An International Hug and Much Monkeying About. And, of course, all our Aussie love to Clara.

An amazing and emotional night.

Another gathering for a good friend, this time an exchange student, Clara. She's going back to Brazil in a few days time, and she's been here for quite a while so we all know her, and will miss her.

It was a night full of fun, and randomness, and hippie dancing, and cake and memories.

When she first came to Australia, Clara hardly spoke to anyone. It was an effort to get her to engage in a conversation, but after awhile she came out of her shell and now she's one of the chattiest people I know :) It has been so great having her here, she's just the loveliest person :) we will all miss her muchly.












We mostly all gave her Pandora charms as a goodbye present - the family she's been staying with over here gave her a bracelet for them. Our friend Bec, who she's been boarding with in Australia, also made her up a box of Australian things (TimTams, Milo, a blowup kangaroo, Vegemite) and also created a book which we all wrote a letter to her in, with her favourite Australian recipes, famous Australians, best Australian movies..etc :) I think she had a good night. Bec is going back to Brazil with her, to stay for a few weeks, but for the rest of us it'll be the last time we'll see her, so it was an emotional night.

So many grand and hilarious and utterly random goings on tonight, such fun. A game of hide and seek in the dark, as well as some game of our own creation, which involved holding hands in a circle and shouting Woo! as well as random things like 'Pickles!' 'Old Men!' and 'Snails are cool because they're radioactive!' at random intervals. There was a bit of guitar playing and singing - Joe had written Clara an instrumental piece, Jorge played a Portuguese song (Clara's first language) and Jake and Joe performed an admirable rendition of 'Story from North America' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms2klX-puUU].

We also had a skype call in which we were introduced to Clara's parents, sister and grandmother in Brazil :)
Clara's dad told us, in his broken English,
Everybody, you are my sons too. You are near to my daughter, and so I love you too.
Then, he told us that we should 'All share an international hug!' so he and his wife leaned toward their webcam, and we all leaned toward ours.
It was the most beautiful thing.

Very glad I got to see her before she left.
Clara, don't forget about us Atherton people, because we won't forget you. You've been a great friend, you're a lovely person and I hope that someday, somewhere, we'll meet up again. Much love.

Many tears to finish up with. Things at school will be very different without her. I don't think its quite hit me yet, that she's leaving. But I wish her safe travel home and all the best for the future.

Grateful for friendship that surpasses miles, borders, oceans, continents. We'll miss you Clara, but you're not lost, just gone for the while. We'll see you soon, we hope! :)

Goodnight, all. It's been a magnificent evening. The group vibe was so, so good. Greatest night :) Thank you to all. A lot of love, me to you.
Lise xx