Finally

Two of the six girls we shared a room with left today. One was an Asian girl I had never spoken a word with who took hours to fit everything in her suitcase. The other was the Dutch girl that talked in her sleep (little did I know then that she would be replaced by a girl that snores).

It was very hard to get out of bed, something I guess means my jet lag is over. After breakfast Lisianne and I went straight to the internet café, having our minds set on something in Surry Hills. We found a suitable house to share, so I called and arranged a viewing for that evening. After that she had to leave to her Uni to register, so Annelotte and I had a relaxed afternoon.

When Lisianne got back we went to the viewing, and contrary to the other house, this felt good. It is in an old school part of town and we would share the house with about 9 other internationals who were either studying or on an internship. There was a little living room, three bathrooms and a small kitchen, all cleaned on a weekly basis by a cleaner. The place is walking distance to the city, next to a park and close to bus lines that run pretty much until midnight or later. We left with the message that we would let the landlord know as soon as possible and then got horribly lost. We took the bus to the centre of the city, or so we thought. We were in a huge traffic jam and didn’t recognize anything in the dark. Finally we spotted a train station, which was way further than where we had to go. We got out quickly and luckily a kind man pointed us in the right direction. We walked back to the city laughing, using the opportunity to see new bits of the city and explore a new grocery store.

Once back we cooked with Annelotte and started talking about the game we would watch at 4.30. After sleeping a rough four hours, my alarm indicated it was time to dress up in orange and go downstairs. This time we didn’t go to the fifa screen, as it seemed too cold outside. In the cinema room filled with fatboys we were already shivering. In Australia they haven’t heard of double glass and it feels like the airco is on continuously. We watched the game with excitement, with only a few other people that were crazy enough to get out of bed. The first goal was a beauty, but our stress levels shot up when Uruguay made the equalizer. Once again we watched the game shouting with enthusiasm, happy that we scored two and stressed again when we got to 2-3. We were very confused by the end of the game when we thought it was all over, but instead van Bommel got a card and the match continued. When finally the last whistle blew, we were happy, but I certainly regretted not being in the Netherlands to witness the orange madness. Finally we made it to the final and we have a shot at winning, and I’m on the other side of the planet. We will certainly watch the final on the big screen, with extra sweaters and everything, hoping to throw a little orange party down under when that final whistle blows as well.