA book called Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson for my Young Adult Fiction class, then in Hyde Park in the middle of the city, where the lawn was littered with readers, lunch-eaters, and groups of people talking, all sitting or laying in the grass. I staked my little patch of grass, lay down, and finished Camus’s The Stranger—or, in the version I have, The Outsider—a gift from my flatmate Nathan, who was appalled I hadn’t read it. I stayed until the shadows crept over me. Now I’m back at home for writing time—I’m submitting the beginning of my new novel for workshopping in my seminar next week. A bit scary, but exciting.

The truth is that every day I’m here, I feel luckier.

My camera is dead right now and I’m having trouble cajoling it back to life, but I promise I’ll have more pictures soon.

Hope you are well and having a good time with Mom, Dad, and our little Frenchified sis at home.

Love you,

Me

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Alex

Dear Alex,

Although I have always known you are amazing, I have a brand new admiration for you. Last Thursday, my flatmate and I went to a beginners’ ballet class at the Sydney Dance Company.

There is an absolute beginners’ class there as well, but she and I both took ballet when we were kids, and she’s trained as a yoga instructor, so she convinced me we’d be fine in this one. There were about 40 people in the class. A couple, like us, were totally inexperienced. But the majority knew exactly what they were doing. Beginners? I think not.

The first portion of the class—the exercises at the bar—would have been fine, except that the instructor decided to take her place directly between me and Chrissy, so when she demonstrated the exercises, Chrissy was behind her and I was in front of her. So not only was I in prime position for her to watch my attempts to imitate and at least seem like I knew what I was doing, I was also learning everything backwards. Since I didn’t have anyone in front of me to copy until we turned to the other side, I was constantly mixed up about which limb I was supposed to be using.

I had an I Love Lucy moment (or the one from Centre Stage when they’re performing and she’s the bad student who comes in late) once when I thought my portion of the room was still facing against the other side of the room, then turned around and realized everyone was facing the opposite way except me!

Then it all went to pieces when we got out on the floor and she started teaching (if you can call it that) the sequences. We were so lost. It got so ridiculous that by the end of the class we were laughing so hard, we couldn’t even stand up. The teacher of the next class had to ask us to leave.

So like I said, I am newly amazed by you, Miss Prima Ballerina! I think we may go again sometime…but probably to the absolute beginners class this time.

The Sydney Dance Company is in a stunning location, though—right by the harbor at Circular Quay. There’s a café and bar in the entrance where a friend of some girls I know had her engagement party this weekend. The view is unbelievable. Here are a few photos from last Sunday, when I took a ferry across the bay to this tucked-away little beachy suburb called Manly.

Manly is quieter than some of the other beach communities like Bondi—smaller and more family-oriented. The only way you can get there is by ferry or by driving all the way up this narrow strip of land, so it has kind of a hidden-away feel, like a little secret, even though a lot of tourists find their way there. I fell head over heels in love with it.

Still, Bondi Beach, where I was all day yesterday, is not bad either.

Yesterday there was a massive walk for charity called City 2 Surf, in which 80,000 people walked from downtown to Bondi. Which means they all end up there, resulting in a huge beach party. It’s finally starting to warm up and yesterday was clear and sunny, so it felt like a glimpse of what summer what be like. I can’t wait.

Hope you are well, I miss you! How’s your internship? Catch me up on everything!

Love,

Tara

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